It is said that in ancient times, a powerful dark sorcerer stumbled upon a magic orb of immense power in a demon ruin.
With this magic orb, the dark sorcerer became omnipotent, capable of summoning wind and rain at will. However, due to his excessive arrogance, he was eventually hunted down and killed by a coalition of righteous mages.
To prevent the orb from falling into the hands of those with malicious intent, the two most powerful among the righteous mages logically split the orb in half, each taking one piece and hiding them in the realms of extreme yin and extreme yang respectively. A legend also spread that when the two halves of the magic orb were reunited, the world would perish.
This is what the books recorded.
But was that the truth of the matter?
Of course not. In reality, after obtaining the magic orb, these self-proclaimed righteous mages engaged in a fratricidal war over its ownership, backstabbing each other until only two mages remained.
These two mages were evenly matched, neither able to defeat the other. In the end, they had no choice but to reach a truce and split the magic orb in half, each taking one piece.
The fundamental reason why Xi Mu was so determined to find it was that the item was deliberately released by Xi Mu in the first place.
As the saying goes, to gain immense power, one must pay an equivalent price.
Xi Mu had long ago enchanted the magic orb with his magic.
Anyone who used it would be influenced by it, becoming violent and aggressive. After killing, the life energy within the victim would be extracted as raw material to supply the magic orb, while the orb would also absorb the user's life energy to sustain itself.
Over time, nurtured by generations of users, the magic orb naturally became incredibly powerful. All Xi Mu had to do was to reclaim the orb at the opportune moment, take its flourishing magic and life energy, and then release it again.
Unfortunately, his otherwise perfect plan encountered a snag, namely the dark sorcerer who was the last holder of the magic orb.
After his death, the magic orb was split in two by those two idiotic righteous mages. Shortly after, Xi Mu and the other seven great demons were sealed, leaving him no time to deal with its reclamation.
But things were different now. Xi Mu had just returned from hell, his power greatly diminished, and he was in urgent need of the magic orb's magic and life energy to recover.
Moreover, with these years of the magic orb being hidden in the realms of extreme yin and extreme yang, its magic had become even purer, making it an excellent tonic.
Not to mention that in order to reclaim it, Xi Mu had left a wisp of his sky essence within the magic orb. Therefore, no matter what, the magic orb had to be recovered.
The result was that because Xi Mu couldn't contain his impatience, the righteous ones smelled the opportunity and came knocking.
Xi Mu successfully recovered the half of the magic orb from the realm of extreme yin. However, the other half, placed on the peak of a towering mountain in the realm of extreme yang, was discovered by a mountaineering team and brought back, put on display at the Grand Metropolis Museum.
It is known that the Grand Metropolis is Superman's territory, a place where even Bai Qi would not dare to trespass lightly. For Xi Mu, it was a hellish level of difficulty.
Fortunately, Xi Mu was clever. If it were another demon, they would have charged in headlong. But Xi Mu did not. After fully understanding Superman's power, he began to scheme, deliberately creating various emergencies to tie him down as much as possible.
Alas, Xi Mu's careful planning had a blind spot. All his attention was focused on how to contain Superman, forgetting that Superman, as a founding member of the Justice League, had the entire Justice League behind him.
Coincidentally, at that time, besides Superman, there were several other Justice League members in the Grand Metropolis. Although their strength was not as great as Superman's, and they were only second-tier in the Justice League, they were sufficient to delay Xi Mu.
Indeed, several Justice League members successfully held on until Superman returned after finishing his tasks.
Now, Xi Mu was being pursued by Superman all over the world.
It was unavoidable. Although Superman didn't have much magic resistance, he had incredible resilience. With his indomitable body and the constant charging from the yellow sun, he was virtually immortal.
Of course, it was not impossible to defeat him. All it would take was to create a red sun, or trap him in a place without sunlight, and continuously deplete his internal energy.
It was just that Xi Mu did not know these things.
Upon discovering that his magic could not harm Superman, he decisively chose to flee.
Let us return to the present.
Although the righteous forces focused most of their energy on the weaker Xi Mu, aiming to eliminate him in one fell swoop, the disturbances caused by Di Kui and Bai Qi in the Island Nation had also drawn the attention of the righteous.
The righteous would certainly not stand by and watch Bai Qi slaughter indiscriminately, harvesting life energy, without intervening.
Thus, Atlanteans, clad in armor, wielding harpoons, and riding dolphins, appeared in the ocean and entered the sea area covered by the Dark Descent at extreme speed. Leading them was Aquaman, holding his trident.
Holding his trident, Aquaman emerged from the sea, approached the cruise ship, leaped up, and landed steadily on the deck.
The Sea Ghosts on deck, who were still engaged in slaughter, saw this gaudily dressed figure suddenly appear and grinned, raising their sailor's knives as if to carve a few holes in him.
"Hmph, trash."
Facing the charging Sea Ghost, Aquaman let out a disdainful snort and then flung his trident forward.
*Zing!*
The trident pierced the air and directly impaled the leading Sea Ghost on the deck. Before long, it dissipated into black smoke.
The Sea Ghosts behind were stunned by the sight of their comrade's fate and involuntarily stopped in their tracks.
Aquaman paid them no mind, lunged forward, and delivered two powerful punches.
These two punches were equally devastating. One Sea Ghost had half its body blown apart, and the other had its head exploded.
Yes, Aquaman, as the offspring of a union between a human and an Atlantean, although he grew up on land and had not received Atlantean magical education, with very little Atlantean magic at his disposal, do not forget that as Aquaman, his trident and the scaled armor he wore were magical creations, and thus could inflict effective damage on the Sea Ghosts.
These Sea Ghosts, in their mortal lives, were merely disorganized pirates. The reason they dared to be so arrogant and fearless was their knowledge that the weapons of these land monkeys could not harm them.
Upon discovering that Suzuki Jirōkichi's weapons could harm them, they had promptly given up.
Now, seeing a more formidable Aquaman, they were instantly terrified and scattered backward.
Looking at the dispersed Sea Ghosts, Aquaman couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and say disdainfully, "Tsk, just a bunch of cowards who pick on the weak and fear the strong. Let's finish this quickly so we can get some rest."
Saying that, he pulled the trident from the ground and began to wield it.
Not only Aquaman, but the weapons of the Atlanteans in the sea below were also magical creations capable of harming the Sea Ghosts.
However, their target at this moment was not to clear out the rampaging Sea Ghosts, but the Sea Ghost Mountain hidden beneath the sea.
In the eyes of the Atlanteans, compared to the destruction caused by the Sea Ghost Mountain, the Sea Ghosts were but a drop in the ocean.
Killing the Sea Ghost Mountain as quickly as possible was the priority. As for the casualties among the land-dwelling humans, what concern was it of theirs?