The Dawn of the New World

"What's that..." he walked out with silent steps.

They went into the tent before he could speak up and a formation lit up around it. Hao Xuan could tell it was a noise-canceling formation where nothing from inside would escape outside.

"Well, I'll know if they want me to I guess," he mumbled to himself and walked back into his own tent.

It was already pretty late into the night and the sun had set a long time ago. As soon as he got into the warm herb bath his eyelids became heavy and he fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning everything proceeded as usual. He woke up and started training with the other three.

The tent with the noise-canceling formation was about 30 meters away from them with a clear view. Hao Xuan could see the same 4 people entering and leaving the tent every now and then.

When the sun finally set and his training ended, he went to look for First and found him in his tent with his head down.

"First brother, is everything okay?"

"Ah, Ninth brother," First looked up with a smile, "How is your training coming along?"

Hao Xuan waved his hand dismissively, "Nevermind the training, what's going on? I saw you guys bring in someone last night. Who was that?"

"Oh, that," First leaned back into his chair and let out a deep sigh, "It's one of the Wu Clan's henchmen. We found him last night after camping out an area for over three days. He's part of the party that kidnapped Third and Fourth."

"Really??" Hao Xuan's eyes lit up, "What did you find out?"

First shook his head dejectedly, "Nothing at all. We've tried bribing him and offering him all sorts of things but he won't budge. And we can't use interrogation to get information since they would say anything to make the pain stop. We need 100% credible information, but no way to get it."

Hao Xuan's forehead unconsciously creased up, "What about other methods? Just use one of the other methods!"

There were a lot of methods to get information out of someone, especially if they were expendable. Hypnosis, memory search, soul search, etc, but all of them required specialists in their own fields.

"Won't work, one of my men has the ability to search a corpses memories, especially if it's recent, but there is a seal in that bastard's head. If we even attempt to search his memories, the seal will explode and destroy everything."

"Hmm..." Hao Xuan rubbed his chin thoughtfully before looking up at FIrst, "Let me give it a try then, I might be able to get him to talk."

It looked like First was expecting such a proposition by Hao Xuan and let out a hearty laugh, "Brother, don't worry about it, I'll figure something out."

He didn't take his suggestion seriously at all.

Hao Xuan got up and looked at First in the eyes earnestly, "I can do it. Trust me. Just give me a few minutes with him alone."

First was taken aback by the change in Hao Xuan's behavior. Looking at his gaze he could see Hao Xuan was completely serious, so he gave in.

"Alright, do what you want with him. If not him then we will find someone else, so don't push it too much. Just kill the bastard when you're done."

"Thank you," Hao Xuan smiled and walked out with hurried steps. He went straight to the tent where a person was standing guard.

Hao Xuan looked at him and gave a military salute, "First brother sent me, I need some alone time with the prisoner."

The guard was a middle-aged man with a couple of scars on his face, which along with his stern expression made him look extremely intimidating. And with the bloodthirst that was coming off of him made Hao Xuan almost take a step back by instinct. He could tell that this person had seen a lot of bloodshed, and probably not on battlefields.

"Mhm," the guard nodded, not even returning the salute and moved aside to let him enter.

Hao Xuan walked in. There was a single chair and a table in the middle of the room. On the chair was the prisoner, shackled securely to the ground.

Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, the prisoner looked up.

It was completely green in color with slimy, wrinkly old skin. It looked like a swamp creature that was bald from the top but had seaweed for hair on the sides. Both its hand and feet were webbed as well.

"Kappa!?"

Hao Xuan blurted out without even thinking. This creature looked exactly like the Kappa that was often mentioned in Japanese folklore.

The Kappa looked at him with a derisive smile, "What? Never seen something so beautiful before?"

"Beautiful??"

Hao Xuan was left speechless at the creature's confidence.

"Of course, I am the most beautiful of beings in this swamp! I am its king!" it explained with a raised chin and a puffed chest, loud and proud.

"Mhm, sure you are," Hao Xuan nodded expressionlessly and walked up to it.

*Rattle*

The Kappa moved back as much as it could at Hao Xuan's sudden movement, "W-What? You want a piece of me?"

Hao Xuan shook his head once, "No. Just pipe down for a second," and placed his right hand over the Kappa's 'bald spot'.

"Sever!"

He used his constitution without any hesitation. The kappa's eyes went blank for a second before returning to normal. A connection formed between the two and Hao Xuan could feel its lifeforce.

He looked at it with a smile, "Now, tell me who you work for, where your base is, how many people there are, their power level, etc, the works."

Still chained to the chair, it lowered its head as much as possible and replied obediently, "Yes, master!"

For the next few minutes it blurted out everything it knew, not holding back a single syllable, or rather, it wouldn't be able to even if it tried.

"Hmm, alright," Hao Xuan nodded with a satisfied expression, "Tell the same to any other person that asks as well. Say nothing about me or my power. Understood?"

"Of course master!" it bowed with its head once again.

Hao Xuan walked out of the tent and straight towards First's.

"Brother, I think you're gonna wanna hear this!"