A thousand zithers played an epic tune in Chàng Bo's head, as Mao Lu's blue robes fluttered heroically in the zero gravity of space, as he stood in front of him.
"SEAL" Mao Lu said calmly.
Chàng Bo felt a large pressure fill the area, the Irregularity howled loudly as that pressure concentrated around it.
It tried to move its limbs but it couldn't. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" It wailed.
"Irregularity, you are not welcome in my Realm." Mao Lu said as he turned his wrist gently. As it turned an invisible force began compressing the Irregularity. Shrinking it, making it become smaller and smaller until it was the size of a marble.
"Now that you've sealed it, the easy part is Expelling it. Just will it to be removed from your Realm." Gates guided.
"Shouldn't I destroy it?" Mao Lu mentally asked as he held the now marble sized Irregularity in his hand.
It continued to shriek loudly, "krawwwwkrawwwwwkrawww"
"An Irregularity is a disturbance in the realm, it is like a germ or bacteria. The best way to destroy it is not by force but by removing it from the Realm. It can not exist outside of the Realm. Once removed it will die." Gates explained.
"I see." Mao Lu thought. Aloud he said "EXPEL."
The marble sized Irregularity in his hand vanished. Mao Lu felt it appear again at the boundary of his Realm. He watched as all the essences pushed it straight out of the Realm with a "POP". The thing screeched desperately until the end.
"It's over." Gates sighed in relief.
Mao Lu also feet relieved, and swayed in exhaustion as he turned around to face Chàng Bo. "Are you okay?" Mao Lu asked slowly.
Chàng Bo had a very conflicted expression on his face, "Should you really be asking me that, I'm not the one bleeding from my mouth, nose and ears." Chàng Bo pointed out.
Mao Lu touched his face and realised he really was bleeding. He hadn't noticed. "You're right. I'm used to it though, these days I'm always bleeding for some reason." Mao Lu said lightly.
"I don't think bleeding is a thing you should get used to" Chàng Bo said, a bit alarmed by Mao Lu's flippant reply.
"Yeah I probably shouldn't get used to it." Mao Lu said wearily, his voice growing fainter and fainter.
Chàng Bo was about to ask Mao Lu about the Irregularity, but then Mao Lu slumped forward. His head gently resting on Chàng Bo's shoulder.
"Huh! Is he asleep?!"
Gentle snores came from Mao Lu.
Chàng Bo was surprised but he eventually sighed, " I guess you must be exhausted"
He glanced at Mao Lu's sleeping figure and he softly commented,"You know I always thought Gatekeepers were pointlessly powerful, arrogant, and had no real purpose. But after meeting you it seems I was very wrong. You're powerful, yet gentle and modest, I don't think you have an arrogant bone in your body. You obviously train diligently. It must be hard, especially if you're fighting monsters like that." Chàng Bo muttered.
Mao Lu who was asleep only snored louder in response, his head knestling itself against Chang Bo's neck.
Chàng Bo felt slightly awkward as he felt Mao Lu's warm breath against his neck, and his soft skin and silky hair resting on his shoulder. Chàng Bo wasn't used to people touching him. He wasn't the hugging type, not even with his close friends. His father was the same, Chàng Bo had never hugged his Father or exchanged warm words with him, they didn't have a normal Father and son relationship like others. And he'd lost his Mother when he was very young.
In addition, due to his social status and title as a Heavenly genius, many people kept their distance from him.
This was the first time he'd embraced anyone since he was young. He froze not knowing what to do with himself.
"Should I move him away from me? Or do I just stand here?" Each second made Chàng Bo more flustered.
Just when Chàng Bo had decided to gently move Mao Lu away, he fell sharply.
"Huh!"
He was falling from the atmosphere and back to Earth. Gravity was pulling both him and Mao Lu down.
Chàng Bo tried flying or using his movement skill to stop their descent, but he couldn't, "My strength stat is at zero, I've run out of internal essence. I can't use any of my skills." Chàng Bo realised.
So now, with Mao Lu in his arms, he was hurtling towards the ground with increasing speed. Chàng Bo instinctively wrapped his arms around Mao Lu, sheltering him with his body, as he saw the ground come closer and closer.
Just as they were one metre away from crashing onto the hard surface, they stopped.
Chàng Bo felt an invisible force wrapping around them, suspending them in the air.
Gates had caught them. It wrapped around both Chàng Bo and Mao Lu, carrying them away quickly at a supersonic speed.
…
Moments after they left, Zhongshan park filled with Practitioners. Song Ou looked around, "What the hell happened here, do you know Little Red?"
Little Red who was standing next to him, and staring at the scene of intense devastation, filled with various craters and several nearby collapsed buildings, laughed "If you don't know then why the hell would I know. All I know is that the Gatekeeper was involved in this. Meaning that whatever happened here, we don't need to know about. It's better we don't try to pry into Gatekeeper business."
