A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign

Two weeks later….

"POP!!!" A champagne bottle was opened, bubbly foam sprayed out and loud cheers quickly followed.

In Cafe Éclair a large banner ran across the counter, it read "Goodbye Mao Lu."

"I still can't believe this, thank you so much for throwing me this leaving party!” Mao Lu felt emotional and dumbfounded as he stared at all the decorations, treats, and his co-workers.

15 minutes earlier, Mao Lu had come to Café Éclair for his last shift ever. Yet when he came to the store it appeared to be closed, it was dark, and all the lights were off. Confused Mao Lu went through the back and into the store. The moment he stepped inside he heard, "SURPRISE!!!"

The lights had flickered on and Tanaka Kato, the Owner and Mao Lu's other co-workers were all throwing party poppers and confetti, hollering at the top of their lungs.

Now, Tanaka slung his arm over Mao Lu's shoulder, "How can you not believe this? As one of your best friends even if everyone else didn't come I would have thrown you a party you idiot. Don't you know I'm going to miss the hell out of you. Now who am I going to gossip with on shifts, and who am I gonna drag to get drinks with me after work now? And of course, everyone else came because they like you, you're a hard worker, and it’s a shame to see you go."

Lu felt a large ball of happiness swell up in his throat. He hugged Tanaka tightly. "Thank you so much."

Tanaka giggled, "It isn't just me throwing this party you know you should be hugging the Boss and everyone else."

Mao Lu pulled away from him and laughed, "You're right."

The entire afternoon was spent eating and dancing.

When it was time to part ways everyone gave Mao Lu gifts, it was touching.

"I guess you don't really know how people feel about you until you leave them," Mao Lu had expected Tanaka to be upset when he left the Cafe, and the Boss had been very good to him over the years. But he never expected everyone else to go so far with a surprise party and presents.

He bowed to all of them, "Thank you so much for everything. I will never forget this place and the amazing years I've spent working here, and I'll never forget all of you."

The boss of Cafe Eclair, Cedric Degel, smiled at Mao Lu and patted his shoulders. "You're welcome back anytime."

As Mao Lu left Tanaka followed him, "Why're you leaving so early, we can go catch some drinks or do something else if you want. Just us two. You've left all your other jobs now so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"I can't, I have that full-time job that I'm doing now. I need to get to that, I'm rather busy right now, so we should hang out another time."

"That mysterious full-time job, hmmm well don't stress yourself out too much if the workload is big." Tanaka nagged like he was Mao Lu's mother.

"Don't worry I won't, I'll show you my new workplace soon, it's really cool." Mao Lu winked at Tanaka.

"Is it really that cool? Hmm then I can't wait to see it. Oh yeah I heard you moved back to your old place in Chaoyang, when's the housewarming party?"

Mao Lu's eyes widened slightly, "Who told you that?" He hadn't told anyone about gaining his old family home yet. He'd only just finished furnishing the place and getting the internet, electricity and water working. Not only that but there was the...other thing. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet, just in case his friends randomly came over and saw something they shouldn’t.

Tanaka laughed sneakily, "I heard it from Fei Bing Bing. She was hanging near Sun Park and saw you walking around with some movers. Even though she lives in Xicheng her family home is also in Chaoyang right, and her Mother apparently told her that it looked like the Zhang's old home seemed to have been bought. Bing Bing guessed that you must have gotten your old place back, especially since it looks like you've moved out of your old one. She asked me to investigate for her when she came by the Cafe yesterday, and well now you've just confirmed it. So, when is the housewarming party?"

Mao Lu rolled his eyes slightly; he'd just played right into Tanaka's hands by confirming that he'd moved. "Maybe in a few weeks I might have a housewarming party, but I only got the electricity, internet and water working recently. I still haven't sorted out the heating and I'm still sorting out furniture and it's not ready yet. When it's all good I'll tell you okay."

Tanaka gave a toothy grin, "I'll be waiting."

