The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan walked into the hallway without any hesitation, followed by Ensis a few seconds later.

It was about thirty meters in length and width, a perfect square. The tracks were still there in the ground so he simply followed them until a thick glass door blocked their path.

Hao Xuan stood in front of it and looked around for a handle or a panel on the side but there was nothing.

"Allow me, master," Ensis spoke up from behind him and walked forward.

Still a little annoyed that he wasn't able to destroy the previous force field, he put everything he had in one single attack.

He held the scabbard in his left hand while his right hand was on the blade's handle. A massive amount of black Qi erupted from his body and it even pushed Hao Xuan back several meters.

Hao Xuan covered his face with his right hand and sneaked a peek through his fingers. The Qi output was increasing every second and it felt like needles on Hao Xuan's skin.

"Ahhh~" Ensis let out a deep bellow and all the Qi was absorbed into the scabbard instantly. His entire left arm that was holding onto it was shaking non-stop.

Hao Xuan could feel the terrifying power that was stored inside the scabbard right now and it was even comparable to his own "Sunder the Heavens" technique.

As he watched on with bated breath, Ensis's voice echoed in his head, "First strike: Air Cleaver!"

*Shiiiiing~*

Hao Xuan didn't even see what happened. In his eyes, Ensis's right hand shook for a second and then all the Qi was gone. The sword disappeared and Ensis stood up straight with his eyes closed.

*Crack*

The glass door cracked. A single vertical crack appeared in the middle, but it didn't break.

"Holy sh*t, how tough is this thing?" Hao Xuan mumbled with a deep frown. He walked up to the door and moved his finger along the crack. There was still some residual Qi left and it cut open his skin.

"Ow," he licked his finger.

Ensis walked up to the door again and gently tapped in three different places with his right finger.

*CRAAAAACK*

The crack quickly spread and covered the entire door, breaking it into thousands of pea-sized pieces.

"So it did work," Hao Xuan mumbled annoyingly. He was worried for no reason.

Ensis Shook his head, "It has been thousands of years since the energy to this area was lost, that's why I was able to destroy it so easily. The material this is made off is probably saint grade or even higher, and if it was in its normal condition, I probably wouldn't even have left a scratch."

"Saint grade? There are grades for materials?" Hao Xuan frowned.

"Yes, should I explain them right now?" Ensis asked.

Hao Xuan waved his hand, "Later. I wanna see the loot first."

Ensis quickly stood aside and bowed, waiting for Hao Xuan to enter first.

"Stop being so formal and courteous man. It makes me feel weird," Hao Xuan muttered lightly and entered the new area.

It was a circular room with a single glass tank coming out from the middle. There was a glowing murky liquid in the tank and it seemed to be boiling.

The tank was about ten meters long and seven meters wide and it wasn't clear what was inside it.

Near the sidewalls were dozens of tables with many instruments on top. They were placed in a very orderly fashion and there was a thin layer of dust on them as well. There were strange types of needles, saws, blades etc. Things you would normally find in an operating room.

Hao Xuan took a lap around the room and inspected everything. He stored every single instrument there and then walked up to the glass panel on the opposite side of the door.

He tapped on it a few times but nothing happened. It seemed to have lost power as well.

"Damn it, no information here at all," he mumbled.

As he looked over his shoulder to ask Ensis if he found anything, he was surprised to see there was nobody there. Moving to the other side of the room he saw him standing in the doorway with his sword out, in the same attacking stance as before.

"Oi oi, what are you doing!" he shouted.

Ensis didn't reply and kept staring ahead.

Hao Xuan walked up to him with hurried steps and was once again surprised. Ensis was breathing heavily and there were beads of sweat all over his face.

"What? What is it?" Hao Xuan looked around the room but couldn't see anything.

"That.." Ensis slowly nodded his head, gesturing towards the glass tank, "In there, something is still alive in there!" he said through gritted teeth.

"What!?" Hao Xuan leaped out of the room without hesitation. Seeing as Hao Xuan had moved out, Ensis slowly backed up as well but his back was already drenched in sweat.

Hao Xuan looked at the tank but still couldn't see anything. "Are you sure?" he asked in a barely audible voice.

Ensis nodded once again, "Yes. One hundred percent. Its life force is so strong that it feels like an enormous mountain on my shoulders."

Hao Xuan looked at the glass tank and couldn't help but murmur, "Dayum!"

As the clone of an evil Sword God, Ensis was able to feel the life force of most living things. This was true for almost all such existences and not exclusive to just him.

But it was in his 'nature' because only after knowing that would he would be able to cut it.

"Is it aggressive?" he asked when there was no movement from the lifeform in the tank.

"I don't know," Ensis shook its head, "I don't think it even knows we are here."

"Great, let's get the f*ck out of here then. Let the dude sleep," Hao Xuan patted his shoulder and sprinted back down the hallway.

Ensis didn't turn his back towards the glass tank even once and kept his sword out until they were out of the hallway.