The Dawn of the New World

The princess tried to change the topic and went up to coffin to check on Hao Xuan's condition herself.

"Wow, he doesn't look half bad for a human," she said with a whistle. Although she said it without any hidden intentions, to outsiders it sounded like a perverted young master leering at a pretty girl. The old lady actually got worried looking at her.

"Oi, don't do anything weird again."

"Relax granny, although he is slightly handsome, but not enough to sway me," she said with a grin and turned around to leave.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter now. I already gave the old demon my word so we can't back out. I'll go prepare the materials and get everything ready to make the pill," she left through one of the doors on the other side of the room.

"I hope the old demon comes back safely. It would put us in a very bad position if something happened to him while he was following on one of our leads," the old lady said looking at Hao Xuan's face.

And she had good reason to be worried. The Dark Forest was a very dangerous area. It was shrouded in darkness all year round. There was no normal vegetation or trees there, but instead, it looked like a scorched land after a volcanic eruption. It was always like this from the oldest of records.

The beasts in the forest were strange as well. They were usually extremely bloodthirsty and had a very high affinity with darkness. Some said there was an actual gateway to hell somewhere in the forest and that was the reason for the appearance of so many demonic beasts. That would also explain the charred land since it looked like it was cursed.

The Demonic Werebeast was a very 'special' creature. It wasn't exactly a beast. No one knew where it came from or how it was born. Some said it was an escaped soul from hell or a demon.

There had only been a few Demonic Werebeast's in the surroundings kingdoms for the last few thousand years but every time it showed up, rivers of blood flowed. It looked like a mix between a werewolf from earth and many other beasts.

Its size, exact appearance, and abilities were always different. That's why no one could always be prepared for its attacks since all of them were different. The last time a Demonic Werebeast appeared was 700 years ago in a grade 1 Kingdom. It destroyed several dozen towns and half a city.

The military had to step in and send an army of 500,000 elite soldiers led by a great general and seven generals. The result shocked everyone. The beast managed to wipe out more than 300,000 soldiers and eat 4 generals alive. In the end, the Great General had to sacrifice his own left arm to kill it.

And keep in mind this was a Grade 1 power. Even the Mei kingdom was only considered to be an above-average grade 2 Kingdom. The standards were different in each grade.

After that Demonic Werebeast's were synonymous with bloody massacres. Most beasts would be sentient and wouldn't attack without a good reason. And even if they did, retreat was always an option.

But the Demonic Werebeast was different. Once it started killing, there was no stopping it. Be it human or beast, everything was prey in its eyes.

The Great General going to fight one alone would not necessarily mean success. Fortunately, he just needed its venom and didn't actually need to kill it.

The Mad Saints got comfortable in their new lodgings.

The Princess was preparing to make the pill. She wasn't actually going to do it herself but was helping the old granny from before. The old granny was the best alchemist in the spider clan.

Alchemy was not as simple as people thought. Pills and potions were extremely expensive and had amazing effects. Each alchemist was treasured by their respective kingdoms or clans. No one had ever heard of a broke alchemist.

Alchemy was a spiritual art. Before making a pill the alchemist had to cleanse their aura and clear their mind. Their state of mind would affect the process in many ways. For example, there was a commonly known cautionary tale among the alchemist community.

A famous alchemist's daughter was once cursed by an evil being. The alchemist himself was extremely powerful and could make many heavenly medicines so he, of course, tried to cure her by making a pill.

But when he was making the pill, only negative thoughts of revenge were going through his mind. And when he fed the pill to his precious daughter, the pill exploded in her mouth, killing her instantly.

An alchemist had to have complete control over their emotions and state of mind otherwise even the best of medicines could have poisonous properties.

***

Four days later, the general finally returned. The old lady went to meet him herself.

"You don't look too good," she said without even so much as a simple hello. The general looked extremely pale and looked like he had lost a lot of blood.

"Did you manage to kill it?" she asked looking at his sorry state.

"Kill it? That cursed thing almost ate me alive," he said with an angry expression.

"Ate you? What kind was it?"

"I'm not sure. It was shrouded in a dark fog most of the time. But it did have vampiric properties. I accidentally got cut by one of its attacks and the blood literally flowed out of my wounds and straight into its mouth. I'm lucky to have made it out in one piece."

"Did you get the venom?" she asked worryingly. The venom was a very a important ingredient and could not be substituted for anything.

"Of course I got it. I had to pay a heavy price, but I got it," he took out a small four-inch glass bottle filled to the brim with a semi-transparent red liquid and threw it towards the old lady.

"T-This is much more than I expected. How the hell did you get so much?" she asked completely shocked.

"Don't ask questions the answers to which you can't afford to know," the general said grumpily and left the grotto.

He went to the Mad Saints lodging and met with Kuo and General Shu.

"You guys stay here. There's nothing else anyone of us can do so just pay attention. And if the treatment works, bring him back.. Otherwise, return his corpse to headquarters," he said to Kuo and took general Shu, Wei and Cui with him back to Fortuna city on his boat.