All Three Divine Realms Owe You a Favor

The Celestial Empress's face darkened slightly, about to speak, when a steady, unhurried voice rang out: "He does have a point."

The voice was deep and melodious, like the lingering notes of a harp.

It was the Qilin Divine Lord.

The Celestial Empress glanced at him and smiled. "Lord Soren Lann, I sent them because Sigil Sect disciples are the very best at spell arrays! Or do you mean my Drake Abyss Divine Guard are just cowards? Haven't you asked the Sigil Sect for help yourself when you hit a wall?"

Soren Lann paused, then asked, "Why does the Celestial Empress insist on breaking the array?"

"Oh, Lord Divine, what a question..." The Empress chuckled. "You really think we should just let him run wild?"

"Exactly!" The Azure Dragon Lord frowned. "His murderous aura is overwhelming! He and his Ten Fiendish Elites have destroyed city after city, wreaking havoc everywhere. If we let him go unchecked, he'll probably wipe out all Three Realms!"

But Soren Lann said, "Those city slaughters might not actually be his doing."

The Empress's eyelid twitched. "What do you mean, Lord Soren? If not him, then who?"

Soren Lann replied, "A while back, I was traveling with Keane Shui, and we passed by a city called Skycrest."

"Skycrest City?" That was Harvey Quinn. "I know it—it's a place brimming with spiritual energy."

"Most importantly, some close relatives of the Summers Clan live there," Soren Lann added.

"That's right!" said a member of the Summers Clan. "But why did Lord Soren suddenly bring up Skycrest City?"

Soren Lann: "Everyone knows Keane Shui is a Rune Master by birth."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"When we passed through Skycrest, we saw ominous black clouds gathering overhead—an omen of total destruction," Soren explained, glancing at Leo Li. "So he cast a barrier over the city."

Leo Li felt a bad premonition, but forced himself to look calm, pretending to listen intently.

"Later, an immortal ship arrived. It was Lord Noctis, disguised as Baxa, bringing a boatload of lesser fiends to attack the city. I drove him off," Soren said. "Keane Shui, ever the clever one, slipped in among the fiends and followed their ship into a pocket realm."

Then he saw some things and recorded them with Clarity Charms. Since everyone is here today, I’ll play them for you all."

He played both Clarity Charms for the crowd.

One of the recordings was a confession from one of the lesser fiends.

He listed all the cities their group had destroyed.

And every last one of those massacres was pinned on Damian Black.

The second recording showed Leo Li meeting with Baxa.

The gods saw everything clearly and began whispering and gossiping among themselves.

...

Lily Bai sent a voice transmission to Lord Faustin: "Master, so you handed off that hot potato to the Qilin Divine Lord!"

"Mm."

"When did you get to know the Qilin Divine Lord?"

Lord Faustin replied, "I helped him break an array once. He owes me a favor."

Lily Bai: "I swear, all three Divine Realms owe you favors!"

Lord Faustin: "Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing."

...

Then Soren Lann spoke up again: "The Baxa you all saw in the second Clarity Charm isn’t the real Baxa. Keane Shui opened his Heaven’s Eye and saw his true form—it was actually Lord Noctis."

He turned to Harvey Quinn: "This proves that a lot of those crimes weren’t really the Fifth Highness’s doing—they were Lord Noctis’s frame-ups! Harvey Quinn, what do you think?"

Harvey Quinn frowned and answered, "I’ll find him and get to the bottom of this."