The Innkeeper
chapter-1241

Jeffrey was a level 4 Earth Immortal. It wasn't the highest, but it took him years of effort to get here, moving from one realm at an excruciatingly slow pace. The progression was so slow, it was torturous, which is why he liked torturing others as well. Why should he be the only one to suffer?

Yet never before in his life had he ever suffered the way he was suffering now! Lex was insufferably strong even before he became an immortal, to say little of when he actually gained an immortal physique. Moreover, he was already proficient in manipulating laws! That was not an ability immortals just gained! They had to train and practice for it! Jeffrey himself took over 70 years before he could successfully manipulate laws.

It was not without reason that most immortals that Lex encountered did not use too many laws against him. It was because they weren't good enough at it to use in a fight!

To top it all off, it hadn't yet been an hour since he became an immortal, and he was already overcoming his third tribulation! He'd almost caught up to him in cultivation!

Compared to before, where Jeffrey was just strongly irritated at Lex, he now began to genuinely hate him!

But a genius though he may be, the one thing Lex could not compete with him in was in craftiness!

The Wyvern attacked, holding nothing back. The armor itself carried an immensely powerful law that actually made the armor more of a weapon than a defensive equipment. Jeffrey combined the armor's attack with his own flames, and even manipulated laws himself as well. He sharpened his claws through the use of laws, ready to tear through Lex's defense this time.

Just as his attack was about to reach Lex, the irritating human did something. Jeffrey felt the air around him get thick, and a powerful force begin to restrict him. Before anything could happen, Jeffrey unleashed his attack.

His sharp, flaming claws which contained a lethal curse in them gouged Lex, forcing its way through the resistance. But something strange happened.

Instead of carving through Lex's body, his claws fell harmlessly on him, suddenly devoid of all strength. If someone were looking from afar, it would seem like Jeffrey was feeling the material of Lex's suit.

Lex, on the other hand, suddenly became a little pale, but he grinned. The cost of randomly using laws he didn't completely understand was much greater than Lex expected. He suddenly felt drained of energy, as if he were at the very end of a marathon, and his tenet began to dim a bit.

That went to show that messing with laws was not something he should experiment with in the midst of battle.

When he thought of capitalism, he thought of how it could be applied to his situation in a fight. Jeffrey was trying to attack him, but since Lex owned a monopoly on himself, a certain price needed to be paid for an attack to land and he could choose what that price was.

He decided it should be 99% of the energy of the attack.

It worked. The laws he manipulated sucked the energy out of Jeffrey's attack, but in return the strain he felt on his tenet nearly knocked him out. In fact, he had to dismiss the laws, lest he actually faint from the exertion.

The endless possibilities of his new realm excited him, but perhaps it was time to stop experimenting and do things seriously. His aim right now was not to kill Jeffrey, but to push him to the point of desperation.

For that, it was perfectly fine if Lex relied on mundane spiritual techniques rather than manipulating laws.

Lex kicked the wyvern, who was in the air right in front of him, and launched its body into the ocean of orange lava beneath them.

"While you're introducing me to the immortal realm, why don't you tell me how one kills an immortal?" he asked, as he teleported to the lava, not bothered by it at all. Jeffrey was hurt by the attack, but used the cover of lava to swim away, using some kind of law to obscure his presence. Since he could also turn his body into flames, it was difficult to find him. Difficult did not mean impossible.

Lex waded through the lava like it was water and grabbed the wyvern by its tail and lifted it out.

Jeffrey immediately attacked, yet before its claws could reach Lex, Lex slapped him in the face, breaking off a few of its teeth.

"I know a good old beating doesn't work. Should I try to rip the soul out of the body?"

Lex turned his hand into the soul state and grabbed Jeffrey's slimy soul.

If he wanted to make Jeffrey desperate, he had to let the wyvern think that Lex was genuinely trying to kill him, but was falling just short.

He squeezed the wyverns soul, but interestingly enough the soul suddenly became formless and slipped through Lex's fingers. Lex raised an eyebrow. That was new.

"Maybe the trick to killing an immortal is to destroy their tenets," Lex said, teleporting away and reappearing in front of the escaping Jeffrey once more.

This time, his hand tore through the wyverns chest first before transitioning into the soul state, trying to reach for the tenets. Yet before he could reach them, the armor Jeffrey was wearing moved on its own and slammed into Lex's face, throwing him back.

The timing coincided perfectly with a lightning bolt, and though Lex was not injured, he had to admit the lightning was beginning to hurt. Maybe he should start resisting it soon.

"How about I suppress you using laws?" Lex asked as he flipped his body, and got ready to attack the wyvern once more. "Do you think if I smother you in some kind of law, that will kill you?"

Instead of answering, Jeffrey only growled, and pulled out more weapons. The two dashed towards each other and fought. Each of their clashes was like a clap of thunder, which was confusing because there was real thunder all around them.

Another lightning bolt struck Lex just as he punched Jeffrey, forming a circuit and allowing the electricity to pass through the brutalized wyvern.

"Why aren't you talking anymore, Jeffrey? I thought you loved talking."