Heng Xing was staying in his cabin aboard the frigate, and he was using this free time to cultivate before their arrival to the Wu continent. He would have rather been using a pod, but the ship did not have a pod installed in each room. Instead, it had a dedicated room for pods that could only be used when the captain authorized it.
Heng Xing thought back to when he first arrived at the island as a mortal, before the pods had been developed. The few cultivators that were among them could only cultivate using the traditional method like he was doing now. The introduction of the cultivation pod artifact had changed how everyone cultivated, and there were cultivators on the island who only knew about the pods.
An alarm interrupted his thoughts, and he stopped his current activities to walk over to his armored suit. With a thought, the suit sprung open, and he removed his robes to reveal a skin tight suit underneath. He stepped inside the suit of armor, and it closed as it performed checks to ensure no problems existed. He grabbed the helmet, and held it in the crook of his elbow as he left his cabin. As he made his way towards the launch bay, other enforcers also appeared from their rooms as well. Each suit of armor was mostly uniform with only a couple of differences: a symbol of rank and realm displayed on the suit, and a personal heraldry as well.
As Heng Xing and the others entered the launch bay, they reported in, put their helmet on, and stood at their assigned launch tube. A briefing started playing a few moments after he put his helmet on and stood in position.
(We are currently less than ten minutes away from our first destination, the Stormy Sea sect. It is a small sect located near the inner sea who still has not had contact with us. Due to its size and strength, it was thought to be a potential target for unorthodox sects to attack.
The images from the latest satellite artifacts suggest that it is currently under attack from an unknown enemy. On arrival, deploy with the mission to capture as many as possible. Your suits are currently loaded with guardian and restriction talismans primarily. Do not kill the enemies, the talisman will entrap and transport the target to a small life realm on your suit. You are loaded with offensive talismans as well, but you are only authorized to use them if outside forces, such as spiritual beasts appear. Prepare to launch, we arrive in less than a minute.)
Heng Xing slowed his breathing to adjust his condition as a map of the current situation stayed displayed in front of him. He could see a small sect with its defensive formation activated, but it would not stay up for long as thousands of cultivators attacked it.
The pressure inside the bay changed as the doors in the room opened.
(5,4,3,2,1, launch)
With incredible velocity, Heng Xing found himself outside the ship, and in the open sky as he activated the flying array. The platoon of suits seemed silent, but inside the helmet, commands from the leaders were issued as they assigned areas to each member. Like a flock of birds gracefully dancing the air, the enforcers immediately moved as they to their assigned positions.
A huge commotion happened as the sect's array could no longer resist the attacks, and the invading forces surged forward. Heng Xing increased his speed as he lined up his shot on the lead cultivator, and fired. The man in question with a crazed look in his eye was about to attack with his large mace when he was hit in the back by the small talisman. He immediately felt his body stiffen to the point he could not move as his surroundings changed to a small secret realm that looked like plains.
The defenders, which consisted mostly of younger teenagers, were shocked as they watched the entire scene. This was followed up as more attackers suffered the same fate before the source of the disturbance appeared.
A black and gold humanoid artifact creature appeared and spoke to them, "Cultivators of the Stormy Sea sect, we are the enforcers of Sun & Moon city. We have to come to assist you, but stay vigilant and prepare for any surprises."
One of the frontline cultivators gather his courage, "Are you perhaps human?"
"Yes", Heby Xing replied, "Now please excuse me, there is much to do."
Heng Xing looked at the stunned enemies before he charged them becoming a whirlwind. Each one of his punches, kicks, or shots would result in the capture of another enemy.
Just as members of the Stormy Sea sect thought they had seen everything, a flying ship with a design they had never seen before appeared over the sect. Something small could been seen falling from the ship before it activated, and a new array formation appeared even though it was not as large as the original. Staying in its current position, lines of array formations appeared close to the ship. All the formation circles fired simultaneously over and over again, slightly changing position each time. Everything had happened so fast, but the unorthodox cultivators finally understood that they were outmatched, and began to scatter. The clean up took about an hour before the situation was damned finished.
Inside the Sect master's mansion, Captain Zhuo was meeting with Liang Haifeng, the owner of the mansion.
