A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign - Chapter 22

Ben Zi hummed merrily to himself as he parked. He was a half American half Chinese student studying in Beijing at Tsing Hao University. To make some extra money on the side Ben Zi joined a Taxi service and now got paid to drive people around during the evenings.

Two women jumped out of Ben Zi’s taxi, they both wore skimpy dresses, heels that were way too high, and had their makeup done to the max. The one in the red dress seemed slightly drunk but not as drunk as the one in the black dress. She was stumbling about and swaying on her feet. Was she even going to make it to the club?

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you straight to the front of the club?” Ben Zi asked.

“No, no, no it’s fine right here! If we walk two streets to the club my friend and I will sober up a bit more before we enter” the woman in the red skimpy dress politely refused Ben Zi, smiling at him as she took 30 RMB from her small clutch bag.

“Keep the change okay,” she said as grabbed her drunk friend. They squealed together as they skipped down the street towards the Roaring Tiger club.

Ben Zi sighed as he watched them go, he wished she would have drunkenly given him more money, he only had 5 RMB leftover. Couldn’t she have given more as a tip?

He sighed to himself and was about to drive away when he saw someone running right for his taxi. They were really fast, one second, they were far away at the other end of the street but by the time Ben Zi blinked the man was only two metres away from his car.

Just as Ben Zi was about to put down his window and ask the man where he was heading, the Man suddenly collapsed to his knees.

His nose bleeding.

“Geez is he okay!?” Ben Zi was alarmed and pulled the handbrake up. He stopped the car, took out his keys and ran up to the collapsed man. Yet the moment he got close; the man suddenly faded away. Like a ghost that had never been there in the first place.

Ben Zi stepped back in horror, “What the hell?”

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“Find them, interrogate, and punish them. No one is allowed to use a key.” Gates said, It’s voice as cold as ice. Before it even finished its sentence, Mao Lu felt his body being lifted up by Gates and he was carried away faster than the speed of light.

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ANTARCTICA

When Gates finally stopped, a sonic boom filled the air that made the penguins nearby squawk and dive quickly into the icy water.

Mao Lu was gently placed on the ground; he could see white ice caps for miles on end.

From Lu’s Senses he was able to tell immediately that they were in Antarctica. This was the southernmost continent, where the south pole was located.

For most of the 14 million km2, other than penguins, whales, seals, albatrosses, other seabirds and a range of invertebrates like krill. The land was completely uninhabited. Such a sheltered and secluded landscape filled with such rich wildlife and entirely devoid of human life. It was most definitely a winter wonderland.

Mao Lu breathed in the chilly air; it was refreshing. Strangely his body didn’t feel cold, when he used his inner eye, he could see the Time essences shielding him from the other essence, especially the essence of wind and cold, but they were keeping the essence of heat near him.

Mao Lu smiled and whispered to the Time essences, “Thank you.”

They seemed to enjoy his expression of gratitude, and he could hear them whispering to him in excitement, buzzing around him.

“Focus!” Gates voice cut through the pleasant atmosphere. “They are coming, remember to be strong. Any Practitioner’s status is below that of a Gatekeeper.”

“They are below you; you have the right to put them in their place and punish them.”

“Punish?” Mao Lu wasn’t sure how he felt about punishing someone.

How was he supposed to punish this person? All they had done was use this Gatekeepers key, and sure it was known to be forbidden, but they may have used it by accident. Before he did any punishment, he wanted to understand the circumstances first.

It was his responsibility to protect his realm and someone had barged into his territory. He had to deal with the situation, but that didn’t mean he had to be an irrational bully.

As he thought this, Gates expanded from its keychain form and wrapped around Mao Lu. When it pulled away from him, Mao Lu was now dressed in an official Gatekeepers outfit. Rather than the Hanfu from before he was wearing a suit of armour similar to the kind worn during the warring states period of 475-221 BC, but minus the headgear. Across his lamella like vest the time essences could be seen dancing across it in the design.

“Look up they are here,” Gates hissed.

Mao Lu glanced upwards and he saw an object that was on fire, falling from the sky and heading quickly in his direction. Mao Lu blinked in horror, “What the hell!”

Just as it was about to knock into him it stopped in mid-air. Gates had caught the burning object.

