The Innkeeper

Chapter 2339: The three retributions

Lex looked at Mithon, continuously scanning her and her spirit for any signs of falsehoods, but found nothing. Everything she said was true, or at least she believed it to be true. It was quite interesting, but Lex still had more questions.

Primary among them was understanding what the Hollow’s retribution really was, since that seemed to be the primary source of danger here.

"Calm down, you’re too excited," said Lex. "Tell me about the retribution. What is it and how does it work? How can one avoid or resist it? How do you all plan on escaping the Hollow?"

Mithon shivered, her excitement completely extinguished, as she focused on the retribution.

"There’s only one way to avoid the retribution outside of the Fortune stronghold, and that is to go unnoticed. The reason I have survived is because I have spent the last 42 million years in dormancy, not moving, not acting, not cultivating, completely blending into the surroundings.

"Only in that way was I able to avoid being detected by the Hollow’s retribution. But most of the time, even that isn’t enough. The best way to avoid retribution is to have no existence at all. That does not mean using some technique to hide or suppress your aura - that may work on other immortals, or even other lords, but it doesn’t work on the Gilded Hollow at all. It can always see through such techniques."

Lex subtly nodded. It made sense - if the Gilded Hollow was truly the remnant of another universe, and that remnant truly had some kind of will, or even instinct, then hiding from it would not be easy. Even Dao Lords were beneath the universe in power and authority, so how could their techniques deceive a universe?

But then again, that didn’t sound right either. How could one have no existence if they didn’t use any techniques? Just die for the sake of avoiding detection?

"For example, I have been dormant in my exact location for many millions of years, not moving, not eating, not cultivating all this time. The only thing I did was to merely exist. Thus, I managed to avoid attracting the Hollow’s attention.

"But such a method does not work for everyone. You, senior, for example, cannot use it. After harvesting so many resources, the Hollow will have most certainly noticed you. As for how to survive the retribution... I can offer you no advice. I do not know anyone other than the Fortune Lord who can survive the retribution.

"As for what the retribution is... I can offer you some insight, based on the stories I’ve heard. The retribution is basically when the Hollow takes notice of you, and acts against you. According to the legends taught by the Fortune Lord, back when the Hollow was open, the retribution came in three different forms.

"The first was to teleport you to a dangerous location where you may face normal dangers, but at a much higher level than yourself so that you are killed organically. The second is to transform your surroundings, turning them into an inescapable danger zone.

"These two are the two types of retributions with the highest level of survivability - at least according to the legends. They don’t normally exist while the Hollow is closed, so I have never witnessed them before.

"The last type of retribution is the most dangerous, and the one that we normally face. When the Hollow gathers enough energy to carry out its retribution, it targets you and takes your soul from within your body, exacting it through eight cycles of hellish torture. There is no way to escape, and the only way to survive is to endure through all eight cycles and come out the other end alive.

"Supposedly this tribulation is weakened during the time that the Hollow is open, but I, at least, have never encountered anyone who has survived this tribulation and come out the other end. So, senior, unless you want to take a risk, I strongly recommend that you make your way to the Fortune Stronghold. It is the only place in the Hollow where the retribution cannot strike!

"As for your question of how to escape... I actually do not know. It wasn’t taught to us in the stronghold. I have been in exile for so long for breaking the stronghold’s law, but now that I have news of the Hollow opening back up, I can return. If I am the first to bring back this good news, I am sure my exile will be forgiven, and I cannot be let back in."

Lex frowned. There was no way he could just lie down and do nothing - that would defeat the point of entering the Hollow. At the same time, he did not look forward to getting kidnapped and tortured without the ability to resist.

The ideal situation would be to enter the stronghold whenever the Hollow was about to strike, and leave it for harvesting resources once the Hollow’s energy was all used up.

"I have more questions," Lex continued. "When I arrived here, the laws of the Hollow were different, but my arrival seemed to cause some kind of change. Did you notice the change in laws? Wouldn’t that let you know that the Hollow has opened back up?"

Mithon looked at Lex oddly, as if confused.

"Isn’t that a normal situation? Wouldn’t the laws get exhausted or drained of energy if they were consistent all the time? For as long as I remember, the Hollow goes through cycles of changing laws. Sometimes it’s one set of laws, and other times it’s a different set. I’m pretty used to both."

Lex paused. So Mithon was used to the other set of laws as well? Did that mean... that beings from one universe could easily learn to manipulate the laws of a different one? If that was the case, wouldn’t it be easy for a universe to be invaded by another one?

Lex could not help but think back to Abaddon. He still didn’t quite understand what that place was, for its existence didn’t accurately fit in with his current understanding of the universe. He could understand that it was a place where all the problems of his universe were sealed away. The issue was... why did Abaddon spawn so many Dao Lords, and why did they die so easily there?

If the Dao Lords that spawned within Abaddon ever entered the ordinary universe, wouldn’t they all be doomed? And yet they were so easily contained. Were they even real Dao Lords?

Lex shook his head. He was getting distracted.

"So let’s say that I want to go to the stronghold. How would I get there?" Lex asked.

Mithon seemed extremely excited by the question, as if she had been specially waiting for it.

"There are waypoints and waygates set up by the Fortune Lord," she said. "The Fortune Lord is very powerful, and has been inside the Hollow for a very long time. When the Hollow is not carrying out its retribution, the Lord travels and explores the Hollow. But he may need to return to the stronghold at a moment’s notice if the Hollow is about to strike, so he has built countless waygates across the Hollow.

"We only need to find the nearest waypoint, and we can use it to request teleportation to the stronghold. As long as it is accepted, we can reach there in an instant. Of course, the premise is finding such a waypoint."

At this point, Mithon’s expression finally turned somewhat ugly.

"Unfortunately, I have no idea where such a waypoint may be found. I have been exiled for a long time, so the waypoint I used to be sent here has probably already moved on. We can only try our luck."

Lex did not comment on the ’we’ that Mithon started to say, and brought out the green bottle and briefly told her about the letter it contained.

"Do you think the bottle will point towards a waypoint?" he asked.

Mithon shook her head.

"It sounds like this is a really old relic, from before Lord Fortune actually established the stronghold, let alone the waypoints. With nothing else to go on, this is a decent option. But traveling through the Hollow will take a long time without depending on the waypoints. The Hollow may well close before we even reach the Fortune stronghold if we travel normally."

Lex nodded. He was extremely curious about this Fortune Lord. Not only could he resist the Hollow, but he created a primordial race beast without access to any Primordial energy.

Considering that he could not gauge the difficulty of the retributions, finding the stronghold had gone up pretty high on his list of priorities. Since a waygate was not easy to find, and the stronghold itself was too far to travel normally, Lex would need to get a little creative in searching for it.

"Don’t move. Let me try something," said Lex as he waved his hand, and summoned the Karmic Bead. If the Fortune Lord had given birth to, or even simply created Mithon, then his karma with the snake should be pretty massive, right?