The Innkeeper

Chapter 1939: Strings of Karma

A few things happened the very instant Lex entered through the portal, instantly arriving in Arch-Heaven. First, his Heavens Favor became palpable, as if he was radiating a warm and welcoming aura, soothing his surroundings.

It was as if the aura was communicating with the realm itself, telling it that Lex was a favored one, and was welcome to these lands.

Second, Lex felt his power weaken. If, ordinarily, Lex could demonstrate 100% of his power, then now he was suppressed to around 1%. But measuring it in terms of percentage was not accurate, for even 1% of Lex’s power was tremendous, and yet here, he suddenly lost the ability to fly, causing him to fall through the air as he exited the portal.

The Bathroom Slippers did not seem to block any harmful environmental damage, so the suppression of power clearly wasn’t due to that. Lex tried a number of ways to stop himself from falling, yet the suppression of power extended to everything he used as well.

Fortunately, the height he was falling from wasn’t too great. It was as if he was falling from a six story building which was something Lex could easily survive, even in his weakened state. Or, at least, he should have been.

The crash into the ground was loud and strong, kicking up a small dust cloud from the shattered ground beneath Lex. It seemed that while his strength had been suppressed, his weight had not.

After such a massive disturbance, Lex would have ordinarily picked himself up quickly, checking his surroundings for any signs of danger. This time, however, he did not, for the fall had disoriented him - his mind struggling to function after the heavy concussion he had suffered. Fortunately, even weakened, his body was extremely durable.

Eventually, Lex groaned as he tried to get up, only to discover that his body had created a hole in the ground the shape of his body, making it really awkward for him to move. After a couple of minutes, once Lex had properly recovered from the effects of his fall, he frowned.

This was a peculiar place, and not just because of the strange suppression he was feeling. No, there were a few other issues he had noticed, but before dwelling on them, he forcefully pushed himself up and climbed out of the hole.

It had been a long time since he struggled to do a push up - the downside of gaining a tremendous amount of weight. That is not what he focused on, though.

Lex, nursing genuine bruises on his body, and what felt like a sprained face, took a moment to look around. He seemed to be on the outer edge of a wild, oak forest, with the number of trees beginning to grow sparse.

Once he was sure that there was no immediate danger, Lex took some time to sense the suppression that was weighing on him. He could feel that, in truth, the suppression should have been much worse than it actually was. His Heaven’s Favor, as well as the hint of Primordial aura that he had gathered, were both aiding him in alleviating the extent of the suppression.

Immediately, Lex thought of what such a thing insinuated about Arch-Heaven. If everyone who entered was suppressed so badly, that would explain why even Dao Lords faced a greater possibility of actually dying here. Furthermore, instead of one’s actual strength, the extent to which one’s suppression was alleviated might play a bigger role in determining who reigned supreme here.

Lex did not blindly assume that only Heaven’s Favor and Primordial aura were ways in which the suppression could be reduced. He suspected that there were a number of ways in which the suppression could be reduced. His instincts told him as much, for they were urging him to figure those ways out.

Lex could sense that despite the apparent serenity of the place, there were many dangers lurking within.

Once Lex was done investigating his suppression, he focused on the last thing - the thing he found genuinely curious. He seemed to already have four threads of karma existing within Arch-Heaven!

Two of them he knew. He didn’t need to investigate them to recognize them: they were his parents. Good old Leon and Serene Williams, his pop and mom, his da and ma. He was mildly curious about what they were doing in Arch-Heaven, but at the same time, he couldn’t really be bothered to care. In fact, learning about their presence here had caused no emotional fluctuations from him at all.

Yes, he was a mature, 25 year old man with a normal weight and no abandonment issues that were presenting as pettiness. Everything was fine and peachy.

Jokes aside, he had no intention of searching for them and confronting them. He was on a time limit, so he was going to go find a Heavens Puppet and bring him back to the Inn. His parents had no influence on his plans whatsoever.

Although, maybe that was because just by looking at the karmic strings, he could see that they were already coming towards him.

Much more interesting than his parents were the remaining two strings of karma. One of them went out into the distance, connecting to whoever it was that had made his tribulation harder.

Yes, that insufferable voice that had messed with his tribulation was not some powerful manifestation of the universe’s will - instead it was a living, breathing being who existed somewhere here in Arch-Heaven.

Compared to his parents, learning about that guy got a pretty serious reaction from Lex. He even considered taking a small detour to go beat up that guy’s behind, but eventually, he dismissed the idea. He was in a time crunch.

The last string was also quite interesting. To be specific, the karmic connection was Jacks, not his.

When Jack had been exiting the River Styx in the Folklore realm, he had exited through a portal. As it so happened, the very same portal was used by a mermaid who jumped through the portal and into the river to avoid the crowd of creatures chasing after her. Jack had been accused of being her accomplice by those creatures despite not knowing her at all, which is why he remembered that incident so clearly.¹

He could not help but wonder how that mermaid went from being in the River Styx to arriving at Arch-Heaven. It must have been an interesting journey.

Yet, just as with the other four strings, Lex could not be bothered to actually go find her. He had to figure out where to find a Heaven’s Puppet.