On the Road Again

Under the surface of the sea was Wei Huoran in his submersible boat. The shape was the same but it was larger now, made from higher quality materials, and engraved with the best runes and arrays Huoran could offer. It could divert light, sound, and Qi detection, and it's own systems were upgraded. At the depths he was currently traveling, he should be constantly under attack from monsters, beasts and the merpeople, all of which were hostile to intruders, but instead it was practically daylight to his vessel. He had developed active and passive sonar, infrared night vision, and a few other arrays to travel undetected. Also with the new ship that was now measuring around 100 meters, he could sleep, eat, or many other activities. Most of his time, he was studying the mysteries of the sea, but he also would take some time to study further into the Grand Array and the control disk installed into his tablet. With his expanded knowledge of spacial runes, he wanted to analyze how the grand array was able to teleport him home when he was so far away. Huoran was essentially trying to recreate the internet by studying the signal the disk used to communicate with the formation. It wouldn't be difficult for each city that had the power to set up a network for their city but he needed the cities to be able to communicate with each other and this signal was the key. He always kept his eye on his surroundings as the life in the sea ranged from tiny to obscenely large. There were a few close calls of his ship almost running into larger fish, but these instances were very rare.

On the second day of travel, Huoran was using the QR pod he had installed to program some new games and features when Quanliyan spoke, 'Xiao Ran, there are multiple unknown signals coming towards the Atlantis (name of the ship). I suspect them to be Merfolk, but I'll confirm in a few moments.'

'Understood', Huoran replied.

He was proud of himself that he taught Quanliyan some modern terms. Walking over to holographic donor display, he watched as three points came closer.

'Yes, as I thought, they are merfolk but the formation they are swimming in suggest that the one in front is trying to escape from the other tw…more merfolk have arrived', Quanliyan announced.

Five more signals appeared on the display and the computer installed into the boat projected their likely path was an accidental collision with him.

'While I won't involve myself directly in this incident, I have a plan. Slow the boat, and let the first one pass in front of us. Then move in between the two sides and activate that water ink escape array. This should give us the boost to leave this situation behind and provide cover for the one being pursued. Hopefully they will take advantage of the opportunity, but that is the most I'll do to assist. There is no reason to stick your hand to close to something that will bite it. Nine seconds later the first merfolk passed in front of their location, and Huoran caught sight of a beautiful mermaid. She had been injured and looked to be out of stamina soon, so Huoran advanced the ship as planned and activated the escape array. To the seven mermen and mermaids chasing the first, the water went from a crystal clear view to a giant dark cloud of ink. The one being chased didn't even register what was happening behind her and continued to swim away, but the seven stopped in the tracks and performed hand signs to activate unknown techniques. Water swirled around the area but the ink didn't flow with the current and this caused the seven pursuers alarm. As they frantically tried to escape the ink, Huoran was miles away, monitoring the sonar display for changes.

'It's a relieve that the array work correctly', He said relieved.

'Well I never heard of an array like it before', Quanliyan agreed, 'Not only do you activate an array that speeds up the ship, but you ejected an array that is both an illusion and capture array.'

'It should hold them for awhile', Huoran added, 'it was an earlier low quality array, but the strongest one there was early foundation establishment stage. It will take awhile for him to find and break the cores.'

By the end of the day, he had reached the region of Fu, the most southern region of the Nanying Continent. Xian was the region right next to his home, and Zhou was the last region to the west. Just as he was ready to ascend out of the water, the top of the ship hit ice and stopped. He left the ship, quickly broke through the ice, and walked to the nearby beach. Temperature was cold and there was currently freezing rain coming down hard. He quickly changed from his normal robes to thick robes made of animal furs, even though he wasn't cold, he wanted to blend in with the natives. Summoning his hover bike, he took off in the direction that his map said Ice Lake city was located. After getting lost for a couple days due to everything being covered in snow, he eventually made his way to the city. At the gates, a long line of carts, carriages, and mounts stood as they were checked on the way in and learning from past experiences, he observed the interactions at the front gate. Seeing that a few of the guards were collecting different amounts of money and no standard being applied, he quickly understood that they were scamming a little off the top. As he made his way towards the front of the line, he noticed the eyes of the guards glance over at him and his fur robes from time to time. He already imagined that they would use this to pressure extra money out of him, and his patience started to wear thin.

"Boy, come forward to provide identification", Huoran hears suddenly.

"Ah yes, due to shortages in resources in the city, those who wish to enter need to pay a little more I'm afraid", a guard with a flat nose said with a smirk.

"Why don't submit your bags for inspection, and we will make sure you aren't trying to smuggle illegal or fake goods into the city", a third guard with cauliflower ears added.

Frustration boiled over as Wei Huoran released his Golden Core aura. All the guards at the gate immediate reacted to the pressure as their eyes bulged and mouth hung open.

"Do you still need to see my identification and bags for inspection?", Huoran asked, "And you, do you think I'm deaf? I am here in front of you, are you to knock me out and take my robes as punishment?"

All the guards cowered as this questioning and slowly responded, "No, my lord, you are free to enter the city."

"But you made it clear that you are collecting extra coin for the charity of the city correct? You said that resources are limited and you have to qualified to enter the city? How can I be qualified to enter the city if I have t paid my part?", Huoran angrily questioned them, "Hold on one moment, your guard captain seems to be at a feast, how could there be feast when it sounds like resources are being rationed?"

"We are very sorry, my lord, please have mercy on us", the lead gate guard begged.

"I see your guard captain is a mid foundation establishment stage cultivator and he is heading this way, excellent, I will make sure that he recieves the payment that you requested of me", Huoran continued as he noticed the cultivator heading his way.

The guards blanched at the news and a moment later a man that appeared to be in his thirties wearing fine furs appeared at the gate.

"My friend, might I know why you are here and if you are having any troubles?", the man inquired.

"Yes, these fine people here informed me that due to shortages in resources in your fair city, I would be charged a large entrance fee and that they had to inspect my bags since they suspected that I might be carrying illegal items", Huoran informed him", and I just wanted to make sure that my fee was going to the correct person and not to the pockets of a schemer."

As the man heard Huoran speak, he looked over at the guards with his face turned red from rage. The guards were sweating profusely as they heard the conversation between the powerful cultivator and their captain.

"My apologies fellow Doaist, I'm afraid that my men have committed an error. Neither of the conditions set forth by them are true. Please accept my sincere apologies and I will make sure that this doesn't continue to happen.", the captain said.

"An error, I understand", Huoran replied, "I will go ahead and enter then, it would seem you have your hands full now."

He entered the gate and began walking towards the better part of town. They would probably suspect something if he traveled towards the slums, so he decided to get a courtyard that was a little more expensive than normal. As this played out, a figure wearing hooded furs in line watched huoran actions and continued to stare as he walked inside.