The Dawn of the New World

The moon and the sun changed places and Hao Xuan woke up the next day in his bed, alone.

After waking up he sat there thinking about everything that happened last night with a goofy smile on his face.

The headaches he had been having for the last few consecutive days didn't appear today for some reason. He woke up in a really good mood and just as he was about to go and look for Xu Qing, his watch vibrated.

It was a message from Red Legion high command.

"Since Captain Hao Xuan has reached the minimum required Cultivation level (Spirit Realm), you have been assigned the mission to fight against the new generation of the Jia Kingdom along with the youngest Mei warriors from all the other military divisions."

"You will take command of your unit and head into battle within the next 24 hours. Your main objective is to destroy as many enemy units as possible. The time limit is 3 months after which the unit with the highest score will be given special rewards and their captions will be sent to the 'Empire of Midas' to be admitted to their Royal Academy for further improvement on the path of the great Dao."

"All military personal in the Spirit Realm at or above the rank of captain must partake in the mission, no exceptions. The Empire of Midas has been kind enough to offer rewards to all units which can be claimed by exchanging them for the same reward points you would get from finishing missions."

There was a lot more information there which Hao Xuan skimmed through before sitting there with a dazed expression.

'This kinda came out of nowhere. Did we get a new backer? What's happening?'

So he contacted the only 100% trustable source of information he had.

"Baracus, what's this about the Empire of Midas? Is there any chatter online about it?"

*Beep*

The screen's color changed as usual and Baracus's emotionless voice came from it.

"Indeed. Everyone that is a captain or higher and within the spirit realm has been sent the same message you just received. But the Empire of Midas is actually not the Empire that should be overseeing the Kingdom of Mei."

"I haven't been able to find a specific reason as to why but it seems like this new Empire is offering quite substantial benefits to Mei. If I'm not wrong, Mei should be changing alliances and go under Midas instead."

Hao Xuan raised an eyebrow upon hearing the news. Although Mei was only a grade-2 Kingdom, it was strategically located and had a very important place in the region. It should not be as easy as this to change alliances.

"What about the current Empire overseeing Mei? Won't they have anything to say?"

"They did apparently. They sent someone over to the capital to meet with the King directly and discuss this, but it seems like things didn't work out very well. Still, to change alliances Mei would have to pay them a huge amount of resources which they could never afford."

"Then how?"

"Midas is offering to foot the bill of the entire transition. They will pay for it all."

"Why?"

"No reason was given. Just that they are really looking forward to working with Mei."

"And Mei is just accepting this?"

Even Hao Xuan knew there was no such thing as a free meal, especially when it came to resources that were enough to buy entire kingdoms. How could Mei accept this?

"Indeed they are. This news has already been relayed to all high ranking military and government employees. Everything is already done. Mei will officially be under the Empire of Midas within the next few months."

"What the f*ck! That was fast!"

It would take years to make something like this happen. But from what Baracus told him, this whole deal only took a few weeks.

"How will this affect the people of Mei then? Anything I should be worried about?"

"You? No. But you should be worried about the earthlings."

Hao Xuan quickly shot up from the bed.

"What do you mean?"

"I think its better if I show you," a screen was projected from the watch.

There were literally millions upon millions of comments talking about taking revenge on the earthlings one way or another or making them pay.

The most innocent ones called for them to be kicked out, while the worst ones were asking them to be stripped of their human rights and sold into slavery.

"Does the government know about this?"

"Of course, but maybe they just don't care or are looking the other way on purpose. Either way, I think its better if you do something about this before you go."

"Alright. Contact Yangdi, tell him..."

Hao Xuan's plan was pretty simple. Since the officials weren't going to do anything, he would use his own assets to take them out of the country.

Yangdi had already built up a pretty solid network so it was easier for him to do things. Hao Xuan told him to gather all willing earthlings in the inner city, away from all the trouble until either the situation calmed down or they could come up with another plan.

The priority was, of course, the Khan family, and he even contacted the Den himself and told them to take care of Lois. She was still working there because the Den was one of the only few places that would never give in to the pressure from the public.

Their establishment was created for cultivators and most of them were pretty open-minded. It was only the mortals that had their issues. Not to mention that no one could force them to do anything they didn't want to.

Hao Xuan called and told Kuo to get everyone ready, and he also left First a message that he would be coming soon.

It was around 10 P.M that he got a personal call from Yangdi. They usually didn't interact with one another personally so it was a bit strange to see his flashing name.

Hao Xuan quickly picked it up.

"Is everything okay? What's wrong?"

"More or less. Can you come to the house for the Khan family? I'm waiting here."

Hao Xuan stood up at once and put on his shirt.

"What's going on?"

"They're saying they want to go back. To that farmhouse. The old man has already packed everything up and is ready to leave. He doesn't trust me enough to listen, so I think its better if you come talk to them yourself."

Hao Xuan faltered and broke off a shirt's button he was trying to fasten. He had been avoiding meeting them ever since leaving about two years ago, but it seemed like there was no other option anymore.

*Sigh*

"Alright, I'm coming.. Just hold them off there."