"The first step is complete. You may move freely," Baracus informed Hao Xuan, trying to pull him out of the euphoric state he had found after such a long time.
After each cleanse, hormones like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins were automatically released into the bloodstream, helping raise the cultivator's mood and spirits. In Hao Xuan's case, these hormones that should be tightly regulated were released in copious doses all at once.
This was due to the instability in his physical center, causing interference in perhaps the most trivial yet effective way.
Hao Xuan's eyelids felt like they were made of lead. No matter how much he wanted to get up, opening his eyes right now and breaking out of the cocoon was now nothing short of a battle against his own self.
Hao Xuan was so out of it in fact, that he even missed Baracus saying that this was only the first step of the procedure.
At this moment he was in a state of total euphoria, brought upon by his own enhanced rampaging hormones. It was identical to the 'out-of-body-experiences' that many people had described when taking certain 'party' drugs.
His senses of touch, hearing, smell, and taste all became hypersensitive for a short moment. Even encased in the cocoon he could feel his surroundings perfectly, perhaps even more so than he could ever do under any normal circumstances.
The cocoon acted as a barrier separating his body and the external environment, helping him focus more on the outside.
This state was only going to last for a short moment and Hao Xuan knew that by instinct. He could 'see' outside the cocoon in a different fashion than normal as well.
Hao Xuan saw his immediate surroundings that only showed up as green and light yellow colors, each with their own taste. The ground was yellow, while the plants were green, tasting like sponge cake and matcha tea in his mouth respectively.
Obviously, this was just how his own brain interpreted this strange new method of receiving information.
His senses formed a second body in this new environment to help him understand it better. He only existed as a being of blue light here, interacting with the world without even touching it.
Hao Xuan walked around the cocoon which he could still see as normal. Everything else was in the shades of green and yellow, other than a thin trail of strange floating dark purple powder. It was surrounding the cocoon.
It hovered in the air in silence.
While all the other shades of green and yellow intermingled happily, this floating powder was left completely alone. Only when it made the move first and reached out did the other colors react.
As soon as the purple powder came into contact with any shade of green or yellow, it would become a different color entirely.
From red, black, white, and blue to a million other shades and colors, it was this powder that was throwing everything into disarray.
Hao Xuan felt like he was watching a painting that was being slowly dismantled from inside out. Objects were losing their shapes, their identities, becoming more basic in nature.
The natural order of things was thrown into complete and total chaos. Yes!
'Chaos!' Hao Xuan's mind suddenly connected the dots.
It was him, he was the source of that purple powder. It wasn't that it was surrounding the cocoon, but that it was coming out of it! Almost like magic, some of the things that Hao Xuan couldn't make sense of before became clear. He was gaining enlightenment!
High up in the sky above where Hao Xuan was, a black cloud had appeared at some point. Its size increased from a few inches to hundreds of meters within seconds. It continued to expand until it covered the majority of the landmass, shrouding everything in darkness.
The glyphs that hovered in the upper atmosphere of the space were the first ones to notice its presence but soon after, almost every creature big or small was able to FEEL it.
The atmosphere was becoming charged.
The clouds rumbled with a deep pulsating echo. Pregnant with streaks of deadly thunderlight, they were answering a call to summons that had not been made in eons.
Unknowingly, Hao Xuan had once again entered a space not meant for mere men. He found himself standing atop a cloudy peak, his feet one with the mountain underneath.
A single sentence entered his mind.
"Initiation of the Chaos Gates: Influence."