What’s Next?

Wei Huoran was on his hover bike heading north, after spending the week in the Fu region, he needed to stop by the Xian region to fill the second secret realm artifact.

'After I find a suitable location to take, I'll return home and set everything up. The farmers and artisans can work in the secret realms, and we will build new facilities for beer, wine, and spirits', Huoran listed his priorities, 'After that, I would say that the most essential tasks have been completed.'

Huoran saw the border between the two regions approaching and he stopped the bike.

'I think the cultivators guarding the border will be stronger than normal', he thought.

'Then it would be better to head back to the beach and go around', Quanliyan replied.

Huoran scrunched his face in annoyance, 'Your right, that was the whole reason I used the ship to get to the Fu region in the first place', Huoran relented.

He steered the bike back towards the beach and accelerated.

'As different regions and powers hear about us at Sun & Moon Island, the more likely someone will try to 'test' us if the senior is really awake or not. I should think about some long range surveillance and deterrence weapons that should make people respect the island', Huoran considered.

'Long ranged deterrence weapons? What, like a god killing bow?', Quanliyan asked.

'Something like that, but what I'm thinking about involves electricity and light', Huoran answered.

'Lightning and light are high level elemental techniques that takes years of practice to master', Quanliyan argued, 'While I agree with you that the island would be safer if protected by these elements. I don't think the people who scheme against will wait hundreds of years for you to perfect them.'

Huoran laughed, 'I'm sure that is probably the normal amount of time for a prodigy to master those elements, but I have different plans. I've noticed more than a few useful lightning runes and formations, and I've been thinking about redesigning everything from the ground up to utilize electric power more. It should reduce the amount of Qi we use from the spiritual vein. Instead of talking about it, let me set the course for the hover bike and I'll draft some examples while we travel.'

Huoran kept designing until he reached the beach, and summoned the ship.

'I should clear the border by one hundred kilometers just to stay out of the watcher's sight', he decided.

An hour later, he ship parked on the beach one hundred kilometers north of the border.

He took the bike out again and started flying again, 'Let's see if we can find a nice one hundred kilometers near some mountains. I should stay away from North River and North Wind cities, they would get upset if I took from there.

He released ten drones and proceeded towards a northwestern direction. His bike and the drones flew for most of the day and the night was starting to set in when the perfect location was spotted. He followed the same steps as last time and a few hours later a giant chunk of the mountain was missing.

'Alright, I'll send a text to the Ministers, and teleport home', Huoran said as he typed a message, and initiated the teleport. Five hours after he left, two Foundation Establishment stage cultivators flew to the same spot.

"What the f*** happened?", the first man said when the hole in the mountain came into view.

"I don't know, but we need to hurry up and report this to the Captain", the second man replied.

They quickly used a Qphone to take some images and flew back to their base.

Deep in the ocean, a Merman with a crown on his head was sitting on a throne.

"How could you be so incompetent!", he shouted, "It was one young girl, how could you let my niece get away?!"

"We beg your mercy your majesty", one merman standing in front of six others trembled.

"Explain it to me then, but if I hear any excuses, then consider your service to me completed", the king told them.

As the leader told the story about the instant appearance of the ink maze array, the king grew more angry and stopped them from saying anymore, "Take these failures away and and have Executioner Troy deal with them."

As the seven were dragged away, the king brooded on the throne, 'we must find Zeng Meirong soon or I'll never properly be king. I was too hasty in disposing of my brother and his family and Zeng Meirong is the only one left with the bloodline of the ruler left. There are so many rooms and treasures that only the ruler of the merpeople can use and the only one who can access them right now is her.'

