STAR REALM (CELESTIAL REALM 348, RANKED 5th)The Grand Hall was quiet. Not a single person spoke, no one even dared breathe loudly.
Fu Hau knelt down in front of the throne. Her hands shook and she didn"t dare look up.
"Say that again." The voice sounded calm but it was so unbearably cold, all the thousands of people that stood bowing in the hall shivered as the temperature decreased.
"My Lord, your son killed Lee Jingyi. He was witnessed at the Eternal lotus festival with her on the day of her murder." Fu Hau"s voice shook "And he stole the static artefact, the one that belonged to Master Ju Juan. It was found in his quarters." Fu Hau"s teeth chattered. It had gotten so chilly that she could feel frost on her fingers.
"When we went to confront him he escaped and-"
"Fu Hau" a deep resonating voice called out to her, "look at me."
His voice was so commanding and filled with power, Fu Hau was forced to look up at him.
As her eyes made contact with those black eyes that sparkled with silver speckles, like she was staring at a starry night sky, she felt her soul being chained by him.
"Are you stupid Fu Hau?"
"I-"
"Are you stupid Fu Hau?"
"N-N-No my lord."
"Do you think I am stupid?"
"Of course not, the Supreme Lord of Stars… Yo-You Lord Chàng Xing[1] are not a stupid person. How could the Supreme Lord be stupid." she babbled helplessly.
"Then why can"t you see what happened here." Chàng Xing said, his voice filled with anger. "My son was framed and you fell for it." Thunder clapped in the hall and hundreds of pract.i.tioners fell to their knees screaming, "Please forgive us my Lord, please forgive us."
"My son killing Lee Jingyi. Laughable. Chàng Bo is not stupid.
My son Stealing the static artefact from Master Ju Juan, also laughable. He has neither the capability or the motive to do such a thing. Even though he was in the Domain of Deities at coincidentally the same time as the robbery, just as he was coincidentally with Lee Jingyi the same day she was killed, doesn"t mean he did it.
My son was framed, poisoned and had to flee this realm in front of everyone. And you all dumbly watched by and cornered him!!! Are all of you fools?!"
His shout was so strong that many people in 100 metres of him, including Fu Hau, spat blood and received internal injuries.
"My son is a once in a lifetime genius. The average pract.i.tioner would take 100,000 years to achieve the Dao, an average talent would take 50,000-60,000 years, a peerless talent would take a 1,000 but only my son has reached the Dao at age 100. It is obvious that someone is trying to uproot my son before he properly blossoms.
And now because of these accusations his name has been sullied. He is being chased by Ju Juan"s followers because they want to give him punishment for stealing the artefact and he is being chased by Lee Èmó"s followers who want to use him as a scapegoat to create another war between our Star Realm and his Demon Realm!"
Chàng Xing was beyond angry, he was so livid that his blood was boiling and his gaze could petrify someone to stone.
Ever since Chàng Xing had entered the G.o.d stage none of his old enemies dared mess with him any longer. His son was a shooting star that was taking the magic and martial arts communities by storm. No one should dare mess with him or his son, the fact that someone did made Chàng Xing outraged.
Whoever they were, he would find them, kill them and make them regret ever plotting against his Chàng family.
"Your orders are to spread the news that Chàng Bo has been framed and to try to pacify Ju Juan"s and Lee Èmó"s followers.
I will personally discuss this matter with Ju Juan and Lee Èmó[2]." His commands caused all their heads to ache and the ground quaked.
"And all those that were responsible for cornering my son, count your days, because if he is not alive, I will execute you."
Fu Hau and a quarter of the pract.i.tioners in the Grand Hall, shivered. Deeply regretting their actions.
"M-m-m-y Lord do you want us to track down Chàng Bo and find out if he is okay?" Fu Hau asked, so nervous that she bit her own tongue.
"You are dumb Fu Hau. My son has done a good job of escaping and hiding himself. Tracking him will only put him in danger.
