The Innkeeper

Chapter 1878: False advertising

The Primordial Garden was old... very old. In fact, no one truly knew of its origins, which is why many theorized that it was just a broken piece of the actual Primary realm. All anyone cared about was that it was the only known realm, besides the Primary realm, which actually produced Primordial energy.

In fact, whether the Primary realm even produced Primordial energy or not was questionable, for many debated that the energy in that realm is just leftover energy from the Primordial Age. Only the Primal race would know the answer to that.

As such, it was not a surprise that many would focus on the wondrous and rich realm. It was unfortunate, then, that the realm mostly stayed isolated. Ventura alone knew how to access it, and most had no understanding of what the realm was truly like.

Like the realm, little was known about its mysterious and enigmatic owner, save that the owner of Ventura respected her.

Many theorized about the formidable Dao Lord who, alone, could talk as equals with a force as large as Ventura. Legends were written about her, myths whispered, stories told, each one of them greater than the next.

However, if those who wrote those epics and sang those hymns dedicated to the Eclipsecrawler could see her now, they would be stunned.

"No, no, it was perfect!" she cried as she complained to the universal laws - fully aware that this was something even she could not influence. "The trees, oh won’t someone think about the trees! They were perfect! Their shade nurtured the Prima Hyenas, who fed upon the Cursed Tyrants, who kept the Desolate ants in check! The perfect ecosystem - ruined! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiii?"

In truth, as a Dao Lord of considerable strength, had she not purposefully isolated herself and her awareness, she would have seen the Crystal realm coming. But she had isolated herself, completely on purpose, so she never saw it coming!

The realm which was on the perfect size - a size she had spent many billions of years ensuring stayed the same - suddenly increased. The energy density, once absolutely perfect to support the pollen of the nearly extinct Buttkaroo flower, became even richer, ruining the order she had so delicately created.

Her art - her beautiful, living, breathing, self sustaining, art - was ruined.

But just as she shed some tears, each one causing the foundation of the realm to strengthen so that the addition of the Crystal realm wouldn’t lower the overall average rating of the realm, she heard some clouds rumble, and her mood rapidly changed.

From completely distraught she went to extremely curious as she looked into the distance.

"A Primordial tribulation? That hasn’t happened since the Primordial Age! Who provoked one of those?"

Her eyesight focused on a Heaven Immortal human who had appeared inside her sharkbowl, desperately trying to swim up.

"Silly human. That’s not water, that’s Gravium! Each drop of that liquid has the weight of an average planet. Why would you go swimming there?"

The Eclipsecrawler, once again, was caught unaware because she had sealed her powers, and isolated herself from learning of her surroundings. She rubbed one of her eight legs on her chin as she pondered her new situation.

Sure, her previous garden was nice. But if she could catch a bit of the essence of that Primordial tribulation, she might be able to use that to nurture Crispchip boulders. What that she could...

The all mighty Eclispecrawler, owner of the Primordial garden, Dao Lord legend, forgot that she was sad as she began mumbling and giggling to herself as she made new plans. Her art was gone, yes, but art could be made again.

Meanwhile, Lex was struggling to swim up, but the task proved a lot harder than he expected. Or, well, it proved to be impossible.

The Primordial Garden, a vivarium of sorts mimicking what the universe was like back in its early days, was no place for weaklings. Back in those days, all beings that were born were not just Mythic beings, they were Primordials! They were the peak existence of many races that, to date, many races could not reach again. They contained the purest bloodlines and strongest connection to the laws.

They were the aspiration of every race that existed - including even dragons themselves. The Primordial Dragon, with golden scales and the power to shake the heavens, was the most powerful dragon born in history, and was the aspiration and goal of all living dragons.

So the Primordial Garden, a small scale replica of the universe back in its early days, naturally mimicked the strength and power that the universe held back then.

Lex found himself sinking in a deep sea, but every single drop of liquid in that sea weighed as much as a planet. With tens of thousands of drops above him, the weight pushing him down was astronomical. Even then, it was not the weight of the water that prevented Lex from swimming up. No, it was the pressure exuded from the clouds gathering up in the sky that pushed him down.

This was no ordinary minor tribulation, meant to help him go from the realm of Heaven Immortal level 1 to level 2. No, Lex had the fortune - specifically Heaven’s fortune - to trigger a Primordial tribulation. That was a type of tribulation that had not been witnessed in almost two ages! Even the Primordial Garden could not ordinarily force a Primordial tribulation to descend.

But more astonishingly, if Lex survived, he would become the first non-Primordial in the history of the universe to survive such a tribulation. The danger was... it was far beyond the Major tribulation Lex had just experienced.

"Good luck my arse, I knew it was all false advertising," exclaimed Lex as his instincts went wild warning him of the danger.

Lex had never heard of a Primordial tribulation, so he did not know what was happening. What he did know was that... he was going to have to use his third form a whole lot sooner than he expected. That was not to say that his first two forms were not powerful, they were. It was just that neither his regular state, nor his first two forms could deliver the devastating destruction his third form allowed him to unleash. Not to mention, as a Heaven Immortal, he was also now strong enough to maintain that form for a while - hopefully.