The flying ships were approaching Sun & Moon island, and finally the eastern formation entrance was in view. Earlier, the four disciples that had visited the island had been called in, and they briefed the two elders and the admiral on essential information to successfully enter the island. Admiral Chen felt embarrassed that the reason his agents kept getting caught and blocked from entering was because of an artifact.
Soon, a shout from the crow's nest interrupted the meeting, and signaled to the three leaders that they would making port soon. Each leader went back to their ship, and started to shout orders to the crew and passengers in preparation for landing.
A loud announcement scared everyone because there wasn't supposed to be any additional notifications according to the four disciples.
"Ships of the Burning Fist, Hidden Eye, and Black Wolf, stop at this time", the announcer ordered, "Several ships are about to exit, and due to their size there is a high chance of a mishap."
The three leaders were nervous when the voice first directed them, especially Admiral Chen when he remembered how many ships he had lost before, but the second statement made the relax. They quickly halted the boats, and sat back to witness how large the ships could possibly be.
Elder Zhuo, Elder Wang, and Admiral Chen didn't have to wait long until a humongous black ship exited the formation. Their face grew solemn as the boat turn westward, and could see that it was larger than all three of their boats lined up end to end. The three men could see gold highlighting mixed in with the black, and a giant logo of the golden peony company displayed on the side of the ship.
A loud noise made everyone on the three ships whip their head to the right, and to their shock, another ship was exiting the formation. This ship was white but still had the gold highlights and logo painted on it as well, but the design of the boat was slightly different than the first. The cultivators and pirates had never felt so overwhelmed until today, and the three leaders were doing their best to not show any emotions. This effort failed when the trio of men saw one last ship follow the first two. This last ship also sported a different design, but the most noticeable thing was its gold color with black highlights. The ship stopped when it was clear of the exit, and the people on the three vessels watched as an image appeared.
The middle aged man looked at the three ships before speaking, "I am Grand Lord Merchant Kang of the Golden Peony Company. I noticed that ships from the Burning Fist and Hidden Eye sects are traveling with the Black Wolf pirates. Are you under duress, or have you made an alliance?"
Elder Wang responded, "Greetings, Grand Lord Merchant Kang. I am Elder Wang of the Burning Fist sect, and I believe there is a misunderstanding. The three of us are merely traveling together to ensure the safety as we travel the inner sea."
Admiral Chen spoke next, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Grand Lord Merchant Kang. I've always wanted to opportunity to meet such a high person of esteem, and I'm glad that has come to pass today."
Admiral Chen was smiling brightly, and didn't exhibit any nervousness as he spoke on equal terms with the merchant. Inside his head though, Chen was doing everything to keep it together.
"I have also heard of tales of the Black Wolf pirates", Kang remarked, "With talent like yours to lead, it's unfortunate that you decided to prey on others, otherwise, I believe you would make a fine merchant."
"I might have to consider a change in professions", Chen admitted, "looking at the situation, I must confess that your choices seem better than mine."
"It's never too late", Kang laughed, "Now if you excuse me, I must be on my way."
With those words, the image of Kang dispersed, and everyone watched as the three ships lifted into the air. The ships move forward for a few moments before quickly accelerating, and disappearing into the horizon.
Elder Wang and Elder Shuo were contemplating how such a large boat could move faster than their ships, when the announcer from earlier got their attention.
They heard, "The entrance is clear, please proceed forward."
The three men steered their ships into the entrance and into the almost empty docks, where they disembarked and prepared to enter the island.
Wei Huoran was standing in front of a suit of armor, but it was evident that this was Simspace. The suit in question looked noticeably different than what he remembered from his previous life. The suit's color was gunmetal grey, the faceplate had a slightly different look, there was no glowing light in the middle of the chest plate, and the arms, legs, and back were slightly thicker than normal.
Sage Vigol and Sage Neridia sat in chairs nearby having a discussion while Huoran inspected the fruit of their cooperation.
"Are we ready for the first test?", Huoran asked the pair.
"We have tested and revised everything we can find at this point", Vigol informed Huoran.
"No point in hesitating", Neridia teased.
"Yes, yes, your right", Huoran casually said as he walked over to the suit.
A quick mental command was issued from Huoran, and the armor opened to reveal a cavity inside. He placed his feet into the boots and his hands into the gloves of the suit before sending a new mental command, causing the suit to close. When the mask came down, the suit started its power on procedures, and Huoran could view his surroundings like normal.
'Xiao Ran, I am connected to the armor artifact', Quanliyuan told him.
'Start recording the data, and prepare to test the suit of armor', Huoran said to the artifact spirit.
"Brat, how is it?", Vigol interrupted Huoran and Quanliyuan.
"Initial activation is successful", Huoran answered the Sage, "Please bring up the communication display, and I'll get started."
