Chapter 1657 — Waterfall

Once again restraining Little Blue's aura, which was now even more unstable after its little snack, Lex began to think about how abnormal everyone around him was. It kind of made sense. His own experiences were so abnormal that even those around him who were initially normal slowly became abnormal. But… this was a little too much, right?

How had a baby whale that had merely been a Pro Bono guest ended up as a Kun Peng which could devour everything in its path? Of course, he knew the exact sequence of events that had led up to such a thing. But… as he thought back to that massive hole, he could not help but wonder at the absurdity of it all.

Honestly, he was pretty sure that as long as they had enough time to grow, Lex would never need to worry about the Inns' security ever again. Between Kun Pengs, sentient spaceships, living swords, a badass lich, countless workers with overpowered bloodlines, two Sovereigns, some unknown worker who was all but set to discover his Dao or something like that, himself and the many other abnormal people living in the Inn… he almost felt bad for anyone who would become their enemy.

So many of them seemed to reach above their power level. Heck, Lex himself was capable of fighting Heaven Immortals now, and he had a feeling that Little Blue's power wasn't restricted to realms the way normal cultivators had abilities limited to the power level of their own realm.

Fighting above one's level shouldn't be so common, yet it was practically a norm at the Inn. This did not make him feel self assured, though. No, it only made him think about all the powerful organizations that controlled a Major realm, if not more than one. With all their resources, not to mention the incredibly long period of time that they had existed for, Lex could not help but imagine how many powerful Immortals they had gathered over the years.

Even if they only trained one Immortal who could fight above their power level every ten thousand years, since they had existed for millions if not billions of years…

Lex frowned. It wasn't like there was some kind of competition and he was trying to beat them. He was just trying to understand the power scale of the universe. The only real barrier he felt that was uncrossable was that between a Dao Lord and an Immortal.

That probably meant that all the true elites of the universe - those who were not already Dao Lords, were probably all at the peak of the Celestial realm. It was likely that only once he reached such a level, he would get in touch with others who broke the norms as frequently as he did, and he'd truly be able to test how special he was among the elite of the universe.

One of the reasons why Lex suddenly got lost in his introspection was Little Blue's devastating attack. He didn't even understand how it worked or what had happened. Yet when he thought about whether or not he'd be able to resist it, his instincts told him that he would.

It was not something he wanted to test, at least within Abaddon, but it put a fine point on just how abnormal Lex himself was, even compared to everyone at the Inn. Yet the more he felt like this, the more he needed to remind himself that the universe was a vast place, and the moment he started getting arrogant, someone would put him in his place.

Time and time again, he needed to remind himself to not get overconfident. Considering the fact that he was constantly dealing with powers far beyond his level, a single mistake is all it would take to mess things up.

"Alright, this is far enough," said Lex, looking at the landscape around them. They were crossing massive glaciers, which meant that it would be incredibly easy to create a waterfall - though they could have done that even if there was no water available whatsoever.

Lex deployed the castle, and the mercenaries made their way inside while the Inn staff exited their mech form.

All of them retreated within the castle, including Lex who found himself a room and sat down in a meditative pose.

Clones weren't really his thing, but if he tried hard enough, he could still create a temporary clone with decent enough power.

The reason he was sending a clone was because Kaemon had made it clear to Lex that neither he, nor the others would be venturing into ruins any time soon unless they determined that it was impossible to find the chalice without doing so.

The weight of the knowledge they had attained, in his own words, was a constant burden that they were unable to overcome, nor could they get used to.

Lex, who was constantly plagued by the influence of the stench that Jack was exposed to, could sympathise with their feelings.

Typically, sending a clone out of sight of the group would result in it being teleported somewhere different altogether. But this particular set of ruins were special since the entrance was always behind a waterfall, so theoretically, Lex shouldn't end up anywhere else.

Lex's clone left the room and walked to the gate, where Kaemon was waiting for him.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes. If everything goes well, I should gain some insight into how Abaddon works. Maybe that'll help us find the Chalice sooner."

"Well, I hope your theory is right. At the same time, I feel kind of bad for you. The price of knowledge is not so easily paid in the Graveyard of Secrets."

Lex merely nodded. There was no point in arguing over this topic anymore.

The two of them ventured out, and only a couple of miles away from the castle before Kaemon decided it was a good enough location. They quickly excavated the ice, forming a fall that was about a hundred feet (30 meters) tall, leading to a small lake. Behind the fall, Kaemon dug out a riverbed in the ice, starting from another massive lake that he filled by melting the ice.

In just a few minutes, a flowing river was created, leading to a waterfall. Kaemon would continue to keep the water flowing for as long as Lex's clone was in there. Who could say what would happen to the ruins if the water disappeared? Not them, so it was best not to take any chances.