Despite my attempt to control my body from revealing too much, my heart is beating fast.

I can’t stop myself from showing this to the observer.

I know.

The mere awareness of the existence of this gate shouldn’t even be possible until far later in cultivation. And even then, you would need to know exactly where to search for it.

At this point, I’m running the scan to see how to mitigate this. And what the right course of action is to do. But the answer is obvious.

I need to walk through it.

The scan informs me that there is no real downside to going through it, as it is just a feature of this mountain and the sect. An exceptionally powerful feature, but more of a defensive one than anything else.

Playing off that I don’t know, while acting normal, is the best way to move forward.

As the carriage pulls through the gate, I can sense the change that comes over my body. And the accompanied information that is now available from my scan.

We just traveled through a distortion in space.

An adage that I had discovered while learning more about the sect comes to mind. It says, ‘travel on the roads to the inner parts of the sect is far easier than going through or above the wilds.’

At the time, I thought it may mean that it is dangerous and would slow you down, because of monsters and environmental effects, all of which are abundant in the massive areas between the elevated roads.

And that’s the assumption of almost everyone, including cultivators.

But it looks like it actually is referencing this gate…

But why keep this a secret? Why would the gate include a secrecy aspect in its formation, causing even the transition itself to be obscured?

Then it hits me.

This is the Revolving Heavenly Light sect, a primarily light-based cultivation sect. And that’s the primary method they teach to members (but still allow other forms of cultivation, as well).

But what is something that can affect light?

The gravity and the space/time continuum.

Void cultivation.

My mind races with this information coming from my scan and my knowledge from my previous world.

If I’m not incorrect, then the gates are a stable portion of the transfer, while the walls are less so. Making it more confusing or difficult to traverse. Still sending people through, I assume, but with a little delayed disorientation.

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And sometimes, not working. Which means a person would have to traverse part or all of that hidden space. Which explains why there’s a variance in experiences.

Not only that, but extra space between these two gates still exists, but must be getting used to bend the light and harness greater amounts for a defensive structure.

… which ties back into the mirror walls at the edge of the inner city.

While it would be easy to assume the teleportation grids and this are the same, they actually operate on two different methodologies. One connects to pocket dimensions to traverse space, hopping from one and then out in a different area. The other is distorting and manipulating the space itself to reach a different area. Both requiring a form of void cultivation.

That’s when my scan detects an indicator being set off and toward the mountain.

Oh no…

I finally hit on something I’ve been trying to avoid for the longest time.

Cultivation method secrets.

It appears that combining my previous world knowledge, the scan, and the in-person example of a core void cultivation method formation, has given me deep insight into a specific type of alert. An identifier focused on one goal.

Finding people who understand void cultivation or can handle it mentally.

This must be a bigger aspect of the secret within the sect.

Many large sects have the public cultivation methods they publicly show to their people and promote. But they also have powerful methods, which may also be known, but are kept close to the chest. Open secrets.

And then there are the hidden cards. The portions of the sect that are truly a secret and would have a person killed if they knew.

If not killed, then silenced.

With this gate being discoverable by higher tier cultivation experts, this doesn’t fit the last category. Especially since they could share this with others and others could find it with enough resources in information networks.

Nonetheless, it is a card that is kept hidden and would raise eyebrows if known by outsiders.

…

And sure enough, it has only been 30 seconds or so before I can see a person standing in the far distance.

Looking as if they’ve been there for a while.

My scan informs me that is most definitely not the case. They simply appeared in that space.

The carriages creep ever forward, as the people within them continue to unwittingly be led to a potentially dangerous position.

But only potentially, because if this truly was an issue… I would have been absolutely destroyed already.

Instead, the person is patiently waiting, despite their obvious higher skill and cultivation. And they know I’ve seen them, as well.

So, in the interim, I hop onto the other carriage, where Ai and Lin are, alongside Mei Lin and Shi.

They seem a bit surprised when I jumped onto the front of it and talked to them through a small window there.

“Hey. Sorry for the suddenness of this, but it looks like I may need to leave with one of the sect leaders. Something’s come up that I can’t avoid. It’s related to what we talked about before.”

At my words, their surprised looks harden.

None of us thought they would do this on the road like this. We mostly assumed they would catch us at the library before separating, as would be the norm.

Sadly, I can’t communicate with them why this happened, as clearly anyone who could move this quickly and subtly would have exceptional senses. But they seem to understand enough and give me a terse nod, as Shi climbs out to the front and replaces my seat.

I take the opportunity to communicate plans to her, the best that I can, so that she can lead everyone to the right people. But I can’t be too explicit now, on what to look for, if there isn’t good data to support it. Which reduces the pool of librarians I can reach out to.

“Shi, I’ve received word that there is a batch of librarians that are looking into the Pearls of Antiquity. Inform one of the librarians at the front of the building that they should look for a hint near the back of the book ‘Diaries of Lao Quan, 87, 13’.

“If they ask how you know that, let them know that if they want more information to assist our group with finding cultivation methods based on what I gave them earlier. And to set up a contact with you, Ai, Lin and Mei Lin.”

But I’m not able to get out much more than that, as we already arrived before the gentleman before us.

As I slowed the carriage line down, I can see their features much more clearly.