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"Pathetic tricks!"
High above the sky, Ling'er stood tall, her eyes full of disdain. As a proud dragon, she looked down on Li Yan's current actions like they were nothing more than desperate flailing.
"You don't get it! This is a legendary magic array created by the Demon Lord himself—one that spans into the future! People would kill just to catch a glimpse of it, and you call it lowly?"
Li Yan, drunk on the overwhelming demonic energy flooding his body, roared with pride.
He had completely absorbed every demon in the ancient Asian continent.
Ling'er wanted to take this chance to strike him down using divine power, but there was a problem—Li Yan was wrapped in an impenetrable magical barrier.
Worse still, if she attacked now, the energy from her assault would just be absorbed and added to Li Yan's strength.
"Hahaha! Once I've fully absorbed all the demons' magic and their life force, even the Demon Lord himself couldn't beat me!"
"This land belongs to me, Li Yan! Why should a Demon Lord born of the Black Chi rule it like it's his right? I won't allow it!"
Li Yan ranted like a madman, screaming wildly at the sky.
Ling'er furrowed her brows but didn't move. Instead, she lifted her dragon head and gazed up into the heavens, as if asking for guidance.
But the one above—the Shen Lord—stayed silent.
Seeing this, Ling'er sighed inwardly. With no other choice, she stayed still and waited for Li Yan to finish absorbing all the demonic energy in the continent.
Meanwhile, high above in the sky, Shen Du was watching the magic array's power in action. He couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Damn… I made this magic array? I didn't realize it was this powerful."
"A legendary spell that spans across time, huh... But I guess this guy activating it has helped me see where its limits lie."
Even if Li Yan managed to absorb every last bit of demonic power from the ancient continent, he'd still only be on par with Ling'er—his own external incarnation.
No wonder that when Shen Du first created this array, it couldn't absorb power from a Demon Lord. The array's upper limit was always below that level.
"…Speaking of which, this Pure Yang Sword is supposed to have the power to subdue dragons. I wonder if it can make her use it properly."
Shen Du narrowed his eyes. Since this sword was used by the Eight Immortals to seal the Demon Lords, it must carry a spell that could banish demons straight to hell.
The only problem was, demon hell didn't even exist yet—so would the spell even work? Shen Du didn't know.
Back when he was watching Jackie Chan Adventures, everyone thought demon hell was a realm created by the ancient Eight Immortals specifically to imprison Demon Lords.
But now that he'd crossed into this world himself, he couldn't tell if demon hell was something that naturally existed or something the Eight Immortals had crafted.
Still, with Lü Dongbin's sword right here, Shen Du was curious to see what would happen. Could that demon-sealing spell really send Ling'er, a dragon, into demon hell?
If it did work, then that would prove the realm was born from the world itself—not something created by the Eight Immortals. If it didn't, then the opposite was true.
Sure, Ling'er wasn't exactly him, but technically speaking, she was still his external incarnation. So maybe the spell would still have some effect on her.
Suddenly, Shen Du's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar, deep voice nearby:
"Shen Lord, I never thought you'd grow fond of such fragile human bodies. What a surprise…"
He turned and saw Zhou Lan slowly drifting toward him, his presence wrapped in the gravitational pull of the moon. The shift in gravity caused Xue'er, Shen Du's companion, to float slightly into the air.
The sky, which had been bright just moments ago, was now darkened with swirling black clouds.
"…It's you. Zhou Lan."
"What are you doing here?"
Shen Du's voice was calm. He didn't seem surprised in the slightest by Zhou Lan's arrival.
After all, Zhou Lan was one of the Eight Demon Lords too. His appearance didn't necessarily mean trouble—or peace either. Shen Du couldn't say for sure.
Zhou Lan glanced down at the silver dragon and Li Yan below, then spoke with a strange tone, "That's your companion, and the other one… a humanoid demon holding a sacred sword."
"Looks like a fight's about to break out. As a guest on your turf, would you like me to lend your companion a hand?"
Shen Du paused, then chuckled lightly. "Go ahead. If big bro wants to help out my companion, why not?"
"Good." Zhou Lan nodded, but didn't move. His eyes locked onto the sword in Li Yan's hand.
"What? Big bro, something bothering you?" Shen Du asked with a teasing grin.
"That sword… It feels like it holds the same kind of energy as something that counters me," Zhou Lan said slowly. "Not quite the same type, but close. I can say for sure—it's a weapon meant to suppress demons."
His eyes narrowed as he looked directly at Shen Du. "If I'm not mistaken, that sword was forged to counter you, Shen Lord."
Just as he'd suspected—besides himself, other Demon Lords also had nemesis weapons. But strangely enough, Shen Du didn't seem the least bit bothered.
Why was that? Was he really not afraid of the sword?
Zhou Lan muttered in his mind, trying to catch a glimpse of fear in Shen Du's eyes.
The Eight Demon Lords were born with the world itself—eternal and indestructible.
But once a nemesis weapon appears, Demon Lords will go to any length to destroy it.
So why… Why was Shen Du completely unfazed, even a bit amused?
If Zhou Lan had seen a weapon that countered his own lunar powers, he would've wiped it out immediately, without hesitation.
But Shen Du was treating it like a game. It didn't make sense.
Still unaware of what Zhou Lan was thinking, Shen Du calmly replied, "You're right, big bro. That sword is my nemesis."
"But right now, this world is ruled by Black Chi. As for positive energy? Who knows where it's hiding?"
"That sword is a tool of positive energy. Only someone filled with that kind of energy can unleash its full power."
"A demon holding it, thinking they can use it to defeat a Demon Lord? Come on—that's a joke."
"Besides, that sword came from the future. That demon forced it into existence using the vast power of time."
"But tampering with time comes at a cost—even we Eight Demon Lords can't afford to mess with it. And that guy? He's not even a Demon Lord."
As he spoke, the battle below broke out in full force.
Seeing this, Shen Du added, "If you're trying to see how I feel about my own nemesis weapon, there's really no need."
Zhou Lan looked down slowly, his voice low and serious. "Power strong enough to counter a Demon Lord… shouldn't exist in this world."
"If you won't do anything about it, then as your big brother—I'll do it for you!"
Shen Du blinked once. "Be my guest."
With that, Zhou Lan flew down toward the battlefield below, where the fight raged on.
"....."