Three to get Ready

"Greymane, Merchant Tan, would you join the Nanying continents leaders, the Sun & Moon island Ministry, and me for a meal this evening, and a demonstration of the artifact that you saw on the light curtain today", Huoran offered.

Xinyue quickly agreed, but Greymane was quiet for a few minutes, "I'm sorry, but with our chieftain in peril, I must decline."

The cars driving the group had reached their destination, and stopped by the beach where the five bird mounts were waiting.

Everyone stepped out of the vehicles, and walked towards the waiting animals.

"Very well Greymane, please take this talisman. Should you return in the future, use this talisman to announce your arrival and you won't have to worry about our defense formations", Huoran handed the talisman to Greymane, "Just make sure that everyone you bring is prepare to follow the rules or they will be restricted again at best or thrown to the beastkin of the sea at worse. Also if you find it difficult to cure your chieftain, we offer our services to cure him."

Greymane nodded as the wolves climbed the eagles, and seated themselves. He howled, and patted the eagle's back. It flapped it's wings, and after a few moments went airborne as the other eagles followed after.

"Well then Merchant Tan, shall we set off? I believe we are expected", Huoran asked as he headed to the limousine.

"Yes, Daoist Wei, let's not keep them waiting for us", Xinyue replied.

During dinner, Xinyue was amazed by the food, not only by its taste, but the Qi quality he could absorb from it.

"Merchant Tan, what trading company do you work for?", Kong Chun inquired.

"I work for the Golden Peony trading company from the Zhuo region", Xinyue answered.

"Would your company be interested in trading with us, Merchant Tan", Minister Song asked.

"Unfortunately, I'm not at the level to make decisions on this, I'm sorry minister", Xinyue responded.

"Let's take a tour of the island after this to help disgust our meal. Even if we can't work on a deal, I'm sure we can be safe harbor for you and others as they travel the sea", Huoran suggested.

"That's not a bad suggestion, pirates often travel the sea looking for east marks. Obviously, they avoid this island just as everyone usually does", Xinyue responded.

Huoran was genuinely surprised, 'pirates?

In a my travels I never ran into them once, perhaps I was lucky.'

After dinner was finished, Huoran and Xinyue bid farewell to everyone and spoke to Minister Liang for a moment to let her know that he was going to use a room in the Education Center tonight. He then brought Xinyue on a tour around Market Square to the different stores, restaurants, stalls, and other venues. Xinyue had never seen such strange architecture or so much glass used to build these facilities. After the impromptu tour, Huoran arrived at the Education Center and brought Xinyue inside.

"You might have noticed the large gathering at the QR pod cafe or all the light screens that depicted battles ongoing at the moment", Huoran walked into the building, "They are using an artifact that I refined and improved over time that for easier understanding, creates an illusionary secret realm."

Xinyue looked skeptical but followed Huoran as they ascended the stairs to the second floor. They entered a room that held thirty pods not currently in use.

"Normally, I would have brought you to the cafe to experience this, but as you've already seen, it is currently full. Please step inside the pod, pick a scenario, and experience what everyone else is", Huoran insisted.

The next few hours went as Huoran expected as Xinyue explored most the different modes with wide eyed wonder. Eventually, Huoran ended the session and escorted the embarrassed Xinyue back to his hotel room. Xinyue turned the light curtain on when he got inside.

"And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, your final four for the Qi Gathering stage solo and team championships. Tomorrow we will return for the Foundation Establishment cultivators as they battle their way to the final four. But until then let's congratulate Jin Yimu and Lui Fang from Sun & Moon island, Qin Fen from the White Tiger sect, and Fang Niying of the Chen family. For the team event, the Sun team and Moon team from Sun & Moon island, the White Tiger Team, and the Mountains and Rivers team. Until tomorrow, have a good night."

Zeng Meirong's morning went as usually and she arrived for her classes today, formulas and calligraphy. All around her, the other attendees were discussing the matches from the day before. She had been aware of the event, but was more concerned about learning about the three foundational aspects of talisman creation. She did try to watch a few matches, but they were so amateur compared to what she watched in the merfolk's royal arena that she lost interest. The instructor, a woman, entered the room and everyone quieted down.

"Welcome to Formula 101, part of the trifecta of item creation. My name is Ma Xinya and in this class we will be learning how to put together an effective formula", Xinya said, "Please enter your pods at this time and we will get started."

All the students entered the pods and the virtual classroom.

"Whether your creating a talisman, or refining an artifact. Think of runes as the instructions, but formulas are the sequence."

Everyone was thinking about the instructors statement, when one of the students asked, "What does that mean Instructor Ma?"

"Let's view it in real time, shall we?", Xinya replied.

She brought up a talisman inscription and with a motion of her hands, expanded it, simulated its use, and then stopped time.

"As you can see here, the moment you use a talisman", Xinya used slow motion on the talisman, "the inscription take the Qi you input into it and that Qi travels along the formula and runes like so."

As the slow motion continued, the class could see how power travel throughout the inscription, ultimately resulting in a ball of fire launching towards a target.

"So as demonstrated, the runes are the instructions, meaning that the runes take the Qi and perform as runes do. A fire rune makes fire, a wind rune makes wind, and so on and so forth. The second meaning was 'formulas are the sequence' and that becomes evident when watch the inscription slowly like this, and you can see the Qi travel through the talisman", Xinya explained.

"Do you have time Qi instructor?", a student asked.

"Certainly not, this is all possible while in the pods", Xinya replied, "All of you here will be able to accomplish this as well. In fact, here is your first assignment, draw the inscription I just used and activate it. Once it's complete, rewind the activation using the instructions on the board or if it failed, use the same process to identify what went wrong. A talisman inscription usually takes a few hours to draw so I'll give til the end of class to complete the assignment. And Begin!"

Meirong took out a scroll, brush, and ink and started. She still couldn't believe that this place was not real, even though she could see her hand holding the brush. She calmed her mind as she moved her hand and made the first brushstrokes.

Huoran was also in a pod in his cave surrounded by bits of lights as he quickly made runes, and arranged them. He completed his current task and quickly activated it and the space turned from a blank area to a mountain with a winding road on it. A few seconds later, a futuristic motorcycle appeared, and he mounted it. He activated and sat on it for a minute before he said, "Test thirty-two of the new Speed Paradise racing game, motorcycle option S1000. Engine sound and feel still incorrect, display parameters and controls for both."

Two displays appeared in front of Huoran and he meticulously adjusted the sound and operation while revving the engine. After a few hours and many adjustments, he changed from his robes to a leather armor style suit with plates, and a helmet. The helmet powered on and had a hud displayed all the information from the motorcycle. He then went into first gear and started to drive on the road. He went slow at first, cycling through the gears to make sure they worked as they were supposed to. After completing a lap, he increased his speed and started testing the acceleration, handling, and braking of the bike. Each time something was wrong, he would make a note and continue. After a few laps, he stopped, opened the control panel again, and started making adjustments again from his list of problems. After a few more test runs he was satisfied with the changes.

'It helps that I remembered the specifications from my past life and had ridden it before, unfortunately it will have to be a starter bike since cultivators are used to moving at much faster speeds. I'll just take these specs and modify it to fit this world', Huoran told himself.

A few more hours of testing and adjustments went by before Huoran got off the bike, saved the changes, and made the bike disappear.

"Activate super car 'Lorenzo Arsenio'", he said as he prepared to do the whole process again.