Chapter 2090 — Chapter 2090 Simple vernacular

What was a tease? Well, Wu Kong was definitely a tease - at least as far as the other Dao Lords were concerned. Lex, on the other hand, was merely noting down all the details he was hearing and memorising them in case they proved to be useful later on.

As it was, not a single one of the secrets revealed concerned him too much for now. Whether the Sage races entered the war or not, Lex was going to be attempting to increase his defences as much as possible. Whether the Void restored treasures or not hardly matters to him because he was too weak to make use of them - or to mindlessly explore the Void for that matter.

The same was true for the shortcut for maturing ones Dao. Lex could barely mature his facial hair, so he wasn't concerned about his Dao at all. After all, he still had no idea what a Dao was - at least not in the proper sense.

Thus, the neutral expression maintained by the Innkeeper, bordering on boredom, was actually not feigned. It was genuine. It was the fact that it was so genuine that it began to bother some of the Dao Lords. They felt challenged to provide a secret large or shocking enough to evoke some kind of reaction from the Innkeeper.

Of course, they were not fools. They would not reveal secrets so randomly just to get a reaction out of the Innkeeper. But if the opportunity presented itself, whether now or throughout the tea party, they would not hesitate to grasp it. Most of the Dao Lords weren't focused on the Innkeeper, though. Most were focused on Wu Kong, and this supposed secret to growing their Daos. Compared to all other things, which could benefit their organisations, the growth of their Dao was personal. Since trying to fight. Wu Kong was not a viable option, they would have to find some way of trading with him.

One by one, a few more Dao Lords revealed teased secrets without revealing the key bits of information, following in the tradition of teasing.

Lex, now, was facing a conundrum. Should he contribute to the secrets? The way he saw it, the only way he could possibly contribute to the secrets was to use the Heavens Puppet. But was it worth it?

He still didn't know how strong the attack it could unleash was. On the flip side, he didn't know if the secret Eclipse would reveal, as well as the souvenir she would give, would be worth the price.

Of the two options, though, he could easily inquire about what Eclipse had to offer.

"The thing about the thing that happened back then is that the thing happened to be related to..."

Lex ignored the secrets, because at this point he couldn't even follow what they were about anymore. Instead, he looked towards Eclipse.

"I'm curious," the Innkeeper said, attracting Eclipse's attention. "Would your secret or your souvenir help my Inn in any way? If it's worth it, then I may consider sharing some more secrets."

Eclipse pouted as she heard the question, giving the Innkeeper a dissatisfied look.

"You know, it's not good to be so single minded - especially in the presence of a lady such as myself. Why don't you directly tell me the secrets that you want to offer, and I'll skip the whole activity and directly offer you what it's worth."

Lex froze. Oh, right. He didn't consider that he could directly trade with her. He might even get a better deal that way. In that case...

"Yes, yes, I know what you're going to say" Eclipse said in an exasperated tone. "You can't just give up on your guests like that, and this will make the activity more exciting for them. Honestly, you're too selfless for your own good. Fine, I'll tell you what. If you contribute a decent secret - one that can activate the pillar at least twice, I'll personally make sure you get a decent souvenir."

Actually, Lex had been about to accept her deal, but now that she had put things like that it would be awkward for him to go back.

"In that case, I just need a moment of privacy, if you will," said the Innkeeper as he took a step to the side. He let Eclipse take care of providing him privacy as a show of trust - though actually it was just if she was responsible for the barrier he'd have fewer chances of being detected.

Just as expected, the moment he stepped back, a barrier appeared around him, obscuring his vision from the group, attracting everyone's attention. The reason Lex had asked for the barrier to begin with was because he was going to access his system, and he felt like activating the Heavens Puppet might cause some fluctuations from his system. Although no one had been able to sense his system so far, it was best to take care in the presence of so many Dao Lords - especially when he wasn't sure if the barrier around him isolating him from the universe would be some kind of limitation.

Lex pulled up the system interface in his mind, went to his quest reward and looked at the options once more.

Quest: 'An empty vessel lies within the Inn, a former puppet of the Heavens. A forbidden secret, a hidden history, or a powerful weapon. Choose what to do

with the puppet.'

Additional Information: Through circumstance or by design, a Heavens Puppet is at the Host's disposal. The puppet hides a forbidden secret of Arch-Heaven, contains traces of a history wiped in the Primordial Age, and can serve as a powerful, one-time use weapon. The Host can choose which one of these three to focus on, but cannot choose all three.

The moment that the puppet is used for either purpose, it will trigger a hidden response embedded within by Arch-Heaven, destroying it.

Depending on the Host's choice, this quest has the potential to evolve into a Joint or Chain Quest.

The option for additional quests was... it could be good or bad, but now was a delicate time to get involved with other quests. After looking at the quest for a moment, Lex decided which one he wanted to pick.

He was staying clear of all things related to the Primordial Age, so that was out of the question, but a secret of Arch-Heaven was welcome. Especially since, due to the ambush of the Dao Lords, Arch-Heaven was under focus.

In case the quest didn't work, Lex had thought of a few backup secrets he could reveal, but they weren't all too great, so it was best if he didn't have to rely on them. He could also speculate, for example about the presence of the Gon race as well as that Elder race in Abaddon, and use that to spin a theory of his own, but it would be best to avoid any baseless speculations, as that might reveal certain flaws.

As soon as he selected his option, the system pinged as it gave him new notifications. It seemed that the system had already harvested the secrets, or else it might not have been able to provide him with an answer so promptly - especially since he was cut off from the Inn.

What Lex didn't know was that the moment he chose the option he wanted from the quest, the Heavens Puppet disappeared from within the Inn.

Lex read the notification and found... that the answer was a little underwhelming. Was this supposed to be a super big deal? Maybe - he lacked the necessary context to be able to discern that. It seemed he could only

gamble on this.

The Innkeeper walked out of the barrier and noticed that everyone was staring

at him, and had not continued to share their secrets. It seemed that his stunt

had been taken as some kind of declaration that he was going to go next.

"Ah, my apologies for keeping everyone waiting" the Innkeeper said humbly. "Since everyone is working so ardently towards the goal of activating the pillar, I thought I might participate one more time, although I am not sure if the news I have to share would be sufficient."

The others didn't know how to respond to the overly humble Innkeeper, whose nearly every action so far had displayed his immense background and power. "It doesn't matter, just go ahead and share whatever you want to," said Ventura with a smile. "I'll go right after you. If even now I continue to hold back, someone might begin to think I'm a miser."

Many wished to roll their eyes, but restrained themselves. Clearly, Ventura did not want to contribute too much if the others did not do the same. The Innkeeper nodded, and then looked at all the awaiting guests. Since he did not understand the seriousness of the secret, it would be best if he repeated the notification word for word - excluding the remarks, of course. New Notification: With the Heaven and Mortal realms as witness, the Nether

has known no rest for Ages past. It absorbs, recycles and rebuilds - for what

was forgotten is not necessarily lost.

Remarks: Translating into comprehensible vernacular for dummies: the Nether is the mitochondria of the universe.

Eclipse's pupils constricted, and Ventura's breath got stuck as they thought of the possibilities. Could the Innkeeper be hinting about that?

If someone asked him, Lex would say yes. After all, 'that' could be whatever he wanted it to be. He was not responsible if someone misunderstood him.