Mao Lu turned a corner and in front of them was a black Maserati Gran Turismo. A two door four seat coupé, a racing car in the luxurious body of a sedan, a foreign pure Italian car. Current market price around £90,000 converting to around ¥794,000 RMB. Tanaka couldn't help but wolf whistle the moment he saw the vehicle.

"Is this the car you told me you bought." Tanaka's eyes were wide, and he drooled slightly.

"Yep it is. If you ever want a ride just message me Tanaka," Mao Lu smiled as he got into the driver's seat.

"Hell yeah, I'm messaging you every day. Damn!" Tanaka shouted as Mao Lu's car started.

"Oi Lu before you go, are you coming to the cafe with me and Bei Lao this weekend or what?" Tanaka walked up to Lu's window.

Mao Lu was confused, "Cafe?"

"Don't you remember? You agreed to come to that Gay Cafe with us two weeks ago but then you bailed on us because you were busy. I want to know if you're free this weekend. Then we can go to the cafe together and get you a boyfriend."

"Ohh!!!" Mao Lu remembered, it was the night Bing Bing and Detong had told him they were getting married, and then Tanaka had come around with Bei Lao, and he ended up agreeing to go to a cafe with them. Because his Gatekeeper training was so hard, he ended sleeping through the day they planned to go. He'd apologised and promised Tanaka he'd go another time.

"So, we're on this Saturday. I will not take no for an answer, you are not going to be single forever do you understand me." Tanaka's face was dead serious.

"I'll come. I'm free Saturday so I don't mind coming."

"Good." Tanaka harrumphed and then waved off Mao Lu as he drove away.

"You promised me that when you got rid of all your prior responsibilities, you'd focus entirely on being a Gatekeeper." Gates sounded irritable.

Mao Lu carefully drove his car, "I am focusing entirely on being a Gatekeeper. I have been training very, hard haven't I?"

"You should spend every second trying to achieve completion of sensing your realm so that you can progress in the merging stage. Instead you're distracting yourself with making time to go to a Cafe to hang out with your friends."

Mao Lu frowned, "I will dutifully complete my job as a Gatekeeper, just because I'm not spending every second working on it doesn't mean I'm not serious. And it's healthy to take breaks."

"Dutifully completing your job?" Gates almost spat. "If you were so dutiful you would have followed my orders but instead you insist on keeping that Practitioner in your home. By using a Gatekeepers key, he deserves death or at least some punishment but you insist on taking care of him. I don't think that's dutifully doing your job!"

Mao Lu gripped the wheel in anger, "You're so heartless Gates, and I guess you expect a Gatekeeper to be as heartless as you. No wonder all the previous Gatekeepers of this realm were so pathetic, if they mindlessly followed your orders and became equally as heartless. Am I the Gatekeeper, or are you? You are supposed to be guiding me, yet I feel like you're trying to control me.”

“That Practitioner is extremely hurt, I will make a verdict on whether he should be punished or not, when he wakes up and I find out why he used that Gatekeepers key. Until then, Gates I'd like it if you were silent on the matter, the more you talk about killing and punishment the more I dislike you."

Gates went silent. Mao Lu couldn't tell whether it was sulking or so angry it couldn't speak.

Lu continued to drive; he was pleased with himself that he'd said that.

He felt like Gates enjoyed ordering him around a lot. In this world of magic and martial arts, Mao Lu was lost, and Gates had more knowledge, so he had to listen to the thing. When it came to learning and knowledge Mao Lu was very glad he had Gates but when it ordered him to do things like focus solely on being a Gatekeeper and don't make time for your friends, or punish and kill this man. Mao Lu wasn't comfortable with it.

Since he was supposed to be this powerful and respected person then he should have control over his own actions. He wanted to show Gates that he was in control, and he had the power to listen or not to listen to it.

Every Gatekeeper has a Gates. Their role is to advise the Gatekeeper and aid them in their training and give them knowledge on topics that they are ignorant about. All the Gates or rather the Book of Gates was created by One when One made the Gatekeepers. One gave each Gatekeeper a Gates and told them this is your guide. Mao Lu's Gates has been the Gates of realm 145 since the realm came to life 14 billion years ago. It has watched time and time again as Gatekeepers failed under its guidance.

