The Innkeeper
chapter-1224

While seeking guidance in this regard, and considering his own tenets, since he hadn't really specialized in any one thing, but excelled in many, he had consulted Qawan and Anita. It was not at all a surprise to find that Qawain only had one tenet, which was 'The way of the Sword'. That literal, entire phrase was his tenet, something he shared openly, though Lex understood that usually it was not the kind of information one divulged easily.

Considering that Qawain only had two passions in life, swordsmanship and Anita, it was not surprising at all.

What was surprising were Anita's tenets. She had the tenets of nurturing, guidance, protection, leadership, perseverance and kindness. If Lex hadn't known any better, then he would have thought she was messing with him.

But Anita gave him the background of why she had chosen those as her tenets. On the planet she was from, which Lex to this day did not actually know nor had he visited, she was the one who led humans from their early days as cavemen. She brought that whole race out and helped them stand on their feet, and when she could see that they would be hopeless without her, found a way to change her race from human to lich so that she could lead humans for even longer.

But all good things must end, and there eventually came a time when she left the humans to fend for themselves. She had a new life now, and she was more than happy with it currently. In fact, she loved being a mother so much that it only reaffirmed her choices of the tenets she selected.

Perhaps motherhood and maternal instincts would have better served her as tenets, but there was no point in bringing it up now. Tenets could not be changed. Even John, who had lost his cultivation entirely, would regain the same tenets he lost if he were to ever return to the Earth Immortal level.

All it would take was one strong enemy who took him by surprise, and everything would be over. The kind of tenet he would pick would naturally influence him as well. They would shape how he thought, how he acted, literally how he perceived the universe. It was a single decision, and its repercussions would follow him for the rest of his life.

Yet now, more than ever, Lex was leaning more and more towards the pursuit of power. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew that he had already made a decision. He was just allowing himself these few, final moments of thought and contemplation before he adorned that weight onto himself.

The ninety six hours that the journey was supposed to take flew by faster than ever before, and when Lex opened his eyes, the ship was already within the Trial of Eternity.

The moment was upon him, and he knew he could back out no more. This would be a defining moment for Lex, not because he was becoming an immortal. No, instead it was because everything he had been through before this, whether it was getting the Inn, bagging his first guest, getting an amazing reward, finding an overpowered cultivation system, growing ridiculously strong, receiving guiding advice, all of it, each to a certain degree was through external influences.

That was not to say that Lex had not made his own decisions - he had. But in most things, he was just reacting to a problem, trying to resolve it. This would be the first time he was making his own decision, acting to preemptively negate many problems, and take control over the direction of his life.

He stood up, and his aura naturally became even more honed and deadly than it was before. Silently, his second seal unraveled, and he touched his third seal from over his clothes. The time was nigh.

One by one, the various passengers on the ship were sent out until it was eventually Lex's turn. When he appeared in his new location, he was surrounded by complete darkness, his suit blending in perfectly. He could have been completely undetected if he chose to hide, but he did not.

targeting him.