Chapter 379: Chapter 379

Sun Wukong looked at these soldiers, and while he had no qualms about those who wanted to protect their duty, he had a lot of complaints about the King.

Although the King had been blinded and beguiled the entire time.

But that was his incompetence.

Immediately, Sun Wukong shouted, "Even if you protect him today, are you not afraid that this foolish ruler will send you to your deaths tomorrow?"

"To satisfy his own selfish desires, he can kill hundreds who oppose him without hesitation."

"To save his own life, he can disregard the lives of eleven hundred children, insisting on taking their hearts and livers for his medicine. Are you really willing to protect such a foolish ruler, who regards the lives of his people as worthless as weeds?"

"You risk your lives to protect him, but has he ever cared about your survival? What use is such a foolish ruler to you?"

Upon hearing Sun Wukong’s words, the guards hesitated even more, looking at each other, then a few of them couldn’t help but take a step back.

Zhu Bajie also stood up and said, "I was of the mind to spare him, but after hearing Brother Monkey’s words, I too think that such an immoral foolish ruler should be beheaded!"

"Instead of letting such a scourge rule over the people, it’s better to send him off with those two demons, giving an explanation to the dead children!"

"If you don’t want to be buried with this foolish ruler, step aside now."

The guards, seeing the fierce looks on Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie’s faces, were terrified, their hearts wavering. They finally collapsed at that moment and scattered to the side.

Seeing the soldiers retreat to the side, Sun Wukong went up and grabbed the King.

The King of Bhikkhu Country cried out in a lost voice, "You can’t do this to me, I am the King of Bhikkhu Country. Someone, protect me! Protect me!"

However, no matter how much the foolish ruler shouted, no one dared to step forward to protect him. All the civil and military officials and Imperial Guards present chose to remain silent.

They bowed their heads in silence, even intentionally staying as far from the King as possible, as if afraid to be implicated by him.

After the foolish ruler shouted and saw no response, his gaze inadvertently caught sight of Xuanzang sitting nearby. The ruler’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Like a drowning person clutching at a final lifeline, he shouted at Xuanzang, "Holy Monk of the Tang Dynasty, save me! Save my life, and I am willing to cede the kingdom to you!"

Xuanzang, watching this scene, couldn’t help but feel some compassion. In his view, killing demons was one thing, but killing a King was somewhat unreasonable.

So, with a twinge of reluctance, Xuanzang turned and said to Sun Wukong, "Wukong, although the King is guilty, he is after all the King of Bhikkhu Country!"

The prince should be punished as the commoner for his crimes! The King cannot be above the law of the land, nor above the people. Don’t you know that water that can bear a boat can also swallow it? Killing such an immoral foolish ruler now would also count as removing a bane for the people!"

"Buddha is compassionate, and monks should possess compassion and accumulate good deeds. If you save his life today, he will harm countless lives tomorrow. Master, sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture!"

Sun Wukong shook his head as he spoke.

He had claimed a kingdom on a mountain but was teased and forced by the immortals and buddhas to go to the Western Heaven.

Looking at this selfish and incompetent ruler reminded him of the Jade Emperor.

Upon hearing Sun Wukong’s words, Xuanzang was at a loss for a response.

At that moment, Zhu Bajie also came over, smiling and saying, "Master, there’s a saying, ’Good words are hard to persuade the doomed.’ This immoral foolish ruler has brought this upon himself. Master, you previously tried to persuade him gently, and yet this ruler remained unmoved and still insisted on using Master’s heart and liver for medicine. Why save such an irrational person?"

The King then cried out loudly, "Holy Monk, I have realized my wrongs, I beg you to save my life!"

Xuanzang, frowning, said with difficulty, "Sun Wukong, look, he has acknowledged his sins. He probably won’t commit them again. Perhaps..."

"Nature is hard to change!"

Sun Wukong shook his head and said, "This foolish ruler cares nothing for the lives of his people, treating them as if they were less than weeds. That kind of thinking is deeply ingrained in his heart. Do you think he can change?"

Xuanzang felt that the foolish ruler might still be redeemable, but he also understood that Sun Wukong was right. If the ruler had repented earlier, things would not have come to this pass.

Xuanzang could only sigh, turn away, and say, "After you die, I will pray for your soul, hoping that in your next life, you will be a wise ruler."

Hearing these words, the foolish ruler turned pale with fear, yet he still did not give up, continuing to shout, "You cannot kill me. I am the King of Bhikkhu Country. If you kill me, the subjects of Bhikkhu Country will never forgive you."

