Inside the palace, smiles appeared on the faces of the various deities, but in stark contrast, the regional Pacification Envoys and Prince Ning, who had been invited as guests, all wore grim expressions.
If they were to lead the way in recognizing the status of these deities, setting aside questions of righteousness, they would, in the eyes of the Daxia imperial court, be seen as having defected completely to Zhou Tieyi. It would be tantamount to rebellion. If Zhou’s faction were to collapse in the future, they would undoubtedly be purged.
Yet, the difficulty lay in the fact that they seemed to have no room for rebuttal. If they refused now, as Pacification Envoys of the God-Slaughtering Department, it was their duty to annihilate any deity who gathered faith without authorization. However, opposing Zhou Tieyi’s current Divine Court with their own strength would be no different from seeking death. Was it not clear enough that Zhou Tieyi had sent out Rank 2 and Rank 1 deities just to "invite" them—these mere Rank 3s—here? This was nothing short of intimidation.
Chapter 567