"Your consort has kept something from Your Majesty for a long time."
Seventeen or eighteen thoughts flashed through Zi Shou's mind in an instant, as though he faced a formidable enemy.
Daji stammered, "Your consort is a Nine-Tailed White Fox with a thousand years of cultivation. I will destroy the rebels at once and escort Your Majesty back to the palace."
She had made up her mind. Even if she had to expose herself as a demon, she would keep King Zhou safe.
As for what would happen afterward?
To hell with it.
"I knew long ago," Zi Shou said gravely. "Just wait quietly, my beloved consort. The rebels are nothing to fear."
Yun Zhongzi had been lingering in Chaoge all this time. Perhaps he was waiting for precisely this moment. Once Daji acted, Yun Zhongzi would surely act as well to slay the demon. With her true form exposed, no one could fault him.
How could Zi Shou let Yun Zhongzi eliminate his most reliable source of Foolishness Value?
Every civil and military official at court was a loyal subject, diligently attending to state affairs all day and conscientiously making trouble for him. Only a demon could set his mind at ease-and she was so beautiful, too.
He absolutely could not let anything happen to Daji. Besides, there was not much time left before his Foolishness Value was tallied. He would certainly resolve this before the flames reached them.
As for any unexpected mishaps, if things really became impossible, he would deal with that when the time came.
"Your Majesty..."
"Say no more. I am the one the rebels want to kill, the one they are rebelling against. If anyone must fight, it will be me. You have no right to do so."
Zi Shou firmly kept Daji behind him. He had a system and was the Human King. Wouldn't it be humiliating if he couldn't even protect a girl?
If he couldn't manage that, how could he talk about taking on the Three Pure Ones or Hongjun?
He might as well become a puppet and pawn like King Zhou in the novel!
The raging flames crackled and popped from time to time. Surrounded by the inferno, the Beacon Tower seemed utterly powerless to resist.
Gradually, he could feel a trace of scorching heat beneath his feet.
Black smoke rose as well, billowing high into the air.
Lei Kai personally led his elite troops to guard the foot of one passage.
It was the only route that had not been set alight, the one remaining way down from the Beacon Tower.
Lei Kai shouted, "Wretched king, surrender at once! Are you truly determined to taste what it feels like to burn to death?"
Burn to death, my ass!
Just hearing those words made Zi Shou uncomfortable. In the novel, King Zhou had burned himself to death on the Deer Terrace. The Beacon Tower was a little less impressive, but it was still a tower.
Zi Shou thought it over again. He ought to say something to make Lei Kai lower his guard. Otherwise, if the man burned the last route as well, he would have no way down even after turning the tables and killing him.
So he did his best to look furious and raised his voice in a roar:
"I have my myriad subjects! How could my subjects perish? So long as my subjects endure, I shall endure!"
Below, Lei Kai was delighted. When Xia Jie lost his kingdom, he had once said, "As heaven has its sun, so I have my subjects. Can the sun perish? Only when the sun perishes shall I perish." Then he had promptly met his end. These words truly played different tunes to the same effect.
The wretched king had lost his composure, so Lei Kai relaxed as well. Victory was all but certain. He only had to wait until the king could no longer endure the heat and the smoke drove him down from the Beacon Tower. Then they would swarm him and capture him, and their great undertaking would be accomplished.
"So long as the subjects endure, His Majesty shall endure!"
Where had that voice come from?
Lei Kai looked up. The voice had not come from King Zhou. The king was still holding a beauty in his arms up on the tower. What a truly depraved fool!
All Lei Kai wanted was for the fire to burn faster.
"So long as the subjects endure, His Majesty shall endure!"
The faint voices grew a little louder.
"So long as the subjects endure, His Majesty shall endure!"
The voices grew louder still.
Who was that?!
Lei Kai looked behind him.
He saw more than thirty burly men clad in armor.
They were even heftier than the Royal Guards he had seen in the palace.
Their strides were a little more swaggering, too.
Just looking at them made him want to hit them.
They carried only farming tools, not weapons. Were they the Royal Guards who had previously laid aside their armor and returned to farming?
