At those words, silence fell over the scene, and a heavy atmosphere spread.
As the tension mounted, Marshal Liu and the others atop the city wall narrowed their eyes.
The old man glanced at Marshal Liu. After receiving his nod of approval, he slowly stepped forward.
He stood above the city gate and met Ding Chen's gaze below without a trace of fear.
His expression was as calm as a lake, as though he had already made up his mind.
After a moment's silence, the old man said, "Ding Chen, your worlds were destroyed by Heavenly Demons too. You should hate them with a vengeance as deep as the sea. So why are you helping them fight us now?"
Ding Chen shook his head.
"You don't understand. You have no idea how terrifying those Heavenly Demons are. Yes, you're right. We're helping the murderers who destroyed our families, but we have no choice."
"This is the only way to preserve our worlds' roots and keep them from being destroyed. Despise us if you want. Everything we've done was simply to survive."
This time, he made no attempt to hide his feelings. He spoke straight from the heart.
The other cultivators fell silent too. Clearly, they agreed with him.
The old man gritted his teeth. "We understand how you feel, but the Savior has arrived, hasn't he? We can follow him, gather all our strength, and fight those Heavenly Demons together."
"We can take revenge. We can fight to our hearts' content, even tear off those Heavenly Demons' heads with our own hands. Why wouldn't we? Why insist on opposing the Savior?"
"What do you stand to gain? All we're doing now is slaughtering one another."
As he spoke, the old man's feelings were tangled.
He had said all this because