The Innkeeper

Chapter 2215: Arranged Marriage

"How is this possible?" asked one of the statues in shock. "He is a mere immortal. He should not have been able to learn the technique so quickly."

The others did not speak, only because they too did not have an answer. Though they were Dao Lords, they remained tools bound to Nuwa’s will. They could not do as they wished, and had to respect the boundaries they set, which is why they could not look into the secrets of the one she had sent them.

"How can a chosen of the Mother be measured by ordinary standards?" the statue of Nuwa asked with disdain in her voice, as she looked down on them. "Now return to your posts and resume protection of the Temple. We must continue to actively protect it, until such a time that we have been ordered otherwise."

The statues looked at each other with confusion, but that did not really stop them from returning to their original posts, going back to appearing like simple statues. The statue of Nuwa nodded, and then looked deeper within the temple itself.

There, Cassandra was still in the process of initiating the Dao tribulation. While theoretically, she could not initiate a Dao tribulation within the Origin realm, the Temple of Fasting still had a few tricks it hadn’t revealed just yet.

The statue of Nuwa, too, resumed her stationary state, pretending to be a statue. She had a feeling that very soon, the temple would go back to how busy it was in the old days.

Lex, meanwhile, took slow, steady steps as he walked through the temple’s practice ground. Although he had not expected it, learning the Masterless had disoriented him somewhat. The nature of the technique was such that once he learned it, he always kept using it. Although he could make a conscious decision to not use it, it was not advised. If he stopped using it, even for the briefest moments, it would leave behind traces that would ruin the effects of the technique. The longer he kept using it, the more untraceable he would become.

It was just that the technique was far more complex than he could currently understand. He had learned to use it, yes, but he did not understand it at all. It was somewhat akin to driving a car back when he was a mortal. He understood how to make it go from one place to another, and broadly understood how it worked, but he did not know the finer details and complexities that made it work.

Once he got used to walking again, Lex began to jog, then run, and then fly. One by one, he practiced all the common actions he would ordinarily perform, almost as if he was relearning how to function as a human.

Another reason this was especially important was because now that he was consistently using the Masterless technique, he could not shut off his tenets anymore. Thus, his Dao Body was in a constant state of activation, and reacting to his intentions. This was a minor hurdle he hadn’t anticipated before.

Fortunately, he did not need to find a solution for this on his own, as the Mother Nuwa statue had already told him that the Temple of Fasting, the foremost training facility for humans, already had a number of training programs to help humans adjust to building and controlling Dao Bodies.

While having to undergo this additional training set back his time table by a bit, Lex’s mental state was at least back to being normal. That meant he could adequately spread his attention to the Midnight Inn without feeling burdened.

Feeling nostalgic about training within the temple once more, Lex actually ate a pretty massive meal and went to sleep in a nice, cosy isolation chamber that submerged his body in lukewarm spirit liquid. As if that was not enough, the spirit liquid contained microscopic spirit beasts which cleansed all pollution, toxins and contaminants from the surface of his body.

While Lex did not produce any such things because his body already had an amazing energy filtration and cleansing mechanism, it felt good to know that the option was there.

When Lex woke up the next morning, he was completely refreshed, and ready to begin his Dao Body training. The training, conveniently enough, also taught him what to expect from Dao body tribulations and how to overcome them, which was nice.

While he began his training, within the Midnight Inn eight months had passed, which meant that it was time for the Celestial Delegation to meet with the Innkeeper. There was no ceremony - the delegation was simply brought to the Innkeeper’s office.

Overcoming the pressure exuded by the office as guests walked up to it filled the Celestials with awe. It wasn’t because the pressure was too strong - no, it was because they could tell that the pressure actually cleansed their spirit so that they would not be psychologically overwhelmed while meeting the Innkeeper.

This was a function of the pressure that had never been advertised, and had been silently and secretly working in the background, unknown to most of the guests that visited the Inn. That meant that most guests would never know how much the Innkeeper was actually helping them by doing this. They would only assume that this pressure was perhaps a test by the Innkeeper.

In truth, Lex himself had not thought about the pressure exuded by his office since he first set it, so for the longest time he himself did not know. By the time he found out, he felt it was pointless to mention since most of the guests that came to meet the Innkeeper did not really need or value such a feature.

The group entered the office to find that the Innkeeper was sitting at his desk, writing a letter. The Innkeeper looked up when they arrived and set down his pen.

"Ah, my guests, I apologise for keeping you waiting for so long," said the Innkeeper as he got up to meet them. "Things have been a little hectic lately."

From his guests, his gaze turned to Velma, who was standing respectfully on the side.

"You’ve been working very hard. I have a small reward I’ve set aside for you - I’ll give it to you once you reach the peak of the Heaven Immortal realm."

The Innkeeper revealed an envelope he pulled out from his inner pocket.

"It’s all the gossip I heard during the tea party."

The Innkeeper winked at Velma, exciting the little worker tremendously. If it were up to Velma, she would have broken through right then and right there. Unfortunately, it was not possible. She wasn’t even close to the peak of the Heaven Immortal realm.

The Celestials, meanwhile, admired how casual and friendly the Innkeeper was, especially with his workers. They’d all heard the rumors before, but witnessing it themselves was another matter altogether. It was entirely unbelievable, and incomprehensible to them that a Dao Lord would apologise to them, especially for something as minor as a small wait.

Other Dao Lords, even if they were genuinely kind and humble, could not act with the leisure that the Innkeeper displayed. There was just something about becoming a Dao Lord that changed them fundamentally. They could not understand what the Dao Lords went through, but they could appreciate the Innkeeper for his uniqueness.

"It is our utmost honor to meet you, Innkeeper," the Celestials in the delegation spoke together. "We bring to you a letter from Lord Weiss, a sitting minister of the Celestial Court."

The Celestials bowed, and then summoned a single scroll of gold. They had anticipated to be hit by the aura of the letter when it came out, but the Midnight Inn negated all passive auras, leaving the scroll simply hanging in the air.

The Innkeeper nodded as he snatched it out of the air and rolled it onto his table.

"I have received the letter, and will go through it soon. Shall I send my response with you?" the Innkeeper asked.

"If you so wish," they responded in unison. It was kind of cool, and also reminded him a little of over enthusiastic high schoolers acting in a play.

The delegation left the office, and Velma went alongside them. The Innkeeper summoned his Letter Opened and smacked the scroll with it, unraveling the gold as if it was paper.

Instead of writing, which was what Letters of Intent usually contained, the Innkeeper found himself in an illusion, his surroundings a peaceful garden with a Celestial standing in front of him in a white and gold robe.

"Innkeeper, I have recently heard your name, and heard of your Tea Party, causing me to feel tremendous shame for not getting acquainted with you soon. But while I cannot remedy the past, I hope to fix this grave injustice in the future. I hope you would allow me leave to enter your Inn, and to meet with you once so that we may get acquainted.

"My youngest daughter, who has been reading The Innkeeper comics she found somewhere, has also been pleading with me to visit, and I would be remiss to deny her such a request, so I sincerely look forward to your positive response."

The illusion ended, but Lex frowned once it did. He had a feeling that... the purpose of this meeting was not as simple as the Celestial was making it out to be. But he shook his head. No, he had to be mistaken. His instincts had to have made a mistake. This couldn’t possibly be a meeting to discuss... an arranged marriage, could it?

Why would his instincts even warn him of that? It was totally impossible!