"We are deeply grateful for your help", Sect master Liang said with his head down, "Without your assistance, my sect would have ceased to exist as anyone unfortunate enough to be captured by them would been forced into hard labor, or even worse, a cultivation furnace. That was the Mystic Harmony sect, they say they practice dual cultivation, but they have a reputation for kidnapping others. I do not believe they sent everyone to us, so I'm afraid of retaliation."
"Please be at ease", Captain Zhuo reassured him, "While the ship continues to protect the sect, our enforcers are searching the area for their base. Once found, we will uproot them, and punish them for their crimes. I have already sent a message back, and several more units will arrive in the next few days. Let's see how things are progressing so far."
Captain Zhuo placed a small artifact on the table, a holographic map of the surrounding one hundred kilometers was displayed.
"This here is our current location", she said as she pointed at a certain indication, "These are our scouts here, and these are spy artifacts. It should not take long to locate where a group this size originated from."
"I see", the sect master said as he stroked his beard, "What kind of place is Sun & Moon island?"
Captain Zhuo could tell the sect master seemed to have some regrets, "It's a very beautiful and peaceful island. Did you not meet the flying ship of the Golden Peony? That ship was built on our island."
"Oh!", Sect master Liang exclaimed, "It did visit us, but we assumed that the price was too much, and opted to purchase a few things instead."
"That is a shame", Captain Zhuo responded, "We barter with any resources specifically so that smaller sects have the opportunity to visit. I would highly recommend visiting at least one before…"
Before she could finish her statement, the indicators on the map stopped their current searching pattern, and began to converge towards on area.
"Excuse me, Sect master Liang", Zhuo said, "It's evident that they have found what we are looking for. I will leave a few units here to protect this location, but I have to go support everyone over there."
Captain Zhuo gave a slight bow before returning to the ship issuing orders. Eight armored men stayed behind as the ship flew to the location on the map. When she rendezvous with them, they heard a quick strategic meeting and then proceeded. A few more powerful cultivators were exposed during the raid resulting in a few of the armored enforcers taking hits, but thankfully, the suits had been upgraded since the Draco incident and minor injuries were the worst result.
The enforcers searched the base after all the enemies had been taken care of, and they took everything of value. They also made a disturbing discovery as they found tens of thousands of men and women who had suffered under the Mystic Harmony sect's hedonistic atrocities. Even worse was the number of corpses that no longer held 'value' to the unorthodox cultivators. A simplified report was sent first while the detailed report was being prepared, and Captain Zhuo had already received word that a convey would be deployed by the end of the day.
Heng Xing was taking a quick break after all the events of the day. When he was mortal, he lived in poverty and seen people do many questionable deeds to survive, but today's incident topped his worse day in the slums. He finished balancing the influence of the negative karma he was exposed to today before returning to assist the victims, just like he had been helped before too.
Meanwhile, in a home on top a cliff on Sun & Moon island, Wei Huoran was reading the report Captain Zhuo had sent earlier in the day.
'Xiao Ran, it's time', Quanliyuan gave a gentle reminder, and Huoran closed the QFold before putting it away.
'Thank you, old friend', Huoran said as he approached a mirror.
There, he saw himself wearing bright red robes with golden accents, many accessories, and his long hair had been arranged according to custom. Satisfied that everything was perfect, he exited the house through the front doors to meet with all the human Ministers.
"It's an auspicious day", Minister Ye said as he saw Huoran come out.
The other ministers heard Minister Ye, and offered their own words of support.
"Thank you for…", Huoran was about politely respond to everyone when a gruff voice cut him off.
"Enough with the thanks", Minister Xia said, "We have known each other for many years now, so instead of wasting time, let's get moving."
Everyone laughed as they moved towards the cars meant for today's event. The long line of cars flew from the top of the cliff as they made their way to Sun city. Once they arrived, the cars paraded through the city on a predetermined route as the citizens cheered. News reporters and their camera crews reported on the event as they recorded as the cars passed by. While one marriage should not have garnered this much attention, Huoran could tell from where he sat that many of the attendees were just using today to enjoy the festival like atmosphere. They made their way through the city, and arrived at the train station where a private train was waiting. All the cars were loaded, as the people boarded the only passenger car included in the train.
