Secrets of the Universe

The next day.

The sounds of birds chirping woke Jake up.

He took a little bit of time to assess his surroundings and sighed after realizing he was safe.

Looking at Kaleyx, who was still deep in her sleep, Jake nudged her, "Wake up."

"Huh, is it time?" yawned Kaleyx.

Jake answered as he washed his body in the lake, "Yes."

After completely waking up, Kaleyx did the same and changed her torn light armor.

"I still feel sore," she complained.

It wasn't only her that felt that way. Even Jake did!

However, they could not afford to take another period of rest as it was unknown what the time limit of the bounty was.

Taking a look at the sun, Kaleyx discerned the direction of the sect.

Both of them had already memorized the map. So, it was not strange that they could move around without checking an actual map.

She waited for Jake to be done with suiting up before motioning, "Let's go."

Three hours later, the duo reached the gate of the sect.

They glanced at the extremely large gate which seemed boundless and exuding an ancient vibe.

The inscriptions drawn on it and delicate carvings on it made any onlooker understand why the sect had a huge influence throughout the continent.

Beside the gate were numerous gatekeepers, each boasting of at least a [Realm 2] cultivation base.

Not wanting to waste more time, the duo walked to one of the gatekeepers and smiled, "We seek entry."

He was neither rude nor polite, just plain cold. 

It was how the sect members talked.

"First, lift your hoods," eyed the gatekeeper.

He took a good look at the duo's extraordinary appearance and made sure they weren't on the sect's blacklist.

His focus on his job increased the duo's impression of the sect.

"Okay, here is what will happen. Since this is the back gate, you will be required to answer certain questions. Is that alright?" politely explained the gatekeeper.

The dup specifically targeted this back gate as they wouldn't be much attention on them.

They would have never expected that there wasn't even a queue in the back gate. That was how unused it was.

"Yes," answered Jake.

He had already informed Kaleyx to barely talk as her accent was distinguishable and it might complicate things.

"Okay. The first question, can you provide proof of identity?" asked the gatekeeper.

"No."

"Second question, what is your identity?"

"Jake Amethyst," provided Jake

"Kaleyx. Just Kaleyx," answered Kaleyx

"Third question, where are you from?"

"I was born in Aztec, while she was born on Weeping Island. After the outbreak, I moved to Weeping Island and met her," smiled Jake.

"Weeping Island…..So, you are bounty hunters," asked the gatekeeper.

"Yes," replied Jake.

Having reached the sect, he was not scared of revealing his bounty hunter status.

Bringing out a stone from his pocket, the gatekeeper gave it to Jake, "Hmmmmm...…..can you hold this?"

When in Jake's hand, the warm red stone blinked a couple of times, but Jake had no idea what the blinking meant.

".....[Realm-3 Stage-2].... " muttered the gatekeeper.

He looked at Jake in a respectful manner and spoke, "Can you pass it to your partner?"

Jake gave it to Kaleyx.

In her hands, the stone blinked once again.

".....[Realm-3 Stage-1]...," muttered the gatekeeper.

He took back the stones and recorded the details.

The gatekeeper then brought out an orange stone and asked Jake and Kaleyx to place their hands on it, "Can you confirm that all that you have told me is true?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

He asked another question, "What is your purpose for coming here?"

"Visiting," answered Jake and Kaleyx.

The gatekeeper focused on the possible reaction of the stone, but alas, it had no reaction.

Understanding the reason for no reaction, the gatekeeper smiled, "Excellent."

On a stand beside him was a black box. 

The moment the gatekeeper placed the paper he wrote on on it, a blue light scanned the paper and made a few noises.

After it was done, it ejected two cards and the gatekeeper picked them.

'Interesting. This is one of the so-called 'devices', a combination of an array master's skills and an artificer's. Certainly interesting,' analyzed Jake.

He had seen many of these devices before. It could even be said that the most popular device was probably the [Spatial Rings].

