Rhine, of course, knew that the so-called "Uncle Aladdin" was fake; he was just a magician who wanted to use Aladdin to get the Godly Lamp!
The problem was that he had originally estimated that Maglido, who died by his hand, was the magician disguised as Uncle Aladdin.
But Maglido was already dead, wasn't he?
So now, who was disguised as Uncle Aladdin?
Rhine thanked Aladdin's mother, and before leaving, he took a toy doll from Aladdin's childhood from their home.
After leaving Aladdin's house, he immediately pulled out his crystal ball and began to divine using the toy Aladdin had played with.
"Tell me, who is the person disguised as Aladdin's uncle, who took Aladdin away?"
Now that Rhine was one of the top legendary magicians in the world, his divination skills were naturally far superior to what they once were, able to provide incredibly detailed information.
A brilliant blue light bloomed in the crystal ball, and lines of text appeared:
"It is Maglido's brother, Khalid, who is also a magician."
"The two brothers once stirred up trouble with sorcery together in their hometown and had a considerable reputation."
"Khalid had learned the secret of the Godly Lamp from his brother. The two had originally agreed to enjoy the Godly Lamp together after acquiring it. After divining his brother's death, he decided to take his brother's place and go to the treasure vault to get that Godly Lamp."
So that was it; Rhine now understood.
In many versions of the ending of "Aladdin's Godly Lamp," after defeating the evil magician, that evil magician suddenly had a brother appear.
That magician brother cast a divination on a sand table, and after learning of his brother's death, in order to avenge him, he disguised himself as a kind nun and secretly approached Aladdin's family.
However, evil cannot triumph over good; his conspiracy was eventually exposed, and in the end, like his brother, he died at Aladdin's hands.
Of course, this plot point was rather abrupt: the big villain suddenly had a brother appear to cause trouble for the protagonist. It was as if to prevent the story from ending, another villain was temporarily inserted at the end.
Therefore, in most modern adaptations of the story, the narrative ends when the evil magician is killed, and there is no appearance of a brother.
Now, because Rhine had killed Maglido in advance, fate had undergone a slight change.
Maglido's brother, Khalid, divined his brother's death in advance, took on the role of the original brother, disguised himself as Aladdin's uncle, and sought to acquire the Godly Lamp!
"It doesn't matter. It's all the same, no matter who comes."
Rhine then asked the crystal ball a second question:
"Tell me, Aladdin's current location…"
...
The magician Khalid, disguised as Aladdin's uncle, led young Aladdin over a large mountain and through a desert.
If Aurora were here and saw Khalid's appearance, she might think Maglido had come back to life—because the two were twin brothers, incredibly similar in temperament and looks.
"Uncle, it's all desert here, only stones and sand, and nothing good to see? Why did you bring me here?" Young Aladdin asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Don't ask so many questions, just follow me," Khalid said sternly, pulling Aladdin along.
"Uncle, we've been walking for so long, I'm already too tired to move. It's been several days now. You said you'd take me to see things I'd never seen before, and I thought I'd be home soon!"
Aladdin pouted and plopped down on the ground, refusing to move no matter what "Uncle" said.
"You won't walk, huh?"
Khalid was furious, abandoning the kind demeanor he had initially shown Aladdin, and slapped Aladdin to the ground.
Slam!
This slap was so forceful it nearly knocked Aladdin's teeth out, making him cry loudly on the ground in pain.
"Uncle, what did I do wrong that you would punish me like this?"
Aladdin remembered that when this uncle first came to their house, he was so good to him and his mother—
"Uncle" not only gave their family a lot of money but also took him around every day to play, meet new friends, interact with various business elites, and experience all sorts of new and interesting things.
Now, how had Uncle changed into this appearance?
Khalid fiercely scolded Aladdin:
"I am your uncle, and you must listen to me! What I'm going to show you later is definitely something you've never seen before. Now, get up quickly and follow me!"
Khalid made a gesture to raise his hand again, scaring Aladdin into standing up in terror:
"Okay, Uncle, I'll listen to everything you say!"
Just like that, Aladdin followed his uncle, covering his painful, red cheek, and dragged his extremely tired body for several more hours through the rocky desert, his feet covered in blisters.
Several times, Aladdin wanted to question his uncle about where he was taking him and wanted to know why his once kind and friendly uncle had suddenly changed into this appearance.
But thinking of the stinging pain of the slap, Aladdin dared not ask again.
