As Po Kong's power surged, the rhythmic thumping of the drum in the distance grew steadily clearer.
Finally, after Po Kong had consumed every last immortal elixir, the black Demon Chi converged like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, integrating into her gargantuan frame. Her expression flickered with a momentary daze before returning to a sharp, lucid clarity.
She lowered her massive head, looking down at the two still figures standing beneath her. She called out to them:
"Brother. Shendu."
She was the second eldest of the Eight Demon Sorcerers. Now back at her peak, the efforts Zoran and Shendu had made for her recently became vividly clear. She stopped eating and remained silent for a long moment.
"Do not worry. We are all here," Zoran and Shendu said, almost in unison. Their voices carried a grounding sense of stability that was genuinely moving.
In many ways, this world was like a row of dominoes; once the first tile falls, the rest inevitably follow. Po Kong tilted her head back and looked toward the firmament. A subtle ripple was slicing through space, undulating like a wave.
The drumming was its wake.
Zoran slowly ascended into the air. Under the influence of gravity, his Taoist robes smoothed out, taking on the sleek, effortless air of combat attire. His primary arms were long, his hands hanging naturally; his pale, greyish palms featured distinct, sharp knuckles. His long hair wound elegantly from his waist to the front, curling at the tips, while his secondary set of arms remained crossed calmly over his chest.
He was ready. At this moment, elegant composure and razor-sharp intensity coexisted within him in perfect harmony.
Shendu let out a low growl as his true form expanded to a massive scale. He stepped forward, flanking Po Kong. Without realizing it, the two giant demons had placed Zoran protectively between them.
The rhythm of the drum skipped a beat. In that exact heartbeat, the Immortal Zhang Guo Lao manifested.
Suddenly, the drumming turned frantic.
The newcomer was a bald old man with a long, snow-white beard and eyebrows that drooped low enough to partially obscure his eyes. He did not look like someone to be trifled with. He held a small, jade-green drum, its surface shimmering with ripples of blue-green celestial energy.
"Across a thousand leagues of heaven-scaling peaks, this old man has a drum to suppress them all," Zhang Guo Lao announced upon his arrival, striking a pose of immortal grace.
Only after his grand proclamation did he slowly twitch his brows and focus his gaze.
Just one look.
The frantic drumming came to a dead stop. His long eyebrows quivered. His "transcendent immortal" entrance suddenly felt very... lonely.
"Ahem… ahem…" Zhang Guo Lao coughed instinctively.
"It seems the old gentleman is not in the best of health," Shendu's voice rumbled from the side.
The immortal aura around Zhang Guo Lao vanished instantly. He looked left and right, his gaze finally landing on the demons before him. Truthfully, he had seen exactly how many there were the moment he arrived. He just didn't want to believe it.
His lips moved silently in the dead air, performing a frantic bit of "immortal arithmetic."
"Haha, three!" he suddenly barked out a laugh, awkwardly tucking the green drum further into his robes.
Imagine this: you are an old man who just stepped out of your house with a boombox, ready to do some square dancing, only to find three massive bodybuilders blocking your driveway. And the door behind you just locked.
How do you break the stalemate? That was exactly what Zhang Guo Lao was feeling.
"You've got to be joking," he muttered to himself.
Shendu, meanwhile, pointed a finger toward the sky. An inverted, scroll-like Demon Portal roared open from the ground up.
"As you can see, we've already bought your ticket to the Netherworld," Shendu laughed loudly.
Zhang Guo Lao stared at the inverted portal. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have been so bad, provided he hadn't heard the faintly familiar screams echoing from within the gate.
Shendu curled his lip into a smirk; he seemed to be in a playful mood, deliberately terrifying the old man with his wicked humor. The shadows of the three demons loomed high, completely enveloping the immortal's frail frame.
Zhang Guo Lao said nothing. As if testing the waters, he reached out a hand, moving inch by inch, until he gave the surface of the green drum a soft tap.
Thud…
The drum sounded for less than half a second before he watched the instrument being ripped from his grasp. It disintegrated into a cloud of drifting shards in mid-air. Immediately, black Demon Chi locked him in a vice grip, freezing him in place. A pillar of searing fire roared toward him, impossible to evade.
Zoran hovered in the air, looking at the restrained figure. He extended a finger. From his perspective, his fingertip lined up with Zhang Guo Lao's distant body, covering the immortal from view.
He gave a light chuckle and slowly slid his finger toward the portal. Zhang Guo Lao was dragged helplessly toward the gate, an irresistible force pulling him along. From left to right, Zoran moved his finger until it overlapped with the blood-red glow of the portal.
The scroll slammed shut. All was quiet.
Zoran withdrew his hand; the space before him was empty. Throughout the entire ordeal, Po Kong hadn't even needed to strike. She had simply sat there, watching Zoran and Shendu effortlessly defeat Zhang Guo Lao and banish him to the Netherworld.
…
Inside the Netherworld, a new guest had arrived, a newcomer with singed eyebrows and a charred beard.
Zhang Guo Lao only now realized what had happened, but the demons had been too fast. It felt like he had merely stopped to change trains and suddenly ended up in this blood-red nightmare. By the time he processed it, he was already stuck.
He looked up as a whistling figure blurred past nearby. The screams in his ears grew distinct. A second later, a battered, disheveled shadow lunged toward him. Behind this shadow trailed several bolts of lightning and flying stone platforms.
As the figure drew closer, Zhang Guo Lao finally recognized him.
"Lü Dongbin!"
He was horrified. It turned out he wasn't the first one here. The auras permeating the Netherworld finally became clear to his senses: they were the demons they had once imprisoned. And they were currently hunting Lü Dongbin.
"Run, run, little insect!"
Lightning chased the figure. Lü Dongbin pulled a sharp turn right in front of Zhang Guo Lao, and the immortal suddenly realized the lightning was now heading straight for him. Unable to dodge in time, he took a direct hit, his whole body smoking.
His instinct was to run. But as he tried to flee, he felt a resistance. He looked back to see Lü Dongbin gripping his sleeve with a look of grim determination.
"You're here! Thank heavens!" Lü Dongbin's voice cracked with a hint of tragic relief.
Zhang Guo Lao's heart sank. He stammered, "I just survived a massive battle... fought them until the sky turned dark. I'm completely drained, and this isn't our home turf. What do we do?"
Hearing this, Lü Dongbin's dull eyes suddenly lit up. It was as if he had found a literal lifeline. He shouted, "Is that true?"
Zhang Guo Lao was about to nod when he heard the other continue: "That's even better!"
"Huh?" Zhang Guo Lao blinked.
When he looked again, Lü Dongbin was nowhere to be found. In his bewilderment, the old man looked at the stone platform in front of him. Five deep, dark shadows were being cast upon the stone, looming over him.
A gaze as heavy as a thousand tons bore down, pressing his stature lower. Suddenly, he understood why Lü Dongbin had run. And he understood exactly what "That's even better" meant.
"You've got to be joking..." he whispered.
Before the words could fully leave his mouth, he was sent flying.