The Dawn of the New World

**Continuation from CH: 1010 titled 'Like the Rest'.

Ma Jiang stormed up the stairs in a huff and ran into the first chamber. Taking a quick look around she unexpectedly paused upon seeing the grand priestess sitting on the other side of the room.

Her haggard appearance made it look like she had been put through the blender but at least she was resting peacefully now.

Right across from where she was standing was the entrance to the second chamber that was already half-opened. As she got closer the chaos could be felt much more clearly.

To her it felt like a cold and dark place which wasn't far from the truth. Still, she steeled her heart and entered. The door closed behind her by itself.

Ma Jiang moved her hands in front of her face defensively as she pushed deeper into the mass of swirling chaos. But a few steps in and it abruptly calmed down.

She lowered her hands and looked around to see countless figures standing around her. They were made from the chaos itself, or rather, the chaos was taking the shape of these individuals.

It was even more strange because when she looked behind her there were never-ending rows of similar figures that seemingly went on for miles but she had only taken a handful of steps since first entering the chamber.

And to the front of her, just a few meters ahead she could see Hao Xuan kneeling on the ground. Above him was a swirling mass of plasma that looked like the same miniature sun that Jin Wang had seen but a little dimmer. (mentioned in detail in CH 9777 titled "Squalor")

Princess Ceni was already standing in front of him with a troubled expression so Ma Jiang sidestepped the chaos figures that were in the way and went up to them.

She was thinking about what to say when Princess Ceni spoke up first.

"Can you feel it too?"

Ma Jiang had no idea what she was talking about so she just shook her head while moving behind Hao Xuan to get in position. She cleared up the ground and sat down half a meter behind him, placing the formation disk in between them as Jin Wang had instructed.

Princess Ceni got on her knees mimicking Hao Xuan and gently cupped his face with both hands while muttering under her breath, "I can. Just crumbs of it but it's so terrible, all that pain. I wish I could take his place."

Strangely enough neither of them were affected by the gravity field even though it was still there.

It was eerily quiet in the chamber so every little vocalized thought clearly echoed throughout.

Ma Jiang kept her silence. There was not much she could do here other than focus on her part so she did just that.

With both eyes closed, she sat cross-legged since that was the most comfortable position for her and focused. She tuned out everything else until only the disk remained in front of her.

But shockingly, in that empty void of her mind a voice was heard.

"You shouldn't be here," a child whispered into her ear, "Why did you leave me behind?"

Ma Jiang was pulled out of the meditative state as her body jerked back before glancing to the right where the voice had come from but found nothing.

"What's wrong?" Princess Ceni leaned over upon hearing the noise.

"N-Nothing-Nothing at all," Ma Jiang responded instinctively.

'That's not possible, I'm just hearing things,' she told herself.

"Is everything ready then or do you need more time?"

"I'm ready. Please take off his shirt. I will need to place the disk directly on his back when he wakes up."

Ceni unbuttoned his shirt and dropped it down absentmindedly but when she saw what was happening underneath a horrified gasp escaped her lips.

"OhMyGod!"

Ma Jiang had much the same reaction because now they could clearly see Hao Xuan's skin changing continuously.

Old scars appeared almost every second as all types of wounds were being painted across his body. Some looked like bullet holes while a vast majority were made by sharp blades while others by blunt objects.

A wound would appear and close up in less than a second before a new one popped up right on top of it, superimposing his body like it was a canvas being painted by a thousand different artists at once.

"What is that?!"

Princess Ceni brushed her fingers across his body, feeling every misshapen bump and blemish along the way.

"Even though he is dreaming but I think his mind is confusing them for reality and reflecting the wounds he receives in there on his physical body out here, trying to make sense of it."

Ma Jiang extended her hands to channel a string of spiritual sense into Hao Xuan's body to inspect his condition.

"He can't keep this up for long. Soon his body will run out of vitality and blood essence and then the wounds won't be able to heal."

"Then let's make sure it doesn't come to that."