Finally, Khalid led Aladdin to a pile of rocks in the desert.
The desert here was no different from anywhere else, with only rugged rocks and swirling sand, but Khalid recognized it at a glance.
"This is it!"
Khalid was overjoyed.
This was the desert east of Oz Country.
The ancient texts recording the secret of the Godly Lamp only outlined a general area for the treasure vault. Khalid had searched the vicinity for a long time, combining his divination skills, before finally determining the exact location of the treasure vault.
"Alright, Aladdin, this is our destination. You can rest for a while."
Aladdin heard that he could finally rest and immediately sat down on the scorching hot sand, panting.
He saw "Uncle" call out towards a large rock:
"Your Majesty, I have brought Aladdin!"
Who was Uncle shouting at? Aladdin curiously looked in the direction Khalid was shouting.
He saw a majestic troop of people emerge from behind the giant rock. The man leading them rode a tall horse, dressed in magnificent armor, his cloak flapping in the wind and sand.
Beside him were a dozen burly and capable guards, armed with weapons and wearing armor, clearly battle-hardened Super Warriors.
Seeing so many armed people, Aladdin immediately panicked and asked Khalid, who was next to him, in fear:
"Uncle, who are they?"
Unexpectedly, "Uncle" completely ignored Aladdin, rushing forward to kneel on one knee and salute the man in the lead, fawning:
"Your Majesty, I have brought Aladdin as agreed, and we will be able to open that treasure vault immediately!"
The man who came was none other than the Ender Emperor, who had long sought the Godly Lamp!
"My uncle, how does he know a foreign emperor?"
"He never told me before!"
Aladdin saw Khalid's fawning expression towards the man called "Emperor" and felt suspicious.
Recalling how "Uncle" had suddenly changed his kind demeanor and become violent towards him along the way, Aladdin couldn't help but suspect in his heart:
"Is he really my uncle? Could there be some conspiracy?"
It turned out that Khalid and his brother Maglido were connected by blood; if one encountered a calamity, the other could vaguely sense it. After learning of his brother Maglido's death through divination and their blood connection, Khalid rushed to Ender Kingdom overnight, found the Ender Emperor, and tearfully recounted his brother's death.
"My brother Maglido died so miserably; I beg Your Majesty to avenge him!"
"Coincidentally, I also know about the Godly Lamp. Since my brother is dead, I will lead Your Majesty to obtain the Godly Lamp!"
The two brothers were strikingly similar in appearance, and their personalities and temperaments were also close. Khalid quickly gained the Emperor's appreciation and was appointed to take over his brother's work—
Deceiving Aladdin, opening the treasure vault, and obtaining the Godly Lamp!
On the ground, the Ender Emperor said to Khalid in an unhurried tone:
"Hurry up. After it's done, I will reward you."
Khalid thanked the Emperor repeatedly, lit a branch, sprinkled some agarwood into the fire, and chanted a spell.
At this moment, neither the Ender Emperor, nor Khalid who was chanting the spell, nor Aladdin who was cowering in fear and confusion, noticed—
In the distant sky, two birds were quietly watching them!
"That Ender Emperor has also come. As an ambitious monarch, he indeed wants that Godly Lamp!"
The bird that Rhine had transformed into said.
As soon as the bird that Aurora had transformed into saw the Ender Emperor, she recalled the invasion of the Rose Kingdom by Ender Kingdom and the troubles Princess Ariel and Prince Eric had encountered, and she cursed several times in anger.
"Hmph, how unlucky. It's that damned Ender Kingdom again!"
She asked Rhine: "Teacher, should we make our move now?"
After the destined confrontation with Maleficent, her martial arts and strength were immeasurably stronger than when she had just left the Rose Kingdom and embarked on her journey! Even a Super Warrior far beyond common sense was no match for her.
And now, her teacher's magic was even more unfathomable, far exceeding common sense. At the previous grand banquet in the Rose Kingdom, Rhine had only shown a little of his skill, astonishing everyone.
Aurora even suspected that if her teacher wished, Ender Kingdom would sink into the sea tomorrow.
Rhine looked at Aladdin, who was trembling below, his face confused, and said:
"Let's wait a little longer."
"Aladdin already seems to suspect this 'uncle' of his."
"If we act now, we won't be able to convince Aladdin that we are the good guys."
After Khalid chanted a long string of incantations over the fire, the sky darkened, a fierce wind swept through, and sand obscured the heavens.
The ground tore open, revealing a crack. A square stone rose from the crack.
