Hiran Kokan was inside his own palace, sitting beside a rather prestigious group, even among Dao Lords. Although there were a couple of additional, unexpected guests, he had enough spare invitations to accommodate them. He was absolutely certain that the Innkeeper would not mind their attendance at all. If anything, he may even be pleased with the guest list that he had prepared. In fact, when he turned to look at the guest accompanying the Dragon Lord, he was especially excited about the upcoming tea party. Even he had never had the opportunity to meet with a-

"Huh?" uttered Hiran when his surroundings suddenly changed. One moment he was in his palace, inside the Origin realm. Next, he was in an unfamiliar room. Not to mention this realm...

"Hiran," a voice spoke from the shadow, startling the Governor.

"Yes, my Emperor?" he asked as he kneeled on the ground, turning his gaze downwards. Of course, who else but the supreme ruler of the Henali empire could transport him across realms in an instant without alerting him at all? "The plan for the tea party has changed. Send the envoy back. Instead..." Hiran listened, suppressing his genuine surprise at the instructions he was being given. He would have never anticipated what was happening.

*****

The Innkeeper leaned a little to the right, and saw a thin, blurred figure walk behind Eclipse, hidden from view by her body. It wasn't even slightly alarming or confusing that Lex could not sense either of them through his system. It only made sense.

"My apologies, I didn't see you there. Let me have someone bring you a drink," said the Innkeeper as he raised his hand - a clear indication for the staff that was watching his every move. The very next moment, a waiter emerged from the tavern with a tray full of lemonade mugs and brought it to the unknown figure.

"How... interesting. I genuinely do not think I've ever had such a drink," the figure said as he looked down at the mug, and then picked it up.

"Don't change the topic, you can't hide it from me," said Eclipse as she switched out her mug for one with more lemonade. "Even if my powers are sealed, I have a very good sense for anyone I see. Not only can I tell you share an extremely strong bloodline connection to Lex, I can also tell that I've met you before at some point. While that leaves your real identity still up in the air, I can at least confirm that you must be Lex's father. I mean, unless you're his brother, or his son. Now that would be a twist I never saw coming."

Eclipse smirked smugly, feeling good about detecting one of the Innkeeper's secrets in their first meeting.

Meanwhile, Lex suppressed any emotional fluctuations he might have from hearing her words. After all, if she could see through the defenses of the Host Attire at a glance, determining not only his bloodline, but the fact that she had met him before, then the chances of his identity being revealed were fairly high.

Even if Eclipse herself did not see through his disguise, the chances were high that one of the other guests might be able to. After all, Eclipse had said that she would invite three guests of her own. Lex seriously doubted that anyone she invited would be weak.

"How curious. A human Dao Lord. I could have sworn they were all dead. How did you manage to hide from the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrums detection?" the blurry figure asked.

Lex was just thinking of how he should respond to this question when Eclipse slapped the back of the blurry figure's head.

"Did your mother never teach you any manners? You have to introduce yourself first before you begin asking questions. Innkeeper, Lex may have mentioned to you that I plan on inviting a couple of friends and one enemy. This is the one enemy I have temporarily decided to spare. You may call him Ventura."

Lex had no emotional reaction to that news whatsoever. He most certainly did not curse like a sailor internally, because the beings in front of him may be able to sense such a thing. So this was Ventura... the being that was possibly above the Dao Lord realm!

"Eclipse, you are too harsh," Ventura said with a jovial tone, as if he did not mind being slapped at all. "The Innkeeper and I are old acquaintances. We encountered one another once in the Crystal realm. Of course, that was merely a passing encounter, and cannot compare to a proper meeting."

The Innkeeper smiled softly, as if he was not at all bothered by the company he was in. In fact, his at ease demeanor and casual aura was quite infectious. "True, a casual encounter really cannot equate to a proper meeting. I have heard a great deal about you both, and it is an honor to finally meet you," the Innkeeper said with a gentle nod as he sipped on his lemonade. "Unfortunately, I have to disappoint you by informing you that I am not Lex's father, so I never really needed to hide from the Spectrum either."

Eclipse frowned, and then snorted. What a spoiled sport. He should just admit when he was caught - it wasn't like she would randomly reveal his secret in front of an unaffiliated immortal or anything.

Ventura, meanwhile, did not seem bothered by his words. Instead, he just focused his gaze slightly. There was a layer of protection on his suit, and it was decent at keeping his secrets, but it couldn't serve as an obstacle to him at all. Yet as soon as he saw through the suit, he was surprised by what he saw

underneath.

Instead of the Innkeeper's identity, he saw what he believed was the reason the Innkeeper could hide from the spectrum. He saw another barrier around the Innkeeper keeping his identity a secret, and this one carried an aura he knew decently well.

Somewhere else in the universe, Nuwa sighed heavily.

"I went two ages without anyone detecting I'm alive, yet all it takes is helping one human and in less than a century the secret is revealed," she said as she dusted her shirt and stood up.

"You were prepared to have yourself revealed when you protected the human. All your plans are set, so all that's left is to put things into motion," said another,

male voice.

"Yeah, well, just because I was ready didn't mean I'm okay with it. Humans. I

swear, they're so talented at causing trouble."

She said no more as she controlled her energy that she had placed around Lex.