The Dawn of the New World

*Crash*

*BAAANG*

Similar to the sound of a firing cannon, Hao Xuan collided into the ground, sending tons of mud and rocks flying up into the air. A ten-meter deep pit had been created which was still on fire.

A couple of minutes had passed when a weary figure crawled out of the pit.

*Cough*Cough*Cough*

He was covered in bloody bruises, burnt skin that was constantly trying to heal itself, and dirt that covered him from top to bottom.

Hao Xuan laid a few feet away from the burning pit, breathing heavily.

"What the actual FUCK!" he shouted exasperatedly, on the verge of going mad.

"Those fucking assholes, I'll kill them all!"

He had actually almost lost his life this time. If he didn't have Nidhora's protection, there was no way Hao Xuan would have been able to survive. He was shooting down at seven times the speed of sound, in a literal ball of fire that surrounded him completely.

There was a lot more oxygen in the atmosphere here so there was no lack of fuel either.

He used Nidhoras power, the full defensive measure of the nanotech, tried to create barriers with his own energies but found out it was suppressed by more than 90% and was useless, in conjunction with his body's innate defense which was more than ten times higher than a normal person's.

If he did not have Nidhoras power to weaken the impact, Hao Xuan would have died halfway through, there was no doubt about that. Because every new participant would have their cultivation suppressed to various degrees, making them significantly weaker at the start. It would be so bad that they won't even be able to use a normal skill that required slightest Qi.

Anything that they had cultivated themselves would not work but Nidhora was an outside source and was not really affected by it. She was a true dragon, albeit as weak as she could be it was still not enough to be suppressed like an average cultivator.

After taking in a few more breaths Hao Xuan regulated his breathing. He sat down cross-legged where he was and focused on healing himself.

Thankfully there was no serious damage this time. Only one broken rib, first-degree burns on 40% of his body, second-degree burns on 15% and third-degree burns on just his arms and shoulders, which was around 9%.

Most of his hair had burned away, leaving only a couple of inches on the top. He waved his hand and took out a few healing potions, rubbing them over his wounds and drinking the rest.

About 8-10 minutes later he was almost healed. It seemed like the power and abilities of his physique were not affected in the least.

Hao Xuan opened his eyes and observed the surroundings. In a 70 meter radius around the pit, there was nothing but the charred ground and burnt rocks. After that were lush green and bright orange trees.

"Orange?" he rubbed his eyes and focused on them again, but they still looked the same.

With an uncharacteristically loud groan, he got up and stretched his body. Cracking and popping sounds erupted one after another. It was at this point that his ears twitched.

He could hear someone running in the distance.

Hao Xuan closed his eyes and turned his right ear towards the source of the noise.

"One, three, six pairs of feet? No, not all feet..."

It sounded like someone was being chased by a beast.

Still mad at what he had to go through, Hao Xuan took out some water and quickly cleaned himself before putting on a new pair of clothes. If he didn't have a storage space like this, he would have had to run around naked because everything he brought with him was burnt to ashes.

"Nidhora," he mumbled lightly. Black shadows jetted out of his back, covering his arms, legs, and back completely. Then they solidified and became one with the dark clothes he was wearing. No one would be able to tell he was actively using an external power right now.

"Let's see here," he tried controlling the power at will.

Nidhora reigned over the shadows. She had absolute control over her own shadow and could control it to fight or do any number of things. She once told Hao Xuan about a place that only exists in the shadows.

"There is an entire world hidden within the shadows, and I can borrow power it's without limits," she said.

Hao Xuan, of course, was not able to do that. The most he could do was call out Nidhora's own power and use it for himself. It was like a liquid that could take any shape or form but still become a solid sturdy enough to go up against sharp weapons. And how could it not? It was a dragon's power!

Since Hao Xuan had no Qi at the moment, he wouldn't be able to use any of the movement techniques that depended on it.

With a thud, he stepped forcefully on the ground and the shadows acted like a spring that sent him shooting towards the source of the noise.

It obviously wasn't the same as using his own ability but the result was more or less the same.

With a loud swoosh, he covered a distance of more than a hundred meters with one step. Stepping on a tree branch he flew away yet again.

Within a couple of seconds he could see the source of the original noise. It was a three-meter long cat-like creature following after a human being. It had four legs, two heads each with three eyes and two tails. It had no fur to speak off which made it look like a raw turkey from a far.

It was casually jumping from one tree to another, occasionally hissing at the human to make him run faster.. It was basically playing with its food.