The Dawn of the New World

Cui led them towards the entrance of the tunnel but because of the illusion formation it was hidden. She walked up to the rock formation and disappeared, walking right through it.

"Like I thought..." Kuo stopped for a second and then followed after, entering the tunnel. Inside another child was waiting by the entrance next to a campfire, looking at them warily.

"It's okay, they are the same as brother Hao," Cui whispered to Wei and he nodded back in response, of course still somewhat apprehensive of the new visitors.

After Kuo the rest of them came in one by one. The entrance obviously wasn't big enough to accommodate all of them at once so they started moving further inwards.

"S-Stop! Don't go in there, please. Brother Hao said there is a scary monster in there that could kill everyone in the jungle," Cui ran in front of the soldiers to warn them.

"Monster? Here?" Maddy slowly walked deeper into the tunnel with a furrowed brow with the sword drawn. Hao Xuan knew how strong they all were and if he thought there was something here stronger than them, then he was most probably right and staying here would be a terrible idea.

The tunnel was extremely dark and nothing further than a few meters was visible. This wasn't the normal kind of darkness either but something more sinister. It felt like it was "absorbing" all the light and turning the surroundings even dimmer, slowly expanding its domain.

"Hmm?" Kuo and Hashirama took out their weapons in an instant. The light from the campfire was getting dimmer and dimmer the deeper Maddy went. It wasn't that the fire was getting smaller but just the light from it that was illuminating the surroundings was being 'restricted' somehow. As if it was scared to touch the darkness that was invading the tunnel.

*Crunch*

Maddy stopped. He had just stepped on something in the darkness. He removed his foot and it was a bone fragment, probably from a beast but there was no way to tell since it was far too small.

Bending down, he picked it up to examine it.

"Come back!" Kuo suddenly ordered from the back. Maddy turned around halfway but out of nowhere his instincts alerted him of a looming danger. But it was far too strong to be just a simple warning, it was not something he could fight against. It was telling him that this was it, that he was going to die no matter what with absolute certainty.

But he wasn't a normal soldier either. Hundreds of times he had seen death in the eyes and turned back. How could this frighten him?

The 'darkness' had morphed into a strange silhouette and a claw-like appendage was coming straight towards him.

The bandages on his right arm loosened in an instant. He turned his head back towards the tunnel and lifted the now exposed right arm with his fingers outstretched and said one word, "Burn!"

*VOOOOOOOSH*

A gigantic stream of red fire came out of his hand like a flamethrower and fell on the dark silhouette. The silhouette struggled for a couple of seconds and looked at Maddy and then at Kuo, Hash, and finally Hao Xuan. Its hideous maw opened up and from it came another mouth with its tongue outstretched, licking the area around the mouth.

"FUCK OFF!" Maddy shouted in anger when he saw it ignore him completely while he was attacking and turned his hand sideways. The fire got even brighter and the rocks around the tunnel started to melt.

*Kek*kek*keK*

The creature opened its mouth in a strange way and a noise came. A mocking laugh aimed at Maddy, or an attempt of one at least. Finally, after a few more seconds it couldn't endure anymore and got washed away in the fire and disappeared.

*Huff*Huff*

Maddy fell to his knees. Sweat was pouring down his face like water.

Kuo quickly walked up to him and took out a formation and placed it where the creature had appeared. A shimmering 'shield' appeared and blocked the tunnel.

"What....the fuck...was that..." Maddy asked through heavy breaths.

"An imprint. Just.....an imprint...." Kuo replied hesitatingly. Maddy, Hash, and Jin Wang's expressions changed for the worse.

"An imprint? Impossible, it was so strong. Even you wouldn't be able to take on my 'Dragons breath' head-on like that, let alone an imprint!" Maddy shook his head, not accepting it.

"Whatever the hell that thing is, it's much stronger than me or you. And also, that wasn't a normal imprint. The creature, wherever it is, was controlling it. Otherwise, it wouldn't be THAT strong," Kuo explained and turned back around.

"We have to leave this god damned place as soon as possible. One thing after another keeps popping up. That 'thing' is a very high-level Demonic Level beast, or something even stronger. But either way we aren't a match for it," he said while walking up to Hao Xuan and examining his injuries.

"Should we leave right now?" Hash asked with a furrowed brow.

"No, the captain is in no condition to travel. He took a 'Brute potion' and until he recovers a bit, we can't move him. Also, the creature is still very far or at least has something else to do for now. I think it should be a day or two more until it can get here. We will leave tomorrow," he took out a small bright green pill and crushed it into a powder, mixed it in some water before pouring it down Hao Xuan's throat.

A few seconds later his complexion changed and he was looking much better already. It was a Qi recovering pill.

When Hao Xuan had used "The Last strike of Samsara", every single ounce of Qi from his body was used up. That technique wasn't something that could be used by someone at such a low realm. Nor was it complete.

The technique was of an extremely high grade with only five people in the existence ever having used it, Hao Xuan now being the sixth one.

Obviously, this wasn't even a speck of its actual power and yet it was enough to lay waste to demonic beasts far stronger than Hao Xuan.

*Meow*

A small fluff ball walked out from under Hao Xuan's head. Zhurong had just woken up.

"What I don't understand is, how does that cub never get hurt? And look, it's as clean as the day it was born. How does it stay undisturbed when captain moves around like that?" muttered Mason as he bent down to pet Zhurong but was met with a disdainful glare by the little furball.

He casually walked up to Hao Xuan's face, licked him a few times, and went up to his chest and laid down, going back to sleep.

"W-Wow. That's a talent as well huh, sleeping like that......" muttered Mason while scratching his head awkwardly.