World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 922 - 430: Ascending to the Throne! Situation Reversed!_3

Chapter 922: 430: Ascending to the Throne! Situation Reversed!_3

But justice comes at a great cost, and that cost must be considered.

Thus, these officials were desperately calling for Duke Zhi Ting to come out, hoping someone would take the lead and shield them from the executioner’s blade in crucial moments.

Previously, Duke Zhi Ting was considered by them as an incompetent dandy, a piece of trash of the kingdom. Now he has become the pillar of the kingdom, its towering jade column!

In just over an hour, officials kneeling outside of Duke Zhi Ting’s mansion have fainted from tears ten or more times, and three have vomited blood.

Hundreds of people, their cries shaking the heavens!

Finally, the mansion gates were opened, and Duke Zhi Ting, after countless calls, finally appeared before them.

Instantly, everyone rushed forward to kneel and weepingly said, "Your Grace, the Rage Wave Kingdom has reached its most dangerous moment. With Princess Zhi Yan missing and Lord Suo Lun not present, you must rescue the kingdom from collapsing."

Duke Zhi Ting asked, "How should I save it?"

The leading noble said, "Lead us to stop the calamities caused by the evil beings."

"Calamities caused by evil beings?" Duke Zhi Ting said, "What do you mean by calamities? Can you clarify?"

If you don’t even dare to speak the name Zhi Li, how can you expect to push me forward to lead you in opposing Zhi Li?

The noble clenched his teeth and said, "To stop Zhi Li from ascending the throne?"

After saying this, regardless of later regrets, he threw caution to the winds and finally spoke the name of Zhi Li.

Duke Zhi Ting asked, "On what grounds?"

The noble said, "His Majesty the King was assassinated and perished, and certain people have undeniable suspicion!"

At this point, he hesitated again, saying certain people are suspected.

Duke Zhi Ting asked, "Who exactly are these certain people?"

Someone in the crowd shouted, "It’s Zhi Li, it was he who assassinated His Majesty the King."

"Hero..." The officials and nobles present applauded him.

...

Duke Zhi Ting coughed.

Everyone instinctively quieted down because they knew that Duke Zhi Ting was about to deliver an important speech.

Duke Zhi Ting loudly said, "As everyone knows, last night an appalling assassination of the King occurred at the palace, an act that changed the heavens and earth. Many people say that His Highness Zhi Li is the perpetrator..."

At this point, Duke Zhi Ting looked toward the crowd.

Everyone held their breath and perked their ears, waiting for the second half of Duke Zhi Ting’s statement.

Duke Zhi Ting slowly said, "I absolutely do not believe this! First, His Highness Zhi Li is at the southern border city, a distance of over a thousand miles. To direct the assassination at the palace? Impossible! Furthermore, His Highness Zhi Li is humble and filial, I do not believe for a second that he could be so heartless and deranged to assassinate his sovereign father! Therefore, claims of His Highness Zhi Li assassinating the King are completely unfounded."

The words of Duke Zhi Ting, like a sweeping storm, whipped through everyone’s hearts!

All the officials were completely astonished!

What’s going on? What exactly is happening?

Has Duke Zhi Ting turned traitor? Or does Zhi Li have some powerful leverage that forces Lord Suo Lun to compromise?

After speaking, Duke Zhi Ting returned to his mansion, firmly closing the gates with no intention of opening them again!

...

Duke Zhi Ting’s stance, like a Category 12 hurricane, swept through the royal city!

This leader, seen as the hope of the anti-Zhi Li camp, actually came out and openly declared support for Zhi Li. What hope did everyone else have left?

Would anyone come out against Zhi Li’s ascension to the throne now? Isn’t that just acting recklessly against an unstoppable force?

With both Suo Lun and Princess Zhi Yan absent, who would you display your justice for, only to be made an example of by Zhi Li as a warning to others?

At once, the officials outside Duke Zhi Ting’s mansion dispersed like birds and beasts. Those who had fainted from vomiting blood half a liter managed to sneakily wake up and blend into the crowd, fleeing for their lives, regretting having overacted.

More than half an hour later, the officials standing outside Duke Zhi Ting’s mansion had completely disappeared.

The officials within Princess Zhiyan’s Mansion had almost all gone as well.

Those officials and nobles who had been vocal about saving the kingdom from collapse and upholding kingdom justice had all vanished.

Duke Zhi Ting, peering through the crack of the door and seeing the desolation returned to normal outside, shook his head and sighed.

The kingdom had nourished these officials for decades, these nobles for over a hundred years. But when the critical moment came, not a single one was willing to stand up and truly be loyal to the kingdom, to stop Zhi Li.