Us trying to track him down will lead our unknown enemy towards him faster. I trust that he is safe and alive.
Until we know and execute the pract.i.tioner that dare challenge my family, we are not looking for my son."
Chàng Xing said these final words with a swish of his robes, causing thunder to clash and lightning to clap in the hall again. When the lightning was gone so was Chàng Xing.
Fu Hau shook . "s.h.i.t… l-I was fooled. I thought Chàng Bo really did it, if he"s dead I"ll be the first one crippled and decapitated. s.h.i.t!"
_______________________
CHAOYANG- MAO LU"S HOME
Chàng Bo"s eyes opened widely. He was laying on a bed, there was a cold towel on his forehead.
He sat up abruptly, "Where am I?" he muttered. His eyes glancing around.
The room he was in appeared normal enough, a little smaller than he was used to, but nothing to complain about.
He sat up and crossed his legs. Breathing calmly. The initial panic and confusion he"d felt disappeared. He remembered all that had happened, he remembered falling into this blue planet and meeting the Gatekeeper of this Realm. He remembered this Gatekeeper helping him, healing him.
"Is this his home?" Chàng Bo mumbled aloud, he faintly recalled the Gatekeeper speaking to him while he was unconscious. This was definitely his house and he mentioned something about food in the fridge.
Chàng Bo was a Dao stage pract.i.tioner so he didn"t need food. He"d long since surpa.s.sed that mortal restriction and could use the essence energy around him as sustenance.
Chàng Bo closed his eyes and meditated. He felt the star essences gathering around him. "Why is the essence so thin here… don"t tell me I"m in a mortal realm?" Chàng Bo realised he must be in a mortal realm, the essence was so pitifully low here and the quality was also significantly low. There was barely enough for a pract.i.tioner of his level to train with, let alone use to eat.
His stomach gurgled. Did that mean he really had to eat food? His stomach gurgled again. It seemed he was going to have to since he couldn"t use the essence as food.
As Chàng Bo slowly got out of the bed, his long hair falling to his waist. He noticed that he was wearing his inner white robes and quickly spotted his main robes, that had silver dancing stars across it, hanging on a hook near the bed.
Chàng Bo put his main robe on. He then proceeded to feel around the pockets until he found his jade pin. He sighed in relief, it was still there safe and sound.
Chàng Bo rubbed the jade pin softly and placed it in his hair whilst saying "Sovereign System open"
He blinked slightly and in his eyes appeared a list.
Name: Chàng Bo
t.i.tle: Celestial Apprentice
Age: 100
Stage: The Dao
Skills:
Supernova lvl 50/100
Starlight lvl 30/100
Celestial dance 60/100
Angel flight 80/100
Heaven"s Grace 20/100
Fate points: 10/10, 000 [Warning! Low points]
Health: 60/100 [-40]
Strength: 600/1000 [-200]
Yes, Chàng Bo had a system. It was called the Sovereign system.
When Chàng Bo was five his mother had given him a jade pin and a Gatekeepers key. She begged him to hide them, and to never tell a soul about it. The day after she requested this, she mysteriously vanished.
Some said she was dead but Chàng Bo didn"t think it was that simple. Especially when he later found out what the Gatekeepers key was and then soon after found out that the jade pin was a legendary system.
When Chàng Bo first activated the jade pin, it told him, "I am the Sovereign system developed by One the Creator. Only to be used to make the perfect Sovereign pract.i.tioner."
The fact that he was able to achieve the Dao at a mere 100 years of age was not only due to his own talent but also due to the system. The system had a large library filled with heaven defying skills and cultivation methods.
Training using the System"s skills and manuals he was able to quickly cultivate and surpa.s.s his peers by a monstrous amount. He could also upgrade skills and merge them or transform them to make his own personal peerless skills.
