"Bad day, bad day, bad day!" Jackie Chan yelled, though he quickly realized the dragon breath didn't actually feel that hot.
It felt more like a comfortable hot spring bath.
"Like I said, you've been buffed! Get in there!"
Jackie stretched his limbs and found his body surprisingly light. Strength, speed—many of the martial arts moves he used to execute purely by instinct could now be unleashed effortlessly.
For instance, a roundhouse kick powerful enough to send Shendu flying.
The Jackie Chan of this world was truly fierce; with the blessing of good chi, he was practically invincible.
He exchanged dozens of blows with Shendu in Valmont's office, and surprisingly, neither could gain the upper hand.
The protagonist of a world was just unreasonable like that. Shendu was a ruthless guy—a ruthless dragon—who would dare to roar even in the face of Lü Dongbin.
Uncle took a green potion from his coat and poured it over his and Jade's hands.
"Uncle anticipated this situation and prepared a magic potion to extract the Talismans from Shendu's body in advance."
Uncle narrowed his eyes and smiled. "One more thing, Zenith, give Jade a fire resistance buff too, she's about to die from the heat. And one more thing, my old bones are about to give out as well."
Zenith smashed a Splash Potion of Fire Resistance on the ground, then watched as Jackie and the others ganged up on Shendu three-to-one, forcing the demon to try and escape through the window.
"You think you can run away with me here? Get back here!"
Zenith teleported right in front of Shendu and delivered a flying kick that sent him crashing back inside.
Jade climbed onto Shendu's back and, with incredible luck, directly pulled out the Rat Talisman from his body, instantly reverting him back into a statue.
The statue was even in a pixelated style.
Shendu didn't actually need the Rat Talisman to move around, but the original spell that turned him into a statue hadn't been broken. Reverting to his former, fully-powered state required time to counter the magic.
Unfortunately for him, Shendu never got the chance.
Jade rummaged all over him, prying out the rest of the Talismans, and then used the Dragon Talisman's explosive blast to shatter Shendu's statue body into pieces.
Zenith's sharp eyes caught sight of Shendu's soul opening a portal to the Netherworld—invisible to ordinary people—and diving inside.
Without a second thought, Zenith chose to follow right behind him.
The Netherworld was the kind of place that was easy to enter but hard to leave.
Back when the Eight Demon Sorcerers were sealed by the Eight Immortals, the other seven demons exhausted all their power just to send Shendu out so he could rescue them.
But they never expected that once Shendu got out, he would just start living it up. Not only did he study the power of dark chi magic on top of being the Fire Demon, but he also became one of the absolute best at it.
As for releasing the other demons, Shendu didn't give a single damn.
Sure enough, the moment Shendu's soul appeared, he was immediately jumped by the other seven. Even with a physical body, Shendu couldn't beat the seven of them combined; now that he was just a soul, all he could do was take the beating.
In the midst of the beatdown, one of the demons noticed something was off.
"Where is that human smell coming from?" Po Kong, the Mountain Demon, sniffed the air. Immediately, her saliva began to secrete wildly, drooling down like a cascading waterfall.
It had been too long since she last ate a human. Could it be a scent Shendu's soul brought back from the mortal realm?
Shendu was a smooth talker, currently making up excuses. It probably wouldn't be long before the other demons let him go and sent him out of the Netherworld once again to kickstart the campaign to free all demons.
Zenith had originally planned to stick around and learn a thing or two from Shendu's silver tongue, but he suddenly felt a sensation like being pinged.
It wasn't anyone from the SPW Foundation; rather, it felt like someone from this world.
He got pinged again, and this time the feeling was much clearer. Zenith vaguely sensed that someone was sending him coordinates.
Once he focused on the coordinates, a new teleportation waypoint naturally appeared on his minimap, labeled as the Immortal Realm.
"There are a bit too many surprises today. Even though everyone knows the Eight Immortals refer to the Chinese Eight Immortals, having an Immortal Realm suddenly pop up is still a bit hard to swallow."
