The Innkeeper

Chapter 2307: More time

Lex really hadn’t expected that at all. The last time they opened the Guest House, it was merely to take advantage of a hidden Spirit node. It wasn’t like he was addicted to opening and running an Inn.

This time, however, the reasoning was more complex. First, it was because even Pearl could see that Karev was at the end of his mental rope, and he needed to rest and recuperate. He also needed to have some normal interactions lest he develop a Heart Demon.

Second, it was because no one would expect Karev to hide in plain sight. With his existing skills, supplemented by techniques Pearl could get from Cliff, hiding Karev’s identity should not be a problem at all.

On a deeper level, however, they knew that whether Karev was exposed or not did not matter. Those pursuing them would not be careful about who they harmed, or the Oolin would not have been targeted. So, the existence of the Guest House was also a trap!

That was the hidden purpose of the Guest House! Karev had not been the only one hunted down. Pearl and River had long been targeted, and they had noticed it. Someone had been putting pressure on them from the dark, using them as bait to bring out Karev.

Although they seemed to have escaped the influence of the invisible figure for now, it was only a matter of time before they were found again. Eventually, once the tactic failed, they would try something more drastic.

That is when the Guest House would reveal its true purpose! As a genius and well trained formation expert, the extent of what Pearl could do could no longer be judged so straightforwardly. A noble race or a vassal, they would all be the same when they step into her domain.

Thus, what followed were simple, peaceful days. Considering the bubbling hate in Pearl’s heart, that was the opposite of what he had expected.

The built the Guest House within the territory of a Beast that had excellent relations with the alliance. They pretended to be at the Golden Core, with only Pearl at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and welcomed guests from all races.

Much more experienced than they used to be, the size of their Guest House was much greater since they were better able to handle a bigger business. They hired other workers and helpers, better enabling Karev to hide among them.

At the same time, River resumed his habit of cataloging rumors, and even started a secret business of selling information from the Guest House, making it somewhat famous. They used their income to help themselves buy materials to either help Pearl improve the formations in and around the Guest House, or to fulfil quests.

They didn’t make any other suspicious moves. In fact, they tried to remain hidden. That was the only way to make their disguise more believable. Anyone who discovered them would only assume that Pearl and River were biding their time, using the Guest House to acquire money to cultivate. After all, cultivation was not easy - especially for vassal races - and could not be done without sufficient resources.

Like this, another two years passed by. During this time, Karev and Pearl spent a lot of time together, and slowly their relationship became more and more like a grandfather and granddaughter.

It was not a matter of age, or their respective powers, or even their actual relationship. It was simply a natural result of two, deeply wounded people who understood one another, taking care of each other.

As their relationship developed, Karev began to offer Pearl certain insights into his own way of thinking. She was an adult now, so he did not directly offer her any advice, or try to change her perspectives. He simply exposed her to his own thought process.

He had enemies, and a desire for vengeance and retribution. Yet he never let those motivations affect his heart, or warp his personality. After all, doing so would not harm his enemies in any way, but it would basically kill the person that he was originally.

While saying as much was a little dramatic, Karev was unwilling to compromise on who he was or the things that he valued for something as meager as power.

Pearl did not understand his words, and even thought they were absurd. The absence of power was one of the greatest sources of trouble in life - she had experienced as much herself.

Lex, on the contrary, looked at Karev seriously for the first time. A man who valued his principals greater than anything else was rare. It was even rarer for them to survive in the cultivation world, because sooner or later their principals would force them into a situation where they faced death.

However, such people were also worthy of befriending. If they could survive long enough, these were the kinds of people who left behind legends.

Whether his words had any effect on her or not, Lex could not say for certain. However, the change of pace certainly helped calm her down.

It was during this time that one of the conspiracies Lex had spotted in the early days of the Land of a Hundred Rivers started to show some effect.

It was a random day, with guests coming and going as usual, when River spotted an oddly familiar carriage. At first, he could not figure out why this one felt familiar as compared to so many others that went by. It was only when it came closer, and he spotted the words under the logo on the side, that he was startled.

"Reddings Logistics?" he muttered, surprised to find it here.

As it happened, the day was coming to a close, and the driver of the carriage stopped at their Inn. A familiar face emerged from within the carriage, and looked at the title of the Inn with confusion. It seemed that the name was one he recognised, but hadn’t expected to see here.

"Albert?" River called out as he stepped out of the Guest House and looked at the man. "Albert Reddings? Is that really you?"

River and Albert had met only once, when they struck their deal and made connections back in the early days of the Guest House. Years had since passed, and both of them had been through a lot since then.

"River? Is that... really you?" Albert asked, shocked to see the once frail, weak man now radiating a powerful aura.

Neither of the two expected to see a familiar face here in the middle of nowhere. Yet now that they had met, of course they had to catch up on old times. Old friends were hard to find, so old acquaintances would have to do.

Pearl, naturally, automatically began to suspect that Albert was up to no good. This was too much of a coincidence. Yet he came, he reminisced, even formed a deal with them regarding supplies, and then he went. He did nothing unusual, nor did they encounter any misfortune after his departure.

For all intents and purposes, it seemed like that really was just a chance encounter.

More years passed, and only two years were left until Lex’s deadline. This time, they did not seem like they were going to reach it, especially since River was still stuck in the Golden Core realm.

Thus, Pearl asked Cliff if it was possible to get an extension. Of course, if they needed to fulfil certain requirements for that extension, they were willing to do it.

Cliff spent some time thinking about his plan. Currently, he required two things. He needed time to complete the changes to the necklace, and he needed resources.

The Upper Battlefield was not a good place for resources, since they were generally low leveled, but it was a great place for time. However, getting his hands on the Winding Road Vine granted him a very valuable resource that he could still work with for a while longer. But alone, it wasn’t worth it. He needed supplementary resources.

He began calculating whether he could find anything of use in this place, and found quite a few options simply because of the number of legacies left behind.

"Fine. I can add an option for additional time in the list of things you can redeem from your points. However, it won’t be cheap, and each instance of additional time will require certain valuable items that you’ll need to go get. I can provide you with the location of those items, but they won’t be close."

Seeing that Cliff was willing to accommodate their request, Pearl felt much better. However, she knew this was only a temporary solution. They needed to increase their cultivation efforts. It was just that reaching the immortal realm in only a couple of decades of becoming a Golden Core seemed impossible.

She could not help but turn her attention towards the ring on her finger. Apparently, even her grandfather knew nothing about it, and hadn’t been able to withdraw any items from it. He had left it behind because it attracted too much attention, but wasn’t worth it. Selling it would cause him even more problems since people might assume he’d kept even better treasures for himself.

Leaving it behind for his family to figure out was the only solution he could come up with.

If they could only figure out how to get it to work, everything would change for them.

"What’s the origin of the ring to begin with?" Pearl asked one day.