Chapter 2494: Preparing for Lex’s Dao tribulation early

Velma was waiting for Z’s return while she completed her other tasks. She’d already been informed that he’d be returning with a group of friends he made during his outing, and had already made the arrangements to cater to any needs they may have.

At the same time, she couldn’t help but shake her head at Lex’s words. ’Outing’? The boy had been kidnapped, enslaved and worked to the bone. Only Lex could make that sound like he was taking a vacation. To be fair, when she compared that to the stories she’d lately been hearing about Lex, about the scene he caused with that unknown tribulation, and only Innkeeper knows what else, it really did seem like a vacation.

She looked at the article which stated that Lex had briefly ’kidnapped’ the attention of all the Dao Lords in the universe from the Dream Arena, she couldn’t help but shake her head. These unreliable news agencies were really leaning into his kidnapping thing.

She was also slightly worried at the fact that news had leaked that Lex was the one who had caused such a scene. She could not imagine what the Innkeeper had been doing allowing that news to leak. She was certain he had a plan, but she still couldn’t help but worry about Lex.

It was at that time that a strangely familiar, yet oddly unfamiliar looking woman walked into Velma’s office and held up a finger to her lips before putting up an isolation formation.

"Sorry about the wait - that was for Lex. His senses are much sharper now than they used to be. Without this formation in place, merely mentioning his name would be enough to alert him that we’re talking about him," Mary said as she dusted her hands once she was done, looking quite pleased with herself.

Then she turned to look at Velma and saw the slight hint of confusion in her eyes, and smirked.

"It’s okay if you don’t recognize me. My appearance and aura aren’t exactly what they used to be," Mary said as she sat down opposite Velma. I’m Mary - as in the Dao Lord that the Innkeeper had performing his chores for him."

Velma was shocked when she made the connection, but before she could react Mary waved her hand.

"Relax, relax, in my current state you don’t need to treat me like a Dao Lord. In fact, it’s better if no one knows about it to be honest. Good thing that monkey isn’t around in the Inn anymore or he definitely would have noticed."

Velma eased up, and many things suddenly made a whole lot of sense to her though she didn’t dare to presume anything about a Dao Lord such as Mary. It was merely an instinctive thought that Mary was injured, which is why she hadn’t interfered when Z was kidnapped.

Though she worked for the Innkeeper, that was merely a front to hide her hidden injury.

"I’ll catch you up on the situation so that you’re in the know. Besides you, only Lex and the Innkeeper are aware of my situation. In short, I’m attempting to do something that has never been done before in history, and the Innkeeper is helping me out. As a result, I have a new body, and a new look - although the appearance will slowly revert back to what it was before."

Yup, Mary intended not to retake her original appearance from when she was a Celestial. Instead, she would retain her appearance as Mary, and even keep that name. What the future held was uncertain, but for now she was content with this new identity of hers.

She did not want to get mired in the politics and responsibilities of the Celestials. Recreating, or rather upgrading, her Dao as she told Lex she wanted to do was something that had never been done before. Whether it could be done or not was something she was entirely uncertain of until Lex told her about what the Primordial Queen had said and done.

Since nothing in this universe was impossible, Mary was going to be the one to improve her Dao!

"I will keep my lips sealed," Velma responded though her eyes burned with excitement as she heard what could be Dao level gossip! She did not, even in the slightest, entertain the possibility that Mary was the Innkeeper’s secret girlfriend. Not at all. No sir, that’s not where her thoughts were going at all!

"Good," said Mary though she never doubted Velma in the slightest. That’s why she came to her to begin with. "Now Lex asked me to help you oversee the return of the Inn employees and a few important guests to the Inn, but I’m sure you have that handled. What I came here for is another reason altogether. You’re going to want to call Moon here as well, for this is a discussion that pertains to Lex."

Velma’s imagination exploded, but she restrained herself and quickly sent someone to bring the Dreamy Mirror to her. Within the mirror, Moon also knew that Z was coming back and was busy fixing her appearance - for no reason in particular - when she was informed that Velma was calling her urgently.

The mirror rose on its own and quickly flew out, wasting no time at all.

Before long, all three women were sitting in the same room, with no one else around, and Lex unable to spy on them.

"Ladies, I have called you all here today because there is a critical matter which we need to discuss and resolve. Normally, I stay out of these things, but after knowing Lex for hundreds of years I have come to the conclusion that he has a mental barrier that he simply is unable to cross."

Mary’s expression suddenly became extremely serious.

"This is no joke. He is now coming closer to the Dao realm barrier, and any kind of mental block, heart demon or mental weakness can become the thing that gets one killed when crossing that tribulation. Preparation for it has to begin thousands of years in advance, without the slightest hint of weakness, which is why we can’t waste any time at all. For the sake of his future, we must help him overcome this mental barrier!"

Velma and Moon both became serious as well, pushing away all other thoughts for this was no joking matter. They both understood how dangerous the Dao tribulation really was, so if they could help ease Lex’s burden by even the slightest, they would give it their all.

"In the hundreds of years I’ve known him, the biggest mental block Lex has that I’ve seen... is his inability to ask a girl out. He simply can’t do it, unless it’s for work, in which case he won’t take it seriously at all. To make sure he doesn’t fail his Dao tribulation far in the future, and to save his very life, we need to get Lex a girlfriend!"