Yet, it was also the cheapest….at least to cultivators.

"These are your identity cards. You will need them wherever you go. Please note, it expires after three days. That means you can only stay in the sect for three days," explained the gatekeeper.

"What happens after the three days?" frowned the duo.

"You will be escorted out by the guards," replied the gatekeeper.

Noticing the frowns on their face, the gatekeeper smiled, "Don't worry. They are a lot of ways to extend the date. I'm sure you will find one."

"Is that so?" trailed Jake.

He took his card and examined it.

The material of the card was light. Yet, it seemed durable enough to not break even with ten percent(10%) of his strength.

On the cards were tiny characters that represented his details. The word, "guest" could be seen highlighted on it, along with his name.

Seeing that they had no complaints, the gatekeeper went to the gate and placed one of his hands on it.

The gates scanned his hands and carved out a door from its lower section.

Watching this, Jake couldn't help but wonder, 'He didn't transfer his energy, merely made his hand glow. Yet, the gate scanned something in his hand. Seeing at this is a different world from my homeworld, it can't be DNA.'

Thinking deep, he went on, 'Then, is it energy signatures? Interesting….So, the gate serves as a device that scans the energy signature of anyone that places their hands in them.'

'If the energy signature is not recognized, then it would open. And if not, it might alarm their security force?'

Energy Signatures were intrinsic to each individual. It existed in an individual's energy. 

It was like an imprint on one's energy.

They could never be copied.

The condition for the hidden stage of [Realm-2] was to realize one's energy signature. Hence, Jake could already recognize when an energy signature was being scanned.

However, that did not mean that those that didn't achieve the hodden stage didn't have an energy signature. It just meant that don't know how it looks like.

While in thought, the gatekeeper opened the door and beckoned to the duo, "I welcome you to the Astral Sect."

The light coming from the other side of the door blinded the duo's eye.

By the time, they adjusted to the light, they caught on to the scent of an ethereal aura emanating from the few beautiful buildings they could see.

"Oh, I forgot. Take this book. You will need it," the gatekeeper passed a thin book to Jake.

"I wish you a beautiful stay," the gatekeeper smiled as he ushered the duo past the gate.

Suddenly, Jake found himself in what seemed like a different world.

The first thing he noticed was the astonishingly rich energy in the air. It was too rich to the point that blue wisps of energy could be physically seen flying around out.

The second thing he noticed he noticed was the beautiful buildings. All the buildings were on the same standard as Aztec Capital's buildings.

In fact, it wasn't a stretch to those infrastructures in Pearl Coast.

Ultimately, this meant that the sect wasn't lacking in money.

The roads he was walking on were tarred. He bet that it could even injure any careless [Realm-2] warrior.

Coupled with a few ancient cultivation-looking buildings, the overall outlook of the sect wasn't bad in Jake's eye.

As he kept walking, he met up with the flow of people also walking around.

Among the influx of people were all sorts of people; weak warriors, average warriors, strong warriors, and even mortals!

Yes, even regular mortals walked confidently on the sect's street.

"This sect is not bad," whispered Kaleyx.

This was possibly the best comment Jake could ever hear from Kaleyx's mouth.

The young lady had a habit of being too stingy with her words.

Gradually, the road the duo too met an intersection.

They had to wait for all the nearby carriages or moving vehicles to pass before they could cross over to the other side.

While waiting, Jake spotted a signpost at the corner of the opposite road.

He read the most emphasized sentence on the post, "First Rule: DO NOT KILL!"

Ruminating on the word, he went over the entire post and realized that they were the rules of the sect.

Most of the rules were directed at the guest as the true members of the sect had a different set of rules.

Glancing at his surrounding, Jake found that they were many signposts fixed at the corner of each road.

"That reminds me. Where are we going to?" Kaleyx asked the most important question

This prompted him to open the thin book that the gatekeeper gave him.

Luckily, he found what he was looking for, a map of the outer-sect!