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On the ancient coast of Australia, waves crashed violently against the shore.
The Holy Lord had only been here for less than an hour.
Suddenly, the sky darkened, thunder roared, and a storm broke out. Huge chunks of hail fell with the downpour, carried by fierce winds. A howling, invisible tornado kicked up layers of dust and sand.
In the next instant, a massive pair of wings blocked out the sky. A shadow dropped from the heavens, surrounded by the forces of wind, rain, thunder, lightning, snow, and ice. The Sky Demon—Ximu—had arrived.
Blinding arcs of lightning crackled through the clouds, and a storm cloud shimmered with violet lightning. A thunderbolt slammed into the earth, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
A pair of electric eyes flashed in the dust. A breeze blew it away, revealing Zhong Su, the Thunder Demon, with his spiky blue head and skin like lightning, descending alongside Ximu.
Farther out at sea, violent winds suddenly churned up towering waves. A hundred-meter-high wall of water surged forward.
The winds roared—Xiaofeng, the Wind Demon, took form within them. And from the waves rose Basha, the Water Demon.
The ground began to tremble. Moments later, it cracked open, forming a deep canyon. Out leaped Dikui, the Earth Demon, with skin like reddish-brown stone. He landed hard, feet pounding the ground to show his fury.
"Well, folks," Basha rasped slowly, "this is our first time meeting face to face!"
Dikui gritted his teeth and growled, "All I want is to crush that damn Hua Chu into dust!" He stomped the ground, shaking it violently in rage.
"We shouldn't wait another day," Zhong Su said, electricity flickering around him. "We need to destroy those damn artifacts now!"
"Where's Zulan?" Ximu frowned and asked.
"He went to get Bo Gang," the Holy Lord replied calmly. "He's just slower than you guys."
"Zulan's gravity powers let him move anything, no matter how heavy. Among the eight Demon Lords, only you're faster, Ximu."
"You're too impatient. Bo Gang is massive—it'll take him till tomorrow to get here."
"The deadline was meant for them, not us," the Holy Lord added. "But you all might want to check out the dark energy hidden deep within this continent. Those demons wielding the artifacts are probably already rewriting history with the Book of Ages, faking a past where they were stronger than us."
As he finished, the five Demon Lords turned to look deep into ancient Australia. A moment later, unease filled their eyes.
"That flimsy paper fan—how the hell is it so powerful now?" Xiaofeng exhaled a cool breeze, speaking in disbelief.
"Damn artifacts... and that cursed Book of Ages," Zhong Su hissed, crackling with electric sparks.
"We should go now," Basha said seriously. "Help Zulan bring Bo Gang here—no more delays!"
She turned to Xiaofeng, the Holy Lord, Zhong Su, and Ximu. "The five of us should pool our magic and lend him a hand!"
The Holy Lord frowned. Basha did have a point.
If they waited any longer, who knows what else those fools could do with the Book of Ages?
In less than a day, they'd already powered themselves up with fake history. If they got another half day... the consequences could be unthinkable.
After thinking it over, the Holy Lord said flatly, "Basha, we don't even know where Zulan is right now. We can't help him—we just have to wait."
Ximu nodded. "The Holy Lord's right. We don't know where Zulan started from. All we can do is wait here."
Xiaofeng and Zhong Su also agreed. Dikui, who had nothing useful to add, was ignored completely.
Basha narrowed her eyes, thinking hard.
"No problem finding them. They're probably in my ocean territory."
After a pause, she began to chant in a raspy voice while flicking her tail.
"Power of Water—Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water... O great sea!"
"Find what your master seeks!"
Moments later, water burst from her tail and turned into a swirling magical mirror.
In it, they saw Zulan dragging the massive Bo Gang across the ocean, slowly making their way toward ancient Australia.
Then—BOOM!
Zulan's magic faltered. Bo Gang fell straight into the sea.
"Seriously…" Zulan frowned, clearly annoyed. He pulled Bo Gang back up and grumbled, "Can you not eat while I'm trying to fly us there?!"
Bo Gang was stuffing meat into his mouth and mumbled, "Zulan... I'm just... boosting my magic!"
As he kept munching, his body grew even bigger.
Zulan was speechless.
"Bo Gang!"
"…"
Back at the shore, the Holy Lord saw the image in the water mirror and felt a flash of relief.
Then Basha stepped forward, muttering more unclear incantations.
Suddenly, the ocean surged high into the air. A giant water mirror formed in front of Zulan and Bo Gang.
"Holy Lord, fellow Demon Lords!"
Zulan, utterly exasperated, was shocked to see the others appear in front of him through the water mirror.
He instantly barked, "Holy Lord! You need to help me out—now!"
The Holy Lord muttered, "Yeah… guess we should help you. But…"
He glanced at the other Demon Lords, all standing around like it wasn't their problem.
"What do you suggest—go find him ourselves and drag Bo Gang here?"
That made everyone fall silent, deep in thought. Zulan saw that they were thinking it over, so he stopped talking and continued pulling the still-eating Bo Gang toward land.
"I've got an unfinished spell," Ximu finally spoke up, "It could teleport them straight here."
"Magic?!"All the Demon Lords except the Holy Lord were stunned.
"Spatial magic?!"
"Ximu, that's one of the hardest types of magic to pull off!"
"I've tried making a teleportation array before—didn't work. Every single time."
Even the Holy Lord was shocked. He himself hadn't been able to pull off space-based magic.
But Ximu clarified calmly, "It's just a spell—not a full-blown spatial magic array like the ones Sixth Brother used to make."
The Holy Lord relaxed a little. If it was just a basic spell, then sure—he could do that too.
He had been aiming for something more powerful, like a battle-grade teleportation array, not a simple portal.
"In that case, hurry up and do it," the Holy Lord said. "Swap their position with here—get them to us!"
"Then we wipe out every one of those demons who dared to mess with forbidden power!"
Basha, seeing a solution at last, quickly urged Ximu to get started.
"....."