Uncle seemed to have perceived something.
As if knowing what was on Lo Pei's mind, he blurted out in astonishment:
"It's the Syllables of Time!"
"That's right. The Syllables of Time, which can rewrite everything. We need it," Lo Pei said in a low voice.
"But ever since Shendu conquered the world, we haven't been able to find the Syllables of Time anywhere. He hid it away," Uncle frowned.
Hearing this, Lo Pei shook his head.
The moment he thought of the Syllables of Time, his expression suddenly hardened with determination: "I can find it."
Lo Pei pointed to his own chest: "The direction is right here."
"Sacred Warrior, but..." Uncle started to say, but suddenly, the sound of hurried, dense footsteps echoed from the dimness of the corridor.
His expression changed, and he quickly said, "Your attack triggered the vault's security system. Shendu's servants are coming, we have to get out of here first!"
There was no time for hesitation. Uncle stepped in front of Lo Pei and Jade, pulling a blowfish from his sleeve. It radiated a soft green glow, primed for action.
At the end of the corridor, guards in dark-blue servant uniforms poured in en masse, rushing toward the vault.
"I'll leave this to you," Lo Pei murmured. "Speed Scroll!"
Like a gust of wind, he swept past the incoming guards, his figure flashing and vanishing in an instant.
At the entrance of the vault, watching the swarming guards charge in, Uncle assumed his stance to protect Jade.
"Aiya, want to fight Uncle?"
The shockwave of the explosion and the blaring alarms quickly alerted more people.
Meanwhile, Shendu, who had been enjoying his massage, seemed to sense something. He impatiently shifted his reclining body, which Jackie had been tending to, and stood up with a frown.
"What is it, Shen—uh, Master?" Jackie quickly hurried over to Shendu's side.
Even now, he still wasn't entirely accustomed to the title Shendu demanded they use. But living under someone else's roof, Jackie had no other choice.
"Jackie..." Shendu seemed to have snapped out of his relaxation moments ago, his burning gaze fixed intently on Jackie.
Jackie felt a creeping chill under that stare. He had thought that the massage techniques he had spent these past few days honing would keep Shendu dozing until the mission was complete. After all, it had worked before.
He hadn't expected Shendu to wake up this quickly, which instantly filled Jackie with dread.
"Jackie," Shendu called out, "what did you do when you took my power?"
"Uh... what power?" Jackie bent over with a guilty conscience, the expression on his face completely betraying him.
"You think I wouldn't feel it when the power belonging to me was stolen?" Shendu curled the corner of his lips. "Jackie, what kind of fun and games have you prepared for me?"
He had actually found out!
Jackie's heart skipped a beat, his mind repeating bad bad bad over and over again.
"Hehe..." A strained, awkward smile hung on Jackie's face as he slowly stepped backward, looking like a thief caught in the act trying to cover his own ears while stealing a bell.
"Just borrowing it for a second, I'll give it right back!"
Jackie scratched his head, keeping his eyes glued to Shendu as if he were ready to bolt at the slightest hint of trouble.
"Jackie," Shendu chuckled suddenly. "Don't think I don't know, your credit history is barely any better than mine used to be."
Shendu looked entirely unhurried.
To tell the truth, whether it was the Shendu of the past or Jackie, they were actually somewhat similar in certain aspects. Especially when it came to creditworthiness; put the two of them together, and they'd probably struggle to take out a loan for a bottle of mineral water. As everyone knew, this particular pair, one demon and one human, excelled at different things: one never kept his promises, and the other constantly borrowed things without returning them.
"Let me see what kind of fun you're trying to stir up with my power," Shendu smiled calmly.
He had every reason to be confident.
True strength was the most solid foundation of his composure. Unlike Uncle's shallow understanding, the current Shendu was no longer merely the ancient version of himself from tens of millions of years ago.
Having just returned from another world, he had long since surpassed his past peak. With Zoran's help, in just the span of a single world's time, he had grown to a degree that even he found hard to believe and imagine.
And Uncle and Jackie certainly didn't realize this. Based solely on their current understanding, they couldn't even grasp the full picture of the complete Shendu of the past, let alone the entity he was now.
Even if he appeared completely unchanged on the outside, it was only because he had reined in his power.
A Nebula Body, even placed within the universe of Ultra Beast Force, it represented the absolute strongest among the Seven Parallel Universes. As for this native world, mere petty struggles on a single planet were beneath Shendu's notice. He had only just defeated Hades, the supreme ruler capable of dominating the Seven Parallel Universes in Ultra Beast Force.
As for the Rat Talisman, Shendu had simply let Jackie steal it with a mind to watch the show. Otherwise, even with the spell Uncle had bestowed upon Jackie, though it possessed a certain counter-nature and shared the same fundamental mechanics as the mechanism attached to Lü Dongbin's sword, if Shendu didn't want it taken, Jackie still wouldn't have been able to do it.
The power of the Rat Talisman was to turn stillness into motion, and the stolen spell essentially just condensed Shendu's own power within his body into the shape of a talisman. Regarding his own power, Shendu understood it far better than anyone else.
Turning stillness into motion could imbue inanimate objects with life, but the revived targets could never reach their own peak states. Even if Jackie stole the Rat Talisman and used it on an Immortal, the resurrected Immortal would never become stronger, at least, not stronger than Shendu himself.
So, who on earth had Jackie given the Rat Talisman to? What had convinced them that whatever they resurrected could become a match for him?
Shendu sensed the area slightly, quickly pinpointing his own power. It was a bit hazy, as if some force was deliberately obstructing his perception.
Shendu let out a low chuckle and a soft hoot.
The perception-blocking spell Uncle had meticulously prepared shattered in an instant. A familiar aura permeated Shendu's awareness.
He paused for a fraction of a second.
Then, the next second, he burst into roaring laughter.
"Lo Pei..."
Shendu reached out, grabbed the frantically backing Jackie by the collar, and hoisted him right up to eye level. Jackie was completely immobilized, forced to stare directly into Shendu's massive, glowing pupils.
"Jackie, this is simply brilliant!"
A smile spread across Shendu's face, his eyes gleaming with intense excitement.
"To think you'd be so thoughtful as to deliver one of my only two enemies right to my doorstep. Tell me, how should I reward you?"
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