Hearing the knock at the door, Lorne left his courtyard to see who it was. Opening the door he was a little surprised to see Tower B"wiri and Paneneko. Lorne or course invited the three in and brought them to his courtyard. Most cultivators in the sect had servants to take care of mundane needs, but Lorne never cared for the idea of having servants; he liked being self-sufficient. Pouring tea for each of the friends Lorne took his own seat. "What can I do for you?" He asked pleasantly. Things were always a little weird between them ever since he emerged as the true possessor of Malkus" body. Things greatly improved after he created a new body for himself and allowed Paneneko to bury his brother. Things greatly improved but there was still a barrier between everyone. They tried to accept Lorne more and Lorne tried to accept them, but no one could forget that Lorne wasn"t Malkus. He was an "invader," into their lives. They understood this wasn"t Lorne"s fault and he was actually a heroic person, but it was still weird. Of course, who could forget Lorne claiming either Tower or Paneneko could be the Great Fiend from his last life? B"wiri couldn"t forget this fact.The three hesitated at first before Tower finally answered. "Listen, Lorne, I know things have always been awkward and we"ve made a few attempts at changing things. We had a few hundred years to train and put some distance between ourselves and the past. The truth is, we"ve known you longer than we knew Malkus. He was our brother and we"ll miss him, but you"ve always been good." B"wiri suddenly jumped in as she saw Tower struggling. "Lorne, what Tower is trying to say is we"re about to leave this place after exploring the secret realm. We don"t want to end things with you in such a weird way. We would like to take an opportunity to get to know you better and go our separate ways as friends." Lorne looked at the three and simply responded, "ok." He wasn"t entirely sure what they were looking for.
Paneneko spoke up, "I wanted to hang out with you a little if that"s okay. Maybe you could tell us more about yourself?" "Sure," Lorne responded. Thinking for a few minutes he began speaking; "I originally came from a planet called Earth over forty-five thousand years ago. On that planet, I was what they called a superhero, a hero with powers far beyond the abilities of normal people. It wasn"t a land of cultivators. Cultivators have powers but those are the result of martial training. I had powers from birth. I really enjoyed being a hero, I even met a woman and we started a family, but then there was a great battle..." Lorne continues speaking with the trio for the rest of the evening. The three laughed and talked. Lorne tried to make hamburgers and french fries because they all wanted to try an Earth dish. It didn"t come out exactly as Lorne hoped but it turned out to be a fun evening. Late at night everyone finally parted ways and headed back to their dwellings. Lorne retired for the evening and decided to have a nice sleep.
The next morning, Lorne got up and happily got ready. It had been so long since he had such a nice evening. Things were really fun the night before. As Lorne thought back to the previous evening he continued to get ready. Today was the day they would meet the Endless Heavens Sect. After the great success of the Three-Five Paths, the Sect Master pet.i.tioned Lorne and BS42 to allow him to share the cultivation method with the Endless Heavens Sect. Arguing, it would help them fight the Fiends in the future, of course, Lorne and BS42 agreed. The Endless Heavens Sect began training the Three-Five Paths about one hundred years after the Water Rock Sect. Lorne was curious what kind of progress they made. Like the Water Rock Sect, the Endless Heavens Sect locked down their sect to train in the Three-Five Paths. If not for the secret realm they would still be in cultivation. However, a secret realm was too much to resist so they put a halt on training to pursue this opportunity.
Reaching the main square, Lorne took his place among the teachers with Tower, B"wiri, and Paneneko. BS42 was even present at the event. He drew a great deal of attention from others. Many people still believed he was wearing some kind of armor, only a few knew that BS42 was more or less a robot with a soul. BS42 nodded towards Lorne when he saw them. It had been a long time since BS42 spent all of his time in the Samsara Pod. These days, he delegated command of the Samsar Pod and oversight of the new Samsara Ships over to Warbox Ochiagha. Ochiagha was another of BS42"s fellow conspirators to overthrow the Zimwarn Emperor. He was also a highly decorated military officer and extremely competent. Lorne actually liked Ochiagha a lot.
