"Captain, are you up?"
Hao Xuan was sound asleep when the loud voice woke him up. With half-closed eyes, he dragged his aching body out of the herb bath that had turned to a milky white from dark green. After washing up he put on his military outfit.
It was completely black in color with some red mixed in here and there. With his tall stature, it made him look quite menacing to those that didn't know him already. Walking out he saw the owner of the voice.
Hao Xuan nodded once, "Yo, long time no see. Is everyone here?"
"Yes, everyone is here and ready," Kuo replied with a military salute.
"Mhm. Is it time to leave then?"
"Yes, everyone is ready and waiting," Kuo gestured towards the concrete ring. Hao Xuan put on his mask and made his way through the many tents, arriving at the opening in the middle.
"Woah!"
He was taken aback by the sea of over 1500 people standing in perfect formation. As Hao Xuan walked in he saw the other people from Mad Saints. They were all in one spot in the leftmost area.
He recognized many of the familiar faces. Hash, Cav, and Maddy stood at the front, while right behind them were Luke, Mia, and Mason.
Hao Xuan leaned towards Kuo and whispered, "Where's Aria?"
Kuo leaned in as well, whispering in an even lower tone, "We don't know. She just left one day. Packed up her things and disappeared."
Hao Xuan frowned, "What? Is that allowed? Isn't that deserting?"
"It is, but her 'situation' is different. I'll explain later," Kuo replied and moved to the front of the formation, standing in front of Hash, Cav, and Maddy.
"Captain!"
With Kuo as the lead, the entire Mad Saint regiment shouted and performed a standard salute. The remaining 1000 people who were under First turned all at once and looked at Hao Xuan, making him embarrassed.
He wasn't expecting them to shout so loudly and without warning. He waved at them once before moving to the other end of the ring, where First was standing along with Du Xun and the two others behind him.
They were looking at a tablet, talking in a barely audible tone.
First put the tablet away upon sensing Hao Xuan approach and came forward to meet him.
He patted him on the shoulder and looked at him up and down, "Are you ready?"
"Yes. It's all good," Hao Xuan confirmed.
"Alright, good."
He then walked forward and stood in front of everyone.
"You all have been briefed about the mission. We will start in a few minutes. There will be five teams, and as usual, reach out to your commanding officer if you have any questions. Any questions?"
The 1000 people under him were to be divided into 4 groups, with him leading one group and the trio that fought Hao Xuan every day leading the other three.
The Mad Saints were also divided into 5 groups. With the four Spirit realm cultivators leading 1 group each, and the last 100 were under Hao Xuan himself.
Seeing as stepped up or said anything, First still waited for a few seconds before waving his hand to dismiss them.
"Depart!"
All of them silently bowed once at the waist and marched out of the giant gate on the other side. Out of the original 1500, there were only 350 people left right now.
A hundred of them were from Mad Saints, directly under Hao Xuan, while the remaining 250 were under First.
First nodded satisfactorily upon seeing the quick exit of the soldiers. He turned around and looked at Du Xun and Lu Jian, who was the person with scars over his face and waves of bloodthirst still exuding from him.
"Bring him."
They both walked into a nearby tent and brought out the chained Kappa.
"Release him," First ordered. Du Xun took out a key from his pocket and inserted it into a bronze lock that was holding all the chains together.
*Clang*
The heaps of chains fell down to the ground. The atmosphere around the ring tensed up instantly. Luke, Mia, and Mason moved forward and stood behind Hao Xuan with hands on their weapons, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
First glared at the Kappa, releasing a faint pressure.
The Kappa looked at all of them with a mocking smile and scoffed.
"Humph, mere human filth dares to imprison the great me?!"
Lu Jian stepped forward and a giant machete appeared in his hand. His eyes shown with a strange light as he got ready to attack. No one did anything to stop him. First, Du Xun and the 'mind reader' Su Zemin just watched on as if it was completely unrelated to them.
The kappa didn't back off either and looked back at him proudly while tapping his chest, "What? You wanna go? You wanna fight with the beautiful me?! Come on! I'll take on all of you!"
The Kappa clenched his fists and the air around the ring became turbid. His previously wrinkled body that looked like a dried-up rag suddenly ballooned up to twice its original size.
"Enough! Come here."
Just as they were about to clash, Hao Xuan spoke up in a deep voice. The kappa's entire body trembled. He quickly turned around and looked at Hao Xuan.
*Bang*
He got down on his knees and prostrated himself in front of Hao Xuan. His head making a small dent in the concrete ring that had remained undamaged even after thousands of fights.
"My apologies Master, this little creature was blind that he couldn't see you! Please punish me as you will!"
Everyone was flabbergasted, including First and the other two. He was told how obedient the Kappa became in front of Hao Xuan but seeing it first hand was a completely different thing.
It was to be noted that Kappa's were a type of water-demon beast. They were extremely smart, able to cultivate and become strong rather quickly. Especially in areas with abundant water they were considered to be invulnerable.
Their speed and stamina in water was second to none, and with the ability to control water to a limit, they were a force to be reckoned with. So they were naturally proud creatures.
But one such beast that didn't give a rat's ass about a Profound realm expert was now kowtowing to an Origin realm cultivator. How could they not become surprised? Mia rubbed her eyes while Mason pinched himself to make sure this wasn't an illusion.
"Stop already. Get up," Hao Xuan shook his head with a wry smile, "You've been told what to do right?"
"Yes, master. I will do my best!" The kappa nodded.
"Alright, take this and go. Keep me informed. We will be at that place," Hao Xuan handed him a spirit band that was redesigned by Baracus for just this occasion.
The kappa bowed once again and quickly made his way to gate without waiting for anything else, stepping through he disappeared on the other side, leaving hundreds of speechless soldiers behind.
Hao Xuan looked at First, "Should we go too?"
"O-Oh, yeah. Let's go," woken up by his query, First gave the order. He walked out first with his group, followed by Hao Xuan and his group.
It was already dark out and the swamp was coming back to life. A plethora of noises came from all around.
Several groups of people made their way through the muddy swamp waters, trying not to make a sound.
