Wei Houran spent most of his time in Simspace with the two sages, designing the suit of armor he had adapted from a certain comic in his old life. He couldn't avoid all interactions, as he still had a friendly relationship with many of the chiefs and elders of the different beastkin tribes.
Sixteen days after the capture of the Stone of the Bull, three groups of guests arrived on different days. The first was Jaeger Bloodclaw, a Ironclaw shaman named Bjorn Spiritwalker, and a few elders of both the Bloodclaw and Ironclaw tribes and a large crowd of beastkin younglings.
"Hello, Chief Bloodclaw", Huoran gave the wild lord a bow.
"Greetings, Daoist Wei", Jaeger returned the gesture, "Please excuse me, the last few days have been really trying, and I still have many things to do. I'm afraid my visit this time will be very short, but let me introduce you to Bjorn Spiritwalker and Ragnar Longfang. They will be responsible for the younger members of our tribe we are leaving behind."
Huoran welcomed them as Jaeger informed the two of his status as the overseer of the island, after which they became slightly more respectful.
"Today and tomorrow I will gathering my kin and the members of the Ironclaw and returning home", Jaeger explained, "I'll also be purchasing everything we need to defend our homeland from attack."
"Shouldn't your protective array formation be able to withstand invaders", Huoran inquired.
"Beastkin aren't like cultivators", Jaeger clarified, "We don't live in the locations with the highest Qi concentration, we seek ways to purify our bloodlines. So our lands aren't always the ideal places to set up a formation. It's actually rare for a beastkin village or city to have one unless they stole or bought one from cultivators."
The two discussed things for a bit longer, but sooner the wolf lord excused him to go take care of business. The next day, Chief Bloodclaw led a large group of senior beastkin of both tribes towards the exit, it he was not alone. The three beastkin chiefs of the Horse, Bull, and Sheep tribes were walking with him, followed by the members of their tribes also. Huoran greeted the three for the first time, and they in turn assured him that like the wolves and bears, they would also send their youngest members with an elder escort. They took of in two groups, the bears and wolves heading one direction and the other three heading another.
The second group to arrive a few days later was Chief Razortalon, and like Chief Bloodclaw had many of the same plans.
"Welcome, Chief Razortalon", Huoran invited the eagle to sit down.
"Thank you, Daoist Wei", Razortalon replied.
"Unfortunately, you missed Chief Bloodclaw", Huoran stated, "I imagine you have the same plans as he does?"
"Yes and no", the eagle lord responded, "My first order order of business is to hand this over."
Chief Razortalon handed a storage bag over to Huoran, one that he remembered giving to the beastkin previously.
"Is this what I think it is?", Huoran questioned Razortalon as he checked the contents.
"Yes, Daoist Wei", Razortalon confirmed Huoran's inquiry, "With this complete, I will also find the members of my tribe, buy supplies, and take them home. An elder will also escort the younger generation here in the near future."
Razortalon had been chatting with Bloodclaw during his trip here, and agreed this was the best location to send younger eagles that weren't ready to fight or travel alone. The food was of the best quality, and the Qpods were the perfect environment to allow them to fight without coming to harm, it was also a bonus that they would under the protection of Huoran's master.
"I also have another thought, Daoist Wei", Razortalon changed the topic.
"Of course I'm willing to listen", Huoran remarked.
"I want to send my people through here, and recommend other tribes of the sky as well", the eagle elaborated, "I can see the advantages the Qphone can have on the tribes of the bird beastkin. Not only can we observe the events of the Shuo Continent, but we will be able to share these experiences faster and with stronger evidence as well."
"You mean you want to start a news app", Huoran casually said.
"News…app?", Razortalon repeated.
"Yes, an app on the Qphone that will collect the intelligence gathered by you and your tribe, and organize it into an easy to read format", Huoran described, "That sounds acceptable by me, I'll reserve sometime to create the app on the Qphone platform for you, just give me a heads up if other tribes agree and travel here."
"Thank you, my friend", Razortalon said, "I will go now to accomplish what I need to."
With that, the eagle lord walked away, and two days later they also left.
Market square was still busy with the people of the Nanying Continent, the crimson foxes, and the younger generation of wolves and bears present, but it was visually noticeable that the number of beastkin had decreased.
