The Innkeeper

Something unprecedented happened right after the attack by the Ministry of Order & Discipline. For the first time in history, a major organisation on a universal scale completely abandoned a Major realm.

They directly, and without hesitation, forcefully harvested any resources from the realm and then abandoned it. All Dao Lords, as well as many powerful Immortal families abandoned the realm and escaped within a Void ship, hiding from detection, effectively disappearing.

With most Dao Lords missing or gone inside the Dream realm, and many others caught up in war or unable to provide support due to the disconnected state of the universe, they decided it was better to give up the Major realm than to try to hold it.

Thus, without any war or fighting, a Major realm became ownerless. No one even went to claim it. In fact, after the first realm was abandoned, many other powers also began to copy them.

The vast and wide universe suddenly started to feel hollow, for too many Dao Lords started to hide or were already missing.

Yet... not everyone’s means were effective enough. What originally appeared to be a strategic retreat was merely a result of Dao Lords trying to hide because they were already anticipating that the Ministry would come after them!

Though they tried to hide, their means were ineffective, leading to fights breaking out in the Void. Yet the 1000 member strong army of adjudicators could not be resisted by merely a few Dao Lords huddled together. Whether they were killed or imprisoned was unknown to all, but the certainty of their defeat was shared by all.

Slowly and steadily, time passed, though each passing second was extremely eventful. Eventually, a single month remained until the Nexus event. Jack opened his eyes, a solemn expression painting his face. His fight against Daekol had gone on much longer than expected, and he didn’t have nearly as much leverage as he would have liked. Daekol’s system kept interfering.

If Lex’s own system was working, and he could have used his Butter Knife, then the fight would have been much easier. Then again, a Butter Knife could only be used on Inn territory.

Jack originally had a few things planned that he wanted to do before the Nexus event to take advantage of his Destiny resetting, but now he had to abandon all his plans and focus on helping Lex.

It was not perfect yet, but Jack had, to a large degree, mastered the art of sending things between his souls. For now, it seemed like only divine items could make the trip, but that was good enough for him.

What Jack was sending now was a tiny speck of Divine ore containing an augmentation from his Paladin powers. Jack seemed to have benefited from Lex’s 51% Dao Body as well, not to mention his new Heaven Immortal realm. His paladin powers, thus, were on a whole new level.

His attack and defense were, obviously, strong but not nearly as strong as Lex’s. His augmentation, however, was suddenly critical. The interference from Daekol’s systems had reduced Lex’s attack power by 32% which was a massive reduction considering they were close to each other in strength.

If Jack could cause that percentage to drop at a critical moment, it could change the flow of battle.

Seeing as how it was not time yet, Jack closed his eyes and began reinforcing his augmentation which was contained within that tiny piece of divine ore. When that critical moment came, he would be ready.

Within the Dream realm, Liz was frozen from fear, and not even Nemo on her cheeks dared to move. They had been on a mission from the Path of Order, and in the beginning everything had been going fine.

Even when they faced trouble or difficulty, they at least avoided dead ends. But today, when trouble came, it came without restraint. The Dream realm had separated her from her group all of a sudden, even though they were supposed to have protection against that.

As if that was not enough, the place where she was teleported to was not somewhere she could hope to escape or survive in on her own. She was transported right inside one of the Dream Master’s bases.

Fortunately, with Nemo’s help, she had been able to hide her presence entirely. After that, she hid herself underneath a sofa, pushing herself as far as she could manage to stay out of sight. Her hiding spot could have been discovered by a five year old, but since most high leveled cultivators trusted their spirit sense, they didn’t really pay attention to a hidden corner where their sense said nothing was hidden.

Not long after, some scarily powerful beings entered the same room as her to discuss certain sensitive topics.

"Have you calculated the strain? It’s been decreasing at a steady pace," said one of the people in the room.

"Yes, it’s just as we predicted. In fact, everything is going incredibly smoothly. I can recommend that, at this rate, the optimal universal strain will be reached in five years. Anyone wishing to undergo a Dao tribulation should initiate it at that point - they’ll have the highest chances of success."

There was a long silence, which probably meant that they were talking about something using their spirit sense. Eventually, though, they all stood up.

"We have an agreement then. As long as you can stably provide nourishment potions for mortals at a rate of 1 trillion vials per hour for mortals, and 34 million vials per hour for Earth Immortals, we will purge your sins before the adjudicators of the ministry can find you," answered one person sounding happy.

The group seemed happy with the agreement and they left the room... except for one person who sat back down on the sofa right above Liz. A heavy silence once again filled the room, and Liz dared not even breathe.

"You know, you can come out from under the sofa young lady. I won’t harm you," the person suddenly said, his voice freezing Liz’s heart. The being was so powerful that even Nemo did not dare try anything funny. All things considered, it only made sense that she was discovered.

Liz’s mind raced as she thought of ways to resolve her situation, the person brought his head down and looked at her with a warm smile.

"My name is Oaka, and I am a merchant. You do not need to be afraid of me - maybe we can even come to a deal," he said, sounding almost inviting. Liz did not exactly believe him, but she didn’t really have a choice either.

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