Zeng Meirong couldn't believe the last thirty-five hours, stepping through the portal she had witnessed a world that shouldn't exist. The island she was on was known to her as Sun God island because when the sun rose in the morning , the rays would shine on a certain location under the sea. The first king of the merfolk saw this and decided to build the royal palace there, positioning the throne in line with the beams of light. Meirong knew the residents called this island Sun & Moon island now and the architecture of the buildings here were so different and alien to her. The high rises housed so many people and they didn't fight with each other over resources. She looked at the artifacts they carried, Qphones is what they were called and the moving carriages that didn't require animals to pull them. The people went to work and came home and they weren't downtrodden and bitter, but happy as she saw children playing at parks on weird looking constructs. Old men and women were seen sitting on balconies drinking water and juices more precious than what she would drink when she was in the palace. Crowds of teenage boys and girls would leave a building called school and rush to the QR pod cafe. Everything is so much for her, on arrival they briefed everyone on so much information, took them to a room to get tested, and assigned them rooms and these special cards. When she got tested as late stage Qi Gathering stage cultivator, she was surprised they could detect it even though the treasure she wore should have blocked it. When the drones were shown and briefed, she felt paranoid, but when the citizens here didn't seem to mind, she relaxed somewhat. The introduction of the Ministers was shocking to her, why would citizens need to know who the ministers are? And they are here to serve the populace? And lastly, the one who made all this happen was a man named Wei Huoran, a golden core cultivator who is the disciple of the senior who owns the island. When they brought out the light curtains that's displayed the available jobs, she couldn't even understand three-quarters of them without help from a job counselor. And when it was explained to her she didn't understand how some of the jobs existed. Performers sounded like courtesans, chefs cooked food, do cultivators need to eat? Wouldn't substance pills be enough to satiate their hunger? It's because it taste delicious and they can absorb Qi? After reviewing all the choices, she walked over the available job counselor, "I would like to apply to the Talisman making job opening."

"May I see your identification, please?", the woman asked.

"Here", Meirong handed the card to the woman.

The counselor inserted the card into an artifact and was her fingers were interacting with a control panel for a few moments before she looked at Meirong.

"Do you have prior experience with making talismans", the counselor asked.

"Yes, I was a junior apprentice talisman crafter", Meirong answered.

"Since we need a comprehensive understanding of your level, we need to schedule you for a test", the woman explained, "two days from now is the next day for testing so I will schedule for 13:00 in the morning at the education center. Take your card and take this card as well, when you take a taxi to your appointment, scan both cards, this second card will instruct the taxi where to go and pay for the fare."

Meirong thanked the woman and exited the inprocessing center, and as she opened the door, she saw the city for the first time. Tall building with more glass than she ever seen in her life were everywhere, land bound traveling artifacts of different sizes and colors traveled on certain pathways, and people were walking on smaller paths next to the large paths. She followed the instructions and made her way to a tall apartment complex. When she approached the door m, she saw a lighted panel where she placed her identification card and the door slid open. As she entered the building a giant light curtain greeted her, 'Welcome Zeng Meirong, please follow the light guide to your temporary residence', and an arrow started moving to the left. She followed the arrow, greeting others as she passed them to the elevator, at a loss of what to do, she entered the small room with the control panel. It automatically selected the third floor and the doors closed, and for a moment Meirong panicked as she could feel a slight discomfort as the elevator rose. A few seconds later, the elevator opened and she exited and continued following the arrow until reaching room 351A. With a quick swipe the door opened and she walked inside, the lights illuminated the inside of the room and a giant light curtain activated. For the next hour she watched and learned all the functions of the items and artifacts inside the room. Once she understood everything, she turned off the lights and went to sleep.

Wei Huoran teleported into his cave and left a message in the ministry chat group, 'I'm back, everything went fine. After I eat and bathe I'm going to sleep.'

The next day, he did his normal routine and made his way to city hall and entered the familiar room.

"Good Morning, Ministers", he said.

"Good Morning, Boss Wei", they replied.

"I've been reading your reports so there is no need to go over it again, let's talking about the future", Huoran told them, "First, as I reported, I have created the secret realm artifacts and now they are both filled with one hundred kilometers of land inside. One has a cold weather environment which will be used for farming speciality crops, the production of alcohol, and production jobs that require high heat. The other will consist of mostly farmland and the other production jobs. The secret realms will have Qi transmitted them, but I won't just pump Qi inside to be wasted. These new artifacts will be installed as well, this is the infusion green house and this is the infusion planter. Qi will be supplied to these artifacts and they in turn will supply the spiritual plants. The infusion artifact can vary the level of Qi supplies to the spiritual plants and the reason why is easy to understand. We want to make products available to all people, from the commoner to at least golden core cultivators for now. As the level of the island grows, the level of products we will offer will grow too."

"When will this new plan go into action?", Minister Ye asked.

"In two days, here are the files the construction team will need to prepare, tell everyone that works in the workshops that they have the next few weeks off due to the workshop being renovated and modernized", Huoran instructed them, "Let me give you the priorities for the foreseeable future. Secret realm and workshop renovation, Sun & Moon city and Market Square renovation for energy efficiency, new products revisions for energy efficiency, and long range surveillance and protection. So ladies and gentlemen, it's time to go to work."