Chapter 2096 — Chapter 2096 A deal is a deal

Harriot waited until everyone was done purging their memories, which took quite a few hours. During the wait, Eclipse seemed to no longer want to talk to the Innkeeper, and Nulli had restrained herself from teasing him. Ventura's mood finally stabilised, but he hadn't cracked any of his usual jokes since.

All the Dao Lords who had purged their memories were too drained, too frightened, or too traumatised to try and talk to any of the monsters who took this news so casually, and kept to themselves.

Little Crusty wasn't the talkative type - at least as there were no plants to talk about - so they all just ended up waiting in silence.

"If you are all ready, we can now proceed to the next activity," Harriot said casually, as if the previous one hadn't literally scared all of them. "Rest assured, there should be no danger in this next activity as long as you don't provoke any danger. Based on the activation level of the Enigma Pillar, we will close off a portion of the Primordial Garden. You may all enter, and pick out any

non-sentient thing you find and take it as a souvenir. Each of you is allowed to take only one item"

Harriot's words reassured the guests, and some of them even started to feel a heavy temptation welling up in their chests.

"Can we take any one item?" one of the guests asked. "Even a tree, or maybe a mountain?"

Harriot shrugged.

"Sure, if you can do that without hurting yourself, go ahead. But just remember, we don't take any responsibility for any injuries you might incur during this activity - so take according to your own capabilities."

Suddenly, all the guests cooled down. They had just suffered, so how could they forgo caution and act recklessly? The Primordial Garden was not a place for them to play. They had to be incredibly cautious in their actions.

"By the way, the pearls found inside the Green Meadow Pond can heal minor wounds even in Dao Lords," Harriot mentioned, without elaborating further on the matter. Clearly he was giving them a way out of the injuries they caused themselves. But if they took the pearl, it would be canceling out their loss, but leaving them without any gains as well.

Whether to attempt some kind of gain, or to accept the recovery was

something they could only decide on their own.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Harriot and the others opened up the barrier

around them, restoring their connection to the universe.

The feeling of being free from the weight of humanity dissipated, but surprisingly what replaced it didn't feel like a burden. Instead, it felt like... acceptance. As if he was a part of something greater. It was as if his very being was rejoicing in being a part of the human race.

Being a human, after all, was his identity - his origin. He could leave his race behind, but he would be giving up just as much as he would be gaining.

That was a perspective Lex hadn't expected to suddenly encounter. It was something that gave him pause. Yet, abandoning his humanity was not something he planned on doing anyway, and removing his connection on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum was something he wasn't capable of doing at the moment, so there was no need to dwell on it too much.

He only lamented that his comprehension had dropped back down to normal. In those short few hours, he had only managed to improve his comprehension

of the laws of karma by 6000%. If only he had a few more days...

Outside the limits of the tavern, Harriot opened up another portal, this time leading to the depths of the Primordial Garden.

"You all have 30 hours to go find whatever you wish to claim. Once that period is over, you will be brought back to the tavern. I wish you good luck."

At the same time, a massive projection screen appeared atop the tavern, as if ready to put on a good show for everyone to watch.

"What's that?" Bridget asked.

"Oh that? Nothing, nothing. It's just for those of us not going to out see how you all fare in the garden. Don't worry too much - there aren't any Dao Lords who will oppose you, just the garden itself. It shouldn't be too dangerous. I doubt any of you will die in a mere thirty hours."

The more they heard, the less enthusiastic the group became.

Well, Little Crusty at least wasn't bothered as he stepped through the portal without hesitation, mumbling about wild, unsupervised growth of weeds.

After him, Ventura also followed, though he was still silent, as if occupied with other matters. One by one, the rest stepped through the portal, exploring the garden warily, until only the Innkeeper and Eclipse were left behind.

"I suppose you're not going," said Eclipse.

The Innkeeper smiled, and shook his head.

"I will not leave the Inns territory," he commented, pointing to the ground beneath him.

"Well, I suppose I did offer you decent payment," Eclipse said with a sigh. "You just wait here. I'll get you something good. A deal is a deal, after all."

Just like that, Eclipse walked through the portal too, leaving Lex alone - at least for a short while.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself," said Mary as she walked up to Lex, looking up at the screen.

"Well, so far I've managed to avoid plunging the universe into a brand new war, so that's great," said the Innkeeper, chuckling.

The three Dao Lords who were behind Mary paused, unsure of what to make of the Innkeepers comments. Was that... something he had done before? Bloody hell, should they even be here?

In the end, they just took a few steps back, and watched the screen. There was nothing preventing them from watching, even if they couldn't go participate in the final event.

The screen showed many different scenes, but collectively, they had all decided that they were going to watch Wu Kong.