The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan examined the blade up and down in detail and found it to be exactly as he remembered it to be.

It looked solid at first glance but upon closer inspection it was semi-transparent almost like a hologram.

"Qi Blade is a spirit skill taught to magicians and wizards since it's easier to create using mana and can be a good alternative if they get ambushed. It uses too much Qi to be useful for a cultivator like me and the only reason I learned it in the first place was so I could learn to better control my energy. But-"

He swung the blade around in a circular motion, just as he would a real sword and it left a streak of energy in its wake that cooked the nearby air.

"-I never thought I could just create it from memory. Even for a genius it takes close to two months to manifest the blade and then years of practice to summon it at will. But my body still remembers it. Rather than going step-by-step it's more instinctual like breathing."

He opened the palm of his hand and the sword broke into small particles of light before being reabsorbed by his body.

Hao Xuan sensed the heat emanating from his hand followed by a feeling of deja vu. He could once again taste the sour fruits grown on the farmlands in the asteroid fields of the belt of Alnitak.

That indescribable taste spread along his tastebuds just as it had after every training session.

"I can't believe I used to like the taste of that horrid fruit. But it was all I knew, nothing sweet ever grew up there for some reason," he chuckled lightly at the thought.

"I trained under that sunless sky for 40 years. Day in and day out I swung the same old sword until every single movement was ingrained in my bones but...I never even considered the possibility that all that training would be carried out."

He looked down at his arms and saw the same result. Both his hands were filled with old callouses along the ridges where the hilt of a sword rested.

When he flexed the sides of the biceps and triceps ballooned up to twice their original size. He didn't have any fat left on him so it was all muscle.

"A blessing in disguise? Or was it intentional?" he mumbled in a daze, his mind racing with a hundred different thoughts.

"Then if I can recall my other lives will I be able to use those skills as well? What about the secret arts? So much knowledge at the tip of my fingers...if only I let them in," he thought looking towards the countless rows of shadowy figures in the distance trying to make out any details that would jog his memory about the kind of lives they lived.

And it was only then that he noticed some odd. A handful of the figures were much more well-defined than the vast majority.

Where others were mostly shapeless vague humanoid figures these few looked like actual people.

Their faces had distinct features and he could even tell what they looked like before. One of them was a child barely ten years of age.

He was looking right into his eyes but Hao Xuan could not remember anything about him. He 'felt' a little familiar as if he SHOULD know him but at the same time he didn't feel like 'him'.

However, this didn't last very long since their staring contest was interrupted by another bout of screams coming from right behind him.

Making a mental note of the odd feeling Hao Xuan turned towards the source of the noise and saw three creatures scaling down the side of the city wall.

There were a handful of heavily injured city guards resting right below them which seemed to be their target.

Upon seeing the creature they tried to regroup but most of them could barely move by themselves and were left completely open.

A demihuman with the head of an ox put himself between the creatures and the other injured guards. He was missing his left arm but that did little to dishearten him.

"GO! Those who can move run to the front line and let them know there is a breach from the side!"

He reached down and picked up a great sword that was almost as tall as him at a little over 2 meters and swung it towards the first creature that had just reached the ground.

"We can still fight captain!"

One of the guards answered trying to pick up his blade but was shoved away.

"Stop wasting time! If they get into the city too many lives will be lost we can't affor-" the ox-man screamed at them but was cut short when another figure casually walked beside him.

"It's fine, I'll take care of them."

The ox-man's eyes bulged from both anger and shock seeing a human appear out of nowhere.

"Who are you? Get away now, there is nothing a puny human like yo-"

"Ah, let me borrow this."

He was once again interrupted when Hao Xuan casually reached out and snatched the greatsword from his grasp.

He swung it around creating a loud whooshing noise and sending a gust of air that almost toppled the ox-man.

If he wasn't shocked before he would be now. He was the only one that could lift that greatsword by himself. Even four grown men couldn't move it easily but in Hao Xuan's hands it was nothing more than a toy.

"O-Oi what ar-"