The Dawn of the New World

Now knowing a lot more about the kind of place he was in Hao Xuan stopped holding back.

'As long as I have the light I will be safe,' is what he told himself while running with everything he had, at a speed that would be nothing more than a blur to a normal person.

There were times when he had to slow down and a couple of instances where he had to go around when the path ahead was completely blocked by bottomless pits and chasms.

Fortunately, the floodlight did its job and kept him safe for the most part. But the deeper he went the stronger darkness became, limiting light range to a little less than 4 meters.

And if that wasn't enough, there were several moments when he could see faint outlines in the darkness, just out of the light's reach. And these silhouettes were far from human.

If he listened closely Hao Xuan could hear them slither and claw against the ground just a few meters away from him but he had to come to an abrupt stop when the noise of something big shuffling through the ground came from the front.

He waited a few minutes until the noise died down before going towards it with measured steps. And just a few steps ahead were 3-meter wide recesses in the ground. There was even a zigzag pattern to it not much different from that of a snake.

"Baracus, how big would a creature have to be to leave these behind?"

*beep*

"Approximately 78 meters if the creature adhered to the standard laws of physics."

"And if it didn't?"

"Unable to say for certain. It could be less than 50 meters or more than 300 meters depending on the species."

"Tsk, the further I go the stronger these things are becoming. They are not mere shadows anymore if they can interact with the physical world to this degree."

Hao Xuan took a cursory look around before continuing forward. The veil of darkness followed closely behind him while hiding numerous nightmarish figures all of which only wanted one thing.

Seven hours later the terrain began to change when he was almost there. The ground became softer with even some silver grass popping up around every other step.

Hao Xuan slowed to a crawl because he could feel the difference in the air. Not only was it thicker but also warmer. He knelt down to pluck a silver grass leaf but the second he touched it the entire plant receded into the ground faster than he could react which was quite an achievement.

He could feel it burrowing deeper into the ground.

"Woah, that's new. It can move on its own? Is it a spiritual herb?!" he exclaimed while looking around at the countless other similar plants.

Spiritual herbs were exceptionally rare and would only be born in an area with abundant spiritual energy after countless years. Not only were they difficult to catch but they could also be very dangerous in the wrong circumstances.

"Easy does it. I don't mean any harm, just want to get across," he muttered out loud hoping that the herbs were capable of understanding him to some degree.

And shockingly enough, when he stepped forward they willingly moved aside to create a path that led to the left.

"Hmm?"

Hao Xuan checked the minimap and it still showed Nidhora's last location to the front.

"Should I just run for it? I don't sense any bloodthirst or killing intent from these herbs so...maybe they want to help? Are they trying to show me something else?"

*beep*

"Whatever the host decides it should be quick. Remaining battery time: 16 hours."

"Damnit...maybe they will move if I get close enough," he raised the floodlight above his head and walked in a straight line. But even when his next step was about to land on the silver grass the plant did not budge an inch.

In fact he could see its leaves gently waving back and forth while pointing to the left. He frowned upon seeing the almost human-like move and got down on one knee to examine it closer.

Placing the floodlight on the ground he slowly reached forward. The silver leaves actually swayed over to him and wrapped around his fingers one by one.

At first they were so gentle that Hao Xuan could barely feel anything but all of a sudden the grip began to tighten around him. It felt like a person was holding onto him with both hands and the next moment he realized why.

The ground vibrated lightly and a hole opened up in between his leg. The same herb that had run away before shot out and grabbed the floodlight before running away with it.

"NO STOP! Come back here!" he shouted trying to grab it but his hand was still being held by the other herb and no matter how hard he tried to pull away it did not budge an inch.