The Innkeeper

Chapter 2126: Too much to do

Lex looked at the sealed scroll in his hand, stunned by how remarkable it was. Also, the sheer aura of the scroll itself paralysed his body, leaving him standing there looking at it. The scroll seemed to be made of some kind of silver metal, engraved with the most intricate design, carrying on it jewels of indescribable beauty. They literally could not be described.

Yet its appearance, no matter how mesmerising, paled in comparison to the scroll’s aura. Now, the Midnight Inn neutralised any external aura that the scroll released, but considering that Lex was holding the scroll itself, he could not be protected from its aura.

How could he ignore it? The aura of a Life ranked Dao resource - one with such a rich and amazing history - was far from ordinary. In fact, the technique contained within was also far from ordinary.

The scroll had a level of sentience, and would not impart the technique to just anyone. Whoever wanted to learn the technique needed to prove that they could at least sustain a certain level of pressure on their own before practicing the technique, or how else would they bear the weight of heaven and earth on their back?

Thus, another reason that Lex was paralysed was because the scroll was purposefully exerting its pressure on him. Fortunately, while his body was paralysed, his mind and spirit were not. Thus, Lex began to cycle his cultivation technique internally to adapt to this unique kind of pressure. There was nothing else he could do, as he could not even control the scroll to be sent away by the system.

How could a Life rank Dao technique be simple? It would not be influenced by anything in the midst of Lex’s test. Whether he had planned anything, or needed to do anything inside the Inn or not was irrelevant. Now that the test had begun, he could only pass or fail - he could not delay it.

Just as Lex was beginning to think that the test would take forever, he had an idea. Although Lex could not control his own body, he could control his spirit sense. Thus, putting a massive weight on his heart, Lex sacrificed the weakest feeling Dao material he could find and put it inside the Innkeeper’s Scent Diffuser.

Without an epiphany or enlightenment, he could not guess how long it would take for him to overcome this issue. Normally, that would not matter so much, but with the Inn being restricted universe-wide, there were many things that required his attention so that he could manage his guests. If they started to rampage, it would not be easy to calm them all down once more.

It was quite sad that the Butter Knife was broken, or else he would be able to use that as a deterrent. The good news based on that, however, was that the Butter Knife would probably be healed within a month or two based on the feedback he got from the knife.

While cultivating and at the same time being pressured by the technique, Lex kept having all these random thoughts, yet the moment the diffuser started to give off its scent Lex entered a state of epiphany. The extent of the knowledge he began to process and absorb could not be simply equated to his gains from his previous use of the diffuser because this was greater by many times!

The sacrifice of one Dao material was great, but it would save a tremendous amount of time, and at the same time it wasn’t a real sacrifice for he was trading a Dao material for personal power and strength.The crucial part for Lex was that he continued to maintain his cultivation technique while in an epiphany, which accelerated his adaptation speed.

The burden of the technique on Lex began to drop rapidly, and only in a few hours it became much easier to handle that pressure.

The scent didn’t actually last so many hours. In fact, the material was used up entirely within one hour, yet the enlightenment lasted much longer.

By the time Lex woke up, he felt both drained and yet immensely refreshed. He was mentally exhausted, and yet physically he was the best he had ever been.

Lex’s eyes shifted from the scroll to his surroundings, and slowly but surely, the rest of his body also began to move, breaking free from the influence of the scroll. Eventually, once Lex could move freely, the suppression from the scroll vanished, and the methods of the technique flowed into Lex’s mind.

He knew that he could immediately begin to cultivate this technique, and he had every intention of doing so, but not at that exact moment. The Inn needed him, so he left a part of his attention to focus on and study the technique while he teleported away.

Nuwa had also told him to learn a technique, but now it would take him some time before he could do that. At the same time, he hadn’t forgotten Eclipse’s gift either, which he would explore as soon as he was free. Lastly, but definitely not the least, Lex needed to go and experience his tribulation as soon as possible because he could not suppress his realm for much longer.

There were times he wished he could split his body so that he could do multiple things at once - but even having a clone had not reduced his burdens. At least in exchange for sacrificing an entire Dao material, his Dao body had progressed a little.

Meanwhile, across the Inn, many guests were beginning to feel incredibly tense. Some had already started causing trouble, but fortunately the situation was far from out of control just yet. But even one small mob, if left unchecked, had the potential to cause severe issues.

Suddenly, in such a tense situation, all the guests received a notification that they would not be charged for their stay during this forced shut off. Their housing and sustenance would be free, sponsored by the Inn, while any additional services still needed to be paid for.

Just as they were trying to absorb that news, the Innkeepers voice sounded across the Inn.