The Innkeeper
chapter-1228

Lex became extremely sensitive towards the intentions of others. More important than just intentions, he became exceptionally skilled at determining who was acting on those intentions - only as long as he was the intended target.

His instincts rose to a whole new level, so that if anyone within a radius of 100 miles of him did anything at all, with him as the intended target, whether it was good or bad, he would be able to sense it.

Perhaps what Dao Lords possessed was a much more powerful version of this ability. He was still not certain how it worked, besides that his instincts were responsible for it.

As a result, anyone and everyone within a hundred miles of him who was observing him with the intentions to harm him, or take advantage of his weakness, were teleported over.

By the time this happened, an entire one second had passed since Lex had broken his seal.

Coming to terms with the immense danger they felt, as well as the rising tingling sensation all over this special zone, combined with forcefully being teleported somewhere, all these people were a little overwhelmed. That was unfortunate, because things only became more chaotic from there.

Arcs of lightning suddenly started appearing within the darkness of the Trial of Eternity, and each of them, from across the entire realm, were traveling towards Lex and the little tribulation support group he had formed.

Everyones hair stood on end, and not just because they sensed the danger. The static charge in the entire zone was being built up, so much so that it was affecting even immortals.

A particularly massive bolt of lightning flashed in the air above Lex, revealing thick, pitch black clouds which had begun gathering above him, and the hundreds of immortals around him suddenly felt their heart drop.

They ran. They teleported. They flew. They tried everything and anything, yet they could not move from their exact spot.

Lex was not even touching them. He had simply placed his right hand in the air beside him, but what only a few saw was that Lex's hand was not floating in the air. Rather, it was pressing down on space all around them. Without overcoming Lex's hold, no one could move through this space, or manipulate it in any way.

The most absurd, horrifying thing was that Lex used no spiritual energy, or affinity to do this. He used just pure, brute strength.

Lex displayed a fraction of the power wielded by a sentient planet within its domain.Through the sheer size of their existence, and the unimaginable capacity for energy they contained, they could exert absolute dominance within their territory. That is one of the things that made sentient, conscious planets so dangerous.

Fortunately, most sentient planets were usually in a state of slumber, and were not conscious.

None of that had anything to do with Lex, though. He was awake, and he was exerting the simplest form of control he had available to him at that moment.

"Friends, since you all came to see me, let me put on a performance for you," Lex said, his voice reverberating not only around him, but through the entire zone.

Then, without any forewarning whatsoever, a bolt of lightning as thick as a bus flashed through the endless, pitch black clouds and struck Lex.

Lex himself had been completely unprepared for the strike, and it struck so fast he had no way of even considering blocking it. Yet he did not need to block it.

The lightning burned his body, inside and out, yet for some reason, the pain felt so good. It was as if, through the pain, Lex was removing dead and decaying parts of his body, and in their stead growing new, fresh and vibrant body parts.

Lex opened his eyes, filled with energy and excitement. It even seemed like a streak of lightning flashed through his eyes. Yet those around him were not in as good a mood as him.

The lightning tribulation would always and only strike the intended target unless the others interfered on their own. But frozen still in place, they were totally at Lex's mercy. Hundreds of immortals stood like honor guards around Lex, who experienced his very first tribulation strike.

Then the thunder roared, and its impact was even greater than that of bombs. Unable to move or do anything, the immortals suffered the full blast of the shockwave released by thunder. Many of them just grimaced and ignored the sudden ringing in their ears.

Some of them, however, coughed out blood and became pale.

They couldn't understand what was happening. They were immortals. They had already passed their tribulations. Yet they could not even survive the sound of Lex's first tribulation strike?

Storms began to brew across the entire zone, and entire energy currents flowed towards the black clouds fueling them.

Considering that this was only Lex's first tribulation, he was supposed to be struck with nine rounds of lightning. Then, each time he went up a level within the immortal realm, that number would go up by nine.

That rule changed for Heavenly immortals, but that was not pertinent to Lex at the moment.

"Come, the party has just begun," Lex said as his body began to float up into the air. "Let's invite more friends to join."

Lex grabbed Jeffery by the head, and let used his Mindmeld to peer into his mind. Yet there was a seal on his innermost thoughts. Only some outer, unprotected thoughts could be accessed by Lex, and even as strong as he was, he could not break through that seal at the moment. Yet it hardly mattered right now.

All Lex wanted was to find more enemies, and Jeffery knew the exact location for all the Sanguis Pluvia agents within this zone off the top of his head, which served to benefit Lex.

He teleported away, bringing his honor guard with him. Yet that only seemed to enrage his tribulation. It felt like Lex was trying to escape, and so another bolt flashed through the entirety of the zone, chasing him down to strike him.

Yet the massive bolt of lightning could not even break Lex's skin. Instead, it only made him smile.

The countless immortals all around him suddenly trembled. What kind of maniac had they encountered? Who would be pleased upon being struck by lightning? Not even the worst of masochists surely.

But, apparently, Lex was exactly such a person