The Dawn of the New World

"Oho, looks like you've been through a few things, eh?"

A bulky man in his late twenties was standing beside him. An old saber hung weakly from his waistband.

He was a little less than two feet away but Hao Xuan couldn't 'feel' anything from him. If he hadn't spoken up first, he would have missed him entirely.

Even in this befuddled state, Hao Xuan could clearly tell that this ordinary-looking man was anything but that.

The man bent down to his level, staring right into his eyes. Hao Xuan tried to look away but it was like magic. The man's eyes were so hauntingly enchanting that he felt like if he broke eye contact first, he would be losing something extremely precious to him.

It was a sense of loss that he had never experienced before. He just wanted to kneel down in front of him and beg for forgiveness for whatever reason.

"Are you the one I'm looking for?" the man asked while squinting, looking for something in his eyes.

"H-Hngh?" Hao Xuan absentmindedly made a random noise.

The man stared into his eyes for a few seconds before shaking his head with a disappointed expression, "Not you either. A little unique but far too weak," he mumbled, talking to himself more than anyone else.

He turned around and started walking back, leaving Hao Xuan sitting in the rain with a dull expression. The undead that were hiding behind the rocks peeked out as soon as the man left, slowly stepping out from behind the cover.

"Krrrrerrr"

Hao Xuan was forced out of the dazed state by the sound of the undead communicating with one another.

'What...happened?' he looked around and saw the man already tens of meters away. Hao Xuan's eyes were attracted by his footprints, or rather the lack thereof. The man was clearly walking on the ground but left no footsteps behind.

"Krrreuurrr"

The sounds of the undead creatures came again. They were getting closer and closer. It was obvious that it was the man's presence that was keeping them at bay and the further away he got, the closer they would come.

And despite their prior strange behavior towards him, Hao Xuan didn't want to take any chances in his current state to investigate further.

He returned to his senses and looked around, instantly recognizing the surroundings. And how could he not with such a unique landmark nearby?

He had landed just a few dozen meters behind the prison gate, the very thing he had come here for in the first place. For better or for worse, he was here and it seemed to be the only safe place around.

'Baracus, I need to move a little. Help me out here,' Hao Xuan asked through the spirit bond since his vocal cords still weren't fixed.

"Affirmative. Redirecting resources to lower limbs."

The 'nanites' that were busy repairing his internal organs and muscles were almost completely redirected to Hao Xuan's legs where they bonded with the damaged parts, forming new ligaments and tissues to help him regain some mobility.

The pain receptors had already been blocked off by Baracus so thankfully, Hao Xuan couldn't feel the sharp stinging pain.

With his newly built yet temporary legs, Hao Xuan got up and followed after the man, dragging himself behind him as quickly as he could. The man didn't seem to care since he didn't try to help or stop him.

The man went straight towards the gate that was built into the ground. It was open outwards almost all the way, much more so than what Hao Xuan had seen when he first got here.

The gigantic staircase inside the gate was leading down into the ground and for some reason when they got within 10 meters of it, all the water be it from rain or the one already on the ground, neither could get close to it.

There was some sort of an invisible barrier around it that Hao Xuan couldn't detect in the slightest, keeping the land as dry as it could possibly get.

Hao Xuan wasn't one to complain though. This was the first time he had been completely dry in a short while. He followed the man down the staircase for a little more than three minutes until the ground beneath his feet transformed into rocks and dirt.

It looked like the stairs didn't continue all the way towards the prison.

The man stopped soon after that as well, sitting down on an old wooden chair that was waiting for him in the middle of the path.

Hao Xuan was a little taken aback by the sudden stop in a totally random place but he had experienced far too many strange things in the last few hours to question something this simple.

Finding a suitably flat surface, Hao Xuan sat down as well. Baracus quickly redirected the nanites to their previous duties.

"ETA: 38 minutes," he informed Hao Xuan who nodded once in return before fixing his gaze towards the man.

'Baracus, can you detect his cultivation realm?'

"Whose...?"

That one word was enough to completely wake Hao Xuan up.

'T-The guy, sitting on the chair,' Hao Xuan stuttered even while talking through the spirit bond.

"There are no other lifeforms within the detection range of 25 meters."

Hao Xuan's heart lurched.

'Not again, please! Can't I just have a little bit of rest?' Hao Xuan cried inwardly, trying to see if he could summon the Scorpion King again.