Go into the Water

Captain Long was sitting in his cabin after another long day of travel. The course of the 'Explorer' vessel had already been plotted, so he left his first mate in charge to rest and cultivate for a bit. After a delicious dinner, he leaned back in his favorite recliner, and called out to an unseen presence in the room.

"Qinglong", Captain Long said.

"Yes, Captain", a voice called back, "What may I do for you today?"

"Open the travel log, and open a new entry", Long instructed.

"It is done, Captain", Qinglong replied, "Recording has started now."

"This is Long Zhan, Captain of the 'Explorer', and today is the third day of travel since leaving Sun & Moon island", Long narrated, "After departure, we set course for the Western ocean, leaving the exploration of the inner sea to the drone artifacts. Once we transitioned from the sea to the ocean, we were supposed to dive underwater to investigate questionable areas identified by the satellite artifacts. As we traveled to the first point of interest, we happened to see an oddity on a tiny island off the Northwestern coast of the Nanying continent. The small island was around seventy kilometers in length, but what was a strange was a smaller island of thirty kilometers floating over the larger one. After confirming that the smaller island had no beings of intelligence inhabiting it, we collected the floating island to send home once the teleportation portal is set up. The inscription artisans on the crew have already copied all the runes inscribed on the island, and sent them in for the sages to decipher. I was told that initial impressions by the artisans are that while the array formations work, they are incredibly inefficient."

Captain Long took a drink of dream green tea before continuing, "Once the floating island was secured, we continued on our way towards our original destination. We dived underwater once we were sure that no more oddities existed in the same place. We arrived at the location by the evening of the second day, and we originally held hope that this would be an opportunity. We approached the area to find that it was rich in sea life, both mundane and spiritual, but disappointment followed. The evidence suggested that not only was the seabed the location of a whale fall, but a whale graveyard. Unfortunately, this was many centuries ago, and the useful parts of the whales had been claimed long ago. On the bright side, there was a secret realm of high ranking whale located. Our scans showed that this place would develop a spiritual vein in the next one hundred years, so we terminated our search of this area."

Captain Long was adding videos, images, and maps to his report as he spoke.

"So far, we have been able to avoid conflicts with the local factions", he kept going, "Today, on the third day, was a big surprise as we found another tribe of merfolk. Apparently, the merfolk of the inner sea were aware of this tribe as theirs was an offshoot from it. The trip has been worth the effort so far as we have collected many spiritual plants and resources, and taken note of the surroundings so that we can care for them during the trip. Today, the goal is to reach a large underwater volcano detected by the satellites. We should arrive in a few hours, and then we can verify the location of a large spiritual vein and the abundant life surrounding it. We believe it should make a perfect place for the first relay station that will connect our continents to the two new ones. End recording."

Captain Long sighed as he finished his first report. The journey was amazing, but when he thought about the future, he was slightly depressed. This trip was only one way as it would serve as the base of the teleportation portal, and be recycled once a permanent base was built. Clearing his mind, he submitted his report before entering his mediation stance and cycling his cultivation method.

Five hours later, Captain Long appeared on the bridge, received a salute from the room, and took his chair.

"What's the current status, first officer Jiang?", Captain Long requested an update from shorter, slim woman.

"We still have been sailing without incident", Jiang Yun answered, "Resource identification, marking, and collecting is still being carried out without any issues, and we are approximately less than a hour away from our current destination."

"Excellent work ", Long praised his first mate, "I assume the teams are ready?"

"Aye, Captain", Jiang Yun replied, "There are only a few minor problems, and I sent those to your communicator."

"Carry on then", Long casually directed her as he commanded a few light screen to appear in front of him.

Everyone on the bridge was alert, but the tension was not enough to pressure the crew. Captain Long could hear the different sections quickly communicating with each other, and several tones from the different equipment humming in the background. It did not take long for the underwater volcano to appear as everyone in the ship saw bright red magma rising from the sea floor causing plumes of white cloudy smoke to rise towards the surface of the ocean. A heavy aura of fire, water, and earth Qi was easily detected by everyone on the bridge.

"First Officer Jiang", Captain Long spoke, "You have been monitoring the situation so far, so I feel it is appropriate if you continue to command this portion of the mission. You could also turn down the opportunity as well if you wish."

"Thank you for the honor", Jiang said before turning to the rest of the crew, "Put the scouts on standby, I want them ready to launch in twenty minutes. All stations cease all activities, except for passive monitoring and report your finding."

Captain had a small smile on his face as he heard her give out orders, 'I think once we established the portal, I will recommend her to her first command of a vessel.'

Twenty minutes later Jiang ordered, "Launch the scouts."

