Hello, Goodbye

An aerie of Humongous Eagles were flying amoung the clouds in the skies at a swift speed. Chief Razortalon looked down at a familiar sight, Sun & Moon island, before emitting a loud screech. Taking the lead, Razortalon goes into a dive as his fellow tribesmen mimic his actions, and soon the group of eagle beastkin were landing on the beach.

"Welcome back, Chieftain Razortalon", Huoran greeted the guests.

Back in his human form, Razortalon responded, "Daoist Wei, it's good to see you again."

"It's a small thing", Huoran replied, "I know you're here to pick up the sealing artifacts, so I brought them here."

Huoran waved his hand and three artifacts appeared, each about the size of a small car. Razortalon swiped his hand, and took the artifacts into his storage ring before presenting a storage bag to Huoran.

"There was no need for this, Chieftain Razortalon", Huoran remarked, "While we have tested the artifacts, you can never predict any dangers that might arise. The artifacts should be able to seal the target without any additional materials, but have spirit stones ready if any incidents occur."

Huoran stored the items in the bag into his ring without checking on them, and turned to listen when the eagle lord spoke, "Daoist Wei, I don't mean to be rude, but I hope to quickly resupply before making the trip to Chief Ironclaw and Snowfur."

"No offense taken, Chief", Huoran said, "I understand that time is of the essence."

Chief Razortalon bowed to Huoran before leading his men into the welcome center.

Huoran was about to return to his cave when his new Qpad fold notified him of an important message. He opened the message:

[Boss Wei,

Foremen Zhao and Zhu have sent me wonderful news that their projects are ready for final inspection. I want to invite you to look over their work together.

Minister Wu Long]

Huoran folded his Qpad and put it away only to hear familiar voices behind him. Grand Lord Merchants Shen and Gong, as well as their closest aides, are walking in the direction of the pier along side several groups of younger cultivators.

"Greetings, Grand Lords", Huoran called out, "Has something occurred that requires your immediate attention?"

"Daoist Wei", Merchant Shen said, "We have been away from our base for awhile now, and the branch doesn't need three Grand Lord Merchants to manage it. So Grand Lord Merchant Kang will oversee things here for the next ten years and we will rotate the position every ten years."

"That being said, we will still visit occasionally", Merchant Gong added, "I will go back to the main pavilion to resume my duties, and Shen will bring our artisans to your education center to be educated."

"I don't believe your crew was so large when you arrived?", Huoran looked at the other groups of people, "Did you hire some of the cultivators you transported here?"

Gong laughed, "No, No, the first group here are cultivators from the Wu continent that came to investigate rumors. We have traded with their sects before, and still have keep good relations with their Patriarchs. It just happens that because they were unaware of the situation here, they spent most of their stones and are returning to their sects to file their reports and return to purchase more of your wonderful products."

Four people stepped forward, and each one introduced themselves, "Jiang Da, Burning Fist sect,", "Fan Chao, Burning Fist sect", "Ma Bao, Hidden Eye sect", "Zhan Xue, Hidden Eye sect."

"I am Wei Huoran", he introduced himself, "My master is the master of this island, and I'm tasked with the duty of overseeing it."

Shen continued, "This second group of people are artisans from the other regions of the Nanying continent. They have completed their training and returning to their organizations. We happened to be going the same way, so we offered to take them on our flying ships."

"Speaking of ships", Huoran said, "I have some great news. We have completed two of our projects, The transportation factory and Skysummit city."

The two grand lords gave Huoran a solemn look before Shen spoke, "Can you explain some about these projects?"

"Of course", Huoran nodded, "The factory will produce custom bikes, cars, and ships for sell, though I guess in your case, I will be speaking with Grand Lord Kang. And Sky Summit city is built in the mountains on the north side of the island. Just like Market Square there will be entertainment, food, and natural cultivation areas for earth, metal, and fire cultivators."

Gong closed his eyes and massaged his temples, "Why couldn't this have been finished before we left?"

Shen was on his Qphone texting Kang about what they just heard from Huoran. When he finished he looked at Gong and their people and said, "Everybody board now, no more delays or we will never leave."

Two-thirds of the crowd walked towards the ships with the Golden Peony insignia, and the rest went towards ships with a closed fist on fire on some sails, and three eyes with one closed on the other sails. Within the hour, all the crew and passengers were aboard and the ships raised anchor. The large number of ships exited the island formation, and traveled together for almost half an hour before the split. The Golden Peony ships turned west and the Wu continent cultivators turned east and disappeared over the horizon.

