After leaping away from the taming area and towards the city, I quickly check behind me to see that no one is following.

Of course, someone is.

… Or attempting to, at least.

It appears to be an early stage Qi condensation cultivator from the taming group.

However, with the sheer amount of speed that my jumps take me at, it is quite difficult for someone at that level to catch up to me.

But it won’t be difficult for them to track me down, with the impacts that my jumps make on the ground.

Unlike skilled cultivators, I’m actually not using a movement technique. Those abilities actually lighten the body, while still allowing them to move at high speeds. I, however, am just using massive amounts of strength to propel myself around.

Honestly, I kind of forgot that I could get just grab this one after completing my cultivation. I’d gotten so used to relying on this strength that I didn’t use the other ways to move around.

… And admittedly, it feels really cool to Hulk jump and leave craters everywhere.

Unlike cultivation techniques, most movement techniques are widely known.

Of course, the ones that are public are pretty poor and there are many secretive ones used by skilled groups… but at least I can grab this technique or build one without too much concern.

I immediately place a good portion of my scan to look into it.

After everything I’ve gone through and how hard I’ve been pushing it, my scan is actually pretty bulky now. Able to take on quite a bit more information and roles than before.

I’ll still need to give it a chance to fully rest sometime soon, though.

I quickly find a few methods that could fit my needs, there already feel myself planning on ways to improve them and combine them into a better version.

One thing I notice with this is that the better versions may require more Qi.

I am already using part of my Qi to maintain a barrier around my body, so this gives me a bit of pause on how I should proceed. Even with my abilities to have more Qi and also use it more effectively than others with of my scan, I’m still only at the first stage of cultivation. With four units of Qi.

I just won’t have enough for healing if I’m also using the movement ability.

Of course. I probably won’t be needing to using all three at the same time… but considering my luck, I will.

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But before I can decide on this, a Foundation Establishment cultivator comes flying in on a sword at high speeds.

Quickly arriving from behind the Qi Condensation cultivator, they perform an action with briefly surprises me. They smack him on the head. Soon after, they then drag him away, back to the area we were at before.

The little I can see shows they are trying to hold to the request I had made to them before. This bodes well to my future relationship with them, because they’re at least shows that they will try to hold to their word. And regulate themselves when something comes up.

With that done, I can focus on my next big issue. How to sneak into the outer city.

This is actually the easiest part.

Just like most big cities in this world, there are quite a few smuggling efforts to get packages and people in without the authorities noticing or sometimes beneath their notice.

Thus, it’s child’s play for my scan to find is overt smuggling operation in which I’m able to just walk up to one person, who leads me to a group of people a little way away from one of the main entrances.

After paying a silver, they let me join a small group of hooded people with no questions asked. Not even a second look.

While this was easy for me, because of my scan, normally you would have to go through a vetting process or have contacts that could lead you to a trustworthy network of smugglers. From there, you would have to find someone who wouldn’t screw you over (money-wise).

With my scan, I bypassed that and slipped in when there was a missing spot for a relatively cheap entry.

As we approach the lattice like walls of the city, I can see a Cultivator far on the top of the wall with my scan. Although it should be easy to see us going towards the wall, he distinctly looked straight ahead, ignoring us.

It’s obvious they made an agreement with him to stay quiet and not pay attention to the situation. As a precaution, the smuggler tells us to remain quiet as we walk along this area.

Because of the sheer size of the walls, it actually takes us a while to reach its edge, and it only grows in perspective until we finally reach a small enclave. An area that looks like the beginning of a mirror maze but open enough for a horse to go through.

Though the smugglers have been using it for their routes, I know based on my scan at the beginning since I first reached this outer city that this is the area used for the self-defense measures of the walls. Helping to refract and reflect light until it gets to dangerous levels. The reason it’s safe for us now is because it’s put into a state where it won’t harm us. If activated while we were here, even I would have trouble resurrecting enough to survive it.

I find myself somewhat surprised, though. Despite my expectation that we travel for a long tunnel of these areas, there actually seems to be a deep hole that takes us underground instead. In silence, we travel through the darkened tunnel for what appears to be 5 hours. As there were some elderly people along, they seem to be weakened, although in this world most people are more physically fit.

Based on the smugglers accompanying us, it appears they would kill them to keep them quiet and not reveal this location. So, I lend my strength and help carry them along.

Eventually, we come out in deep into an underground area. What is most surprising is that we emerge from a dense brush of plants into a jungle like area. Still underground.

I’m reminded of what Mei Lin Told me about the city, that they grow much of the food in this city underground. And just like she had said, we are led throughout an area that has many workers harvesting food and sprinkling A type of fertilizer around.

After another couple hours of travel through this type of area, we finally begin heading upward along the underground farms up to an open area. It appears this is where much of the food is sold or transported by contract workers.

Once we’ve reached this area, they told us we can go where we wish and we should hurry away from here. Each of us goes our separate ways, with the old lady thanking me briefly before quickly heading off.

Obviously, I use my scan to double check that I’m not being followed, but it truly appears that I’ve made it through without issue.

The best part about this is that none of the cultivators that would search for me would imagine that I would use such a way to get inside, as no self-respecting cultivator would ever use this method.

As I look out into the city, my scan informs me I’m making great time, but that I must hurry to my goal.

And so, I begin my stealthy, but fast run, towards the slum area yet again.