Then You Can’t Blame Me

But she still tried her best and said, "I promise you, from now on, I’ll never hunt demon beasts without reason! If you could show mercy—let me live at least until I remove Azure Flame’s curse—would that be alright?"

Damian Black replied, "No."

"...A favor for you, a favor for me. If you let me go, I swear one day, I’ll repay you!" Lily Bai said solemnly.

Damian Black: "Of the twelve Heaven-Bestowed Demon Slayers, you’re the youngest, you’ve slain the most demon beasts, and you’re the most gifted. That makes you the biggest threat to us."

He paused, then asked, word by word, "If you don’t die... who should?"

Lily Bai: "...So there’s really no room for negotiation?"

"None."

Lily Bai bit her lip and said nothing.

If that’s how it is, then you can’t blame me!

Worst case... I’ll just spare Azure Flame.

......

The earth nourishes all things.

Its energy is everywhere.

Most of it is evenly spread out, invisible to the eye.

But some special terrains gather this energy together. When the energy pools, it often coils like a dragon—so it’s called a Dragon’s Nexus.

Usually, only Rune Masters can see this energy and find a Dragon’s Nexus.

But there are some famous Dragon’s Nexuses that everyone in the immortal world knows about.

After half a day of flying on Azure Flame, they arrived at one such renowned Dragon’s Nexus.

It was a mountain forest shrouded in clouds and mist, shaped like a half-moon, with the Dragon’s Nexus right in the center!

Azure Flame flew straight there, slowed down, and landed.

Lily Bai secretly bit her fingertip and quickly drew a sigil on the hem of her robe.

Then, while no one was watching, she suddenly activated it.

Caught off guard, Azure Flame and the two riders were swept up by a massive black-hole storm and plunged downward without warning.

As they fell, Lily Bai suddenly felt a hand tighten around her waist, holding her up.

When they were about ten meters from the ground, that hand was forcibly torn away by the array.

With her immortal powers sealed, Lily Bai landed on the ground with a thud.

Luckily, she had an immortal body—though the fall hurt, she wasn’t actually injured.

She got up and looked ahead.

On the grassy mountaintop, a giant imprisonment array had appeared.

Barriers sealed off all directions—the four sides, the sky, and the earth—forming a total enclosure.

In the center stood a suppression pillar, flickering with black light and swirling runes, with several black chains binding Damian Black tightly to it.

He tried to break free, but this was an array forged from the earth’s power—there was no way Damian Black could escape.

Of all the energies in the world, none are stronger than those of heaven and earth.

"Heaven" means the power of the stars;

"Earth" means the power of the land.

Arrays built with star power or earth power are the strongest of all.

No individual strength can stand against them.

Azure Flame turned back into her blue-robed human form, her face furious, pounding the barrier with her fists.

Her strength was so immense that every punch shook the mountain, sending dust flying.

But it was useless.

She couldn’t get in, and Damian Black couldn’t get out.

......

Lily Bai dusted herself off, walked up to Damian Black, and said, "Your Majesty Damian Black, honestly, I’m really grateful you saved my brother. I didn’t want to do this to you."

"But I don’t want to die," Lily Bai continued. "So... it has to be you."

Damian Black looked at her, his gaze cold and dangerous.

Under his stare, Lily Bai felt a little scared. She coughed to steady herself and asked, "Do you know what array this is? It’s called the Dragon-Coiling Heavenly Gang Array. Young Master Drake of Drake Abyss hid it in my body when I was branded as a Demon Slayer. This array can’t be broken by mortal power. And once it’s activated, the Divine Realm knows instantly! I bet... they’re already on their way."