Chen Zhi was sitting in a private booth in the Wok & Bowl ramen restaurant, eating ramen, fried rice, and gyoza. While business was noticeably slower due to the departure of most of the beastkin and independent cultivators, there was still customers consisting of the younger generation of beastkin, Sun & Moon city residents, and the newly arrived cultivators from Wu continent. The customers in the shop were eating and talking, but their mood was much different than Chen Zhi's. He was feeling both elated and depressed when he thought about what he seen the last four days.
Chen Zhi had started with nothing since birth, and was inspired by bandits as he grew. He started as a thief, and with his meticulous planning and cunning, built a thriving pirate fleet. He was a self proclaimed admiral, the terror of the inner seas, and the nightmare of sailors and conveys. And now he was experiencing a crisis of the greatest magnitude. His way of life would have to change if he wished to continue to climb to the highest level.
Chen Zhi, or Admiral Chen, first thought about the flying ships he witnessed on the day of his arrival. The speed of the ships was unprecedented, and he could only imagine that the firepower they contained would flatten most of his ships. He understood more later when he found the Golden Peony's business on the island was the delivery of goods and transport for people. If more businesses, sects, and families used this service, his pirate crews would starve.
Chen Zhi looked at his food as he ate, comparing how this moderately priced restaurant served food and drink much better than what he usually enjoyed privately at home. The benefits the meals gave made him understand that he needed to bring his crew here to increase their strength. Unfortunately, this increase in strength was necessary because he had already fallen behind. The cultivators of Nanying, and Beastkin of Shuo already made great strides, and soon the Wu cultivators would join them, but he couldn't use his normal methods to acquire the goods.
Chen Zhi thought about his time in the QR pod, and his face frowned as he remembered the humiliation he suffered. He quickly stopped going to the arena after losing multiple matches against the only players in his realm, the merfolk, and explored other modes. The two variations of the mirror mode greatly excited him, and at the same time made him wonder if he really was as clever as he thought he was.
The Qphone, Qpad, and Qfold was a heavy blow to Chen Zhi, the instant communication, the images, and the entertainment. If at the minimum, everyone of his captains had this artifact, the success rate of every raid would have been twice as high. His mind was trying to process all the possibilities of everything he observed so far. The security artifacts, the beautiful views, the buildings, and vehicles made him feel he was in another world, and that his own base was a shabby and amateur imitation of a city.
Finishing his dinner, he left his private booth, and began to walk around Market Square. He eventually found a park by the lake, and sat on an unoccupied bench that faced the shore. Taking out his pipe and some leaves he purchased earlier, he lit his pipe and relaxed while watching the dragonflies hover over the water.
"We can no longer be pirates", he spoke aloud, "But I refuse to fade away. I'll make my own company, and compete with the Golden Peony."
Yara Snowfur ended her mediation, and prepared herself for another day. After a few days, the ministry had approved her entry into Sun & Moon island, and she applied for a position in the new Sky Summit city. The new city was built on top of the highest mountain of the island, a mountain peak covered in snow all year around. It was quickly becoming a favorite destination of cultivators that specialized in ice and fire methods and techniques, as well as visitors who enjoyed the views, solitude, and quiet.
Yara was the manager of one the public hot springs located in the city, and she swiftly came to love it. In her old village, all the elders were responsible for the safety of the residence and villagers, but here safety was guaranteed by the grand array. Also, it provided a safe environment for her family and disciples without her bowing her head towards another village chief. While she most likely would have stayed as their master to guide their cultivation, she also knew that many of them would have been forced into pairs with beastkin of the new village. With the village chief dead, as well as her mate, it's possible she could suffer the same fate as well. She felt grateful to the wolves and eagles for once, because it was their presence that allowed her to leave as she did.
That being said, she was still adapting to life on Sun & Moon island. One of the biggest challenges was watching the younger generation of beastkin on the island, but for an odd reason. Beastkin origins came from magical beasts that transcended their form, and became more humanoid to reach immortality a different way. Beastkin young are still in their beast forms when they are born, and a defining moment of adulthood is when the child as able to shift to the new form as this takes many years. Most cultivators that visit a Beastkin village never know that the young beastkins are hidden away for safety.
One day, Yara was startled when out shopping because she saw a few younger wolf beastkins strolling the streets. What surprised her was the young men and women were in human form mostly, but some sported wolf ears, some had tails, or both.
"Excuse me, Fellow Daoist", Yara approached the group.