This sight scared Aladdin out of his wits, and he turned to flee.
"Stop!"
Khalid grabbed Aladdin and slapped him hard again.
Khalid fiercely threatened young Aladdin, who was already teary-eyed and holding his cheek:
"Listen carefully, I am your uncle, and you must listen to me!
"Later, whatever I tell you to do, you will do it.
"As long as you do it honestly, then endless glory and wealth will be waiting for you!"
He pointed to the square stone tablet and said:
"Beneath this stone cover is a treasure vault. Once inside, you will obtain wealth comparable to an emperor's. But you must strictly follow my instructions."
Aladdin nodded repeatedly in fear: "Okay, Uncle, I'll listen to you."
"Now go pull the iron ring on the stone, and as you pull, you must say your own name and your parents' names, understand?"
Aladdin walked to the stone with some hesitation. He grabbed the iron ring on the stone and found that it was indeed a heavy stone lid.
The magician Khalid, disguised as his uncle, as well as the Ender Emperor and a dozen Super Warriors, were all staring intently at Aladdin's back, making his heart pound.
Aladdin tried, feeling the stone lid was incredibly heavy, and turned to look at the magician Khalid: "Uncle, how can I pull open such a big stone door? Why don't we do it together?"
"No, you must pull it. Didn't I tell you? Say your own name and your parents' names!"
Aladdin found his uncle's request strange, but feeling the burning pain on his face, he still fearfully followed Khalid's words, pulling hard on the iron ring while saying his own name and his parents' names.
"My name is Aladdin, my father…"
This time, the heavy stone lid opened with surprising ease.
He looked down and saw that beneath the stone lid were a dozen steps leading to an underground area, seemingly to a mysterious treasure vault.
Khalid was overjoyed and then gave Aladdin many instructions, telling him how to avoid the terrifying curses in the treasure vault, and ordered him to go down:
"Remember what I said: once inside the treasure vault, do not let your clothes touch the jars, and do not lean against the walls, otherwise, you will turn into a stone statue!
"Inside the treasure vault is a garden. After passing through the garden, there is a magnificent hall. A lamp hangs from the ceiling, and there is also a ladder in the hall.
"You use the ladder to climb to the ceiling, take down the oil lamp, pour out the lamp oil, return the way you came, and give me the oil lamp. That's all.
"After that, all the gold and silver treasures in this vault will be yours!"
Aladdin was skeptical, but seeing the eager magician Khalid and the dozen well-built Super Warriors staring at him, he still swallowed nervously in fear and walked down the steps into the underground.
"Hahahaha, Aladdin is in!"
Seeing the child's figure disappear into the gloom beyond the passage, Khalid was ecstatic.
He turned to the silent Ender Emperor behind him and said:
"Your Majesty, you will soon obtain that Godly Lamp! With the Godly Lamp's magic, your empire will rule the entire continent!"
In fact, Khalid had another plan in mind.
He had no intention of giving the Godly Lamp to the Ender Emperor at all.
Khalid planned that once Aladdin handed him the Godly Lamp, he would immediately rub the Godly Lamp, summon the Lamp God, and order the Lamp God to seal Aladdin and the Ender Emperor's party inside the treasure vault.
At that time, he would be the only one in the world who knew the secret of the Godly Lamp and could monopolize its powerful magic!
Unexpectedly, at this moment, the Ender Emperor and his party also walked to the stone lid, and the Emperor himself stood guard on the steps, waiting for Aladdin to emerge.
Khalid's heart fluttered:
"Could it be that the Ender Emperor wants to be the first to get the Godly Lamp after Aladdin comes out?"
He immediately regretted not going into the treasure vault with Aladdin to seize the Godly Lamp first, but he still comforted himself inwardly:
"Heh heh, although that Emperor knows the Godly Lamp's magic is infinite, he doesn't know how to use it, nor does he know that rubbing the Godly Lamp's surface is necessary to summon the Lamp God.
"At that time, I can pretend to demonstrate how to use the Godly Lamp, or offer to help wipe off its dust, and thereby summon that Lamp God to do my bidding!"
In the distant sky.
When Rhine saw Aladdin open the treasure vault's seal, he immediately felt that the space inside and outside the vault were connected, and there was no longer any magical obstruction preventing him from teleporting into it.
"Aurora, let's go, let's get into the treasure vault first!"
The two birds transformed into human form in the air, disappearing in a silver whirlwind.