1681 Out of the Gate

The Voidgate opened up and spat out 3 humans and a mouse.

Long Huan grabbed Hannah, and gently lay her on the ground before she could hit it hard. Zhan Luoyang and Whisker, however, weren't used to the workings of a Voidgate that well and didn't realize they were going to be thrown out with such force.

Whisker looked back at the Voidgate in surprise. His brother would have loved to experience that most certainly. The ever-

changing swirls that bent time and space around to throw them out here.

It had been a massive shockwave that sent them into the Voidgate, so Whisker hadn't been ready for what was coming. He wondered what had happened outside that sent them through.

"No, no, no," Long Huan quickly walked up to the Voidgate and stood there with a worried look on his face. "It's closed. The other side is closed. They can't come through."

He quickly brought out the Ivory sword, and dug it into the Voidgate, opening it. However, he hesitated to enter. On the other side was his father and if went through, he would be stuck, that too with the sword.

"I'll go!" Whisker said and turned to jump. However, before he could go through, the Voidgate's entrance enlarged and another figure was thrown out.

Liang Shufen tumbled on the ground of the cave, coming to a halt only when Zhan Luoyang stopped her.

Long Huan didn't understand how she came through. He looked through the Voidgate, ready to catch the other two that were hopefully coming through. But nobody came at all.

Whisker ran up to Liang Shufen who was standing up. "Old lady, where is my brother?" he asked her desperately. "Is he coming?"

"Huh?" Liang Shufen looked back, confused. "They were right behind me. His Majesty had to open the gate for us to get through first. Sister Yao Ning should have been right behind me."

They turned around and waited, hoping that Alex and Yao Ning would make it through. Long Huan communicated with Hannah, telling her what was going on. She would be the most confused among them all without any information.

Hannah panicked when she learned what was happening and how Alex was left behind with the Dragon Emperor on the other side. She knew how strong the man was. She had fought him and he had nearly killed her.

She tried gesturing, speaking, doing anything to convey the urgency in her thoughts, but there was nothing she could do.

The group waited however well they could, but nobody came out at all. In the end, they couldn't help but get worried.

"I'm going in," Whisker said and jumped into the Voidgate.

Nobody even had the time to stop him from leaving.

"Will he be okay?" Zhan Luoyang asked.

"He's a Seeking mouse. If anyone can figure out what happened on the other side without being caught, it would be him," Liang Shufen said.

"But it will take him a while to come back," Long Huan said. "We'll have to stay here for what… 3 more hours? That is if he can come back."

"We'll stay," Liang Shufen said, nervousness filling her voice.

Whisker returned 5 minutes later, appearing out of the Voidgate. When he arrived, he landed safely on the ground. "Brother is not there anymore," he said in a calm voice. "I could feel him in the distance, somewhere, but I don't know where."

"They're not there?" Liang Shufen asked. "What about elder Yao?"

"She wasn't there," Whisker said with a hesitating look "But… I did sense remnants of her aura in the air. I… I don't want to believe it, but… she might be dead."

Liang Shufen gasped, tears filling her eyes.

"There was also a pool of blood, on two spots. One of them was definitely brother's and another one felt like it belonged to a regular human," Whisker said. "There was no corpse."

"No…" Liang Shufen let out a low tone of sadness. Tears fell down the side of her face, dripping onto the sand below.

"Is Alex alive?" Long Huan asked.

"He's alive," Whisker said. "I would know if he died."

"But he's not okay?" Zhan Luoyang asked.

"I… I don't know," Whisker said. "He was too far away for me to tell. I… I believe he might have been taken by the Emperor. I could only tell the general direction through out bond, and not the distance."

"How do you even know all of these things?" Long Huan asked. "You only went away for 5 minutes."

"5 minutes?" Whisker looked up, confusion filling his worried face. "I was gone for nearly 3 hours. I only spent 5 minutes on the other side."

"What?" Long Huan didn't believe it. "How can that be possible? We clearly saw you go into just 5 minutes ago."

Whisker frowned a little.

"I remember hearing brother say something about Space and Time acting weirdly in the Void. Maybe we felt like it was a long time inside, but in fact, no time passed outside at all."

"Is that possible?" Long Huan couldn't help but ask.

"That's not what we should be concerned with right now. What do we do henceforth?" Zhan Luoyang asked. "I doubt we're going to return there. The Emperor might even be setting up watchers to see if we will come back."

"Maybe… maybe if I give this sword to my Father, he will let go of Alex," Long Huan said.

"I doubt it," Liang Shufen said. "If you go, there will be no trading. Your father will just capture you and take the sword from you."

Long Huan realized that would indeed be the case. "Yeah, no. We can't go back," he said in frustration. "I especially can't go back. But then what do we do now?"

"We need to tell sister Scarlet what is happening," Whisker said. "Maybe she can help."

"Yes, let's go," Liang Shufen quickly stood up and got ready to leave.

Long Huan saw the two of them walking out of the cave and quickly followed them. "Wait, who is this Scarlet woman?" he asked.

"She's the ruler of the Southern Continent," Liang Shufen said as she pulled out a boat of her own. "Her Majesty, the Phoenix."

"Oh!"

Long Huan quickly put Hannah onto the boat and gave the direction once everyone was on there. Liang Shufen flew them away.

Whisker pulled out the Immortal puppet from his storage bag. He had put the puppet inside when they were in the void, but here in the ocean now, they would need it.

The dark water spread as far as they could see with small islands being visible in the distance. They were south of the mainland, so it would take a while to return back to the mainland.

Liang Shufen and Zhan Luoyang fought off-sea beasts that tried to attack them, killing them easily. The Immortal puppet wasn't even needed at all.

Long Huan pointed in the distance. "That's the City of Flowers. We're here," he said.

Liang Shufen nodded. Now that she was here, she knew exactly where she had to go. Without waiting for anyone to find out they were there, she made her way to a teleportation building and directly took them to the Sunborn Sanctuary.

When they walked out, they were in the capital city with the golden dome taking over most of the scenery in the city.