Traveling further north into the Muted Crags, John and the disciples following him passed through a number of towns and several smaller cities. Little of note happened, but the fact that people did not bar their gates or hide was encouraging enough.

  The Silver Haze Sect was far enough north that it was almost, but not quite, on the coast. John didn’t know what the northern coasts looked like, but he expected it would be just as beautiful as any other oceanfront location in its own unique way. It was a bit of a shame, but perhaps they would reach the coast on their passage out of the region.

  John’s thoughts wandered as they traveled, going over various situations that might arise. Most of the time was devoted to interactions with the sect head Arkaitz, though having learned little more than the man’s age the mental exercises were nearly pointless. Even so, it occupied much of his attention until they saw the SIlver Haze Sect gates in the distance.

  The shining gates stood out like a beacon against the gloom of the Muted Crags, and John was actually quite appreciative of their appearance. He did think they might be a bit too ostentatious, however, as their size seemed to be vast. It seemed that no matter how long they walked, they never got closer.

  That was certainly a bit odd. They should have gone a few kilometers already, and he’d been able to see the base of the gates the whole time. Unless they were significantly uphill somehow, they should have covered easily half the distance.

  “Sect head,” Ayhan’s voice drew him out of his introspection. “Are we approaching the correct gates?”

  “The correct…?” John turned his head, following Ayhan’s vision down a perpendicular road he hadn’t previously noticed. At the end of said road was another pair of fanciful gates, slightly different in their ornamentation.

  “I was simply wondering if one might be the main sect, and the other training fields or the like.”

  “Well,” John said, flipping back around to find a third set of gates in the opposite direction. “I don’t think that’s the question we find ourselves at the heart of.” The fourth direction of the crossroads they so conveniently found themselves standing upon didn’t appear to have anything- an exit path back along the road, John expected. Other than that, it was effectively open field in all directions.

  Unless the whole thing was a bewildering formation never meant to let people leave. However, that was a riskier prospect for anyone to construct as people who felt trapped could often resort to extreme measures.

  Before anything else, John used his energy to inspect the disciples with him. All were still present, and their wide variety of elements would be difficult to mimic- especially the light cultivators.

  “Ayhan,” John said. “Walk back along the path until you lose sight of the gates. Then return to us.” John had no intention to give up and leave, but he wanted to confirm there was a way out. Sending Ayhan off to act independently was a sign of trust, and keeping Lir with the rest of them maximized the chances that Ayhan would find his way back to them.

  “Of course, sect head,” Ayhan bowed his head. In private his first disciples often used his name, but formality took precedence in public.

  Ayhan’s feet swiftly carried him off into the distance. As he went, John felt another individual approaching. He wouldn’t have been surprised if that was Ayhan as well, but it appeared to be a coincidence. The watcher stood nearby, invisible to the eye but carrying a spiritual energy that was a bit too dense to be anything but a cultivator.

  Was this person a distraction? Was he supposed to spot them to lose sight of something else? Either way, he couldn’t afford to let their presence slip from his mind without knowing their intent. Nor could he actually pinpoint a specific direction, just a vague sense of distance.

  It wasn’t long before Ayhan came back into John’s senses- but not from the direction of the ‘exit’. “I had no difficulty leaving. And before I could even think to look for you on the return, you appeared before my eyes.”

  John nodded. “Thank you. Then before we continue with anything else… do we have permission to approach the Silver Haze Sect?” He specifically projected his voice into the surroundings, causing a slight startled movement in the watcher.

  A few moments passed, then came the reply. “I am not here to stop you.”

  Good enough. If it was a test, John didn’t mind it. If the sect really didn’t want them around, there was no reason to force the issue. The border watcher could have been incorrect about how the Silver Haze Sect would respond.

  It was actually easier to keep tabs on the person hiding nearby now that John had called him out. The extra effort to hide actually created a good number of spiritual energy fluctuations.

  “It appears we have a puzzling situation on our hands,” John said, focusing once again on his disciples. “If anyone wishes to test their problem solving skills, I will accept suggestions. I hope to leave this problem to all of you.”

  John was fairly certain that he still needed a few experiments to figure out how this place worked, but he was confident in his own strength if they truly couldn’t figure it out. But they’d barely even begun, so it was too early for that.

  A few disciples shifted, hesitant to be the first to bring forward a suggestion. Fedel was the first one with the courage to put forth an idea, even if it was a simplistic one. “Maybe we should try to go that way?” he pointed down one of the roads. “I mean, not just to try a direction. But because senior Ayhan came from that way after departing. But it also doesn’t look like the way out.” Fedel swallowed, looking around at the others.

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  John nodded. “We’ll try that first.” He was willing to try anything that didn’t sound ridiculous, and just testing the limitations seemed sensible. There was enough logic behind Fedel’s idea for it to be a good enough choice even if he couldn’t give clear voice to it.

  That didn’t mean John thought it was going to work. And indeed, after a decent bit of walking they found themselves back at a crossroads among flat terrain. The gate was still just as far as any of the others. However, John continued onward for another iteration just in case. He suspected they never left the crossroads, if such even existed. They could easily be walking around in a circle.

