Chapter 43 - Blood

"Attention!" Shouted Lt. Kuo as he heard Hao Xuan's 'speech'. Everyone stood up straight.

"Who are you?!" he asked loudly, looking at the legionaries.

"We are the Mad Saints!" They all said in unison.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" He shouted even louder.

"THE MAD SAINTS!" Their voices reverberated throughout the forest, reaching even the villagers. Just as the poor souls were getting back to their business, the words "Mad Saints" reached them, scaring them once again.

"Good! At ease. You heard the captain, start setting up camp," Lt. Kuo said as he dismissed everyone. Within 20minutes the surroundings were filled with perfectly pitched tents.

A few soldiers came up to Hao Xuan, "Captain, is there anything you would prefer for dinner? We can go catch it right now."

Hao Xuan was amazed by their efficiency and looked up at the soldier, it was a young man of about the same age as him. Actually, all 100 were very young, Lt. Kuo was the oldest soldier in the Mad Saints. All the rest were less than 25 years old, filled with potential. And they all had higher cultivation levels than Hao Xuan.

"No, I brought some meat, use that for everyone. Set up a protective formation first though," Hao Xuan said as he handed the soldier a huge piece of meat still left from the Ice Flood dragon.

"Yes!" he took the meat and saluted Hao Xuan and left to make the food.

"Captain, that meat must belong to a very high-level beast, you shouldn't waste it on these guys," said Kuo from beside Hao Xuan.

After making sure everything was set up properly he had come and sat down with Hao Xuan to talk about the mission, introduce the specialties of the soldiers, and different strategies the Red Legion employed.

"It's alright. I have a lot more and I was saving this for a special occasion anyway," Hao Xuan replied with a smile. He wanted everyone to be more frank with him and less 'stuck up' but because he was so bad at starting a conversation or keeping one going, it wasn't going to be easy.

While the dinner was being prepared Lt. Kuo introduced few of the main members under him as well as the newbies. He hoped that Hao Xuan would be able to form a personal connection with the four, like all of the other leaders. They all had their own armies and a few confidants that carried out their orders and were directly under them.

This was actually very normal. Many times in the military when a new soldier was given command of a unit, he would be allowed to choose some people to be under him. But since Hao Xuan didn't have anyone like that, First had chosen the four newbies himself instead.

It took almost an hour for the designated cooks to prepare several dishes. This was a luxury they wouldn't be able to afford later on in their journey as they ventured deeper into the forests and were surrounded by beasts of all kinds. Even a simple fire would be risky, let alone cooking delicious meat right out in the open.

As the dishes were served everyone in the camp came running out when the fragrance of the meat reached them. Even for these seasoned soldiers, it wasn't easy to control their appetites, but still, not a single person made a move and just sat around the several make-shift tables.

On Hao Xuan's table, there were a total of six people. The four newbies, Lt. Kuo and Hao Xuan himself. The newbies were extremely nervous sitting next to him, only Kuo was much calmer and at ease.

Hao Xuan looked around his table, and then at the other tables, they were all looking at him. He unconsciously broke into a smile. He stood up with Zhurong still in his arms and started speaking.

"My name is Hao Xuan. As you might know, this is my very first command. I won't be able to remember the names of everyone here at once so please don't take it personally if I forget someone. I'm not a stickler for rules and such so you don't have to be so formal around me."

"All I want from you is your loyalty. One thing I hate the most in this world are traitors, followed by cowards. But I'm sure since you were all able to pass the tests set up by general Li, no such person is here. You can come talk to me if there are any issues or concerns without having to worry about anything. Now let's eat!" he finished and sat down. Everyone cheered and started eating. Hao Xuan moved his hand over the table and a jug filled with a liquid appeared from which he poured a glass and took a sip.

"Captain, this is..?" Aria asked when she saw him drink. Lt. Kuo suddenly looked at her and furrowed his brow, even if it was wine, she had no reason to ask him about it.

"Oh where are my manners, this is Blood from a spiritual beast. Would you like some?" he asked as he pushed the jug forward.

"B-Blood?!?" Mason spoke up without realizing, looking at Hao Xuan as if looking at a monster. He and Aria were both from Earth and were still not used to these things. Although drinking beast blood wasn't unheard of, it was definitely not normal.

"Yes, it's actually quite delicious once you get used it," Hao Xuan nodded in response. Ever since he started cultivating Wrath of Deimos, he had consumed a lot of blood. It started out as just bathing in blood but he accidentally fell asleep once and swallowed several mouthfuls and found out that the cultivation speed actually increased by a few times.

"N-No thank you, I'm good," Mason replied with a stiff smile.. The other three also looked at Hao Xuan in a strange way, God knows what they were thinking.