Lie Yan sat down in his pod in his cave, taking a moment to appreciate the artifact he had won from the pinnacle tournament. After spacing out for a moment, he logged into his account and opened both the battle arena and Qiflow applications. After winning the tournament, Lie Yan had gained some renown and had decided to try broadcasting to test the waters. Viewers could already be heard as he loaded into the battle arena.
It was a surreal experience, broadcasters could control how the audience appeared before him ranging from unseen voices to cutesy avatars to their true appearance. Several functions had been put in place to allow cultivators to play without the audience hindering them including silencing loud noise or delaying the images and temporarily preventing broadcasters from matching with their viewers.
Lie Yan raised his arm to greet the ones watching, "Burning Flame here, welcome to my Qiflow stream. If this is your time here, thank you, if this isn't, I'm pleased that you've returned. Perhaps you you came today to see me play Musuo mode, so let me apologize, I've decided that today I would play some battle arena instead."
Since he had his audience set to transparent, he could only hear the cheers and boos of his supporters as he entered the game. Not only that, but there were also options for the crowd of people to donate to the Qiflow host. Rice balls, noodle bowls, Yin Yangs circles, phoenixes, and dragons could be heard or seen when supporters donated to the host. Lie Yan's room ID was Burning Flame, and soon he had reached out to his friends before his team started their first match.
Several matches later, Lie Yan and his team had run into a somewhat easy opponent, so he started chatting with his audience as lazily played his role. As he listened to the chatter from the crowd, he heard something interesting as they went from their normal conversations about the current arena match to a strange news story about a Qiflow stream appearing from the new continents. Lie Yan thought back and remembered that many months ago, a giant ship had left Sun & Moon island with the mission of exploring the new continents.
Lie Yan spoke to his friends telling them about what his fans had said, "I apologize, I find this Qiflow interesting, so I will go for now to look into it."
The other four players also thought the same, so everyone decided to stop the game, and Lie Yan exited the game before heading back to Qiflow. On the opening screen, he immediately recognized the spotlighted stream as being the one everyone was talking about. He saw that hundred of thousands of viewers were already in the stream and would soon reach a million, so he selected it and entered as well. Once inside, his eyes saw blue everywhere as he witnessed the ocean surrounding him.
For ten minutes, Lie Yan and the rest of the audience watched as the source of the stream moved through the sea before they finally heard a voice.
"Command, This is scout one", a man could be heard, "Ready to launch."
"Roger, Scout one", a female voice answered, "Launch sequence initiated…bay flooding…pressure normalized…bay door opened…scout ship launched."
Lie Yan refocused as the scene changed as scout ship shot forward, and the audience was treated to a full view of the explorer ship. He had returned to the Nanying continent after the pinnacle tournament, and only heard about the giant flying ship from the news. Now that he got to see it, he was in awe of the flying ship as the scout ship rose to the surface.
Soon, the scout ship disappeared and broke through the ocean's surface displaying the surroundings to the audience. The scout ship rose high into the air and traveled towards the west, showcasing the horizon. Lie Yan was glancing around not understanding why this was being broadcast until something caught his eye. He sent Qi to his eyes to strengthen his eyesight, and was surprised when he saw land off into the distance.
As the scout ship approached the land, Lie Yan noticed something particular about the island. From the high angle the ship was approaching the island from, the land appeared as a dragon had fallen asleep there and just happen to have been buried. The scout ship altered its course, and started to circle the island causing Lie Yan to change his impression. Once flying ship reached its highest position in the sky, the island now looked like two dragons. One was dominant, and looked as if it was attacking the second. The second appeared as if it had been killed by the first.
An interesting detail that Lie Yan had noticed was that both dragons were the same size, and roughly had the small shape. Normally, he was the caster and was used to talking, so he naturally said the first thing on his mind.
[ Burning Flame: This is not an island, but twin dragons fighting.]
By now, over a million users were in the room watching the same thing he was, but his message just happen to catch other guests' attention.
[ Moonlight Saber: How childish, what dragons?
Left my stones in my other ring: I see it, too. Saber is blind, I can recommend a great clinic to help.
