Thanks for the invitation, I just entered the chat group after traveling through Under One Person.

Chapter 208 From Peak to Valley

“That old man is yours, Tara,” Morty said, and a figure rose from the shadows beside him. This burly figure had orange-red skin and was a muscular, tall, and imposing man.

This guy had broad shoulders, a slender waist, thick arms, and long, muscular legs. He looked masculine and imposing, exuding a murderous aura. His face was contorted with anger, and he was dressed as a martial artist.

Her upper body was exposed, with black wristbands and a gray belt on her wrists. She wore black leggings and black shoes, and red stockings.

Compared to its robust physique, its face was rather ugly. Its forehead was wrinkled, and it had two small, pointed horns on each side of its head, with a pair of larger horns growing from its temples. The sclera of its eyes were pale yellow, its pupils were earthy green, and it had thick, long white eyebrows, a white mustache, and a row of grayish-yellow, sharp teeth. It looked like an old, ugly cat's head.

Tara was the former leader of the Shadow Legion and the commander of the Shadow Kingdom. She once ruled over both the Shadow Kingdom and the land of Fusang. She was originally supposed to be awakened by the Black Mage Daolong while attempting to summon the Shadow Legion in prison.

Because Tara's mask is hidden within the Shadow Kingdom, summoning the Shadow Legion has a certain probability of awakening it. As for why nothing happened when Shendu commanded the Shadow Legion, but Daolong encountered an accident when attempting the same operation, it's probably because the position of leader of the Dark Qi in the human realm was vacant at the time.

In the Holy Lord's palace, there is a broken totem inscription that records that in ancient times, some mysterious warriors appeared and used magic to try to defeat Tara. The warriors eventually sealed these ghost generals in masks.

Therefore, it can be inferred that the reign of the Eight Great Demons must have occurred after these Shadow Generals, or at the very least before Shendu's second reign over Asia. This would have given Shendu the opportunity to collect these engravings and the Ghost Mask.

Tara's mask was hidden in the Shadowlands, and Morty, who controlled the Shadowlands, could easily command Tara, the former commander of the Shadow Legion.

Unlike Xiaoyu, who used the power of her tattoos to command the Shadow Legion and proclaimed herself the Shadow Queen, Tara's use of the title "former Shadow Queen" was merely a joke. He held supreme authority over the Shadow Legion and naturally didn't take it seriously.

But when facing Morty, a true Dark Lord, Tara is merely a general, subject to Morty's commands. Even at her peak, Tara ruled the Shadow Kingdom, an alternate dimension formed from shadows. Morty, on the other hand, controlled the Shadow Kingdom; "rule" and "control" are two different concepts.

If the Shadowlands were a company, Tara would have become its general manager through sheer strength and competition, overseeing its operations. Morty, on the other hand, would have gained control of all the company's shares through the "financial support" provided by Rick.

Morty now owns the Shadow Kingdom, while Tara has only ever had the right to operate it. With no other "shareholders," Morty can easily fire Tara if he's unhappy with her. Without the Shadow Kingdom, Tara is just an ordinary demon; once her hidden mask falls into Morty's hands, she has no choice but to obediently become a worker.

As an alternate dimension, the Shadow Kingdom naturally contains not only the nine Shadow Legions, but also various other types of ghosts. The nine Shadow Legions are among the most powerful types of ghosts, organized into nine legions.

It's clear that the two fundamental forces in the adventure world, righteousness and darkness, have been entangled for a much longer period than the background story we know from the plot.

Just as the Hell Dimension might be a dimension created by the righteous Great Father, eight immortal gods, to seal away demons, the Shadow Kingdom is also an alternate dimension, so it must contain a corresponding Dark Great Father.

The peak of righteous and dark forces in the world they knew of the adventure series was the era of the eight great demons and the eight immortal gods. The Shadow Kingdom, this alternate dimension, clearly existed in a much more distant era, where there was also a peak of righteous and dark forces.

Some group members, including Su Yun, suspected that there was an upper limit to how the two fundamental forces of this adventure world could enhance the world's fundamental power through this continuous balancing and ascent.

