The Dawn of the New World

Outside, Ceni's body finally returned to normal allowing her to get back on her feet. Her energies were still in disarray but at least she could control her body now.

Hurting and still in shock over what happened, she peered towards the source of all this commotion and saw Hao Xuan's stiffened body. He was frozen from head to toe, encased in a thick layer of frost that was slowly getting denser.

Within the radius of 2 meters, everything was frozen other than Ma Jiang who was now looking up, staring right into Hao Xuan's frozen eyes.

Ceni was still relatively calm until the moment she realized she couldn't sense Hao Xuan's heartbeat anymore, at which point the color from her face washed away instantly.

"No, no!"

Completely disregarding her own safety, Ceni ran straight towards them but the moment she reached the frozen territory a wall of ice materialized out of thin air, stopping her in her tracks. She staggered back a step before clenching her fist and threw a punch.

"AHH!"

*Thud*

The ice wall didn't budge an inch. Not even a single scratch could be seen on its polished surface, which appeared to be harder than diamonds.

*Thud*

*Thud*

*Thud*

Her fists landed on the same spot one after another, flesh noisily slamming against ice. By the time she stopped the wall was half-covered in her blood.

She fell to her knees with tears cascading down her face, not willing to believe that this was it. That he had died so suddenly.

*Ba-dump*

But she perked up when the sound of that familiar beating entered her ears. It was faint, far and few in between but it was there. He was still alive!

That one little sound was enough to overflow her body with strength. It flew in from god knows where allowing her once again to stand back up.

She placed her hand against the ice wall, her eyes turning a crimson red. The blood splattered across the cold surface came alive. It started bubbling before turning into a mist that started to permeate the ice wall inch by inch.

Ceni's aura started rising and until her features started to change. Eight sharp canine teeth ejected from her mouth as she unknowingly hissed and snarled. The skin on her arm ripped open, spilling out even more blood that attacked the ice wall.

**

Back inside, Hao Xuan had been walking through the 20-30 meter wide ice tunnel for close to 10 minutes now. He was expecting it to get a little warmer since he was out of the snowstorm but it was the opposite.

He was only getting colder as time went by and even staying awake was proving difficult, but there was still hope. Ma Jiang's voice was sounding right next to his ears now. Her continuous sobbing proved to be an effective tool in keeping him alert, even though his legs felt like they were made of lead.

And just when he thought he couldn't go on anymore, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

Hao Xuan pushed his weary body forward until he found himself standing at the edge of the tunnel, peering down at the heart of the mountain.

Down there he could finally see Ma Jiang's tiny figure sitting in the middle of a 10-meter wide stone platform. The platform was covered in various strange designs, some that were a little familiar and most that weren't.

She was still talking, or more like mumbling to herself since there was no one else there.

'Mama, please come with me. I can't leave you with him.'

'He is not the same as before, I can see it in his eyes!'

'Please don't leave me alone...mama...'

Hao Xuan gathered his remaining strength and shouted as loudly as he could, 'MA JIANG!'

His voice echoed in the hollow chamber but she didn't react whatsoever.

'God damnit!'

The drop was at least a few hundred meters and even in this state, whichever state he was in currently, he did not know if he could make it down in one piece if he simply jumped.

So Hao Xuan glanced left and right and found a small ridge protruding from just below the tunnel he was on. It was leading all the way down to the bottom and continued even towards the platform.

Using the strangely uniform protrusions along the ridges he climbed down, which took another couple of minutes. He didn't waste any time looking around and ran right up to the platform.

When he stepped on it for the first time his very soul became the sole target of an extremely powerful spirit sense. It attacked him from inside out, gnawing at his own spiritual sense and somehow devouring it for itself.

A searing pain could be felt as a result of it. Hao Xuan felt like parts of his being were crushed to smithereens and taken away by an inexorable force.

He fell to his knees. With tears of blood pouring down his face Hao Xuan crawled forward until he was sitting across from Ma Jiang. She looked much different now. Her facial features were significantly different from before.

The most eye-catching of which were the pointy elf-ears. Her face was a little smaller, a little paler. Her dull eyes were looking down at her feet, still mumbling to herself.

'I don't want to be alone, please don't leave me alone with him!'

"Ma Jiang, wake up!" he shouted right at her face.

When she didn't respond he held her face both hands, "Hey, listen to me, you need to wake up right now!"

But it was like looking at an empty house. No one was home, there was no recognition with her gaze. She blankly mumbled, 'I'll be good mama, please don't throw me away...'

"ARGHH!"

The right side of Hao Xuan's head cracked open, revealing blood and brain matter. The spiritual sense from before was becoming stronger and he wouldn't be able to resist it for much longer.

Hao Xuan grit his teeth, overflowing with such tremendous pain the likes of which he had never experienced before.

He recalled Ma Jiang's real name, the one she had opted to keep to herself. He looked at the dried-up tear stains on her cheek and clothes. They were years old. She had cried and cried until she couldn't anymore.

Asking for help from someone anyone but to no avail. No one could see through her mask. He felt sorry for her. Whatever happened to her obviously created a great trauma that she could not get over.

And if this was her mind palace, then maybe if he could resolve this burden and tell her what she needed to hear then it would bring her around.

Hao Xuan brought her close before embracing her gently.

"It's okay Ning'er, you're not alone," he whispered softly as if speaking to a close friend, "I'm right here, I'll always be here. There is nothing for you to worry about."

"...."

Her sobbing stopped.

Bloody and on the verge of collapsing himself, Hao Xuan loosened his grip.

Ma Jiang pushed him away lightly until their eyes met. He was expecting her to be happy or a little relieved at least but a deep frown adorned her face. Her expression was one of extreme worry and distress.

Her dainty hands wrapped weakly around Hao Xuan's collar, her voice a little more than an audible whisper, "No...why did you come here? You will wake him up!"

"Wake who? There is-"