Beginning Beyond The Horizon

The soft sound of bamboo chimes brings Kaizen back to reality, and the memories of the past slowly fade away. When he took a few deep breaths and suppressed his guilt, his heart suddenly felt as if it was being roasted by fire. He quickly opened his eyes and took a few deep breaths to control the pain. The purring sound coming from his mouth made Budi open his eyes.

Budi looked at Kaizen and asked, "What's wrong?"

Kaizen said, "Hajime... Hajime call me."

Budi looked at Kaizen, who was already pale, "Hajime? Is he in trouble?"

Kaizen said, "I gave Hajime a summoning amulet to summon me when he needs my help. Just now, I felt a burning in my chest, a strong flame like I was being roasted in an open fire."

Budi said, "If you want to leave, I won't stop you. I know that protecting Hajime is not your true intention. You want to protect Xian's body, but Kaizen, you must remember that today is not yesterday; the past breeze that passed us today was different from the breeze that passed us yesterday or tomorrow." He stood up. "The reason why I allowed Hajime and Meiji to leave together is because Hajime finally understood compassion. When he asked me to give him a chance to correct his mistakes, his actions reminded me of the story of Huoyan." Budi sighed. "If the previous masters had given Jikai a chance, today, there would be no Huoyan."

"I always felt like I made the wrong choice that day," Kaizen said.

"Whether it's right or wrong, we can't go back to the past and fix it. We need to learn from our mistakes and learn how to forgive others and ourselves," Budi said.

Just as Kaizen was about to say something, his heart was stung. He clutched his chest, and the portal opened. "Master Budi, I have to go now," he said as he walked into the portal.

When Kaizen emerges from the portal, he spots a dead man walking towards Hajime, he sent his sword flying at the dead man and splits the dead man's head apart, and his sword flew back to his hand.

Hajime turned his head to the right and saw Kaizen coming out of the portal. "Kaizen!" Hajime shouted happily.

Kaizen was shocked to see dead men who was supposed to protect Peace Valley appearing here. "How did this happen?" Kaizen said in shock.

Hajime finally pulled out the dagger from the dead man's head, and he pushed the dead man away. "Kaizen, can you close that portal?" Hajime asked.

Kaizen swung his sword to the right, decapitating three dead men. "Who opened the portal?" Kaizen asked as he hit one dead man in the face with the hilt of his sword, then grabbed his sword with his left hand and chopped off the head of another dead man.

Hajime sighed and pointed at the exhausted Meng sitting on the stairs in front of the house that wasn't on fire. "He opened the portal," Hajime said. 

Kaizen noticed that the dead man did not attack Meng, therefore, Meng was bitten, or the poisonous mist had started to act on Meng. Kaizen said, "I cannot close the portal. Only the person who opened it has the power to close it." He began killing the dead men who were heading to him.

After killing more than thirty dead men, Kaizen and Hajime finally reached Meng. Kaizen rolled his eyes and asked, "Any last words?"

Meng raised his head, smiled at Kaizen and said, "You can't close that portal."

Kaizen looked at Meng with a smirk on his face. "Who said that?" Kaizen stabbed the sword into Meng's heart. "As long as you die, the portal will automatically close."

Blood spurted from Meng's mouth. "Master, I have failed you." Meng whispered. He leaned his head against the dragon statue; his breathing became shallow. He panted, gasping for air. "Yu...Yu...Yu...Yun." He smiled, blood pouring from his mouth. His hands fell to his sides, and he lay dead against the dragon statue at the foot of the stairs.

When the last dead man fell to the ground, Yul and the others walked back to where Hajime and Lixin were. By this time, everyone on the street had left, and the rest were dead.

When Abrafo saw Meng's body leaning against a dragon statue at the door of a house. Abrafo raised his sword and was about to chop off Meng's head when Michio grabbed onto Abrafo's hand.

"He had already died, there is no need to dismember his body," Michio said. 

Kaizen looked at Meng and said, "So weak, he must have opened more than one portal."

Yul said, "So this must be his second portal, so where is the first portal?" He looked around.

Kaizen said, "Since he died, the first portal he opened should have been closed, but those who escaped through the portal are still lingering in the city."