As Gates suspended it in the air, the flames around the object began to disperse, and then Mao Lu realised that it wasn’t an object at all, but in fact a young-looking man. His back was towards Mao Lu and he was hanging upside down. He wore strange looking robes that were designed with stars, the patterns across the fabric seemed alive and danced in a similar way to the time essence patterns across Mao Lu’s own official Gatekeeper clothes.

Gates whispered in his ear, “Show your authority. Find out where they got the key from. Find out if there are any more, and after that punish them for their crimes.”

Mao Lu felt a bit nervous, even though he’d met those Guests briefly the other day, this would be the first time he was going to confront a Practitioner. He didn’t want to show any weakness.

He slowed his breathing, calming his heart and said coldly, “How dare you barge into my realm.”

As the sentence escaped his lips, Gates rotated the young man around to face Mao Lu.

The man’s face was deathly pale, dried blood coated his lips. His eyes were as blue as sapphire jewels, or perhaps as blue as the Caribbean sea. They sparkled and seemed as if stars were twinkling inside of them. His features in general, even when he was hung upside down like that, were extremely symmetrical and handsome. Mao Lu felt his breath slightly hitch as their eyes connected with one another, this boy had an overbearing aura.

What stood out more was his expression.

His gaze was extremely threatening and rude as if he wanted to tear him apart. It was so extremely hostile that a bloodthirsty aura washed over Mao Lu, but Mao Lu unflinchingly stood his ground, the Time essences around him blocking the dark energy that emitted from the boy.

“Gates drop him.” Mao Lu mentally commanded. In a second the young Man crashed onto to the bed of snow on the arctic floor.

“Giving me such a rude gaze, do you really think you’re in the position to do such a thing?” Mao Lu asked in his most dominating tone as he walked towards the man.

As he stood next to him, he saw a playful and arrogant smile flash across the young man’s lips, “You were the one that was rude first, holding me up in the air like that.” He laughed callously, his voice was raspy and weak.

As Mao Lu looked at him, he saw the life essences crawling on his skin. They were the shape of small centipedes, and were bright red. Strangely the red life essences were smouldering and turning black.

“Red life essence, this boy is a Dao stage practitioner, very powerful…. But the smouldering…he’s been poisoned. If the rest of his life essences continue to burn like that he will certainly die,” Gates mentally whispered to Mao Lu.

Mao Lu narrowed his eyes at the young man. “You’re hurt,” he said to him loudly as he crouched down.

The man laughed bitterly, “You must be a bit retarded, or maybe you’re slow. Of course, I’m hurt, stop stating the obvious.”

“This brat!” Gates shouted angrily in Mao Lu’s head, “How dare he talk to you like that!”

In a rage Gates lifted the young man up and flung him across the snowy landscape.

“Gates what are you doing?!” Mao Lu exclaimed with round eyes.

“He is in your realm; he has barged in here without permission and he dares speak to you in such a way. It is not allowed. Gatekeepers are Gods to lowly practitioners like him, this arrogant brat should know his place.”

“He’s hurt though, regardless of whether he’s rude you shouldn’t be tossing him like some stone.” Mao Lu rolled his eyes, “What if he’s more hurt now?”

“Have you forgotten your role? You are a figure that must not be disrespected by anyone in your realm, you are a sovereign existence. Not only that but this brat has come here using a Gatekeepers key! He is not your friend; he is an illegal migrant that must be detained and interrogated.” Gates sounded borderline hysterical as it yelled these words into Mao Lu’s mind.

“Calm down Gates, regardless of what my current status and title is, I will never change my principles. Until he is proven guilty of some crime, I will not tolerate him being hurt. At the moment he is dying. If he dies, I will not be happy with you Gates.” Mao Lu’s tone was stern and serious.

He then ran towards where the Young Man had been flung. Ever since Mao Lu had Awakened, he’d realised that his physical strength had improved by leaps. What should have taken him a long time, a distance of five miles, took him less than 10 seconds and he didn’t even feel tired.

Mao Lu pulled the young man from the snow and turned him over, “Are you okay?”

The young man weakly smiled, even when he looked pale and sickly his face was still mesmerizingly handsome. “You get mad and throw me and then you ask me if I’m okay. Do you have some type of mental problem?”

Mao Lu was slightly taken aback, but then again Gates had used its power and no one could hear or see it unless it wanted to be heard and seen. So obviously the young man thought Mao Lu had thrown him.