This fact truly chills one’s heart!

Indeed, what’s chilling isn’t just limited to this!

Prior to this, within Princess Zhiyan’s Mansion, outside Duke Zhi Ting’s residence, officials loudly advocated to uphold the kingdom’s justice and to topple Zhi Li. Many of them have already secretly visited Lord Zhi Li’s residence, beating their chests and cursing Suo Lun’s despicableness for not announcing the King’s death, attempting to frame the grave crime of regicide upon His Highness Zhi Li.

Despite Zhi Li’s absence, these officials kowtowed to an empty chair, crying loudly that a nation cannot go a day without a King, pleading for His Highness Zhi Li to ascend the throne as soon as possible!

...

As nightfall descended, Zhi Li and Prime Minister Yanwuji returned to the royal city riding a Griffin Beast!

A phenomenon both shocking and utterly absurd occurred.

The moment Zhi Li’s Griffin Beast landed,

Hundreds, thousands of officials within the residence immediately fell to their knees, howling in tears, with but one phrase on their lips.

"A nation cannot go a day without a King, we plead for His Highness Zhi Li to ascend the throne as soon as possible!"

"A nation cannot go a day without a King, we plead for His Highness Zhi Li to ascend the throne as soon as possible!"

Both Zhi Li and Prime Minister Yanwuji were stunned!

When Prime Minister Yanwuji left the royal city, there were few officials and nobles inside Lord Zhi Li’s residence, and many were on the side of Princess Zhiyan.

At least sevent percent of the officials and nobles within the royal city were opposing Zhi Li, some even calling for his death, chanting that there was a monsterous entity within the state.

Yet, by evening upon returning, over seventy percent of the officials were kneeling at Lord Zhi Li’s residence, imploring him to ascend the throne, fiercely denouncing Suo Lun’s despicableness for attempting to pin the crime of regicide onto His Highness Zhi Li.

Moreover, a large part of these were the same people. In the morning they were shouting to topple Zhi Li, by night to topple Suo Lun, kneeling and pleading for His Highness Zhi Li to ascend the throne.

Some even shifted their accusations more drastically, their narratives changing from Suo Lun fabricating the assassination attempt on the King to frame Zhi Li, eventually outright claiming that it was Suo Lun who assassinated the King.

All the nobles and officials who ran to Lord Zhi Li’s residence pleading for him to ascend, accounted for only about seventy percent; so where did the other thirty percent go?

None were at Princess Zhiyan’s Mansion, they were hiding in their homes playing ostrich, silent and uncommitted.

In a single day, the situation had completely reversed!

All these rapid and unpredictable developments transpired solely due to Duke Zhi Ting’s public endorsement.

Calling a deer a horse, inverting black and white, were all orchestrated by Zhi Li, but even he was stunned when it actually happened.

It turned out even better than he had anticipated.

Here stood a deer, but hundreds and thousands of intelligent people unanimously declared it a horse.

Even a fool would know that it was Zhi Li who assassinated the King last night. Yet hundreds and thousands of voices cried out in unison, claiming it was Suo Lun’s plot, even stating that it was Suo Lun who assassinated the King.

Zhi Li was truly dumbfounded, finding the scene before him utterly preposterous.

His trampling of truth had somehow succeeded! His plan of murdering the King and forcibly ascending the throne, a plan so likely to fail, was about to succeed.

In this moment, he couldn’t help but say to Prime Minister Yanwuji beside him: "They say the mouths of nobles and officials are like a prostitute’s backside. Now it seems, even the prostitute’s backside is better. Their backsides are only for defecating, while these people’s mouths not only defecate, they consume it back again."

...

Henceforth, every noble and official in the royal city spoke with one voice, the nation cannot go a day without a King, pleading for His Highness Zhi Li to ascend the throne!

That very evening, officials wept blood as they beseeched Zhi Li to ascend the throne.

Zhi Li rejected them thrice, but then a noble crashed his head against a wall, blood gushing forth, the sight terribly ghastly.

At the same time, more officials and nobles removed their hats, threatening that if Zhi Li did not agree, they too would bash their heads and die.

With no other choice, Zhi Li tearfully agreed.

The very next morning!

Zhi Li, along with the civil and military officials, and all the nobles, under the protection of the City Defense Army, headed to the royal palace in a grand procession.

Fang Qingzhuo dressed ornately, in splendid clothes, followed next to Zhi Li, entering the royal palace!

The hasty coronation ceremony, officially commenced!

...

Note: The second update of over five thousand words is here, begging for support, thank you all!