"Spirited away?" asked Hao Xuan surprised. He, of course, knew of the stories, but to him, that's all they were, stories made to scare children and teach them a lesson.
"Yes. And it is real. A few decades ago a whole city with a population of several hundred million disappeared without a trace. The buildings were untouched, no alarms were triggered, no unusual phenomenon was seen, everyone just vanished. It caught the attention of several saints and after investigation, they found a strange kind of energy there."
"What kind of energy?" Kuo had thoroughly caught Hao Xuan's interest.
"No one knows. Normal people can't even feel it, you would have to be at least a profound level to even barely sense it. They didn't know if that energy was from another cultivator or something supernatural. But you know what they say, the heavens are limitless. There are so many things just on this world that we haven't discovered, let alone the entire universe," Kuo said with a sigh. And he was 100% right.
Only about 60% of the Beast world was 'explored', if you could call it that. The rest was completely untouched by anyone from outside this world. Who knew what lay hidden beneath the surface. And this was just the landmasses, the oceans of the world which comprised almost half the surface area were extremely dangerous.
There were creatures as big as entire kingdoms swimming around in there. Not many had the guts to explore them. Even Saint emperors could easily perish out there. It would take millions of years to explore just one ocean, let alone all twelve of them.
There were as many creatures in the world as there were stars in the sky, maybe this was the work of a new species, or something truly old…
"Hmm, what do you think we should do?" Hao Xuan asked after listening to his explanation. If this was as serious as Kuo had said then they definitely needed to inform the generals about it.
"Let's send a single soldier to retrieve spirit formation from inside and we can use it to contact the HQ and tell them of this situation. No need to risk everyone for it," Kuo suggested after giving it some thought.
"This could be a suicide mission, you know I can't send anyone in knowing that there's a good chance they might not come back," Hao Xuan replied with a furrowed brow. He might as well kill that person himself.
"Ah, you're right captain, my apologies. How about we ask for a volunteer instead then?"
"Hmm, alright, but don't force anyone," Kuo replied with a nod and turned around.
"Attention! We have an urgent mission. It seems this entire town has been 'spirited away' and we have to get the spirit formation from inside to contact the HQ and tell them what happened. I need one volunteer, the mission is dangerous and there is a very good chance that you might not be able to return. So we will not order anyone to enter, this is completely voluntary," he said with a loud voice.
Hao Xuan expected they would take several minutes and perhaps a handful might be willing, but what happened left him speechless.
*Fwoosh*
All 99 of them raised their hands at the exact same time, without a moment of hesitation. Even the four newbies, they were even more enthusiastic, Aria seemed to be standing on her toes to look even taller.
"Y-You all want to volunteer?" Hao Xuan asked with a stutter, still slightly out of it.
"Yes Sir!" they all said in unison. He slowly turned around to look at Kuo and was met with a huge grin, as he was expecting it.
"What is wrong with you people.." Hao Xuan mumbled under his breath, but Kuo still heard him and his grin got even bigger.
"So who should we choose captain? As you can see, they are more than willing," Kuo said and looked towards Hao Xuan.
"It's still the same thing if they all volunteer then its the same as before. I am not about to choose one and send him to his death," Hao Xuan replied shaking his head.
"Then..?"
"I'll go," Hao Xuan said with a smile. "If all of you are willing, then why not me? No one life is worth less than another," he said while looking at the soldiers all standing in front. For the first time, he truly felt proud to have these kinds of subordinates under him.
"Wha- Impossible. Anyone but you captain!" Lt. Kuo replied quickly, not expecting this answer. This time, it was his turn to be surprised.
"What? Why? What's wrong with me? Do you think I am not capable of handling such a simple mission?" Hao Xuan said with a frown. Did these guys think he was a spoiled young master who couldn't handle the most basic of things?
"N-No Sir, I mean if something happens to you then who will lead us? We still have our original mission to complete," said Kuo with sweat pouring down his forehead. "I'm just worried about your safety, how could I send our leader in like that?"
"No, I'll go, that's final," Hao Xuan replied looking away. No matter what they said, he was going to go now.
"But Sir-"
"It's final."
*sigh*
"Give me the location of the Red Legion post," he said to Kuo and looked towards the town.
"Sir, let me go instead. I have been there, before and will be back quickly," Kuo said one last time, hoping that he would agree.
"Nope."
"……"
"Fine, as you wish. Mad Saints!"
"Yes!"
"Get ready to move out, we are going with the Captain to the Red Legion post!"
"Yes!" and they all started shuffling around, packing up the few things they had put down.
