The Dawn of the New World

"With...us?" she looked at Princess Na'im and Burak who were standing on the side.

The relationship between the barbarian and Hao Xuan was much deeper than the perfunctory one between them.

"May I ask why?" she asked sounding a little skeptical but soon followed up with an explanation in case he misunderstood, "We, the Demihuman tribes of course welcome Lord Hao Xuan with open arms but I thought you would prefer to visit Princess Na'im's camp first."

Listening to her carefully crafted response Hao Xuan could only smile inwardly. Not only did she not reject him but managed to inquire about his intentions without straining the relationship between her and the barbarian princess.

Not to mention she threw all the responsibility on Hao Xuan's shoulder. He was obviously strong and could greatly benefit whichever side he joined by his mere presence but he was also an official guardian of one of the three great powers.

Ma Jiang had told them everything she knew so they were well aware of his position. Bringing him to their side could help strengthen their future relationship, or so they thought.

Hao Xuan obviously couldn't tell them he was contacted by some sort of powerful spiritual entity from their side right in front of everyone so he chose to keep that part to himself for now.

"It's for a personal matter. I can tell Princess Helena privately when we leave."

Unfortunately, his wording made it quite easy for them to misunderstand his true intentions. Although Princess Helena was a very beautiful female, it was her talent and skill in managing people and creating political relationships that brought her fame.

So much so that more often than not people forgot she was a maiden as well. One would be hard-pressed to find anyone better than her when it came to either the looks or temperament.

And Hao Xuan being a man, it wasn't too far-fetched that he might have feelings for her. The group naturally assumed it was because he wanted to be close to her.

Ma Jiang repeated his words slowly, "Personal matter?!" with a scrunched-up brow.

Her opinion of him quickly deteriorated.

"Hmph, pervert..." she murmured walking away first.

Hao Xuan had no idea they were thinking even though he could hear what was going on inside their heads. It was a jumbled-up mess of half-thoughts and strong emotions that were neither here nor there.

A few words stood out though, 'Trash, typical man, filth,' etc but he didn't know they were aimed at him.

Slightly perplexed he looked towards Princess Helena, "Should we go...then? I'm a little strained for time."

"Y-Yes," the red-haired beauty nodded back somewhat shyly, confusing him even more.

Princess Na'im turned around and started walking away before they could take their leave.

"I will see you at the summit, Helena," her words carried over on the wind.

Burak waved goodbye to Princess Inara but she didn't even register his presence.

The guards were in the lead with the princesses behind them closely followed by Uri and Ma Jiang. Hao Xuan offered her a helping hand seeing as she still hadn't recovered but she literally swatted it away with a disgusted expression.

"I don't need your help, don't touch me you pervert."

Flabbergasted and utterly stupefied, Hao Xuan could only look at her in disbelief. His brain could not comprehend what was going on and listening in to her thoughts was not helping at all.

'Papa was right, all men are pigs! I have to be careful around them otherwise-'

'What....the fuck did I do?! Was it the flick? It was the flick wasn't it?'

Hao Xuan was so out of it that he completely forgot about waiting for Jarek who he had promised to bring back with him.

The group moved under the cover of darkness at a relatively good speed, covering close to 20 kilometers of rocky terrain in a couple of hours. They slowly left the woods and veered towards what looked like a miasma-filled valley in the distance,

There were no living creatures here at all. Not a single blade of grass could be found for hundreds of meters around it.

Hao Xuan went up to Princess Helena and stopped her just before they jumped down.

"Are you sure we're in the right spot? We have gone further inland rather than out."

Princess Helena smiled wryly while nodding, "My apologies. I forgot to inform you since we were in a hurry. This place hides an alternative path that leads directly back to the old city."

"A shortcut? Here?" Hao Xuan looked at the thick wall of poisonous gas in front of him. Not even his vision could see through it, "And it's safe? There are toxic fumes all over the place. Won't it be dangerous for you?"

"Actually there is much more than poison in there but as long as we don't go too deep it should be fine. This is a secret path that was created by my grandmother herself. She allowed me to use it in case of an emergency so as long as I am with you there won't be a problem. So-"

A pink hue slowly covered her neck and cheeks, "- I-If you stay close to me it will be fine."