The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan frowned upon hearing this sudden announcement.

"What do you mean?"

"A group of your 'fellow' humans is following one of the incoming prison transports. And it seems they are not here to just talk."

While he was talking, the trader reached out into his robe once again and pulled out a small mirror. The mirror itself had a few small cracks along the outer edges. The trader mumbled something under his breath while swiping his finger on the surface of the mirror, creating a handful of glowing sigils that started rotating.

He pressed his right thumb in the center and all the sigils stopped at once. Hao Xuan could feel an invisible wave of some kind spread out in every single direction with the mirror as the center.

One by one, different images started to appear on the mirror's surface, right below the trader's thumb. But the longer the images stayed in the center, the further the cracks spread.

In less than 30 seconds the entire bottom half of this old-looking palm-sized mirror was cracked. Each crack showed a different static image.

The trader didn't hide the mirror so Hao Xuan could see everything as well.

The first set of images was of the two wizards and the caravan. The second set was of the cultivators following them. Hao Xuan instantly recognized Dai Zhi who was in the leading group along with Micha. Their objective was pretty clear.

But then the third set of images appeared and showed another group. This one only had about 20 people or so but had many more faces Hao Xuan recognized. Henrik, Ceni, Hazel, Fulke and a lot of the other people were there.

'No wonder I didn't see them anywhere..." Hao Xuan breathed out a sigh of relief looking at their haggard faces.

They looked like a group of homeless folks hiding out in a cave. Even Ceni who would be the center of attention wherever she went was covered in mud and bloodstains. No one would be able to tell she was a princess of such a great power if they looked at her now.

But since they seemed to be safe for the time being, he put the thought of going after them at the back of his mind and peered upward at the trader who was, somewhat anxiously, waiting for him to respond.

He pointed towards Dai Zhi, "Can you kill that man? I'll pay the full 5,000 credits if you can take care of him right now."

The trader was taken aback by Hao Xuan's 'request'.

"Y-You want us to kill them?" he asked again, unsure if he had heard correctly the first time. He was certain they were with Hao Xuan seeing how they appeared at such a critical juncture.

Hao Xuan nodded, "I don't care about the others, but this man, I need him dead. What do you say? Kill him and the credits are all yours," Hao Xuan dragged out the last word, his intention clear.

If the trader decided to accept it, all those credits would basically go directly to him since this wasn't an official request.

And five thousand credits was not a small amount. It wasn't anything heaven shattering but nothing to scoff at either. Hao Xuan could feel the obvious greedy nature of the trader so he pushed a little more.

"Just that one man, none of the others matter. It's not a bad deal if I say so myself," Hao Xuan whispered like a devil. He released a whisp of the Emperor Qi but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

The trader's posture suddenly became alert and he backed up a few steps, looking towards Hao Xuan warily.

"Dear customer, I'm afraid that's not possible," he said adamantly.

'Tsk, so close.'

"Fine then," Hao Xuan waved his hand like it was no big deal and grinned, "Plan B it is then."

***

Ahead of the upcoming storm, it had already started to drizzle which when mixed in with the poisonous fog in the air turned it into acid rain.

"Are you sure it's here?" Fulke peaked his giant head out of the cave and looked towards a certain direction. "What if they're not here?"

"They are there," Ceni replied confidently. Her tone was so certain that it left no place for doubt. She was cutting up what was left of her dress and tying it up.

Henrik was sitting a few feet away from them. Hazel was rubbing a yellow paste on the soles of his feet which were bleeding. He let out a deep sigh and looked towards Ceni.

"It has been a hell of a few days. If not for Lady Ceni, we would have been captured as well. But...are you sure about this?"

The few people they had were injured or completely exhausted. They hadn't rested a single moment after landing here and since most of their cultivations were sealed, there was no way for them to recover.

Ceni tied up the last scrap of her dress, covering the most essential areas and stood up.

"If you don't want to go then just stay here," she said plainly and walked out in the greenish rain. The sun had set and it was getting darker and darker by the second but, it did little to stop her.

Of the two princesses that always followed Cenni around, one had actually received serious injuries while resisting the first wave of the roaches that found them, while the other helped her escape. In the end, both of them were taken by the roaches.

If not for their sacrifices, Ceni would have never escaped. And now that she had recovered some of her cultivation, she wanted to find her friends. Coincidentally, as she followed some of the roaches back to this series of valleys, she felt that same old feeling, a feeling of emptiness wanting to be filled.

Ceni's body urged her to seek out this feeling that was so close to her. And the nearer she got, the warmer it felt, making the coldness that was invading her soul inch away bit by bit.

This feeling was coming from the blood that was gestating in Hao Xuan's body but she didn't know that. To her, it was just a strong desire to be as close as possible to him.

She was able to feel his presence and used it to pinpoint the roach camp location. Of course, she never expected him to go in there on his own and instead thought he was also taken prisoner.

Fulke turned around and looked at Henrik, who with Hazel's help, slowly stood up.

"If she is right, Hao Xuan should also be there.. We have no choice but to go," he said weakly.