The Innkeeper

Chapter 2357: Life laws

"Yes, I think that should be enough for today," said Lex as he cleared his throat, exuding the same casual confidence as before, completely hiding the amount of pain he was actually in.

Jokes aside, he had asked the Gilded Hollow to teach him more about how to torture people, but how could he have known that the realm would take him so seriously? Fortunately, the energy absorption system he had encoded into the necklace itself had not failed him which kept him empowered throughout the retribution, allowing him to survive.

But survival did not have to be pleasant. The Hollow’s retribution was far from weak, and that was considering the fact that it had been adjusted to his cultivation level. Any other regular Heaven Immortal would not have been able to survive at all. This was a clear and complete death sentence for them!

He managed to keep the necklace from suffering any real harm, but damn the process was unpleasant. It was not just about all the visible attacks coming his way - the very laws that sustained the existence of his mind and soul were attacked.

Yes, it wasn’t Lex that was attacked, but the laws that sustain his existence. This was a simple concept to imagine, but it was practically incredibly difficult because influencing those laws was exceptionally difficult. Even Lex could not do it to a foe near him in cultivation level.

He had to rely on some of the divine energy to empower the laws of his own existence - something Lex never even imagined he would need to do. But, all things considered, it taught him a new weakness he needed to address, so he wasn’t ungrateful for the experience.

At this point, Lex thought that it was a good idea to stop provoking the dead universe and just let the retribution end. Resisting the urge to cough out blood, he just endured the unending madness until finally he felt the force beginning to recede.

Since his body was a projection he could control, he appeared entirely unharmed. The black dragon was beyond impressed at the sight. In truth, though, Lex’s soul was definitely wounded and would require some healing.

Fortunately, the Hollow was a land of endless treasures so finding something that would heal him wasn’t all that difficult.

"Nothing wakes you up like a good retribution in the morning, huh?" Lex asked the dragon as he approached him, making sure that his image was not affected.

For a time the black dragon did not respond for he was too astounded. Eventually, though, he found that there was only one thing he could say.

"It’s no wonder that the Fortune Lord decided to support you. Clearly, you are out of the ordinary."

It was simple praise, but the sincerity packed within those few words conveyed a meaning that could not be communicated through greater eloquence.

"Shall we get our hands on that Memory of Rust? That Forgotten Blood is also waiting for us, so let’s not waste any time," Lex said as he took the lead, all the while still absorbing the surrounding resources inside his necklace.

The journey to Memory of Rust didn’t last much longer, and there were no great obstacles to getting to it, as promised. Absorbing it into the necklace was actually quite easy, and it brought about a remarkable effect!

Basically, the necklace became totally immune to all forms of natural degradation. It would never rust, never erode, never corrode nor would it ever weaken either. Moreover, absorbing a Dao material raised the natural treasure level of the necklace, elevating it to an incredibly high level!

From there, they journeyed to the Forgotten Blood and managed to get their hands on it too. On the journey, Lex encountered a few other traces of forgotten civilizations and ruins, though nothing was on the level of the cave he encountered for the first time.

Still, even the traces were enough to enlighten Lex a great deal about the kind of species Pentegal must have had.

Eventually, he managed to get Forgotten Blood easily as well, although absorbing it into the necklace was slightly more challenging. However, the benefits of absorbing it were well and far beyond what he had read based on the report.

The reason he wanted to absorb Forgotten Blood was because it contained very thick traces of the laws associated with life. By absorbing it into the necklace, he effectively managed to fill his Fake realm with actual, living beings naturally!

Previously the realm itself was too unstable to support any kind of life, yet the Forgotten Blood made up for some of the shortcomings of the realm. At the same time, it empowered the life laws enough where lifeforms powerful enough to survive the unstable nature of the realm began to appear.

With the appearance of life, the laws of the realm automatically began to stabilise even faster, as if life itself empowered laws.

Lex paused. This was a brand new realization for him, as it was something he’d never noticed before. He’d always thought that the stable laws and realms were what enabled life, but now it seemed like life itself played a major role in stabilising the laws of the universe.

That new piece of information brought him a whole new perspective on the destruction of the Major realms. The ramifications of such events touched on so many different aspects that it was tough to determine what exactly the goal of the mastermind was.

Still, that wasn’t something he needed to concern himself with. If he ever came face to face with whomever was behind it all, there wouldn’t be anything he’d be able to do anyway.

Once he got his hands on those two pieces of Dao materials, it was time to head back. The black dragon, too, gathered many items for his hoard.

The entire journey took them only three years and four months, a little longer than expected. Once they returned, Lex immediately began planning his next trip while checking if there were any updates about the Death Metal rose.

There were no updates, although he did hear news that the Fortune Lord was planning a trip of his own, and he would leave in twelve years. It seemed there were things even the Fortune Lord couldn’t leave inside the Gilded Hollow, and wanted to get his hands on before leaving.