The Dawn of the New World

*Crack*

*Rustle*

Followed by the sound of rustling leaves two figures jumped down from the overgrown canopy at the very edge of the bog created by the black liquid.

"Sokol, are you sure this is the right way?" a skinny bald-headed man wearing plain grey robes asked the boy next to him. (Ch 601 'Sokol')

Sokol closed his eyes for a moment and mumbled something under his breath. It sounded like an incantation that activated a purple symbol on his neck.

A rattling sound echoed in the surroundings as a four-meter-long snake materialized around him. Its main body was black but the entire stomach lining was bright purple.

Its forked tongue licked the air around them before looking slightly to the right side in the distance.

Sokol nodded as if he could hear the serpent before it disappeared.

"That way," he pointed in the same direction, "It will be there."

A second bald-headed man ran up behind them with incredible speed stopping beside them without making a sound. He was wearing the same kind of robes only his were a lot tighter because of his muscular physique.

"Han Rong!" he called out to the first man, "Is this the place?" and inquired curiously.

Han Rong patted Sokol on the head with a smile and nodded, "Mhm. What did you find Zou Huan?"

These two were the disciples of Mount Cae that Hao Xuan had met not too long ago. (Ch 590)

Zou Huan pointed towards the left side and the back, "I checked everything within a 20-kilometer radius and there is nothing other than those strange creatures around. If the city was supposed to be here it's not anymore."

Sokol shook his head while pointing slightly to the right, "There. The way to the city will be there."

Zou Huan and Han Rong exchanged knowing glances before talking through spiritual sense, 'I've checked everything, no living thing can survive in this place. That strange fluid destroys everything it touches.'

Han Rong went silent for a moment while looking up at the sky that was cut in half, 'I can't sense anything in this place either. It feels like all the spiritual sense is being blocked by something very powerful and it's not like any demon I have heard off. There are none of the usual signs present either but something is obviously wrong here, nature itself is in disarray.'

He turned to glance towards Sokol, 'But his gift hasn't been wrong so far, it wouldn't hurt to try one last time. If we can't find it here then we will have to return to the surface, or whatever is left of it. There have to be some of the younger generations that haven't lost their minds following in the young prince's footsteps.'

Zou Huan went silent for a moment before agreeing with a heavy sigh, 'Fine, but we have to be quick. Something is very wrong with this place. I feel a strange kind of emptiness here. And it doesn't help that our cultivation is still locked at Spirit Realm.'

"Let's go then."

Zou Huan knelt down and Sokol got on his back as if they had practiced it a hundred times before. With him in the lead they skipped over the bog by stepping on air at full speed but began to slow down after a couple of minutes before coming to a complete stop.

They stood in silence for a few seconds before Han Rong spoke up.

"Do you feel that?"

"Of course, the very ground we are standing on is shaking, how could I not feel it?" Zou Huan rebuked with a furrowed brow.

"Slowly now, hide your aura. I can sense something ahead," he warned.

Han Rong waved his hand in a semi-circle while mumbling something under his breath. But then he uttered one audible word at the end before blowing air towards himself and Sokol.

"Conceal!"

A flash of translucent light fell on them from above and all life signs were immediately hidden.

Once the spell was complete they continued moving forward albeit at a snail's pace as compared to before since they couldn't use any spiritual energy now.

The further in they went the stronger the tremors became until the ground was shaking constantly.

They didn't have to be geniuses to figure out that a fight was taking place right in front of them.

'There!' Han Rong pointed straight ahead where something could be seen poking out of the ground.

It was pitch black so they couldn't see it clearly until they were close enough.

'It goes down, there is a hole in the ground be careful,' Zou Huan warned.

They crept up along the side until they could see what was happening on the other side which was a shock in and of itself for a number of reasons.

There was a man locked in combat with the creature they had seen from afar.