Lixin said, "Let's spread out and find those dead men, unless more people will become like them."

Michio handed Lixin two red talismans, "These are talisman markers. If you find the first portal, use it and we will come."

Lixin took two talismans from Michio. "Shi, Heng, and Ping, you come with me," Lixin said and handed Jin the other talisman. "You take the others with you."

Yul said, "If there is any survivors, let them follow the path created by Baishui." He looked at the streets that were not on fire. "There are several streets here, spread out."

Kaizen looked at Abrafo and Michio and said, "You two, let's us go this way."

Abrafo scoffed. "Just like when we used to go hunting, um," he said, looking at Michio and Kaizen with a smile.

Yul said, "Let's meet back here in an hour." He turned to Hajime, Fufu and Zoya. "Let's go."

The group of people divided into four groups and moved along four unburned streets. Unknowingly, the fire at sea had spread to the land, and nearby houses also began to catch fire. They were in the heart of the city, where people's cries for help were muffled by the sound of fire and collapsing buildings. As the group continued to search every street, gathering as many survivors as they could find, they were unable to find the first portal and with the fire already beginning to chase them, they regrouped at the said location.

Yul said, "We didn't find the first portal."

Lixin said, "Neither do we." He looked at Jin, who shook his head.

Abrafo frowned in annoyance, "So, where exactly did he create the first portal."

Yul said, "At least we know it's not here. The fire is starting to catch up with us, so let's get out of here."

Hajime said, "Baishui has opened up a safe road for us, let's take that road." Hajime turned around and saw Baishui in mid-air blasting crystal ice back to the city, and then Baishui suddenly falling from the sky. "Baishui!"

Michio said, "Baishui is in trouble. Let's hurry up."

"Everyone, listen, we are going in that direction," Abrafo said loudly, pointing to the charcoal path. At this moment, a red marker shot up into the sky. "Bong..." He pushed people aside and rushed down the street towards Bong's marker.

Looking back at the burning city, Bong noticed that the street they had just crossed was on fire, and the crystal ice began to melt. Bong quickly pushed away some people and caught up with Jiāo.

"Jiāo, the fire is melting the crystal ice. Baishui must go back and create another layer of crystal ice based on the previous layer of crystal ice, so that others can have a chance to escape," Bong said.

Jiāo said," His Royal Highness was seriously injured and has exhausted his last strength. We can't go back. We can only continue to move forward." She looked forward and found that the original bright glowing path created by Baishui, had slowly faded.

Three buildings on the street collapsed onto the street as people were walking, injuring many people. People looked back and saw that the road opened by Baishui was blocked by collapsed buildings. The cries for help from people trapped under the collapsed buildings brought tears to those who barely escaped.

Bong, Jiāo and the uninjured rushed back to those trapped under the burning rubble, but the fire was too intense for them to get closer.

Bong shouted, "Keep walking, you can't help them."

When Baishui reached the city gate, he realized that it was safe, and people could escape by taking the mountain road. Hearing the painful screams of people behind him, he turned his long body around, flew into the air with the last of his strength, and breathed his last breath at the collapsed buildings blocking the street. Then, his body could no longer stay in the air because his strength was exhausted, and he fell directly to the ground.

Jiāo shouted, "Your Highness!" She quickly ran back to the direction of Baishui.

"What are we going to do?" one woman asked with tears streaming down her face. "Will the gatekeeper die?"

Bong said, "Everybody get out of here. He's just tired. Let's go."

Bong walked towards Baishui and Jiāo. He doesn't know where U-ri and Meiji have gone, but he believes they are probably somewhere high and safe, so he is in no hurry to find them. Just when he was approaching Baishui and Jiāo, the people who left just now ran back towards his direction.

"Help!"

"Help!"

As Bong ran past Baishui and Jiāo, a man grabbed the side of his neck and fell to the ground. Bong knelt beside the man and asked, "What's wrong?"

The man struggled to speak, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. "The corpses are eating people," he said. He gasped twice and died.

Bong's heart sank. He stood up and saw people running towards him, and dead men chasing them. He thrust the spear into the dead man's head at his feet. He took out the marker and sent it into the sky. He leaped forward and drove his spear into the head of a dead man who was charging at him.