Gates had adapted its guidance to what it believed was the most effective way to produce a decent Gatekeeper, yet now Mao Lu had said its guidance was wrong. "Heartless...controlling…??? I made them pathetic?" Gates couldn't comprehend what it was being told. It quietly contemplated this information, its consciousness descending into the depths of the dimension that lay within its pages.

_________

Mao Lu drove all the way back to his home in Chaoyang. Over the last two weeks he'd had the place furnished, he'd gotten the water, electricity, and the internet working. He'd moved out of his previous flat and was now properly living in his old family home in Chaoyang.

Mao Lu parked in front of the Vermillion entrance. He smiled at the stone lions and strolled into the first courtyard, heading towards the east building.

He opened the sliding doors.

Lying on the queen-sized bed was the young man he'd met two weeks ago.

After Mao Lu had reversed the time on the poison, the young man had fainted. Mao Lu ended up bringing him all the way to Chaoyang despite the protest of Gates.

Even though his life essence appeared healthy again, he still hadn't woken up over these two weeks.

Mao Lu had tried reversing the time on the poison in his veins further, in an attempt to completely remove it, but it seemed like the poison had been lying dormant within the young man for many years.

Mao Lu still wasn't strong enough to control time to such an extent and decided to leave it be.

Gates had told him it was fine, the poison had been rewound to before it was activated, it wouldn't harm the young man unless it was activated again.

As long as whoever activated it isn't around to reactivate it, then he should be safe.

He will wake up when his body recovers.

Mao Lu stared at him, he looked like a painting. His hair was against the white pillows, like ink or perfect oil strokes against a white canvas.

His skin was softer than the silk sheets he lay in, his eyelashes were so long as well. Even his lips were plump like one of those models on TV. Mao Lu couldn't help but stare. He really was a work of art. A sleeping beauty.

Mao Lu had never seen someone so handsome. He secretly enjoyed watching him.

"I wonder who poisoned you. I wonder when you'll wake up." Mao Lu muttered, "Why did you use the Gatekeepers key…" Mao Lu sat on the corner of the bed and gazed at him a bit longer. "I wonder...what's your name?"

There was no response, the young man's eyes remained closed.

Mao Lu sighed a bit and went to the ensuite bathroom in the east building. He got a towel and rinsed it with some lukewarm water. He then wiped the young man's face with the towel. "It's nearly December you must be cold, sadly the heating hasn't been sorted yet, but I've prepared lots of warm blankets. I hope you remember me being nice to you, so that when you awaken, you're not as hostile as last time." Mao Lu said this as he placed the lukewarm towel onto the young man's head.

"I have to go out for a bit, so if you're hungry if you wake up, there is some food in the fridge in the main house. Help yourself." Mao Lu didn't know if the young man heard him. He'd read somewhere that talking to people in a coma helped their brains stay alert and that they could actually hear you. Because of that, Mao Lu had made it a habit to talk aloud around the unconscious man during the last two weeks.

After Mao Lu said this, he closed the sliding doors of the East building and went to his room in the West. He then got changed into a suit and hopped into his car.

Driving to the B&B law firm in Guomao.

Another thing had changed in the last two weeks. Mao Lu was now an executive at B&B law firm. He was a real paid employee. He didn't do any conventional work, yet he still got a large salary of $2.5 million a month. The only requirement was that Mao Lu showed his face at shareholder meetings. Somehow, he'd become the largest shareholder in the company. Inheriting the shares along with his executive title from Wang Cao.

At the moment Mao Lu wasn't travelling there due to work as an executive but due to work as a Gatekeeper.

It had happened this morning when Mao Lu was driving to Cafe Eclair. He'd gotten a notification from Mr. Baker that a Big fish wanted to enter the realm, and that they needed him to negotiate.

Gates told Mao Lu that it was better to leave this so-called Big fish waiting, coming immediately would be giving that person too much face, as a Gatekeeper he was supposed to keep people waiting. That was why Mao Lu had enjoyed his party and was only heading to the Gatekeeper Offices now.

