The Dawn of the New World

For some reason, whenever Hao Xuan read words like "us" and "we" in the warden's last statement, he couldn't connect them with the almighty Gods and the heavens that watched over the mortal realms. But perhaps that was just his own limited vision.

'Was it really something so bad that even a true god could do nothing against it?' he pondered as the raindrops fell on his drooping shoulders that felt heavier than ever before.

He felt unnaturally cold on this planet. It wasn't a physical cold but something spiritual that affected his very being.

He couldn't help but think of home in this situation. Not the 'home' back on earth, but the one he left in the Mei Kingdom. There he had a warm bed, people he called friends, and a special someone that would brighten his day with just a smile and a word or two.

"What I wouldn't do to see her right now," Hao Xuan couldn't help but mumble while his eyes peered left and right at the sky above, searching for a moon that was hidden behind a sea of dark clouds.

He had seen Xu Qing praying to the Moon Goddess several times and even asked about it once. The answer was simple but left an impression in Hao Xuan's mind.

Hao Xuan was lost in memories of the Mei Kingdom when a bright light shone behind them, prompting him awake. It was so bright that just for an instant, it looked like the sun had risen.

They were too far for the sound to carry over but it wasn't hard to imagine how loud something like that would have been.

Like many others in the group, Hao Xuan paused to look back but everything had returned to its usual gloomy self already.

At this point Henrik came stumbling over once again. His feet were covered in bandages and had healed for the most part since it was just an ordinary wound.

He grabbed Hao Xuan by the arm and dragged him to the side, away from prying eyes.

"Do you know what that was just now?" he asked in a low voice, his tone grave.

Hao Xuan shrugged. He couldn't care less at the moment. He tried to help but was sent away so whatever they got, they deserved.

Henrik let out a helpless sigh.

"That was the secret art of the 3rd guardian. He's one of the two monsters that came from the other continents. The fact that he's here and even had to use something like this means their situation is not looking good. Can you tell me what's going on now or what?" he stared at Hao Xuan with a dead-serious look but his face that looked more delicate than a flower only made him look like an upset young lady.

Instead of giving an answer, Hao Xuan asked a question in return.

"How much cultivation did you recover? Can you use that thing and show me what's going on there?"

The 'thing' Hao Xuan was referring to was a displacement skill that Henrik had learned in secret. He had used it once before.

It allowed him to use something or someone as a conduit and project a live feed of the places they had been to within the last few hours.

The farther the distance, the more Qi it consumed. And if the place he was trying to see had a concentration of spiritual energy then it would be harder for him to see it as well.

Henrik looked at Hao Xuan with a raised eyebrow.

"You're the conduit?"

"Yeah."

"I can try. I'm not sure if it will show everything though."

"That's fine."

Hao Xuan called Fulke and Hazel over to stand guard while Ceni took charge of their party and continued to lead the remaining cultivators towards the city, albeit quite hesitantly.

She wanted to join in as well but Hao Xuan's complete dismissal of her very existence had finally hit a nerve for the fair maiden.

She was a princess, a Royal! And beautiful and charming enough to steal a man's very soul with a single look, yet he was treating her like a diseased dog.

Ceni stared at the backs of those four disappear into the woods with a nonchalant expression but inwardly she was fuming.

"Why am I not good enough? All I wanted was to be a little close to him, to feel his touch and his warmth like they so easily do. Why does he have to make it so hard for me?"

Her pretty face decorated with a scowl as she talked to herself before finally turning away.

The bracelet on her hand glimmered with a dim light under the night sky.

Somewhere far, far away in a secluded forest on a nameless planet sat a thin figure in an old stone building.

It looked sickly thin with pitch-black skin. Even sitting down it was over 1.5 meters tall. Flakes of black flesh occasionally fell from its body like the winter's first snow.

Its face was inhuman. Half reptilian features and half of a kind of bird. If looked closely you would see small skeletons under him, acting as his chair. They looked human but were too small in size to be adults. At first glance, there were several dozen of them below him and hundreds more around him.

In front of him was a small pond about 3-5 meters wide. It was filled with a pitch-black liquid that was showing the scenes currently taking place around Ceni.

He was slouching over the pond with a bone in his hand, ripping off chunks of raw flesh with delight when he paused upon hearing Ceni's words.

Out of nowhere, he threw the bone which still had some flesh attached to it at the pond in anger. Biting one of his five webbed fingers, he drew black blood with which he drew a few characters on the black pond water while chanting in a raspy voice.

Strangely enough, his blood didn't mix with the water until he was done drawing the complete row of characters and then it dissipated as a new image appeared in the water.

It showed a completely different scene. A sea of lilacs overlooking a breathtaking view of mountain peaks coming out of layers of fluffy clouds.

All the flowers were facing the middle of the field where a lady was laying down on her side. She wore a tight dress that revealed most of her slender back and legs.

She was facing the other way so her face could not be seen in the image.

"What do you want little boy? I told you before never to show your ugly face in front of me.. What changed?" her melodious voice that sounded almost hypnotic came through the water.