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As Baisha finished speaking, Ximu stepped forward slightly, scanning Zhou Lan and Bogan with a sharp gaze. Then he crossed his hands into a symbol and began chanting a spell in an ancient, unknown tongue.
In an instant, the wings behind Ximu unfurled and flapped. As they did, sharp, demonic claws slashed through the air, tearing open a massive rift—easily a hundred meters wide.
"Whoooosh——"
He breathed out a stream of dark energy into the tear. The moment it merged in, a black vortex burst into life, swirling like a bottomless abyss. No one knew where it led.
At the same time, in the water mirror—Zhou Lan and Bogan were still on their way—an identical black vortex suddenly opened up right in front of them, just like the one Ximu had created.
Zhou Lan steadied himself, calmly eyeing the vortex that had just appeared ahead of him.
Back on the other side, Ximu let out a breath of relief and said, "It's done. But this space tunnel can only handle one Demon Lord at a time."
"If Zhou Lan and Bogan go through together, the massive surge of demonic energy will collapse the tunnel completely."
"Zhou Lan, you heard Ximu. Get moving! Don't waste any more time—we can't afford delays!"
Shendu carefully examined the magical makeup of the tunnel and how it had formed. It didn't take long before he figured out how Ximu managed to pull it off.
Ximu used his own celestial authority to tear open space, and then used demonic energy to stabilize it and stop it from collapsing. It was a simple method, but the power behind it made it look easy.
Which meant… Ximu's celestial authority was way more complicated than it looked.
Ripping open a void and creating a stable spatial tunnel was no small feat.
For Ximu to do this so effortlessly meant that, when he fought other Demon Lords, his attacks probably didn't just rely on natural forces—but on space manipulation too.
As soon as Shendu finished his warning, the other Demon Lords also started urging Zhou Lan to hurry up.
Zhou Lan frowned, obviously annoyed by his siblings' nagging in his ears.
But he didn't say anything back. He just let go of Bogan—who was huge—and tossed him directly into the space tunnel.
Then, Zhou Lan stepped through himself without a hitch.
Shendu watched the whole thing closely. Something felt off. His eyes narrowed as he turned to Ximu and asked, "Zhou Lan just threw Bogan through ahead of him… is Bogan gonna crash into us when he comes out?!"
Ximu paused, clearly caught off guard. "Uh… maybe? Possibly? Kinda… yeah?"
"Zoom——"
Shendu didn't wait for confirmation—he leapt back fast, moving well away from the tunnel's exit.
The other Demon Lords saw this and followed his lead, all jumping aside quickly.
Ximu had just started to turn and fly off when—WHAM!—a shadow the size of a mountain slammed into him. He didn't even have time to flap his wings before he got flattened to the ground.
Bogan had arrived.
Zhou Lan followed right after, gliding through the tunnel like it was nothing.
"Where's Ximu?" Zhou Lan looked around, confused when he didn't see him.
"Zhou Lan, how dare you—AARGH!" Bogan didn't even finish his sentence before a searing pain shot through his backside.
With a scream, he jumped a hundred meters high before slamming back into the ground, causing the earth to shake violently.
"That's because I'm right here!" Ximu roared, panting heavily from his nose, furious.
He glared at Bogan, who seemed totally unharmed. His voice rough and full of anger, he yelled, "Bogan, you seriously need to lose weight!"
Bogan stared at him, clearly pissed. "You nearly hurt me, Ximu!"
"Hmph!" Ximu flapped his demon wings and rose into the sky, muttering, "Serves you right!"
"Too bad my Celestial Blade didn't actually cut you. What a shame."
"You—!" Bogan shouted back, enraged.
"Enough! Shut up!" Baisha, who had come through unscathed, cut them off in a hoarse voice.
"We need to move now—don't waste time bickering!"
Xiaofeng nodded. "Yeah. If you two really want to fight, wait until this is over. Then you can yell at each other forever, and no one will care."
"Those demons who dared to mess with the power of time… they deserve to be destroyed!" Zhou Lan hissed, tongue flicking. His usual calm demeanor was gone—his eyes now filled with dread as he looked toward the heart of ancient Australia.
"We should go. Now. Not stand here watching you argue," added Dihui coldly from the side.
"Let's move."
Shendu, too bored to waste time with the rest, just threw out a sentence and turned to walk toward the swirling black mist ahead.
The other Demon Lords followed behind him.
Zhou Lan was just about to use gravity magic to fly ahead when Bogan suddenly spoke up from below, "Zhou Lan…"
"Got it."
Even though Bogan didn't finish, Zhou Lan knew what she meant. He activated his gravity powers and dragged Bogan along, flying toward the center of the darkness.
One mile…
Ten miles…
A hundred miles…
Until all eight Demon Lords arrived at the center of the black mist.
In front of them was a city—abandoned and lifeless. Ximu stared at it for a moment, a strange sense of familiarity creeping up. He turned to Shendu and asked, "This place is…"
Shendu looked around and said flatly, "This is the Demon-Sealing Array."
"The demons who tried to harness the power of time used everyone in this city—humans and demons—as fuel to boost their own power."
"But this magic circle won't work on us."
Just as he finished speaking, the aura around them surged dramatically.
Seeing this, the other Demon Lords instinctively prepared to destroy the magic circle.
But Shendu stopped them. Instead, he opened his mouth and spat out a beam of divine black flame that pierced through a key part of the array.
In an instant, this evil formation—meant to absorb magic from the world and life force from all beings—crumbled into dust.
"I'm the one who created this kind of array. Of course I know its weakest point."
"Who dares—?!"
"Who the hell dares destroy our magic array?! You got a death wish?!"
As the Demon-Sealing Array completely collapsed, eight furious voices rang out from the sky.
The next moment, eight figures appeared above the city, standing ten miles away, shrouded in black mist. They each held divine artifacts glowing with righteous energy—and locked eyes with the eight Demon Lords.
"Flute!"
"Drum!"
"Fan!"
"Castanets!"
"Gourd!"
"Flower!"
Six of the Demon Lords stared at the familiar items, their eyes flashing with hatred. They muttered the names of the artifacts under their breath, the urge to destroy them burning in their hearts.
Shendu turned his eyes toward the crumbling ancient Asia and the aura of timeless power surrounding those distant figures. Calmly, he said, "Sword."
"A lotus bud? That's what counters me?" Zhou Lan said, glaring. "That thing's gotta be destroyed."
From the start, Zhou Lan had always kept a cool and composed look. Even when he'd hesitated earlier, it had only been a fleeting moment of unease.
But now… his eyes were filled with fear. And behind that fear—murderous intent boiled over.
"....."