Mao Lu parked his Maserati in the employee parking lot, the part for shareholders. He then walked through the entrance. As he came in wearing the branded suit that he'd bought recently, he got various bows from employees.

Li An smiled to herself as she watched Mao Lu enter. She was so glad that she'd been the one that escorted him that day. Ever since that time, she had been promoted to a secretary and her pay had even doubled. She'd only coincidentally been in the lobby when Mao Lu entered. She bowed the deepest towards him and couldn't help but blush to herself thinking, "he looks extremely handsome today" as he walked past her.

Mao Lu headed to the elevators, he pressed the numbers 14, 5, and the emergency button. The doors closed and then opened into the Gatekeeper offices.

Unlike last time everyone was quietly working away at their desks in the Reception. As Mao Lu stepped inside, they all stood up and bowed.

As they bowed Mr. Baker approached Mao Lu, he bowed slightly to him and then said, "This way Sir."

Mao Lu nodded and then they headed to another part of the Reception. This place was a large seating area. They were separated from the busy workers by, with what appeared to be, a thin wall of glass that surrounded it.

As Mao Lu and Baker entered through the glass door, the moment the door closed all outside sound was cut off.

Baker gestured to one of the black leather sofas and Mao Lu sat down.

"So, what or who is this Big fish exactly?" Mao Lu asked as he crossed his legs and looked about the seating area. In front of them was a large mirror.

"The big fish is a powerful practitioner at the Ascendance stage named Fang Hao, he is also a close friend to his Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper Dragon, the Gatekeeper of realm 55, ranked 300th on the rankings. A celestial realm.

Fang Hao wishes to come over to our realm so he can 'find a friend', or at least that is what he claims. This Fang Hao has an extremely checkered past and is a known practitioner of the demonic arts. Known to use human sacrifices to improve his strength. Usually we'd never let such a person into our realm. But he is acquainted with a powerful Gatekeeper and he has a pass to our realm, a high level one, and with our poor ranking we don't have the power or ability to deny it." Baker sighed.

"So, we're basically being bullied to allow this Fang Hao into our realm, and we can't stop him. Also, he is a bad man that could possibly kill innocent people and his reasons for coming here are dubious at best." Mao Lu summarised.

Mr. Baker nodded his head, sighing even deeper. "It isn't the first time he's come either. Wang Cao was helpless to prevent him from coming over a few years back, and he left many victims on planets including Earth."

Mao Lu's expression went dark.

"Due to our low ranking and status as a mortal realm, usually the powerful realms don't bother us, but when they do, we're helpless to stop it." Baker twiddled his fingers with an equally helpless expression.

The mirror in front of them began to ripple like a lake.

"They're calling again. You'll be having a discussion with Fang Hao and his representative at realm 55s Gatekeeper offices."

As Baker said this, the rippling of the mirror stopped. Inside the mirror Mao Lu could see a creature made of boils and slime, it was wearing a shirt and black pants. Next to it Mao Lu saw a tall man in dark black robes, he had deathly pale skin, extremely long nails, and his eyes were like black coals. The only colour on his face were his lips that looked like they were stained with blood. He was probably Fang Hao.

As they both saw Mao Lu, they bowed towards him.

"Gatekeeper Lu." The Slime creature said, its voice came out like a nonsensical foreign alien language, but when it came through the mirror it was translated in Mao Lu's ears.

"You must have been busy since we requested this meeting hours ago." The slime said, with a polite tone.

Mao Lu glanced at the slime and Fang Hao, "No I wasn't that busy."

"..."

The slime didn't know how to respond, instead it bowed deeper. It could tell that Mao Lu meant they weren't worth his time, so he let them wait.

"So, I hear you want to be let into my realm and that you're close to Gatekeeper Dragon who is ranked 300th. I also hear that last time you came; you killed many people. You're a scummy bastard aren't you." Mao Lu said directly.

Mr. Baker gaped slightly, so did the slime on the other side of the mirror.

Mao Lu was a clear-cut person; he didn't tolerate evil people. He wouldn't be able to bear with his conscience if he let this man into his realm and people died because of it. If he had no choice but to let this man in, he wasn't going to make it easy. Those in the other realms needed to know that Gatekeeper Lu wasn't a pushover.

