The Innkeeper

Chapter 2449: Wrong about one thing, kid

"You can suppress humanity, but you cannot suppress," said the projection of Lex, mocking Destiny to her face.

If at any other time, such a thing would have happened she would have immediately personally decimated the human speaking, but not this time. She knew what this really was - it was bait to get her to reveal her location, and it was poorly disguised bait at that.

She, instead, turned her attention to Bourdow. He had been lucky enough to find traces of the real Wu Kong, all without needing to fight any other Dao Lords on the Dream Arena. Soon, he would enter the core region of the arena, at which point it was only a matter of time before he stumbled onto its secrets.

She did not even need to steal the arena. Once she understood how it was formed, she could recreate it herself. Sure it would take a while, but time was no concern.

*****

Conquest realm

"You can suppress humanity, but you cannot suppress me," said Lex, his words more intimidating than any actual threat. The entire Conquest realm was in chaos. The strategic strikes carried about by the Midnight Battalions crippled the entire realm’s ability to deploy their strength effectively.

In truth, more of the Conqueror’s forces had died from their own mismanagement than from the battalion’s attacks. That was because the Midnight Battalion did not come with the purpose of causing chaos and carnage. They wanted only to rescue Z, and they meant to delay the realms forces from mobilizing as best as possible.

But war was a game of information, and Velma was one hundred steps ahead. Though the battalion was outnumbered one million to one, their every action was measured and layered, revealing the true consequences much later.

Yet in the end, the war did not end quickly because of one piece of information that came to light. Z was not in the conquest realm. The Conqueror had sold Z to some unnamed party the very day Z triggered the heritage of an ancient Human King.

Now, the war waged on only so that they could extract who the buyer was, and where Z had been sent to. But there was one issue. Even as he was besieged, the Grand Conqueror remained confident in his defenses. Velma could neither harm him, nor could she extract any information from his mind.

It could not be helped - he was a cultivator of Regal Embrace.

Yet before he could gain his momentum, Lex appeared in the sky above the realm, his strength, his demeanor, his power absolutely unquestionable. While the Conqueror remained unperturbed, Velma could not help but laugh.

"Do you know who that is? That’s Z’s teacher. Buddy boy, enjoy your defense for a little while longer, because after he gets here, the only thing your defense will do is make you into a better punching bag," teased Velma, even as she kept attacking.

Beside her, Luthor and Gerard also kept attacking the Conqueror, keeping the pressure on him. If they relented even a little, he could summon his forces from across the universe, and they couldn’t let him do that. For a brief period, it almost seemed like they wouldn’t be able to capture him, but now, as long as they could hold out until Lex got there...

The group did not doubt even for a moment that Lex was going to return, because Velma had received news that the Innkeeper had made an appearance inside the Midnight Inn. Now that the Innkeeper was also back, it was only a matter of time before everything returned back to normal.

The Grand Conqueror retained an indifferent expression, though his increased retaliation showed the pressure he was beginning to feel.

*****

Tyrannum realm

The intense attack on the protective formation by the countless Dao Lords paused ever so briefly. Alexander and the rest didn’t know why it had paused, but they were grateful for it. They had no idea that the pause had been because of the vision of the Innkeeper.

The pause, however, was too short. They could barely recover at all before the bombardment began again.

No one expected, however, that shortly after there would be another pause.

"You can suppress humanity, but you cannot suppress me."

Those words, that voice, that appearance. Alexander and the rest had not expected at all that trapped within that formation, they would be able to hear Lex’s voice once more, or that they would be able to see his appearance.

They weren’t the only ones who were shocked - the Dao Lords watching outside were shocked too. Was there really a human who dared stand out and resist at this time? The downfall of humanity had already been decided. In as little as a hundred years, or at most a thousand years, there would be no more Celestial Immortals left among the human race.

At that time, the fall of this once great race would be final.

They increased their efforts in destroying the formation. They didn’t know what anyone else was doing, but they dared not get caught slacking in their efforts.

But they weren’t the only ones who were shaken by Lex’s appearance and vision. Deep within the formation, far beyond the point where Alexander and the rest had entered, sat a single man. His blonde hair, fair skin, and moderate build all gave him an impressive appearance, and that was before he opened his eyes to reveal his deep blue eyes.

The man looked up at Lex and marveled that even now, in this day and age, the spirit of humanity had not gone out.

"Not bad at all. But you are wrong about one thing, kid," said the man as he held out his hand. The pillar that Alexander and the rest had brought to the formation appeared in the man’s hand, and started to repair itself, turning into a magnificent spear.

"Even humanity cannot be suppressed."

The spiritual energy within the formation suddenly began to stir, and the laws of the universe began to writhe in a way all too familiar to the attacking Dao Lords.

"Is that... what I think it is?"

"It can’t be?"

"What’s going on?"

"Why does this look like... the phenomenon caused by the birth of a Dao Lord?"