It was an issue of clashing art styles. Zenith left a waypoint in the Netherworld and then teleported to the Immortal Realm.
At first glance, he saw the incredibly classic figures of the Eight Immortals, smiling and bowing to him in greeting.
"Hearing of your fame is not as good as meeting you in person. We have long admired your great name, sir, and today our wish is finally fulfilled. Since you have graced our humble realm, the eight of us must properly entertain you. We wonder if you would accept our invitation?"
Their overly formal, archaic way of speaking gave Zenith goosebumps. "Isn't it exhausting talking like that? Just bring out the good food and booze, and we're golden!"
"You are a man of straightforward words, sir! We cannot compare!"
Iron-Crutch Li led Zenith to his seat. Truth be told, the Chinese-style palaces and pavilions were beautifully arranged. Below, celestial maidens danced in a breathtaking display. They dined on dragon liver and phoenix marrow, and sipped on rare immortal wines.
This really highlighted the difference between Eastern and Western styles. Over in Frieren's world, the Creation Goddess would just get straight to the point if she had something to say.
But with the Eight Immortals, they were already three rounds of drinks in, and they still hadn't touched on the main topic.
"This banquet has no other purpose than to thank you for sparing our lives."
At this point, Lü Dongbin finally spoke up, standing up to give a deep bow.
This actually made Zenith a little embarrassed. He really hadn't done anything to help the Eight Immortals, so having them suddenly pull a stunt like this was quite something.
He felt somewhat awkward, mixed with a bit of confusion.
"Why do you say that? I don't think I've ever even met you guys before, right?"
It was only after Lü Dongbin explained things that Zenith finally understood.
The creator god of this world obviously wasn't the Eight Immortals, but rather the Heavenly Dao, which was obsessed with the balance of good and evil.
There was no Heavenly Court or Jade Emperor system here; it was purely just the Eight Immortals standing in opposition to the Eight Demon Sorcerers.
This one-to-one correspondence was the foundational balance of good and evil in this world.
Demons claimed to be immortal, but that depended on who they were facing. It was fine when Jade hit Shendu with the Dragon Talisman's blast, but if Zenith had done it, that strike would have instantly emptied his health bar. Did he really think a soul would be left behind after that?
The demons and the Eight Immortals were linked. If Zenith had slaughtered Shendu, the Heavenly Dao would have absolutely taken Lü Dongbin out as well, just to maintain the balance of good and evil.
"Your creator god is a bit abstract. It feels like it lacks sentience and acts more like a pre-programmed code."
The Eight Immortals didn't think there was anything wrong with that. Without Zenith, the eight of them wouldn't run into any issues until the end of the world. Just eating, drinking, and living it up every day was enough for them.
At most, if the Eight Demon Sorcerers caused trouble, they would step in and clean up the mess.
"Sounds like you guys are pretty good at cleaning up messes?"
Zenith's interest was immediately piqued. He was exactly in need of talents who could handle the aftermath.
The Eight Immortals weren't gods with specific administrative duties anyway. If he could kidnap—er, recruit them, wouldn't that elevate the SPW Foundation's mess... ahem, post-mission negotiation and order-reconstruction capabilities to a whole new level!
"But if the Eight Demon Sorcerers cause trouble, and there's no protagonist in the mortal realm to handle the situation, what then?"
The Eight Immortals were actually somewhat tempted, but the mortal realm didn't always have people like Chi Master Fong, Uncle, or Jackie Chan around in every generation to save the world.
"That's easy." Zenith put his hands on his hips. "I've already made preparations for that exact problem. Optimus Prime can totally take over that job. Plus, he lives a long time, so signing a contract starting at ten thousand years with you guys wouldn't be an issue at all."
Far away in the mortal realm, Optimus Prime felt a sudden chill down his chassis and accidentally turned on his windshield wipers instead of his left turn signal.