The Innkeeper

Chapter 2068: Coincidental timing

Lex had not done it on purpose. Talking to so many Dao Lords, not to mention chilling with a being above the Dao Lord realm inside a hot tub, was extremely draining on his mind and soul. Even the protection of the Host Attire wasn’t sufficient when quantity and quality were both against him.

He was feeling incredibly weak, and was forced to call Mary even though he wanted to avoid getting her involved. Yet just as he called her, he seemed to reach his limits and fell. Almost instinctually, he fell towards her so she could support him, yet she was just a projection. She could not hold him up.

He was practically upon her when his brain worked enough to realize he would fall right through her, and teleported back to his office, leaving a reluctant and incredibly awkward Mary, facing a group of Dao Lords who were staring right at her.

Within his office, Lex collapsed on the floor and nearly fainted, yet he could not allow himself to lose consciousness. He could not allow it! Who knew when he would wake up if that happened, and this tea party was much too important for him to waste! He needed to push through!

With a mind that was more than half asleep, with the remainder completely lethargic, he went through all the gifts and prizes he had received. Normally, he would use the Gift shop to check the details and worth of any item, but currently he was too slow and weak to do that.

Most of the time, he never left an item in the shop long enough for it to be even noticed let alone be redeemed, yet in his current state he could not do that. Given the dire situation, he could only rely on his instincts.

He laid out all the gifts in front of him, and tried to focus on all of them, allowing his instinct to guide him towards which one would suit him the most. Unfortunately, that was the mucus slime due to its gentle nature.

Without paying attention to how disgusting it was, Lex unsealed the gift and softly touched it. He immediately began to cultivate, hoping that his nameless cultivation technique would absorb any lingering Dao aura on him, as well as the slime, and help him increase the strength of his Dao Body.

Only in that way could he possibly continue to tolerate the presence of so many beings. Or, well, if that didn’t happen fast enough - which was likely going to be the case - then at least he hoped to recover fast enough to return. Fortunately, time flowed much faster in the Midnight Realm so he would have more time here to recover.

He did not have the mind to worry about the awkward situation in which he left Mary. She would have to cover for herself.

Meanwhile, within the tavern, the gossip spread faster than the speed of light. While Mary turned to look at the Dao Lords who had seen the Innkeeper disappear, and they looked at the Mary they had all at least heard about, they also sent images of what they saw to all their contacts within the tea party.

One after another, the images spread, and within a single moment, all participants of the tea party save the Innkeeper and Mary had seen that image.

"A sudden, unexpected situation has forced the Innkeeper to step out," Mary said, informatively, but with a naturally confident attitude. "He will be forced to step in and out during the rest of the tea party, and has requested my presence to smooth things over while he is gone. Please, if you need anything, feel free to reach out to me."

Bridget stared at Mary with subtle hostility as she stepped in front of Ballom, as if protecting him from her. It couldn’t be helped - Mary had a kind of natural, yet ephemeral beauty that was otherworldly. It would be entirely natural for one to fall for her, which is why she had to keep her husband away from her!

Ballom, on the other hand, had barely noticed Mary’s beauty. Instead, he could not help but wonder what it was that had demanded the Innkeeper’s attention. It must be something extraordinary.

As it happened, at that very same moment, in a different part of the universe, something major was happening. During some routine transit between realms, a number of Dao Lords were ambushed. The ambushes happened in the Void, and resulted in something no one had expected.

Using a very high level authority in Arch-Heaven, an artificial portal to Arch-Heaven was opened within the Void and all the Dao Lords were pushed in.

No sooner had the ambushes happened that news of it spread. It was not easy to keep secrets in the universe, at least with so many Dao Lords around. Unfortunately, nothing could be done.

The locations of the ambushes were cleverly chosen, far away from any help, and far from any important locations. No one would expect anyone to be targeted in such areas, yet that is exactly what happened.

To make matters worse, all the Dao Lords who were ambushed had never been to Arch-Heaven before, and so had a very basic level of authority there. Those who ambushed them, however, were all experts who had spent a long time nurturing their Arch-Heaven authority.

What the result of this ambush would be was something that could not be determined in a short time, but it was now abundantly clear that whoever had planned this had sufficient preparations.

A rescue operation started to be planned the very moment they were sent away. Unfortunately, the rescuers also had to prepare for the fact that this ambush may be bait to begin with. If all high authority personnel were killed or trapped within Arch-Heaven, then the influence of many organisations over Arch-Heaven would weaken drastically.

Of all the Dao Lords who were ambushed, there was one who had tried to use a golden key to escape to the Midnight Inn at the last moment. Unfortunately, that part of the universe had been sealed, as if the attackers were specifically protecting against the Inn.

This ambush happened at the same time as the disappearance of the Innkeeper. No one drew the connection between them yet - mainly because everyone who knew of the Innkeeper’s disappearance was as of yet unaware of what was happening outside. As for what they might assume happened when they learned details of it later on, no one could say.

"In that case, why don’t you join us for a casual chat?" one of the Dao Lords asked Mary once they recovered from the shock of what they had seen.