The Dawn of the New World

"What Chaos truly...is..?" Baracus's words echoed in Hao Xuan's ears as he faced the dark 'matter' called chaos.

Usually, he would start by trying to actually touch the sparks of lightning that occasionally came out of the chaos, but this time he simply floated in front of it.

Only looking. He didn't move or try to touch anything, just observing.

The more Hao Xuan stared at it, the stronger the feeling became. The feeling that he was missing something, something important.

He knew it wasn't a physical object but an idea. This idea was like the key that would open the gate to comprehension and allow him to take his first steps towards the Dao of Chaos!

Pretty soon he became entranced with it, not even able to look away. It felt like he was being sucked into the chaos, body, and soul.

But it wasn't a negative feeling at all. Unlike the feelings of hopelessness, anguish, despair, and grief one would feel standing at the gates hell, this was more of a feeling of...contentment. Like the deep dark hole at the bottom of your heart was being filled up.

It wasn't good or bad really, it just....was. Like it belonged there.

A small strand of chaos separated itself from the giant mass and floated towards Hao Xuan. Extremely slowly, like it was worried about spooking him, it inched closer and closer to him until it came into contact with his body. Hao Xuan's eyelids suddenly became extremely heavy, closing on their own, leaving him in a deep slumber.

He dreamt of being surrounded by total darkness. He could neither move nor open his eyes, only able to stay in a fetal position, floating through time and space for what seemed like an eternity.

"Wake up~, hungry!"

A voice echoed in Hao Xuan's psyche and a sharp pain appeared on his back. The pain grew in magnitude until he finally couldn't take it anymore and jumped off his bed screaming.

"OUCH! What the f*ck!"

"HUNGRY!"

Fortis's voice came from behind him.

He turned around and saw the little octopus glaring at him while his tentacles flailed about angrily, like Hao Xuan had committed the greatest of sins.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I was having such a nice dream, why did you have to go ahead and wake me up?!" he shouted back at the octopus whose cheeks were swelling up by the second.

"NO, YOU!" Fortis retorted as usual, ready to strike again.

"Me what? That doesn't make any god damn sense you moron!" Hao Xuan pointed at him while rubbing his back. It was still aching.

'How could I feel pain in that place? it feels like this dumbass hit my very soul!'

Xu Qing was sitting under the maple tree when she heard the commotion from Hao Xuan's room. Her heart skipped a beat and she sprinted in, only to see him pinned down in a fight against the white octopus.

She let out a breath of relief and clumsily tried to hold on to the doorframe for support as her legs weakened.

Hao Xuan looked up upon hearing the commotion and with Fortis still attached to his back, he ran over and held her.

"What's wrong?! Are you okay?" he asked with a deep frown. Her complexion was really pale and he felt like she had lost a fair bit of weight overnight.

She tried to smile and nodded back, "Yes, just a little lightheaded."

Hao Xuan tapped Fortis's tentacle and he swiftly released him and made his way up to his head. Hao Xuan then bent down and picked Xu Qing up in his arms.

"Relax," he whispered softly upon feeling her body tense up. She still didn't relax much and hid her red face in Hao Xuan's chest. He brought her over to the bed and gently laid her down.

"What's going on? How did you lose so much weight so quickly? Are you sick?"

Xu Qing looked up at him surprised.

"You don't remember?"

Hao Xuan's forehead unconsciously creased up, "Remember what?"

"You were asleep for over two weeks. Senior Yangdi sent over a doctor and he said you were physically fine and couldn't find anything wrong."

"Two weeks?!"

Hao Xuan's mouth fell open. He could have sworn he was only in that place for a few seconds. How could two weeks have passed by so quickly?

'Oh sh*t, the meeting, the damn WAR!' he shot up to his feet upon remembering everything he had missed.

"Are you really okay?" Xu Qing asked once again.

*Sigh*

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry," Hao Xuan smiled wryly, "Everything's good. Are there any messages for me?"

Xu Qing had a pondering expression on her face before she shook her head, "No, no messages. But an old man did come to visit you some time ago."

"An old man? Who?"

"He didn't give his name. He just checked up on you and then left."

"What did he look like?"

"Like normal....Oh! He did have four eyes though!"

"Four eyes?!"

'The old demon came to visit me? Oh f*ck...." Hao Xuan wiped a beat of sweat from his forehead.

"Alright, you stay in bed, I have to go see someone. I'll be back soon," he tucked in Xu Qing and quickly walked out before she could say anything.

"Green! Red!" he called for them through the soul bond.

*Woosh*

The air moved and the two divine apes appeared behind him silently.

"We answer!"

"Get the carriage, we have to go here," he gave them an address.

"Yes!"

Within a few minutes, he was on his way to meet the old man.

"Baracus!" he called for him with gritted teeth.

"Yes?" Baracus replied calmly.

"What the hell happened? How was I out for 2 weeks?"

"I have no idea. But I couldn't reach your consciousness. It wasn't in your body."

"Not in my body? How is that even possible?"

"If I knew I would have told you."

"F*ck sakes. Fine. Give me an update, everything that happened in the last two weeks."

"Not much. There was a battle between the two great general of Mei and one of Jia. There were also more than 20 smaller clashes."

"How many did we lose?"

"About 12 of them."

"Damn. Alright, still that's not too bad."

"Oh, and the people you call Third and Fourth were captured by the enemy a few days ago."

"WHAT?!"