-----
-----
Twilight fell upon the world — just like everything else, it eventually faded away.
"Goat hair, demon claws, cyclops teeth, dragon's blood, and fish scales…"
In front of Shendu sat a massive bronze cauldron, bubbling with a thick, dark green liquid that swirled ominously.
He kept tossing in all kinds of magical ingredients. As the materials piled up, the liquid inside turned from dark green to a vivid, almost glowing green — not a trace of black left.
"This is…"
Shendu's expression stiffened. Then, with a flick of his mouth, he breathed fire onto the cauldron, burning the mixture to ash.
"I knew it. There's no way such a chaotic mix of bizarre ingredients could make a proper magical solution."
He sighed, muttering to himself.
"I should stick to drawing power from the dark energy in the world and crafting my black magic that way. Messing around randomly like this is just a waste."
After his quiet grumbling, Shendu called out calmly, "Someone, come."
The palace doors swung open, and a demon that looked part-lizard scurried in — one of Shendu's fire-formed demon minions.
"Master!" the demon rasped, dropping to one knee in reverence.
"Go fetch the two humans outside the palace. They've been standing there for an hour, clearly torn about coming in. Help them make a decision."
Shendu had known exactly where Xue'er and her little sister were all along. But the two of them had just frozen there, not moving an inch.
Hearing this, the lizard demon hesitated and asked, "Master, are those your human servants?"
"Bring them in. Then go out and gather more materials — demon hair, animal parts, whatever you can find," Shendu ordered coolly.
He was done with this experiment. Time to bring Xue'er and her sister back.
He needed them for the next phase of his testing. Sooner or later, once he developed all the different black magic spells, he'd need someone to pass them on to — and she would do nicely. He'd wring everything he could out of her to power his large-scale magic arrays.
His comprehension of the Flame Authority was far from complete.
Right now, the dark energy continued to flow into the eight demon lords scattered across the world. Eventually, after ages of absorption, they'd reach their peak forms.
Sure, they were already powerful enough to dominate this world — but they hadn't reached their full potential yet.
Once they did, with the full strength of their demonic authority, even the flick of a wrist from the demon lords could reshape the heavens and earth.
Shendu remembered comparing the current Earth to its size during the demon realm era. The modern-day Earth was only half the size. That meant, by the time of the Twelve Talismans saga, Earth had literally shrunk by half.
His thoughts were snapped back to the present as he noticed the lizard demon was still standing in the hall.
"What are you waiting for? Go bring them in!" Shendu snapped.
"Yes, Master!"
The startled demon quickly bowed and hurried out of the palace.
Meanwhile, outside the massive palace, Xue'er and her younger sister stood outside a small inn. From there, they could clearly see the distant demon palace. Xue'er had been staring at it in a daze — for over an hour now.
"Big sis… are we really going into that creepy demon palace?" her sister asked nervously.
Even a clueless kid could sense her own fate here.
Her eyes welled up with tears, threatening to spill down her cheeks.
"Ling'er… it's okay. I'm here," Xue'er said gently as she crouched down and hugged her.
"But… I heard people say that once humans enter a demon palace, they never come back out again…"
Ling'er's small body trembled. She stared at the terrifying demon guarding the palace gates — blood-red skin, horns on its head, eyes glowing red with menace.
"It's okay, Ling'er. Didn't your big sis just come back alive?"
"Don't worry. Let's go."
Xue'er hugged her sister tightly, feeling her tiny head pressed firmly against her chest, and a pang of sadness hit her heart.
But there was no other choice.
She paid for their room at the inn, and step by step, she made her way toward the demon palace.
Just as she arrived at the massive front gate, one of Shendu's demon minions — the dragon-like one he'd sent — opened the door.
He paused when he saw the sisters.
He'd expected to have to go drag them in himself. Who knew they'd come willingly? No point wasting energy then.
Still, knowing that these humans were also considered the master's subordinates, same as him, really rubbed him the wrong way.
"Tch. Come with me. Master wants you. Didn't think you'd show up on your own."
"Well, guess I don't have to go out and drag you back after all."
He turned to walk back, but then glanced over his shoulder and added coldly, "You—human slave. That little one in your arms? Make sure you teach her the rules. If she steps out of line, you'll deal with the consequences."
With that, he disappeared into the palace.
Xue'er said nothing in response. She just gave a small nod and followed him, carrying Ling'er in her arms.
The demon guards at the entrance didn't block their path.
She and Ling'er followed the dragon demon through countless hallways and palace chambers until they finally arrived at Shendu's residence.
"We're here. You're on your own now," the demon said, standing aside.
Xue'er nodded and was just about to push open the grand doors when the same dragon demon's cold, raspy voice echoed again:
"Don't think that just because you're a servant of the master now, you can disrespect us. Among demons, hierarchy is everything. You're supposed to bow to us dragon demons."
"I might not care, but others won't be so lenient. Next time, even if you are the master's servant, you could get punished."
"We're all subordinates here. The master doesn't play favorites."
Xue'er's body stiffened. Without saying a word, she bowed her head and stepped into the hall.
"Something's off… no, no, that's not it. It's supposed to be this… yeah, this is my innate magic, why is it being so damn difficult?!"
As soon as she walked in, she heard Shendu muttering to himself.
She approached slowly, knelt on one knee before him with Ling'er in her arms, and lowered her head respectfully.
"Lord Shendu, your servant has returned — and brought her younger sister, Ling'er."
Shendu, focused on figuring out the pattern of his magical array, glanced down at her. With a wave of his claw, he summoned a levitation spell.
In an instant, the two girls were lifted into the air, floating below his outstretched claw.
The sudden weightlessness made Xue'er slightly dizzy.
As for Ling'er, one look at the terrifying dragon-like Shendu and she burst into tears.
That sound made Xue'er panic. Her heart ached as she quickly spoke up:
"My lord, she's just a child. Please forgive her!"
Shendu glanced at her and flicked his claw. Xue'er was gently placed back down on the floor.
Then he activated his Flame Authority to examine Ling'er's magical potential — and just as his tracking spell had predicted, the results were impressive.
He couldn't help but marvel — humans really were born gifted.
Back in the age of ancient demons, when the world was thick with natural energy, even a small child could possess magical talent on par with a future archmage.
And yet, across this massive world, only in one of the Eight Cities — Huomu City — had he found such a promising young human mage.
Which meant, scattered across the land, there were likely many more hidden magical prodigies waiting to be discovered.
Unfortunately, without the rise of righteousness, they'd stay buried — slowly fading away with time, lost to history.
"....."