Chapter 228 - Primal
"How bad of an image do you guys have of me that you never even thought about asking me to help these people?"
Green smiled wryly, "Master, you literally ripped the heads off several people and drank their blood in front of millions. Your reputation isn't very.....family friendly.."
Hao Xuan didn't know what to say since that was true, so he just changed the topic.
*Cough*
"H-How long has she been coming here?"
"Soon after you left. It has been a few months."
"Hmm, alright."
Hao Xuan nodded and looked back at Xu Qing. The children had returned and were sitting on the table.
Hao Xuan was expecting them to be quite rowdy but all of them were staring at 'Uncle Tian' silently. He looked around at everyone once and after making sure everyone was present, said some prayers and told them to start eating.
Xu Qing sat on one end of the table and fed the infant in her embrace.
'No wonder she looked so natural,' he thought about how Xu Qing was feeding Fortis just a day earlier. It was almost exactly the same.
Unknowingly, his lips arched up into a half-smile looking at Xu Qing sitting there peacefully. The scene looked like something out of a painting, with dozens of kids on either side and her keeping a watchful eye on them.
'She will make a great mother.'
He stayed there until she was done and then quickly jumped down and ran back to the carriage like he had never left.
Xu Qing walked out and slightly bowed her head in front of Hao Xuan, "Sorry to make you wait so long."
"Don't worry about it," Hao Xuan waved his hand and patted the seat next to him, "Come, let's go back."
Xu Qing was taken aback by the sudden change in his attitude but she quickly nodded with a slight blush and got on.
Red closed the door before sitting in the front with Green. They made their way back to the mansion and by the time they reached it, the sun had already set.
Hao Xuan didn't say anything throughout the journey, only sitting there with his eyes closed. They got off and Xu Qing returned to make preparations for dinner while Hao Xuan stared at her back.
Red who was standing behind him cleared his throat and started speaking lightly, "Why didn't you ask the mistress about the orphanage?"
Hao Xuan didn't turn around, still staring in the direction she had disappeared in.
"It's not my place to ask her anything. She is her own person. If she wanted me to know she would have told me from the start."
"Then..."
"Here, take this to the Den, I'll let them know you're coming," Hao Xuan handed him a storage ring and his VIP token.
Red asked curiously, "This is?"
"A few beast cores I picked up along the way. Take them to the Den and sell them at a good price. Set up an anonymous account and deposit everything in it. The next time you go to the temple give the details to the man named Tian and tell him to use them for the children. And if he needs anything, anything at all, contact me directly. This has my number," he fished out a spirit band and handed it over as well.
Red looked at the things in his palm and closed his eyes to inspect the contents of the storage ring before abruptly opening them soon after.
There were over a hundred beast cores in the storage ring. Beast cores were rather uncommon because only 1 out of 5 beasts would have one and fetched a fairly high price because of that.
With just these cores there would be enough gold to keep the orphanage going for a long time.
He had a troubled look on his face. Taking a deep breath he bowed deeply before Hao Xuan, "Thank you, master," and ran out with hurried steps.
Hao Xuan was left even more surprised at his behavior. He looked back at Green for answers, "What was that about?"
Green let out a deep sigh.
"We are both from that village, master. We were raised in the orphanage as well. But unlike many others, we were lucky enough to catch a break and leave that place, until the Beast Hall captured us for their appalling experiments. Red was the one that told the mistress about the orphanage."
"Ah, that explains a lot," Hao Xuan nodded after getting a grasp on the situation.
No wonder he felt Red was so moody recently. He would be as well in such a situation.
Both Green and Red weren't able to freely use their abilities because of the Beast Hall. And even though they now had the ability to help the villagers and the orphans, they couldn't.
But with the gold from selling the cores, most of their financial problems would be solved.
Hao Xuan didn't pry any further into their private lives and went back to his room. Xu Qing brought the dinner in a few hours and as usual, sat beside him feeding Fortis while Hao Xuan ate.
That night, he was sitting in his bed in deep thought.
"Baracus, is there really no way for you to help me understand space energy?"
"None. Why do you want to it so badly?"
"I've already explained it why," Hao Xuan replied grumpily.
"...I can't help with space energy, but there might be another solution."
Hao Xuan's ears perked up, "What?
"Instead of understanding Chaos lightning, why not try getting a grasp of the "Chaos" itself?"
"The Chaos itself? How would that help me?"
"Because its all connected. Progenitor believed that the Chaos at the edge of the universe was not what others believed it to be. During his lifetime he had conducted many experiments and visited many places. He hypothesized that Chaos, was the most primal element in existence."
"That it was older than everything we know and see today. And he believed that it was the source of everything. Of life and death, of water and fire, of good and evil. That's why he was so interested in it.. If you can understand what we call "chaos" truly is, you won't JUST have control over Chaos lightning, but everything else as well."