As I watch with my scan, the alchemy cultivator makes a few large leaps and quickly reaches the sect cultivator’s side.

After some initial greetings, they seem to have a meaningless chat, mostly about the weather and how each of their days were going.

With this done, the alchemy group cultivator clearly changes the conversation and gives a motion to ask where someone is. Where a black sect applicant is.

They’re definitely looking for us. Specifically, me.

Of course, the sect cultivator points to our building. I had no expectations by this point that he would conceal it.

After a brief moment, I can feel the spiritual sense of them wash over us.

It takes everything I have not to look straight at them or tense my body. That would be giving them far too much information. I use my scan and body to remove any indications that I’m a left to their actions.

Mentally, I communicated the same thing to the hero group. Surprisingly, they did an amazing job, with even me not being able to tell something was wrong with the situation, from them.

As the sense continues to probe at me, I dive into my thoughts.

In a sense, it only makes sense that they would find out pretty quickly.

I mean, I am the only black guy that's likely to be taking this exam. Another person that looks like me, coming up and taking the exam in the exact same area, seems pretty farfetched.

Thankfully, as quickly as it had come, the spiritual sense disappears. He seems to have gotten the information he wanted. My scan informs me that all it was, was that I basically match the description of my previous self.

Luckily for me, he's definitely not at a high level and can’t read my body's actions.

Not that he would be able to anyway. My scan helping me to remove cues helps significantly with that.

Despite my thoughts, the cultivator nods to himself, as if he's confirmed what he's been looking for. He Casually speaks a little bit more with the cultivator on the building, before hopping back to his previous position.

From that point he seems to settle in almost as if he's just here to watch.

For the rest of the night, he doesn't move from that spot. Just sitting there and watching for any movement out of the house.

In the same vein, I make it look like I'm nervous and unable to sleep. Occasionally going over to the hero group and checking up on them. This way, I can keep an eye out, while also masking that I don’t need to sleep.

Eventually, morning comes.

Mei Lin wakes up and seems to have no idea that we are being watched.

I do my hardest to give off a calm impression and chat lightly with her.

I consider a bit whether to tell her, but it would likely only put her in further danger.

She’s still just a kid. There’s no way she would be able to hide her emotions fully. The cultivator’s sense went over us both and I’m sure while he wouldn’t be able to tell anything from me, when we are in the open, it will be easier for him to see us directly.

Any wariness on her part could be taken as nervousness… or that he’s been found out.

No. It’s better to have only us knowing what’s going on.

That obviously failed, because she's able to read emotions using that ability of hers.

After some casual speaking, she indicates she wanted to use the notepad to talk.

It was easy to tell why she wanted to speak using it.

With a sigh, I decide to answer her questions as she asked what was going on.

Before I say anything about the situation, I let her know she has to hide her emotions to the best of her ability.

That it is imperative to not let it be known that we know something is going on.

After her strong affirmation, I give her the story.

The short of what I told her, was that a group was looking for me. The one that had almost killed me earlier.

She actually seemed unsurprised about it. Like she's been expecting this to happen for a while now. Which kind of makes sense.

On the way here, I already did tell her that they are what caused me to change my clothes and disguise myself. It would only make sense from her perspective that they would still be looking for me.

Despite all of this, she still seems to want to stay with me. The small cynical side of me questions why she would want to, despite the dangers of such a thing.

Perhaps sensing the feelings and doubt that I had, she answers my thoughts.

“My family had people like that after us too. They usually sit around and wait for a really long time before trying again. Mom and dad told me as long as I get to the carriages, they wouldn’t dare do anything. Not even the nobles. They may find other ways to get at you, but they won’t attack.”

She seems so confident about this.

I feel like that’s not exactly true, but there may be some truth to that. Not only that, but I get a strong feeling that since the first attack failed, big sis crane stepped in and prevented any other attempts on my life.

Sure enough, the vibe I get from the cultivator is that he is only there to keep an eye on me and/or send a message.

That they are still there.

With that in mind, the rest of the morning proceeds relatively normally, with Mei Lin seemingly not worried at all. She even shows me some cool things that Dana can do with her body. Stretching her like silly putty into different shapes. Things like poorly made hats or boats.

Dana seems to enjoy this in some ways too, turning into strange sculpture poses and playing tag with her.

It’s a bit strange, but this does manage to calm my heart a bit. For the briefest time, I just enjoy the silly shenanigans before me.

All the way until the carriages starts to be prepped to take us to our first trial… the Steps to Reflection.

To my knowledge, it’s a large carved stairway that continues up to the mountain for about 160km. These stairs lead all the way up to a giant gate, called the Gate of Introspection. The trial is to go up the mountain within 4 days.

Each stair isn’t a small one either.

Going up them will take a lot of energy and work. Likely, this will be the way that I can get people on my side. There’s no way that everyone could make it up a mountain like this. Especially, if they are malnourished.

The good thing about it, is that if someone goes past the time limit, they will be picked up by a cultivator and placed at the bottom of the mountain.

The bad part? They are placed there with no support other than a cultivator making sure they aren’t pressed into slavery, while weakened. Which apparently has happened before.

If the cultivator is generous, they will give food and water.

Nonetheless, we have to get there first.

Mei Lin and I travel together out the door, with me holding her hand.

I subconsciously did it out of protection, but it was too awkward to take away when she brightened up about it.

As soon as the door opened, the Alchemy group Cultivator’s eyes locked onto us.

I made the decision to make my knowledge of his position known at this point. I stare directly at him, from his hidden position on the buildings across the road. His eyes squint, but he doesn’t move.

The Hero group falls behind us and I scan the carriage in front of our dorm for any abnormalities, lowering every other scan to make sure.

It’s fine and normal.

I make an additional check to make sure that no changes can be made to the space inside of it.

It cannot. It has those properties, but will not change beyond the bathroom and food.

Making a snap decision, I have the hero group join us in the carriage. Tai Ye has to climb on top of the carriage, but she is able to fit on it like before. There’s enough space inside, with the bathroom, for everyone to fit comfortably. Any instructions I make to the hero group, I make out loud. This is all to give the appearance that while they have intelligence, they still require me to state my intentions for changes to plans.

I can’t let them think I communicate with them telepathically.

After these intense scans, my head pounds just shy of cripplingly, but I view it as worth it. I needed to know I would be safe.

I bring the scans back to the combat version, with the added personnel valuation scan.

Here’s to hoping we get this right.

The carriage rides for a few hours before we reach the stairway. The sight splays before us, as our fellow applicants leave their carriages.