30 Gatekeeper Association Headquarters (1/2)

As Gates whisked Mao Lu away, he saw the same scene from when he was first shown the 400 realms.

He was taken to impossible heights and watched as the stars flashed by him. This time the experience was more surreal. Since he had Sense of the Realm now, he could see himself being carried through space. Like a strange third person perspective.

It was only when he passed the one-hundred-and-fiftieth galaxy that he could no longer sense himself anymore.

The sights were so gorgeous. The variety of stars in all their grand beauty, the nebula, and the asteroid fields.

The creatures that roamed about space. Some beautiful, like the scaly rainbow mermaids that swam between the asteroid belt and inbetween the stardust waves and liquid metal seas.

Then there were the more hideous creatures that looked like something out of a horror movie, they kept their peace in the solitudes of space. Their fangs clacking together their hairy legs and multiple eyes dripping with venemon, watching curiously in their dark corner as Mao Lu flew by.

There was all kinds of life floating about, too numerous to count, too infinite to measure.

By the time Mao Lu was in the emptiness, and then popped out of the Realm's crystalline bubble surface, he was yet again humbled by the magnitude of the Universe.

\”Even as a Gatekeeper I'm insignificant in the greater scheme of things. Just a small cog in this grand mechanism.\” He sighed slightly.

The Realms were connected in a ring like a row of pearls. Gates pulled him towards another Realm on this ring.

Compared to all the other Realms this one was bigger. It had a golden yet silver gleam towards it, and Mao Lu felt a stifling pressure as Gates got closer to it.

With a \”POP\” Mao Lu entered. In a pitch dark emptiness Gates carried him quickly, until soon a portion of this Realm came into view.

Mao Lu was shocked.

There was a wide expanse of flowers. He'd seen them before, they were silver and were shaped like roses yet also like lotuses. They seemed to be growing out of nothing, and just floated in the wide expanses of space.

The stars were so much bigger then what he'd seen in his Realm, so many times larger and their solar flares were more prominent. Several stars leaked boiling liquid metal out into the space, which connected together and made a huge river that seemed to flow on endlessly into the abyss.

The essence here was so thick and prominent. Mao Lu could see the time essences and they were so much bigger, brighter, and more refined than the ones in his Realm.

Curiously they turned to him, swarming around his body and interacting with the Times essences that existed inside of him. They seemed to be communicating.

Mao Lu saw planets coming into view, they were all kinds of ships flying about, a busy traffic. As he flew by he saw people inside these ships bowing towards him.

\”Realm One has a very integrated community. Although there are countless wars and tragedies, the technology is far more advanced than anything that exists in your Realm. Space travel is very common here and of course all the practitioners that live here are at the God stage and above. Any less and they wouldn't survive in the potent essence filled atmosphere.\”

Mao Lu couldn't help but stare in wonder. \”God stage and Above!\” all these people that bowed to him as he zoomed past were probably tens of hundreds of thousands of years older than him, and were very powerful individuals.

As he zoomed past he saw these mighty individuals laughing as they bathed in a lake that lay in the middle of space. There were all kinds of people just flying by just like Mao Lu was. When they spotted Mao Lu they would halt and bow towards him.

In this realm all these people were like God's, they could fly in space like superman. They had amazing spells and techniques. They all appeared so very beautiful. All of them, whether humanoid or not, appeared so breathtakingly mesmerising. Their powerful auras being shown in their every step.

Mao Lu was beyond amazed. The difference between his mortal realm and this Deity Realm was apparent. They were literally worlds apart.

As Gates pulled Mao Lu along the visages of space, eventually they reached a fiery white star. It was ten times the size of Earth and on top of it was a huge castle like structure. A Palace made of white flames that sat on the white star.

It was so large that it seemed the size of several continents put together.

The castle or rather fortress of white flames had silver flowers blooming all over it. Time essences abundantly swam around it, fire essences and heat essences intertwined together and it was truly a bewitching sight.

\”This is the headquarters of the Gatekeeper Association. Are you ready for the meeting?\” Gates asked as it paused next to this Flaming star fortress.

Mao Lu's mouth felt a little dry. He wasn't ready, if he said he wasn't nervous then he'd be lying.

\”Ready… I'm not ready, but I may never be ready. So let's just get this over with.\”

\”Yes let's get this over with. \” Gates agreed, as it descended with Mao Lu into the white flame star.

________________________

XICHENG- ZHAO DETONG'S PLACE

The doorbell rang. \”DING DONG!\”

Fei Bing Bing swung the door open.

\”Great you're here! Did you buy the stuff?\”

Tanaka, who was standing next to Bei Lao in the doorway, rolled his eyes, \”Did you think I came here empty handed, Gosh, just move aside already!\” He commanded, as he and Bei Lao, charged in with bags of shopping.

\”Whoa you guys bought a lot. I thought we were only gonna make a little, this is enough to feed a village.\” Zhao Detong remarked as he saw the crazy amount of shopping bags.

Tanaka just tutted, \”Zhao Detong, this is going to be a Housewarming party. Party being the key word. We bought enough ingredients for us to make snacks that we can eat when we go over. We're not just cooking for him. I didn't realise you weren't expecting us to eat.\” Tanaka harrumphed and then ignored Zhao Detong as he and Bei Lao dragged the bags to the kitchen and began cooking like he owned the place.

Zhao Detong raised an eyebrow. He only knew Tanaka through Mao Lu, and he'd heard Tanaka was a bit of diva, but was the sarcasm and the rude tone necessary? Zhao Detong was sure he was older then Tanaka.

Normally he would have gotten angry if someone younger then him had spoken to him in such a disrespectful way, especially if he wasn't that close to them. But, Detong remembered hearing from Mao Lu that Tanaka had a serious anger problem and was a former delinquent. So Zhao Detong quickly swallowed any complaints he had. He didn't want to start a fight.

Just as Zhao Detong and Fei Bing Bing were helping prepare a tray of sandwiches, a large batch of noodles, and meat. The doorbell rang.

\”It must be Frank Wang! He told me he was bringing his girlfriend along.\” Zhao Detong grinned as he went to door.

\”Oohhhh yayyy we're gonna meet Frank's girlfriend\” Fei Bing Bing cheered excitedly.

\”Frank?\” Tanaka asked curiously.

\”He was in the group chat Tanaka.\” Bei Lao explained with his calm and quiet voice.

\”Yh. He's been friends with I, Detong and Lu since high school. He's a detective right now. This guy has always been super awkward so he's never had a girlfriend before, but now he has and he's serious enough about her to bring her to the housewarming party. I'm so excited!\” Fei Bing Bing gossiped.

\”Wow I can't believe you're telling everyone I've never had a girlfriend before.\” Frank Wang said with an embarrassed look on his face as he stood in the large kitchen doorway holding two big bags.