Fang Hao's lips twitched into a grin slightly as he continued bowing to Mao Lu. "I heard realm 145 got a new Gatekeeper, it seems you have more balls then that Wang Cao."

Mao Lu stared coldly at Fang Hao, "You're right, I have bigger balls then him and you."

Fang Hao smirked slightly as he continued to bow, "And how would you know that Gatekeeper Lu?"

"Murderers are usually dickless and have no balls." Mao Lu said calmly

Fang Hao's smirk dropped, and the atmosphere became cold.

Mao Lu ignored Fang Hao and turned to the slime. "How long does he want to stay for?"

The Slime sweated a bit "Gatekeeper Dragon gave him an infinite pass, allowing him to stay in lower ranked realms indefinitely."

"Well then. Since he's staying indefinitely, I'll add some conditions, some rules which I want you to add to this pass. I'm sure your Gatekeeper will have no problems with them." Mao Lu said in a commanding tone.

"First rule, if you kill anyone you are immediately deported from this realm. Two, if you negatively affect anyone or anything in this realm you will be deported. Three, if you attempt to sexually assault anyone in this realm you shall be deported. I'm sure you won't since you have no balls, but just in case. See these rules are no big deal. Next time you contact me I hope these rules will have been verified and then we'll clear your pass and allow you through."

The Slime, Fang Hao and Baker froze. It took a full three minutes for the slime to stutter and say, "I'll be informing Gatekeeper Dragon." The mirror rippled and they disappeared from view.

Mr. Baker stared at Mao Lu with his mouth hanging wide. "Forcing someone like Fang Hao to have such rules when he enters your realm, it will obviously be humiliating to him and news of it will spread. I think you may have just antagonised Gatekeeper Dragon." he said eventually.

"They're minor rules, if Gatekeeper Dragon is offended by them then he is a petty man. And Fang Hao's feelings are irrelevant to me" Mao Lu said flippantly.

"Also, Dragon is only ranked 300th, he's not all that. In the next Gatekeeper meeting I will defeat him. I will train to do so and then our realm will receive some respect." Mao Lu's voice was deadly serious.

If he hadn't been motivated before, he was motivated now. Seeing that smug Fang Hao, his face seemed as if he expected Mao Lu to say "come here" with open arms.

Fang Hao was like one of those rapists Mao Lu had seen on the news, the ones that got out with a light sentence for harassment because they knew someone high up in the courts or in the police.

Mao Lu despised such injustice. From living in neighbourhoods that weren't so good and having to work so hard, Mao Lu had seen a lot of things.

He'd seen various injustices. When he'd been kidnapped two years ago by debt collectors, he'd met a little girl whose Father had given her to the gangsters to pay off his debt. Before Mao Lu's very eyes, he watched that girl be dissected.

As he sat in a cage one by one he saw people being killed, and these heartless cold people were packaging their organs like it was nothing, and when it came to his turn he was cut open without any anaesthetic. He saw his life flash before him and had felt unbearable pain. And then the police came and saved his life.

As if some higher power was saying, it isn't your time.

During the two months Mao Lu had spent in the hospital, he told himself, that he would never watch as someone died ever again. He told himself that if he could stop a crime, he should stop it.

Mao Lu knew that he had his limits and he didn't aim to be some unrealistic hero that could save them all. But for what he could do, he would do.

With his sense of the realm he'd now reached the stage where he could sense over 200 billion stars in this Milky way galaxy and his senses were now reaching the next galaxy.

Every day he could hear countless life forms on this planet and the next. He could feel all kinds of events happening, but he was helpless to prevent them all. He wasn't some God.

At the most he could make anonymous calls to the police when bad things happened near him. But it wasn't his role to play hero. It was his role to be Gatekeeper, and as the Gatekeeper he wasn't going to be walked over and allow some murderous dog inside his realm unless that dog had a leash.

Meanwhile in Mao Lu's Siheyuan home, Chàng Bo opened his eyes.