Soon, the train blew its horn and departed the station en route to Moon city. Once they arrived, the cars were unloaded, and everyone got in before resuming the trip. As the cars left the station, they once again followed a predetermined route through Moon city. This time everything felt different as the sounds of cheering traveled through water, and was effected by it. Huoran had not visited Moon city to often, so even though he was waving to the merfolk, he also was investigating the city.
Eventually, the convoy arrived at a grand palace as rows of soldiers was seen protecting the gate.
"The disciple of the great cultivator that watches the island, the venerable Wei Huoran as the groom has come to take his bride", Minister Xia announced as they exited the cars.
"The merfolk value strength, so if the Venerable Wei Houran wishes to take the princess as his pride, he must display his strength", Minister Zel replied.
The doors to the palace opened, and Zeng Meirong came out in a set of beautiful blue ceremonial wedding robes. Huoran sighed because obviously in his past life, he never had to deal with such a thing, and thought this was unnecessary. Unfortunately for him, this was part of the merfolk tradition, though how close they followed the tradition was up to the family. In a nutshell, because she was a princess, and Minister Zel wanted to have fun, they insisted on this step.
Huoran rushed the gates utilizing an amazing combination of movement techniques to weave through the 'guards' of the princess. Technically, he could have just used the space element to bypass everything, but he decided that since they made the effort, he would play along. He moved through the ranks quickly and with relative ease until he reached the final obstacle, Minister Zel himself. For a full minute, Huoran used all the normal techniques to try to get around him, and recognized why Zel was previously a top general of the merfolk kingdom. He also tried so unique methods before seeing Meirong's impatient look on her face.
With a smile, he teleported to her side, "I have come for you, my princess."
She puffed her cheeks in displeasure before turning her head away to hide a smile.
"I judge the venerable Wei Huoran to have the strength to protect the princess", Zel announced, "Let us proceed with the ceremony."
Huoran led Meirong back to the cars before they returned to the station. This time the train was set to go to Market Square, and as they arrived, they saw residents and guests also arriving in droves. The drivers continued on until the arrived at the lake, where a special platform was installed in the middle.
Huoran led Meirong to the platform Elder Shenlong was waiting, "I welcome everyone as we witness this blessed event between the Venerable Wei Huoran, and Princess Zeng Meirong. I have not known the pair long, and it was both a surprise and an honor to watch over their ceremony. The rituals of the beastkin are very much different than I'm used to so please bear with me. Can the bride and groom approach the stage?"
Both of them complied with the elder's request so he continued.
"In the tradition of man, I as the witness will ask the couple to perform the three bows", Elder Shenlong said.
Huoran and Meirong summoned a life realm into their hands, and placed it on a set of altars on the platform.
"For those like me, who are unfamiliar with this practice, the three bows represent honoring one's parents, honoring each other, and finally honoring the heavens."
As the elder explained to the huge crowd, Huoran and Meirong followed along, bowing once to the life realms, then two each other, and finally towards Elder Shenlong.
"The traditions of the merfolk are different", the elder commented, "As beastkins who lived in the sea, the sea is the mother. As the mother, it is the creator of life and to properly give respect, the gift of water must be shared between the two."
Huoran and Meirong both took the jade bowls in front of them, and a ceremonial knife. They both made slight cuts to their fingers, and collected the blood in the bowl. They had their bowl to the other, and used hand motions to direct the blood given to them into their bodies.
"With this, the sea blesses this union and announces that Wei Huoran and Zeng Meirong as official husband and wife", Elder Shenlong announced as the defeating cheers erupted. Elder Shenlong, Huoran, and Meirong left the platform, and bade farewell to each other.
"I will see you later, Elder Shenlong", Huoran said, "We have to go around the square once before returning home to prepare for the banquet there."
The elder nodded and left as Huoran and Meirong spent the next few hours going around Market Square. When they finished, Huoran had his convoy take the both of the them home as a long line of people followed to attend the banquet. After a long evening of eating, drinking, and merriment, guests were sent home with a generous red packet as the new couple retired to the bridal chamber.