After they finished kissing, Shu's expression became stern, and he looked at his friends.
"Dam, I need you to choose a team and go with them to Birnin Mutuwa."
"Why?"
Dam was surprised. It had been so long since the last time they saw each other, and Shu was already sending him away.
"I need you to bring as many willing people as possible to the new lands."
Shu answered.
"What's in the new lands?"
Dam still didn't understand.
"War."
Shu answered. Dam had no words to react to this.
What does he mean by war? With who? Dam wanted to ask that, but before he could, Shu preceded ahead.
"When you go, tell Thomas to go along with whoever he chooses and Mrs. Hella to the city of the human god for the same reasons."
Shu Didn't wait for a reaction. He turned his head to look at Akainari.
"You don't have to go to the war, but I need you to come with me to talk with Elder Huwang."
Shu said.
"You want to recruit people from here?"
Akainari asked. Shu turned to Lǜ Zūn.
"And from the land of Long."
********
In Elder Huwang's room, Shu and Akainari sat on their knees, facing him.
"Before you make any requests, please tell me of your tale in the land of Long."
Shu's great-grandfather requested.
"When we got there Huli Jing..."
Shu told his elder what happened in the land of Long.
"The Redfox dragon... Good job. You outdid those damned, winged lizards! You can ask for anything you want."
Elder Huwang congratulated Shu.
Winged lizards... Lǜ Zūn, who stood in the back of the room, thought of several ways he would like to torture this elder as retribution, but he couldn't hurt or insult his master's elder.
"I need you to recruit whoever can help us in the upcoming war and send letters to the Corsac family and some elder of the Long-kin."
Shu bowed as he asked.
"War?"
Elder Huwang won't bring people to a war without knowing who it is against.
"The weather god will start his world conquest in four months. We have to stop him."
Shu explained.
"Alright, but I will tell all these people who the enemy is, and they would have the right to choose whether they want to join and to send whoever they want."
Elder Huwang said.
"Doesn't matter. I need as many peopled as possible. So please do as you will!"
Shu declared. Of course, it didn't matter. He wasn't going to force anyone to join him anyway.
After that, Shu went out and collected the people he needed. Lǜ Zūn, Shuāng Wěi, Dasheng Zhizi, Mary, Alexander and Armageddon.
He wanted to have Hannah and Emilia come with them, but Thomas and Dam already chose to take these two with them. Thomas asked Mary to go with him, but Mary told him Shu told her to go with him. It was a lie, but without asking Shu, who at the time was busy, it would be impossible to disprove.
********
Later in the evening, they held a large feast and went to sleep.
The next day, Shu with his group went to the monster train.
Dasheng Zhizi felt fidgety.
He knew he was one of the strongest out of all the members in the group, including those that went with Thomas and Dam, but he was not even close to these monsters.
He didn't fight Shu, but both Alexander and Mary were able to beat him, and he saw Shu beating them simultaneously when Shu arrived. There was no need to mention Armageddon, a legendary, monstrous man. Dasheng Zhizi wasn't planning to even toy with the idea of fighting him, particularly not after how badly he lost when he first met the leader.
"Why did you choose me to go with you!"
Dasheng Zhizi nervously blurted.
"What are you talking about, Shí Hóu? Aren't we friends?"
Shu laughed and put a hand on Dasheng Zhizi's shoulder.
"Uh?! I don't know you. Why are you calling me Shí Hóu?"
Dasheng Zhizi asked in shock.
"Let's just say we were friends in a different lifetime."
Shu laughed Dasheng Zhizi's question off.
"Bullshit!"
Dasheng Zhizi stopped for a moment and pointed his stave at Shu.
"Why are you calling me Shí Hóu?!"
This question may sound strange, but Shí Hóu means stone monkey. The stone monkeys were nearly extinct after the first multi-realm war, and one of the surviving stone monkeys was known as the great sage, the wielder of god's immortality, Sun Wukong. One of his names was Shí Hóu. This Sun Wukong was also the demon god's companion in his mortal life and Dasheng Zhizi's father.
No one was supposed to know of Sun Wukong, especially not of the connection between him and Dasheng Zhizi.
Some people wished to revive their faith in the new reality, and there were also people in the old reality that saw him as something similar to a god. But he was not a god. He was a companion who betrayed the demon god because of the events of the first multi-realm war.
Dasheng Zhizi felt great shame in his father, and seeing someone who knew of Sun Wukong and recognized Dasheng Zhizi as related to him was quite a shock for Dasheng Zhizi.
"Sigh... In a previous timeline, we were friends, and I called you Shí Hóu because Dasheng Zhizi is a long name."
Shu answered.
What is this? Why does he seem so sincere? Dasheng Zhizi felt conflicted.
"Alexander! Can you create a projection of my memories?"
Shu asked.
Alexander concentrated and created a ring with a weird round thing at one of the sides.
Shu placed the ring-like thing on his head, the rounds thing facing forward, and the scene of when Shu and Dasheng Zhizi chose to rename him Shí Hóu was projected in the air.
"Other timelines truly exist..."
Dasheng Zhizi and Alexander mumbled in awe.
Dasheng Zhizi felt embarrassed and coughed a little before speaking any further. He made a grave insult to one of the strongest people he knew and his current leader.
"Alright, then you and everyone else here, right now, are allowed to call me Shí Hóu."
"Yes! What do ya say, Mary? I avoided calling Shí Hóu Dasheng Zhizi in this life too."
Shu excitedly announced his victory, and Mary chuckled.
"What would we need to do when we get to the new lands?"
Alexander asked Shu as they reached the base of the mountain.
"We will find where the slaves I'd freed in the port of thieves are and recruit whoever is willing to help us in the war."
Shu answered. They didn't have long until the war. He could look far enough into the future and see when the battle starts, but every time he looks, at some point, a purple flash of light appears, and his vision stops.
They walked through the town at the base of the mountain. At the time he wasn't there, the news of Shu being the next heir to the Redfox family spread, and the citizens applauded him. It is only standard for people to celebrate as their king or prince goes to battle. This is how the citizens saw this event.
Both Shu and Mary chuckled. There was something very familiar about this situation.
Their rush to the new lands in this timeline begins!