Chapter 278: Massacre, Desperate

[As you stared in astonishment, the Taoist who called himself the King of the West completely removed the mask of mercy he had worn in the dream, revealing the true nature of the leader of the bandit army! ]

[Following his command, all Taoists and soldiers cheered and rushed into the city, and then indulged in looting! ]

[Seeing this, you realized with panic that the half-threatening, half-tempting dream you had given me was just a disguise by this group of evil thieves...]

[But the city gates have been opened, the enemy troops have entered the city, and nothing can be done to save the situation... The enemy troops not only have tens of thousands of people, but also have the help of magic water and sorcery. You cannot stop them at all.]

[You first begged the enemy army to show mercy, and when your begging was in vain, you cursed them for being untrustworthy! ]

[The bandit army, tired of being scolded, wanted to kill you directly, but considering that you were the heroes who opened the gate for the King of the West, after hesitating, they just turned a blind eye to you and continued to plunder, leaving you to your helpless rage...]

Snapped!
In the silent house, the regretful Lin Liu slapped himself hard!

"It was all because of my ignorance that I trusted the thieves, and that's why the elders suffered such misfortune!"

Although I didn't see the bandits looting everywhere, I could imagine what the scene would be like...

"Brother Liuzi, don't do this!"

A friend reluctantly comforted him:

"With the magic of the Western King, it's useless even if we resist to the end... The county town will be breached sooner or later. If we take the initiative to open the gate, at least we can keep our own peace..."

"Yes, yes!"

Some people rejoiced:

"Anyway, we weren't robbed, which is a blessing in disguise..."

Everyone was very attentive in their comfort, but Lin Liu still felt very guilty. In his opinion, his behavior was completely selling out the elders in the city in exchange for his own safety...

Boom boom boom!
At this moment, there was a loud knock on the door!

"Who?!"

Lin Liu asked hurriedly, and at the same time exchanged nervous glances with everyone. Everyone present secretly grabbed their spears and sticks, ready to fight to the death...

"Open the door! The King of the West invites you to a banquet to reward you for your merits!"

The hoarse voices of the bandits were heard outside the door, and everyone looked at each other in confusion.

"Brother Liu, are you going?"

Someone asked hesitantly. Ever since Lin Liu gathered the crowd and opened the door, he, who was already quite popular, has now become the backbone of the group.

The Western King came with bad intentions, and no one knew whether this so-called reward for merit was actually a Hongmen Banquet...

"go with!"

Gritting his teeth, Lin Liu stood up under the anxious gaze of everyone and said fiercely:
"If it's a blessing, it won't be a disaster. If it's a disaster, it can't be avoided... Since it has come to this, let's go and see what the King of the West is up to!"

"Yes! Listen to Brother Liuzi!"

Being pushed to this point, no one had any objections, and they quickly reached a consensus.

[You led a group of tense-looking people, and under the guidance of the bandits, you soon arrived at the "temporary palace" of the Western King. ]

[This was the original county government office. After the Western King entered the city, he occupied this place as a so-called temporary palace...]

[In the temporary palace, the King of the West warmly received you, the heroes! ]

[When the banquet was set up, they ate large pieces of meat and drank large bowls of wine, which fully demonstrated their inflated mentality. ]

[You were not in the mood to eat, and you only cared about the looting in the city, so you spoke directly about this issue without any hesitation! ]

[Your rude behavior immediately angered the Taoist priests who followed the King of the West, but the King of the West did not get angry. Instead, he took it very seriously.]

[“You are right. As a righteous army, we cannot commit such bandit acts!”]

[While you were stunned, the King of the West first praised you for your righteousness and outspokenness, then punished himself with two cups of wine, and with emotion ordered his soldiers: "Go and pass the order immediately, the entire army is not allowed to plunder again, and anyone who violates this will be punished by military law!"]

[The soldiers took orders and left. The King of the West smiled and toasted you: "Drink! Don't leave until you are drunk!"]

【…】

"Is this good?"

It was still in that silent room.

Everyone was still somewhat incredulous:

I thought the robbery would be troublesome, but it ended just like that...

"I don't understand. It's only been one night. Could it be that they have already robbed enough?"

Some people don’t understand:
"Given how greedy they were when they entered the city, it shouldn't be enough to just grab this..."

"Who knows? Not snatching is always a good thing..."

Some people began to feel lucky. Even though they had let the beasts into the city to wreak havoc for one night, it was only one night after all...

“Something’s wrong!”

Lin Liu, who had been thinking silently, shook his head:
"This group of bandits doesn't seem to have strict military discipline. How could they suddenly stop after they have already started looting?"

"There must be something wrong..."

He thought so.

Suddenly, several people who had joined the gang earlier rushed in. As soon as they entered the room, they said happily without even taking a breath:

"Good, good! The Western King's army has stopped robbing. The Western King has issued an order that all the families whose property was robbed should gather outside the city, and then return their property one by one!"

what? !

This unexpected news made everyone look at each other in bewilderment:
"You were still letting your soldiers plunder before, why did you suddenly change your ways?"

