Ying You drew a deep breath, and some of the deference finally faded from his face.
"Imperial Lord."
"You have been away too long."
Whether deliberately or otherwise, he carried his voice across the entire void battlefield with his demonic power.
"The Imperial Lord says you did not kill those three elders. Very well, I believe you."
He spread his arms and turned slightly sideways. "But has the Imperial Lord considered why so many of the Demon Race believe it?"
"Because the Imperial Lord has killed too many over these past twenty years."
"The Imperial Lord wishes to bring the clans under his rule? Fine. Rebuild order? Fine. Reclaim supreme power over the Demon Realm? That, too, is fine."
"But has the Imperial Lord ever considered..." He raised his head and looked straight at Zhu Yao.
"How the Demon Realm survived all those long years you were gone?"
He lifted his head and stared straight into Zhu Yao's eyes.
"In that war in Ancient Times, the Demon Realm nearly shattered. Fewer than one in ten of the Demon Race survived. The clans scattered, never knowing if they would live to see another day, without even a single intact habitat."
"Who held all of this together?"
"Who breathed new life into the shattered Demon Realm?"
He turned toward the demons behind him, his gaze sweeping across the faces of the Ying clan, the Yu clan, the Ao clan, and all those subordinate clans and vassal forces.
Then he raised his hand and pointed at them.
"They did."
"Countless demons, generation after generation, used their blood, their lives, and countless days and nights to hold this shattered land together again!"
"We welcome your return, Imperial Lord. We support your taking power."
His tone suddenly grew heavy.
"But the Imperial Lord cannot... treat