The Innkeeper - Chapter 1988

Chapter 1988: Helix Petal Rose
Lex smirked, and looked at Serene with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“You want to guide me in cultivation? Sure, I may not know some things, but I sincerely doubt that you can guide my cultivation,” he said, without holding back. To be honest, even Lex himself was unable to plan for his cultivation.

Only his cultivation technique, which could endlessly adapt, and endlessly grow stronger based on his actions, could account for all the things he did. His cultivation was just too diversified, his strength too unpredictable. Sure, she might know a bunch of random things, and they might even be a little helpful, but he doubted she was qualified enough to comment on his cultivation.

In fact, Lex felt like if his forms were not suppressed, and he activated his dragonform, even his dragonself would not be angered by her audacious claim, and instead would have just found it hilarious.

“I admit, I cannot even begin to imagine what you’ve been through,” Serene said, shaking her head. “The son I gave birth to was definitely not a High Human, and I’m pretty sure the physique you were born with has changed as well. Maybe you have others who are already helping you out. That doesn’t mean that I can’t be helpful either. For example, I can’t help but sense that… somehow you’ve embarked on the path to build a Dao Body. Is that correct?”

Actually, as she asked this question, Serene wasn’t completely sure about the answer. Matters related to the Dao were still beyond her, for now.

Lex raised an eyebrow, and then wondered whether he should confirm it or not. That was pretty sensitive information. Then again, if she could already guess this much…

“Yes, it’s something I’m working on,” Lex admitted.

Serene raised her eyebrows, somewhat surprised and somewhat impressed that it was actually real. Then she began to massage her brows as she considered how to progress from there.

“This is… I don’t… do you even…” Serene began to say, but found it difficult to articulate what she wanted to say, so she only sighed.

“It’s very ambitious to plan for the Demi-Dao Lord realm already,” she said, leaning back with a hint of exhaustion.

“Demi-Dao Lord?” Lex asked, raising an eyebrow. “What makes you think that I’m planning for that, and not the Dao Lord realm?”

He could understand it if the Demi-Dao Lord was a realm he needed to achieve before getting to Dao Lord, but why would his mother assume he was planning for the former, and not the latter. To be honest, he still didn’t know exactly how one became a Dao Lord, or if Demi-Dao Lord was actually on the path to the realm. Regardless, he always aimed for the top.

“Do you know how to become a Dao Lord?” Serene asked, but continued on speaking without giving him a chance to speak. “Quite frankly, I don’t know myself. What I do know is that becoming one is nigh impossible, and that most people are not destined to reach it. Heck, even most Celestial Immortals are not destined to reach it.

“But ignoring that, I do know a few guidelines that have historically proven helpful for those pursuing such a realm. The more diverse their focus, the harder it is to become a Dao Lord. In contrast, the more singular the focus, the easier it is to become a Dao Lord. That is why I have your father focusing solely on his Sword Intent, while I focus solely on the path the heritage set before me.

“Considering how diverse your path seems to be, it pretty much seems entirely unlikely that you will be able to reach such a realm. That is why I said that preparing to attain a Dao Body is akin to planning for the Demi-Dao Lord realm.”

This news would have devastated anyone else, but was exactly the reason why Lex felt like Serene was unqualified to comment on his cultivation. She looked at his path and assumed it was a mess, whereas the truth was, his seemingly diversified path was all a part of his cultivation technique which was all encompassing. So, one could even say, Lex’s one, true path was to follow his will and do as he pleased.

Serene could see that Lex was unconvinced, but didn’t dwell on it.

“To be honest, I cannot comment on it in too much depth. According to my heritage, I should not inquire about Dao things until I reach the peak of the Celestial realm. So the key question of what it even means to have a Dao Body goes unanswered.

“What does Dao even mean? To make a Dao Body, resources at the Dao level need to be used and fused with the body, an already impossible task. But what does that mean? The Dao level is one thing, and the Daos of Dao Lords is an entirely different thing. So what does it really mean to form a Dao body? I’m afraid that is a question that cannot be answered by us just yet.

“But, in practice, having a Dao Body is equal to being a fake Demi-Dao Lord. In this case, the Dao is not referring to the Dao of a Dao Lord, but resources at the Dao level, which basically means that because of the resources you used, your body has gained the ability to tolerate and withstand the aura of the Dao of a Dao Lord. I think, you can probably also exude such an aura yourself, to a small extent.

“Yet it would not grant you the same powers and abilities as a Dao Lord, or even a Demi-Dao Lord, which is why I called it a fake version. But it’s the next best thing, and is already above most of the universe. Most importantly, it is not easy to achieve.

“Once you have embarked on the path to a Dao Body, every 1000 years you will face a Dao Body tribulation which will grow stronger each time. This will continue until you achieve the Dao Body, or until you die. Moreover, once you reach 99% of your Dao Body, on the verge of reaching 100%, you will go through a Fate tribulation.

“The Dao Body tribulations are still manageable, since they begin relative to your strength. A Fate tribulation, however, is of fixed strength. Anyone and everyone hoping to achieve a Dao body experiences the same Fate tribulation, and it is not easy to pass.”

This was new information for Lex, but that is not what he focused on. The detailed level of the information made it obvious to Lex that this kind of thing was not being attempted for the first time. In fact, it might even be relatively common for the largest organizations in the universe to have one or two members with Dao Bodies.

“A Dao Body tribulation is quite straightforward,” Serene continued. “A figure imbued with Dao aura will manifest in front of you, and you need to defeat it in combat. That’s all there is to each. Each 1000 years, the level of Dao aura on the figure will increase, thereby increasing the difficulty.

“A Fate tribulation, however, is a test of your life that has already gone by. Your fate needs to be strong enough to tolerate the power that comes along with having a Dao Body. For those who naturally ascend to a higher level, this is not an issue, but for Immortals, it’s not such an easy burden to support.”

“Noted,” said Lex casually. “Is there anything else you’d like to discuss? Otherwise, I’d rather move onto the topic of what you did to my body? And Belle, Moon and Liz’s bodies too while you’re at it.”

Serene looked at Lex, and then sighed.

“If… if you ever need to ask some questions, you can come to me. Honestly, I can help you. I can see that you have a dragonsheart. That’s akin to what Belle went through, so I can teach you how to utilize it best. Or the faint traces of divinity about you. I can see you’ve already forsaken the path of Divine fire, which is for the best. Whether it’s your soul, or your spirit, or your techniques, or anything, you can come to me in the future.”

In truth, Lex was actually quite interested in her research regarding clones. But… he could not make himself ask her, so he kept to his original demands.

Seeing that Lex wasn’t saying anything, Serene moved onto the topic of their physiques.

“Your physique each relies on some incredibly rare resources,” she said. “In your case, the essence of your body was made using a treasure called Helix Petal Rose. The Helix Petal Rose has extremely adaptive qualities, and taps into mankind’s innate adaptability, promoting change and evolution. As a result, your original ability should have been to help other humans evolve based on the amount and quality of energy you yourself have.”