A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign

In the world that existed in the depths of Mao Lu's mind and soul, the Realm 145's information had compressed into a seed that was now rooted inside Mao Lu. The surface was cracked and sprouting from that crack were four leaves. They were silver and coated with stardust.

As Mao Lu gazed upon these leaves, he felt the whispering of the universe. Each leaf held countless of lives, held countless places, and held countless experiences.

This growing plant represented his power.

The more he improved the more it would grow with him. As his sense of the realm developed the form it took would also develop.

As his strength grew a qualitative change occurred in the very making of his being.

He felt a frightening amount of power at his fingertips, he felt himself being transformed by it and yet again he wasn't sure if he liked this transformation.

"When you achieve Sense of the Realm you will be 50% closer to the Merging stage. I'm sure you can already feel it. That you are slowly losing yourself, and becoming more than just Mao Lu, but also this entire Realm. You are becoming it.... Do not fear this feeling, it is necessary in the process of merging."

Gates attempted to reassure him as it noticed Mao Lu's building apprehension.

"I am becoming this realm, then does that mean I will lose myself? If I become this realm, what becomes of I, Mao Lu then?" Mao Lu felt a slight chill in the depths of him. As he gained more and more power and awareness through this training, the more and more he became afraid and humbled.

"It is up to you to remember that you are Mao Lu. Many have lost themselves to the Realm and forgot their past selves, but only the truly strong Gatekeepers never forget their roots and always keep their identities. The power can be so overwhelming, but you must remember that the power is yours, and you are the one that overwhelms the overwhelming. You are in control."

As Mao Lu heard Gates words, he calmed himself and subdued the shiver of unease that had ran across him. "You are right Gates. I am in control, and I will not lose myself to this Realm, it is this Realm that will lose itself to me." A hardened resolve filled him, "I have 390 galaxies left to sense. Let's get on with the training."

If Gates had a tangible body, It would have had an expression of admiration. In all its time of being Gates, never before had it had a Gatekeeper so strong willed and flexible. "He absorbs everything I teach him, he adapts to it and thinks freely, and he is determined. This time I have made an outstanding choice in choosing him. I'm glad I had Wang Cao meet this boy back then, my instincts definitely weren't wrong."

Mao Lu felt his consciousness at the border of a galaxy called the Zeroth. At the border of this galaxy a horrific battle was taking place. A war between various alien species existing on twelve different planets along the border.

Mao Lu was momentarily distracted as he witnessed this. He saw a young alien girl, with four horns, wailing in her mother's arms. In the same moment her planet was blown up by some type of death ray, killing billions.

Mao Lu could only watch on in horror, Sense of the Realm only made him a helpless observer. He could not intervene.

It wasn't just in this border. All across the realm, all across this universe, Mao Lu could sense countless atrocities, war and strife.

There was a saying that humanity could be cruel, but that statement was wrong. It wasn't just limited to humanity, every existence, every civilisation, every process has a cruel and dark side towards it.

Yet alongside this darkness there was also a beauty towards it all, in the midst of the ugly ambition and the fights for survival, there was passion, and love and peace.

When Mao Lu saw all these scenes and events all at once he felt humbled by the complexity of life and existence itself.

"The Creator, One, must be such an unbelievable being to create all of this. I wonder what the Creator's intention was. I wonder if I'll ever see the day when these intentions come to light."

As Mao Lu briefly pondered this subject, he focused on spreading his consciousness further and further.

Initially it was a smooth ride. A lot smoother than last time, he felt his consciousness break through the walls of the galaxies as easily a breaking the wall of a bubble. POP and he sensed yet another galaxy, POP and he was in the next one.

As he sensed more and more, the seed of information in his soul sprouted more leaves. The leaves that were initially silver and covered in stardust, became gradually more transparent.

As that transparency increased the particles of stardust coating them became brighter and brighter until they looked like small stars. And as they twisted around, they began making a map of the universe across the surface.

It was as the leaves began to transform that Mao Lu felt the backlash again. All of a sudden, his body felt like it had been hit by a truck. He hurt all over, and his skin became so overwhelmingly hot that it began to peel and flake off, and all kinds of impurities that were still hiding in the depths of his bones were forced out through his pores.

Soon enough he was covered in yellow gunk and peeling skin.

His bones became sturdier and he felt them harden to an unbelievable degree. As his bones became tougher, he felt a searing pain, as if he was being burned alive. It was so uncomfortable that he began squirming and wailing louder than he ever had before. Yet he couldn't stop it, he had to endure it as his consciousness broke into various galaxies like a flood.

It wasn't until every bone had transformed into this hard material, did the pain finally stop and Gates, halted Mao Lu's training.

"Congratulations Mao Lu. You have now sensed 150 galaxies, only 250 to go. You have made outstanding progress." Gates praised.

Mao Lu couldn't even comment before he collapsed in exhaustion.

