"A bunch of people? What people?" Hao Xuan's angry voice came from the other side of White, "And why come here?"
"What do you mean? Why not? They get to capture a few beasts, kill thousands more, it's pretty fun," Jin Wang replied as a matter-of-factly.
"There are beast hordes all over the continent and almost every year, why did they decide to come here and now?"
Jin Wang smiled hearing his question.
"Because this one is different."
"Different? How?"
"The never ending rain, the huge influx of beasts, does that seem normal to you?"
Hao Xuan didn't answer. A couple of minutes passed and White pulled back his body, revealing a fully clothed Hao Xuan.
"I'm tired and hungry. Let's talk somewhere else," Hao Xuan gestured towards Jin Wang and started walking towards the forest. Black and White jumped out of the water, returning to their smaller forms.
Jin Wang was a bit surprised but still followed after.
The rain had still not subsided and the scenery had changed quite a lot. Many places had been completely uprooted by the copious amount of rain, creating small streams and an entirely new river.
They walked for 10 or so minutes before a small hill came into view. There was a clearing behind it. Hao Xuan took out the portable camp and threw it down. Within a few seconds everything was 'unpacked'.
Jin Wang whistled looking at it and walked in before Hao Xuan could do so himself. Hao Xuan wasn't really one for manners to begin with so he didn't mind either.
When Hao Xuan entered, all the formations kicked in at once, providing cover from the rain as well as disappearing in the surroundings.
"Wow, you've got some digs captain. I'm a little jealous," Jin Wang looked around enviously.
Hao Xuan glared at him once and sat down in front of the fire. He took out a few pots and pans and then dozens of ingredients and started making himself some breakfast, dinner or whatever the appropriate meal was. Because of the cloudy weather, they couldn't even tell the time of day without a watch.
"Explain yourself. What did you mean by your earlier statement?" he asked while fiddling around with the fire.
Jin Wang casually took a seat and made himself comfortable. He picked up a carrot and started munching on it like a rabbit.
"Exactly what I meant. It's been raining constantly for months now. The entire map of the kingdom was changed because of it. The beast hordes laid waste to multiple cities and the rain changed the terrain so much that we couldn't even provide support in time."
"So the top brass sent a few people to investigate the cause of it and they finally found it a few days ago. A secret realm has opened. All this sh*t has been because of it. The rain was an obvious sign of it. The overflowing beasts was the second one."
Hao Xuan stopped what he was doing and looked back at him with a frown, "Secret realm? What's that?"
Jin Wang seemed like he expected the question and grinned.
"It's sort of like another dimension, but different. It's a pocket of space that is not on the same plane as us. It can appear at any time and anywhere."
"What's so special about this realm then?"
"Each place is different. Some realms are nothing but chaos, some are full of monstrous beasts while others hidden treasures. But there is something for everyone in there, that's for sure. This one is one of the smaller ones. That's why there haven't been any mysterious or supernatural events or changes."
"It's been f*cking raining for like three months. What do you mean there haven't been any mysterious events?" Hao Xuan growled in response. He loved the rain but there was such a thing as too much.
Jin Wang shook his head and picked up another carrot, "This is nothing supernatural. A little annoying perhaps but that's it. When some of the bigger realms open, there can be never-ending thunderstorms, raptured space, entire empires can sometimes disappear. There was one where a divine beast came out of the realm and killed everything in a billion miles. So as compared to that, what's a little bit of rain?"
Hao Xuan was left stupefied once again. This was the norm here? How the hell was anyone supposed to live their lives when sh*it like this could happen at any time?
"Anyways, some of the other powers found about it and sent their people over as well. Many beast clans and kingdoms have sent people over in secret."
"Are we just going to let them enter the realm just like that?" Hao Xuan asked, befuddled.
"What else can we do? If we stopped everyone, we would be making enemies all over the place."
"Then what?"
"The royal clan has taken this chance to better our relations with the other kingdoms. The powers we are on good terms with will be allowed to enter first along with us, and the ones that are against us will go last."
Hao Xuan didn't know what to say. So much had happened in the few days he was out of touch with everyone?
"So where is it? The entrance to this realm?" he asked after a few minutes.
"Southwest of here. Other's should be going there as well. There are already a few armies station there so we can just join up with them."
"Alright. Let me take care of a few things and then we'll leave," he nodded.
Hao Xuan checked his Spirit Band and saw the hundreds of messages. Most of them were from Xu Qing and First so he called both of them one by one.
Xu Qing was sitting in her room. She looked much thinner and had dark circles under her eyes. As she heard Hao Xuan's voice her broken eyes lit up with a strange light. He explained what happened and that everything was fine. She looked like she had something to say but never did.
He then called First who looked like he had been in a fight and was bandaged all over. He didn't explain what happened and only told Hao Xuan to go to the Realm's entrance.
They had given the realm a name, 'Riona'.
As Hao Xuan finished up the call with First, he heard Hyde's voice calling for him.
