The Dawn of the New World

Kuo, Hash, and Mady were debating on how to set up different parties for a small training session when they heard Mason's scream. By the time they reached the place, Hao Xuan had already descended and couldn't be seen anymore.

Kuo looked down but couldn't see anything because of the mist layer. So he tried to use Qi to increase the power of his eyesight but the seemingly simple mist layer was like a steel wall.

"What happened? Why did the captain go down there?" he asked with a serious expression. That mist was anything but normal. It was imbued with spiritual energy.

"We were just messing around and captain suddenly said he wanted to go down there. He jumped down before we could do anything. He only said to pull him up when he tugs on that rope twice," Aria said concerningly while pointing at the rope next to her.

Kuo went up to it and held the rope, a few seconds later his expression got better. "Don't worry, he's fine," he said breathing a sigh of relief. Just then he had sent his Qi down the rope and was met with Hao Xuan's Qi.

"If he went down, there must be a reason. Gather everyone up, we will wait for him here," Kuo ordered and the newbies left to inform the rest.

All of the Mad Saints were there within a couple of minutes. They waited and waited with bated breaths until Kuo finally felt the rope tug. He was about to pull it up when he remembered that Hao Xuan had said twice so he waited until he felt two tugs in close proximity of one another and started pulling with all his strength.

About 30 seconds later a Hao Xuan that looked like he had aged several years came up covered in a cold sweat.

"Captain, is everything okay?" Kuo asked looking at him up and down when he saw his pale face.

"It doesn't matter, get ready, we are leaving right now!" Hao Xuan waved his hand sat down on the ground to catch his breath.

"Yes?" Kuo thought he misheard him. They literally just got here less than 20 minutes ago and now they were leaving again?

Hao Xuan didn't reply immediately and instead took a few deep breaths to calm himself down first. Then he stood up and summoned Bai, "Monster, a monster is coming. Get ready, we are leaving. Which way is out of this god damned place?"

"T-That way," Kuo still didn't know what was going on exactly but it wasn't hard to guess. Hao Xuan probably saw a monstrous beast and got scared.

"MAD SAINTS! WE ARE LEAVING!" he shouted and they all summoned their mounts and left within a few seconds.

***

While Hao Xuan and Kuo were talking, something was happening below the misty layer.

After Hao Xuan was pulled up, the entire river parted as a massive 200-meter snakehead slowly ascended from the muddy waters. God knows how long its entire body was.

Its head was so huge that it literally blocked out the entire entrance. It got closer to the cave and then instantly it vanished, and a lady in a blue cheongsam appeared at the cave's entrance. She slowly walked to where the baby snakes were and froze when she saw the empty nest. Just as she was about to let out a shout and transform back, her nose twitched.

She went closer to the nest and bent down to smell when suddenly her entire body jerked backward.

"No! My babies! Why?! Why take away my children? You have already taken everything else from me, why do you want to push me into a corner? You can dirty me all you want, hurl insults at me and call me a whore, I will take it all in stride," she fell down to her knees and tears started coming down her face.

"But when you take away my only reason to live, my beautiful children, do you think I will do nothing!? Even if you are Gods, there will be hell to pay!" she shouted and disappeared.

A few days later, an incredible event occurred.

A single person attacked one of the oldest Beast clans on the entire continent. An earth-shaking battle took place. The space shattered and the heavens trembled. Screams could be heard for a million miles and blood flowed like rivers.

A single person wreaked havoc until the elders of the clan had to come out themselves to take charge. For three days and three nights, the person fought, only repeating one single line. "Give me back my children."

Of course, no one knew what was happening. The Beast clan itself was completely in the dark and incurred monumental losses. After that, no one knew the attacker's whereabouts.

This news was only spread to the top brass of the continent and included powers like the Royal families of some select Empires, other Ancient Clans, powerful Sects, and Academies.

Each empire had hundreds of kingdoms under them and even some of these Empires weren't privy to this kind of information, let alone a Grade-2 Kingdom like Mei.

If Hao Xuan knew the chaos his actions had caused, how would he feel?

***

The Mad Saints rode on their mounts non-stop for several days. They only took a single break and reached Fortuna city within 5 days.

Hao Xuan followed the Mad Saints and saw their quarters. Since he was their leader, there was also a place for him here.

It was a normal military compound located on the outskirts of the inner city, near the wall.

When everyone had settled in, he called Aria over for word in private.

"You came from earth right?" Hao Xuan asked while sitting back on his chair. Zhurong was cozily sleeping on his lap and there was a small basket to the right of him, looking very conspicuous.

