The Innkeeper

Chapter 2461: The Nexus Event II

When the Nexus event came, Vera felt it far more deeply than most - including Lex. The entire future became a blank canvas, as if destiny and fate did not exist at all, and no amount of probability could allow her to predict the future. In fact, probability itself became skewed during the Nexus event, and all sorts of unusual things began to happen.

That was because the standard probabilities that most were familiar with were merely a result of the normal function of the universe’s laws. Yet during the Nexus event, especially this one, too many unusual things began to happen.

This was something she had predicted. She had, long ago, held a meeting for oracles to determine what they should do during this time. Yet she had, by now, come to terms with the fact that her ability wasn’t nearly as powerful as she thought it was.

For some strange reason, though, almost as soon as the Nexus event occurred, her instincts improved. Since she wasn’t a practitioner of the True Path - what humans identified cultivating body, spirit and soul - her instincts weren’t particularly pronounced generally speaking.

Now, though, that had changed. Her instincts became active, and they said only one thing: there was something terribly wrong with her father. But the realization came too late. When she began to look for her father, he was missing. Not just that, but her mother was missing too.

On Earth, Robert Joel watched with kind, soft eyes as Kristine gave birth - this time to a son. The woman, despite being a powerful cultivator, was exceptionally drained after giving birth, becoming as vulnerable as a mortal woman. She could barely keep her eyes open, but she struggled on, wanting to look at her husband and her new child.

Robert took the child from the doctor and brought him to Kristine, the silver dagger floating behind his back completely hidden. When Kristine took the child, she wasn’t looking at him at all, and Robert flicked his finger, sending the dagger towards her neck. Yet at the last moment, right before the dagger touched her neck, it stopped.

During the Nexus event, Robert couldn’t see the future either, but his instincts had become much sharper. He could sense lethal danger in his near future if he killed Kristine. In comparison, leaving her alive only left a minor vulnerability - far less than the danger of killing her.

It wasn’t a perfect plan, but Robert was never too bothered with perfection. He found that those who obsessed too much on doing everything perfectly often missed out on other opportunities - just like Daekol.

His performance was, quite frankly, very disappointing. After all his effort to remove that dangerous element by his daughter’s side, the stupid Sovereign failed. No matter - keeping him occupied for so long was good enough. It had allowed Robert to move forward with his plans.

"Sleep, darling," said Robert as he took the child away again. "We’ll be right here when you wake up."

Kristine looked at him lovingly, and then finally closed her eyes. The same instant, Robert killed the doctor and everyone else, leaving the weakened Kristine behind.

Robert casually made his way to the same village where Bastet once resided - the very one she had protected for centuries, and the one that couldn’t normally be found by cultivators at all.

The smell of corpses was, thankfully, finally gone. He looked up and found the only other resident of the village standing at the base of Bastet’s temple, looking at him with a sombre expression.

"Do you believe me now? If I hadn’t hidden you here, your beloved grandson would have already paid you a visit," Robert said. "I suspect what would have followed would not have been a quick demise, but a prolonged life of pain and misery."

Damian pursed his lips, but said and did nothing. The ’man’ in front of him was far too mysterious, and far too enigmatic. Even Damian, after getting his hands on the lost legacy of the Sepore family, was nothing in front of him.

"My end of the bargain," Damian said, and held out two vials of blood. One held Moon’s blood, taken long ago, and the other held Lex’s blood from before he became an immortal.

How did Damian get ahold of Lex’s blood, and even manage to keep it secret?

It had been collected by the insects that invaded Polebitvy, oh so long ago. Back then Damian didn’t even know whose blood was being collected, or why.

Now... even though he knew, he didn’t tamper with the blood at all. Though this man was mysterious, that didn’t matter. What mattered was that they could work together.

"How long can I remain within this village before being detected?" Damian asked, not bothering to inquire why the man wanted this blood.

"A few centuries at most," responded Robert as he looked at the vials of blood and analyzed them. "Definitley not more than 500 years. Best make the most of it."

Robert then turned around and left, not bothering with Damian anymore. He no longer needed anything from that man.

He soon appeared in a base he had prepared long ago, and placed the child in an altar before beginning to smear Moon’s blood on his body in strange symbols. Once it was all used up, he injected Lex’s blood into the baby directly.

"Soul Genesis blood to strengthen the vessel, and Empyrean resonance blood to help it adapt to the upcoming changes..." Robert muttered to himself before taking a seat himself in a separate part of the altar, especially prepared for himself.

Soon, the ritual began. A thin, silver stream of unusual particles began to enter Robert’s body from somewhere unknown, while a thin stream of blood red particles traveled from his body to the baby’s.

After a few hours, the baby opened his eyes, his gaze carrying a depth of emotions and wisdom that far surpassed its age. The Essence Wormhole would finally be his!

*****

Abaddon, Forgotten Forest

The two Kun Peng opened their eyes as if they sensed something they had been waiting for...