Tiger lady in the next life: I see it, too. Twin Dragon island sounds perfect.
One sword to rule them all: above user +1
Searching for a special constitution: +1
I have a hidden bloodline: +1]
The stream ended soon after the scout ship completed its first lap around the island, and returned to the mothership. After a few hours, Lie Yan saw a news story that talked about the newly discovered island, Twin Dragon island. He could only smile before he returned to battle arena to get a few more games in.
Meanwhile on Sun & Moon island, Hu Shan had exited a cultivation pod and removed the mask. Ever since the trial, things had quickly become complicated. After his acquittal, he agreed to join the Vermillion Blood sect. This confused him at first, he thought it was a sanctioned unorthodox sect. The truth was that it was a sect that focused on body cultivation, and they used spiritual beast blood essence as a basis. Each member would search for a spiritual beast they were compatible with, and adapt a cultivation methodology using the strengths of their chosen animal.
Hu Shan had already been evaluated to have great compatibility with tigers, and under the guidance of the Vermillion Blood sect had made great strides in cultivation despite it only being a few months time. Later, he learned that it was due to the services of Sun & Moon island that allowed this progress to occur. Even though he had not been blooded by the Crimson Lily sect, the doctors had kept him on the island to clear any influence it could have had on him. The room he was staying in was bigger than his quarters in the Blood Lily sect, but not by much. Hu Shan did not mind as the Vermillion Blood was paying for it, the food, and his access to the cultivation pod. Today's show opened his eyes to the size of the world, and deep inside something about that land was calling to him.
As he prepared to eat lunch, a beautiful woman entered the room causing him to stand and bow.
"Disciple greets Master Xue", he quickly said.
Elder Xue, dressed in green and purple robes that were different than normal Daoist robes, smiled and returned the greeting. Her robes looked designed to emphasize ease of movement without being enticing.
"Xiao Shan, how is your cultivation? Are you having any troubles?", Elder Xue asked.
"No Master", he replied politely, "I had some luck, and was able to breakthrough to early Qi Gathering realm yesterday. I have already completed my consolidation, and was learning about new things in the pod."
The elder looked as if she was thinking for a moment before looking at him again.
"Did you watch the stream about the new land on the other side of the world?", she questioned him.
"Yes master", he responded.
"What did you think about it?", Elder Xue gave him an inquisitive look.
"It was amazing", Hu Shan stated, "Something inside of me yearns to visit that island one day."
Elder Xue smiled and said, "Then when the opportunity arises, I'll speak with sect master. I do not believe he would deny you the chance."
The two continued to talk for another hour as she guided him through the cultivation method their sect had purchased for him. Then Elder Xue bade farewell, left the room, and walked down the hallway until she knocked on the door of a different room.
"Enter", she heard clearly, so she opened the door.
"Sect master", Elder Xue bowed after entering.
A large burly man wearing grey robes was sitting in a chair watching the QTV in the room. He turned it off before addressing the elder.
"How is our newest disciple, Elder Xue?", the sect master inquired.
"Cultivation is as predicted", she commented, "and as we thought, he also felt the call from the new land as well."
"I understand", the sect master told her, and he stood up, "Let's go speak with him then."
The two of them went back to Hu Shan's room and entered after knocking.
"No need for formalities", the sect master said as he entered, using his aura to stop Hu Shan from bowing.
Elder Xue spoke next, "Disciple Hu Shan, the sect master has come to explain why you feel a connection to the new land."
"Disciple understands", Hu Shan nervously replied.
"Hu Shan", the sect master said, "Do you know why our guild is small in number, but it still ranked as a second rate guild?"
"Disciple is not aware of the reason", Hu Shan responded.
"Let's sit and talk then", the sect master suggested, and the three of them did so, "I'm sure that by now you have felt a slight connection with the other members of the sect."
