A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign

Little Red looked at Chàng Bo with confused eyes.

"Frank Wang, who is that?"

"You're a leader of the Eastern Witches and you don't know one of the mortals around your Gatekeeper?" Chàng Bo had a patronising tone and a dark sneer was on his handsome face.

Little Red began to tremble..."Frank Wang, h-he was the police officer wasn't he. The one who got entangled with Qi Zhou and the Witch Hunter."

"Oh, so you do know?" Chàng Bo smirked, a dark light in his eyes, "So where is he, I won't ask you again."

"QI Zhou was one of the members of the Western witches, I believe she was a disciple of Lady Winter. She made a mistake when she tried to approach the Gatekeeper and his people in a bid for power. Her Coven rightfully punished her but then they decided to kick her out of the Coven for her crimes. A witch or warlock who is kicked out from their Coven loses the protection and resources that their Coven offers them. By losing that protection they are left vulnerable to certain practitioners who hunt Mages for sport."

Little Red saw the dangerous look in Chàng Bo's eyes and stuttered, "Q-q-qi Zhou went to the Gatekeepers group as a last resort to save herself, but one of the craziest Mage Hunters came after her. I don't know the reason, but that Mage Hunter took Frank Wang."

Little Red suddenly felt Chàng Bo's hand on her shoulder. "Little Red, I didn't ask for why he was taken, I asked for where? You're aware that you've made me ask you twice, right."

Little Red felt iron-clad pressure from his hand, "T-t-the Mage Hunter who did this is a famous western Hunter named "White Mask" he specifically hunts witches. I don't know where he is exactly, but I know that the Western witches keep tabs on these kinds of things."

"Mm," Chàng Bo thought things over. Now that he knew the name of the Hunter that grabbed Frank, he could use his clairvoyance spell to track him down, he didn't need to go the roundabout way and visit the Coven of Western witches. But, at the same time, this Coven was where Qi Zhou had come from, that girl had pissed him off and even in death, she was still causing problems for him.

Her Coven hadn't stopped her straight away when she was messing with Mao Lu and his friends and when they expelled her from their group, they let her go to Frank Wang and caused this all to happen. They were partly to blame for everything.

Mao Lu was kind-hearted, he'd probably let this slight go since Qi Zhou was dead, but these witches needed discipline. A Gatekeeper wasn't someone they should just mess with, these weak witches should learn some respect, and killing some witches would give him a nice boost to his Fate points.

Little Red almost fainted as she sensed the thick bloodlust surrounding Chàng Bo.

"Well then, let's make a little detour to see these Western Witches, shall we." he smiled.

_________

REALM 1, FLAME STAR FORTRESS

Mao Lu had been led to a private sitting room with Obsidian. Now that all those strange essence eating creatures were gone, they could freely walk through the halls. Many of the other Gatekeepers took that as their cue to leave and head back to their realms.

Mao Lu sat down on the white leather sofa, opposite him was a rattled Argenti and a cautious looking Obsidian. They were both staring at Mao Lu like he was some type of monster. Argenti's eyes lingered on the Quintessence blade that was sheathed at his side.

"I want an explanation for everything" Mao Lu's tone was cold and demanding, "You both have betrayed my trust so if you give me anything but the truth, I promise you we will no longer be allies."

Argenti quivered a bit at Mao Lu's words, she had never expected him to progress so quickly, nor to become so frightening. He was only at the enlightenment stage but with his absurd Time ability and that Quintessence blade, he'd made a mockery of her.

Mao Lu didn't like the cautious and wary looks they were giving him, they were treating Mao Lu like he was dangerous and some type of threat, bit weren't they the dangerous ones. Weren't they the ones who had done wrong and betrayed his trust? Yet why did they make him feel like the bad guy?

He sighed, "First I want to know about Chàng Bo. Where is he, is he okay?"