  “It does not appear this method will be successful,” John said. “Next idea.”

  “Um,” Chi spoke up next. It seemed the two were trying to make up for their foolish decision in the mountains. “What if we leave some sort of marker than walk down one of the paths we’re certain isn’t the way out?”

  John nodded, immediately pulling out throwing daggers. “Anyone have suggestions for the particular direction? No? I’ll pick the middle path forward, then.” He placed several daggers to point in an arrow- though a single one would do the job just as well.

  They moved ‘forward’, but once they arrived ‘back’ at the crossroads, the throwing daggers were gone. There was a reason John hadn’t used anything particularly precious. “Do you think we should continue further?” he asked Chi.

  “I think… we should try again. But we should leave someone to watch them.”

  John nodded. He liked that one. “You can stay and watch them.”

  “If I may,” Lir commented. “I suggest we have a second person remain.”

  “And send people down multiple roads at once!” Fedel said.

  A few more people had gained the courage to throw out other ideas, but John had to shut them down. “We’ll try your other methods next, but we can only do so many things at once. Lir, stay here with Chi. Ayhan, you’ll lead one group down the ‘middle’ path. Rachana, take the ‘left’ path. I’ll go down the ‘right’ path.”

  The only thing John wondered as he walked off was what would happen to the throwing daggers. Though perhaps the answer was unimportant, given what he had been able to figure out.

  Just like last time, the figure following them faded from his senses. His group was the second one to return to the crossroads, behind Ayhan and before Rachana. On the ground, the three throwing daggers that had been pointed in the same direction were now all pointed inward towards each other, with the unopposed dagger pointing back to the exit.

  “Sorry,” Chi said. “There was a sound and I looked away for a moment.”

  Lir nodded. “I was also distracted, but I sensed them shift,” she explained.

  John wondered if Lir let herself get distracted, but it was possible that their follower was simply that good. “Alright, what’s next?”

  They went through numerous iterations, including leaving and returning, immediately doubling back down pathways they had come from, sprinting, splitting up, and choosing direction blindly. None of them worked.

  “I don’t think there’s any way to tell which path is the correct one,” Ayhan muttered.

  He was right, of course. There wasn’t. But even that was likely a clue. The surroundings themselves were a clue- none of the crags filled up the area. At least, not that could be seen with any of the illusions in place. At best, they stood off in the distance behind the ‘gates’.

  “We don’t want to be too late,” John said. “Let’s go.” John began walking- randomly into the fields. Not towards any of the gates visible in the distance, nor towards the exit, but instead towards nothing of interest.

  The disciples followed, understanding the command to apply to all of them, even if they didn’t quite get why they were heading in a random direction.

  But of course, it wasn’t truly random. John could have chosen another direction, but this one was as good as any number of others. It wasn’t along one of the paths. He began to feel justified as his senses began to pick up more details around him, but he only relaxed when he finally came into view of slightly less towering gates- and people, a group of guards flanking someone more important.. Both were sandwiched between some of the dark rock that was the primary feature of the Muted Crags.

  “Welcome to the Silver Haze Sect,” said a man who appeared to be just short of the Ascending Soul Phase. “I hope you enjoyed our own crossroads, though we do happen to be about five elements short of your own.”

  John wondered if he had been waiting the whole time. “We’re pleased to be here. At first, I was concerned we might not be welcome.”

  “I would have warned you,” the man who must have been Arkaitz said. “But it would have been less impactful. Any explanation could have given unnecessary hints to the puzzle.”

  John expected that any invading group would find themselves constantly harried as they wanted around, with only the choice to exhaust themselves, split into isolated groups, or retreat. Would it be different for enemies, or had he been allowed to learn the true solution to pass their defensive formations? He somewhat hoped it was the latter.

  “It seems you got the messages sent ahead of us,” John said. “I appreciate the test laid forth for my disciples. I think they can learn much from it.”

  ‘Don’t always stick to the beaten path’ was a bit too tame. The actual reasoning was probably more like ‘don’t trust the options laid out before you to be everything possible’.

  John properly introduced himself and his sect, and Arkaitz did the same.

  Arkaitz was a relatively young man, again by cultivator standards. And short, though John didn’t notice until he approached closer to the gates. Their size had thrown off his sense of scale. Arkaitz himself pulled open the gates as they approached.

  “I appreciate you sticking with it, even if it might have been rather boring,” he said. “I’m certain you could have blown through our illusions directly.”

  “He spotted me early on,” said one of the guards flanking him. “And I think his senior disciples did as well.”

  “We’ll have to find what flaws were shown,” Arkaitz said. “If you would be willing to share?”

  John smiled. “We have no issues exchanging insights any willing to show hospitality. There is much to learn from an abundance of counselors. Learning to cover flaws is certainly part of that.”

  John wondered if he was too easily pleased by hospitality. However, he was fairly certain he could determine when people had poor intentions, and true friendliness had been far too rare. As a sect head, he couldn’t let himself be too careless, however. He was looking forward to returning to more long-term allies where he could fully relax. But there was much traveling yet to come.