The third group that arrived was an unexpected surprise, Elder Yara of the Snowfur with her ten followers arrived just before Razortalon left.
Huoran, knowin the circumstances of her arrival, met with the elder.
"Elder Snowfur", Huoran met the Yak, "It's my honor to welcome you here after the ordeal you had to endure."
"Please, Daoist Wei", the elder replied, "It's simply Daoist Yara Snowfur now. I thank you for your kind words, but I wish to make an unreasonable request."
"Well you have my interest", Huoran told her, "Please tell me what this request is."
"I would like to become a resident of Sun & Moon island", Yara stated, "And I wish to bring my disciples and family with me."
"I cannot make that decision alone", Huoran said to her, "This will require the approval the ministry, but I will bring this to their attention."
Yara was slightly disappointed when she heard his response, but as an elder of a village, she understood there should be a process.
"I understand, Daoist Wei", she replied, "I hope to hear a positive response in the future."
Elder Yara bowed to Huoran before leaving with her followers, entering the city, and awaiting her answer.
Rizzo Scuttleclaw sprinted into a warehouse, and quickly scanned the inside for food, weapons, artifacts, or anything that could be used by the pack. Seeing bags of grain stacked against the wall, he quickly grabbed a couple sacks, and left the building. Outside, chaos reigned as buildings were on fire, groups of rats attacks the sheep beastkins, resources were being carried away, and the screams and cries of the victims were heard all over the city.
'I guess the rumors were true', Rizzo thought to himself as he crossed the city, heading towards the tunnels they had dug out to bypass the walls, 'Gagix Shatterbrow isn't here.'
Before their raid had started, a few scouts had heard that the Sheep's clan leader was off visiting the horse lord, Chief Ambermane. It was said he had taken many of the sheep's top warriors with him, and that they had even went further south.
Rizzo turned the last corner before the tunnels when he felt massive impact in his chest. He didn't even have time to react as he was thrown against the building on the opposite site of the street, striking the wall. His mind reeled in pain as he felt like most of the bones in his body were broken, and when he opened his eyes, he witnessed a humongous sheep beastkin with giants horns protruding from his head. Other beastkin followed behind him, and had effectively cut off their exit. Rizzo's vision slowly began to darken as he felt extremely tired and in shock before no longer moving anymore.
When other rats saw their escape tunnels being blocked, most ran towards the holes they had created in the walls to allow their brothers inside.
"The cowards are trying to escape after daring to attack us!", the large ram announced to the other warriors, "Show these intruders that it's not easy to leave once they invited themselves inside."
A few stragglers had not been quick enough and were caught while the main force had quickly reacted, and gotten a head start. The surviving force was fleeing with the greatest speed they could muster when a chorus of howls caused the one in front to stop.
The lead rats saw banners identifying the newcomers as the forces of Commander Proudmaw of dog nation. Knowing they had recently attacked there, they understood that the Warhounds had tracked them down to get revenge. With the forces of city bearing down then from the rear, and the Warhounds taking them by surprise in the front, order amount the rats broke down and they changed direction again. Half the rats chose the left while the other half went right, desperate to save themselves. In the end, the ones who chose to go right were able to escape with the least amount of casualties. As for the group that chose left, they ran into a returning clan leader, Gigax Shatterbrow, who saw the city forces and Warhounds, and realized what happened. The rat army, realizing they no longer had a way out and had their backs against the wall, stopped attempting to run and bitterly fought to the last beastkin.
It was a few days since most the beastkin left, and Huoran was taking a day to relax. As much as he wanted to continue working on the suit of armor, if he didn't give the sages a day to rest, or take a day himself, it would impact the quality of the finished product.
He was taking some time to meditate when Quanliyan contacted him, 'Xiao Ran.'
'Yes, Quanliyan?', Huoran was puzzled on why he was being contacted right now.
'My apologies', the artifact spirit said, 'Normally I wouldn't bother during your meditation, but there is a strange situation happening right now. Lately, many sea beastkins have been showing up at the edge of our detectable range. They seem to be probing the area.'
'It was bound to happen', Huoran sighed, 'Looks like the Draco empire will soon be at our gates. I will still take the rest of today off, but starting tomorrow, we will need to inform everyone, and prepare for the upcoming attack. It would appear the dragon emperor will not be able to hold back for too much longer.'