Still in the illusory area, I choose a spot on the map near this area, towards one of my people. Since I’m already in this area, it would just be easier to start here and go to the progressively deeper areas.

Once I’ve made the selection, I quickly find myself out of the illusion and in the cart again. Time-wise, only a few seconds have passed, though in the illusion, it took around a minute.

… which is a curious thing.

I’m almost totally sure that wasn’t time manipulation or even void stuff. It appears to be playing with the perception of time, rather than anything. Instantly accessing your mind and communicating the information within.

The formations used for this are pretty direct, though. And it looks like it kicks you out if you go too far off the rails, as it can’t handle other types of queries.

The idea’s still there, though.

I believe illusory spaces are also used in certain meditation spaces, as well. If I’m not wrong, the ones in our towers might have some, but I haven’t looked into detail about them.

This could be excellent for communicating large information quickly among the group, if I can figure out a way to make it malleable.

This is something for a later time, however.

I turn my mind back to the cart, as it is already on the move to the first destination, still within the public section.

While it speeds forward on the track, I can’t but wonder how much work must have gone into making such a movement system both standard for libraries and secret from the sects in its formations.

Of course, the sects could probably do the same thing, but at a higher cost and potentially more effort. Not only that, but their needs differ from those of a standard library. Better to use a custom solution, if it’s going to take more work to do anyway and they are doing it only once.

Either way, I have bigger things to figure out.

The countless books, scrolls, and other information mediums that are constantly fading into the background are extremely tempting to scan.

Absurd amounts of knowledge are here, passing me by. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

Of course, I could try to scan it, which was one of the first things I thought about when I started planning this trip here.

But there’s a reason this library is only ‘public’ to the sect and trusted people. Within these is a huge amount of knowledge that might lead you to true secrets.

While it has already been reviewed over by many others with exceptional abilities, there’s always the chance. Not only that, but despite being ‘righteous’, most sects are secretive about knowledge.

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For me, that means they have knowledge traps all over the place.

If I try trawling the information with my scan, it could set off tons of alarms. Which, despite my relatively cordial meeting with the Sect Patriarch earlier, would lead to a true punishment.

My status would likely protect me somewhat… but do I really want to push things after what happened and where they took me? Because even if they could use me, if I start ‘stealing’ large amounts of knowledge, even at that level, then they won’t believe they can trust me.

Which is quite a dangerous position to be in.

So, why not just get it the legitimate, but absurd, way?

Using sect merits for the master slip.

But a light suddenly shines in my eyes, coming from a stark change in scenery.

With the speed we are moving at, the brightly lit, new and somewhat open space we find ourselves in is quite a surprise, even if I was expecting it from the layout I saw on the map.

Staircases and suspended rooms fill the air, like a labyrinthian assortment of private libraries.

The best way I can describe it is if someone took all the rooms from millions of types of buildings, and split them into separate structures, while connecting them in strange ways. Constructs of glass, wood, metal, and stone hang together like some kind of Jenga-like superstructure.

Some are connected directly, while others are connected by long staircases or the ceilings/floors of other rooms. Walkways and baloneys stretch areas, while others have open doors leading to a drop.

Rooms are positioned upside down, sideways, and even inside out.

With all of this, light shines out of each of these rooms and across the space, illuminating it to where there is no question what each of these contains.

Knowledge of all kinds.

Some are shown on paintings and art displayed, while others are as normal as books and scrolls. I can tell using my abilities that some forms of information are contained even in the layout of some of these rooms, a macro level that would be perceivable by a higher level cultivator. But most are in the standard form of physical documents.

I find myself further surprised when the cart lifts gently lift off the ground and on a beeline to one room. As it continues to rise, the twins noticed my look and giggled a bit. The one I recognize as Luan Mao speaks up.

“There we go. For a little bit we were wondering if nothing was going to phase you here.

“You didn’t think we would have to cart books all the way down those thin walkways, did you? No, the cart will take you to where you need to go up here. Those are just for the people who would find it faster to use the manual way instead.”

…

I still find it wild, even with my speed and knowledge, that a person can be fast enough to completely outpace the fastest speeds we had on earth, while still not completely wrecking the surrounding area.

Movement techniques are insane.

Soon enough, it brings us to the edge of a series of connected rooms. They quickly step out and I follow, quickly discovering a silvery bracelet forming on my wrist. It seems to be connected to the carts, as it floats away, back to the track.

Ling shyly fills in the gap.

“I-It will come back to your location if you tap it twice. Even inside the buildings. It’s really convenient…”

Her voice falls off at the end.

And I have no idea why.

Mao is looking at her sister incredulously in disbelief. It’s pretty clear this isn’t how she normally acts. Ling seems a little uncomfortable with the attention, so she draws it back to what we are here for.

“…so, what were you looking for here?”

“Ah, right.

“I’m meeting with a few of my people just to check in on them. It looks like quite a few of them have already left for alchemy, so this won’t take too long. They’re also grouped up a bit, like with the ones we are looking for now.”

Mao gives a nod before filling things in for me.

“They should be close then, as it only drops you off somewhat close to the location, unlike when it picks you up. The person who made it wanted people to wander a little first.”

… I’m sure there are a few reasons for that.

At least there are only two other places to visit after this. Most of everyone stayed in groups to not get lost out here.

While I could figure things out, it is nice to have people who know what they are doing here.