The Innkeeper

With the princess departing on her way, Lex could now proceed towards the heir's father. He did not need to go looking for him, for an attendant already stood there waiting for Lex's arrival.

"Mr. Lex? I have been instructed to bring you to the guests' library when you're ready."

"Lead the way," Lex said, allowing the attendant to lead him through the palace. While he crossed the unnecessarily complicated pathway, Lex could not help but think that he had been to quite a few places, labyrinths and ancient lairs. The grandeur of the place no longer seemed to affect him.

Yes, everything was rich and fancy and giving off extremely pure spiritual energy and tinged with a lovely aroma. So, the basic standard then. That was not to say that the palace wasn't spectacular. It just didn't grab Lex's attention the way these things used to.

He passed the indoor garden, behind the waterfall of spirit water, through the corridor that seemed to contain miniaturized stars as lights, above the…

Wait, what?

Lex stopped and looked up, finding it hard to believe what his senses were telling him. No, those were not fairy lights on the ceiling, they were actual stars that had been shrunk and placed there! Alongside a dim, gentle light, the stars seemed to be giving off extremely pure yet mild spirit energy.

Alright, he admitted it, that was a new one.

When he finally reached the library, he discovered that he was not the only one waiting there. Beside him, there was the dwarf Lex had seen previously, the one he felt a threat from. As if that was not enough, accompanying the dwarf was someone from a race Lex did not recognize who also gave off a threatening aura!

Besides those two, there were a few others, but Lex did not pay attention to them. He felt a strong urge to go and challenge the swarf immediately to a fight. His body started heating up and his heart started beating faster, but just before the urge overwhelmed him, Lex looked away.

In his right eye, a faint image of a sword had appeared, though it was diminishing now. Lex had realized that his reaction wasn't normal, and immediately picked out that he was being influenced by the sword again. A worthy challenger seemed to stimulate the sword, but not enough to make Lex lose himself.

He went and sat down in a corner, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. He didn't like the fact that there was something that could affect his mind, but since there was nothing he could do about it for the moment, he would treat it as training his mind.

One by one, the people in the library were called, and each of them were escorted to different rooms. It seemed like this was the waiting area for anyone who had an appointment, although Lex doubted that all of them were going to meet the Celestial immortal.

Whatever the case, it had nothing to do with him. He was focused on maintaining a steady mind, right up until an attendant arrived and escorted him further. When he left the room, the dwarf finally looked towards where Lex had gone. He was sure that Lex was about to challenge him, as the dwarf had felt a very fierce aura targeting him, before it withdrew on its own. Not that he was afraid.

When Lex was finally brought to the heir's father, he was surprised to see that the immortal was sitting cross-legged inside a formation, with a smaller formation placed in front of him, seemingly prepared for Lex.

Not only did the formations look extremely complicated, and expensive, but he could tell that there were a number of spirit items active in the room as well, though he could not determine their use.

"Sit," the Celestial immortal said without opening his eyes, only raising a hand to indicate that Lex should sit within the prepared formation. "I have a few questions for you before we begin. I hope you understand that I am not prying, but that this is necessary information."

"Please, ask," said Lex as he sat down. It seemed like… these inscriptions were an even bigger deal than he assumed. He thought that it would be a simple task for someone so strong to remove the inscriptions from him. It seemed he was wrong.

"First, are you aware of who put these inscriptions on your body?"

"I cannot say for certain," confessed Lex. "Although if I had to guess, I would say one of my parents."

"Do you know the cultivation realm of your parents?" he asked, but then realized something and didn't give Lex a chance to answer. "Wait, you are a human. If you suspect that your parents did this, is Jotun your father?"

"Eh, no, he's not, although I'm most likely related to him. His brother is my family's ancestor. As for my parents' cultivation realm, I am not sure. We have a… complicated relationship."

The immortal could not help and open his eyes as he looked at Lex, countless unknown thoughts running through his head.

"It seems the human race is prospering more than I was aware. Based on your answer, I take it you do not know any details of the ones who put this inscription on you, yes?"

"That is correct. I did not even know about these inscriptions until senior Zuri informed me of them."

The immortal pondered for a moment before he spoke again.

"The reason I am asking all these questions is that the more I know, the easier the process shall be. What language these inscriptions are in, what is the logic behind them, and how they were placed are all secrets even from me. They are most ingenious, as they have been placed in such a way that they have become a part of your body itself, just as much as your heart and brain are a part of you. Removing them… without harming you will not be a simple task."