The Dawn of the New World

Even though Hao Xuan had great eyesight, he couldn't see through this fog for some reason.

They had come across many different kinds of beasts in the last two days and even though there were a few quite powerful ones, it wasn't anything too bad. Hao Xuan tried killing a few to see if he could get these words of power as well but it didn't work for him. At least not in the conventional sense.

With Baracus's advice, he started trying a few different things, going through the scientific process of eliminating each method one by one. But he needed to kill more a lot more beasts for that and was always on the lookout for some.

He turned towards Salome who was peering down into a lava tunnel and flicked him on the forehead.

"Hey, stay here. Don't go anywhere alright?" only after getting a solid confirmation did Hao Xuan leave. Fortis would keep him safe from any serious danger and he should be done relatively quickly so he wasn't really worried.

Activating Nidohora's power, he pushed against the ground with his feet that now looked like a beast's and flew several dozen meters into the air.

His feet still had five digits but each one looked like a sharp talon that could easily dig into the hardest of surfaces with the slightest effort.

This wasn't a change in the actual appearance of his feet but what Nidhora's power looked like once it covered his limbs. Likewise, his hands were rough, scaly and had 4-5 inch long sharp fingernails protruding out of them.

To Hao Xuan, it was like wearing gloves and boots that he could control like his own body. It did look a little strange from outside because they were quite big by normal standards but Hao Xuan himself was a relatively tall guy at about 2.2 meters of height and had wide, sturdy shoulders so it fit him almost perfectly.

He just looked like a human-monster hybrid.

Jumping over to the other side of the valley, he landed a few meters away from the shadow without making a single sound. Nidhora's power came from shadows and its attributes clearly carried over to Hao Xuan. When he moved, it made no sound whatsoever. He could walk on walls and ceilings like it was completely normal, just like a shadow.

Hell, Hao Xuan could turn into a literal shadow for a few seconds and increase his speed drastically but he didn't like to do that. It felt....strange, like looking through a mirror.

The other side called the shadow world was purely black and white and he felt several 'beings' staring at him from somewhere every time he entered, that's why he chose not to use it.

But it could be a great lifesaving technique in case of an emergency. No standard power was capable of killing a shadow so he was damn near indestructible in there, with only one downside. Although no one could harm him while he was a shadow, he couldn't harm anyone else either. It was a two-way street. He would have to show himself to do anything.

Hao Xuan bent down to minimize his presence and peaked his head over the ridge. Although the air here was extremely toxic to normal people and even cultivators at his realm wouldn't be able to survive here for longer than a couple of hours, to him it was nothing.

As soon as the harmful toxins entered his bloodstream, they were disintegrated by the nanotech and actually converted into energy for them and himself. He could stay here for as long as he wished it wouldn't cause him the slightest discomfort.

Hao Xuan stood in place as he examined the shadow below. It was humanoid, slightly bigger than the average person. But the weird thing was that it was crawling up the side of the valley like a lizard, its four limbs stretching out more than they should.

Taking a deep breath, Hao Xuan jumped over and approached it slowly, his claws ready to swipe at the thing it was dangerous. But when he was about three meters away from it, the fog cleared with a gust of wind and he saw it.

"What the fu-" he couldn't help but mumble out loud, alerting the shadow that was previously completely unaware.

It felt like he had been struck with lightning as thousands of images and words flashed before his eyes in an instant, like a movie being played at 100 times the normal speed.

"Kree-" it let out a high pitched screech that was cut short by a giant claw that pierced straight through its head like a spear.

Hao Xuan woke up from his stupor and his body moved by instinct, faster than the speed of sound.

"Shhhh," he hushed lightly as the creature struggled for a couple of seconds while blue blood dripped down his arm. His giant, reptilian hand was halfway through its body, silencing it before it could create any trouble.

Hao Xuan pulled back his hand wiped the blood against the creature's lanky body.

"What the hell are these fucks doing here?!" he mumbled somberly.

Hao Xuan bent down and examined frisked the humanoid corpse, taking out a few coins, a small weapon that looked like a knife without a blade and some rough glass screens.

"Baracus, hack into this," he said while running his finger across the glass screen.

Hao Xuan's thumb lit up in a blue light that blinked a few times and strange characters started appearing on the screen. Hao Xuan clicked here and there a few times before clenching his hand, destroying it completely.

"This isn't good, it looks like they have been here a while..." Hao Xuan said with a dark complexion.

As soon as Hao Xuan saw the creature's face, information related to it poured into his brain.

It belonged to an outer tribe. The species was labeled as 'Cadivus' by Poriverse but others had different names for them. Most just called them 'roaches' because they were the cockroaches of the deep space.

They were everywhere, multiplied like rabbits, destroying everything in their path and could survive in the harshest environments. Their anatomy was also very similar to insects which was mainly why they were called so.

They consumed all the resources from every planet, leaving barren and desolate before moving on to the next one. It was not easy to get rid of them.

"I have to let the higher-ups know, the tournament can't go on like this!" Hao Xuan remarked gravely.

The whole reason the tournament was taking place here was because the average risk level was around the Spirit realm. But with the roaches added into the mix, it was an entirely different thing.

Hao Xuan stood up intending to go back to Salome when his ears twitched. A faint scream came from deep inside the mountains. If not for his exceptional hearing, there was no way he could have heard it.

"Sounds like a human, it looks like they've already started hunting....." Hao Xuan said before jumping towards it.