Bay doors opened on the side of the ship as ten scouting vessels and a hundred drones left the larger ship, and headed towards the volcano. Captain long had changed the screens in front of him to the cameras of the scout ships' point of view, and watched as they glided through the water. The sea bed here looked no different than all the other areas they had visited so far with the exception of magma surging out of the ground. As they approached the target area, they found pillars of stone that vented heated water, a large diverse array of life, and something unexpected. The scouts discovered flood dragons inhabiting the area, but these seemed to be variants of normal flood dragons as the exposure of lava had caused them to develop differently. Their long serpentine bodies were mostly azure in color, but many of their scales were varying colors of red.

"First Officer Jiang", a man from the warning and detection station spoke, "The scouts have finished their initial scans, and their findings show that the strongest flood dragon ranks the same as a late Nascent soul realm cultivator."

"Thank you, Daoist Gao", Jiang responded, "Captain, I formally request that we contact one of our venerables to lead to mission for first contact with the flood dragons."

"Understood, first officer Jiang", Captain Long answered, "I will speak with them now."

Long Zhan used the ship's communications, and several minutes later ended the call before nodding to Jiang.

Fifteen minutes later another ship left the bay of the 'Explorer'. It made its way over to the area of the flood dragons before both the ship and the venerable merfolk inside made their presence known.

"I am the Venerable Tian Hai of the inner sea", the Ancestor level merfolk announced, "I have arrived unannounced, but I wish to speak with the one in charge."

Huoran was sitting in his seat in the large conference hall as a man was being dragged away. It most likely would have been a noisy ordeal, but he was surrounded by the same gel like substance that had been used to capture him the first time.

Huoran shook his head, 'There had been a few cultivators who had not partaken in the unorthodox ways, but most had committed many atrocities.'

'When walking the Dao', Quanliyuan said, 'Many get lost by following a path that is not their own, or try to find a shortcut to power.'

Huoran was listening when he saw a twelve or thirteen year old boy being led into the hall.

'This boy was the same age as me when I traveled here to the island', he remarked, 'How could someone so young already be walking an unorthodox path?'

'Because he was meant to', Quanliyuan responded.

Huoran looked over at the artifact spirit, who was still in the form that it took since its appearance in front of the dragon emperor, 'What do you mean by that?'

'Use my eyes, and your questions will be answered', Quanliyuan told him.

Huoran looked over the boy, and information from the artifact spirit appeared in his mind.

'I see', Huoran said, 'His constitution would benefit from tiger blood. As he was an initiate, he had not performed the first blooding ritual yet, and his meridians are still pure.'

'This is a rare occurrence', Quanliyuan commented, 'Most of the cultivators brought in so far have already walked down the wrong path to be saved.'

Huoran nodded and refocused his attention to the hearing.

"State your name", Minister Ye commanded the boy.

"Hu Shan", the boy said.

Something Huoran immediately noticed was that the boy had not yet cultivated, but he was able to stand in front of everyone with no fear.

"We are going to ask you a few questions before verifying the answers later", Ye told the boy, "You can lie to use, but we will know the truth eventually so it is not in your best interest."

Hu Shan agreed, and the panel of judges began the questioning. Once that was completed, Ye looked at Huoran. The latter rose from his seat, and walked over to Hu Shan.

"Hu Shan, I will be looking in your mind", Huoran informed the boy, "It will feel odd, and as long as you keep focused, no harm will be done. Otherwise, life will become very difficult if you resist."

Hu Shan looked solemn, but he nodded in understanding as Huoran stretched his hand and pointed at the boy's forehead. Quanliyuan was able to easily search the boy's mind before giving the information to Huoran. Huoran, in turn, put his hand down and turned towards the other judges.

"Everything Hu Shan stated was the truth", Huoran stated, "Additionally, the boy has a special constitution that requires tiger's blood to cultivate. Unless someone is absolutely positive that they can provide or purchase the required method and resources, I will suggest he stay on Sun & Moon island."

As Huoran went back to his seat, he could feel that several of the judges were already preparing to argue for the boy.

Minister Ye banged the gavel a few times, "The council will deliberate first before discussing where this young man will go."

A light curtain blocked off the judges from everyone as they started speaking. Huoran could tell though that they were not trying to ascertain his guilt at this point, but rather, they were secretly competing over accepting him as a disciple of their sect.

This made Huo irritated, "Then it sounds as everyone agrees to rehabilitate this boy. Send him to the facility for evaluation, and we can settle the other details later."

The others detected Huoran's displeasure, so Minister Ye agreed, "Of course, Venerable Wei. Do not let the foolishness of old men disturb you."

Ye waved his hands, and dispelled the light curtain.

"Hu Shan", he said, "It is decided that your testimony is true, and that there is a chance to lead you down the correct path. Please follow the enforcer while we make arrangements."

The boy politely bowed before leaving with one of the enforcers assigned to the hall. Not long after their departure, the enforcers brought the next man. Huoran sighed as it was easy to tell that this was someone who practiced a method that required young female virgins to be used as cultivation furnaces.

It was not hard to tell that this man was beyond saving, the criminal's eyes had been only looking at the female judges in the room.

Minister Ye banged the gavel, "Let us commence the next trail versus…"