The Dawn of the New World



"I know, keep going Grey, don't stop."

*beep*

"There is no reason to risk entering such a dangerous area. The best option would be to go around it."

"There is very much a reason. She has been following me for so long but always a step behind. If I don't go to her she will die here, and not because of a lack of strength."

"Who is host referring to?"

Grey jumped over the final wall of corpses to enter the ravine that was more hellish than hell itself. There were half-meter-wide blood pustules lining the sides. They leaked all kinds of foul liquids and gave birth to veiny outgrowths that spread around in every direction.

Just a few meters in and they came across the first demonic manifestation. It was a small hole in the ground and several strangely shaped skeletons were trying to force themselves out of it.

They didn't even have any fleshy body parts to make the sounds and yet horrific screams and calls for help were being sent out from their bodies.

"Don't get too close to that one," Hao Xuan calmly explained, "It will grab on and pull you down with it. It's a flesh eater that uses its victim's body parts to make itself whole before completely entering the mortal plane."

*Neigh*

Grey ran past it, giving it a wide birth so there would be no funny business but for some reason, despite being the belly of the beast he was not nervous at all.

Perhaps it was the composed nature of his master that made him feel like everything was going to be okay but one thing was for certain, it had a positive effect on his psyche and Hao Xuan could ask him to jump into the burning pits and he would not hesitate.

Hao Xuan could also feel this effect through the soul bond. It was the purest form of connection that a cultivator could have with their contracted beast and when both of their thoughts aligned there was nothing they couldn't accomplish.

"Good boy," Hao Xuan ran his fingers through Grey's mane as the dreadful scenery began to take a turn for the worse.

The previously crimson sky began to dim as a murky gloom seeped into the reality surrounding everything nearby. It even limited their vision to a little over 10 meters.

Hao Xuan noticed the changes and nodded, "Good, we're close."

Suddenly the entire ravine shook and several waves of tremors followed suit in quick succession.

*roaaAAAAAAAR*

A muffled roar that abruptly got louder halfway through sent a shockwave that sent a rain of of debris in their direction.

Hao Xuan immediately extended his left hand and rotated it clockwise to create a 2-meter wide shield of chaos energy. Everything that came into contact with it was instantly turned to ash.

The rain of debris which was mostly made up of small shards of bone got stronger and stronger the closer they got to the source.

"Don't stop! Keep moving forward at a steady pace, I'll tell you when to run at full speed!"

*Neigh* x2

Hao Xuan's pupils began to change as he allowed the Lycan Bloodline to come into effect. All of a sudden he could see through the darkness and get a much clearer picture of what was happening around him.

The ravine had gotten much wider at this point and they were running on the shores of a frozen lake. In the center of the frozen lake were two entities engaged in mortal combat.

Well, rather than 'mortal combat' it was more similar to a human trying to squash an annoying bug. There was a 12-meter-tall humanoid skeleton with a giant scythe that was the source of the 'bone rain' plaguing the area.

Hao Xuan's eyes narrowed when he saw its full appearance. There were a lot of missing bones and it generally gave off of an aura of weakness.

'A low-grade Skeletal Lord cultivating death energy to increase its offensive and defensive prowess. Doesn't look like it has the ability to summon lesser demons so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to incapacitate it briefly.'

It was fighting, or trying to kill a constantly shapeshifting creature that was flying all over the place. One second it was in the shape of a sparrow swooping through its attacks and the next it was a three-legged crow pecking at the skeleton's head.

"Stop, turn to the left and go straight," Hao Xuan ordered, "Whatever you see don't stop. I will tell you when it's time and then you can run as fast as you can to the other side. After we cross the lake run straight until you hit the wall and then follow it out, understand?"

*Neigh!* x2

Both of Grey's heads bobbed up and down enthusiastically as he turned towards the center of the lake.

Hao Xuan flexed his left arm while channeling all the purest Chaos Qi within his body towards it.