The Dawn of the New World

"What? Why not?" Henrik inquired with a knitted brow but Jin Wang simply waved his hand nonchalantly.

"Trust me, as long as you don't attack Xue Meng he won't retaliate. He doesn't see any of you worthy enough to be his competitor, in fact, it's quite shameful he is even here considering his status. After exchanging a few blows with him I can tell that much at the very least. He should only make a move if the life of whoever he is here to safeguard is in danger, which should be either Dai Zhi or Tian Zheng."

'Or if he sees me,' he added inwardly at the end.

Henrik was more than a little skeptical of what Jin Wang was saying but Rhisiat actually came to his defense the very next moment.

"You have a point. Even when he fought all of us candidates for the position of the protector he never unsheathed his saber, something about honor and whatnot. I don't think he ever saw any of us as his equal."

Jin Wang involuntarily snickered at the comment, "Of course he doesn't. He's a demigod carrying a bloodline of a true War God. If he was here with his actual body it wouldn't even be a competition."

"W-WHAT?!" all of them shouted in unison.

Henrik almost fell back with unsteady steps if not for Hazel coming to his rescue, "I-Is that really true...??"

And to his dismay Jin Wang nodded back as if it was no big deal, "Yeah. The saber he is carrying once belonged to a God of War from the Archaic Era and once he died it was passed down to his descendants. I actually didn't think any of them were still left alive after the last coup but..."

"And what was that about his actual body??" Fulke quickly asked before the conversation could move on.

"Exactly what it means. That's not his real body. I'm guessing he is somewhere within the great pyramid cultivating and what you see walking around is just a blood clone carrying the blade with it. That's probably why he doesn't want to overexert the clone before his mission is over."

"But that doesn't mean he is weak. If he went all out none of you could beat him even if you banded together."

Rhisiat was the only one who read between the lines and caught what Jin Wang was trying to say by "none of you". That didn't include him.

A small bout of silence followed as they digested the information but eventually Henrik got back to asking questions.

"What about Feng Huang? Is there anything odd about him?"

"Nope. He is as real as it gets and if I'm not wrong he has one of the primal divine bloodlines which makes him as big a deal as you think."

"Primal bloodlines?"

"Yeah, you know the ones, dragon, phoenix, tiger, and the great tortoise. One of the divine beasts."

Henrik looked towards Rhisiat for answers once again although for a different reason this time. Rhisiat was a beast tamer and had not only innate knowledge about such beasts but his senses could also provide an insight.

"He's probably right. I've only ever seen Feng Huang up close once but that suffocating beastly aura was unmistakable. He is probably an actual beast pretending to be a human which means he is at least an Ether Beast himself."

Henrik finally couldn't take it anymore and fell back on a nearby chair rubbing his forehead in despair.

"That's just...perfect."

But just then, "Actually-" Jin Wang awkwardly raised his hand.

"What? What else could there possibly be?"

"Well, since you asked..."

He mentioned the presence of a high-level demonic entity somewhere in the world although the name was kept out for obvious reasons. It wouldn't help anyone if they found out that a Great Devil like Beelzebub was trying to get in on the action as well.

And since they were on the topic of probable enemies Jin Wang also mentioned the plague and corruption that was leaking from the prison above.

"But you don't have to worry about that one too much. I'm trying to take care of it so at the very least it shouldn't bother you too much. I only mentioned it in case something happens so you are prepared. Those infected should be kept at a distance no matter what since it can spread pretty easily."

As the undisputed and unintended leader of this little band of misfits Henrik was about to collapse from sheer exhaustion just by thinking about all of the problems.

"So, we have to not only find a way to stop or at least slow Dai Zhi and his entire army of marauders but also keep an eye out for demonic creatures or worse, a hell gate opening right under our feet. And not to mention the sky bleeding diseases and plague. Am I missing something?"

"No, those are the main ones."

"Oh well as long as I covered all the main ones. What are you gonna do in the meantime?"