Argenti fidgeted, "I don't know. After you left with me, I had my assistant Creed kidnap him. Creed used a tool to separate his soul from his body and put him in a soul chamber. He was going to torture Chàng Bo, to find out whether he was a threat or not, since the soul doesn't lie torturing his soul would be the best method to find out secrets that even he wouldn't be aware he knew. But...then he disappeared. When Creed wasn't looking not only was Chàng Bo able to escape the soul chamber but even his physical body had also escaped. I don't know how he did it or where he is now."

Mao Lu's expression was dark, he was less than pleased. The fact that they had tried to torture his soul, Mao Lu was so angry his fist was shaking.

Argenti noticed this and quickly said, "He escaped before Creed could do anything. He is probably fine."

"He’s probably fine, so, so what! What if he's fine?" Mao Lu's anger made his voice hoarse," He probably feels confused and betrayed. I made him think he was safe and that I, as a Gatekeeper, would protect him while he stayed in my realm. And you do this, and you can't even apologise."

Argenti shivered and immediately bowed her head, "You're right, I did wrong. I owe you and Chàng Bo the sincerest of my apologies. But you must know that I did it because I was wary of him, there were just too many uncertainties surrounding Chàng Bo, I needed to confirm if he was a threat or not, for the future of the Gatekeepers."

"You keep saying that" Mao Lu sighed, "But what about him made you wary, what did he do that made you so scared that he was such a threat."

Argenti looked at Mao Lu with a serious expression, "Have you heard of Sweet Dream?"

Mao Lu shook his head.

"That was what Chàng Bo was poisoned with when he fell to your Realm. Sweet Dream isn't a poison that causes death it only leads to a one-hundred-year sleep. That means that whoever framed Chàng Bo for theft and murder and poisoned him didn't intend to kill him. Maybe they were forcing him into a position to use the key and set off all those irregularities. But for what reason that would be, who knows."

"Sweet Dream also has another side effect it can draw someone closer to their true love. It lets people with matching hormones who would be classically called fated lovers, find each other. Your elevated feelings for Chàng Bo have all been progressed by Sweet Dream. Whoever poisoned him probably knew this would happen, they knew his fated lover was a Gatekeeper, perhaps this was all a complicated way to infiltrate the Gatekeepers."

Argenti stood up as she grabbed Mao Lu's shoulders earnestly, "Don't you see, there were so many unanswered questions and suspicious happenings. I had to determine if he had bad intentions or if he had any knowledge of what was happening."

Mao Lu smirked, "Is that how you justify your actions to yourself, there were many ways you could have determined your answers, you didn't have to it that way."

Argenti saw the coldness in Mao Lu's eyes, she let go of his shoulders and slinked back to her seat.

"I already know that Chàng Bo and I are fated lovers if Sweet Dream brought him to me than it can only be a good thing. The reasons he had the Gatekeeper key or was framed will be understood one day. I believe that those reasons will be of no threat to the Gatekeepers. That being said, when I find Chàng Bo again, you better not interfere with our relationship."

Latent killing intent filled the room, it made them feel like a sharp sword was against their throat. Killing intent from someone normally so calm and good-natured felt even more dangerous than the average killing intent.

Argenti gulped, "Of course we wouldn't dare."

"I also don't want the Gatekeepers to have any involvement in our Fate Companionship" Mao Lu stated.

It was Obsidian that fidgeted this time, "To keep up pretences we already announced to the world that you had your Companionship."

"You what!?"

"Of course, you can still have a private ceremony for yourselves, but the date of the summer solstice passed. Many practitioners were interested in the union, so we had to spread some news." Obsidian explained.

"Wow, you people" Mao Lu felt annoyed, the fact that they lied about such a thing after trying to kill Chàng Bo just to maintain their image. These people had no shame.

Mao Lu sighed, it didn't matter to him whether the world thought they were united or not. Soon enough they would be.

"That brings me to another question, that creature that told me 'big changes are happening to the four hundred realms' what and who was it, and what are these changes?"

Obsidian felt parched suddenly, "Now that's a big question."

Mao Lu crossed his legs and sat back comfortably, "Well I have time to listen to the big answer."