The Innkeeper

Chapter 2422: The best

Lex was entirely and totally focused on his match. Even with his best instincts, though, there was no way of knowing that he was being spied upon by countless Dao Lords from across the universe. Not only could he not sense it, he could not have even imagined that so many Dao Lords would be interested in watching him.

Previously Nuwa used to hide him, and after that he had the Masterless technique to hide him. But using the Masterless technique himself would be useless after pulling a stunt like the karmic storm, which is why he had stopped using it when he did that. The last thing he wanted was to let the Dao Lords who notice the Karmic storm notice that he had a technique that could cause them to overlook him.

As a result, when he unleashed his long lost technique, he had not imagined that countless Dao Lords were watching him, eating snacks and betting on the fight. The mere name of the technique, however, caused some information that had successfully stayed hidden for ages to spread across the universe in an instant.

"Abaddon?" muttered Cide as he watched the fight. He had no idea what the significance of the name was, but he could feel that it was not normal. There was a massive secret involving the name. The strange thing was... how could a mere Immortal know about a secret that alluded him?

It was fine if he didn’t know about it before, but how could it stay hidden from him even after he learned of its name and tried to look into it?

Cide was not alone. So many Dao Lords suddenly became curious about Abaddon, though no one could say whether that was a good thing or bad.

Just out of the sheer novelty of an immortal knowing a secret even Dao Lords did not, many placed bets on Lex’s victory. Not to mention, this was a piece of direct and irrefutable proof of Lex’s deep background.

The fight, meanwhile, continued. Despite the direct clashes, the increasingly abstract nature of their fight could not be denied. For example, what Daekol had previously summoned was not really a white hole - more like he had relied and used the concept of one. Similarly, Lex did not materialize a physical building out of nothing when he revealed his technique.

They were manipulating laws, tapping into powerful concepts and using them for their own advantage. Thus, Lex tapped into the strength of Abaddon with his technique and relied on it to affect Daekol’s sanity while Daekol used his blue flames to infect Lex’s techniques.

This blue flame of his did not create heat, but instead spread out a strange kind of corruption in the same way that heat spread. This corruption targeted not just Lex’s control of laws, but the function of laws themselves.

This was not the kind of flame Lex could resist since he was not the target to begin with. Instead, each and every law that felt the corrupting influence of the blue flames started to misbehave. Moreover, they became even more active than they were normally, so that reality itself began to warp.

Let alone Lex’s Sovereign realm, even the Dream realm itself could not resist the influence of Daekol’s flames. A solemn expression filled Lex’s eyes, for while he expected Daekol to put up a fight, he had not anticipated something like this. Those flames, if found independently, would be at least a Dao level resource!

The thin lines of blue magma spread throughout his scales became Daekol’s biggest defense, protecting him from any laws that targeted him, while the flames that enveloped the hammer became his greatest weapon.

If Lex didn’t find some way to stop the influence of the flames, it would only be a matter of time before the Sovereign realm would dissipate, let alone the Abaddon Inn. The two locked eyes, and then clashed again.

This time, the lightning from the tribulation struck at the same time as their clash, and Lex had to admit that the lightning was finally beginning to tingle. Or maybe that was just the laws that bound his body together beginning to misbehave under the influence of the blue flames.

Lex’s Lotus form was useless when the obstacle in front of him had nothing to do with energy, and instead was solely a result of the action of laws. He did, however, have a form which could help with that.

Lex and Daekol clashed, the hammer and Naraka clashed, and with each single clash both of them suffered injuries on their bodies to say nothing of the Sovereign realm itself. It was not so easy to harm Lex’s new body, but Daekol managed it nevertheless. Similarly, Daekol had spent a considerable amount of time strengthening his body, but the immense strength packed within Lex’s body made him a living, breathing embodiment of Anchor making it hard to resist his strength.

They both stood near the absolute peak of power beneath the Dao Lord realm, so naturally their every clash caused an immense amount of destruction. To help the realm survive, and also to aid it in surviving the presence of the unusual blue flame, Lex began to include his understanding of defensive laws to the Sovereign realm.

But considering how quickly the realm was unraveling, Lex would need to do something about the blue flame first!

Naraka trembled in Lex’s hand, not just because of the immense strength contained within Daekol’s hammer, but also because the blade itself was filled with intense fighting spirit. It, too, wanted to demonstrate the versatility of Lex’s power. The issue was, Lex had a very diversified fighting style which is why he had never focused on one specific tool or technique. His vision was always broad. Thus, Naraka did not have as much of an opportunity to shine.

But, since the blade yearned for it, Lex was not above listening to it. He channeled his energy into his sword so that the next time he clashed against Daekol, it caused an explosion, sending the two of them away from each other momentarily.

That momentary relief was all Lex needed. He exited his Lotus form, and quickly entered into... the best form!

Coincidentally, that was also the form in which his control over the Sovereign realm was maximised, not to mention improve his control over laws, improve his naturally good looks and solve all his problems.

Dragon-Lex grinned as he flapped his wings, rocketing forward towards Daekol at a breakneck speed. The sword and hammer clashed once again, but this time... the blue flames seemed to bend away from the blade, as if they were exposed to something that could naturally resist their corruptive influence.

"You are pretty good, but I... am the best," said Dragon-Lex as he saw his Domination able to push away the blue fire.

"That is questionable," muttered Daekol as he twirled the hammer and slammed it towards Lex’s face. Lex blocked with his sword, but in the process, lost sight of Daekol for a moment. When he lowered his sword, he found that Daekol had vanished entirely. His entire aura was gone, and even using his control over the Sovereign realm he could not sense the Sovereign.

Dragon-Lex raised an eyebrow, and casually looked around the area, sure that the enemy would not just run away so easily. Then again, he also wasn’t sure where he had gone, and how he had vanished.

"I do not blame you for running," Dragon-Lex spoke into emptiness, the absolute certainty carried in his voice translating into a torrent of Dao Intentions like never before. "It is the burden of having a visage as glorious as mine - it inspires insecurities in all who bear witness."

His Dao Intentions roared like a vicious animal as they spread across the territory, aggressively and forcefully implanting insecurities in anything and everything - alive or not.

Daekol himself remained entirely immune to such an attack, and he focused on his attack. The very laws of the attack he was building, though, weakened just enough for Dragon-Lex to detect it.

The smirked widened, and instead of attacking Dragon-Lex spread his wings and opened his hand, making himself a massive target.

"Come. Attack. Let me feel with my body just how strong you are, Daekol," he roared. Of course, as he did that, he also strengthened his control over his Sovereign realm, imbuing his Domination into the very fabric of the realm. At the same time, the structure of the Abaddon Inn, which had been weakened by the blue flames, began to rumble and grow behind Dragon-Lex.

If Daekol did not stop him, the influence of the structure would become too massive to ignore, which forced him to attack even before he was ready.

A dart made azure flames slammed into Dragon-Lex’s body, causing the scale on his body to slightly crack and threatening to shatter his form and return him to his regular state. Yet Dragon-Lex seemed not bothered in the slightest. Instead, he just grinned even wider.

"Damn, I’m just too good," he whispered before flapping both his wings.

Daekol’s eyes suddenly narrowed as his body screamed danger. Yet Dragon-Lex moved too fast. Daekol only barely sensed the danger before Dragon-Lex was already behind him.