The Innkeeper

Chapter 2324: Bait

Everything happened so fast. Lex had always thought that his separation from the two would be something he’d see a long way coming, for example the end of their deadline. Although Lex had done his best to remain detached, and had not actively helped them out during their struggles, he had to admit that he was still somewhat attached.

The two of them were idiots, basically. Despite living such long lives, overcoming such impossible odds, and achieving such great things, considering where they started out from, they were still just kids who had a bit of strength now.

Sure, life had forced some wisdom down their throats due to all their experiences, but for the most part they were just two kids who were hopelessly in love with each other. If Lex hadn’t grown immune to the cringe one liners, and their mad displays of affection for one another, he might have gone crazy.

Lex shook his head as the grin on his face slowly faded. He would miss them, but it was for the best that they live their own life now and find their own direction. For too long had they been influenced by him and his deadlines. Now they could finally slow down and enjoy life.

He was certain that if the pressure from his deadlines hadn’t always kept them on their toes, they would have been married with kids by now. Without him urging them on to gain more strength, maybe they could consider such things.

As he moved his thoughts away from the young couple, Lex could not help but think about the Gilded Hollow itself.

The first time he heard about it was through Ventura himself. Everyone had been revealing some secrets, and not wanting to be left out, Ventura revealed that the Gilded Hollow would be opening soon.

What Lex wondered now was whether Ventura knew that it would open through Lex’s hands, or if it was some kind of inevitability. Since the ring belonged to Karev’s descendants, maybe destiny would have forced Karev, or maybe Pearl, to bring the ring to Joro realm.

Certain events might have forced them to bring the ring to this location. All that would have happened was that it would have taken a bit longer than it did now. So was this all a part of Ventura’s plan, or was it something he had foreseen? Or was Lex just an unwitting victim of destiny’s design?

These were questions he could not answer for now, which is why he thought about other things. For example, had he been carrying the Gilded Hollow all this time, or was the ring simply a representation of what the realm actually was? After all, an entire realm shouldn’t have been able to fit inside a single ring, right?

He recalled that Ballom himself had claimed that no one actually knew what the Gilded Hollow really was. All anyone knew about it was that the entrances to the Gilded Hollow would randomly appear all across the universe, inside every single realm, whether they were Major or minor.

The Gilded Hollow was supposedly filled with countless treasures, wealth and resources. The only catch was that all the treasures and resources needed to be utilized within the Hollow, for if they were brought out, they would disappear - just like the resources from the ring.

Furthermore, the resources encountered inside correspond to the cultivation level of whoever entered, including Dao Lords!

Oh, and as far as records went, no one inside the realm had ever met anyone else from the outside. Many took that to assume that the size of the realm was unbelievably vast. Lex just felt like the realm might be purposefully segregating people.

More important, however, was that the Gilded Hollow also had dangers. Yet saying such a statement might cause others to underestimate the dangers of the Hollow. The last time the Hollow was open, nearly 40% of all Dao Lords who entered had died.

At the time, Ballom had also mentioned that he too found the timing of the Hollow’s appearance to be suspicious. It had been gone for so long, but to reappear now during so much instability was just asking for trouble. Yet it was an open conspiracy. Even Dao Lords would fall for it, because they too needed resources.

Although Lex couldn’t imagine what Dao Lords needed or did with those resources, they still clearly needed them, which is why they would opt to enter the Gilded Hollow. As for what would happen to the universe while they were gone... no one knew.

Speaking of things no one knew, the duration for which the Hollow would be open was a total mystery. Lex had, however, done some research and learned of the most common theory. The duration of the Hollow’s presence had nothing to do with time. Instead, it would last as long as it needed to until a certain number of resources from it had been harvested.

Strange, but he wasn’t complaining. Instead, Lex just happily looked forward to the teleportation ending so he could begin harvesting. The only thing that still bothered him was why the coin had the aura similar to the Origin realms Axis Eternum and what that had to do with the Hollow.

While Lex was still undergoing teleportation and wondering about such things, the doors to the Hollow all across the universe finally closed. The doors had been open for a total of eight minutes in each realm, respective to their own flow of time.

It was neither long nor short, and depended entirely on one’s perspective.

Deep within the Dream realm, there was a large castle that looked like it had come right out of... well, someone’s dreams. The castle could not be reached through ordinary means, and was swarming with Sandmen who were going about their business. The castle had not seen so much activity in Ages.

Within the depths of the castle, a particular figure was watching a live screening of the fight between Wu Kong and Erlang, which was still ongoing. Both of them had sustained serious injuries, and for the first time, Erlang was actually regretting picking a fight with Wu Kong for the monkey had gone completely crazy!

"Dream Master, there has been a report," a Sandman said as he entered the room and glanced towards the fight.

"Yes?" responded a feminine voice - one that would have surprised Lex if he heard it.

"The Gilded Hollow appeared ahead of schedule, but that has actually worked in our favor. Our projections indicate that nearly 12,000 Dao Lords, or an approximate 31% of all Dao Lords in existence, have entered the Hollow.

"That is far more than the 12% we had originally expected. That’s because the doors opened in the middle of a number of battlefields, prompting many Dao Lords to prioritise the Hollow over the wars. As a result, there has already been a massive shift in the defense of countless realms."

The Dream Master paused, and then smiled.

"The bait is in place. Prepare the armies. Once everything is over, history will remember this as the Age of Dreams."

The Sandman merely nodded and headed out. The Dream Master looked towards Wu Kong once more, and continued to watch the show unfold.