Chapter 2283: Bait |
Lex had a personal motive behind urging River and Pearl to hurry up - one besides planning his revenge, although it wouldn’t clash with that. If he spent decades or centuries within the Land of a Hundred River, wouldn’t he be an old man by the time he faced Daekol?
Although, being an Immortal, he didn’t really age, and he could live forever, mental age was still a thing! He didn’t want to be a geezer when he returned!
Lex could not help but sigh. Time was unrelenting and unforgiving, treating all equally. Fortunately, he did not need to care about how unforgiving Time was.
He left only a small part of his mind to focus on the young couple, and finally began to work on his own plan. The items and ingredients that he was requesting for the quests were not useless.
Although simple and weak, everything had its place in the universe. Even he, at the peak of his power, started cultivating as a weak and simple cultivator. Similarly, these weak and seemingly useless items could create the foundation for something far greater.
One of the greatest problems he had while fighting Daekol was negating his control. As a Sovereign, he could command the very universe according to his wishes. Lex, as a member and even part of the universe, was also forcefully subjected to that authority.
If there had been some kind of disparity in their cultivation levels and Lex was the one with the higher cultivation level, it might have been easier to resist.
But no, he was the one with the lower cultivation level. So he had to compensate in some other way. Lex had been able to faintly resist his authority due to his Dao Body, which was fine and all, but it wasn’t like he could turn his current vessel into a Dao necklace - at least not in any feasible timeline.
The necklace was made of Divine Ore, which already gave it magical properties. Now, Lex wanted to make some minor changes to it, allowing it to gain access to energy from the Void. Yet why should he limit himself to just that?
But if he looked at it from another point of view, if he took his time to create something powerful from the ground up, could he achieve phenomenal, even unbelievable results even for higher cultivation levels?
He would have to find out. Once upon a time, Lex wondered if he could make a system if he made an array complex enough. But why should he limit himself to arrays?
With the Divine Ore as a foundation, and his own soul to act as the operating system, could he not create a system of his own? One that could tap into the laws of the universe and make the impossible possible?
Lex did not need to consider whether it was feasible or not. If it wasn’t now, it would be in the future. He had to at least start setting up the foundation for it.
Thus, using all his time, his limited energy, and all his experience with systems, treasure building, and even things such as the Book of Changes and Taro’s Journal, he began to work on his necklace.
Due to how simple the resources he had available to him for now, he couldn’t give the end product a shape, but he could start laying the groundwork.
Thus, unbeknownst to River and Pearl, Cliff wasn’t paying as much attention to them anymore. Of course, he would still interact with them and answer their questions when they asked. To them it felt no different, but the reality of the situation was far beyond what they could imagine.
During this time, many things happened to the young couple. The elves came back with the result of their investigation. All the forces who had attacked the Sunborne family had, since then, mysteriously vanished or died.
People like Baron Nester could not be investigated in detail because they had provided perfectly reasonable, logical and justifiable excuses and alibis for their actions. While no one was stupid and everyone could see a conspiracy, they could not just break the rules of the alliance and forcefully interrogate people.
After all, the rules were the foundation of the alliance’s existence. If they started to ignore that, then the alliance would crumble sooner or later.
After that, River and Pearl handed over the cultivation techniques to the elves - one for Pearl, and one they had redeemed from Cliff that had results similar to River’s paladin powers to fool everybody. He had wisened up a little after making so many mistakes, and had learned to cover his tracks.
At the same time, after a year of toil, they had gained enough points to redeem the technique they wanted. It was a technique which mimicked a dragon’s treasure sense. Dragons could sense treasures nearby, which is how they could increase the size of their hoard.
The size of a Dragon’s hoard would directly affect their strength, which was why it was so important. For River and Pearl, this was the perfect technique to roam the lands, find treasures and either submit them to Cliff or sell them for money to buy materials to sell to Cliff.
Since their agreement with the elves had come to an end, and they had submitted the techniques, they left. Instead of asking to get escorted back, they departed on their own.
On one hand, they were used to traveling the wilderness together. On the other hand, they could find treasures like this without concern for getting spotted.
Everything they submitted served to aid Lex in his task, while they too started to grow stronger. Pearl had started body cultivation and was catching up to her spirit cultivation, while River was growing stronger by helping Pearl redeem points.
They were no longer the weaklings they had been when they set off on their journey.
It took them another year and a half to move through all the rivers, exploring all the lands, befriending countless people and building their own reputation as they went. At some point in the middle, Pearl had reached the Foundation realm, and River’s strength had reached a point similar to the peak of Qi training.
Their increased strength allowed them to get in touch with stronger people, and greater secrets, learning not just about the war, but about the dealing of the various races. By the time they returned to the humble Guest House, they had attained a comprehensive and detailed understanding of their world, and had established a mature reputation across the lands.
They’d also dealt with countless conspiracies and traps, allowing them to mature from their previous, youthful and clueless selves.
In fact, it was because of their experiences and their growth that they had finally turned their attention towards Baron Nester themselves. While Mount Decius could choose to not pursue the investigation because they were bound by rules, they weren’t.
They had seen enough people bending the rules in the shadows to become far more comfortable with the notion. The problem was how to do it, and to have the strength to tackle him. After all, even as a minor nobility, he had to have the strength of a Foundation realm cultivator.
While Pearl was also a Foundation cultivator in spirit and body, it would be foolish to go against him without understanding his strength first.
Thus, when they returned to the Guest House, the duo reopened their tiny business, still in decent shape due to the formation they had left behind, and began to activate the network of contacts they had developed over the years.
At the same time, Lex used the energy accumulated within the Guest House for his own purposes.
Everything was going smoothly. A month later, after making many plans and setting everything up, they left the Guest House and prepared to face off against the man who had once pushed them into the pits of despair.
The sky was dark as the rainy season was once again approaching. River found it to be quite fitting. He could not help but think back to that one tree he and Pearl had rested under to take refuge from the rain. Back then, they could only use their own torn clothes to wrap their wounds and survive the days through risk of infection.
They had lived lives worse than death, only out of hope for a better future. Now, it was time for the Baron to feel everything they had felt, and for them to get back everything that they had lost.
Within the necklace, Lex glanced at the couple and shook his head. They had matured, but still hadn’t realized that the baron was an obvious bait laid out for them from the very start. Oh well, this was still a part of learning about the complexities of power.
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