The child sorcerer stroked the kitten in his arms and said, "This is where I told you I felt the aura of magic."
Wang Daer nodded. As one of several ancient emperors, a man with fifty thousand years of rich knowledge and wealth, he was already accustomed to such things as magic.
Just then, the kitten in the child sorcerer's arms suddenly cried out. The child sorcerer, as if understanding the kitten's words, frowned and began to sense the surrounding magic.
"Yes, yes, you're right."
The child sorcerer turned back to Wang Daer and said, "Unfortunately, someone has already gotten here first. I sense the aura of a demon."
"A demon?" Wang Daer raised an eyebrow, his face showing disgust. "Are they those guys from other dimensions?"
The child sorcerer shook his head. "No, it's a native demon."
"A native demon? Aren't they all sealed in hell by the Saints?"
The child sorcerer said, "Not all of them. The demon of fire wasn't sent back to hell but remained on the ground in a sealed form."
Wang Daer pondered. "Can this demon of fire be absorbed into the Illuminati as well?"
To counter the Justice League, formed by heroes like Superman, Wang Daer had also established the opposing Illuminati and began secretly gathering various forces to strengthen it. The child sorcerer was one of the first members he had recruited.
With fifty thousand years of life experience, Wang Daer clearly understood how unreliable it was to place humanity's fate in the hands of a single individual.
Every person has weaknesses, even Superman. Superman's existence had led humanity down a misguided path, where everyone believed they could rest easy as long as Superman was there, entrusting all their troubles to him. While this significantly reduced crime rates in the short term, it also led to human complacency due to the absence of external threats. If this continued, the entire global civilization would stagnate.
More importantly, if Superman were to go rogue or take extreme measures, no one on Earth would be able to stop him. If he wished, Superman could destroy any nation or organization on Earth and make the entire planet revolve according to his will.
For the sake of all humanity and the Earth, Wang Daer had to create an organization that could restrain Superman and allow Earth's civilization to continue to develop.
The child sorcerer shrugged. "While I hate to admit it, demons look down on humans like you with disdain. Their arrogance is so profound that even I feel inferior. It's almost impossible to recruit a demon."
"Meaning it's not entirely impossible, right?"
Seeing Wang Daer's confident expression, the child sorcerer said no more.
"Since we're here, let's go take a look. Perhaps we'll have some unexpected gains."
Time passed quickly. It had been over a week since they returned from the ancient castle.
During this past week, Bai Qi had not been idle. He had dispatched all his Shadow Ninjas across the globe, conducting secret searches for books, ruins, and even legends related to magic.
Valmont's arrogance made him dismiss human magic, but he had to admit that during the period Valmont was sealed and up until the beginning of the end of magic era, both Qi mages and dark sorcerers had further researched and developed magic, leading to considerable advancements.
Bai Qi was not Valmont. He knew that the demons' greatest failure in the original story was their own arrogance.
Just as in the demon arc, the demons, having been in hell for an extended period, had lost most of their power. The moment they were released, instead of focusing on regaining their strength, they began to claim territory and occupy land, still believing humans were the same as they were thousands of years ago. As a result, they were all sent back to hell one by one.
Learning from the demons' mistakes, Bai Qi began to lie low, avoiding direct confrontation with the protagonist group, while diligently studying the human magic brought back from all over the world by his Shadow Ninjas to enrich himself.
As Bai Qi was engrossed in his studies, a Shadow Ninja appeared before him.
"What is it?"
Bai Qi closed the book.
The ninja did not speak but placed a piece of torn cloth before Bai Qi, on which a white lotus was imprinted.
"Lotus Temple? You found it?"
The ninja nodded.
Bai Qi picked up the staff beside him and motioned for the ninja to lead him there.
The Lotus Temple was crucial to his plan. Bai Qi had long coveted the secrets of this mysterious temple and the magic within. Let alone anything else, the very text of the magic possessed the ability to cast spells. This meant that even a muggle with no understanding of magic could use the corresponding spells after mastering these magical texts.
Incidentally, the Lotus Temple appeared only after Valmont was sealed. Ancient mages researched magic there and created many spells that left Bai Qi in awe.
The wisdom of the ancients was not much inferior to that of modern people. In fact, compared to many modern masters, the wisdom of the ancients was something these people could never catch up to.
Bai Qi had read in a book about a very ancient tomb where the skulls of the buried skeletons were oriented in different directions. After research, it was discovered that the directions these skeletons faced corresponded precisely to the positions of the twelve constellations in the sky.
It was difficult to imagine how, in ancient times, without any modern observational instruments, ancient people could have accurately observed the positions of celestial changes.
In a bamboo forest, Bai Qi sat cross-legged before a bonfire. Several ninjas stood behind him, while opposite Bai Qi sat a monk who looked remarkably like a monkey.
However, this monk was currently bound and tied up, hanging in mid-air.
Bai Qi took a bite of the grilled sausage in his hand and said, "The secret of the Lotus Temple, though little known, is not something only you are aware of."
The monk's heart pounded as he looked at the people before him. The ninjas, all wrapped in black from head to toe, with red light in their eyes, clearly were not human. The monk could not sense any trace of life from them, and he was unsure if they were demons or specters.
And the seemingly harmless child in front of him was even more formidable. Being able to control these non-human monsters indicated that the child was no ordinary person. Furthermore, what he held in his hand was a pure gold staff, and from it, the monk sensed the aura of magic. Clearly, this was no ordinary walking stick but a magical staff.
Facing these almost-human, almost-non-human beings, the monk dared not be careless. He had no idea what consequences he would face if he dissatisfied them. It was more than eighty percent likely that he would become fertilizer for the bamboo forest the next day.
The monk spoke cautiously, "A long, long time ago, there was a monk who was deeply fond of magic. They gathered at the Lotus Temple to research various ancient magics. One day, they succeeded and created a magical script called 'Proverb.' This script, through special combinations, could unleash powerful magic. More importantly, Proverb had no restrictions. Written on scrolls, it allowed even ordinary people who had never studied magic to use spells. Later, the monks realized the power of Proverb. To prevent this power from falling into the hands of evil people, they shrouded the entire Lotus Temple with magic. Only when the moon was full would the Lotus Temple reveal itself. And any intruder would be cursed, vanishing with the Lotus Temple at dawn."