The Dawn of the New World



Softly shaking his head Hao Xuan whispered, "Food...is the least of my worries right now. The Sword Scripture isn't complete! The Luna kingdom never had the complete scripture to begin with."

"Someone taught the first 8 steps to the 'Founder' who passed them down from one generation to the next. And if that wasn't enough, each step is directly tied to the Sword Dao and requires rigorous training. Simply having the memories in my head won't magically make everything happen. It will take time...a lot of time."

Having finished his monologue Hao Xuan grabbed the sword and got back on his feet after a couple of failed attempts.

"But at least...I can use the first step after a little bit of practice. It is the easiest one to get right since all it requires is a sound heart and repetition. Point me towards the closest beast..."

**

Twelve Standard Minutes Later

Hao Xuan stood over the corpse of a horned shadow beast that resembled an Ox. He was covered in its blue blood trying to catch his breath.

"Hah....hah...that was too close...for comfort! It's a simple technique but...needs to be done absolutely perfectly. Two steps forward and a downward swing, one step back followed by an upward swing, then four steps forward and one back followed by an over-the-shoulder swing that circles back into the downward swing...or maybe it's not that simple. I need to keep trying."

*beep*

"The beast horde will reach your position in 150 standard seconds. Please place the carcass in the storage space."

"Yeah, hurry up...I'm getting lightheaded already."

***

Forty Standard Minutes Later

Hao Xuan was surrounded by Shadow Beasts from all sides. He was maneuvering well considering the tough situation and making good time but the longer he stayed here the worse it got since it gave even the slower beasts enough time to catch up.

But he couldn't just run past them either without expanding all his internal energy.

Made fearless by the parasites of the 'Greater Shadow Beast' they did not give him an inch. They did not care for themselves one bit because as long as they could bring harm to Hao Xuan their reason for existing would have been validated.

"IF I CAN JUST...COMPLETE THE FIRST STEP! ARGH! HOW DO I DO THIS WITHOUT STOPPING?!"

[DEVOUR!]

***

Two Standard Hours Later

Fighting under the imminent threat of death caused Hao Xuan to improve greatly. Every little mistake could prove to be fatal so he had to be attentive and careful of every step.

This was akin to throwing a child that couldn't swim into the deepest waters. If he wanted to live then the only option was to improve.

All the wasted movements had to be eliminated early on since they not only slowed him down but created openings for the beasts. His movements became more fluid, effortlessly connecting with one another in the form of an elegant dance.

And even though he wasn't finished, the sword had come to life in Hao Xuan's hand. It fell with reason and inspiration, taking the life of any who were slow enough to be caught in its rhythmic motions.

He danced in between the beasts and on top of them. One second he was in one place and the next in another. This was neither magic nor any special ability, simply the way of the blade. The unexpected and sudden movements gave him the appearance of teleportation even though it was just a trick of the mind.

But these extreme movements were never meant to be repeated in such a fashion. He was using too much internal energy, more than what he could absorb from the surroundings.

"BARACUS! HOW LONG?!"

"You are 82% of the way through. One more hour should be enough to reach the settlement."

"NOT ENOUGH! I CAN'T-I NEED TO PERFECTLY INTEGRATE THE SWORD DAO TO DO THE FIRST STEP! I'M SO CLOSE!"

'I have to use it now, there's no other choice!'

Hao Xuan closed his eyes for an instant to channel a portion of the Chaos Qi towards his brain where it reached the clover-shaped pattern to make it bloom.

[Temporal Waypoint Detected!]

With a quick movement Hao Xuan pulled the sword close to his chest and channeled some Qi into it while activating the long-dormant Sword Dao.

'Resonance!'

A colorless aura surrounded the blade from all sides while a great deal of it leaked out into the surroundings. One of the beasts that was a little too close for comfort swung at the dissipating aura in its state of madness and ripped its claw to shreds.

It shrieked from the pain because it was unlike anything it had felt before. It fell back crying and whimpering which was enough to not only break the effect of the parasite in its own body but also in the ones nearby.