Beginning Beyond The Horizon

U-ri's high above the small city and has the advantage of being able to see the entire city. Holding Meiji in his arms and sitting on the back of an eagle overlooking Dreake City, U-ri could see that the flames were burning rapidly bit by bit as every minute passed. U-ri predicted that his friends might be somewhere in the middle, where the fire had not yet reached, and at the same time, when he saw the fire reaching the land from the sea, he hoped that his friends had escaped.

"Sir U-ri," Nayao asked. "Why have they come yet?"

U-ri sighed and said, "They won't come until the matter is resolved."

U-ri looked to the far right, and all he saw were swaying trees in the distance. Then a white dragon that he was sure was Baishui, blasting crystal ice towards the burning city, and then Baishui fell back to the ground. After a while, Bong's marker flashed all over the sky. Seeing the sudden falling Baishui and Bong's marker, U-ri understood that Bong was asking for help.

"Nayao, get off the eagle's back, " U-ri said. He turned to looked at Nayao. "It's safe here. Just stay here. Don't go anywhere. I'll be back soon." He smiled at Nayao. "The fire won't reach this place."

Nayao nodded and quickly jumped off the eagle's back. She stood on the edge of the cliff and watched U-ri take off with the eagle.

The eagle was already halfway to Bong's marker when U-ri realized he still had Meiji in his arms. He shook his head and said, "You old fool, why did you forget to leave him with Nayao."

When the eagle swooped down and landed, U-ri realized that the scene on the ground was that of Bong, Jiāo, and the people of Dreake City were fighting against a herd of dead men, so he didn't dare to land. The eagle circled as U-ri saw Abrafo running toward the wall of fire. The eagle swooped down on Abrafo, grabbed Abrafo by the waist and flew towards Bong.

Hajime turned to the others and said, "I can't take everyone with me at once." He grabbed his two wooden eagle statues. Abrafo's red marker spread into the sky.

Yul said, "He found the first portal."

"Open a portal at the main entrance," Fufu said with gritted teeth. "That bastard wants to kill everyone."

Kaizen said, "I can create a portal to take us out, but I can only take five people."

Yul said, "Hajime, take me, Michio and Fufu out first. You can take Zoya, Lixin and his three subordinates." He looked at the survivors. "Taking them away would do more harm than keeping them here."

Lixin said, "Let's clear the path first."

Two eagles swoop over, and Hajime and Yul are caught by the first eagle, while the second eagle swoops down and grabs Michio and Fufu.

Kaizen closed his eyes and stared at Baishui. He raised his index finger and quickly drew a square. The square then quickly expands into a door. He turned to look at Lixin and said, "Which one of you is going?"

Lixin said, "Jin, Xiang, Chao, and I." He turned to look at the others. You guys just wait here for Hajime's eagles." The four Misicks followed Kaizen and Zoya into the portal. As soon as Lixin entered, the portal disappeared.

The eagle dropped Yul and Hajime not far from Baishui. As soon as Yul's feet touched the ground, Yul fired a bolt of lightning directly at the dead men. Yul realized that the dead men they were encountering now were much faster than the dead men from the second portal. If they are faster, it means they are full.

Hajime threw his bracelet over Baishui, to protect him. 

Yul shouted, "Hajime, send these people out!"

Instead of flying back to the others waiting on the other side of the wall of fire, Hajime's three eagles continued to snatch people from the streets.

By the time the four Tanzanies and their friends killed all the dead and those who had turned within an hour. The fire has spread across the city and many people have been trapped in different parts of the city. The eagle carrying U-ri and Meiji landed in front of Hajime. 

U-ri said, "Hajime, your eagle can no longer sneak into the city."

Yul asked, "What do you mean?"

U-ri said, "Survivors gathered in different parts of the city and fires burned from all directions. Even if the fire is extinguished, the trapped people will not survive. If they are not burned to death, they will die of smoke poisoning."

Exhausted, Baishui raised his head and said, "Father, they won't come back on time to save them." He lowered his head to the ground and closed his eyes.

Hajime looked at the burning city and felt extremely sad. He remembered that just a few days ago, the city was still so lively and full of smiling faces. The noise of the people now turned into cries and cries for help. As he watched Meiji rest peacefully in U-ri's arms, he knew that if he didn't take action soon, many mothers would no longer be able to hold their children again. He opened his left palm and stared at the palm prints. He slid the nail of his right thumb into the middle of his palm, leaving a new cut in the middle of his left palm, with blood oozing from the new cut.

"What are you doing?" Kaizen shouted after realizing what Hajime had done. Kaizen rushed to Hajime's side and grabbed Hajime's left palm. "No... NO!" His lips trembled, and angry tears moistened his eyes.

Seeing Kaizen's strong reaction, Yul asked, "What's wrong?"

Hajime smiled at Kaizen and said, "I know what I'm doing." He turned to Yul and smiled. "This is the right thing to do. I know if you were me, you would do the same thing." He walked up to Baishui and put his right hand on the side of Baishui's face. "Think of your father and the people you want to be here."

