Ventura already recognized Nuwa's aura long before she appeared, though her presence took him by surprise. Although the two of them had not met, Ventura was more than confident in his own powers. Yet a mere clone of Nuwa's exuded a power far greater than he expected.

Eclipse, on the other hand, slowly allowed her casual smile to fade as she looked upon the clone and felt its presence trying to suppress her. It wouldn't, obviously. No matter what, the Primordial Garden was Eclipse's Seat of Power, and no clone, Nuwa's or anyone else's, could subdue her in her own domain. She had to acknowledge, though, that compared to Ventura, who liked to play things lowkey, Nuwa had a lot more presence.

Compared to the two, Lex was the most surprised, though he kept his emotions thoroughly suppressed, maintaining a casual smile. He had no idea who this lady was, but clearly she came out of his body! Had she been residing in his body this whole time? Had she been protecting him in the dark, or was something else going on? More importantly, could a cloud clone drink lemonade?

"It is good that you know your place, Ventura," Nuwa said in a domineering tone once her clone had properly taken form. "It would be best if you did not interfere in my matters. In fact, the reason I arrived here to begin with was to inform you both not to probe too deeply into matters that should be left alone."

It was clear that she was referring not only to Ventura's questioning of how the Innkeeper had avoided detection from the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum, but also the nephilim matter regarding Lex.

She spoke with an authority that could not be questioned, and with power that could not be denied. Were she talking to anyone else, no one would have questioned her, yet she was speaking to two of the few entities that did not exactly fear her.

"There is no one who tells me what to and what not to do," declared Eclipse, looking at Nuwa challengingly, not backing away in the slightest.

"Not to be rude, but why must we immediately delve into such serious topics?" Ventura asked, though he spoke with a bit more tact than Eclipse. "I have long wished for the opportunity to meet with you, Lady Nuwa. Why waste this opportunity on unnecessary squabbles? I believe we both can benefit from a congenial conversation."

Nuwa was not surprised by the resistance she faced by those two. In fact, she had already expected it, which is why she started so strongly.

"A butcher and a fraud - do I need to be congenial with you? I am only here to warn you-"

"Excuse me," said the Innkeeper, stepping between the confrontation between three of the strongest beings in the universe without the faintest bit of hesitation, or a drop in his warm smile. "Before you all plunge the universe into a brand new war, would you like some lemonade?"

The three, Eclipse, Ventura and Nuwa, all stared at Innkeeper with varying levels of shock, and then turned their gaze towards the tray he was holding with four new mugs of lemonade. Clearly, he was offering a drink to Nuwa first, though whether it was because she had just arrived, or because she was clearly from the same camp as him was uncertain.

Eclipse suddenly started laughing out loud as she grabbed a mug before Nuwa had a chance to do so.

"With a father like you, no wonder Lex is the way he is. You know, in my entire life, he is the only immortal to casually chat with me or ask me questions after learning who I was?" she proclaimed, all the seriousness about her vanishing. Ventura, too, looked at the Innkeeper with interest, as he wondered what gave him the confidence to stand between them.

Nuwa, though, did not wonder. She looked at the Innkeeper, and in the next moment Lex found himself standing in a white room, as himself rather than the Innkeeper, facing Nuwa.

Lex was both surprised, and not so surprised at the development. After all, he was dealing with an entity far beyond the realms of his understanding

He could feel that his real body had not been teleported elsewhere. Instead, he was inside some kind of illusion with his perception of time artificially enhanced drastically.

"Don't you have any sense of self preservation?" Nuwa suddenly admonished, getting right into the thick of things. "Do you realize the trouble I'm going through to ensure your safety? Instead of appreciating it, you're cracking jokes and stepping right back into the spotlight."

Lex blinked. He was getting yelled at by a being of unimaginable power, and yet, he felt not even an iota of danger or ill will. If anything, he felt like he was getting nagged by his mother, and couldn't help but feel warm.

Of course, all of that could be artificial. Who even knew if his thoughts and emotions were his own when faced with such a being? Since he couldn't do anything about it, there was no point in worrying about it either.

"I assume that you can see the details of my life," Lex said, not bothering to ask why she was protecting him. "From the moment I became the Innkeeper, I have been dealing with guests who can kill me. A Golden Core cultivator could kill me back when I was a mortal just as easily as any random Dao Lord can kill me

now.

"Death from a mortal is pretty much the same as death from someone stronger. I'm used to dealing with such things. On the contrary, treating the danger like nothing, and facing it head on has allowed me to live a lot longer than I would have otherwise."

Nuwa did not seem pleased with Lex's response, as was clear from her very obvious scowl.

"Truly, the arrogance of a dragon and the pride of a phoenix. Treating death like nothing, facing it head on, and surviving for so long... has truly made you stupid," she said as she grabbed her brow, trying to suppress her headache.