"The gate of the Wind Demon is about to open."
Shendu's voice sounded once more, conveying a new instruction.
Hsi Wu nodded in acknowledgment and rapidly strode toward the gate of his own domain.
The other demons, save for Pong Kong, followed closely in his footsteps.
Arriving at the gate, Hsi Wu looked around, but could not find Pong Kong anywhere.
So he asked Tso Lan:
"Where has Pong Kong gone?"
"She's out somewhere venting her anger to her heart's content."
Tso Lan shrugged helplessly, spreading his hands.
"Utterly foolish."
A trace of dissatisfaction leaked into Tso Lan's tone.
As he waited for the Portal to the Netherworld to open, Zhongsu couldn't help sneering inwardly:
"Fools, you're all the same."
"You've left, yet you don't know to find a secluded place to recover your strength, instead wandering everywhere."
"Wandering about would be one thing—human technology poses no threat to you whatsoever."
"Yet you insist on lingering around the main characters' adventures."
"If you really want to go back to the netherworld, why not just say so?"
Hsi Wu transformed into human guise, lingering around the main characters.
Tso Lan engaged in a fierce duel with Jackie Chan, who was clad in ancient armor.
"Jackie Chan, you cannot possibly defeat me!"
Tso Lan roared.
"Hmph, let's put that to the test!"
Jackie Chan did not show the slightest sign of weakness.
In order to retrieve his tail, Xiao Feng had no choice but to temporarily stay at the home of the protagonist Jackie Chan, the wizard Uncle, and the Saint Warrior Jade.
"Damn it, where on earth is my tail?"
Xiao Feng searched anxiously all around.
"You're wasting your breath, Xiao Feng."
Jade mocked.
Pachu, meanwhile, wandered about on the sea, only to find herself inexplicably sent right back to the starting point.
"What on earth is going on here?"
Pachu shouted in fury.
I can only say: you lot are truly courageous!
Not long afterward, fierce winds howled across the netherworld.
For Hsi Wu's Demon Portal had suddenly appeared suspended in the air.
"No!!!"
Hsi Wu's heart was filled with despair and terror.
"I despise this fan! It is the shackles of my fate, an endless nightmare I can never shake off!"
"No!!!"
"Shendu, save me!"
Across the desolate netherworld, a Demon Portal quietly swung open.
This was a one-way ticket, not a round trip.
The gate was pitch-black throughout, radiating a soul-shaking aura.
It was covered in eerie runes that flickered with a faint light, as if recounting endless pain and torture.
Dense, dark smoke billowed around the portal, twisting and writhing as though it possessed a life of its own.
When it touched the ground, it hissed, as if corroding everything in its path.
"I cannot just give up like this!"
Hsi Wu told himself inwardly.
"I am the Wind Demon, I cannot be defeated by this gate! I will resist, I will break free!"
As Hsi Wu cried out, the Demon Portal slowly widened, and a powerful suction force surged from within.
The pull was like an invisible giant hand that tightly gripped Hsi Wu, slowly dragging him toward the interior of the gate.
Hsi Wu's limbs flailed powerlessly in the air; every struggle proved utterly futile.
His eyes were filled with terror and despair, as if silently pleading for rescue from the surrounding demons,
yet they could only watch in silence.
Despite his utmost struggles, his body was still relentlessly devoured by the Demon Portal.
Every pull felt as though his very soul were being ripped apart;
his skin began to split open, revealing the raw, crimson muscle beneath.
"Why? Why is it like this?"
Hsi Wu asked himself inwardly.
"I was once so free, why must I endure such torment now?"
His cries grew even more piercing, yet amid this endless netherworld, his voice sounded so faint.
That toad-like creature was none of other than the Wind Demon among the Eight Demons:
Hsi Wu!
He had once been the embodiment of freedom, wielding mastery over the wind, yet now he had become a sacrifice to this very gate.
His wind powers seemed so powerless at this moment, unable to stop his destiny of being dragged back to the netherworld.
This scene naturally drew the surrounding demons in the netherworld to watch, but they were powerless to help.
Their gazes betrayed sympathy, and even fear.
They knew that
if even a powerful demon like Hsi Wu could not escape, what would their own fate be?
They could only watch helplessly as Hsi Wu was dragged back to the netherworld by the Demon Portal.
Unease flooded their hearts; this tragedy made them realize
that even demons could not fully control their own destiny.
At last,
as the Demon Portal closed completely, Hsi Wu was thoroughly sealed away within the netherworld.
The gate slowly shut, the runes upon its surface flashing a final time before fading into the encroaching darkness.
On the other side of the gate, nothing remained save for a profound, deathly stillness.
Peace returned to the depths of the netherworld once more,
yet beneath that calm lay the demons' uncertainty and dread regarding the future.