Lex's experience with Demi-Dao Lords was limited. To be more specific, the only Demi-Dao Lord's he'd met were Deities, or to be even more specific, they were the children of Ra, and one of their butlers.

In fact, it was commonly understood that the highest level of cultivation that a Deity could reach was a Demi-Dao Lord. However, that did not mean only Deities could reach this enigmatic realm. Others could as well.

Lex wasn't sure if the Demi-Dao Lord was a stopover realm between Celestial and Dao Lord, but he was sure that even Demi-Dao Lords were incredibly powerful. Their aura alone was enough to kill most, which is why he wasn't sure exactly how strong they were, but to him it didn't matter. After a certain point, it didn't matter how much stronger they were.

Eclipse, who was looking at her obstacle course excitedly, heard Lex's words and blinked. She looked up at Lex, then down at the obstacle course, and

blinked again.

"Oh. I forgot about them," she admitted, suddenly grabbing her chin as she began to think. "I suppose they are too big an obstacle for an immortal. I suppose I'll have them exit the mountain range, don't worry about it."

She clapped her hands and suddenly a miniature black poodle appeared beside her foot wearing glasses and wearing a blouse and a skirt. The poodle had no aura at all, and yet Lex had not even a modicum of doubt that it was infinitely stronger than himself.

"Yes, madam?" the poodle asked, sounding distinctly French for some reason.

"Harriot, be a darling and have the Demi-Dao Lords exit the network for a while," Eclipse told the poodle. "Also, while you're at it, temporarily withdraw the tear of Eternix, and close the portal to the edge of the Void."

Once she recalled what the level of strength an immortal was supposed to actually have, she realized that her obstacle course was just slightly too dangerous for them. It seemed like she would need to adjust a few things in the future.

She turned toward Lex and explained.

"Eternix is one of the oldest living Dao Lords in the universe. That old fellow had some family troubles back in the day I won't go into details, respecting people's privacy is important and cried a lot. I have one of his tears because it balances the various types of energies.

"The edge of the Void is not really the end of the Void - it simply refers to a tear in the Void that leads to an unknown place. No one knows what's inside, but it's really fun to throw things inside the tear and watch them blow up. It's like firecrackers, but for Dao Lords. Between you and me, I once saw another Dao Lord throw in pictures of his ex-girlfriend in there. It was quite hilarious.

"Anyway, those two aren't really dangerous at all, but considering how fragile immortals are, I thought it would be best not to take any risks. Once everything is done, you should be clear to enter."

Lex nodded as he struggled to retain his consciousness. He refused to faint once more, and just barely managed to hold on through sheer force of will.

"Good. Mentally prepare yourself," Eclipse said when she saw the focused expression on Lex's face. "The game will begin soon."

*****

Midnight Inn

Wu Kong had managed to deter many Dao Lords from entering the Midnight Inn, though a few still came and left the Innkeeper their letters. Even then, Wu Kong did not stop causing minor issues. However, now he would have to stop. Sitting opposite to him was Hiran Kokan, the Governor General of the Origin realm, leader of the Henali in that realm, and ally of the Innkeeper. In fact, for the first time, even Mary showed up, though she had avoided the previous Dao Lords.

It wasn't that Hiran Kokan was too strong- no, he wasn't stronger than Wu Kong. It was that he was backed by the Henali, and provoking that race was a little troublesome.

"While it has been a pleasure chatting with you both," Hiran finally said after a couple of hours of lounging, "and it has been a great pleasure making your acquaintance, Lady Mary, I must ultimately get to the purpose of my visit. Due to the eruption of war, the situation has been tense lately and I cannot be far from my post."

"Lord Hiran, your situation is completely understandable," said Mary politely, dressed as a character from Sailor Moon. "Please, speak your mind."

"I had originally hoped to meet the Innkeeper directly, but I understand if he is occupied with other matters," he said as his mind wandered to the origin of the phenomenon he had witnessed recently. "Due to the situation lately, there has been a lot of scrutiny on my movements as well as the movements of my allies. For the sake of convenience, I was wondering if it might be possible for the Innkeeper to host a few Dao Lords in a discreet location. Preferably even outside the Midnight Realm."

Wu Kong smiled, for he could see why one might approach the Innkeeper with such a request. His mastery over karma was only surpassed by his mastery over long distance, seamless teleportation. The Innkeeper left no traces of his work for anyone to find, which was truly incredible.

"I will communicate your request to the Innkeeper," Mary said politely. "On a matter this significant, I cannot speak on his behalf. I assure you, as soon as he responds, you will be given an answer."

"It'll be troublesome if I enter the Inn again," Hiran said. "You can send a message through one of my subordinates. An indirect letter for some other purpose, one that I can peer over by coincidence, will suffice!"

Mary nodded, and Wu Kong simply smiled, concluding that small yet significant meeting. The fact that such a thing had even happened was a clear indicator of how chaotic the situation was becoming.

*****

Primordial Garden, Dao Congress

Thirty six Dao Lords sat in their various seats, four of them sitting in the panel right in the center of the congress. Only one Dao Lord was missing, one who was supposed to sit at the panel, but that was okay. Everyone was already used to the absence of Harriet.

"The meeting has been called into session for one reason, and one reason alone," said one of the Dao Lords on the panel in the center. "There have been changes made to the Primordial Garden by the fusion of the Crystal realm, yes. But more importantly, the mistress has found a new pet to play with. You all know what that means. Everyone needs to be on clean up duty. We cannot have a repeat of the Acorn Realm incident."

Collectively, all thirty six Dao Lords let out an exhausted sigh.

"The mistress is immune to all divination, and we cannot predict her actions or moods. Thus, it's impossible to predict what she may or may not do. We need to minimize the consequences of any games she might want to play..."

"I have a message from Harriet, someone suddenly interrupted. "The mistress is at the obstacle course. While Harriet prepares the course, we have been assigned a mission to select something from the vault and place it at the end of

the course to be the prize."

Everyone in the room suddenly fell into a hush. Were they really going to use a treasure from Eclipse's vault as a prop in a game? It need not be mentioned that

every item in that vault was a Dao grade item.

"We cannot indirectly kill the game participant," another Dao Lord said. "We have no choice but to use the belt as the prop."

The other Dao Lords groaned. The belt. Even touching it was hassle.

"Has someone looked into the background of the immortal? Are we sure it's not

a reincarnation of her ex-boyfriend again? How many times has he pulled that trick already?" another Dao Lord asked.

"Yes, yes, we've looked. While he is protected by some power, we were able to gather that he works for another, neutral Dao Lord called Innkeeper. It is

unlikely it's the ex."

"Good, so just make sure that he's not secretly a member of any major cult and

we'll be fine on that front."

The congress continued to discuss various possible problems that Eclipse might face, and continued to resolve them before they could even happen. They all seemed incredibly professional, and very experienced. Outside the Primordial Garden, in the rest of the universe, an even larger number of Dao Lords stood at the ready, all waiting for the slightest message

from the garden.

War or no war did not matter to them - all they cared about was making sure their mistress could keep smiling. Everything else was inconsequential. Exactly how many of them there were, no one in the universe knew. This, too, counted as one of the secret, major organizations in the universe.