The Innkeeper

Chapter 1814: Don’t see that everyday

The moment the Innkeeper finished folding up his sleeves, the music lulled. The Innkeeper looked forward, maybe at the guests in the room, maybe at the camera, or maybe looking forward in itself was just a symbolic action, and in truth he was looking at everyone watching his performance.

Regardless of what was true, the Innkeeper’s soft smile grew into a smirk. He winked, and the music suddenly exploded in tempo, as if his wink was perfectly timed. Or, more realistically, the music itself was waiting for his permission to proceed.

If KD’s dance had been a display of power and strength, then the Innkeepers was a lighthearted, fun freestyle that matched perfectly with the beat. Watching it made the observers feel like… like the first ray of sunshine after a grey day. Like the first bite of a warm meal after a twelve hour shift. Like the first time slicing through a mountain after unlocking sword intent. Like the first embrace of pure spiritual energy after coming to the Midnight Inn from a place with polluted energy.

Watching the Innkeeper dance was cathartic in a way the observers couldn’t understand, as if watching him allowed them to unshackle the invisible chains that bound them to things they didn’t want.

Of course, all of that was just a little difficult to focus on. The issue was not the Innkeepers sleeper build, which was clear from his chiseled forearms that could literally be used as a chopping board. Nor was the issue his approachable, yet powerful and authoritative charm which instantly converted all the Angel baddies into his fans.

No, what truly made it difficult to focus on the actual dance itself was the fact that the Innkeeper, as a Dao Lord, was just blatantly packaging his aura into the color gold and then letting it ripple out into the realm, washing over everyone, without harming a single soul.

Now, the Midnight Inn was well known for creating an environment where one’s aura couldn’t hurt others. But this was another matter entirely! This was not the passive aura of a Dao Lord, but his actual aura!

One of the most important reasons why Dao Lords were so scarce in society was not because they were all super powerful and couldn’t be bothered to socialize with those lower than them, but because their power was so immense that Dao Lords themselves could hardly control it. Even Celestial Immortals risked death by being close to a newborn Dao Lord who had not yet learned to control their aura.

More experienced Dao Lords who had lived much longer naturally had better control… but what the Innkeeper was doing was not ‘better’ control. It was a mastery over one’s power to an unbelievable degree.

Wu Kong already knew that the Innkeeper was mad, so he was not too surprised. If anything, this made the Innkeepers previous achievements more believable. How else would he be able to get his hands on so much Dao Mist if he could not control his Dao so perfectly?

The auction had to be paused because more than half the participants were scared into unconsciousness from being exposed to Dao aura. The others – the ones who had been watching the Dance Off and knew what was happening – no longer bothered to bid.

There was something far more valuable than external items, and that was internal growth. For Celestial Immortals, being able to experience an unrestrained Dao aura might be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and might just grant them the enlightenment they needed to pursue a higher realm! For a Celestial immortal, there was only one higher realm, and it was also the hardest to achieve!

No one was fooled by the seemingly thousands of Dao Lords that existed in the universe. From the dawn of time to the present day, despite trillions of beings being born every second, so few of them had become Dao Lords that there were only some thousands.

Wu Kong, now immune to the Innkeepers blatant showing off, ignored the dance, but no one else could do that. Zuri, who was considering her future, saw for herself a path beyond the peak of the Celestial Realm.

Elesia, who was thinking of how to get to Lex, reigned in her ambitions, and started to re-plan her next series of actions from the very beginning.

Vera, who was having a ‘meeting’ with her parents, saw the performance and renewed decision not to leave the Midnight Inn until the Nexus event. Her parents, meanwhile, both had entirely different reactions.

Her mother saw the dance and was reminded of how she felt when she met Robert, Vera’s dad, for the first time. Robert, however, seemed to have the least reaction of them all. He simply smiled and watched the show.

KD, who was sitting beside the Inn staff, had an unreadable expression as he watched the dance. How was it fair that a Dao Lord was competing against him? Even his system seemed to be malfunctioning against the Innkeeper!

Somewhere in the middle of his dance Lex felt the Go board in his mind appear once more, but before a piece could be placed, he felt the board disappear. That… was unusual, but he didn’t have the time to pay much attention to it.

It was time for Lex to initiate a part of his plan to ensure that he definitely won the competition. He opened up the Midnight Realm Management panel, and dumped all the excess MT he earned into speeding up the development of the realm for a short period of time.

As the audience watched, half mesmerised, half enamored by the performance, a major change began to occur in the realm. The laws began to tremble, and the borders of the realm began to grow!

The laws began to evolve, the Chaos Sea began to bubble as its energy was used, and the color gold started to become much more prominent in the natural environment of the realm.

A dance that communicates a story to the audience might be good, but how about a dance that can literally expedite the growth of a realm? Don’t see those everyday.