The twelve Talismans represent the twelve animal powers of a Greater Demon named Shendu.
In that World, based on the Eight Trigrams, eight Greater Demons with primordial power were born.
Shendu was the Greater Demon of Fire, representing the Li Trigram, and once ruled the entire Asian region in ancient times.
However, what was very interesting about this World was the balance between positive and negative chi.
When the eight Greater Demons committed evil, negative chi gained the upper hand, breaking the balance, and the World immediately gave birth to eight immortal Gods, who sealed the Greater Demons at the cost of their lives.
And when Shendu cunningly tricked his Greater Demon brethren into helping him escape from hell, he re-established his kingdom and enslaved humanity.
Positive and negative chi once again became imbalanced, so at this time, a positive chi wizard named Lo Pei became the savior. He used a special magic to turn Shendu into a stone statue.
The twelve sources of power on his body also gained physical carriers, which are the twelve Talismans now in Shen Mu's hands.
The Rat of Animation, the Ox of Super Strength, the Tiger of Balance, the Rabbit of Super Speed, the Dragon of Combustion, the Snake of Invisibility, the Horse of Healing, the Sheep of Astral Projection, the Monkey of Shapeshifting, the Rooster of Levitation, the Dog of Immortality, and the Pig of Heat Vision.
"These powers combined are enough to instantly turn an ordinary being into a well-rounded warrior!"
Shen Mu, who now held the Talismans in his hand, was very clear about their power.
It was no exaggeration to say that as long as one equipped these twelve Talismans, they would instantly gain terrifying power, directly surpassing 99% of Superheroes on Earth!
Perhaps the only limitation of the Talismans was that this power was constant and could not continue to grow like the Kryptonian Bloodline.
"Although the power of the Talismans is not weak, it doesn't offer much of an improvement for me now."
"The Ox's strength might not be greater than mine now; the Rabbit's ultimate speed might be stronger than mine, but I will surpass it sooner or later; for the Dragon's combustion ability, I can emit two kinds of breath myself; the Pig's Heat Vision might not be stronger than my own."
"All things considered, only those auxiliary abilities are still useful to me."
"The Rat, which can bring inanimate objects to life, I wonder to what extent it can do that; the Tiger, which grants balance, but my strength is already under my control; the Snake, which grants invisibility, is a bit useless!"
"The Horse, which can expel all negative states, is somewhat interesting; the Sheep, which grants astral projection, is not very useful for now; the Monkey, which grants shapeshifting, is an interesting ability."
"The Rooster, which grants levitation, I can fly myself, and I also have telekinesis, so it's useless; the Dog, which grants immortality, I don't know where its limit of endurance lies."
Shen Mu pondered all the abilities of the Talismans in his mind and found that they were merely icing on the cake for him.
Some abilities that seemed very overpowered, upon closer thought, were not that impressive.
The Dog was indeed immortal, but Shen Mu did not believe this immortality was absolute; if it were, it should not have appeared in an epic treasure chest.
"However, carrying the Talismans like this is indeed inconvenient. I remember that if the Talismans are destroyed, the power residing within them will be released and automatically seek out animals with noble bloodlines."
Thinking of this, Shen Mu used his telekinesis to hold the Talismans in the air, then let out a blast of scorching Dragon Breath.
Immediately, these Talismans turned into ashes and scattered with the wind.
The next moment, twelve columns of light of various colors suddenly shot into the sky.
This released power instantly attracted the attention of many powerful beings on Earth.
At this moment, Shou Lao, the Divine Dragon in the Dragon's Cave of K'un-Lun City, suddenly opened his eyes, looking with surprise in the direction where Shen Mu was.
"That is Dragon Force. Besides me, is there another Dragon in this World?"
"There's no mistake, this power, which shares the same origin as me, is calling to me."
Shou Lao, who had existed in this Dragon's Cave for thousands of years, had never been so excited.
He actually felt an existence on this Earth that was the same as him.
At this time, twelve animal spirits surrounded Shen Mu; they immediately instinctively wanted to scatter in all directions to find hosts to bear this power.
However, Shen Mu's speed was even faster; he emitted terrifying light from his eyes and mouth, and a huge suction force emerged, directly forcing the twelve animal phantoms into his stomach.
This magic was a forbidden magic recorded in Kamar-Taj, capable of devouring all power for one's own use.
In a certain Universe, Doctor Strange, obsessed with resurrecting his girlfriend, used this magic to continuously devour summoned demonic creatures, eventually gaining terrifying power that transcended the Multiverse.
However, this power obtained through devouring would eventually affect his mind, and he ultimately failed to change the predetermined outcome.
Shen Mu, however, was not worried about using this magic spell to devour the power of the Zodiac animals.
The moment Shen Mu devoured those released powers, Shou Lao, who had originally intended to forcefully break free from the chains on him, suddenly paused.
"It disappeared! How could it disappear?"
Shou Lao suddenly felt that the other Dragon Force's call to him had vanished!
And his actions also attracted the attention of the qi practitioners in K'un-Lun City.
"Shou Lao, has something happened?"
An Elder in a plain robe, who was at the forefront, asked him.
"In the West, a Dragon Force with the same origin as me just appeared. I need you all to investigate what exactly is going on."
"In return, I can allow one of you to prematurely gain my power and become the new Iron Fist."
"Take these few scales of mine. If you sense the Dragon Force, my scales will lead you to it!"
Upon hearing this, the group of young qi practitioners following behind this Elder became excited.
If the Elder had not yet spoken, they would have immediately packed their things and rushed to the West to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Even more excited than them were the elderly qi practitioners with white hair and beards standing in front.
They had all lived for hundreds of years and were nearing the time of their demise!
And the place where the dragon bones, which could help them extend their lives, were hidden, could only be opened with the power of the Iron Fist.
This was their chance.
"Shou Lao, rest assured, we will investigate the beginning and end of this matter as quickly as possible."
After assuring Shou Lao, this group of qi practitioners eagerly took the dragon scales and left!
Then, the intense selection process for those who would go to investigate began.
After Shen Mu consumed these twelve powers, he realized that his understanding of the Talismans was somewhat biased.
Because he found that while the Talismans themselves did possess power, their greater role was to amplify the user's power.
In other words, the stronger the user, the greater the power the Talismans could unleash.
At this moment, a sound like shattering glass echoed in the ears of some powerful beings in the Universe.
"Shen Mu, have you truly crossed that step? You are truly a child of miracles favored by the Universe!"
In Asgard, Odin looked towards the void with a face full of emotion.
"A Cosmic God has been born on Earth. Should we extend an invitation to him?"
"Wait a little longer, we don't know his background."
"There will be an opportunity in the future!"
In a chaotic place, several massive phantoms were discussing Shen Mu.
They were the Elders of the Universe, composed of Cosmic Gods.