"Yeah yeah, just keep it down and watch your step. If knows we're closeby it will never show itself and just run away to another village," Hao Xuan explained with a straight face while observing the surroundings.
With his eyesight Hao Xuan could see almost everything. The first thing he noticed were the stark differences between the village and the other places he had visited so far.
No matter how desolate, no matter how far out of the way the settlement, the basic standard of living was maintained in every place he had been to, unless of course they were gripped by war and in dire straits. There were light stones in every house, some sort of rudimentary formations to either warn or protect the settlement and at least some sort of a cultivator to deal with wandering beasts. Because even the weakest beast was much stronger than an ordinary human.
Yet this village looked like it was taken straight out of earth. There were primitive torches on the doors and lanterns hanging by the windows. Not even a light stone in sight nor a creature anywhere near the village. It looked too normal.
Noticing his hesitation, Jin Wang walked up beside Hao Xuan with soft steps.
"What? You see something?" he asked while looking around himself.
"I…don't know. Doesn't this place look too….normal? How is there not a single cultivator here? How did they survive for so long?"
Jin Wang shrugged, "No idea. But beast world is really too big," he sighed recalling some of the stories he had heard in the past, "There have been cases where mortals migrated to other faraway places, away from major cities and the like and after a few generations they completely forgot everything about the world outside. To them, their little villages and towns were their whole worlds."
Hao Xuan nodded, understanding what he was trying to say.
'Who am I to judge…" he mused.
The group slowly made their way towards Naim's house. All of them looked identical but when Hao Xuan focused his sense of smell, he easily picked up the bloody scent of the magma gator.
"That one," Hao Xuan pointed at a slightly rundown, out of the way structure. It looked even more rundown than the ones around it.
Henrik scoffed at him, not even willing to meet his gaze anymore. He placed the right hand on the ground and close his eyes.
Within seconds different dim symbols and glyphs started appearing on the outer walls of the house, slowly moving in a certain pattern that Hao Xuan was not able to discern. A minute later Henrik opened his eyes again.
"I placed the formation underground, it won't surface until it detects another presence in the house."
"Great, now we wait," Hao Xuan gestured for the others to move back a bit more.
The time passed slowly as the temperature continued to drop and black clouds hid the previously starless sky.
Winds started picking up, bringing with them a chill that crept into the bones. Other than Fulke and Hao Xuan, all the others were shivering to some degree.
Hao Xuan could, of course, feel the cold wind brushing past his body, but it did little to impact his abilities. Both his hearts beat with an almost violent force, pumping hot blood through his veins and warding off the coldness in the air.
Hao Xuan noticed that Fulke was at complete ease just like him. He wasn't feeling anything at all and stood beside Hao Xuan with a puffed out chest and a straight back, giving a feeling of sturdiness.
*Flap*Flap*
Hao Xuan's ears twitched when he heard a new and distinct sound coming from the house. It sounded like someone was running barefoot on a hardwood floor.
Henrik who was standing behind him for cover from the air suddenly jumped, "It's out!" he shouted and snapped his fingers.
*Craaack*
The ground beneath cracked open as a glowing circular formation erupted with a force of a volcano, sending tremors to the surrounding houses.
The formation was rotating continuously while a loud buzzing sound spread out into the village, waking almost everyone up.
*Screeeech*
A loud screech came out of the house and one by one its walls started falling apart like a tornado was trying to break free but the formation kept it contained. Henrik's expression stiffened as he suddenly sat down.
"I can't keep it in there for long, GO!"
Hazel, Jin Wang and Fulke stepped forward, each going around one side while Hao Xuan walking to the front of the formation. A bright purple door opened up when he got close and showed what was happening inside.
Naim and his sister were holed up in a corner, grasping the broken floorboards for dear life. In the center was a salamander of about 4 meters in length. At first glance it didn't look like anything special but the more a person stared at it, the more engrossed they would become. Especially its eyes that had no pupils that were just a mass of swirling white.
It was thrashing left and right trying to break free when it noticed Hao Xuan and calmed down.
It opened its mouth and a faint soundwave slowly spread out. When the soundwave reached Naim and his sister, both their bodies went limp and they stopped moving. The light in their eyes diminished by a large margin and they even started drooling. It looked like they had lost complete control of their bodies.
But when the sound wave reached Hao Xuan, it had no effect.
Hao Xuan's lips curled into a cold smile as he slightly turned his head halfway towards the creature, showing his ear canals that were blocked by a sheen of liquid metal.
"That trick won't work," Hao Xuan cracked his knuckles, "How about you and me have a chat?" he said with a coaxing smile and activated Wrath of Deimos.
Six demonic arms came out of his back, opening and closing on their own. Hao Xuan leaned forward like he was falling before lifting his right foot.
"Emperor's Arrival!"
*Whoosh*
An invisible pressure fell on the entire village. The guards that were trying to make their way towards the cause of all this disturbance suddenly fell down to their knees, helplessly watching the colorful lights flash from a distance and sounds of explosions ring out constantly.
***
Hall of Bellator, 40,000 miles North of the City of Warriors.
A mountain range devoid of any life snaked through the land like a serpent. Its peaks piercing the heavens above. Many horrendous creatures and powerful beasts, both and alive and dead could be seen walking around, engaging each other in combat without pause.
On top of the highest peak, two silhouettes stood facing one another within the fast-moving clouds.
The one on the right was standing near the edge, looking down at the man in front of him. He was fiddling with an old saber that weakly hung from his waist.
The other person, the one on the left had a sheathed katana in his left hand.
Neither of their faces was visible within the clouds, only the vague outlines of their bodies could be seen. The saber user's body was much wider and bulkier while the katana holder was much more petite.
"Hmmm? Did you have a breakthrough?" the saber user's gruff voice echoed on the lonely summit, sounding somewhat cold yet hopeful.
