The Dawn of the New World

"Honestly, I thought it would be someone much more powerful or at the very least, someone who wasn't so obviously an adversary of mine from the very beginning. But you my friend, you were so obvious that I never thought it could be you. That's why it took me so long to find you but-" he looked Hao Xuan up and down with extreme prejudice before nodding satisfactorily.

"-Yes, it's not too late. Come now, kill me and you shall be free of this curse. This is your way out!"

Hao Xuan took two measured steps back while conversing with Baracus internally.

'Run every type of scan, no need to hide it. I want to know what he is planning.'

*Beep*

'Confirmed: Initializing Interference Feedback Loop'

An extremely faint whirring sound came from his body just before Hao Xuan's internal energy reserves took a dive and several bursts of Qi exploded from within his body.

Perhaps the crudest and simplest method given the situation but one that would be most effective nonetheless.

By unleashing several bursts of internal energy at different wavelengths it would create a self-sustaining loop of strong energy waves that would feed into each other every time they passed through another energy wave, thereby exposing, activating, or simply destroying any hidden traps, abilities, or treasures within the vicinity that depended on spiritual energy or Qi.

This was akin to ringing a deafening dinner bell in a lion's den to check whether or not it was empty.

Hao Xuan was fully prepared to either jump away or defend himself as he carefully watched his surroundings.

The energy could not be seen with the naked eye but its effects were visible to all. The mud danced as if it was being thrown up and down by powerful sound waves and the barbarians were actually able to regain a fair bit of control over their own bodies.

The air hummed loudly and the temperature began to steadily rise.

There was so much disturbance being created around Hao Xuan that even Dai Zhi was shocked.

*Clap*Clap*Clap*

"Amazing! Such precise Qi control, no wonder he chose you!"

Hao Xuan, who was focused on the soundings, slowly turned towards Dai Zhi.

'He?'

The one who ordered Hao Xuan to kill Dai Zhi was one of the men working for that mysterious being called 'Meng' (CH 83). He was the one who had given him the "Immortal Devouring Demon Physique".

Hao Xuan felt like a swarm of bees was buzzing inside his brain making everything go numb. All the sounds began to wash away as he saw himself standing in the boat across from Meng listening to his story.

He could see Meng's lips moving but they didn't match the words that were coming out of his mouth.

'What are you saying-'

And then out of nowhere the realization hit him like a truck. He looked into Dai Zhi's eyes which were crystal clear. There was no 'acceptance of death' in them, only pure joy and hope for the future.

He was looking forward to it.

Hao Xuan's hand moved before he could force himself to stop, the intrusive thoughts had won.

He wanted to see what was going to happen next...if it really was as he feared.

A spark of electricity ignited around his fingers before a ball of unstable blue lighting came into being in front of his hand. It shot forward in a straight line, right into Dai Zhi's chest.

Hao Xuan's eyes were hyper-focused on the point of impact and he saw it all in slow motion.

Dai Zhi's chest ripped open and his flesh melted by the sheer force of destructive power contained within the chaos lighting. For a mere instant Hao Xuan even saw Dai Zhi's heart beating in his chest before it was obliterated.

Hao Xuan's senses returned to normal just as the remainder of the lighting impacted the ground on the other side which he could see from the 20-centimeter gaping hole left in Dai Zhi's chest.

His gaze slowly shifted upwards towards Dai Zhi's face which was smiling creepily while blood poured out of every orifice. He had not used even an iota of energy to protect himself.

A couple of seconds passed and the barbarians stood up one by one once they were completely free.

"Is it don-"

Princess Na'im uttered incredulously but before she could even finish the sentence Hao Xuan's eyes opened wide.

"AHHHHH!" he screamed maddeningly into the air just as the world turned black.

The next moment Hao Xuan opened his eyes he was back behind the pudgy little tree listening to the water stream on the other side.

*Gasp*

He jumped forward feeling his face and body that was still the same as before.

*Beep*

[Temporal Waypoint Activated]

[Data Corruption: Unable to retrieve a viable copy]