The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan walked out of the leftmost hallway and made his way through the middle one this time.

The hallway continued for well over five minutes until a vault door came into view, blocking his path forward. The door's material seemed to be a black metal with strange carvings and designs on it.

Hao Xuan moved his hand over the metal and tried to push it open, but it didn't budge at all.

He started putting in more and more force until finally, circulating the Force Qi, he punched out.

The metal door glistened for an instant before returning to its original state. There was not a single scratch anywhere, nor any signs of wear and tear. It still looked as good as new, making Hao Xuan return dejectedly.

He called for Ensis who was still in the library for some reason and ordered him to cut it open. After half an hour of repeated tries, they both walked out tired.

Whatever material the vault door was made of was way too tough for them.

Hao Xuan actually got the feeling that even profound realm cultivators wouldn't be able to do anything to it.

They rested up, recovering their Qi for the next few hours.

Hao Xuan returned to the rightmost room and inspected it once again, but found no new clues regarding the lifeform in the tank.

He stared at it for a long time before giving up. There was nothing to see other than the murky liquid.

"Master, should we return to the cavern and look for another way out?" Ensis suggested after spending the entire day doing nothing.

Hao Xuan looked around and finally nodded after a few seconds.

Both of them went back to the dark tunnels and ran around for another day, before returning to the hallways in defeat.

Hao Xuan looked at the time and couldn't help but shake his head. It had been almost six days since he fell down here. It wasn't a joke anymore and he had to find a way out of here fast.

Otherwise, the group might leave without him, leaving him stranded on this godforsaken place until he was either killed by the creatures above or whatever else that was hiding in the dark.

"Not to mention the thing that was in the temple," he murmured.

"Master?" Ensis spoke when he saw him dazing out.

"Its the only way. It will only hurt for a second, everything will be okay then," Hao Xuan was mumbling to himself.

He then looked up at Ensis with resolute eyes, "Alright, let's get this over with," and walked towards the library with big steps.

He was afraid that if he stopped and thought about it, he might not be able to gather up his courage again.

Ensis smiled when he saw Hao Xuan's reaction. It was to be expected. He could have reasoned with him from the start, mentioning this was the only sure-fire way to get out and fast, but that wouldn't be the same as him coming to the conclusion himself.

One needed to take risks to succeed in this life. That was true at the beginning of time and, would still be true at the end as well.

"How does it work? Make it quick!" Hao Xuan said while holding onto a random globe he had picked up from the shelf.

Ensis looked at the glass desk in front of the chair, "I have already gone through the initial setup earlier. You only need to put your hand over the panel and it will scan your body, adjusting the chair accordingly."

Hao Xuan looked at him surprised. So this is what he was doing here alone?

Without further ado, Hao Xuan placed his hand on the panel. Ensis reached out behind the panel and pressed something, making it light up.

There were hundreds of symbols on the screen, moving about ceaselessly.

"What now?" Hao Xuan asked with furrowed brows. He had no idea what any of the symbols meant.

"Just a moment. It will start soon," Ensis replied while looking at the panel with glistening eyes.

About two more minutes passed and all the numbers disappeared. The panel went dark for a couple of seconds before a row of symbols appeared above Hao Xuan's hand.

Ensis leaned over and clicked on one of the symbols, making it light up.

*Troooo*

A noise came from the panel and Hao Xuan felt something enter his body. It felt like something was moving inside, reaching every single place. He felt like there was nothing he could hide from this 'observer'.

It moved along his circulatory system three times before returning to the panel.

*beep*

*Clank*

*Shring*

The chair behind Hao Xuan started changing. From one 'S' shaped metal pipe it changed to a 'T' shape.

The needles, however, did not disappear, much to Hao Xuan's displeasure.

They aligned themselves along the upper half, in the middle of the shaft, exactly where Hao Xuan's spine would be and then all the way to his brain. The needles spun several times, even opened and closed, almost in anticipation of what was about to come and then went back into the frame.

Hao Xuan gulped upon the horrendous instrument.

Ensis saw his expression and sighed, "Master, pain is temporary. The Sagax are one of the most intelligent species in existence. Every single one of those globes would be enough to start wars down in the beast world. You are indeed very lucky to be able to have access to them all here."

"Although those are not Poriverse's direct memories and instead his raw knowledge and interpretations, they could be considered even more valuable by some. It's just like reading a book, but the knowledge will be ingrained in your brain directly, never to be forgotten."

"I know I know. But those are still going to be inside me soon, and it will still hurt, a LOT," Hao Xuan said nervously.

With a wave of his hand, a small bottle appeared. He opened it and gulped it down.

This was a type of poison. It would numb his body to some degree.

"Alright, let's do this!"

Hao Xuan clenched his fists and beat his chest twice like a gorilla, before jumping on the 'Cross'.

Ensis tapped on the panel once, prompting six pairs of restraints to come out from the top, bottom, middle and left and right sides.

Two of them went over his arms, two over his legs, one his chest and the last over his neck. He couldn't even move an inch anymore.

Hao Xuan's eyes constricted as he realized something, "Wait, why the hell can I still feel the coldness from the metal?!"

He quickly looked at Ensis, "Stop, the poison isn't working yet. Give it a few minutes!"

Ensis looked back at him apologetically, "I'm sorry master."

*tap*

"Dude sto-"

*CRUNCH*

Thirty-five needles jutted out from the cross, broke Hao Xuan's skin and pierced straight into his spinal cord and brain instantly.

He wanted to shout his heart out but couldn't even open his mouth. The pain was so intense that he soon started bleeding from several orifices but still couldn't pass out. He had to stay awake throughout the whole process.

Each and every needle had inserted itself directly into the thirty-three bones on the spinal cord, while the last two went directly into his brain.

*Clannnk*

A part of the glass panel bent inwards. Ensis placed the globe on it, clicked a few symbols on the panel and then walked up to the last shelf, bringing over a new one.

The white light inside the globe on the panel slowly drained.

The needles opened up and small streams of light entered Hao Xuan's body.

"AHHHHHHHH~"

It felt like someone had poured liquid metal into his spine and his body's natural reaction was to cry out.

"I'm sorry master, just a few more days and all of Poriverse's knowledge will be yours," he said while looking at the hundreds of shelves filled to the brim with these globes.

But it must be done.

What Ensis didn't tell Hao Xuan was that even Poriverse, a being completely devoid of emotion, was a little hesitant to use this contraption. It had taken him over five years to completely extract this amount of knowledge.

The pain one experienced from this 'procedure' would be unlike anything they had ever faced before or would face in the future. It could actually be a top grade torturing device, but Poriverse wasn't interested in such 'extracurricular' activities.

For the next few days or even weeks, Hao Xuan would be strapped to this cross, accepting all the knowledge of an ancient creature.