The Dawn of the New World Chapter 1609

Hao Xuan racked his brain and after a brief deliberation concluded that they must be created by the powerful emotions that were left behind in a body after its soul departed.

'That's the only thing that makes sense. Once the soul is gone, what does that leave behind? What other thing can have such an obvious manifestation within the Umbral Planes apart from the deepest feelings and sentiments at the time of their death?'

It made sense in Hao Xuan's eyes and unless he saw evidence proving otherwise- he was going to go with that explanation.

'As for the name, let's call them 'motes' for obvious reasons.'

Now that he had a vague idea of what they might be, Hao Xuan wanted to know where they were going so he followed behind the procession as its numbers surpassed two hundred while it cut across the Beast Market and headed to the deck.

They were well out of the range of the barrier now since there weren't even any standing structures left to protect.

In the material world this entire section would be covered in copious amounts of Yin Qi but within the Umbral Plane it only appeared as light snowfall.

Hao Xuan tried catching a few snowflakes but they melted before coming into contact with his soul, not that it would have made a difference since it wouldn't be able to affect him anyway.

But that wasn't the case for the motes as he soon saw for himself. Almost all of them were quickly covered in specks of snow that stuck to them like glue as they hopped towards the bow in unison.

Hao Xuan rose into the air and flew over instead of walking behind them for the next half an hour, and it didn't take long for him to reach the bow where he saw most of the motes jump straight down and disappear into the darkness below.

But what caught his eye was the lone silhouette sitting at the edge.

'Huh?'

There were a few odd things about the shadow or the 'impression' of this person.

Firstly, a handful of motes were circled around them, watching and listening with a vested interest in whatever they had to say.

Second was the color of their shade. It wasn't the ordinary mixture of black and grey that most people had- there were flashes of light blue and pink mixed in. It appeared that was what caught the interest of the motes.

Thirdly, there was an object in their hands that Hao Xuan could see as clear as day, which had never happened before. It was as if this object was actually present here within the Umbral Planes rather than the material world.

It was roughly 35 centimeters in length and a little over 12 centimeters in width with a host of bizarre aquiline symbols moving across its glossy surface.

The fifth odd thing was the remains of another canine beast at their feet. It wasn't odd that it had died, but rather the location it had died in and the neverending motes that were coming out of it.

In the time he had been observing this figure more than three new motes had come out of the remains to surround them.

But the fifth and perhaps the most peculiar thing were the dozens of apparitions circling overhead.

Hao Xuan counted nearly thirty ghostly apparitions orbiting the figure. They were all a few meters above and never dared to get closer than that, but it wasn't hard to figure out that their movements matched the motions of the aquiline symbols on the strange artifact in that person's hand.

The apparitions made eerie noises that were a mix between pained moans and distressing cries.

'It looks like that artifact is trying to control them...'

As Hao Xuan got close to get a better look at the artifact he felt something take hold of him.

'Hmm?'

It was a restricting force trying to compel him up into the orbit with the other apparitions but not nearly strong enough to actually have any real effect on him. With a small burst of soul power he broke free from its grasp and ventured forth.

But just as he brushed against the artifact all the symbols gathered in one spot and turned bright blue, showering him with their light. He heard a faint voice chanting something far away as a subtle tingling sensation rang throughout his body.

The next moment Hao Xuan opened his eyes back in the material realm. There was smoke coming off his head and shoulders as he jumped to his feet for a quick inspection.

He couldn't believe what had happened, "I was....exorcised?!"

At least that's what it felt and looked like to him. The blinding light, the almost sacred sense of a higher power trying to push him away and OUT of the Umbral Planes, there wasn't much else it could be.

He strode out of the broken structure and turned his gaze towards the deck.

The bow was more than a hundred and fifty meters away with the Yin Qi fogging along the way. And with his severely limited vision he couldn't see well to begin with but his ears picked up the sound of a heartbeat with little to no trouble.

Hao Xuan made his way over with conviction but the closer he got the slower his pace became. There was a woman's voice coming over the wind, crying and lightly sobbing in a low voice.