Chapter 104 - 'Rewards'
Hao Xuan slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was back in his room at the mountain. The scent of his sheets and the familiar feeling of the bed underneath gave him a sense of belonging.
He got up and sat in his bed for good while, just, thinking. He heard a noise from the other side of the bed and saw Zhurong sleeping without a care in the world.
Looking at him innocently purring and licking his lips while dreaming about imaginary food made Hao Xuan smile as he slowly petted his head.
But then suddenly he felt a feeling creep up behind him, a feeling so cold that he felt like nothing in this world would be able to warm him up ever again. This wasn't a physical cold, but something more... spiritual.
All he wanted to do was just close his eyes and slowly fade out of existence.
"Not again..." he mumbled while rubbing his face.
He forced himself to get up as his entire body felt like it weighed tons and he was back to his old self again before he started cultivating.
He washed up and stood in front of the mirror looking at the face staring back at him, one he could barely recognize anymore.
"Would she know it's me if we met right now?" he mumbled while thinking about his mother. For some reason, he had started remembering her a lot more recently. He never thought how hard it would have been for her living the way she did since back then he was busy feeling bad for himself to think of anyone else.
Every night she brought him food and stayed with him until he fell asleep, yet he took it all for granted. In all those years he had never once called her mother, ever.
"At the end of the day, what is it that everyone wants? Riches? Power? Maybe even immortality? No, those are just the tools, not the final goal. If.....if I can have a place to call home and a family to share everything with, then won't I know happiness as well?" he thought inwardly...
*Sigh*
"Why do I get like this?" he laughed at himself and got ready. He left Zhurong in the room and went out alone.
The sun had already risen and it was about 9 in the morning. He was going to the hall when he saw Sixth and Fourth beside the campfire having breakfast.
"Ninth brother! Over here!" Sixth shouted as soon as he caught sight of him.
Hao Xuan smiled and walked over.
"Brothers, what're you eating?" he asked while taking a seat. Fourth grinned and poured him a bowl, Try it Ninth brother, tell me what you think."
Hao Xuan narrowed his eyes and inspected the liquid carefully before taking a sip, "My god, what is this? It's so good!"
"Hahaha, that's a secret. Eighth brother made me promise I couldn't tell anyone," Fourth patted his chest proudly for some reason.
Sixth looked at Hao Xuan up and down before asking, "Ninth brother, how do you feel?"
"Huh?" Hao Xuan was slightly taken aback by the question until he remembered the day before.
"Wait, how long was I asleep?" he asked since it could have been a long time.
"Not too much. Just three days," Fourth replied with his mouth still full.
"Three days?! Damn, I couldn't tell it at all," he said checking his own body. There were no visible injuries or even scars from the last fight.
*Growl*
"Ah, it does seem I'm a bit.....hungry," Hao Xuan's stomach growled like a hungry beast which scared both Sixth and Fourth as the image of him ripping off people's heads and drinking their blood came to mind.
"H-Here brother, drink this, QUICK!" Fourth swiftly filled up a huge bowl and passed it to him.
"O-Oh, thank you," Hao Xuan gave a slight bow and started eating. There were small chunks of different meats and vegetables floating around, and whenever he bit into one it would explode with flavor.
"So," while eating he asked a few questions, "How did it end? When am I getting the money from the views? It should be a lot right?"
His mood suddenly turned better thinking about everything he was gonna buy. Maybe even a flying ship depending on how much he made.
Fourth and Sixth both looked at each other hesitatingly trying to come up with words to explain the situation.
"What?" Hao Xuan asked when neither of them answered.
"Um, well, I've got some good news and bad news, which do you want first?" Fourth asked after a few seconds of contemplation.
"Hm? The good I guess."
"Alright. Well, the good news is that you made billions. Congratulations brother, you are the richest soldier in the Kingdom!"
Hao Xuan was ecstatic. He could already see himself flying all over the beast world in a Millennium Falcon.
"But," he continued, "But the last two beasts you killed, the Hell Apes, they belonged to the Beast Hall and when you killed them, you effectively 'bought' them as well."
Hao Xuan turned livid hearing that, "What? But that was a part of the Death Walk. Was I supposed to just let them kill me? Actually, it doesn't matter. Not gonna bother myself with such small matters," he waved his hands nobly. He was a rich man now and arguing about such simple matters was very unbecoming of his financial status.
"So what's the bad news?" he asked looking at Fourth.
Fourth took a deep breath, looked at Hao Xuan in the eye and blurted out everything at once, "The bad news is that those Hell Apes cost several times more than what you made so you are not only broke but also in debts of billions," he then covered his head protectively, in case Hao Xuan wanted to rip something off.
"WHAT?! Are you fucking serious?!" Hao Xuan stood up, knocking over the bowl of soup in the process, but no one had the time to care about that.
"B-Brother calm down, let me finish!" Fourth said while moving back several steps.
"What? Just say it quickly brother," Hao Xuan shouted back, prompting him to move even further away.
"The great general went to talk with the beast hall himself and told them that it was their fault for sending out beasts knowing full well that it was a battle to the death. He even almost started a fight with them saying they wanted to kill you that's why they sent beasts with Divine blood in them."
"Anyways, because of that, the Beast Hall decided not to charge you the full price of the Apes, and instead they 'only' took away 95% of the earnings from the Walk."
"95%?! ONLY 95%?!" Hao Xuan's face was turning red and the Emperor's Qi started leaking out.
"How much is that?! How much is 95%?!" he asked through gritted teeth.
"It's still a lot of money brother. You have to realize that no one here can ever dream of having that much!"
"HOW.MUCH?!"
"A-About 500 Million gold!" Fourth shouted and ran as far away as he could.