The wolves turned around, and once they felt her realm, bowed.
"Greetings, Elder", they said in unison.
"I'm no longer an elder", Yara replied, "I'm the new manager at the Serene Blossom Hot springs."
A man with his ears and tail out stepped forward, "Can we assist you in some way, Manager?"
"I don't mean to bother you", Yara prefaced, "But are you suffering deviation to your blood essence?"
The group looked confused before the young man answered, "No, manager, we are in full control of our form."
"Oh", Yara responded, "Then is showing your ears and tail a new training method?"
The group was silent for a moment before they all tried to hide their smiles, "No, manager, this is the new style here on the island for beastkin. A small number of humans seem fascinated by it, and often offer resources in exchange for images."
Yara was slightly surprised, but she held it in before replying, "My apologies Daoists, I arrived only a few days ago, and I'm still unaware of all the customs here. I'll be on my way now."
"Farewell, manager", the group bowed before continuing on their way.
As Yara made her way back to the market, she reminisced about her own youth, 'I remember the time that all my fellow disciples and I were going to get nose or earrings. Bovar was the first and only one to do so because somehow the elders caught word of our intentions. Who knew he would grow up to be the village chief, and protect everyone someday. I think im at the right place, Bovar, because if I had followed everyone else, I would have followed you soon after'.
Yara turned another corner, and soon was in front of her new home. As she entered, she heard many voices greet her as "Mom", "Master", or "Grandma", but also too small yak calves ran up to her. She scolded the two for running to the front door, and then scolded all the ones inside for allowing the two near the front door. She led the pair back to the main room before heading to her room. Her room was well kept and comfortable, and on one wall was the images of three people, a woman and two men.
She looked at the image of the first man, "Tauric, my mate, it's another day and our youngest daughter is still growing up healthy. What might surprise you is she is safe because of the sacrifices of Bovar, but also because of the chief of the Ironclaws."
She turned to the other two images, "Bovar, Ferona, as promised your son is safe with me. I will do my best to raise him, inform him of his heritage, and guide him in our ways. I know you have entered the wheel of reincarnation now, but thanks to the Bloodclaws, Ironclaws, and Razortalons, your son will continue your legacy. Don't worry, I'll find a way to repay their kindness someday, until we met again in the next life."
Wei Huoran was back at his Simspace workstation, with a holographic image of the life realm artifact in front of him. Several screens highlighting isolated formations were positioned around the hologram as he continuously tested different arrays and runes.
"Do you think this will really work", an older woman with grey hair sitting in chair asked.
"Do you foresee yourself selecting this form, Quanliyuan?", Huoran retorted.
"Fair enough", the artifact spirit acknowledged, "But I had to try to find out."
"That is my answer as well", Huoran commented.
He had been working on this modification for many days now, and had figured out how to change the arrays to work how he intended. But he was running into one problem, how to locate special realms, and until this was solved, it was just a paperweight.
"Why are special realms so hard to find", Huoran blurted out.
"Do you know what a special realm is?", Quanliyuan inquired.
Huoran stopped what he was doing, and looked at Quanliyuan, "No, please can you explain it to me?"
"When a cultivator advances through the realms, do you think they can continue to refine Qi indefinitely?", Quanliyuan questioned Huoran.
"No", Huoran responded, "There has to be a limit."
"That's right", Quanliyuan smiled, "A cultivator with a strong body can covert Qi to blood essence, and with a strong mind it's converted to mind essence. Eventually, body, dantian, and mind will reach a limit no matter how many bottlenecks are broken. This usually occurs during the Nascent soul realm, and cultivators who wish to move on to the Void Refinement stage have to over come this."
Huoran started to contemplate the artifact spirit's words, and started to mutter to himself, "Void refinement cultivators overcome the limit of refining Qi, special realms are pocket spaces of various sizes, cultivators regularly find many items and skills inside special realms, special realms are usually filled with abundant Qi."
Quanliyuan sat in the chair, and listened carefully to Huoran logically analyzing the clues he received so far.
"Void Refinement cultivators use a method to create a space inside their Dantain much like a storage ring or bag, or perhaps closer to a life realm", Huoran surmised, "But unlike a storage bag, when the cultivator passes away, the space becomes a special realm that opens under certain conditions."
"While it's more complex than that, you essentially understand the basic concept", Quanliyuan confirmed.
"Quanliyuan", Huoran said, "You didn't come from this world, did you?"