Lei Kai was somewhat bewildered, unsure why these men had come here.
Even though these thirty-odd armored Royal Guards held farming tools, anyone could tell they were elite soldiers.
Swinging a blade required core strength; taking a blow required fat to cushion the impact. Campaigning north and south required enough fat to sustain the physical exertion. This group of retired Royal Guards had all of those qualities.
Calling them veterans of a hundred battles would be no exaggeration.
Still, Lei Kai was not particularly worried. Even if all thirty-odd men were elite soldiers, they could not possibly defeat more than three thousand troops, let alone rescue King Zhou from the Beacon Tower.
He merely ordered the rebels to hold their ground and maintain formation. Could thirty-odd men possibly charge through their ranks?
Then he saw the nearly thousand ordinary townsfolk behind those thirty-odd men.
Naturally, these people were not as valiant as the Royal Guards, nor did they wear armor. Most wore plain cloth clothes. Some had added straw rain capes for a little extra protection, better than nothing.
What they held was even more pitiful. At least the Royal Guards carried substantial farming tools; most of these people held wooden clubs and tree branches.
Yet even so, Lei Kai could no longer remain calm.
He suddenly understood why King Zhou had made the Royal Guards who had rendered such great service lay aside their armor and return to farming.
There had been a deeper purpose all along!
He had heard a little about the Royal Guards helping the people and settling disputes, but had never taken it to heart. He had never imagined it was all for this day!
This was the people's allegiance!
The townsfolk following the Royal Guards to defend their king numbered barely a thousand, no more than a drop in the ocean of vast Chaoge City.
But this meant that the Royal Guards' everyday conduct had earned recognition, and the people's hearts were with King Zhou!
Today there were a thousand. Tomorrow there might be ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or even the whole world!
This was what it meant to be a king.
For a moment, Lei Kai actually felt ashamed.
Suddenly, he saw everything clearly. No wonder Prince Zi Qi had said King Zhou had long since seen through their rebellious intentions. A strategy like this, hiding soldiers among the people and winning their hearts, had directly stripped their rebellion of its righteous cause!
King Zhou was supposed to be a foolish, immoral ruler whom no ordinary citizen could possibly support. Yet the facts proved the opposite!
Lei Kai hardened his heart. Kill them.
Kill them all. He had long since lost any path of retreat. Thirty-odd Royal Guards and nearly a thousand civilians-he could detach a thousand men and slaughter them all.
Just as he was about to give the order, another force arrived.
Leading them was a female general in red armor, her bearing heroic and spirited.
Lei Kai knew Huang Feiying had led troops to reinforce the South Gate. Chong Heihu's army was there and would not be easy to handle. She should have been pinned down, so why had she come here?
Judging by the soldiers' imposing air, it did not look as though the South Gate had fallen. What exactly had happened?
Soon, another force gave him the answer.
Su Hu of Jizhou had not come to loot a burning house. He had come to defend the king.
Lei Kai abruptly realized that three forces had surrounded him.
In an instant, he understood. He understood completely. Everything had been a scheme.
It turned out King Zhou had already arranged every detail of the rebellion they had spent so long plotting.
They had probably been watched ever since their discussions at the residence. King Zhou's inaction throughout this time had not meant he had failed to notice. He had been giving them an opportunity.
"Hahahaha!" Lei Kai threw back his head and laughed several times, trying to make himself look less foolish.
Zi Shou had already selected the item he wanted to exchange for on the system panel. Once he unleashed it, the rebel army would surely be destroyed.
He was only waiting for his Foolishness Value to be tallied.
Suddenly, a burst of laughter reached him.
Who's making all that racket down there? That laughter sounds like crying.
Zi Shou stuck his head out and looked down, seeing densely packed troops.
Oh dear, there are more enemies now. Still, this thing is powerful. A few more won't matter.
At that moment, a rider emerged and cupped his hands toward the Beacon Tower.
"Your servant, Su Hu of Jizhou, came too late to save Your Majesty! Please forgive me!"
"Your servant, Yin Pobai..."
"Your servant, Huang Feiying..."
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There will be an extra update tonight. And here I thought I could build up a backlog.
Before you continue