Of course the system wasn"t without its flaws. Chàng Bo had to make sacrifices. Such as maintaining a pure yang or heat essence body. Men were made of yang (heat essence) but woman typically contained yin (cold essence). Because of that he had to stay away from women.
Additionally he could only train in star or Celestial related arts since the sovereign system only allowed him to specialise in one field. Chàng Bo started his training using star/Celestial cultivation methods and star magic so he had to stick with it.
Chàng Bo could only use the System with fate points. He could use Fate points to exchange for access to the library, to gain a new skill, to merge skills, to speed up cultivation and so on. 5 points were needed to open the library, 10-5,000 points to gain a new skill or cultivation method depending on its grade. The amount of points needed to speed up his cultivation increased with each stage.
Chàng Bo could only get fate points when he changed another person"s fate. He could do this from doing small things like giving a beggar money, helping an orphan get adopted, giving food or funding a charity. He could also get points from big things like slaughtering evil or hypocritical groups like the Hong clan and Jie sect.
For every person"s fate he changed he gained 20 fate points.
If he had no points then the System would switch off and he wouldn"t be able to use it until he had points again.
Chàng Bo"s system isn"t the typical system from the novels, it didn"t give him random missions. He was free to gain fate points and do whatever he wished.
It sped up the process of cultivation. Gave advice about training, and helped improve skills, but that was about it. It has neither a consciousness or any strange power of its own.
Despite that Chàng Bo felt that there was a deep secret to it that he had yet to discover. He felt that his Mother"s mysterious disappearance or perhaps death, had something to do with this secret.
He felt that the framing and recent attempt on his life, also had something to do with the system.
But how could that be? Chàng Bo had never told a soul about his possession of the Sovereign system or the Gatekeepers key. He hadn"t even told his own Father.
If they knew he had a system then wouldn"t a stronger pract.i.tioner have come after him, after all the sovereign system was a priceless treasure. A very strong pract.i.tioner could have easily squashed him and taken it, yet his mysterious enemy had used such sneaky and underhanded methods to get him out of the picture.
Perhaps this had nothing to do with the system at all and he was overthinking things. Perhaps there was a different objective.
Chàng Bo sighed as he opened the sliding doors, the noon sun shone on his gorgeous face, there was no use thinking about this now. Eventually the truth would become clear.
Chàng Bo curiously stared at the siheyuan structure of the house, he"d never seen a place like it before. He walked into the courtyard and walked around the buildings. Some of the doors were locked, such as the ones for the west and south building but the North was open.
When he went inside there was a large living area and kitchen. Although most realms were fundamentally different in their levels of technology and cultures, Chàng Bo could still guess what most of the items in the living s.p.a.ce and kitchen were.
There was strange writing on the sticky notes across the wall in the kitchen.
Chàng Bo couldn"t read the characters. Languages in realms were all different and Chàng Bo couldn"t read or speak Chinese. The only reason he"d been able to understand Mao Lu was because Gatekeepers had the universal tongue. When Gatekeepers spoke anyone could understand them, regardless of what language they spoke in, or what language the Gatekeeper used.
Chàng Bo curiously opened a large metal container. When he opened it it was cold, he realised this was storage device for food. Was this the fridge he remembered hearing about? On plates covered in clear cling film Chàng Bo could see dumplings, tofu, and sashimi.
Although Chàng Bo wasn"t familiar with the items he still identified them as food.
He took them from the fridge and stared at them blankly.
"Do I eat them cold or is there a way to warm it up?"
__________________
XIAO LONG BAO BAR
Meanwhile Mao Lu had left the B&B law firm and went to the Xiao Long Bao bar, where he was meeting up with Zhao Detong.
This was the first time they were meeting together since he"d come out. Mao Lu felt increasingly awkward, even though last time the conversation ended on an okay note he still felt awkward.
He sat down and ordered a gla.s.s of Baiju. He sipped it slowly to relieve his nerves.
