Chapter 45Li Moxian sat at her kitchen table all night long looking at the fruits that were left by Nathan. When she got the call from the head of security from Chen Zhen"s company, she was confused as to why he would be reaching out to her. Chen Zhen"s funeral was a couple weeks ago, and she had already signed all the paperwork she need to receive his life insurance benefits. World COMM had also paid quite a bit more then they were obligated to, which was a blessed surprise for Moxian.
Moxian couldn"t understand everything that just happened this night. From finding out that Chen Zhen was really still alive, but training in another world. To receiving this fruit which filled her body with so much energy that she almost felt like she would explode. To learning a cultivation method that would allow her to use this energy to grow stronger.
She cried for hours when she was told Chen Zhen"s message for her. Promising that he would return to her and the kids as soon as he could. He was doing everything for the sake of her and the kids. The world would soon be changing, and many threats would be coming from different places. He wanted to make sure that he could protect his family at all cost. She cried because she knew that was exactly how Chen Zhen was. He would step in front of a bullet to protect his family, that was what scared her the most. He would put himself in so much danger just to protect them. She didn"t want Chen Zhen to die for her, she wanted him to live for her.
As she looked at the fruits that were spread out across the kitchen table, the last part of Chen Zhen"s message replayed in her mind. He wanted her and the kids to start cultivating. To give themselves a head start in this new world. Nathan had pa.s.sed on some information to her from an old monk who met with Chen Zhen. He said that it would be much easier for the kids to cultivate then adults. Their bodies were still growing so it would accept the new energy much more smoothly then adults could. She wasn"t worried about whether the kids could handle cultivating, they were both in sports in school, so they were used to rigorous practice. She was more concerned with their emotional states. They just came to grips with the fact that their father had pa.s.sed away. Now they were going to find out he was alive and well but wouldn"t be able to come home anytime soon. Moxian was having a hard time coming to terms with this news, how would the kids take it?
Moxian looked at the time and realized the kids would be getting up for school soon. She cleaned off the table and was about to make the kids breakfast when there was a knock at the door. Moxian wasn"t expecting anyone, especially at this early hour. As she peeked outside she saw what looked like police officers at her door. Being cautious Moxian placed the chain on the door before opening it a crack.
"Mrs. Chen my name is agent Diane Matthews. I"m here from Homeland Security. Can we come in and speak to you for a minute, please?" a female agent said when Moxian opened the door.
"What would I have to do with Homeland Security? I"m a recently widowed housewife. How could I be of any a.s.sistance to you?" Moxian asked feeling very confused by this visit.
"I can explain everything if we can just go inside and speak for a minute." Agent Matthews said being very pushy about entering Moxian"s home.
Moxian didn"t feel comfortable about this, but she never had any dealing with the authorities before, so she felt obligated to let them in. As soon as she opened the door for them Agent Matthews and the male agent behind her barged their way into her home.
"Are you home alone Mrs. Chen?" Agent Matthews asked while she searching room to room on the first floor.
"It"s just myself and my kids. What are you looking for? I thought you said you wanted to talk to me." Moxian was getting nervous from the behavior of these two agents.
"We have reason to believe you had a visitor come to your home last night. A Nathan Daniels, he"s the head of security for your husbands former employer." Agent Matthews said as she continued to search around.
Moxian was starting to get frustrated, as she saw Agent Matthews directing the other agent to look upstairs she blocked the way.
"I don"t know why you"re here or what you"re looking for, but I do know my rights. If you don"t have a search warrant you can leave my home now. My kids are upstairs sleeping and I will not have you barging in on them!"
"Are you obstructing our investigation? With the new immigration laws I can you deported for this." Agent Matthews said getting into Moxian"s face.
"My husband and I have our green cards and are legal U.S. residents. And if you want to try and arrest me by all means do so. But you will not be hara.s.sing my family early in the morning. You two can leave now before I call the cops." Moxian said staring Agent Matthews in the eye.
When Agent Matthews saw that she couldn"t intimidate Moxian, she signaled to the other agent to head to the front door.
"If I find you have been aiding Mr. Daniels I will personally see to it that are deported back to where you came from. And that your kids end up in the worst foster home where they will be lost in the paperwork, if you catch my drift. This isn"t a threat it"s a promise!" with that Agent Matthews stormed out of the house.
Moxian locked the doors after they left and leaned against it, before slowly sliding to the floor in tears. They had just threatened to take her kids away from her. What was she going to do? Covering her mouth so the kids wouldn"t hear her, her body shook as sat on the floor and cried.
Moxian knew she had to pull herself together. As she tried to think of her options she remembered Nathan left a card with Janet Miller"s direct contact information. He told her that if she was in dire need of help she should call her right away. Moxian never thought that she would need to use it, so she just put it in her pocket and forgot about it.
Moxian got up from the floor and went into the living room to grab the phone. She called the number and it rang twice before someone picked up the other end. Right as Moxian was about to speak the phone hung up. Right afterward a cellphone in the kitchen began to right. It wasn"t Moxian normal phone, so she didn"t recognize the ring tone. The ring was coming from one of her upper cabinets. When she opened the door, there was a small flip phone sitting on the shelf ringing.
"He…h.e.l.lo…." Moxian answered apprehensively.
"Mrs. Chen sorry for the cloak and dagger, but this is necessary to ensure your calls aren"t being monitored. Ms. Miller is in a meeting at this moment, but she informed me to cooperate with you and offer you any a.s.sistance. How may I be of help?" a chipper young man"s voice came thru the phone.
Gorampa sat in a chamber with eight other very ancient looking monks. They all sat in a circle facing each other. There was nothing but silence for a long period of time.
Finally one of the old monks dressed in silver robes spoke, "The situation you describe does sound like things will turn dire for our world. I agree that when that time comes it will be our responsibility as the guardians of Earth to step forward and help mankind. But we don"t know when this calamity will happen. To mobilize our forces now and place them under your leadership will greatly weaken our temples.
Now that Earth is regaining spiritual energy, cultivation is of the utmost importance to our individual temples. No one, not even yourself Gorampa, can deny this fact."
Many of the monks nodded their heads in agreement with what the silver robed monk said.
"I do not deny the validity of your words Ba.s.sui, but the problem we face can be here today tomorrow or even ten years from now. But that does change the urgency of the matter. If we wait until they are already here destroying and enslaving mankind, would we not have failed in our sacred duty?" Gorampa said in reply.
Once again many monks nodded their heads in agreement. Many of them knew that what Gorampa was proposing was the right course of action. But since Earth had be devoid of spiritual energy for so many millennia, all of the temples where taking full advantage of this time to strengthen their warriors. They all knew that the peace that existed would soon reach and end. When that time came the weaker temples would be swallowed up by the stronger ones. No one wanted to become the servants of other temples. The peace would last as long as it was mutually beneficial.
All of the monks in the chamber had spent time at the Sacred Abyss. Many of them had even been able to make breakthrough in their cultivation. They no longer looked at the Sacred Alliance as something they needed to protect themselves anymore. That is why no one was willing to step forward and offer their support. Gorampa knew this as well. He was hoping he could still reach them through their sense of honor and duty. But as he looked around he saw too many face with condescending looks staring back at him. If this alliance fail, it spelled doom for mankind as a whole.