The Innkeeper

Chapter 1457  Depths of the ocean

No. Bedford knew that technically it was theoretically possible, but he found it inconceivable that the human in front of him had no ulterior motive save to learn a little about Dao Hearts and how to enter the Dao Lord realm.

This information, while rare, would be available to him once he entered the Celestial realm anyway. He saw no reason why he would need that information beforehand. Bedford was confident enough to say that he was the only one to have developed a Dao Heart before becoming a Celestial Immortal for billions of years, and it would likely be billions more before the feat could be replicated, if it could ever be replicated at all.

Norms existed for a reason, and just wanting to go against them was not enough to actually make it happen. That was common sense, and anyone who could become an immortal should at least know that much. As such, he refused to believe that Lex had no other interests in mind.

To be clear, he had no problem with the human having ulterior motives, but being unable to detect them was a separate issue entirely. As such, he decided to try something else. He would employ a much more direct and powerful technique to ascertain his intentions.

"Even if I wanted to, I can give you no clear guidance on how to develop your Dao Heart. This is not the same as tempering your mind to endure a Heart Demon, or a mind tribulation, or something along those lines. The most direct and easy way is to raise your cultivation up until the Celestial realm. Beyond that, just live your life and put yourself through as many new and unique situations as you can.

"In what the Dao Heart is, I can guide you even less. You need it to even qualify to understand your Dao. However, if you really wish for it, I can give you an impression of what it's like. If you want to sense it, you will have to lower your mental guard."

"I would be extremely grateful if you could," Lex said, lowering his mental guard. The mental guard was the innate guard cultivators had to resist and detect illusions and deceit, as well as avoid being influenced mentally by other external factors.

For anyone else, lowering it would be a massive display of trust, for it could basically allow someone else to implant various aberrant thoughts or ideas in one's mind. For anyone to do that to Lex, even a Celestial Immortal, would be far more difficult due to the unique nature of his being.

His mental defense was as tough as his physical one. Just as he allowed attacks to land onto his body without concern, he could tolerate mental attacks as well. For anyone to overcome his mental defenses would take some effort, and that would give him enough time to raise his guard. He was confident, even in the face of a Celestial immortal.

Of course, his true confidence came from the fact that he had the Innkeepers business card in his pocket, which had the aura of a Dao Lord. He doubted anyone would mess with him with such a blatant display of his background.

Bedford placed one of his wings on Lex's shoulder, and suddenly Lex felt as if he had been transported to another plane of existence. He no longer sensed space, or even a realm around him, nor did he sense the Void.

Instead, he felt all around him a vast ocean of emotion, yet oddly the emotion seemed tainted… No, tainted was the wrong word. Yet calling it augmented was not right either. Lex's mind could not comprehend what was happening, yet he detected that it was the soul that was causing the strange state.

There was a depth to the ocean of soul-fused emotion that Lex could not comprehend, and within that depth lay something…

Lex's body immediately leaped backwards as an overwhelming fear gripped his entire being. For the first time in a long time, he was covered from head to toe in sweat, caused by immense fear!

It was not that Lex was not brave, or that he encountered something that overwhelmed him. No, it was the natural, uncontrollable reaction of a living being that almost came face to face with an entity far greater than them! Let alone Lex, whether it was a Dragon, a Celestial, a Dao Lord or anyone else, faced with the enormity of Time, they were all unworthy of even being compared.

It was not from the depths of that ocean that Lex had sensed the aura of Time, but from his forehead. The memories he had locked away when he was participating in the Champions tourney, somehow related to Time, even granting him an affinity for time, were almost unlocked.

Something in that ocean Lex had sensed resonated with those locked memories, almost causing them to unseal. Yet from that brief moment of weakness, Lex sensed an overwhelming aura of Time that would likely have erased his very existence!

"Yes, that is the kind of reaction anyone unprepared to face the enormity of the Dao Heart," Bedford said calmly, though internally he was distraught. Lex seemed utterly uninterested in not only him, but the Artica realm as well! At most, Bedford sensed a faint interest to have someone go from the Nascent realm to the Earth Immortal realm using the laws of the Artica realm.

That was actually not such a big deal, and was actually a part of a business model the Artica race was building to increase their cooperation with other forces throughout the universe. Only the transcendence from Celestial to Dao Lord was forbidden for outsiders.

Lex did not speak, letting the misunderstanding stay. In truth, though the ocean confused him, Lex sensed no threat from it. Instead, he had reacted to the aura of Time sealed within his own thoughts, which Bedford had been unable to sense apparently.

Lex pondered Bedfords words for a moment. A normal person should have been greatly overwhelmed by the aura of a Dao Heart, or whatever it contained, yet Lex was entirely unbothered.