Hao Xuan opened the gateway and led the barbarians inside. But unlike all the times before, this one did not lead into the Celestial Webway but instead connected directly to the world that Hao Xuan had found.
This was another advantage of using this method. Normally you could only open a pathway into the Webway and navigate through it to find the right world but by sending his consciousness directly into the Webway and interacting with each gateway, Hao Xuan could not only find the correct rune sequence to directly enter the world but also chose where the gateway would lead to.
Although it did consume a lot of mental energy and without fully replenishing his soul power, Hao Xuan would not be able to repeat the process again.
But the Barbarians were not aware of this fact. They had readied themselves to traverse the caves of fire that were the Celestial Webways but stepped onto solid, familiar land on the other side.
It was like walking through any other door. It did not have the physical side-effects of teleporting nor the strange after-effects of the spatial gateways. The only thing of note was the sudden drop in temperature and the lighting.
"Is this…?!" Burak looked around with a stupefied expression, inspecting every nook and cranny of the chamber.
Hao Xuan patted his shoulder, "It is, but don't make too much noise. The beasts might still be nearby," he whispered.
Burak nodded absentmindedly. Even though he knew what was going to happen, but after so long, the idea of returning home had become nothing more than a fleeting side thought that gave them a reason to still wake up in the morning.
But now with just a simple step, they had returned home. And in the exact same spot from which they had departed.
More than a dozen of them went into the webway, less than half returned.
The Barbarian Prince Burak who had been the one constant and a pillar of support for everyone throughout the journey. Isak who was probably the best and strongest fighter among them, keeping them on their toes through everything.
Jarek who had become something more, something different.
Tasgall who had lost the ability to speak, ventured into another world and experienced first hand what all that it had to offer.
And Velkjo and Lei who were the only two ordinary fighters left within the party.
All of them were homesick and the moment they realized what had happened, that their pain and suffering had come to an end, they fell to their knees and prayed to their ancestors, even going as far as shedding a few tears.
Other than Jarek of course. To him everything was new, everything was dangerous.
Hao Xuan smiled seeing these half-giants on the verge of tears but couldn't help but wonder if the same would be true for him.
'Will I be the same way when I return to the Mei Kingdom? Will it be my home? I wouldn't mind if it is…'
And naturally, his mind wandered towards the girl who was waiting for him at his home. He remembered all the mysteries that surrounded Xu Qing's existence and the lies that he had been fed.
To what extent was he manipulated? The bit of nostalgia that he was feeling was instantly replaced by a pit in his stomach.
"Argh!"
*ZINGGGG*
Hao Xuan ears started ringing and a not-so-foreign sensation of his head splitting in half returned.
"This fucking headache!" he cursed but they were all too busy to pay any attention to him.
Hao Xuan staggeringly walked over to the central control panel that was still scratchless and placed his left hand over it.
"Baracus, you know what to do. Get rid of everything."
*Beep*
"Affirmative."
Baracus sprang to action. Many new and a few old letters constantly flashed through the panel's main screen as Baracus proceeded to delete everything related to the Celestial Webway.
Hao Xuan waited for more than a couple of minutes but before Baracus could finish, something else came up.
*Whoosh*
The surface of the wall opposite to Hao Xuan started shaking before suddenly cracking open into a yellow gateway.
"What the fuck!?"
Hao Xuan stood up unconsciously, as did all the rest. Burak turned towards the only person who knew the answers.
"What's happening??" he asked Hao Xuan, who was as dumbfounded as the others.
His eyes darted back and forth as a myriad of thoughts crossed his mind until suddenly, he remembered something.
He ran towards Burak, grabbing him by the collar.
"The Djinn, did you kill it?!"
Burak shook his head, "No, of course not. It never even showed itself. Only the-"
He froze mid-sentence upon realizing what had happened.
"D-Did it use us? Did it let us leave on purpose so it could follow us here?" he asked in a low voice.
Hao Xuan nodded solemnly.
"But why? Why not just kill us?" Burak asked himself but Hao Xuan answered nonetheless.
"Where is the fun in killing a handful of guys? It would still be stuck in that place after we were gone but now….now it just found a whole new world to torment…"
