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Time flew by like a snap of the fingers.
Night blanketed the land like ink. The land around the Undying Flame Mountain, which usually glowed with rivers of lava, had fallen completely dark. The molten lava that had once lit up the sky had vanished without a trace.
Deep within the mountain, a massive egg, the size of a skyscraper, pulsed faintly with a mystical glow.
Inside that giant egg, a colossal dragon—nearly 150 meters long—slowly opened its mouth and let out tongues of fire, lighting up the dark center of the egg in an instant.
"ROAR!"
With a thunderous dragon roar, the egg exploded.
A divine dragon, more than 150 meters long, burst out of the shell, shot through the hardened lava and earth, pierced through the volcano's crater, and soared into the sky.
He roared furiously into the heavens:"I'm finally born!"
The Lord of Fire. The Demon of Flame. The Flame God. The Shendu of legend had returned to the world.
Now, he was a complete dragon, his power towering over all other beings.
From the dark sky, streaks of flame rained down like meteors, setting the heavens ablaze.
And at that very moment, in seven corners of the world, other powerful forces were also stirring.
On the moon, a figure slowly emerged—four arms, long black hair with a purple sheen, bluish skin. He looked down at the Earth and floated into the cosmos.
At the place where raging winds never stopped, a giant toad—the Wind Lord—awakened, holding command over tempests.
Deep in the endless mountains where lightning gathered, beneath the sea, within the heart of the world, and high in the heavens…
Five more Demon Lords, all powerful beyond comprehension, awakened one by one.
Each of them looked out into the world, their eyes filled with a mixture of clarity and mystery.
As Shendu soared through the skies, he gradually seized control over the flames of the world.
In a flash, his glowing eyes lit up, and his massive body turned into a stream of light—shifting into a towering figure with a human body and a dragon's head.
"Hah!"
"I guess deep down, I've always liked the shape of a dragon. That's why I took this form."
"But did you give me this body just so I wouldn't get my butt kicked in a fight?"
"Black Chi!"
Shendu looked over his current form and couldn't help but speak.
In his mind, he saw a divine dragon soaring through the skies—that was his original form. But now, this dragon-headed human body matched the look of Shendu from Jackie Chan Adventures.
He could switch freely between these two forms, but just as he was about to shift back into his dragon form, he paused.
He stopped, realizing that Black Chi wanted him to appear in this humanoid "Shendu" form.
So be it. Let the dragon form be his trump card for now.
With that decision made, Shendu's eyes seemed to pierce through the world. Across his vision, seven figures appeared in different corners of the earth.
At once, seven quarreling voices echoed in his mind.
"Hah, this whole idea of ranking by age is just nonsense."
With a scoff, Shendu cut off the natural connection between the Eight Demon Lords—the link they were born with—and ignored their petty arguments about who was older.
Seniority?Please. When the time comes, power will speak louder than birth order.
They were all born from the Eight Trigram Talismans. The world itself had given them life. Whichever one first gained consciousness, Black Chi had subconsciously marked as the eldest—whether a "big brother" or "big sister."
Now, some of the younger-ranked Lords weren't too happy about being bossed around.
Eventually, all eight of them would meet. Even though they were scattered for now, they were destined to reunite once they began taking over the world.
Thinking of this, Shendu turned his gaze back to the Undying Flame Mountain, the place that had birthed him.
"There's barely any lava left. One day, this will just be a boring, ordinary mountain."
With those parting words, he turned and flew away—heading toward the place he sensed the most human activity.
Meanwhile, the other seven Demon Lords finally stopped bickering.
But each of them still had their own thoughts.
Yes, they were siblings born of the earth and declared by Black Chi, but they didn't really know each other well.
Still, something in their nature made it easy to communicate.
In fact, during the recent squabble, the Sky Lord, Thunder Lord, and Wind Lord had gotten along pretty well.
But once they noticed Shendu had left, they quickly ended their slapdash "Demon Council" and went off to explore different corners of the world.
Shendu, for his part, was flying toward what would eventually be modern-day Asia.
The emergence of the Eight Demon Lords caused chaos among the many other demons that already ruled parts of the world.
These demons, who had been killing and enslaving humans as they pleased, suddenly pulled back into their lavish palaces, now worried about how to keep their thrones.
At the same time, they were ticked off.
Why did Black Chi create eight super-demons? Wasn't the world fine the way it was, under their rule?
Survival of the fittest, right?
But Black Chi didn't give them any answers.
In fact, it was now hanging out with Good Chi, cackling with a twisted "jiejiejie" laugh.
It was almost like Black Chi was bragging to Good Chi about how insanely powerful its new Demon Lords were.
Good Chi just gently stirred the air and faded away, leaving Black Chi's creepy laugh lingering behind.
Huomu City.
This was a human village—but it was also a major demon stronghold.
Normally, demons roamed freely here, but with the rise of the Eight Demon Lords, the demons had all retreated to their palaces to discuss what the heck to do next.
In Huomu City, every household had to offer huge tributes every year just to survive.
With the demon council underway, the humans had a brief moment to breathe.
During market trade, demons still stood watch from the shadows, looking for items they found interesting. If something caught their eye, humans had to hand it over immediately.
Refuse?That was rebellion.
And that wasn't even the worst of it.
Sometimes, the demons would just mess with people out of boredom—pointing at a random horse and demanding it as tribute, only to kill it in the street for fun.
Most people suffered this sort of abuse every day.
But they couldn't stop trading. Their lives depended on it.
"Mom, where did all the demons go?!"
A woman and her daughter rushed into the market and set up their stall.
The girl, who normally would've been terrified, now just looked confused.
Usually, demons were already here before the humans arrived.
But now they were gone.
Could they really be that lucky today?
With that hopeful thought, the girl grew a little bolder and even said, "Mom, do you think maybe all the demons are—mmph!"
Before she could finish, her mother quickly clamped a hand over her mouth and shushed her.
Around them, other families who had come to trade also noticed the demons were missing. Many looked relieved and quickly got to business.
The mother and daughter snapped out of it and started calling out to sell their goods too.
At that very moment, a huge figure appeared outside the city gates—a dragon-headed humanoid easily over ten meters tall.
"Huomu City…"
Shendu looked up at the carved, ancient letters on the gate and muttered to himself.
"....."