The Dawn of the New World Chapter 1554

The old man sniffed the air and even tasted some of the dirt left behind, which somehow told him exactly where to go.

He followed in Hao Xuan's footsteps as if he could see them and stopped only upon reaching the boundary of the abandoned Beast Market.

He reached into his baggy robes and took out a small pouch filled with black sand. After emptying it on the ground he began to write in the sand with his index finger. Once finished, he carefully held the pouch over the sand and every grain of it flew back inside.

Approximately ten minutes later Song Yi appeared around the corner. She had changed from her usual aristocratic clothing to something a lot more in line with what the average cultivator would be wearing.

"I got your message. Did you find him?" she asked while strolling in.

He lowered his head respectfully, "Princess, you are late," and pointed to the alley turning left, "You will run into him if you go down that path."

Surprisingly, she wasn't offended by his remark in the least. She nodded while following his line of sight but then turned back to look at him with a rather conflicted gaze.

"There is...something else," she hesitantly spoke up, "I need a new face."

The old man was taken aback by her request but even more so by what that implied for her future.

He thought about it for a second, "Are you certain? I will not be able to stay here for too long without my cover and going back means I will have to report to the matriarch. She will not take kindly to you asking for extra resources."

She nodded, "I am. This matter concerns mother's work."

He was even more surprised, "Is it related to the chosen one?"

"It is. That man found him but he is hiding something else, I'm sure of it."

"Then...it cannot be helped."

The old man took out the pouch again.

After unfurling it he placed his chin on the opening as his face began to fracture and disfigure. Pieces of his skin broke apart and flew into the pouch. It began with his face but every part of his body including the clothing was starting to disintegrate into the same black sand that he had poured out earlier.

By the end he had no skin left to speak of, revealing his true form of solid darkness. And that darkness undulated and flickered like a flame in the wind.

Song Yi clapped thrice when it was over.

"It is still impressive no matter how many times I see it. Is not freeing in this form? After all, shades are born without physical bodies."

The shade shook its head once.

"It is...dangerous."

Its voice had completely changed. The tone was neutral and could sound both masculine or feminine depending on who heard it.

"This form might be invisible to your kind but the 'unseen' can find it with ease. We only use it for reconnaissance or infiltration, and only at the matriarch's behest. Now tell me more about this man, what is he like?"

Song Yi racked her brain for all the information she thought might be useful.

"He claims to be a warrior from the outside world, ruler of a small land somewhere. He fights well...too well in my opinion. Words like rude, ugly, and insolent come to mind when I think of him because..."

After listening to her rant the Shade shook the pouch, "Hmm, then let us begin. I haven't much time left," and held it up to Song Yi's face to allow the black sand to fly up and attach to her skin like a magnet.

Her various facial features began to shift and readjust in different ways.

The eyes a little darker, nose just a tad bit sharper. Her cheeks sunk in and her jawline became less obvious creating a small round face. The hair color changed from pitch black to light brown.

The sand crawled further down her body, changing every single aspect of it.

Even her height fell from 1.85 meters (6.1 feet) to just below 1.70 meters (5.6 feet). Her already thin waist shrunk even more while all her precious muscles were rinsed away.

She looked a little younger and far too innocent compared to before with an even smaller and frail-looking body.

"Hey, isn't this a little too much?!" she yelled angrily upon examining her new body, "Are you saying I looked ugly before?? This looks nothing like my original form!"

The shade looked into her eyes to make sure she was serious before explaining itself in a defeated tone of voice.

"That's not- your true form is far too unapproachable for most human males. The majority of them, from my experience, find it difficult to let their guard down in the presence of strong and confident women so your original form would be unsuitable for an infiltration mission such as this..."

The shade tried its very best not to use the word bitchy when describing her, which worked wonderfully.