The Innkeeper

Chapter 1203  Control

By the time Lex and Giselle got their hands on the ninth artifact from the Selpak empire, only a few hours had passed. With a clear destination that he could sense, distance was of no consequence to Lex at all. They only faced one more ambush, and this time the Profanites genuinely ambushed them instead of walking up brazenly to them despite their greater numbers.

It was during that ambush that Lex noticed that all the Profanites, despite the different bodies, were essentially clones, or rather puppets of whoever was supplying them with power. They knew everything that the previous Profanites experienced and so planned for it.

Giselle had also let him know what to expect when facing them. Basically, Profane energy was the source of all their power, and traditionally gave them an immense advantage over everyone they faced, including immortals.

Profane energy was a higher quality, higher leveled energy that surpassed general spirit energy which is why normal immortalʼs attacks, defense and even their bodies were weak to them. Only and only using laws would allow others to combat them, but usually even that was not enough, for even using laws required the immortal to at least use some of the spirit energy.

But, for reasons she could just not imagine, not only did Profane energy not harm him at all, even when they were ambushed and the Profanites tried to curse him using the immense powers of Profane energy, it hardly seemed to work.

”Itʼs quite simple actually,” said Lex as they teleported away from another collapsing ruin. He had to say, the Selpak people really did have good quality architecture for their buildings to still be surviving, even if only barely.

”Iʼm not saying that I know the full details of these things, but Iʼm pretty sure my own individual spiritual energy is ranked higher than Profane energy - if energies were to be ranked.”

Upgrading his body with a Dao level ingredient was no joke. Even Lex himself did not know the full extent of the changes he experienced for he had to keep himself sealed.

”Not to mention, Iʼve been training to tolerate a Heavenly immortal level attack. I honestly donʼt know if Iʼve reached it, and Iʼm not really keen on trying it either, but that was the goal. Iʼve always been a little proud of my defense.”

”I recall that actually,” said Giselle as she suddenly remembered Lex tanking and Earth immortalʼs attack back on Polebitvy. Back then he hadnʼt even reached the Nascent realm yet.

”So that means itʼs not so easy to hurt my body. Honestly, Iʼd actually like to experiment and find out what my limits are, but for certain reasons I canʼt do that.”

The reasons being if the damage he took was too intense it might break his seal, so he usually avoided suffering attacks he was unsure of being able to tolerate easily.

There was a reason why Lex was being so forthcoming about his own abilities, and it wasnʼt because Giselle made a cute face every time she was stumped by something he did - though that was extremely satisfying for some reason. No, he wanted to know why Profane energy felt so different when she used it.

His left eye had easily caught a number of energies running around her body, including what he was pretty sure was time! Even his own time affinity had been sealed for reasons he himself did not know, so he could not even imagine how she was able to easily wield it. He had a feeling that when the time came for him to unseal his affinity heʼd just naturally know, so until then he just had to live with it.

She gave him a contemplative look, and then eventually sighed.

”Itʼs simple really,” she said, paraphrasing exactly how he began. ”When it comes to the Dao, there is no such thing as good or evil. Even things that are perceived as the worst side of existence such as pain, death, rot, decay, they are a part of a natural order that keeps the balance. Good and evil are just constructs of the living. Which means that even in the most vile of existences, such as that of Profane energy, which is revulsed by entire galaxies and realms, there is an element of elegance and grace. ”Not that Iʼm defending those that spread death and destruction, no. Iʼm just saying that once it enters my hand… once anything enters my hand, it becomes a force for the purpose I deign, and nothing else.”

She held up her sleek, silver sword, looking at it with deep eyes as she continued.

”After all… there are so many things that are considered evil by some and good by others. Swords have ruined just as many lives as they have saved, yet they are considered the weapons of the righteous by most factions.”

Lex did not comment, for she was clearly distracted by certain memories, but he understood the essence of what she was saying. Basically, like Lex specifically focused on defense, she specifically focused on control. She gained a perfect mastery over whatever she used, so that it adopted the traits she desired from it, and not the ones it usually exhibited.

It was impressive, and not easy at all. Although technically speaking, Lex also had excellent control of all his energies, his naturally increased comprehension played a significant role in that. Even then, he could not so easily manipulate what traits his energies showed. It had never been his purpose to begin with. After a few more hours, they finished collecting all the Selpak chores, at which point Giselle mentioned her next objective. One by one, Lex helped her go through all of them, proving his worth when it came to finding even the most hidden of items.

Even then, it took an entire week for them to complete all of Giselleʼs objectives, and begin making their way towards the center.

Thatʼs when Giselle finally revealed why the center seemed hidden.