The Dawn of the New World Chapter 1568

[But perhaps the most important question of all, why is someone like that here?]

Hao Xuan immediately sent out the spiritual threads in all directions and only when he knew for certain they were alone did he heave a sigh of relief.

'That was my mistake, I didn't take it seriously and ended up showing my hand. But one thing is for certain, I cannot let him leave. Even if it's all speculation and assumptions for the moment, if he keeps digging it's only a matter of time before someone connects the dots.'

He threw a casual shrug in the mix while trying to close the distance between them.

"What do you want me to say? You don't honestly expect to stand here and explain myself, do you? First you pretend to be some bounty hunter going after an innocent girl and then switch to someone sent to 'bring me in' or something, whatever that means. And now you are going on about some random things just- tell me what you want to hear so we can put this to rest, huh?"

Hao Xuan stopped roughly seven meters away from him, confident in his ability to catch up if he decided to run away.

"I am a busy man...despite what you'd think looking at me haha. How about I turn around and go back to my little hiding spot, and you go wherever the hell you came from? Does that...sound fair?"

As he said the last two words Hao Xuan tried to take another step forward but the shade saw through him.

It leaped back while throwing, what appeared to be, small chunks of his original body at his feet. They stuck to the ground like glue before exploding to cover the entire area in a grey foam.

This 'foam' was so thick that Hao Xuan couldn't pierce through it even with the help of the Crown of Darkness and it did a good job cutting off the whole section but being this close he didn't need to see.

'It's purposefully not using any spiritual energy so as not to give its position away. But-'

As long as it still had a physical body he would be able to track it using his other senses.

Hao Xuan's ears perked up as he listened and felt for the movements in the air like a spider.

He lowered his body to a sitting position while his calf muscles bulged, not unlike a spring being wound up. With eyes closed he waited for the faintest whisper and when it came he exploded forth.

The ground simply turned to dust where he stood and 20 meters away his afterimage appeared behind the shade.

An open palm landed squarely on the shade's back while turning clockwise. This simple action transferred more than half of the force that was behind the jump, destroying nearly 80% of its abdomen.

The rest of its body cracked and began to fall apart but the shade turned on its heel and spat an inky mass right into Hao Xuan's eyes.

Hao Xuan's vision turned dark as all the color from the shade's crystalline form went into Hao Xuan's body.

He froze mid-stride, standing idly in a punching stance as the darkness consumed him.

**

Around the same time "Ji Yan" arrived at the half-standing building where Liet had been sleeping for the last few days.

"This must be where he is staying," she muttered to herself upon seeing the obvious signs of being inhabited.

There was a still-lit fire in the middle of the room which did a good job of keeping the cold Ying Energy out.

A small area near the back wall had been cleaned out so she took a seat before proceeding to curse the shade out.

"Tsk, that cagey two-bit mutt! There was NO reason to go that far!"

She tried to put some pressure on the wound but kept flinching and hesitating every time there was the slightest bit of pain which only made it worse.

"Stupid cur, this is ROYAL blood!" she exclaimed with tears in her eyes, "One drop is worth more than your miserable existence!"

After several tries she succeeded in making a fist which at least slowed the bleeding while she waited for Hao Xuan to return.

But having never even received an injury in her entire life nor having any training dealing with open wounds, she was utterly unprepared for the accompanying side effects.

Soon the blood pooled beneath her feet and she began to slip away. The lightheadedness turned into fainting spells as she went in and out of consciousness.

One second she was sitting with her back against the wall and the next she was on the cold ground watching helplessly as a tar-like goey substance made its way towards her.

It was trying to say something- SCREAMING at her telling her to run away but she couldn't process it.

Ji Yan blinked and the next moment she found herself surrounded by a pleasantly warm embrace.