The Dawn of the New World

"GO GO! Don't let it catch its breath!" Dong Ning shouted from the Komodo Dragon's back. His entire left arm was charred black and lifelessly hung from his body.

The Komodo Dragon looked like it had been put through a blender. Most of its armor was cracked and pieces of it were missing. Its horn was slightly chipped from the top and it looked like it would collapse any second.

The battle had been going on for just over half an hour and it was already coming to an end. The Elder Mammoth proved to be a much deadlier enemy than any of them expected. It was able to take on any attack and still unleash several of its own.

The Jia Guardians had been leading the charge and other than a few select individuals, no one else could break through their defenses.

Gou Bao was fighting side by side his with his DireBear with a weapon that looked like a glove but had sharp curved blades coming out of it.

He was as ruthless as a tiger, tearing apart enemies several times his size without any fear.

Unfortunately, even with these two leading Mei's cultivators, it was anything but an easy fight.

The Jia soldier's superior physiques and strength gave them too big of an advantage in close range combat.

The Mad Saints were being led by Kuo on Hao Xuan's orders. They didn't go for direct confrontation with any group and were always moving around the battlefield, providing support wherever necessary.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that they had saved hundreds of soldiers with these tactics and kept the balance of power, but it was shifting quickly.

Kuo's cultivation was active in full force. 6 ancient-looking palaces were hovering above his back and bursts of Qi were fired off with every swing of his sword.

"Goddamnit, we can't hold on for much longer. Tell cap'n he needs to hurry!" he shouted through gritted teeth while pushing back two Jia soldiers that were waiting for him.

"Yes!" Luke replied from the back. He was also covered in sweat and blood. It wasn't clear whether that was his own or the Jia's.

*Beep*

"Captain, it's not looking good up here. You need to finish down there as soon as possible!"

"Alright," a calm, slightly robotic voice replied.

**

Inside the Cavern.

*Beep*

"Your underlings are not in a good position. It's best to wrap this up now," Baracus conveyed the message to Hao Xuan who was locked in combat with the Scorpion King.

"Yeah yeah, I know," Hao Xuan replied.

"Oi, hold him down! What the hell did I bring you in for?!" he turned around and shouted at Bo who was standing a few dozen meters away.

Bo was at the top of the Spirit Realm so he should have been able to fight against the Scorpion King by himself, but that was not the case.

It was a difference in species, not related to their cultivation at all. Bo was more human-like even with his appearance, whereas the Scorpion King was a Mutant Scorpion king.

It would be like saying a frog and an elephant of the same age should be equally powerful.

Dark blue Qi was swirling around Bo's arms as he waved them left and right. With every movement of his hands, several meter tall water waves were created out of thin air that attacked the Scorpion King in different ways.

Bo's specialty was not in direct combat but in suppression. His abilities were related to water and it was one of the best elements for suppressing one's enemies.

The Water waves that he summoned were viscous like pure honey and whenever they connected with the Scorpion king his movements would be slowed down and his Qi suppressed.

"YOU DAMN CRETIN!" the King shouted while trying to get free from the 20th wave.

His extremely sturdy exterior showed signs of breaking and he had several wounds on his forearms and abdomen.

Hao Xuan took the opportunity and unleashed an attack aimed at his neck. The Scorpion King promptly shut his mouth and focused on defending once again.

He was getting pushed back more and more with every attack and knew it was only a matter of time till he ends up on the losing side.

Since his cultivation was lowered he didn't have a copious amount of energy and Qi to waste anymore. It would have to be in one attack.

"ARGH!" his tail shot out like a whip and connected with Hao Xuan's back. The armor creaked and bent inwards where the tail had connected.

Hao Xuan grunted and backed off immediately.

He circulated some Qi and sent it towards the armor as it creaked once again and returned to its original shape, but it looked very dull and lusterless now.

The attack had done quite a number on it.

Hao Xuan looked back at the Scorpion King and was inwardly glad by what he saw.

A rich, green energy was starting to surround him. His aura strengthened by a few degrees and he got bigger, more than half a size bigger than before.

'He's finally doing it!' Hao Xuan thought inwardly. This is what he had been waiting for all this time.

After finding out that his final opponent was going to be a beast at the level of the Profound realm, he immediately contacted Wu Jin and asked him to somehow find out what kind of beast it would be.

The Wu clan had a lot of pull in this area of the continent and he actually got the information a few days later. He told Hao Xuan about the Scorpion King everything he could dig up about other similar variants.

The one thing they had in common was an ability they could use as a last resort. They would burn their own life essence and convert it into raw power, losing their minds for a little while in the process.

Life essence was what every "living" creature had. The more life essence they had and the higher its purity, the longer they could live for. So burning one's life essence was equal to throwing years of their lives away. Which was the reason it was only used as a last resort.

What Hao Xuan was looking forward to was not the increase in power, but losing the mind part. Buring the life essence would send all bodily functions into a spiral for a few minutes and the being using it would lose all faculties of reasoning and judgment and would become a mindless beast.

The Scorpion King's power continued to rise and his eyes turned hazy. Low, deep snarls came from his mouth.

Hao Xuan instinctively took a step back.

'He really did lose his mind...' he thought at looking at the beastly aura.

He glanced at Bo and found him staring back at him. He gave a nod.

It was all going according to plan. Bo started circulated every little bit of Qi he had in his body and summoned a 50-meter tall wave.

It charged towards the Scorpion king like a raging bull. He didn't even try to dodge and simply moved his claws diagonally. The green energy turned into destructive Qi and impacted with the wave in the shape of 10 lines.

More than half the incoming wave was evaporated right then and there but rest continued and connected with the Scorpion King before he could dodge.

The more he struggled, the bigger the wave became. It was turning his own Qi into water and then using it to suppress it.

Hao Xuan circulated Chaos Qi in his right hand and Force Qi in his left.

"NOW!" he yelled while lunging at the Scorpion King.

The water receded just enough to reveal the King's head. The king felt something was wrong and turned around to see Hao Xuan's palms closing in.

He growled and snarled, trying to break free but to no avail. Hao Xuan's right hand was the first one to connect. Chaos Qi entered the Scorpion king's body and rampaged throughout like a mad bull, sending all his energy into disarray.

Then came the force Qi. As Hao Xuan's left hand connected with his head, a force Qi exploded outwards and shook his very being to the core.

It was akin to a concussion grenade going off INSIDE his brain.

His pupils went white and his Qi tried to gather back up to attack the intruding energies. Hao Xuan quickly placed his right hand over the Scorpion King's head and muttered something.

An extremely bright light emanated from his palm, blinding everyone watching. When the light dissipated after a few seconds only Hao Xuan and Bo were left standing with no signs of the Scorpion king anywhere.

*Huff*Huff*

"Finally...."