Upon hearing the King of Bhikkhu Country, Sun Wukong let out a cold laugh, saying bluntly, "Now you remember the subjects of Bhikkhu Country? Fine, today I shall make sure you die with a clear understanding."

After Sun Wukong finished speaking, he turned and shouted to the tens of thousands of Bhikkhu Country’s people gathered outside Wumen, "People of Bhikkhu Country, I ask you just one question: what should be done with such an immoral foolish ruler?"

With Sun Wukong’s resonant voice, coupled with his great magical power, every person in the city could hear him clearly. The moment Sun Wukong’s voice fell,

The crowd immediately fell into silence; the people had their reservations. Even though they hated the foolish ruler to the bone, no one dared to speak hastily, fearing trouble.

After a moment of silence, someone could not hold back. Among them, a woman who had lost her child suddenly whispered, "Kill him!"

The words set off a tidal wave of reactions. The people who had lost children began to shout out loud, "Kill him!"

"Execute this Foolish Ruler and Demon Empress, cut them to pieces with a thousand cuts!"

"Yes, cut them to a thousand pieces!"

"Fellow villagers, we now have celestial gods and bodhisattvas on our side; what is there to fear? Kill the Foolish Ruler, kill the Demon Empress!"

"Kill the Foolish Ruler! Kill the Demon Empress!"

The tens of thousands of people on the scene shouted in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.

The orderly chorus even made the Wumen City Tower tremble slightly.

The King, hearing these words, paled with terror, his whole body trembling nonstop, he stammered, "The heavens have abandoned me too! All the people of the nation have deserted me!"

Sun Wukong, hearing the Foolish Ruler’s words, shook his head and said with a cold laugh, "It’s not that the people have deserted you; you deserted the people first. Since ancient times, he who gains the people’s hearts gains the world, and he who loses the people’s hearts, loses the world."

"And this is the will of the people; what else have you got to say, Foolish Ruler?"

The Foolish Ruler was already scared out of his wits, continuously shouting at the top of his voice, "Have mercy, I beg the Immortal to spare my life!"

Sun Wukong couldn’t be bothered to give another glance at the Foolish Ruler; he waved his sleeve, raising a whirlwind on the ground.

The Foolish Ruler and the Demon Empress were caught up in the whirlwind, swept from the Wumen City Tower and thrown outside into the execution ground.

Zhu Bajie stepped forward and shouted, "Foolish Ruler, Demon Empress, for harming the loyal and bringing disaster to the country, by the plea of ten thousand citizens, you are sentenced to death, to be carried out immediately!"

"Executioners, immediately behead this man and demon, display their heads to pacify the people’s hearts."

The King, upon hearing these words, collapsed onto the execution ground, too terrified to move.

He could only keep begging, "Have mercy! Have mercy! Save me! Someone save me!"

Meanwhile, the Fox Spirit, with both hands and feet bound, could not move at all. Although she was scared to death, she fared much better than the craven King, knowing she could not escape her fate, she became quiet.

The two executioners on the execution ground froze in place, looking at each other, unsure of what to do.

Although they didn’t know how many people they had killed before, killing was their profession, to which they had become indifferent.

However, the criminals they had killed before were different, but the two criminals today were unusual, one being the King and the other the Beautiful Queen, causing them to hesitate.

When the King and the Demon Empress were thrown onto the execution ground, the crowd became agitated instantly, and tens of thousands of people began to shout loudly. Then, some recklessly rushed forward, soon followed by even more people shouting and charging.

With the King now on the scaffold and the soldiers stationed outside merely making a symbolic attempt to stop the surge, they quickly stepped aside for fear of being trampled to death by the furious mob, and the crowd flooded the execution stage like a tidal wave.

A young man rushed to the forefront, snatching the executioner’s sword, and bellowed, "Foolish Ruler! Go to your death!"

With that, he swung the sword down heavily.

Now was the time for settling scores and grievances.

Seeing this, the King couldn’t help but scream miserably, rolling his eyes back and passing out.

Yet even so, these enraged citizens wouldn’t let them off easily.

At that moment, the large sword came crashing down.

A wet slicing sound echoed.

A head the size of a fighting top flew through the air.

The Foolish Ruler was killed on the spot, but even in death, the angry populace did not spare him, rushing forward to tear apart his corpse.

Thinking of their own children, cruelly murdered by the King, their hearts and livers eaten.

The irate citizens tore the body into pieces in an instant, even smashing the skull to bits.

Elsewhere, someone else grabbed the sword from another executioner and beheaded the Fox Spirit with one clean strike.

Though the Fox Spirit had some cultivation, she lacked the technique to reanimate after decapitation. She died immediately, and before she could revert to her original form, her body was trampled into fragments by the angry mob.