Hao Xuan's consciousness thoughtlessly landed on the barren surface of the planet as he felt something go through him.

*Wssssh* ​​

It seemed like a sense of emptiness that had overtaken him all of a sudden.

'Is this because of a lack of spiritual energy? I've never felt anything like this before.'

Hao Xuan knew that the void sapped away spiritual energy especially from unprotected planets without a world spirit but this really was a new feeling.

He felt like the strings holding him down had been severed and within the emptiness, he had and found something to hold onto as if there was something else waiting for him all along.

But when he tried to focus on this feeling it faded away instantly, akin to holding water through an open hand.

Hao Xuan pulled out his consciousness and the emptiness vanished while the connection to his surroundings was established once again. He unclasped his hands breaking the link and forcing his soul out of the webway.

He looked at his hands while trying to recall where it was he had sensed it before.

'It IS real no doubt and I...came across it before. But where?'

It was similar to when a person knew a specific word but couldn't recall what it was. Hao Xuan also knew with a hundred percent certainty that he had felt that very specific kind of emptiness before but he couldn't remember where.

'No matter, I'll think about it later,' he threw the thought to the back of his mind and stood up.

The Orc warders standing not too far from him also came forward and surrounded him.

Hao Xuan looked towards Princess Ceni, "Stay a couple of hundred meters behind me. I will take the lead and scout the way ahead while trying to avoid as many encounters as possible. When there is a fight you should stay hidden to the left."

"Conserve your energy as much as possible since even if we rush through it will take 3-4 hours at least. It could take much longer if the path is not clear."

Princess Ceni jumped to her feet, letting Haeti who was sitting on her knee fall face-first into the ground. What she wanted to say was "Don't worry about me and focus on protecting yourself" but what came out was something a little different.

"I don't need your help. I can hold my own if it comes down to it," she snapped back.

And since he couldn't read her thoughts at the moment all he could do was take her words for face value, which left him quite annoyed. He was only trying to help but every time she either ignored him completely or answered rudely.

"Fine. Do whatever the hell you want then," he rebuked before turning away, mumbling after a moment, "Like I give a shit anyway," which she also clearly heard.

Hao Xuan didn't mean it either, he obviously cared about her safety but how could the young princess know those were just empty words spoken in anger? Her expression turned ugly and it took her no small amount of force to keep herself from weeping her heart out.

"What...did you just say?!" she asked slowly, giving him a chance to correct his previous mistake but Hao Xuan was far from experienced when it came to understanding the subtleties of the female language.

"Are you deaf AND stupid?" he barked back, "I said do whatever the fuck you want, I don't give a shit. Just don't get in my way and slow me down again."

Hao Xuan could be quite harsh with his words when he was truly angry, which thankfully was not often.

With the Orc warder's in tow he set out without waiting for her response.

Their footwork was surprisingly in sync. The Orcs were just one step behind him and each one of their footsteps fell at the exact same time as Hao Xuan's which made it very difficult to even tell they were there.

They were out of his immediate reach giving him enough freedom to move around while still being in close enough proximity to jump in was anything to go wrong.

Quite incensed in his own right, Hao Xuan didn't even bother looking back. In less than ten seconds his silhouette had disappeared behind the thick canopy.

Princess Ceni finally couldn't hold back her tumultuous emotions and broke down. One after another tears rained down her face because in the end, despite how mature she looked and acted, she didn't have any romantic experience before this.

She rubbed her eyes but the tears wouldn't stop no matter how hard she tried. Hao Xuan's words fell like daggers in her heart because of how much she cared about him.

Haeti slowly walked up to her and tugged on her dress, "My lady, tell me what I should do to help? Should I go slay that vile human? Should I beat him up and drag him back to you so he can apologize? Would that make you happy?"

Sobbing uncontrollably by now, all Ceni could manage to do was look away while shaking her head.

Haeti could not do anything. He was her soulbond, born and raised by the tower to live solely for his mistress who was in so much pain right now but he couldn't do anything to help her, which only added to his frustrations.

So all that discontent was directed towards the only perpetrator in his eyes, Hao Xuan.

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