Some people breathed a sigh of relief:

"No matter what, we have to pay it back... It seems that this time it's not too bad. There is still a difference in treatment between voluntarily surrendering and surrendering after the city is breached..."

"That's right, at least we saved our lives..."

But the more Lin Liu thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong:
"When they entered the city last night, they were clearly fierce, but now they are acting the opposite..." "Also, since they want to return the things, why not just let the soldiers return the things they looted? If they all crowd outside the city, who will be able to tell whose things are whose?"

As he thought about it, Lin Liu became more and more uneasy, so he told everyone:

"Go back immediately. If the neighbors who were robbed want to claim their property, don't let them go!"

……

"Are you all ready?"

In the county government office, King Xi spoke slowly.

"Brother, everything is ready!"

The Taoists grinned:
"Although the incense is good because it is endless, we are still weak at the moment, and the imperial court is powerful. Even if we take the city, we can't occupy it rashly, otherwise we will suffer... In this case, we might as well kill the goose that lays the golden eggs!"

"The souls of these people can be fully fed to my [Western King Dharma Image]. With this nourishment, my Dharma Image will surely be able to improve again... As long as I am here, we will be able to fight back sooner or later."

"Once Brother's Dharma is fully developed, we will not only seize this infinite kingdom, but also fight our way up to the Heavenly Palace and bring down all those idlers!"

The Taoists all complimented the King of the West.

The King of the West smiled upon hearing this...

It is true that he was talking a lot of nonsense when he had a dream, and made up a bunch of obscure backgrounds for himself, but he was not making up anything about his ideal future.

The future goal of every Dharma-Appearance monk who embarks on the path of cultivation is to conquer the human world, then the heaven, and replace those clay puppets!
He is just one of the countless traitors...

"it is good!"

King Xi smiled:
"Send the order to the troops to take action immediately. Once I have refined the Dharma image, we will withdraw from the city and leave this empty city to the government troops."

"As ordered by Senior Brother!"

All the Taoists obeyed the order.

……

“Something’s wrong!”

Although he didn't know what the King of the West was going to do, Lin Liu still felt terrified...

Soon, there was a burst of hurried footsteps, and a man who was responsible for finding out the movements of the Western King's bandit army rushed in quickly and shouted to Lin Liu:
"Brother Liuzi, something bad has happened! Outside the city... outside the city..."

"What happened outside the city?!"

Lin Liu's heart skipped a beat and he instantly stood up from his chair, an ominous premonition rushing to his head.

The man said quickly:
"Yi... The enemy troops have also left the city, armed with weapons! I saw it clearly!"

"what?!"

The worst guess became a reality in an instant. Lin Liu collapsed to the ground, his head lowered blankly, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a while, another anxious person ran over, his face pale with fear, and said:
"Six... Brother Liu, outside the city... outside the city..."

"What's wrong?!"

Lin Liu raised his head and stared at him with a distorted face, which frightened the already panicked messenger and made him cry:

"They...they started killing people!"

Lin Liu closed his eyes. He regretted that if he hadn't opened the city gate before, maybe...

"Those bandits killed people indiscriminately, killing anyone they saw! We were all here to collect our belongings, and were crowded together outside the city. Once the bandits started to attack, they had nowhere to escape..."

The messenger cried as he spoke, and the more Lin Liu listened, the more silent he became, even dead silent.

He suddenly raised his head, stared blankly at the two messengers, and said in a dry voice:
"Go... go find someone..."

"Brother Liu, who are you looking for?"

"Everyone..."

……

[You quickly gathered the team again and looked at them. You didn't say much, but simply told them about the massacre happening outside the city...]

[Everyone was shocked! ]

【Seeing everyone's horrified expressions, you said in a deep voice: We were the ones who let the person in. Now that something has happened, we cannot stay out of it for both moral and logical reasons.】

[Those bandits are slaughtering innocent people, we must give it a try! ]

[As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's murderous intent immediately rose! ]

【"But……"】

[Someone said cautiously: "But the King of the West is a deity, we might..."]

[Someone else whispered, "Yes, the King of the West knows magic... only. We are not implicated in it, so why take the risk..."]

[When faced with this kind of question, you should have patiently answered their questions and explained to them the principle of "the lips and the teeth are cold"... But now you don't want to waste your breath and time anymore. ]

[“I won’t force those who don’t dare to go, but I will be the first to rush in. Anyone who wants to come can come!”]

[You coldly said this, turned around, picked up your spear and left! ]

[Looking at your back, a group of people immediately picked up their crude weapons and followed you in a black mass: they were the ones who opened the door, no matter how many reasons they had, they had to fight to the death at this time.]

[Another group of people hesitated for a while, then gritted their teeth and followed: Just charge, if the King of the West can kill others, he can certainly kill them too, in order to survive...]

[The last group of people hesitated for a while, but they didn’t make up their minds in the end: It’s just luck, so let it be luck…]

【…】

[You led nearly 200 people and rushed to the county government for the second time, launching a desperate attack on the mysterious King of the West! ]

……

(End of this chapter)