Baishui looked at Hajime and said, "Thank you." He closed his eyes, tears rolling down his closed eyelids.

Hajime opened his left hand, stared at the freshly cut flesh wound, clenched his left hand into a fist, stared at the sky above Dreake City, and began to chant. Lightning flashed across the sky, and multiple roars sounded in the small city. A huge white crack appeared in the sky above Dreake City, and nine giant dragons rushed out of the lightning crack blasting crystal ice into the burning city and flew towards the sea. Twenty more dragons rushed out, each flying to different areas of the city and began to blast crystal ice into the burning city.

Baishui whispered weakly, "My father and brothers are back, we should be safe." His head hit the ground hard, with a loud thump, as dust flew into the air.

"Your Highness," Jiāo said bursting into tears.

"The gatekeepers of the South Sea!" The people cheered.

"We are safe now," women hugged her children in her arms and started crying.

"I've never seen anything like this," Fufu said shockingly.

Abrafo smiled and said, "What a beautiful, magnificent sight." He smiled at Bong, then turned to Zoya with a smile, but Abrafo was surprised to see Zoya's gloomy expression. "Hey Zoya, isn't this sight not magnificent enough to make you smile?"

Zoya sighed and said sadly, "There is nothing magnificent about it."

Michio glanced at Kaizen and found that his expression was as gloomy as Zoya's. "Kaizen, what's wrong?" Michio asked. "Why are you and Zoya not happy that we survived the fire?"

Kaizen said annoyingly, "What are you celebrating for? Have you beaten Huoyan, yet?" 

Abrafo said, "No, but this is a win as well."

Kaizen turned to looked at Abrafo and said, "If you knew the price of your partial victory, you wouldn't be celebrating." He quickly opened the portal, untied the bag from his waist, and handed it to Hajime. "This might help you defeat that Zahog."

Hajime took the bag and looked inside and found that the bag contained a small pure phoenix egg. "You told me it was destroyed when Meiji was born," Hajime said.

Kaizen said, "I manipulate it. When you take it out of the bag, the talisman I planted inside will revive the phoenix egg." He walked towards the opened portal.

Michio asked, "Are you leaving already?"

Kaizen said, "I made a promise to Xian. Although I am not willing to protect him, I will not help anyone fight against him." He turned his head to look at Hajime. "I hope your decision was worth it."

Hajime smiled at Kaizen and said, "It was worth it. Goodbye Kaizen."

Kaizen sighed and walked into the portal.

Hajime turned to Jiāo and said, "Jiāo, it's time to take us to Kinigan Island."

Jiāo said, "But His Highness."

Hajime said, "U-ri will stay here and watch over Baishui."

Jiāo wiped her tears and said, "Follow me."

Lixin said, "Jin, you stay behind with the others."

Jin nodded. "I will make sure that everyone is safe," Jin said.

The four Tanzanies, two Misicks, Fufu and Zoya followed Jiāo towards the sea.

"What's wrong with Kaizen? He should have stayed with us and help us fight through this," Abrafo frowned madly. "What's this high price he said? Do any of you know?" He turned and looked at his friends walking beside him. 

Zoya stopped and looked at Hajime. She said, "If Hajime thinks it's worth it, then it's not high."

Hajime stopped and said, "It was worth it."

Yul asked, "What's the price?" Hajime looked away. "Look at me and tell me, what did it cost to bring those gatekeepers here?"

"Yul..."

Yul said irritably, "You promise, you won't lie."

Hajime looked at Yul and stutteringly said, "I... I created a rift in space-time and brought them here."

Yul's eyes widened, he remembered the shocked look on Kaizen's face when Kaizen held Hajime's left palm, so he quickly grabbed Hajime's left hand and saw a huge red scar forming from the top of Hajime's wrist straight to the crack in between Hajime's middle and ring finger. Although Yul didn't know much, he knew that destroying a mage's palm prints was equivalent to halving the mage's lifespan. Yul's lips trembled, and tears slowly rolled from his eyes. He pulled Hajime into his arms and held Hajime.

Abrafo, who was standing next to Hajime, saw the flesh wound and said sadly, "The price is indeed very high."

Bong said, "Speak clearly. I don't understand."

Fufu said, "I don't understand either."

Abrafo said, "A mage can create a rift space-time twice in his or her life."

Bong said, "Why only twice?"

Abrafo said, "Every time a mage creates a rift in time and space, he must give up fifty years of his life. Therefore, a mage can only create two time-space rifts in his life."

As the smoke was extinguished and smoke lingered in the air, Yun slowly walked down the street Meng told her about. After crossing the bridge and walking to the other side of the street, not far away, she saw Meng sitting on the stone steps, leaning against the stone dragon statue. She slowly approached Meng, sat between Meng and the dragon statue, took out her handkerchief, clasped her hand with Meng's left hand, and tied their hands together. She raised Meng's bitten arm to her mouth and began to suck on Meng's wound.

When she was satisfied, she carefully placed Meng's head on her right shoulder, and her own head rested on top of Meng's head. She smiled and said softly, "Brother Meng, let's run away together and never come back."