Xiao Fung had completely shut down. No matter how much the other demons questioned him, he refused to say a single word about what had happened outside, only repeating over and over that the outside world was the real hell.
In this crimson void of the Netherworld, countless small floating islands drifted about. The large ones were several dozen feet across, while the small ones barely had enough room to stand on.
Tchang Zu, the Thunder Demon, stared at the slowly opening Netherworld portal with a look of absolute exhilaration.
"Brothers and sisters, the era of us demons is returning! I will eliminate all obstacles and rescue everyone from the Netherworld one by one!"
With that, Tchang Zu stepped through the green-framed portal with heavy footsteps. As soon as he poked his head out, he was met with countless camera flashes and a massive crowd.
The Netherworld portal snapped shut behind him. He looked around and realized that his current position was actually boxed in by alternating gray and black stone pillars.
These stone pillars were spaced exactly one meter apart, and beneath his feet and above his head were ten-by-ten-meter square stone slabs.
Surrounding the exterior of the stone pillars was a ring of brass columns.
This was a prison—a prison built precisely where the Netherworld portal opened.
"Audacious mortals! Do you think mere stone pillars can trap me? How naive!"
The Thunder Demon naturally commanded the power of lightning. Not only could he summon lightning strikes, but he could also shoot torrents of plasma from his hands like lasers.
The sheer scale and flashy visual effects were more immersive than any VR display.
However, the surging electrical currents hit the bedrock pillars with zero effect, and the lightning that scattered through the gaps toward the crowd was firmly absorbed by the ring of brass columns.
Minecraft's Lightning Rods. With a one hundred percent absorption rate for lightning, they were the absolute natural enemy of the Thunder Demon, Tchang Zu.
Basically, as long as you carried one on you, Tchang Zu would be reduced to a powerless vanilla mob.
Cheers erupted from the surrounding citizens. The red curtains pulled back, and Zenith stood less than five meters away from Tchang Zu, holding a microphone. "Respected audience and distinguished guests, what you are witnessing right now is Hollywood's most advanced light and sound show! Trapped behind you is an AI-simulated Thunder Demon who firmly believes he once ruled the entire world with the power of lightning!"
A one-meter gap was quite large, but Tchang Zu's massive frame definitely couldn't squeeze through. If he wanted to change his form, he first needed to envelop himself in lightning. But right now, the moment any lightning surged from his body, it would uncontrollably fly straight toward those brass columns.
Tchang Zu could only rage impotently inside his cage.
What made him even more furious was that humanity—who had been nothing but slaves in ancient times—was now watching him like a monkey in a zoo.
Even worse, some people were interacting with him as if teasing a cat or a dog. This included, but was not limited to, throwing food at him, making "pspsps" noises, and performing gestures. As long as he reacted, they would cheer excitedly and say, "Oh, awesome! Good boy!"
Uncle pushed up his glasses and said to Jackie and Jade beside him, "He is slowly becoming a god. Doing whatever he pleases, finding it difficult to empathize with ordinary people."
Jade blinked in confusion. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"Jade, listen to me," Jackie began his educational lecture. "Once a person possesses immense power but doesn't exercise restraint, they start doing whatever they want. No matter what their original intentions were, they will eventually become a slave to their desires."
"Or a high and mighty god," Uncle concluded. "Just like the Eight Demon Sorcerers from ancient times."
Serie appeared behind them at some unknown point. She glanced at Uncle, then said indifferently, "He is already a god. A young god. The vast expanse of time will teach him everything."
Uncle raised an eyebrow. "Hah! Pointy-ears, are you trying to challenge Uncle? Do you have as much life experience as Uncle?!"
Although she really didn't want to admit it, Serie truly didn't want to compare ages with anyone. She wasn't about to expose her true age, so she just casually remarked, "Old goat, when I first started learning magic, humans were still swinging from trees."
"Aiya!! Who are you calling an old goat?!"
Having finished setting up the Thunder Demon exhibit, Zenith spotted Serie in the crowd. He wasn't worried at all about Tchang Zu escaping; only a try-hard nerd like Shendu managed to dual-class as both a demon and a Dark Chi Wizard.
"What are you guys chatting about? Looks like Uncle is about to blow a gasket." Zenith pulled up a chair and sat next to Serie. "Tchang Zu is basically done for. Once he gets tired of being a circus monkey, he'll beg us to send him back to the Netherworld himself. If I remember correctly, the next one is the Moon Demon, Tso Lan. Who's interested in taking a trip to the moon with me?"
"We were talking about whether you'll turn into a big bad guy in the future," Jade was quick to answer. "But I don't think you will. Mr. Zenith only lets loose and goes crazy when he's dealing with bad guys."
Uncle and Jackie rolled their eyes. *That's because you didn't see how unhinged he got when dealing with Xiao Fung.*
After listening to Serie's explanation, Zenith roughly understood what was going on. In a rare moment of seriousness, he rested his chin on his hand and pondered for a while, feeling that Uncle actually made some sense.
If he kept doing whatever he wanted, he might slowly turn into a true, apathetic god who cared about nothing. Even more terrifying, he might become a blocky demon lord who terrorized the multiverse.
Being unhinged was a way to maintain his sanity, but being constantly unhinged wouldn't work.
Zenith slapped Serie's thigh. "It's decided! In the next world, I will only use vanilla survival abilities. If I use any mods, I'll consider the challenge failed."
"Next world?"
"And the penalty for failing the challenge?"
Zenith didn't hide anything from Uncle and the others, bluntly stating that Jackie was an international superstar in a parallel world, which was where those movie DVDs came from.
As for the penalty... was there anything in this world that could even be considered a punishment for him? Zenith couldn't think of anything, so he cast a pleading look at Serie.
Serie thought for a moment. "Since you have 'Keep Inventory' turned on anyway, let's set it to this: if you use mod abilities in the next world, your punishment will be to pioneer the DC universe all by yourself, completely empty-handed."
A hardcore mode starting from scratch—was that really a punishment? At most, it was just a little spice in a boring life.
Zenith said that was no problem. Even using vanilla survival, he could play the DC universe perfectly well. When the time came, he would go have a passionate fistfight with Batman and see if the DC universe could actually invent an 'Anti-Zenith Armor'.
"But that's all for the next world. So, who's coming with me to the moon to find Tso Lan?"
When it came to adventure-related things, Jade was definitely going to be interested. She was the first to raise her hand to sign up, but Jackie immediately grabbed her arm. "Jade, you still have homework to do!"
"Our moon trip can be scheduled for the weekend."
That left Jackie speechless. Jade happily jumped three feet into the air. A moon landing! What would be on the moon? Would there be a Moon Rabbit and Chang'e? After all, demons and wizards existed.