In other words, when the forces of righteousness and darkness reach their peak, it actually means that the world's origin has reached its limit and can no longer be improved. Therefore, the origin's power must attempt to break through this limit.

The failure to break through resulted in the rapid decline of the era that had reached its peak, with both righteous and dark energies falling into a trough. Many ancient ruins in this world likely represent periods of heightened activity for extraordinary powers. Other dimensions such as the Shadow Dimension and the Hell Dimension directly represent eras of primal peak. Based on this deduction, the Eight Demons and the Undying God represent the last recorded primal peak states in the Qi Mage's scriptures. The two clashed, with the Undying God emerging victorious.

Subsequently, the world's origin began to ascend, attempting to break through its limits but failing. As a result, the immortal gods born from the righteous side perished in this world. On the contrary, the eight demons, who became the losers, were able to eke out a living in hell.

The Hell dimension is like a cage, while the Shadow Kingdom dimension is like a world in the shadows. Therefore, in the peak era represented by the Shadow Kingdom dimension, the Dark Aura faction may have been the ultimate victor.

However, the founders of the Shadow Kingdom, like the immortal gods, disappeared from this world due to a failed ascension to their primal essence. This led to the later emergence of the nine Shadow Legions and their commander, Tara.

Tara, the former commander of the Shadow Legion, is now being used as a laborer, much to her dismay. She has no choice but to vent her anger on the enemy.

As it turned out, this mighty demon was actually fighting on equal terms with the seemingly most ordinary guy on the other side. That's right, Tara's opponent was Chen Long, who could go toe-to-toe with almost anyone.

Undoubtedly, Chen Long can be considered the first "50/50" fighter among well-known figures in China. Even if Tara could fly and teleport, she would have to rely on her fists and feet to fight Chen Long. However, Chen Long was beaten quite badly. Tara's martial arts attire was not for nothing; she was indeed very skilled in combat.

Compared to their evenly matched battles against the Shadow Legion outside, they were now at a disadvantage within the Shadow Kingdom world controlled by Morty, struggling to cope. If it weren't for the spells their father had developed—which, even if not specifically targeted, were still highly effective against dark energy—they would probably still be waiting for Chen Xiaoyu to escape.

"Ouch~ Dad's talisman!" In the midst of the battle, one of Dad's talismans was accidentally flung out. Morty controlled the power of shadows to condense into tentacles and caught the talisman.

The moment the shadowy tentacles touched the talisman, a purple thorny vine suddenly flew over and took control of it as well.

"When it really matters, you still have to rely on me, Jojo!" Joseph said smugly. The talisman on his father was the Rat Talisman, which was very important to Shendu, but only so-so for Morty.

Morty wasn't fixated on competing with Joseph for the Rat Talisman. Instead, he issued an order for the Shadow Legion, who were fighting the group, to prioritize seizing talismans from the enemies. Since they couldn't defeat the enemy quickly, they'd weaken them first.

"Little mouse, where do you think you're going?" Shadow Morty suddenly turned around and looked at a corner. He wasn't talking about the Rat Talisman, but a real "little mouse."

Behind a pillar in the corner, Ai Haibara, who had transformed into a little mouse using the Monkey Talisman, realized she had been discovered and quickly changed back. She planned to take advantage of the chaotic battle to quietly approach the Book of Time and turn the tide.

"Oh dear! The mouse isn't small enough; it should have turned into an ant or something," Joseph muttered after getting the mouse charm.

"Why don't you let me turn into a bacterium?!" Ai Haibara retorted. She was already unhappy about sacrificing so much to become a guinea pig, and it made her even angrier when Morty found out. Joseph added fuel to the fire, and she just walked right into the line of fire.

Turning into an ant? At the speed of an ant, by the time she reaches the place in the annals of history, Joseph, your grave will probably be overgrown with weeds.

"Heh~ No need to argue, it's useless to turn into anything. In my Shadow Kingdom, even if you turn to ashes and scatter, I can still find you... Right, group leader?" Shadow Morty sneered, then suddenly turned his attention to Cheng Yiyi, who was deliberately getting closer to the Book of Time while fighting the Shadow Legion, taking advantage of Ai Haibara and Joseph drawing attention to her.

(End of this chapter)