The Innkeeper

Lex had already heard of Mother Nuwa, but he was not going to admit that. He was pretty sure that Jotun was talking about her anyway, but he'd confirm once the emperor was done speaking.

"She has a name, of course," Jotun explained, "but just knowing her name can put one in danger. Being a human, and knowing her name means that you may have a connection to one of the older families or powers of the human race, and the enemies of humanity have done much to weaken us, so as soon as they discover someone who knows her, they do not hesitate to cut them down.

"It's a matter of the Primary realm, which is the first ever realm to exist in this universe. The history of what happened back then is lost. It is truly, genuinely lost, and not even the Dao Lords know the truth of what happened back then. All we know is that the Mother created all humanoid races in her image.

"By humanoid, I do not mean those alien creatures which have a torse, two arms and two legs. No, I mean very literally and specifically similar to us humans in appearance. The elves call those with such an appearance elvish, the angels call them angelic, the devils call them devilish, so on and so forth. Whatever it is called, it is a fact that all of these races have the same origin.

"At the time of creation, whether it was humans, elves, devils, celestials, fairies, dwarves, or the countless other such races, most of whom have already become extinct, were all created equally. Or at least, that's what I've been told.

"In the beginning, there were thirteen humans, all of them born directly in the Celestial realm, and they were considered the leaders of humanity. To be clear, just because there were thirteen humans born at the beginning, it does not mean all of humanity is descended from them. Remember, once a race has been born once, others of its species can be born anywhere.

"That means that the original thirteen humans were incredibly special, and contained the most potential that anyone from the human race has ever had."

Lex was already familiar with them, as he recalled Z gained the heritage of one of them.

"That is the origin of the human race, and a lot has happened since then. Most who were born together with the humans have gone extinct, their race not even leaving behind a name or memory of what they were like. Some, much like the humans themselves, fell from grace and became weaker as a whole. Others, like the devils and angels, gained strength, while others, much like the Celestial race, attained a position near the peak of the universe, and it has reflected in their race.

"Too much time has passed, and there are too many secrets forgotten by history, but what is true even now is that the Mother had enemies, just as humans and all humanoid races have enemies.

"Our enemies, whosoever they are, have worked tirelessly to eradicate the highest potential of the humans. After all, we were born with the exact same potential as the Celestials. It's just that while they prospered, we waned in strength. The legacy of the original Kings of humanity is all but lost. But just because they were the first, does not mean they were always the best.

"Our Sephore family was actually the first family of humans to touch upon the Celestial realm after being born directly from the universe. It is even said that one of our ancestors once touched upon the threshold of the Dao. Throughout history, our family has given birth to countless geniuses who excelled in their chosen fields. Once, we even had an incredibly powerful bloodline ability, passed down from the ancestor who touched the Dao.

"Unfortunately, as we try to grow stronger, our enemies try to weaken us. Tell me, have you heard of the realm wars?"

"I have heard them mentioned once or twice," Lex said.

"Our Sephore family originally lived in three realms. We were spread out so that if one of the realms were to face danger, the family members in the other realms would survive. But who could have guessed that all three realms were invaded?

"Amidst the chaos of war, the members of the Sephore family died one after another, until someone finally realized that these were not casualties of war. Instead, we were being assassinated.

"With the total destruction of the Sephore family on hand, countless members of our family were sent across the universe to hide and seek refuge so that the bloodline would not extinguish. Moreover, even our fates and karmic connections were severed so that no one could track us.

"We brothers are the only ones who survived in the Origin realm, and we have no idea what is the fate of the others who escaped. What I can tell you is that… the Sephore family was truly fallen, for one day, even the bloodline ability within our very blood vanished. To be able to erase an entire bloodline heritage from across realms… I cannot even imagine what kind of power that would require.

"But even without our bloodline abilities, the Sephore family still has a history of producing geniuses. You yourself are an example of that. You, yourself, represent the potential that the human race possesses, which is why, if you begin to travel the realms, you will face a lot of enemies.

"It's not just the other races who you have to watch out for. It's the minions and underlings of those races as well. You cannot predict who they might be. They may even appear as allies, but if they detect that you are a descendant of the Sephore family, their colors will change quickly, and you will find yourself trapped."

The fact that a Celestial immortal was so seriously discussing this matter forced Lex to take it very seriously as well. For many things, he treated the Midnight Inn as a refuge, but in truth it was akin to a paper tiger. A true threat would reveal the sham that it really was. If that was the case, going to another realm and provoking some race that might treat humanoid races as enemies was a genuine danger. What if they too had a formidable background, and decided to attack the Inn?

Since even the Innkeeper kept the guise of a human, and so did all of its workers, the Inn clearly looked like it was a budding humanoid force. Getting caught in some ancient feud he did not understand did not sound like fun.

Lex was reminded of the ridiculous situation of the fairies. Their entire race was cursed to become targets of slavery and to being misused and forgotten, despite their amazing potential. Were they victims of the same people who sought to destroy the foundations of the human race?

He resisted the urge to sigh. The Sephore family… he had no feelings towards it, positive or negative, but it didn't feel nice knowing that he could be targeted just for being one of them.

Much more importantly, Jotun was of the belief that the original thirteen humans had the most potential among their race, which is why their legacies were being targeted.

It was not bragging for Lex to say that he thought his own potential was also great, which meant that if the enemies of the human race saw him, and detected his potential, then he would be targeted regardless of his family background.

One solution was to, of course, just not go to new realms. Lex also didn't feel any rush to explore new realms, for just the Origin realm was enough for him till reached higher realms. But Lex knew his luck all too well. If he didn't go out, then sooner or later the enemies of humanity would end up coming to the Origin realm as well. The Midnight realm itself was just begging to be visited by such people as well.

Oh, there was also the matter of Cassandra undergoing the tribulation to become a Dao Lord. Her real body was hidden in the Origin realm, and her clone was in the Midnight Inn. If such powerful entities were bent on harming humanity, then they would never miss out on a human becoming a Dao Lord. They would have ways to find out about it.

So their encounter was only a matter of time.

"Just so that I'm clear, the fight against the races is independent of the realm war wreaking havoc throughout the universe?"

"Oh yes, of course. The realm war will finish sooner or later, but the race war has been going on since the very beginning of time. It will not end so soon. Just like we have Celestials who are at the peak of the universe, our enemies too have incredibly powerful forces that govern the state of the universe.

"I'm afraid this conflict will not end until one side loses out entirely. Of course, I am not qualified to comment on the state of the world. Who knows? The Mother might make another move, and bring us back to the peak we started from."

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