The Dawn of the New World

In its current state the Synapse looked like a skyscraper that was still under construction.

The black pearl was being held in place by the white ropes of flesh tying it to whatever was left of the skeleton. They were slowly weaving up and down trying to cover it but the damage to the rest of its body was too much.

Even with its phenomenal regeneration speed it could not keep up with Hao Xuan whose strength had far exceeded what would be expected of a Spirit Realm warrior. Even all his wounds were healed almost instantly while in this form.

His arms were covered in red scales made out of dragon's breath, or rather a cheap imitation of it that was, in turn, materialized by the move 'Red Dragon's Fury'.

This move was based on the fighting style of the Red Dragons which were one of the most ancient of the Draconic species and fought using mostly their own body and fire breath.

They weren't born in the usual sense of the word and more often than not, were brought into existence by certain events and external factors. What these factors exactly were was still up for debate but one thing was for sure, they were the most brutal of their species.

Upon fully maturing they would begin their assault on whatever land was unfortunate enough to deserve it. They never slept, they never rested, and it was next to impossible to kill a fully grown red dragon.

They were marvels of physical perfection and their blood was rumored to be one of the very few things that could bring a person back from physical death, completely restoring their mortal form.

Even in one of his other lives Hao Xuan had only ever seen one beast that had less than 20% blood purity level of the Red Dragon's bloodline.

He was one of the rare few that survived a battle with it which was a miracle in and of itself because even then when the beast's entire head was blown off it was still able to continue fighting for 7 days and 8 nights before finally succumbing to its injuries.

Where human cultivators used weapons and were able to bring out their true essence in the shape of blade auras that could basically turn anything into that specific weapon, the Red Dragon used its own body.

And right now Hao Xuan was the same. He was able to manifest a part of the Red Dragons because of his extremely high attunement and affinity with the "Palms of Infernal Flame".

It could be said that when he attacked he became the vessel for the dragon's fury.

Most men would have lost themselves to the neverending bloodlust but to Hao Xuan who had already experienced so much and gone through so many things, this was still something he control for his own benefit.

It wasn't easy but he was able to keep his emotions in check.

The crimson flames flickered around his fists threatening to extinguish any second. Hao Xuan grimaced from feeling the strain on his body created by overusing the move for such an extended period.

It manifested as a crushing feeling of emptiness within his stomach.

[Warning!]

[Qi Reserves falling below 10%]

'I know, but I have to finish this first,' Hao Xuan mused inwardly before leaping towards the synapse one last time.

Whatever Qi was still left within his body was forcefully pulled out as a giant dragon's claw more than 20 meters in length took shape over his head.

He swung down, hard and fast right before the flames around his arm disappeared. Thankfully the attack was already launched and the ethereal dragon's claw tore through the air hitting the black pearl dead center.

Hao Xuan fell back to the ground just outside of the black pool barely landing upright on his shaky feet. His gaze was locked onto the pearl which was covered in a cloud of red mist from his own move.

With a gust of wind the mist was slowly stripped away to reveal the pearl in almost perfect condition. There were four barely perceivable cuts along the middle where the claw connected with it but they were only a few inches deep.

Gasping for breath Hao Xuan's expression turned vicious.

"I didn't hold back at all that time. It would have killed any profound realm creature if they had taken it head-on but this thing barely has a scratch on it. How the hell am I supposed to kill it...?"

He barely had enough Qi to not end up in a comma himself because of energy deprivation so obviously any more fighting was out of the question. And yet, he couldn't just leave.

The pearl was most probably the equivalent of a soul core for the Synapse which meant that until it was completely destroyed it was not actually dead.

***

Authors Notes:

The monsoon has started a little early in my country which is a good thing since its raining and the heat isn't as bad but there are a lot more power outages which is why the release schedule has been all over the place. That said, I will try my best to keep it going steadily.

Oh, and um, don't forget to vote, it doesn't do much in any real sense but always gives me an energy boost whenever I'm getting tired of writing.

😉