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"In my domain, there's a special kind of being—similar to us, the eight Demon Lords—with almost immortal, undying powers."
"And they never get tired. I think you all might be interested in them."
As Po Kong finished, her eyes swept over the other Demon Lords gathered there.
Shendu paused for a second, then said coolly, "You mean those things from the Shadow Realm?"
"Those creatures are far too puny compared to us demons. Even the Shadowkhan sorcerers created by the Shendu and Xik can squash them easily," hissed Bai Tza.
"Po Kong, if you're trying to use this to renegotiate territory, forget it," Xiao Feng said lazily.
"We've lived for thousands of years. Our strength has already reached its peak. If we want to go further, things like that won't help us," Di Kui added in a deep voice.
At that moment, all the Demon Lords made it clear—they weren't impressed.
Po Kong looked disappointed, but Shendu was already thinking ahead. He figured these Shadow Warriors—who were basically like immortal Deadpools—might be useful to him in the future, as loyal servants at his command.
He wasn't sure exactly when the Eight Immortals would return, but he had a gut feeling that it wasn't far off.
His mastery of the Fire Element was already exceptional, but breaking through to the next level felt like there was some invisible barrier in the universe holding him back.
In terms of raw power, Shendu remained the most mysterious among the Demon Lords.
The only one close to him was Zhulann, the Demon Lord of the Moon.
Zhulann kept to himself, always residing on the dark side of the moon. His understanding of elemental power was almost on par with Shendu's.
Just as Shendu was about to suggest Po Kong hand over control of the Shadow Army for free, the silver dragon Ling'er leaned in and whispered something in his ear.
Shendu's eyes flickered, and he decided not to speak after all.
"Po Kong, let's not waste any more time. These useless things aren't worth discussing," Zhulann said in a deep voice.
"Besides, with these Shadowkhan sorcerers and Chi Wizards reappearing in the world, we need to talk strategy."
"Thanks to Shendu and Xik, it seems the forces of good—Chi—are starting to stir again."
"Thousands of years ago, we were nearly sealed away by eight humans. We remember who they are. If they show up again, we need to eliminate them immediately."
"After all, we still don't know how those magic artifacts that restrained us were made."
As the oldest of the Demon Lords, Zhulann usually didn't care about the world's affairs. But when it came to ancient history and signs of Chi's revival, he paid close attention.
The moment Zhulann finished speaking, the other Demon Lords turned their eyes on Shendu and Xik, clearly holding them responsible.
It was obvious—they blamed the resurgence of Chi on those two.
"Shendu, Xik… your creation of the Grand Grimoire of Magic might be the reason Chi is rising again. The era of demon domination could be in danger!" Bai Tza growled, her voice raspy with fury.
Recently, there had been a string of slave uprisings in her ocean territory—some involving both Chi Wizards and Shadow Sorcerers.
Back in the day, she once summoned a massive tsunami, trying to drown an entire continent. But after being stopped by one of the enchanted gourds, she'd lost interest in wiping out landmasses.
Still, as the Demon Lord of Water, she did own a continental territory.
She lived deep under the sea in Atlantis, ruling loosely over her land through loyal merfolk servants. But that relaxed rule made human mages bold enough to start stirring up rebellion.
Of course, her demon forces crushed the revolts eventually.
But the unrest kept spreading. No matter how many demons she sent to stomp it out, the human slaves kept rising up.
It pissed her off so much she seriously considered unleashing another tidal wave and swallowing the whole continent again.
Nowadays, Earth—Blue Star—had eight major continents. But thanks to Po Kong devouring one, only seven remained.
As soon as Bai Tza spoke, the rest of the Demon Lords chimed in, blaming Shendu and Xik.
Xik's expression darkened. He had nothing to do with these human mages showing up.
He snapped angrily, "Enough! The rise of human sorcerers is a result of changes in the world itself!"
"If you all really hated human magic so much, you should've cursed it out of existence the moment it first appeared."
"Now that it's thriving, and you wanna blame me? That's just ridiculous!"
Shendu, unlike Xik, stayed calm. He said plainly, "Human magic stems from Chi. Even without us, some humans are naturally gifted. They'd eventually tap into the world's energy and develop magic on their own."
The two of them shut the others down with logic.
Of course the other Demon Lords knew that human mages—just like them—were born out of the world's natural forces. They couldn't stop it even if they wanted to.
Still, the chaos these mages were causing gave them headaches. If they could blame someone and vent their frustration, they would.
"Shendu, Xik, you guys created the Grand Grimoire, which became the root of all human magic. Did you leave behind any hidden trap or fail-safe that could be used to punish them?" Zhulann asked.
"I keep thinking… the ones who sealed us away might reappear among the humans."
Zhulann's concern made the whole group go quiet.
Xik thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No fail-safes."
Shendu did the same, but added a little more.
"Neither of us planted any kind of control in the Grand Grimoire. And even if we had, humans with strong magic talent could still create new magic that doesn't rely on our system."
"But if everyone's worried that the ones who sealed us will come back, just tell your demons to look for humans with matching names."
"If you find one—kill on sight. No questions asked."
His voice was cold and full of killing intent.
Shendu understood that whether it was fate or Chi guiding them, the Eight Immortals would probably return. Stopping that might be impossible.
But still, they had to try. The Immortals weren't gods—they weren't invincible.
If all the demons were mobilized, they might spot some clues.
"Fine. Let's go with that," Zhulann said, flicking out a long tongue, murder in his voice. "Anyone with a matching name—kill them."
The others nodded in agreement. After some brief farewells, each Demon Lord's image faded away, returning to their respective domains.
At that moment, chaos started spreading across Blue Star.
The Demon Lords gave the order: Any human mage spotted must be killed.
Despite what Shendu said about only targeting people with matching names, the demons didn't hold back.
Any human with magical powers—sorcerers, mages, wizards—was now fair game. Kill first, no exceptions. Better to kill a thousand by mistake than let one slip through.
After all, to the Demon Lords, humans were nothing but insects.
"....."