The Dawn of the New World

None of the weak-willed beasts could break from the trance, no matter how hard they tried.

It was an identical scene on the ground with uncountable hordes of beasts running in a circle around a hollow section of the earth that held a bright blue light.

When Hao Xuan saw the light he instantly remembered where it was coming from. It was the concentrated Yin Qi that was released from the crystal panel he had destroyed back in the pyramid. Even the vortex was caused by it, not to mention the scene almost mirrored the whirlpool that he was created down there.

Hao Xuan had assumed that was the worst of it but the biggest changes had taken place on the surface, completely out of his sight.

As is the case with all things, every environment exists in a very fragile balance that allows for a particular type of life to prosper. This life be it harmful or not to humans, has a place of its own in the natural order.

And when there is an extreme change in that environment it starts to unravel, pieces start to break apart and realign themselves to make sense of things, creating a period of pure chaos.

Because of Hao Xuan's actions, a wrench had been thrown right in the middle of all that with the infusion of so much Yin Qi, leaving the natural order in complete disarray.

The world had started to change from the inside out in an attempt to once again create harmony between the energies and bring balance to all life.

Hao Xuan closed his eyes as his pupils returned to normal.

He pulled up the map he had created with the help of Barracus which marked his location in reference to the coordinates they were supposed to meet at. The location for the gathering was to the left of the vortex but they would have to cross an area that was right in its backyard with thousands of creatures in the way.

If they were on mounts or even running at full speed it would only take 3 hours at most but with all those beasts blocking their path, it could take exponentially more time. Their backs were against a mountain range, the same one they had exited from earlier.

It stretched for thousands of meters straight into the air and all around them so going over it wasn't an option.

Hao Xuan fell into deep thought.

'The earth dragon or whatever that thing was, I think it also came from one of the cracks. There was that same foreign atmosphere around it that was around me when I first landed. That would also explain why it gave up chasing us so quickly, it was greatly weakened due to the world spirit's natural suppression and didn't want to risk going too far from its safe space.'

'But....that means there could also be other much stronger creatures mixed in with the usual cannon fodder. Can we rush through it?'

He climbed back down and sat on a thick branch giving overwatch to Princess Ceni. Her complexion was pale and she looked as frail as a butterfly just standing around. He could feel the weakness in her body.

'No, she is far too weak. Forget fighting she can't even run for very long.'

Hao Xuan didn't need to see the future to know how easily they could be overrun by the almost countless beasts if they rushed in just the two of us.

'But I'm not alone, am I?'

He closed his eyes and appeared within the Mind Palace.

The majority of the orcs were sitting in their usual spot covered in a golden barrier that was created from the potent energy of the teardrop crystals. Hao Xuan only had to focus for a moment to sense their auras continuously increasing in intensity.

Of the 196 remaining ones, more than 60% of them were covered in various cocoons and were undergoing and even more mutations and evolutions due to the rampant energy.

He was about to up to the 4 warders sitting in a circle to the side when a spiritual sense nudged him from behind. It felt like a hand had gently grasped his shoulder.

"Hmm?"

He turned around to see a unique-looking creature standing a couple of meters away from him.

"The fuck are you? WAIT! YOU-"

Mouth agape, Hao Xuan bent down to get a better look at it. It was a bi-pedal being completely white in color but not one he recognized at first.

"Are you the ant?" he asked with a hint of uncertainty but it nodded back.

"The Prince or the Queen?"

Its mandibles opened halfway as it tried to mimic Hao Xuan's voice. It was high-pitched and extremely sharp, but audible enough to be understood.

"Servent," it answered.

"The prince then. What happened to you?"

The last time he saw the Formarchian Prince (CH 547) it looked like a normal ant and was barely a foot long (0.3 meters). But now it was standing upright like a human and reached a height of a little over 4 feet (1.3 meters).

It had actual humanoid arms and legs albeit they weren't made of flesh. There were four beautiful wings on its back as well.