But asking Mao Lu if he had some type of mental problem. Was this man trying to start a fight with him or was he normally this rude? Mao Lu wasn’t sure which but regardless he wasn’t the type to get enraged by such words.

Instead he stared at the young man with a concerned expression on his face. Questioning and interrogating him could wait till much later, Mao Lu’s main priority was that he didn’t let him die.

“How were you hurt? Is there any way I can help you?” he asked.

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Chàng Bo was rather shocked, was this man really mentally inept? Chàng Bo knew for a fact that this was the Gatekeeper of the realm he’d just entered without permission.

Bo was from a Celestial realm, realm 348, nicknamed the Star Realm. His father was the Supreme Lord of Stars, the most powerful practitioner in the entire Star Realm, seen as an imperial untouchable Man. His family was Celestial Royalty in the star realm. Yet even his Father had to bow to Gatekeepers.

Chàng Bo had never liked Gatekeepers, every Gatekeeper he’d ever met whilst he had travelled with his Father, were overbearingly pompous bigots that didn’t’ know how to take a joke. They were so filled with their own self-importance that Chàng Bo was certain that their large heads were probably stuck somewhere up their own arses.

The moment Chàng Bo had used the Gatekeepers key he felt the poison in his veins revive again. He used his lifesaving treasure four more times until it broke, but the poison was only held back for a few minutes before he felt it spreading across him rapidly.

Bo was aware that he only had a few moments left to live. That’s why as his eyes met the Gatekeepers, he thought to himself, “I might as well do what I’ve always wanted to do.” And Chàng Bo had always wanted to be rude to a Gatekeeper and talk down to them.

He was going to die anyway; he had been framed for a crime he hadn’t committed, and he had been poisoned. What did it matter if he spoke his mind to some Gatekeeper? At least if he did this, he could brag about something in the afterlife.

That’s why Chàng Bo was so surprised. He’d been flung by the Gatekeeper, something he’d expected to happen, but now the Gatekeeper wanted to help him even after he said those things.

Bo was very much aware that the Gatekeepers key he had used was a forbidden item. Before his Mother had died, she’d given it to him and told him never to reveal it to anyone, and to only use it as a last resort. As he grew older and researched the item, he quickly found out about the history of such a Gatekeepers key. If he used it the Gatekeepers had every right to execute him.

So, when this Gatekeeper; with light brown warm eyes, glossy tied up black hair, and wearing armour that had time essences swimming about it, asked him “How were you hurt? Is there any way I can help you?” Chàng Bo generally felt like this Gatekeeper must have gone crazy.

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Mao Lu watched in horror as he saw the red life essences on the young man become increasingly black, they smelt like ash.

“What should I do?” He muttered. In a time like this Gates was silent. Obviously, Gates didn’t want to help this young man. This boy was dying, and Gates decided to let him.

The cold and uncaring attitude of Gates sent chills down Lu’s spine. He made sure to etch this moment into his heart, he needed to remember that Gates wasn’t a kind and benevolent being.

“Think…Think…Think!!!” Lu thought anxiously as he stared at the man. Inspiration hit him when he saw the time essences swimming around both of them. He remembered how the time essences had allowed him to fly earlier that day by controlling the time of the breeze.

He was a Gatekeeper of time, so then couldn’t he control this Young Man’s time? All he had to do was control the time of the poison and rewind his body back to the state it was in before it was poisoned.

Mao Lu breathed slowly and began communicating to the time essences. At first the time essence belonging to the young man seemed confused, but quickly they obediently swirled around the poison and began to rewind its time. The life essence began turning red again. The poison reverted back to its original state, retreating back through the man’s veins.

Lu’s face turned slightly red as he concentrated hard. He wanted to reverse the poison to the point that it was administered, that way he could entirely remove it. But the more he rewound time on this single point, the more his brain had to focus, and he felt his head start to ache and blood dribbled from his nose again.

Nausea waved across him.

“Stop it!” Gates roared, “Don’t go beyond your limits, that brat’s life is out of danger for now. Leave it be!”

“That’s good” Mao Lu muttered. He rubbed his nose on to his sleeve.

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Chàng Bo stared at the Gatekeeper with wide eyes.

“He’s saving my life?” He was shocked, he wanted to ask him why, but then waves of exhaustion came over him. Even though the poison had been reverted his injuries had not.

His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fainted.