The Dawn of the New World

"Hydrogen Bomb?" Ryfon looked at Hao Xuan with a hint of skepticism, "Do you need my help with anything?" he asked after a moment of contemplation.

Hao Xuan shook his head with a coy smile, "It's actually not that hard to make. All I need is a bit of time. It should be done within two to three weeks. But I do need to find someone who can make some special armor."

"That's good to hear. I'll see if there is someone capable of making your armor on the ship or down here and get you in touch," Ryfon responded weakly and took another sip of the light brown liquor before looking at Hao Xuan.

"Aren't you going to drink?" he gestured towards the icy bottle.

Hao Xuan stared at it in silence for a few seconds before abruptly drinking a mouthful of the Soul Cleansing Rum.

"OI! Not that much!" Ryfon jumped forward trying to stop him but ended up startling Hao Xuan instead and made him swallow it by accident.

"What?! You said to drink!" Hao Xuan looked at him with creased brows, slightly angry.

Ryfon gaped at Hao Xuan in amazement for a second before letting out a deep sigh.

"It's your first time, and even if it wasn't, take small sips for god sakes," he threw Hao Xuan a helpless glance before sitting back down, "Close your eyes and focus on guiding the spiritual energy. It needs a place to go so guide it towards your soul. But take it slowly, it will be like getting hit by a glacier if you let it go just lik-"

Ryfon was in the middle of explaining when he noticed the silence and looked up to see Hao Xuan laying there with his mouth open. His eyes had rolled all the way back, showing nothing but the whites.

*Sigh*

Ryfon sighed again and sat there in silence, drinking alone. Half an hour later Hao Xuan regained some of his senses as his eyes returned to normal. There was still a blank expression on his face but it least he didn't look like he was being possessed any more.

"Wooaaaah~" he mumbled like a drunkard.

His eyes darted back and forth as he remarked, "I can feel colors and see sounds..."

"Welcome back," Ryfon responded, his cheeks turning slightly red. It looked like whatever was in his bottle had finally started to affect him as well.

"Be careful next time. It's a good thing *Hick* that your physique is capable of handling the remnant spiritual energy otherwise *hick* you would have been in big trouble," he warned while constantly getting interrupted by hiccups.

"Hehehe, don't worry about it man, just relax~" Hao Xuan responded with a giggle.

A royal prince of the great Elvish empire sat across from a random human under the starry sky, both drunk to different degrees. A sight that would be hard to come by under normal circumstances.

Hao Xuan closed his eyes and hummed a tune while circulating the spiritual energy throughout his body. Every time the energy completed one circulation, a cool sensation would spread out inside him, going all the to the mind palace and reaching his soul.

His soul, which had all but fractured under the stress of 'severing' 201 people at once started to show signs of recovering, small as they may be.

If it would have taken his soul 10 years to return back to its prime condition, now it would take 9 years and 6 months. One mouthful had shaved off 6 months off his recovery.

It took Hao Xuan another hour and a half until he finally recovered enough to carry on a conversation. Ryfon had never left his side throughout, keeping a close eye on his condition in case something went wrong.

Although Hao Xuan wasn't aware of this, the Soul Cleansing Rum was classified as a mid-grade earthly treasure. It took more than 600 years to gather enough liquid to fill that one bottle.

For 600 years the Divine Ape clan would constantly refine rare fruits that were only found in the Jungles of Treeant Lord, Ashlan.

To anyone below the Saint realm, it held immeasurable value as it had both a quantitative and qualitative effect on the person's soul, increasing their soul power.