"The Gifted Ximu."

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"Ximu, what exactly do you mean by that?"

Bogan was super lazy by nature, but he wasn't dumb. He caught the sarcastic tone in Ximu's words immediately and got pissed.

"You wanna pick a fight with the big sister?"

"My little brother!"

A cold chill crept to the corners of Bogan's mouth. Around him, the mountain peaks filled with magical dark energy and glowing light seemed to roar in rage, as if the moment Ximu dared say the word "fight," thousands of mountains would come crashing down on him.

"No no no, I'm just saying, everyone handle your own business. This tiny bit of power here? You all could handle it easily, no need to team up!"

"But right now, I gotta go—my demon slaves are calling me. If there's nothing else, I'm outta here!"

Ximu waved his hands quickly, trying to brush off Bogan's anger as he turned to leave the mental space. But Shendu suddenly threw a dense black orb at him.

"Holy Lord," Ximu said, confused as he caught it.

Shendu said calmly, "This is a navigation orb for my continent. You can come visit my territory sometime. Us brothers having a chat wouldn't be a bad thing."

"Alright!" Ximu nodded slightly. Without even glancing at Bogan, who was glaring furiously, he left the mental space.

"Ximu!"

Bogan's anger flared even higher seeing how Ximu acted like he was nothing. Clenching his fist, the dark mountain peaks surrounding him crumbled into dust.

Then, the empty demon realm suddenly filled with mountains, crashing down in all directions.

"Gravity!" Zoulan said calmly. The surrounding space seemed to freeze, and the huge mountains halted instantly before she pushed them all toward the culprit.

"Hurricane!" Xiaofeng let out a light breath, and after channeling dark energy, powerful and deadly wind blades appeared, shredding Bogan's mountains into dust.

"Thunder!"

"Earthquake!"

Zhongsu and Dikui used their massive strength to completely block Bogan's attacks.

"Fireworks!"

"Float!"

Shendu barely had to say anything. Flames burst up around him, turning Bogan's mountains into fiery volcanic smoke rings, then he tossed them right back like Zoulan did.

"If you wanna get angry, go vent on your own demons in your own territory. We're not your punching bags."

Shendu said flatly, while Zoulan beside him added meaningfully, "Laziness is your nature, Bogan. How can you take your anger out on your brothers? Besides, Ximu's words aren't without reason."

The other demon lords also rebuked Bogan the same way. Though the power of the thrown mountains wasn't huge, it was clearly provocation.

"Hmph!"

Bogan snorted coldly, crushing the mountains Shendu and Zoulan had thrown back into dust with one hand.

"No power can threaten a demon lord!"

He said that, his cold eyes scanning Shendu, Zoulan, and the other five demon lords before leaving.

"That power… it's not ordinary," Shendu muttered with a dark look.

The other demon lords also left, and so did Shendu.

In the end, this meeting that was supposed to be about negotiations ended in a bitter, uneasy breakup after all these events.

At Huomu City, East District, Shendu just opened his eyes.

The illusory reflection on the palace wall released a thick black mist, gradually forming a huge bronze mirror.

"Holy Lord, I'll be arriving at your continent soon, but how the heck do I use this broken orb?!"

As he opened his eyes, Ximu's voice echoed in his ear, sparking Shendu's curiosity.

Looking up at Ximu, who stood high on the tower, Shendu knew this wasn't a hallucination.

So he spoke slowly, "Smash it. It'll point to where I am."

"By the way, I'm kinda curious—how did you make this thing?!"

Back then, Abierto contacted him through the fire magic network. So what's Ximu's trick?

Ximu didn't hide anything when he heard Shendu's question. He said straight up, "I came up with this magic spell when I was bored. It lets you talk to others through someone else's item."

Hearing that, Shendu finally understood why, besides the Holy Lord, Ximu might be one of the founders of the Great Magical Compendium. The guy's brains were insane.

It even made sense that the mirror spell to communicate with demon hell in the original story was created by Ximu.

"Is that so!" Shendu's eyes gleamed, then added, "Hey Ximu, do you know anything about a magic array that can change a person's form?"

Ximu didn't even think before replying, "Sixth Brother, what's the point of that useless magic array? We demons have a strand of magic from the Eight Great Demons that can change human or demon forms. That array is useless, and even if I had it, I wouldn't use it."

"Besides, I—"

"My Lord, the number of human slaves is running low. Should I—"

As Ximu spoke, suddenly a demon rushed in, kneeled respectfully, and said:

"Sixth Brother, I've got something to do, I'll come see you tomorrow!"

With that, Ximu ended the communication.

"Looks like Ximu's magic talent really is something. He could probably go toe-to-toe with the Holy Lord from the original story."

Knowing that Ximu could come up with magic this advanced just from boredom was mind-blowing.

But now, Shendu had to focus on the matter of the "Chronicle of Time."

The Chronicle of Time from Jackie Chan Adventures recorded past, present, and future timelines.

It was basically an all-powerful encyclopedia. Whoever got it would know how much time was left before the Eight Immortals appeared.

But since each of the Eight Demon Lords might have something like this chronicle in their own territories, even a single fragment was too risky to mess with.

After all, changing things in time was no joke.

If things went sideways, it'd be a huge embarrassment.

So Shendu figured better to let Ato and Abierto's demon army take over the continent first.

Let them test that mysterious power to see if it really was the Chronicle of Time.

Whether those two demons died over it or not didn't bother Shendu.

After all, they were just demon lords who should sacrifice for him.

Without him, those two would still be just small-time gatekeepers.

What really mattered to Shendu was Ling'er, who was about to transform into a dragon, and Xue'er, who bore the fire authority's mark.

The rest of the demons, even the demon dragons, were expendable.

"The Chronicle of Time… something even demon lords fear. I wonder why."

Murmuring that, Shendu closed his eyes and began delving deeper into his fire authority, drawing closer to the power of fire to strengthen himself.

He aimed to be strong enough in the future to shake off the threat of the Eight Immortals and avoid getting complacent after conquering the continent.

Meanwhile, in a twilight-colored hall, eight imposing demons gathered.

Their eyes were deep in thought, as if they were pondering some major issue.

"....."