Hu Shan nodded before the sect master continued, "The reason for that is that we all have a special physiques, constitutions, or bloodlines related to spiritual beasts or plants. I know this brings up more questions, so I will do my best. While it is unknown why these types of occurrences happen, we personally believe in the wheel of reincarnation. If you have not heard of it, it's fine, but the important point is that there is a realm of beasts in the wheel. Our ancestors taught us that if one has good karma during their beast life and eventually reincarnates into the realm of man again, even if their memory is gone, their body still holds the memory of that time."
"Sect master means that in a past life, disciple was a tiger?", Hu Shan asked.
"Not only were you a tiger, but a white tiger", the sect master asserted, "A noble beast of strength and power that originates from the white tiger divine beast. That feeling you get when you see the new land most likely has to do with your kin."
"I want to go there", Hu Shan accidentally let slip.
Sect master could have acted angrily, but instead he laughed, "We will get the opportunity soon, now that the ship has arrived it will not be long before the teleport station is set up. I heard that the Ministry from Sun & Moon island will allow anyone who can afford to travel do so when their portal is secure. I will take you and the entire sect there even if we have to sell everything."
On the now named 'Twin Dragon' island, the explorer ship had landed on the mountainside of the 'aggressive' dragon, and crew members were exiting the flying ship. Captain Long had scouted the island several times before choosing a site above an extremely large spiritual vein, possibly even larger than back at Sun & Moon island. After clearing the space and landing, he ordered the next phase to begin, this entailed anchoring the ship into the vein and setting up a protective formation. Once that was accomplished, the portal would be built and activated, and the ship would act as a temporary base while the real city would begun being built.
Enforcers left the ship first, fully suited up, and created a boundary around the ship while gunners, scouts, and spotters scanned the surroundings. With the perimeter established, Captain Long ordered everyone off the ship as the artisans prepared for anchoring the ship and connecting to the spiritual vein. Over the next several days, the ship transformed into a neighborhood block. It had been built as a set of modules with the expressed purpose of temporarily becoming a base. The ship was now connected to the spirit vein even though they still continued to secure the whole vein to efficiently use the energy, and also to hide its signature. Array grandmasters had deployed the multipurpose formation that could act offensively and defensively while scouts performed missions to silently explore the area. Artifact drones were deployed as well to serve as a warning system or a last defense system against invaders if needed.
A few days after everything had been completed, the crew minus the essential guards were gathered in the cargo module that was temporarily acting as a city hall.
"Cultivators and beastkin", Captain Long spoke to the group, "Thanks to efforts of everyone, we have reached our destination and established a base as planned. In just a moment, we will activate the teleport formation and connect with Sun & Moon island. I just wanted to congratulate you all on a job well done before you get tired of hearing it from everyone else. Now for the big moment, activate the formation!"
A curtain behind the Captain opened, and a large circle with runes etched all over it was displayed. The strongest cultivators were standing guard around the portal as they scrutinized the area looking for any threats. A grandmaster artisan took several core batteries from the ships protected storage, and inserted them into the slots for the formation before performing a few hand motions.
The formation lit up as half circle rings began to circulate at high speeds for a few minutes before the slowed down. Once they stopped, all the rings aligned before the smallest half rings began to expand. As the half ring met a slightly larger ring, it would continue and the slightly larger began to expand too. Instead of a hollow center developing as the inner rings expanded, a water like screen took shape. When all the rings reached the last outer ring, the expansion stopped, and a large water screen that showed a group of people on it showed up. The water screen had two swirls on it with one that felt like it was pulling things in, and the other felt like it was pushing outwards.
"The portal has been established", Captain Long, "Now to test to ensure that it operates correctly."
Someone had delivered a bird cage next to the Captain while everyone watched the formation activation. Captain long put his hand in the cage, removed the falcon inside, and attached a note to its legs. He waved his hand, and the falcon took off towards the portal. It entered the portal without hesitation, causing the water screen to slightly ripple before appearing on the other side slightly blurry now. After a few more moments, the man on the other side of the water screen holding the falcon moved closer to it before he disappeared, and then everyone was surprised as the same man exited from the water screen.
Wei Huoran now stood in front of everyone that left a few months ago on the exploration ship, "Congratulations, everyone, you did a fantastic job."