The Innkeeper

A week, then two weeks and then three went by, and yet nothing changed. Lex managed to temporarily strengthen his seal, but encountered a huge issue. There was both internal pressure, from his cultivation, and tenet, and external pressure, from the laws of the universe themselves.

It was as if Lex had crossed some invisible threshold, making it so he was ready to view and interact with those laws that he could not sense. Those laws, in turn, seemed almost excited to interact with him, but since he had not entered the next realm, they softly nudged at him, helping him move to the next level.

Lex suspected that this feeling is what helped those immortals with a more normal experience enter into the next level.

Either way, although he could reinforce his seal, he discovered that the pressure his seal faced increased exponentially. Every day that he did not break through, his internal and external pressure increased.

He estimated that, currently, his seal could support him for 27 days. He needed to improve the seal before then. Lex also discovered, amazingly, that the longer he resisted the pressure to enter the next realm, the more the laws of the universe tried harder to increase their compatibility with him.

This was not about facing increased pressure to enter the next realm. Rather, it was about how easily he could control or influence laws. In essence, the longer he resisted, the stronger he'd be once he broke through. Even if he did nothing else to raise his power, merely resisting for a longer time would improve his strength.

So, he focused more and more towards the seal, spending less time and mental power on studying anything else.

During this time, Z kept fighting the dark knight, and Luthor kept searching the jungle for something. The preparation phase for the Cultural Circus was still ongoing, with many looking forward to its initiation in one more week.

Three weeks passed by, and so much happened, yet at the same time, so little happened. Lex recalled the time when every day, if not every hour, brought him so many new challenges. He was not reminiscing in melancholy - merely observing the change in his mentality and perception.

Weeks passed by, and yet he felt like it was nothing. He imagined that even if years passed by, he would fail to feel their weight. Time had lost meaning to him. It should now be measured in the number of significant events rather than duration.

Or not. He wasn't picky about such things.

But eventually, a significant event finally occurred. The Jolly Rancher, with the dragon Greed at its helm, reached the Artica realm.

The seven dragons had planned for a proper grand entrance. Instead, they were taken by surprise by the laws of the realm.

The seven dragons were instantly teleported to the level solely for Dao Lords, meaning there were no weaklings for them to show off in front of - although one could argue that all new Dao Lords were weaklings in front of the dragons.

To the owners of the realm, the arrival of the seven dragons was no surprise. After all, they had sent a Letter of Intent, as was proper, before arriving. This meager amount of basic courtesy was given since they came with good intentions. It was everyone else who was taken by surprise by the presence of the seven dragons.

The seven dwarfs had not left the Folklore realm since the incident with Snow White. Even those who did not know soon found out that Snow White was the name given to an artificial ice age the dragons induced in a Major realm, causing it to become uninhabitable by any non-ice affinity being for billions of years, causing severe loss to countless organizations and nearly instigating a war.

Even that was nothing compared to the chaos they caused when they messed with the Alchimiste du métal complet - a being considered to be at the very peak of the Dao Lord realm.

Or the time where they hijacked the faith of hundreds of deities, inserting their stories inside their theogonies, creating an infinite feedback loop to strengthen their own lore. Fortunately, the laws of the Folklore realm didn't extend to the rest of the universe, so their plan ultimately failed, or the consequences would have been disastrous.

Or the first time they caused an incident called the Snow White incident - where all seven dwarves fell in love with an ice elemental called Snow White. Or the time…

The stories were endless, and all of them were bad. Nobody knew the exact details of how the dragons had been persuaded to enter into seclusion, returning to their realm, finally allowing relative peace to return to the universe.

Of course, the dragons weren't nearly as bad as an entity like Wu Kong, who was considered a taboo among Dao Lords. His arrival here would have incited an immediate war, or an immediate escape - possibly both. They were, however, considered very troublesome nonetheless.

It could almost be said that their very arrival to the Artica realm was like causing a stir within the upper echelon of the universe.

"Oh no," a Dao Lord whispered… one who had personally witnessed all six Snow White incidents throughout the history of the dragon's lives. "The Artica realm is a realm with a strong yin and cold affinity. Don't tell me… there's going to be another… another Snow White…"

A chill suddenly went up the backs of several Dao Lords - regardless of whether they actually had any backs to begin with.

Greed, who was most looking forward to the bombastic entrance they had planned, looked forlornly at Jolly Rancher, which had come to this level with them. Without an audience, what was the point of keeping the ship?

Sure, by mortal and immortal standards, it was a decent vessel. Valuable too. But to a Dao Lord… well, it could not even incite the greed in Greed's heart. With a wave of his claw, he sent the ship back to Jack, thereby cementing the story of how Captain Jack had once given a ride to seven Dao Lords, and causing a legend to begin.

Another stir was caused, since now there was a ship which had ferried Dao Lords, and it was now in the hands of a mortal fairy. The karma associated with that ship, the value, the absolutely unprecedented history of it…

If they weren't right under the noses of the Dao Lords, perhaps countless beings would have cast aside their pride and attacked Jack for it already.