The Innkeeper - Chapter 1503

Chapter 1503: Augur of Heaven II
“Haha, I expect nothing less from one with the courage to threaten a Demi-Dao Lord,” said Licanderoth, though his emotions did not ease up upon hearing Lex’s invitation to be candid. Instead, he tensed up even more.

“Some knowledge, as you probably know, is not so easily borne,” Licanderoth said. “I am afraid that if my guess is wrong, and I say something inappropriate, I might end up hurting you. Such a start won’t bode well for our fledgling cooperation.”

Lex wanted to assure him that he could handle it, yet at the same time experience held him back from making a drastic decision. Licanderoth had a powerful background, and so knowledge that he thought could be harmful to him must really be a secret of epic proportions.

Lex was contemplating how exactly to proceed when he felt a change take place in his mind. A Go board appeared, and then all at once, pieces started to appear. One after another, white pieces appeared on various boards, suddenly gaining an overwhelming advantage – at least in terms of the number of pieces.

All of them were normal, oval beads, and weren’t like the rook that nearly launched Lex into cultivation deviation, yet the sudden arrival of over a dozen pieces suddenly gave Lex a foreboding feeling.

It was subtle, almost feeling like it was simply his imagination. Yet Lex never imagined such things, and he had a strong trust in his intuition. Whatever had happened, it was definitely bad for Lex, and not just because of the Go pieces.

He felt like whatever happened that resulted in so many pieces was also directly bad for him, as if it affected his future in a negative way. Yet the feeling was too distant and illusory for him to properly investigate.

Once he was certain that nothing else was happening, and as the Go board slowly vanished from his mind, Lex returned his attention to Licanderoth. He was destined to never take the easy path, and the hurdles in his way would always be greater than his peers.

If he stopped taking risks just because they were risks, he would ultimately fall to one of the many dangers he was destined to face. All he needed to do was assess if the danger was too great for him to take.

For example, he knew better than to delve into secrets related to Dao Lords. But if the danger was not up to that level, then he could probably tolerate it. Besides, knowledge was power, and sometimes this saying was very literal.

“Unless the danger of this topic is equivalent to that of learning about the Dao, then you can speak of it directly without holding back.”

Licanderoths hesitation vanished upon receiving Lex’s final confirmation, yet it was then replaced by a solemnity that encompassed his entire being.

“On paper, in this day and age, the various races are flourishing, and the secrets of the universe are all but revealed. Yet the truth is, all the powerful races know that they are but ants scouring in a garden, no matter what heights they reach. The true face of the universe… perhaps there is no one alive with the qualifications to measure it.

“I just mentioned that you can view the universe itself as one large realm. If you do that, then the realms that we inhabit are akin to Minor realms or pocket realms compared to the main one. Yet when we travel between the realms, we find only the Void. So where is the actual space – the actual realm – that is our universe?”

Lex paused, and even held his breath, for what Licanderoth was saying basically overturned Lex’s understanding of the universe. As far as he knew, or at least as far as he imagined, the universe was some kind of large, ever growing boundary within which was an endless Void.

The Void, just as its name depicted, lacked all concepts of space, though it could not escape the concept of time. Yet within that Void, there were also countless Minor and Major realms, within which existed all life.

Technically speaking, even the Void contained the Void Dwellers, so it was not devoid of life. But generally it was his understanding that the majority of life in the universe existed within those small bastions of safety and security within the endless Void known as realms.

Yet if he looked at the universe itself as the largest realm, and all existing realms within it as Minor realms of various sizes, then where was all that space? The universe, infinitely vast, capable of holding countless Major realms bigger than the Origin realm, was not actually empty?

If that was the case then… then the Primordials, who were the beings born in the first realm at the birth of the universe, up until now considered the most powerful beings to have been born… what even was their worth when compared to whatever was born in the space of the actual universe itself?

For a moment, Lex was too stunned to respond. Yet a moment is all such a revelation was able to arrest his attention. Even if what Licanderoth was claiming was true, he had no reason to believe that it somehow overturned his understanding of the universe.

His sources of information were more than just a few random books or scrolls. His system, Mary, and the countless other beings he had met who held tremendous power had constantly supported his current understanding of the universe, whether through their words or actions.

Seeing how quickly Lex recovered, Licanderoth couldn’t help but feel impressed. More importantly, seeing that there was no adverse reaction to his slight hint, he gained the courage to elaborate a little on what he wanted to say.

He himself was a Celestial Immortal, while Lex was an Earth Immortal. Even if Lex himself was confident, he didn’t want to harm Lex by accidentally oversharing. He saw great potential in cooperating with Lex.

“Actually, this is both a great secret, and not so great a secret. Have you ever encountered a Microscopic realm? Or a race that has transcended such a realm?”

“No, I can’t say I have, though I have heard of them,” said Lex.