The Dawn of the New World

Jin Wang pushed through the thicket located on the right side of the stone stairs until it opened up to reveal the source of all the commotion he had been hearing from so far away.

There were close to sixty people sitting in different groups all around the site. They were all young and exuding copious amounts of spiritual energy just by standing there.

A few people turned their heads to see who came and when they didn't recognize him a couple of them came forward.

One of them was a serious-looking well-built teen and the other was a stout man in his early twenties that looked a bit too told for his actual age. He blocked Jin Wang's path.

"Stop! Who are you? What business do you have here?"

He spoke in a thick rural accent that could only be found in certain parts of the beast world, although not many people would know that.

Jin Wang gestured towards the back of the camp where he could see a few familiar silhouettes.

"I am here for Henrik Biric."

The man frowned. His fist slowly clenched behind his back, "What business do you have with him?"

"I'm a friend of his, will you just get out of my way already, I'm short on time."

The well-built teen stepped forward and almost barked back, "Watch your mouth, kid!"

"???"

Flabbergasted, Jin Wang looked behind but could not see anyone else there so he pointed at himself, "Me? Out of three of us, I'm the kid??"

His implication was clear and enough to rile up the teen.

"You son of a bitch, you wanna go?? HUH?!"

He suddenly pulled out a curved blade but before the situation could get any worse Jin Wang shook his head and stepped forward. He reached out and pressed lightly on his shoulder making him fall to his knees at once.

"You really need to pick your battles kiddo. If it was someone else here you might have lost an arm or two by now," he whispered before looking towards the stout man, "Take me to Henrik"

The stout man had more than a few words to say but seeing how easily the teen was overpowered and there was no ill-intent behind Jin Wang's action he decided not to push further until his motives were clear.

"Follow me," he said and led him to where Henrik was.

Henrik was sitting inside a large square tent protected by numerous runes and formations. When the stout man entered he looked up and called out his name smilingly, "Rhisiat!"

But when he saw Jin Wang his expression froze for a moment as he jumped to his feet, "Jin Wang! Where the hell were you?!" he shouted.

The oversized Fulke and the beautiful Hazel were as usual sitting nearby but had much the same reactions.

Jin Wang pointed towards a random direction, "I was looking at a few things. Why what happened?"

Henrik could not talk fast enough finally having found someone to vent at, "We thought you were dead for gods sake! Hao Xuan, he went mad after what happened with that mortal boy. He almost brought the roof down on all of us. I didn't know what to do but the grand priestess kept saying to lock him in that room until 'he' comes back but we didn't know who it was-"

Jin Wang raised his hand and gestured for him to stop and take a breath.

"Calm down, she was talking about me and I'm here now. What happened with Salome?"

Hazel stepped forward and showed him the parts of the video that were broadcast to everyone.

"Ah, damn it. No wonder it all happened so quickly," Jin Wang mumbled under his breath, "That poor kid. I certainly hope he is in a better place now."

Henrik fell back into his seat and the guy named Rhisiat also stepped forward speaking in a low tone of voice, "Who is this guy?"

Henrik slapped his forehead, "Oh I forgot you guys haven't met," he pointed towards Rhisiat, "This person was supposed to be one of the Protectors of the Hall until Xue Meng forcefully replaced him. And this is Jin Wang, he is...a friend...I guess? It's complicated but he is on our side," he said assuringly to Rhisiat.

Jin Wang smiled half-heartedly while shaking his hand, "It's quite rare to see a beastmaster among all these cultivators."

Rhisiat eyes widened, "You could tell?!"

He looked back towards Henrik for confirmation but he shrugged, "I met him just now after 4 days."

He looked back towards Jin Wang, "How could you tell?"

Jin Wang smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "A beastmaster exudes a certain amount of beastly aura and those attuned to their senses can quite easily pick it up. I see you're hiding yours with some treasure but it's not perfect."

"B-But no one else could tell, other than Xue Meng and he wasn't sure what it was either."