Lily Bai asked him to list a few cities they had slaughtered, and he spoke them aloud.
They were exactly the cities said to have been destroyed by Damian Black—the so-called Demon Emperor.
So those events really had another story behind them...
Damian Black hadn't lied.
He wasn't the source of chaos, randomly slaughtering and wreaking havoc across the land.
He was framed by this so-called 'Demon Emperor' here.
So what had she been doing all these years?
She'd made a huge mistake.
She shouldn't have joined the Demon Slayer Alliance.
She shouldn't have ignored her master's advice.
She shouldn't have killed so many Spirit Beasts.
She was the real executioner...
She remembered what he said atop the highest mountain in the Primeval Demon Wilds: "I often sit here thinking, if the Tribulation Storm Array is ever broken, where could I possibly hide them all? The world is vast, but where can they survive?"
Her heart ached.
......
"Damian... do you know what that rat fiend's background is?" Lily Bai asked.
Facing Damian, she couldn't bring herself to say 'Demon Emperor' anymore.
Damian nodded.
"Mind telling me?"
"I've already told you."
"So, he's one of the Celestial Empress's people?"
"With his level of power, he wouldn't truly submit to anyone. He's just a blade in the Celestial Empress's hand," Damian said.
"We have to expose her conspiracy!" Lily Bai said angrily. "She's the Celestial Empress—how can she do something like this!"
"Expose her to whom? With what evidence?"
"I've already recorded Chestnut's whole confession with a Clarity Charm," Lily said. "We'll take this evidence to the Demon Slayer Alliance! To Cangwu and the Lumina Realm! I refuse to believe that just because she's the Celestial Empress, she can cover the sky with one hand!"
"Who would believe the crazy ramblings of some random little demon?" Damian sneered.
Lily Bai fell silent for a moment. "So, we need more evidence!"
As she spoke, she slapped another Puppet Rune onto Chestnut.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and get out of here!" Damian grabbed her arm, nearly crushing it.
"We finally managed to sneak in, of course I'm going to collect more evidence. Why are you so eager to leave?" Lily Bai shot back, grabbing Damian's hand and dragging him into Chestnut's Life-pouch again.
Damian's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Chestnut led them to the Demon Emperor's Palace in the Sealed-God Pocket Realm.
This Demon Emperor's Palace wasn't as grand as the one in the Primeval Demon Wilds, but it was still incredibly lavish and luxurious.
Outside the palace, there was a Spirit Barrier.
A very strong Spirit Barrier.
There was also an Illumination Ray.
The Illumination Ray would expose anyone hiding under invisibility.
Lily Bai stroked her chin, plotting: to sneak into the Demon Emperor's Palace, gather evidence, get out, and then escape the pocket realm.
None of those steps would be easy.
The best bet was... to follow.
Sneak in while invisible by following someone authorized.
Otherwise, it would be almost impossible not to get caught.
She cast a divination on this idea.
The result was great—Excellent plan.
Pleased, Lily Bai decided to break the Illumination Ray first.
For her, it was no big deal.
Just a few talismans would do the trick.
She'd barely finished disabling the Illumination Ray when someone showed up.
It was Leo Li.
Lily Bai's eyes narrowed; she quickly told Chestnut to wait by the barrier and follow Leo Li inside when he went in.
Leo Li walked through without any trouble.
The guards didn't even question him—they just opened the Spirit Barrier and let him in.
Invisible Chestnut slipped in silently right behind him.
Lily trailed far behind, Clarity Charm activated.
Leo Li met with the rat fiend.
His first words: "Noctis, what happened? How did you come back empty-handed?"
The rat fiend, still looking like Baxa, didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "How did Sean Shaw end up wielding Tenfold Oblivion?"