The Innkeeper

Chapter 1226  A warm welcome

Though through the use of Heavenʼs Furnace, Lex had contained the spread of devastation, he could feel that a disturbance had been caused in this place. If all had been still before in the Trial of Eternity, then now heavy winds were buffeting the lands.

A carefully established equilibrium had been broken, and the chances of spontaneous combustion had increased exponentially. But this was only the beginning.

Lex looked at the two figures, and for a moment he had great expectations, but then they vanished. He was unimpressed.

Much like the previous dark figure, whose identity was not nearly as hidden in Lexʼs eyes as he had thought, these two were also clearly sent by someone to probe.

”You have some gall…” one of the two figures began to speak, before his body blew up entirely.

That one had not even been an immortal, and so was unworthy of too much attention. Lex used a technique he had not used in a long time, since it no longer suited his realm. Evisceration was a soul based attack launched from the eye that was pretty good up until he was in the Golden core realm, but naturally reached its ceiling in power after that. Lex, through the sheer strength of his own soul, could still use it to attack those in the Nascent realm, since he no longer considered them real enemies to begin with.

The second figure, who was an immortal, froze, and then stepped back and disappeared.

”Mary, what have we learned about the Sanguis Pluviaʼs plans?” Lex asked while he waited for more probes.

”They have many objectives within the Champions tourney. In the Trial of Eternity, they aim to weaken future generations of Henali forces by eliminating all the participants. We have recently learned that, in another one, they have sent way more infiltrated members than any other, though we donʼt yet know the reason.”

Lex waited a bit more, but when all those coming to him were just probing, he became impatient. From their point of view it made sense. They had three years, so there was no reason to attack in the first hour of the first day.

But in truth, they had a lot less time. Lex was on the verge of acclimating to the power of his second seal, which meant that soon he could undo the third.

Lexʼs body suddenly vanished from the chair, surprising those who were observing him. He had not used teleportation as far as they could tell.

Thatʼs because he used an upgraded version of another technique he learned long ago. The In-Law effect could allow Lex to teleport his soul where he wished. It was a weak technique due to its limited range, but when Lex understood that it relied on the Soul plane, he was able to use the technique in more creative ways.

It was only after getting tired of not being able to teleport due to Space locks that he came up with this technique.

There was a scream, and when everyone locked they saw an Elf kneeling on the ground, with Lex grabbing his throat. He used Mindmeld to peer into his mind, but was disappointed to find out that this elf knew nothing.

Without wasting more time, he teleported again, and again, and again, reading the minds of all those who were probing him, until eventually…

”Found you,” Lex murmured, and then teleported a great distance in a certain direction. As it turned out, while Damian himself had not come here, there was another, old acquaintance of Lexʼs here from Sanguis Pluvia.

A short distance away, Jeffery, using the body of another race similar to an Arachnid, was traveling across the landmass, setting up secret formations and hiding certain items in them. He was in the middle of one such formation when he suddenly jumped back, just in time to dodge a hand that reached out of the darkness.

”Well, well, well, look who we have here,” Jeffery said, his spider-like face distorting into a gruesome smile.

”I just have one question before we do this?” Lex asked, stepping forward. ”Do you know where that old man is?”

”Old man? You mean Damien? He is but a young spring chicken. Regardless, even if I know where he is, what can you do about it? Even if you learn where he is, what can you do about it? He is a Heaven Immortal, much like your ancestor. He is not so weak. What can you even do to him?”

Jeffery, the spider, jumped again as it anticipated Lexʼs teleportation. Simultaneously, it also attacked Lex.

A formation had appeared on the ground where Jeffery previously stood, and where Lex now stood, trapping him. He could not teleport away, nor could he dodge the incoming attack, so it fell onto his chest.

Lex felt it attempting to morph him in some way. But naturally it failed. Any time anyone tried to influence his body in any way, they found it much harder than they expected - much like the Profanites who had been shocked that Lex was completely unaffected by their Profane energy. There was a very simple reason for this. Even if one did not consider that Lex had absorbed a Dao level ingredient, just the fact that he had bonded with Lotus changed the very status of his body.

Previously, he was the same as a walking planet. Now, however, that the Lotus was in the process of merging with Menara, the smallest continent in the Midnight realm which was still greater than most planets, and eventually the realm itself, its nature was already changing. Naturally, that meant Lexʼs status was also changing.

He was the same as a walking, talking, budding new realm, and right now he was about to undo the complete seal on his body.

”What can I do to him? Kill him, of course. Are Heaven Immortals supposed to be impressive?”

Lex crushed the tiny treasure in his chest sealing his power, and in the microsecond before his tribulation appeared, teleported to Jeffrey and grabbed onto him much faster than the twisted spider could react to.

”Do you think you guys are all that impressive? Hiding in the shadows and acting like vermin, yet so proud of it. Let me show you what I can do about things.”

The entire Trial of Eternity experienced an electric jolt, and every single living being within it suddenly sensed extreme danger.

At the same time, with his full power unleashed, Lex spread out his senses and located every single person who had come here to hunt him down. Might as well give them a warm welcome.