Chapter 1275: Sudden end
Lex was fighting a large skeletal monster the size of a mountain, quite enjoying himself actually, when something suddenly changed. It was not just Lex who noticed, however. Every being in the Mirage noticed that the very fabric of reality was trembling.
Lex lost the ability to control laws, and his tenet retreated deep within himself while even his instincts wanted him to turtle up somewhere.
His mind began working overtime as he thought, for a brief moment, that some Celestial level being had targeted him. Yet when he spread out his senses, he saw that everyone was affected, just in different ways.
For example, the other Henali forces also trembled as they felt an immense power spread across the Mirage, while the forces of Sanguis Pluvia were all reduced to dust. All of them. Simultaneously. Dust.
"The Dao Lords have made a move," said Noor, who suddenly appeared beside Lex and put a hand on his shoulder, protecting him from a majority of the aura. "And it's a big one."
"Whatever the cause is, the fight is about to end," said Fahad as he appeared beside everyone.
Lex looked around, and saw countless immortals, some wounded, some fine, all looking around in fear. All that was needed was for a Dao Lord to make a move, and so many people might not have died. Then again, by making a move they were compromising the stability of the Origin realm, which might kill even more.
Morality was a confusing thing, and not something Lex debated anymore for the most part. It was easy when morality was deliberating the rights and wrongs of stealing candy from a baby, for example, but not so much when every action one made influenced the lives and trajectories of millions, billions or trillions.
Instead, Lex looked at the world underneath his feet. Once the Mirage ended, it would go back to where it originally came from. Lex looked at the ground, and used his right eye to cast a formation, deep within the planet itself.
Some time ago, Lex got the idea of leaving behind legacies, treasures and great opportunities for others. He'd left quite a few in the Midnight realm, but not in the Origin realm yet.
Lex himself had benefited greatly from the legacies of others, as well as a few lucky treasures, so now that he was powerful, he felt like leaving something for others as well.
In a few moments, the formation was formed. It was not too complex, and not too formidable either, but for the weaker beings on this planet, it would be a treasure.
The first formation grabbed all the existing Minor realms around the planet and pulled them together. It would not form a larger Minor realm, Lex could not do that yet, but the formation would flood each Minor realm with a lot of energy, turning it into a treasure land, giving birth to extraordinary plants and natural treasures.
Every ten years, pillars would randomly rise across the planet, and lead whoever touched it to a Minor realm suited for mortals and body tempering cultivators, which contained some of Lex's knowledge on cultivation, as well as a few treasures for healing, cultivation, technology, so on and so forth.
Every fifty years, the pillars would be different, and instead teleport Qi training cultivators to a different, slightly more mature Minor realm.
The pattern would continue to increase, with every hundred, five hundred and thousand years bringing about an opportunity for higher ranked cultivators.
Just like ending this war was nothing more than the wave of a hand for a Dao Lord, leaving behind an elaborate mechanism to disseminate cultivation knowledge and treasures required Lex to merely look at the planet and use his right eye's ability.
He didn't know why he had this urge lately, but it wasn't something fundamentally bad, so he didn't think much deeper into it.
"It's ending," Noor said even as her form disappeared. Fahad disappeared as well, and the entire Mirage began to fade, yet Lex did not reappear where he had left from. Instead, Lex found himself in a place with complete darkness.
It was not the Void, nor the depth of space. It was just... a place devoid of everything for as far as the eye could see.
Lex felt his energy recovering, and the little fatigue he had accrued in the past few days fighting, which honestly wasn't too much, disappeared. In a matter of minutes, Lex was back to his peak state.
His suit, which had at some point disintegrated, returned to exactly how it was. A simple wooden table appeared in front of him, upon which was a cup of steaming tea.
"Please drink the tea," said a figure that appeared beside the table. He - or it - was a floating, abstract being that looked like it was put together by layering different cloths atop one another. Its hands, compared to the cloth that made its body, looked like leather sleeves, one black and one brown.
The figure looked like it came out of a children's cartoon, and did not feel threatening at all, but Lex was certain that it was much stronger than himself. It was even stronger than Fahad and Noor.
"For your fruitful cooperation with the Henali, the Governor General of the Origin realm, as assigned by the Henali confederation, owner of the Origin realm, wishes to meet with you. The tea will protect your body from suffering harm in his presence, and will be beneficial to your cultivation as well."
"Oh boy," Lex muttered, and reached for the teacup. Governor General of the Origin realm? That sure sounded a lot like the boss of the Henali, who would no doubt be a Dao Lord.
Lex had obviously met Dao Lords before, and was just a few days ago exposed to the aura of a Demi-Dao Lord.
But that was just it. Simply existing in front of a Demi-Dao Lord nearly killed him, without any hope of escape. Now he was going to meet a Dao Lord, and though the tea would protect him, would it protect his secrets?
Mary told him that he would be fine. He supposed he would find out. He chugged the tea, which tasted like mint and honey. Not bad.