The Dawn of the New World

'I did have that cute jacket but...it really doesn't go with the theme of the rest of the outfit...but...what if it starts to rain? The wind has been blowing pretty fast for the last hour so what if it does rain? I won't even be able to keep myself dry at this rate since I'm almost out of mana already....but....they need my help, what will...'

Hao Xuan listened for a couple of minutes but the more time passed, the harder he frowned.

"Who the hell is this girl...?"

It was pretty obvious what he was listening to what were the subconscious thoughts of someone. What he couldn't believe was the thought process that led to each one. He got a mild headache listening to the tedious drab that did not seem to have an end.

"I don't think I have ever thought this much about anything in my entire life..." Hao Xuan commented while rubbing his head until he realized the absurdity of the situation.

"How can I even listen to her thoughts though?" he scratched his chin until he realized something even more strange, "Wait....why can I hear my OWN thoughts?"

Even his own thoughts were echoing loudly within the nearby surroundings as if he was physically speaking himself.

"So it's neither me nor her then...does it have something to do with the webway?"

Hao Xuan tried to come up with a few explanations about it for a few seconds but that was a rabbit hole too deep to jump into at this moment. Maybe once he was able to control his thoughts and soul power better he could do more with this but for now, this was the limit.

He redirected his attention back towards the third gateway and the voice coming through it.

"So it is this one then..."

The other two were definitely connected to him but this one was the most "obvious". Maybe it was because he had visited the world behind it most recently or maybe it was because of something more unique, but by the simple process of elimination, this was the only viable option left.

"Alright, how do I do this now..."

Even though he had found the gate in his current state, he still needed the physical coordinate of the world to open a proper gateway for the others and his own body to pass through.

"Do I just...like, touch it?"

That was the most obvious choice. Hao Xuan reached out with both of his hands and brushed the outer edges of the gateway. He closed his eyes and focused, completely opening his mind.

At first, there was nothing. A pitch black darkness surrounded him from all sides but maybe a minute later, something strange happened and quite abruptly at that.

*WOOOSH*

His mind was pulled into the gateway and he could suddenly "see" what was on the other side.

He was floating in the empty space above a planet. It was green and blue in color with two white moons encircling it. A most welcomed feeling of relief washed over him because he instantly recognized what he was seeing.

It was indeed the same planet. That same supercontinent in the middle surrounded by water on all other sides was hard to forget. He remembered seeing it from the galactic-level space ship almost 2 years ago now (Because of the time difference). (CH 430).

The edges of his vision were blurring and Hao Xuan could feel copious amounts of soul power being drained from his body. He was becoming more and more transparent by the microsecond.

Apparently, it took a lot of soul power to do something like this. If not for his stupendously powerful soul this would not have been possible.

'I have to make it quick!'

He gazed done towards the planet and focused in one spot. The scene suddenly changed and he found himself hovering a few dozen meters above a forest.

'Woah! So I can just change it however I want!? Do I have to maintain a line of sight or...'

He thought about another place, the walking city of the academy before closing his eyes. And when he opened them again he was hovering right above it in a much different location.

'Hahaha! Now, this is what I'm talking about!' he burst out laughing. This feeling of power, of control, was a little too pleasurable.

'But not here, I need to go back to the pyramid!' he closed his eyes after thinking that and disappeared from the spot. Now that he understood a little bit more about the webway and how it worked, he could keep doing this again and experiment with a few different methods.

**

In the air right above the walking city, a hooded figure suddenly materialized right next to the spot where Hao Xuan was just a moment ago.

He looked left and right, the corners of his lips arching down.

"I could have sworn there was someone here..." he extended his hand that was covered in various rings and bracelets and moved it in a circular pattern anti-clockwise while mumbling something under his breath.

The space in front of him bubbled for an instant before stabilizing once again.. He leaned forward and took a deep breath in through his nose.