Chapter 254: Thank you.

Haru flew back in the direction of the resort but on his way, he made sure to drop by and check in on his uncle. He wanted to warn him before anything happened. But as he arrived at his house there was no sign of him. Both of the cars were gone and the inside of the house was a mess.

It looked as though they had left in a hurry. He searched the property with his Qi to make sure that they weren't there and then presumed that he would have been called by someone at the association since whatever was being discussed at the resort was most likely being passed back to them as well so he decided to head back without worrying.

He flew through the sky causing panic below as many people saw him flying at high speeds above them. He wanted to keep it a secret that he was a cultivator before but right now. That didn't matter. All that he was concerned about was making it back to the resort to go other than what was being planned without him.

As he approached the resort there were flashing red and blue lights below and sirens blaring out all over the city as the police helped evacuate the residents in an orderly fashion. That was the handy work of Major Niu. She had notified the higher-ups in the government and the whole city had begun to evacuate towards the mountains.

There was a refuge point in the mountains that was built during the war just in case anyone decided to attack china. They stayed neutral though and no one acted against them so the refuge point was unused. But it was going to come in handy to keep the citizens of Shanghai safe.

Haru landed on the roof of the resort before stopping suddenly.

"Li Jun. It's happening today." Haru let Li Jun know using his spiritual sense to call him out from the ring and then waited for him to make an appearance.

"The demons are coming huh?" Li Jun asked before appearing before Haru, Although the colour of his skin seemed faded and more translucent than he remembered.

"Yeah, But is it that thing happening again? You look kind of sickly." Haru said in acknowledgement of Li Jun's appearance. He remembered what happened last time before Li Jun vanished for a while.

He looked exactly like this and that was worrying Haru a little.

"Yeah, I feel the pulling once more. But I can resist. Don't worry about me. I have been dealing with this for what feels like an eternity. This is nothing." Li Jun put on a smile and then looked out over the edge of the roof to the city below.

"I guess they are evacuating all of the locals aren't they?" Li Jun said to himself with a sigh before looking back at Haru.

"Don't worry too much. I will be by your side the whole time. It will be okay." Li Jun reassured him after seeing how uneasy Haru was.

His face was pale and he was sweating from his forehead. His hands had become clammy and he was occasionally biting his lip.

Despite the life of war that he had lived in the past he had never felt this way before. He only knew how to fight in the past. He had never known anything else. But in the past eighteen years, he had felt so much more than he ever expected to.

He felt the love from his parents as he was growing up. He felt curious about the unknown. He never had time to wonder about life outside of all the fighting in the past so this was something big for him.

He also felt friendship. Being in the war took a toll on his social life since the chances were high that his friends would die and he couldn't count how many times he had developed a connection with another soldier just for them to die in front of him. He often wondered what it was like to have a normal life and it seemed like a distant dream until he was reincarnated.

But most importantly he had felt romantic love. He had seen it before but he never knew the significance of it before. He had searched for love in the past but his social skills would always give people the wrong impression. He had never had time to live his life so he never knew how to interact before he was reborn as Haru Kitagawa.

His life had changed over the past eighteen years and he had finally found a meaning to his life outside of fighting. He wanted to explore, he wanted to learn and he wanted to love. It was the simple things that he valued but to get what he wanted he knew that he would have to fight with all his might.

He just never expected that this type of situation would happen. He felt both grateful and sad. Grateful for the people who had helped him become the person he was and sad that he had to risk everything for the chance to see them all once more.

Li Jun's words calmed him slightly but he couldn't shake the feeling of nervousness within him.

'Am I scared?' He asked himself. He had looked death in his eyes for more than forty years in total yet this was the first time in a while he had felt scared. He had so much that he wanted to live for and that also gave him so much to lose.

A tear gently ran down his cheek as he looked up at Li Jun.

"Are… You okay…?" Li Jun asked. In all the time that he had known Haru, he had never seen him cry before. He didn't know how to react.

"Mm," Haru quickly nodded his head and wiped away the tears from his eyes.

"I'm just glad to have a friend as amazing as you are. You have helped me grow so much and I don't know how to repay you. I just want to do something before it's too late." Haru explained.

Li Jun was taken back by what Haru had just said.

'A friend? Did he think of me as a friend all this time? That's…' Li Jun thought before looking back at Haru.

"I think you have helped me grow a little bit too. Watching you grow all this time has been a blessing. I thought that I would be trapped until the day that the real Li Jun comes to retrieve me. But you freed me and gave me so much more than I was expecting.

I thought that after being separated from my body that I would just have to wait. But the time I have spent here has been more than satisfactory. I should be the one thanking you." Li Jun felt flattered by what Haru had told him.

"If you want to do anything to repay me then you will make it out of this alive and continue living." Li Jun smiled after seeing the tears run down his face.

Haru took a deep breath and steadied his breath. He had come so far. There was no way that he was just going to stand down and die. He needed to survive if not for himself then for the people around him.

He wasn't sure how his parents would react if he died. And surely they would blame Andrew for not looking after him. Even though this problem had nothing to do with him but he promised that he would look out for him before he knew how strong he was.

Haru was sure that Andrew felt a little embarrassed by the fact that his nephew was stronger than him but even so he wasn't a bad guy and even tried to help him out when he got into trouble with the Leung family. He didn't want to destroy his family and split them apart from any more than they already were because he cared about them too much.

He needed to live and that is what he planned to do.

It would be a shame if everyone came to join him in fighting and gave their lives for nothing so he needed to live for the sake of living. He looked up to Li Jun with a smile and then nodded his head.

He wanted to live but he wasn't sure if he could make it out alive even tried. But he was determined to do it. He decided to head inside to see what the game plan would be and to prepare for the arrival of the demons.

Li Jun followed slowly behind as Haru opened the doors and made his way down into the main lobby of the building which was now packed full of people that he didn't know. Most of which were wearing sect clothing.

"Is this the two thousand people Reulla promised?" Haru thought to himself as he looked around the room.