The Innkeeper

The sensation was not originating from some specific person or place. There was just a hint of it mixed in with the general environment. It was like an unexpected, unpleasant smell in an otherwise nice place.

Lex had become more sensitive to such things in the last few years while he tried to hone his powers and abilities. Since he could read people's emotions really well, it was just one step forward to sense the influence their thoughts and emotions had on their surroundings.

In summary, it was a cultivator version of a vibe check. Some people, while putting up a front of being kind and amicable, were harboring dark thoughts relating to the Saintess Yildrim. It wasn't too surprising since she kept a firm check on anyone who wanted to do anything illegal.

Most people took advantage of the great facilities provided and the actual utopian civilization, but some wanted other things. Some people just enjoyed hurting others. Not to mention, the Utopia probably had enemies of its own.

It took Lex many years to get his hands on an item from there, and in that time he had learned a few things about it. The Utopia existed within the Jotun empire, but there was almost no information on it. No one knew which power controlled the planet, not that there were many people looking for it. There was no significant import or export from the planet, and its people could not even access the Henali portal.

But to be a part of the empire and remain so well hidden, some big power was definitely controlling it, and they no doubt had enemies too. So it was not surprising that there were people targeting the saintess despite all the good she had done.

But more than her hand in creating a utopia, Lex strongly suspected that she was being targeted because she knew the reason why souls were being nourished on this planet. Such a thing would spark greed in anyone's heart.

Lex began to Blink around the planet, searching from city to city for signs of the saintess. She had countless palaces where she could reside in, but all of them were empty. Moreover, no one knew where she might be either. She managed to keep her whereabouts extremely private.

But if Lex could find even the resin in the hidden corners of the Midnight realm, then finding a saintess was not a real challenge. It took him only a few hours to find a trace of the saintess, at which point it was only a matter of a few more teleportations to find her.

There was a massive white palace with countless spires rising into the sky. It was built on the side of a mountain with a deep lake filling the valley beside it. Doves, ducks and geese could be seen everywhere, while wild lilies covered the entire mountains.

It was as if this place specifically was the center of purity. All dirt from the world seemed to be washed away close to the palace. The air here seemed more… Lex had no words for it, but it was somehow more clear and fresh than even the air in the Inn. His body right now had no impurities in it whatsoever, but he suspected if he had any, coming to this place would have removed them.

The scene was too beautiful to be reality - too perfect. It was as if something like this should only exist in paintings.

The only flaw, if it could be called that, was the absolute stillness of the palace. Compared to its surroundings, which were filled with an abundance of life, the palace seemed lifeless. There were no guards, no workers, no residents. He spread out his spirit sense to check the castle and finally found a few living people.

Lex frowned. The people he found were clearly assassins, searching the palace for the saintess, yet she was nowhere to be found. It was as if the palace truly was empty, but he had followed signs of her to this place, so she should have been in the castle.

Even if she wasn't, the origin of whatever made this planet so pure was definitely here, but he could not find it either. Perhaps it was hidden in some chamber that his spirit sense could not see through. But to achieve such protection and secrecy that even he could not see through it was not an easy feat.

Just to be sure, Lex activated the power of his left eye and was stunned by what he saw. There was something absolutely powerful in the palace subtly affecting the laws of the entire realm, slowly changing them!

Now that Lex had his own realm, he knew exactly how difficult it was to affect laws, let alone the fundamental laws that made up a realm. The Midnight realm was brand new so it was still easier to do so there, but it would be exponentially more difficult to achieve the same result here. But it was clearly happening in front of him.

He suddenly began to understand why Vera had sent him here. Whatever could affect the laws of the Origin realm absolutely could not fall into the hands of people with ulterior motives.

But he didn't act immediately. He teleported to the palace, but just kept a close eye on the assassins while he himself also explored. The vast, spotless halls of the palace were truly devoid of any living presence. In fact, Lex was certain that he was the first person ever to enter many of the rooms he strolled through.

Since he could find any people, Lex decided to go towards the origin of the purity of this place. That was much easier to track, as he could noticeably feel the environment improving as he went in the right direction. As a result, he could also tell that the assassins were also aiming for the same target, and they were much closer.

Unwilling to prolong the matter, he directly teleported to the assassins. There were three human assassins, and one of them was a white snake.

His abrupt arrival startled them, but they did not hesitate in attacking him.

"It's a bodyguard! Quickly get past him," one of the assassins yelled, but it was futile. They were too weak and he was too strong. These enemies were unworthy of Naraka, so he just pulled out the Butter Knife and sliced through them all.

Three bodies fell on the floor and the snake stopped moving. They were not dead yet, but they were unconscious. Lex turned around, and was startled by the sight of a person who he suspected was the saintess.

She lay in a hammock hung between two pillars, looking out towards the scenery from a balcony. Lex could not actually see her, since he was standing behind her and the hammock blocked the view. But that was besides the point.

She was right there in the room with him, but he could not sense her with his spirit sense at all. Even his instincts were unusually silent in this situation. It was as if she wasn't there at all, though he could see the hammock. But she was obviously there.

She must have been wearing some extremely extraordinary equipment to be so well hidden.

Another thing was strange was that the fight, however brief, happened right behind her. The assassin had even yelled out, calling him a bodyguard, but she did not move at all.

It was as if she was dead. Or maybe she was just a very deep sleeper. But concluding that was too unbelievable, Lex tried to probe the situation.

"Excuse me for my uninvited arrival, saintess. I could not hold myself back when I sensed the assassins about to make a move. I am also a big fan of your work on this planet, and was looking forward to meeting you," he said as formally and politely as he could manage.

There was some movement in the hammock finally, and the saintess replied, "thank you for your help, although I was not in as much danger as you might have imagined. I'm always protected."

The saintess had a delicate voice, but it sounded forlorn more than anything. It was, as if, her protection was a topic of great remorse for her rather than providing her with a feeling of safety.

Lex froze. His eyes opened wide and his jaw nearly dropped. But then suddenly a trace of doubt filled his mind. It couldn't be…

"I'm glad you were safe, then. But I truly still admire what you've done on this planet. I have never seen anyone else create such a peaceful and fulfilling environment."

There was a long silence, but eventually the saintess simply replied, "thank you."

Shock filled Lex's eyes, and he suddenly teleported right in front of the saintess, finally gazing upon her fair visage. She was a young lady of immaculate beauty, and everything about her radiated an aura of purity and simplicity.

"Moon!" Lex exclaimed, recognising his youngest sister.

The saintess flashed open her closed eyes and locked onto Lex's face.

"Lex?"