As Hao Xuan brought his hands together the arcs of lightning were suppressed into continuously smaller spaces. The muscles on his arms, shoulders and chest bulged from trying ti bring both hands together.
One spark, just a single tiny spark somehow escaped from the palms of his hand. It shot out like a firework before suddenly exploding with a deafening sound.
*BOOOOOM*
The shockwave spread out but when it came near Hao Xuan it simply dissipated into nothingness.
Hao Xuan's eyes were focused on his hands as he forced them together. Veins snaked under his skin and ropes of muscles swelled to several times their sizes.
He opened his mouth and blood trailed down his clothes through the gritted teeth but the light in his eyes only got brighter.
And then, out of nowhere, the resistance offered by the lightning was overwhelmed and his palms slammed against one another with a loud thud. All the light suddenly vanished, along with the lightning and the plasma balls.
"Fhooo…" he let out a loud breath of relief without letting down his guard.
His muscles remained flexed as Hao Xuan slowly pulled back his arms. When the palms of his hand separated a quick surge of electricity ran in between his fingers before being snuffed out.
And when he saw the condition of his hands Hao Xuan's smile widened from one ear to the other. They were almost shinning with a bright silvery light. The plasma had been compressed to its most extreme state before being absorbed by his physique.
He remained seated for a few more minutes carefully examining his hands until the silver light dissipated and the color returned to normal. But when he nonchalantly snapped his fingers a bolt of lightning was produced that shot straight up into the air.
Hao Xuan nodded, satisfied by the result.
"Send me back, Nidhora," he ordered.
The ground turned black and he was swallowed whole before being thrown out on the other side. Color finally returned to the world.
Hao Xuan stood up, his joints cracking and bones squeaking under the pressure. He took a few steps back before regaining his balance.
Looking up he could see the moonlight hidden behind Nidhora's massive body. The cool night breeze went brushed through his long unkempthair, scraping against his sensitive skin.
He could not help but smile upon feeling something different after what felt like ages. There was no temperature difference in the shadow realm, it was all tepid warm temperature but that might have been because of Nidhora.
"Baracus…how long was I in?"
*Beep*
'Readjusting internal parameters.'
'Accessing sub-unit database.'
"Eight months, three weeks, and 5 standard days."
"Hmm. Almost nine months then. Let me see how much of a difference it made."
Hao Xuan opened his hands and moved them from the front to the sides as if he was doing a butterfly stroke. And as he did so the power of the Chaos Law leaked out into the surroundings and the area within 4 meters of him became deathly silent.
Hao Xuan gently pushed against the ground and effortlessly floated up into the air. He snapped his fingers and the air caught fire and when he snapped again it returned back to normal. He rubbed the middle and forefingers together of both hands and created sparks of electricity and as he flexed the electricity shot out in a straight line.
"Not bad. It's on the verge of breaking through to the second tier. I can already create a pseudo-domain within which the laws of nature are at the weakest and prone to manipulation to an extent. Plus not that I've broken through to the Ninth Stage of the Spirit Realm it is even easier to control them."
Now he just needed that little push, just that bit of enlightenment to propel his Chaos Law into the second realm.
As Hao Xuan turned around and gazed upon what laid before him, his eyes widened from shock.
"L-Looks like Altron has been busy…huh…"
"Affirmative. They have made excellent progress. It appears your decision to leave Altron unaltered was beneficial."
"Is that your way of saying I was right?"
"Of course not. Just lucky, as your people say."
"Luck…wouldn't have done this…"
Hao Xuan had to pinch himself to make sure he was awake because right now he was staring at a small town. Or rather it was the size of a town but a bit more advanced.
The entire outer boundary was surrounded by an 7-meter tall metallic wall encompassing a 1.5-kilometer wide area. Then another bubble of shimmering blue light was covering everything else.
Many tens of 9-meter tall glass pylons were situated just inside the metal wall. Bright blue orbs of light were hovering above each pylon, humming lightly at a barely audible frequency. They were probably the source of the energy barrier.
Even though it was night out but inside of the city walls it was bright as day.
Hao Xuan's ears twitched as he tried to listen in and a moment later a cacophony of sounds reached him. Whirring machinery, the clanging of hot metal, bubbling liquids, sounds of weapons clashing against one another and people laughing.
He could tell the city was brimming with life even if he couldn't see it with his own eyes.
Hao Xuan made his way down and a few minutes later reached one of the four gates.
Above the gate was a giant inscription reading, 'Welcome to the City of the Future. Lord Altron welcomes all!'
"Lord Altron, huh? Looks like he is really enjoying the power," Hao Xuan mumbled, a little irked.
When he neared the energy barrier a loud voice stopped him.
"WHO GOES THERE!?"
"It's me, open up."
"WHO IS THIS 'ME' YOU SPEAK OF?"
"Altron, open the door before I break it down."
"ALTRON?! YOU DARE SPEAK THE GREAT ME'S NAME SO CARELESSLY? WHAT IS YOUR TAG NUMBER, ORC?!"
A side panel opened up and a light fell on Hao Xuan's body, inspecting him from top to bottom.
"IDENTIFICATION NUMBER: 0000" it stated right after as the barrier and the door both opened up.
"WAIT, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! I WAS GOING TO SEE HOW FAR I COULD PUSH HIM- ARGH, STUPID AUTOMATED SYSTEM, I'LL KILL YOU!"
*Crrrrk*