Song Ou nodded, Little Red was right. Getting too involved in Gatekeeper business when you weren't a Gatekeeper was just bad news.
Gatekeepers have many ways to make people disappear. In the past, in the name of maintaining order, Gatekeepers killed or expelled any practitioners that dared try to pry too much into their business. The Gatekeepers in general are a very powerful and secretive group seen as Royalty but also deified like Gods.
Those that messed with Gatekeepers obviously didn't know Mount Tai, nor saw how high the heavens were. Amongst Practitioners it was common sense never to investigate too deeply into anything a Gatekeeper was involved in.
"What we need to do now is repair the scene, this place looks like it has hit by an asteroid, not a 6.7 earthquake. We need to repair this place up a bit before the mortals start wandering out here." Little Red said as she looked at the large crater, or rather the deep hole in the middle of the park.
"My Martial artists and cultivators are already on it. We evacuated all the nearby mortals so casualties are lower than two hundred. And the buildings are being fixed as we speak." Song Ou reported.
"Good."
_________________________________________
CHAOYANG- MAO LU'S RESIDENCE
Mao Lu's eyes fluttered open. He felt rather comfortable, and instinctively squeezed the firm yet smooth pillow next to him.
He felt so well rested.
The room was dark and he leaned his hand over to switch on his bedside light, but he couldn't find it.
He patted around a little bit, disgruntledly, and leaned forward pressing his hands against his soft, warm, breathing pillow….BREATHING!!!!
In horror Mao Lu rubbed his eyes, but even before his sight adjusted to the darkness, Sense of the Realm was telling him, that he hadn't been squeezing a pillow just now, he'd been squeezing the sleeping Chàng Bo's chest.
"What the hell is going on?!!!!" Mao Lu internally screamed. He looked around left and right and realised he was in the East Wing, Chàng Bo's room, that's why he hadn't been able to find his bedside light.
"Oh so you're finally awake." came Gates sly voice.
"Gates, what's going on, how did I end up like this?" Mao Lu asked in panicked confusion.
"Don't you remember? You were talking to Chàng Bo after you sealed the Irregularity, and then all the burden from using such a powerful spell, hit you, and you passed out in exhaustion. Which by the way, congratulations, to not only perfectly use the SEAL spell first time, but with perfect precision, truly among Gatekeepers you are definitely a genius Mao Lu. Well done."
"Thank you for the high praise, I was only following your instructions Gates, but seriously what happened after I passed out!?" Mao Lu asked frantically.
"Well it seems like Chàng Bo used a lot of energy when he was restraining the Irregularity for you. So when you passed out on his shoulder, he began to fall back to Earth. So I caught the two of you bought you back to your residence.
When you fell, Chàng Bo rather courageously embraced you to protect you from the fall. In that process you wrapped your arms around him, and by the time I took you both back to your place, your were firmly hugging him and you refused to let go.
It was absolutely hilarious. Chàng Bo tried pulling you off, waking you up, practically anything but you just wouldn't let go of him, and hugged him the entire time. In the end Chàng Bo gave up and decided to rest to regain his strength.
He fell asleep on his bed and you've been hugging him ever since." Gates laughed loudly, it found the entire situation very amusing.
Mao Lu's face turned a variety of colours, fist pink, then fusha, then red, and then a slight violet. He was so embarrassed.
"H-h-h-how long have I been hugging him, how long have we been asleep here, like this." he asked faintly.
"Oh you've been clinging to him on this bed for the last three days." Gates chuckled.
Three days….THREE DAYS…"Holy!!!!", Mao Lu was so glad Tanaka wasn't around, if Tanaka had seen this he would hold this over Mao Lu for the rest of his life.
"How can I be so shameless, how can I just hug him and cling to him for three days. Why why why why why why why why?"
As Mao Lu had a rather silent meltdown, he didn't notice Chàng Bo's eyes opening, and watching Mao Lu.
Chàng Bo did practice spells and was a quasi mage and cultivator, but he was mainly a cultivator. He'd trained his body for a long time. So his eyesight was naturally better than Mao Lu's, even in the dark he could clearly see Mao Lu turning all kinds of embarrassing shades, and putting his head in his hands.
"Is he embarrassed? Well he should be, after clinging to me like that." Chàng Bo thought.
He observed with growing amusement as he saw Mao Lu's exaggerated facial expressions and panic.
Mao Lu's long hair was messy as it cascaded over his shoulders, he bit his delicate bottom lip in shame, his pale cheeks a rouge hue. Chàng Bo couldn't help but see this and feel slightly bewitched.
Mao Lu appeared so frail and fragile, his appearance was rather androgynous that if one didn't look carefully enough, they could mistake him as a woman. Yet Mao Lu also had such terrifying power and strength.
