At the moment, Lex had 3 active timed quests. The first was to accept a Heavens Puppet as a guest, and he had no idea how to do that so it was on the back burner, even if it came with a permanent Butter Knife Upgrade. Truthfully speaking, at the rate of progress that the Butter Knife was making, he himself was stronger than the Butter Knife.

He would, instead, much rather prefer a one time strike at full power to a permanent upgrade.

But he hadn't given up on it totally - he was using Obsidian to try and find a way to complete the quest. His main priority, however, were the next two quests.

He needed to create a network of 10 taverns in six months, and he also needed to host a tea party for Dao Lords within a year. The problem with these two quests were that there wasn't enough time for him to make so many taverns on his own, and that the time frame for the second quest could drastically reduce at any moment depending on how the situation developed universally.

Considering that Jack himself was stuck in a Major realm where there was a war ongoing, Lex was fairly up to date with the situation, at least with that realm. War was chaotic so it wasn't as if that allowed him to predict how things would go, so he wanted to complete that quest quickly too.

That was why Lex was in a rush, but his current obstacle couldn't be overcome by rushing. The unique environment under the crystal ceiling created an environment with energy scarcity, which was one of the reasons for the elevated worth of Celestial Dew.

Ironically, however, Sin City did not suffer from energy scarcity despite being so packed. Perhaps that was another reason why the city was so popular. While Lex studied the barrier, he understood that the top and bottom of the barrier were connected to the crystal ceiling and obsidian layer down below, both of which contained boundless energy. As such, not only did the barrier have a limitless energy source, it filled the area contained within with energy.

In a way, Sin City became the largest producer of Celestial Dew in this entire region, becoming rich off of their unique circumstances.

Of course, the fact that countless Celestials needed to be trapped here to make it happen was just the price of such dominance.

Putting that aside, Lex was in a rush to understand the barrier so that he could escape - his time was short. That did not mean he rushed his study of the barrier itself. No, he was the paragon of patience.

Something as powerful and sophisticated as the barrier deserved his full respect and attention, so he stood there, silently studying the barrier in great detail. All the various Primordials attacking the barrier, or stimulating the barrier in various ways actually helped Lex increase his understanding of it even more.

In fact, Lex entered his state of Flow, and activated all sorts of treasures and abilities to help him increase his comprehension as much as possible.

For some odd reason, since he had begun studying this barrier, there had been a subtle change in Lex's Karma. He felt that there had been some change in his comprehension regarding defense, and Lex couldn't understand what or why that was. It had been too long since he gave up on Regal Embrace, and even when he cultivated it, it was during the lower, more basic levels. Ultimately, its influence on Lex was limited.

Even so, Lex did not want to give up the foundation it had built for him. He did not want to forsake the status of having the best defense in his level, which was another reason he was taking so much time to understand this barrier.

As for what exactly the change was that he had detected, Lex would take his time to probe and understand that with time. Since the status of having the strongest defense was something Lex had set out to attain, even without Regal Embrace, he would attain it.

He did not need an easy path or a convenient cultivation technique. Since he had decided to achieve it, that is all that mattered. Perhaps, Lex's casual and carefree attitude on a day to day basis did not make it seem like he was serious when he set out to attain Supremacy... but deep down, it was something he had already set his mind to.

Mary told him that all systems would manifest differently, and how they appeared or what form they took depended on the host. The fact that the system bonded with him wanted to be the best Inn in the whole universe... was likely not a mistake. On a day to day, Lex was carefree, didn't look down on others, and liked to live freely. He liked to see people enjoying themselves, and he liked even more to give them a place where they could enjoy themselves. The fact, then, that the place he wanted to provide for his guests to enjoy should be the best in the whole universe was a deep-seated arrogance, an aspect of his personality so hidden that only recently had he started to unveil it.

As Lex deepened his understanding of the barrier, and reaffirmed his conviction to Supremacy, he fell into a state of enlightenment. He was not just getting a better understanding of the barrier, and of himself, but his entire understanding of the limits of defense was undergoing an upgrade.

It was as if, even though he himself had not yet consciously understood that Regal Embrace had returned to the universe, deep down, his subconscious had understood it. As such, it was openly stating its challenge out into the universe.

The Regal Embrace was a cultivation technique that could allow its user to survive the destruction of the universe, but whether it could allow its user to survive Lex was another matter altogether.

In his state of enlightenment, Lex took a step forward, his Domination slowly spreading out. No longer was it merely radiating the aura of a dragon. No, now it was fused with a hint of the aura of the Primordial, as well as the aura of a Nephilim candidate. Perhaps if Lex's Dao Body would have been stronger, it would have even radiated the aura of Dao. For now, though, these few aspects were enough.

The barrier around Sin City, which had remained steady and unmoving since its creation, rippled in response to Lex's step, causing everyone to freeze. No one understood what had happened. No one had made a connection to Lex just yet. However, several sirens began to blare across the city, alerting everyone that a change had taken place. Lex did not care - his gaze was distant, not even looking at the barrier, but at laws that seemed far away.

The barrier which everyone had been locked in for so long... did not even seem like a good barrier to Lex. He could see so many easy loopholes to take advantage of. It was just that the barrier itself was so incredibly powerful, that for anyone to take advantage of those loopholes, they too needed to be unbelievably strong. Or incredibly clever.

In Lex's eyes, this barrier was something that had been randomly slapped together for a last minute project, which was incredibly close to the truth.

Still, even with all these loopholes, the barrier was not something Lex could casually overcome. He himself lacked the strength to trigger any of the loopholes. He had a treasure on him, however, that was extremely versatile and could do the trick.

Lex took another step, and the barrier trembled again. Even so, no one noticed the connection between Lex and the barrier just yet.

Lex took out the Karmic bead, and allowed it to fuse with his own karma, tracing it to a very specific being outside the barrier. It was not so simple - the barrier seemed to even block the strings of karma from exiting. So, Lex took out his Tyrant's Mask and put it on.

With Divine energy flowing through the karmic string, a miracle happened. The barrier simply... forgot to block the string, allowing it to leave and connect with

Lex's target.

Ordinarily, just divine energy would not be enough to cross the barrier. It was the immense power contained within the karmic string, which could leverage all the karma Lex had accumulated in his entire life, which allowed the string to pass.

Somewhere in the canyon, the Ghost of Woe, who was nursing his burns, felt an incoming danger. Before he could respond, however, the Ghost of Woe swapped places with Lex.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, as his gaze fell upon the massive barrier of the City of Sin.

Etched upon the otherwise invisible barrier were a few words.

"I shall return in a million years to ask the mayor what progress my betters have made," Lex.