The Innkeeper - Chapter 1916

Chapter 1916: Multitalented

While Lex was stuck in his enlightenment, and Eclipse was pondering the many methods the Innkeeper was utilizing to carefully and meticulously craft Lex’s cultivation path, the residents of Sin City were losing their minds!

While at first no one had connected Lex’s steps to the trembling of the barrier, too many had seen him so effortlessly slip through the barrier, while another took his place. They all tried to copy him. So many tried everything in their disposal to use that moment of weakness in the barrier to escape, to no avail.

As hope eventually turned into despair, they finally focused on the words left on the barrier. The fact that the only person to exit Sin City had left behind his name did not surprise anyone. Who wouldn’t want to leave behind their legend? What did surprise a lot of people was the message that followed.

It wasn’t complicated, and the meaning was clear enough. It was blatant and obvious sarcasm, as well as a pointed remark left towards the mayor. Whoever this Lex person was, he had been insulted by the mayor, which is probably why he didn’t share the method of leaving with everyone else.

The aforementioned mayor arrived on the scene mere seconds later, rushing in response to the sirens, only to freeze when he read the massive message left on the barrier.

“No… this… this shouldn’t be possible,” the bark elemental muttered, shocked by the sight he was seeing. “No, this must be a hallucination.”

Denial. Disbelief. Refutation. Several other synonyms for denial. All of them described the mayor’s state of mind at that moment, yet the feeling did not last long.

A strong sense of danger woke the mayor up, alerting him to his surroundings. The citizens of the city were glaring at him with murder in their eyes, the area around them turning red due to their immense killing intent.

“This is a misunderstanding,” the mayor tried to state, but he was forced to run due to the onset of a stampede as the citizens of the city competed to clobber him.

“Impeach him!” someone yelled from behind.

“Turn him into sawdust!” yelled another.

“Vote for Goloo-Goloo in the next elections,” yelled a third.

The peaceful environment that had lasted so long in Sin City had been broken as countless citizens raged. An opportunity had come to escape, but their mayor had squandered it!

“Guys, listen, this is a misunderstanding,” the elemental yelled, but no one listened. Waving a pirate flag with a skull and bones wearing a hat, the citizens marched to depose their leader who had reigned endlessly on this city.

Meanwhile, Lex’s enlightenment was finally broken when a sense of danger erupted from within him. Without hesitation, Lex sealed his cultivation, preventing it from rising any further. He would maximise his gains at each level before triggering a tribulation.

While a tribulation in the Primordial Garden was extremely useful for him, he needed to survive it first to enjoy the benefits. Since the tribulation would increase in difficulty in each level, he was not yet ready to ascend to level 3 just yet.

Lex took a look at his surroundings and found himself back in the canyon. Using the compass once more, Lex rushed towards the canyon exit. For some odd reason, the canyon no longer bothered him, tried to restrict his senses, or put any obstacles in his path.

It only took him a few hours to exit the canyon, at which time his gaze fell upon Sin City which was very close to one of the exits. Even from afar, he could see the chaos that had gripped the city, which kind of made Lex feel a little guilty.

But a few seconds later, the guilty feeling disappeared. He hadn’t done anything wrong – even if he told others how he left, it wasn’t like they could imitate him. Regardless of what happened, his departure would have caused unrest. At least he gave them a viable option to vent their frustrations on. This way, the city would soon regain its peace, and return to the sanctuary it once was. Yes, eventing feelings every now and then was important – Lex was merely helping the overall mental health of the city. He had not done anything wrong.

With that little round of brainwashing himself over, Lex quickly departed. So far, his journey had been really hectic, but he still had a lot of ground to cover.

Running at full speed while he digested his gains from his previous enlightenment, Lex put on a great show for Eclipse to watch. One after another, he overcame the many obstacles in his path – some which Eclipse had purposefully created, and some which had formed organically over the years.

The only commonality between all of them was that each and everyone pushed Lex to his limits. Time and time again, Lex was pushed to the brink of his ability, but time and time again he succeeded.

The reason this pattern continued was not because Lex was suddenly becoming stronger after facing each obstacle, but because he was unfamiliar with his own new power and abilities. Only by pushing himself to his limits was he able to unlock or discover what he could do.

For ordinary Heaven Immortals, this was a process that lasted centuries of millenia. It wasn’t that they were lazy or didn’t push themselves to the limits, but because the environment in the garden was just too unique. Combined with the diversity of Lex’s skills, it became an inadvertent crash course in understanding his own abilities.

The higher up one ascended in their cultivation path, the less and less they relied on simple and straightforward means of combat, such as fighting with their physical bodies. Since Lex’s ascension to his levels was too short, he was still influenced by his habits as a mortal, which limited his understanding of the abilities of Immortals.

In truth, there was no set or standard way for Immortals to fight because the possibilities were literally endless. This experience simply allowed Lex to unleash all that he had learned. From the most mundane to the most prestigious skill or ability, everything came to bear, and everything was polished.

Meanwhile, the more Eclipse saw, the more she believed in her theory. Lex was just too versatile and multitalented for his progress to be random. The Innkeeper had been guiding him – of that, she was now sure. The only thing left to ascertain was the extent of the Innkeepers ambitions.

Harriot, meanwhile, was talking to the Dao Congress. It seemed that too many monsters were undergoing Heaven Immortal tribulations all at once, causing a disturbance in the realm.