He seemed gentle and calm, but he had a very mature temperament. Despite him being younger than Chàng Bo, Chàng Bo felt like Mao Lu was spiritually much older. And he trained and went through such pain all the time, he had such a strong willpower and perseverance. There was so much more to Mao Lu then what anyone would see at a first glance.
He had so many layers and Chàng Bo found himself wanting to see each and every layer. This was the first time in his life that he felt so curious about another person.
The Sovereign system suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. It flashed with the words "10% progress in mission."
10% progress? So quickly. "Was it because we fought together, or is it something else? When did our bond deepen, when did we become closer?" Chàng Bo pondered.
"Say Mao Lu, how long are you going to sit on me with that embarrassed look on your face?" Chàng Bo said aloud to Mao Lu, he had a teasing tone in his voice.
Mao Lu blushed more and yelped a little as he jumped off the bed quickly, leaping away from Chàng Bo. "You're awake!"
"I have been for awhile."
Mao Lu blushed impossibly more, he bowed deeply towards Chàng Bo, "I'm really sorry for being so inappropriate."
"Why should you be sorry, it's not like you did anything wrong?" Chàng Bo said confused, he didn't understand why Mao Lu was apologising.
"I… Don't you feel a little uncomfortable? I mean me clinging and hugging you like that. I mean you heard my friends last time right? I like men you know, are you okay with me hugging you like that?"
"Ohh" Chàng Bo understood, "So you're worried about whether I'm against your sexuality or something like that. Hahaha. You know I've travelled to fifty different realms in my short one hundred years of life. I've seen countless races, countless types of people, countless religions, opinions, and beliefs. Places where same sex relationships are more normal than heterosexual ones, and places where it is the opposite. Such a thing as sexuality in the greater scheme of things is just another segment of life, it doesn't change who you are as a person.
I'm rather open minded, I welcome you to hug me again, I feel no disgust from it."
Mao Lu's eyes were round and they sparkled slightly as he heard Chàng Bo's words. He nodded his head "Un"
In the greater scheme of things, in universes filled with all kinds of races, wars and strife, sexuality is just another natural segment of life. It shouldn't be something he should apologise for.
In his heart Mao Lu had known this, but he had always been slightly in the closet, even now after telling his friends and trying to be more confident about it, he'd still felt some restraint in his heart. But hearing these words made him feel a weight inside him fade away.
Mao Lu slowly sat down on the edge of Chàng Bo's bed and said quietly, "Then I revoke my apology."
Chàng Bo smiled widely, "Great"
Mao Lu widely smiled back, he found himself liking Chàng Bo more and more.
"I know you probably won't explain this, but I was wondering if you could tell me what happened back there. I mean that creature, what was it?" Chàng Bo asked, changing the topic.
Mao Lu sighed a little. Due to the rules there was no way he could properly explain this to Chàng Bo, "The creature was called an Irregularity, and as much as I hope this is the only one, there may be more out there soon to pop up. I don't know how many. I can't explain it to you in detail. All I can tell you is that they are very bad news, and I am very thankful that you helped me today."
"You're very welcome." Chàng Bo said slowly, "and I understand that Gatekeepers have secrets, but the level of devastation that thing caused, and the fact that it was so powerful, even my strongest martial arts couldn't do anything it. And one of my punches can explode a planet at full strength. I hit it with a punch like that and it shrugged it off. The fact that there are more creatures out there like that is very worrying.
Don't you think it would be in the better interest for everyone and the safety of everyone, if you told them about these Irregularities. Why must the Gatekeepers keep such a thing a secret." Chàng Bo still remembered the monster and he felt a wave of fear come over him. He also remembered how the system had told him that an Irregularity had the ability to collapse a Realm. Such a thing was a terrifying threat and Chàng Bo couldn't understand why the Gatekeepers hadn't warned anyone about them.
"I understand what you're saying Chàng Bo but it would be better if this is a secret." Mao Lu answered calmly.
"Are more monsters like this running across the other Realms? Isn't this dangerous, traditions and secrets, I can understand if you don't want to panic the public, but it is better for them to be panicked and ready for danger than to be peaceful and taken unawares." Chàng Bo argued
"That is true, but still I am sworn not to talk about such things. And I promise you that these Irregularities are only in my Realm for the moment, and I will contain them and get rid of them." Mao Lu said seriously.
"Only in this Realm, then that's even more reason to give a warning. That Irregularity caused a lot of damage and this Realm is mostly filled with mortals. I'm certain it caused casualties."
"I am aware of the casualties it caused-"
"Then why not say something, your people are in danger. I didn't think you were like those other Gatekeepers that put themselves above the citizens of their Realm."
"I'm not, but I have to abide by the rules!" Mao Lu shouted
"Rules, rules are made to be broken, or are you a coward?"
"Huh, coward." Mao Lu was angry now, "You have no right to say any of this when you're the one that brought these things to this Realm in the first place!"
Chàng Bo's eyes went round, "What!"
"You brought them here."