Huoran dialed a number on his phone as he watched the ships departing, "Secretary Lui? Contact the Ministers and arrange a meeting please. Call me back when you find a suitable time for us."

"Yes, Boss Wei", Lui answered before hanging up and sending a message in the Ministry chat room.

Jaeger Bloodclaw and the large pack of wolves that followed him had been traveling for a few days now, and entered Dog nation. Even though it was said that the ancestors of Dog nation came from the Wolf tribes, both sides only kept a loose affiliation with the other. They weren't allies or enemies, it was rare for the sides to work or fight together, but they still felt the slight influence of the bloodline connection.

"We're here", Jaeger announced as his pack exited the forest and saw the fortified city in front of them. Lines of beastkin were being inspected upon entry, and the War hounds, what the dog soldiers named themselves, were plentiful at the gate to search guests and discourage trouble.

The wolf shaman walked next to Chief Bloodclaw, "Look at all the proud pups, even calling their capital, 'Dogford', I don't know how they keep their head held high living like this."

"Shaman Thunderclaw", the wolf lord said, "Now is not the time for this, dog nation is already tense from the rats raiding the border towns. Let's go speak with Proudmaw to see if they have clues about the Stone of the Dog, and its altar room. We'll leave here and meet with the others once our business is done."

As the Bloodclaw pack reached the entrance, the guards challenged them, "State your name and purpose."

"Chief Jaeger Bloodclaw and the Bloodclaw tribe", Jaeger replied back while throwing a bone to the guards, "We were invited by Head Commander Proudmaw."

After a few minutes the guards announced, "Follow us to the fortress, Chief Bloodclaw. Commander Proudmaw is expecting you."

The pack of wolves strolled in calmly following the guide provided by the dogs. As they made their way through the streets, War hounds units stayed close in escorting them, but the wolves didn't pay attention to the blatant challenge.

Soon, they arrived at the fortress and entered, all the wolves except for Chief Bloodclaw and Shaman Thunderclaw stayed behind and the two wolves strolled forward into the chamber for dignitaries.

As the two entered, an usher announced their arrival.

"It was quite the trip, I wonder why you invited us here, Winston?", Jaeger said as he approached the commander.

A few of the commander's men had looks of displeasure hearing the wolf lord call their commander by his first name.

"Do you have to antagonize my men?", Winston sighed when he heard Jaeger.

"You were expecting me to call you commander then?", Jaeger smirked.

"Captain Bloodsnout, please stay behind", Winston ordered, "Everyone else please leave."

The dozen dog beastkin stopped what they were doing before exiting the room and closing the door. Jaeger could feel the anger the officers directed toward them as they left the room. The four beastkin took their seats, and Commander Proudmaw started the meeting.

"I heard your people were surprised attacked by a Rabbit tribe army, and you drove them away without casualties", Winston probed.

"That's right", Jaeger responded, being mysterious on purpose.

Proudmaw could tell that the Bloodclaw chief was having some fun now, but he pressed on.

"Apparently, you used powerful artifacts never seen before", Winston stated.

"I'm not hearing any questions, and it sounds like you know everything", Jaeger told Winston, "Why are you being ambiguous? Or did you invite me here to narrate my accomplishments to me?"

Winston Proudmaw leaned forward and finally asked, "Did you get those artifacts from the island you visited recently?"

Razortalon and his subordinates had spent the day trading away items useless to them for spirit stones, and loading up on pills, talismans, and elixirs. When the group was ready, they gathered together to prepare to leave. Razortalon took out his Qphone and went to the chat room for the other chiefs:

-ChiefEagle- @ChiefIronClaw how is the situation there?

-ChiefIronClaw- The village I'm in is safe, but the enemy took a couple beastkin from other villages. You need to hurry.

-ChiefEagle- I just finished here, I'll be in the air in the next ten minutes.

-BossWei- Stay sharp, from our experience before, when the stone doesn't care about the host anymore, it will be a very difficult battle. Also isolate the stone, and don't let anyone else touch it. Would appreciate it if you could bring it back here, my master is studying the first two stones still.

-ChiefBlood- Two? When did you get a second one?

-BossWei- Not that long ago, the Rabbit host came here unexpectedly and got caught.

-ChiefBlood- I'll be arriving up north soon as well, it sounds like you need help.

-ChiefIronClaw- Ok, I'll let the tribes up here know, that way you don't get into trouble.

-ChiefEagle- I'll see you there, I'm taking off now.

Razortalon shifted to his True form, and the rest did the same. He flapped his wings a few times before lifting off the ground, and quickly rose to cruising altitude. The others did the same, and the eagles looked occasionally until the island was no longer in sight.