The Dawn of the New World

Without any hindrance whatsoever, the spider leg passed through his hardened flesh as it wasn't there and entered a place Hao Xuan didn't know existed before then.

He felt a tug on his heart as if someone was pulling on it with a string and his vision went blank for a second. A short scene played out in front of his eyes.

He saw the smiling face of a woman accompanied by a tired voice asking if he was okay. There was blood on her sleeve and her hands were covered with calluses. There were many cuts and bruises on her hands and feet.

Hao Xuan stared at her face for a short while but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recognize her. Only a feeling of bitter sadness was left in his heart.

Then suddenly, a giant spider's leg appeared behind the woman, ready to attack. It approached her quickly and silently, Hao Xuan tried to yell out and warn her but no sound came out.

She gazed at him with that painful smile, despite being injured herself as the spiders leg neared. It was at that moment, the very last moment before the spider leg was ready to cut her in half that he remembered who she was.

His lips moved in the outside world and mumbled out a word, "Ma...?"

Inside Hao Xuan's Mind Palace, most of the severs including the 200 Orcs who were in a deep sleep cultivating by themselves, Black and White who were rolled up on the podium in the center as usual, and Bo who was sleeping soundly in a corner all opened their eyes at once as if they were answering some kind of a call.

But only pure white light could be seen in their eyes.

The middle of the three doors at the very back that housed Hao Xuan's soul jerked and opened up a little, just a few inches barely enough to peak through. A blinding white light came out of the door and started expanding outwards, quickly shrouding the entire 500-meter wide Mind Palace by its intensity.

This was his soul, or rather a very small part of it.

The light didn't stop there but continued to flow outwards and reached the space his mind was at currently.

The spider's leg had just touched the woman's clothes when Hao Xuan's eyes exploded with the same white light, both in real life and in the space his consciousness was dragged into.

The white light fell on the spider's leg that was immune to all physical attacks and it set it alight. A pure white flame appeared on a single segment at first before spreading like a wildfire to the rest of its body.

An ear-piercing screech came out from the space in front of the Scorpion King in the outside world. The air rippled like water and a four-meter wide ball of white fire came rushing out.

It's painful screams echoed loudly in the cold, dark night as it thrashed left and right trying to put out the flame that didn't seem to be affected by anything.

Hao Xuan opened his eyes again, standing a few meters away from the now listless spider. Somehow, his green eyes were just a tinge brighter now, but the mild headache that accompanied him most of the time had now increased several folds in intensity, so much so that he couldn't ignore it anymore.

With eyes cold as ice and a hateful expression, Hao Xuan approached the spider. It had stopped moving, only its legs convulsed and twitched from intense the pain, it was on its last breath.

The Scorpion King completely recalled his Qi back and moved aside.

His heart shuddered when he looked at Hao Xuan, so he simply lowered his gaze, not out of respect but, fear.

He had also felt it just now, just like all the severs that were inside the mind palace. In fact, he had a much better idea about that overpowering sense of dread and despair due to his beastly nature.

It was a warning that came straight from the depth of his soul. It told him to stay clear of that power that lurked inside Hao Xuan, because as his sever, that was the one thing he could never ever look at.

Hao Xuan stood over the spider's body, coldly watching it draw its last breath. When the last bit of life essence was about to drain out of its body, with a deep sigh he bent down and placed his hand over the burnt carcass.

"I don't like it when people mess with my memories.. You really shouldn't have done that. Sever!"