"Yes sir," she replied respectfully.

"I need you to do me a favor, this isn't anything official so feel free to decline. Are you interested?"

Without even a single moment of hesitation, she replied, "Yes sir!"

"Huh?" Hao Xuan was a bit surprised.

"This girl is way too gullible. Not even asking for compensation? Without even knowing what the task is, she agreed? What if it was something sexual?" he thought inwardly while shaking his head.

"In district 12, there is a family near the outer edge. The Khans. I need you to go over and check how they're doing. Get me a detailed report of every individual. Ask if they have any problems or issues or anything bothering them at all. Talk to all of them one-on-one. Understand?"

Aria was taken aback by the request. She thought it would be to run a few errands maybe, but what was this?

"U-Um captain, what should I say if they ask why I want to know? Obviously this isn't the normal procedure."

"Just make something up," Hao Xuan waved his hand but then stopped. This simple girl, how would she be good at lying?

"A-Actually, tell them that they were chosen randomly to see how the people from earth were adjusting to life here," he said after a few seconds.

"Yes sir!"

"I'll be in the HQ so just contact me through the badge when you're done and I'll come over. Do this as quickly as possible."

"Yes sir, I'll get right on it!" she saluted and left in a hurry.

Hao Xuan finally relaxed. This had been bothering since he came out of the cocoon. He still hadn't decided on how to deal with Yue Fei for sealing his memories.

But he wasn't powerful enough to do anything to anyone at this point so getting stronger came first.

After leaving a few things at his new place, he went straight back to the mountain where all the other Eight were.

He reached it within the hour and walked in. There was no one in the training grounds or the main hall.

"Guess they're all out on missions huh?" he mumbled and went back to his own courtyard. It was undisturbed and there was even a layer of dust there.

He put down Zhurong and the basket outside and started cleaning.

After 10 minutes or so he was done so he brought them inside and went to take a shower himself.

He got dressed and sat on the bed. But before he could do anything else, Zhurong got up with his eyes still half-closed and wobbled over to him. With some effort, he climbed up into his lap and instantly fell asleep again.

"I swear, just this brat's ability to stay asleep in most situations is mind-boggling," he mumbled and reached out to pinch his fluffy tail but held himself back.

"Now, your turn," he looked towards the basket in which there were a couple of beautiful little snakes. They hadn't woken up a single time throughout the journey back.

"Is this common with all beasts?" he murmured looking at the tiny little things.

What Hao Xuan was unaware of was that most beasts of higher realms had the ability to freely control their size and shape, up to an extent. This was true for their young as well and they would usually stay in the size they were most comfortable with until they matured.

He closed his eyes and the memories about the constitution came back. When Meng first awakened the Soul Severing Heavenly constitution, all the relevant information popped into his head.

This was because of the of the bloodline ties and any information related to it would be awakened along with the constitution.

He took the black snake out first and started channeling his Qi. An image of his Mind palace appeared behind him and his eyes started glowing like torches.

Then he muttered a single word, "Sever" and placed his hand over the snakes head.

A faint popping sound was heard as all of his Qi rushed towards the little snake and entered its head.

It shook for a few seconds but calmed down soon after.

"Success!" a connection was formed with the snake and he could feel its very existence. He willed it and the snake disappeared from his hand.

He then once again closed his eyes and tried to feel the snake and appeared back in his mind palace. The little snake was next to the platform in the middle of the palace. It had woken up and was looking around curiously with wide eyes. As soon it saw Hao Xuan, with a smile on its little face it came wriggling towards him.

Hao Xuan bent down and picked him up. This connection between them was much stronger than the one between Bai and him.

He could feel every single fiber of the little snake and absolutely no information was hidden from him. The snake lovingly rubbed its head against Hao Xuan's chin and tried to lick him.

"Haha, who would have thought snakes could be so cute," Hao Xuan let out a laugh and patted its head with his finger.

"Alright, wait here, I'll bring your brother over too," he said and disappeared.

After that, he did the same with the other snake and they both were in Hao Xuan's mind palace when he came over.

After playing with them a little bit, he opened his eyes and tried to summon them and they both appeared on his shoulders, one on each side, and climbed up on his head and started fighting with one another.

"Damn, how are you guys so cute?"

Each of them was less than 3-4 inches from head to tail. One was completely black while the other completely white. There was not even a hint of another color anywhere on their bodies.

It was like they were molded from light and darkness itself.