Vigol made a hand sign as a light screen appeared in front of the two Sages.
"Running test one", Huoran declared, Quanliyuan then activated the first testing procedure, and all the movable surfaces on the suit systematically moved as a HUD tracked them.
"Test one, completed and passed", Huoran announced, "Start test two, propulsion."
Sage Vigol and Neridia was startled as wind gushed from the hands and feet of the suit of armor.
Huoran increased the thrust from his hands and feet, and ten seconds later he was stabilizing himself at two meters off the ground. When both feet had left the ground the HUD had changed to resemble an aircraft HUD.
"I will start maneuvering now, Daoist", Huoran informed the sages.
They nodded in return, and Huoran flew higher in the air before beginning his checklist. He completed sped up, slowed down, quickly stopped, and low speed cornering before entering a hover.
"That was interesting to watch, Daoist Wei", Neridia commented, "But as cultivators that can fly, I can't say it's impressive."
Vigol agreed, "Considering what we are using to make this, it doesn't seem like a good idea to do so."
"Just be patient, Seniors", Huoran countered, "That was just the first level of testing, I will proceed to the next level now."
Huoran activated the proper arrays, and his flight speed greatly increased. He tried various flips and rolls, high speed movements, and taking turns using vectored thrust. Vigol and Neridia was silent as they watched his flight now, and was slightly embarrassed. If you compared the realm of the two sages and Huoran, it was essentially two realms apart. Using this suit of artifact armor, Huoran was very close to the same speed as the two of them after only a few hours of flying.
Once Huoran had completed the test, he landed on the platform he launched from, and said, "Only two more test to complete today, offensive and defensive capabilities. Let's move to the next testing area unless you feel missed something."
"There is no reason to repeat successful tests", Neridia said.
Huoran smiled, and soon the room shifted from the room suitable for flight, to a room with various weapons and talismans neatly hanging on the walls.
"I will commence will test three now", Huoran said as he approached a weapon rack holding various weapons, and grabbed a sword. A hologram of a cultivator of the same realm as him was generated, and the two entered combat. Huoran did notice that the suit did slightly restrict his movements, but he was able to adapt his form and defeat his opponent. He took a small break, picked up a blade, and repeated the same steps. Once he went through all the weapons, he heard the two men watching him were discussing something.
"Sage Vigol, Sage Neridia, is something the matter?", Huoran inquired.
"Daoist Wei, how did you attain mastery over so many weapons?", Neridia asked, "Also why did you try to master so many weapons?"
"The answer to both your questions is related to my master", Huoran replied, "So I will not go into details."
"Perhaps that's for the best", Vigol responded, "Is it time for the defensive test then?"
"Not quite", Huoran remarked, "I have to test the ranged weapons of this suit, too."
While speaking to the two sages, a row of target dummies came into view. Huoran turned around to face the targets, and Quanliyuan cause all of them to start moving.
'This isn't fair', Huoran said, 'If you are reading my mind, it will be impossible to hit them.'
'I'm not reading your mind', Quanliyuan assured him, 'These targets move according to preplanned directions.'
Huoran could only try and see if Quanliyuan was telling the truth or not, so he loaded a Fire Stream talisman in the right hand, and an Ice Spear talisman in the left. Huoran used his speed and movement to catch two targets at the right time, and burn the two to ash. Another dummy tried to compensate for his speed and position, but another move by Huoran left the target unable to dodge in time. A few moments later, Huoran was switching to different talismans, and the target had a piece of ice piercing its head. Vigol and Neridia watched as Huoran used fire, ice, water, stone, lighting, and light talismans to destroy all the targets, and were impressed on how the ability to launch attacks like this was incorporated into the suit. Once Huoran verified that every attack launched correctly, he brought the suit to a certain platform, and exited the armor.
"It's time for the last test", Huoran explained as he sat down with the two artisans.
"You didn't want to do this test while wearing it?", Neridia teased Huoran.
"No need", Huoran replied, "It's a simple defensive test, there is no reason for me to expose myself to danger during this phase of the build."
The two older men started laughing while Huoran did his best to ignore them and activate the test. The suit of armor was subjected to attacks from every weapon and all the elements. When the series of attacks finished, the three of them walked over to the armor to inspect the condition of the suit. When only superficial damage was seen, Huoran decided, "The suit has passed all the test, but there is certainly room for improvement. Let's make plans to build it, but first we need to create the a safe place to test the real thing. We need to create the life realm artifact that finds and stores secret realms, it will be the perfect place for testing live weapons."
"That shouldn't take too long", Vigol stated, "We only have to take your original design and modify it."
"There is no reason for all three of us to work on it", Huoran suggested, "The two of you should start refining the suit of armor, and I'll work on modifying the life realm artifact. Just contact me when you have completed the work."
With everyone in agreement, the three disappeared from Simspace.