After a few speeches about friendship and the importance of working together to destroy the Fiend menace, the students and teachers of both sects gathered for a banquet. To help warm everyone up, the Sect masters integrated both sects together to make sure everyone sat with someone from another sect. It seemed to work as everyone began to make new friends.
A young lady from the Endless Heavens Sect locked eyes onto Lorne. She noticed him from the very beginning and enjoyed his mannerisms very much. He was calm, intelligent, and she sensed he was powerful. Eventually, she learned it was Lorne who was responsible for introducing the Three-Five Paths to the Sect. He was also the master of the Legendary Warbox BS42. She found herself smitten. Her name was Su Ming, a young and peerless beauty. She was warm and una.s.suming. Many men were in love with her, to them she was their ideal mate. She was also very energetic and obsessed with martial arts. Her obsession was not as a battle maniac but more like a person who appreciated the "art" of martial art.
Su Ming made her way over to Lorne and introduced herself. She sat with him at his table and began to chat sincerely. The two hit it off immediately. Lorne really liked this girl, he found her way of thinking refreshing less barbarian fighter and more thoughtful artist. He also found her slightly familiar she reminded him of Mary. Lorne was taken with the thought of his first wife. He remembered how natural he felt with her. It seemed like they were made for one another. Then he began to think of the Dragon Princess and how she snuck into his heart without realizing it. He believed if he hadn"t died that day he would be married to her by now.
Suddenly, Lorne"s thoughts froze and a slight feeling of doom began to grow in his heart. He looked at the beautiful Su Ming and no longer saw a young enchanting woman, but the harbinger of his death! Every time he fell in love with a girl he very quickly found himself reincarnating. "I don"t want to die again! I"m just getting used to this world!" Lorne thought to himself. Why, why was he feeling this doom where was the danger? The secret realm! He realized there must be something about the secret realm that was dangerous.
Lorne quickly rose to his feet looking at the young lady while sweating profusely. "I"m sorry miss Ming, you are a lovely young girl but I am unable to pursue a relationship as I do not wish to die again!" After blurting this out Lorne quickly departed signaling several people to follow him. Su Ming remained in her chair completely stunned and confused? Weren"t they having a nice time? Why did he look at her like she was the grim reaper? What did he mean die again? Su Ming was too confused and couldn"t understand the situation.
Lorne, BS42, Tower, B"wiri, Paneneko and the two Sect Leaders followed Lorne to Master Que"s residence. Lorne refused to say anything until they arrived at the residence and Master Que activated the highest level of precautions. Everyone finally took chairs and Master Que looked to Lorne, "Can you tell us what"s going on now?"
Without missing a beat, Lorne got straight to the point. "I think there"s something wrong with the secret realm, it might be a trap or there might be some hidden danger we won"t be able to cope with." Master Que was very worried suddenly, "Lorne, why do you say that?" "Master Que, please trust me, I think we need to rethink this secret realm adventure. Maybe we should cancel it!" Lorne said to the sect master. "Cancel it!?" Master Fing Sect Master of the Endless Heavens Sect cried out.
"Yes, cancel it, we might need to! Master Que, could you invite some masters from a more powerful sect to come and help us explore this secret realm?" asked Lorne. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Why do you want to cancel it?" asked Master Fing. "I don"t want to go into it, I just think we should," Lorne said. "Lorne, the discovery of a secret realm is a big thing. We can"t just cancel exploring it without a reason. Please, just tell us why you think there" something wrong with the secret realm." Master Que said to Lorne.
Looking around the room Lorne realized he needed to say something. "Fine, I"ll tell you why. The reason we need to cancel exploring the secret realm is that...it"s because...I"ve found a girl I"m interested in!"
Everyone in the room had the same reaction, "WHAT???????!"