"Nice suit." Zhao Detong commented as he tapped Mao Lu on the shoulder and took a seat next to him.
Mao Lu flashed a smile, "Thanks I bought it recently. I just came off work."
"Ah it looks nice, what brand?"
"Armani."
"Nice I have quite a few Armani suits myself."
The casual back and forth conversation continued for a while. And Mao Lu relaxed, glad that the dynamic of their relationship hadn"t changed.
"So what exactly did you like about me?" Zhao Detong leaned his elbow on the counter and rested his head in his palm as he gazed at Mao Lu. "You"ve known me longer than Fei Bing Bing and you know how much of an a.r.s.e I can be, so I"m surprised, actually curious. What did you like about me?"
"...."
Mao Lu wasn"t expecting this question and his brain went momentarily blank, "I don"t really know. I mean there were the obvious things, like you being tall and handsome. I guess as your best friend since I saw you everyday I saw both your charms and your misgivings. I got attracted to your charms and the attachment I had towards you as a friend just developed on its own.
I guess since I was going through p.u.b.erty and you were the guy I was closest to, my hormones just made me like you.
You can be a c.r.a.ppy guy and you"ve cheated on Bing Bing numerous times, and I"m surprised she still wants to marry you. But you"re a very honest person, you"ve always admitted when you"ve done wrong. Even though you"re a s.h.i.t lover you"re a 100% faithful friend, and you always go the extra mile for everyone. Which got us both in a lot of trouble back in the day.
Even when my Father was about to stab me, you jumped in front of the knife and knocked him down.
I guess those were the qualities I liked you for, but trust me those feelings are long gone now."
Mao Lu swallowed more of his Baiju, "so if it makes you uncomfortable you can just pretend it never happened."
"It doesn"t make me uncomfortable. I just feel bad that I made you suffer all these years that you pined after me. Although even if I"d known back then I don"t think I would have been able to do anything with your feelings."
Mao Lu snorted, "Pined after? You make me sound like some lovesick heroine or something. It wasn"t that bad trust me. Plus I had other things on my mind, not just you."
"I know. I know you did." Zhao Detong grinned slightly, "I"m glad we"re still able to talk like this. I"m glad that you opened up to me."
Mao Lu chuckled a little "I"m also glad, I can definitely breathe easier around you now."
Zhao Detong sighed, "If I were you, I"d give Bing Bing some s.p.a.ce though. She always gets sensitive when I"m around woman and I know it"s because I"ve done her wrong so many times. But after you came out last time and then admitted that you had liked me, she"s been acting a bit strange.
When I told her I was going to meet you she got all nosy, asking the five w"s and even giving me a curfew. I promised her that I"d never cheat again 2 years ago, and I haven"t since, but after years of breaking her trust I can understand why it"s hard to build it back up again. She should know that nothing will ever happen between us two. But she"s being sensitive so Mao Lu I"d just give her some s.p.a.ce so she can cool down."
Mao Lu sipped his drink and absorbed this information. He wasn"t surprised, he knew Bing Bing could get hysterically jealous and he"d seen that look she gave him before they parted last time.
"I"ll keep that in mind."
Around about 6pm they parted. Detong giving Mao Lu a bear hug. They both called respective drivers who drove them home using their cars.
When Mao Lu staggered through the vermilion gates and headed to the North building to get some water from the kitchen, he paused when he saw the tragic mess in front of him.
It looked like something had exploded in the microwave, it was dripping with food sliding down the door. The stove had pots and pans on it that all seemed burnt. There was a weird smell. Eggs and flour was everywhere, and in the middle of it all, Chàng Bo stood there chewing something in his mouth.
His blue eyes filled with stars connected with Mao Lu"s.
He sheepishly looked around himself, "I can explain!" Chàng Bo shouted.
[1] Xing means Star or planet 星 in Chinese, in j.a.panese his name can also be read as Hoshi
[2] Èmó means Demon, 惡魔