_________

Meanwhile outside the door of Mao Lu's room, Chàng Bo hovered. His hand rested on the door, but he didn't dare knock or enter.

Such ungodly sounds had come from there and he was generally feeling more and more shocked. He'd heard a rumour once that when Gatekeepers trained, they suffered unbearable pain each time. Chàng Bo had thought it was just nonsense, and since not many people were personally close to Gatekeepers and Gatekeeper servants are loyal and secretive, this rumour had never been confirmed.

Yet after hearing such horrendous sounds for the second time, for several hours, Chàng Bo had come to the conclusion that Mao Lu must be training. That this was somehow linked to how Gatekeepers improved themselves.

There is a saying that one must hurt themselves to gain significant strength. Chàng Bo knew this saying well, and that was why he always trained extra hard, since he knew that talent alone wouldn't achieve his goals. To become the Celestial Sovereign, he needed unceasing effort and gruelling hard work. However, Chàng Bo had never subjected himself to such pain where he would yell and scream the same way Mao Lu did.

Since he had the Sovereign system, cultivation and magic came far too easily for him. So, he didn't have to take drastic risks or hurt himself to make gains. He'd always secretly felt smug that he could achieve things with half the effort, however as he heard Mao Lu's screams, he felt ashamed.

To become powerful you must experience pain, and you must take risks.

He was taking advantage of the Sovereign System, but it had its limits. If the sovereign system was peerless then surely someone in the past would have used it to get to the pinnacle, yet no one had. The system only took him as far as he worked.

If he didn't become as crazy about his training as Mao Lu, then he would be left in the dust.

As the sounds of shrieking yells ceased from the west building, Chàng Bo clenched his fists and then went back to the middle of the courtyard and began practicing his techniques again and again without break.

_________

A week later…

Mao Lu awakened. Per usual he was lying on his bed all clean. As he sat up, he saw himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but audibly gasp. His skin had been flawless before, but now it was so clear and sparkling, he looked like a photo that had been edited to remove all the flaws. He felt so smooth.

The brownish black of his eyes also seemed to have a purplish and silver tinge to them now. His hair had also grown longer and flowed down his back like silk.

As he felt his impossibly soft hair, he couldn't help but grumble to himself, "I seriously need to get a haircut."

"Getting a haircut isn't important right now. It has already been a week. You've kept the association waiting; we must hurry there now to make our report about this Chàng Bo."

Gates said this impatiently as it expanded and wrapped around Mao Lu. In seconds Mao Lu was had his hair tied up and was wearing a black hat, similar to the straw one’s travellers would wear during the Ming dynasty. He was wearing Hanfu again, but this time rather than the robes of a scholar, it was more like the robes of an emperor. They were long and billowing, and fit perfectly. Across the fabric the time essences could be seen swimming about.

"Let us leave now-"

"Wait, let me check in on Chàng Bo before we leave." Mao Lu interrupted as he opened the sliding doors and looked out into the courtyard.

In the centre of the courtyard Chàng Bo was standing there with impeccable posture. His back straight like a rod, his legs parted like the sea, his fists poised like they were reaching to grab the stars.

There was a valiant and serious aura around him as he practiced punching out several times. His knuckles were bloody. He'd been training for days without rest.

"Chàng Bo!" Mao Lu called out as he headed towards him.

Mao Lu only took one step and was surprised at how light his body was. In one step, faster than the speed of light, he was next to Chàng Bo.

"WHOA!" Mao Lu inwardly freaked out.

"Do not worry, you'll get used to it, but be careful." Gates cautioned

"Is everything okay?" Chàng Bo asked, he smiled as he saw Mao Lu. It was a warm and friendly smile that made Mao Lu's insides melt a little.

"You see I am heading to the association now; I will be discussing with the Gatekeepers about the issue concerning the key. I promise that I will clearly tell them your side of the story. I thought I should tell you before I left, since the decision they make at this meeting could determine your fate." Mao Lu replied solemnly.

Chàng Bo's warm smile faded into a helpless one at Mao Lu's words. He bowed his head slightly towards Mao Lu, "then I hope this meeting goes well. Thank you for putting a good word in for me."

Mao Lu gently patted Chàng Bo's shoulder, "I'm not putting in a good word for you, I'm simply telling them what you told me, and as long as your words are true and trustworthy then I'm sure they won't punish you too intensely."

Mao Lu tried to give Chàng Bo his best reassuring smile.

"That is enough comforting, it is time for us to go." Gates reminded as it began to whisk Mao Lu away.

In Chàng Bo's eyes, Mao Lu turned to dust and was scattered in the wind.

At the same time Mao Lu's phone lay on his bedside table with tons of missed messages from his friends.

WeChat app

FEI BING BING:

"Did you really delete WeChat???? Well whatever we're coming round today, whether you're ready or not. Housewarming party!!!!”