A sombre atmosphere filled the garden as all the Dao Lords waited for Harriot and others to set up whatever the second activity was. Simply based on how insightful the first activity was, they were all anticipating that the second activity would be even more rewarding. After all, unlike the first one, it came with a relatively steep price.

None of them had heard the conversation between the Innkeeper and Eclipse, since they had conducted it behind a protective barrier. Though neither the Innkeeper nor Eclipse set up that barrier, it had been erected when the two began to talk, and none tried to pry through it.

Now, once those uninterested in participating had left, an even stronger, much more apparent barrier was erected around the group, leveraging the power of the entire Dao Senate within the Primordial Garden.

Even though within that barrier there were nearly a hundred Dao Lords, and the ones creating the barrier were around forty, the absolute strength and aura of the barrier was gravely intimidating.

The system in the tavern made it so that the aura wasn't harmful to any of them, but that did not negate the overwhelming pressure it brought about, letting everyone know just how absurdly powerful it was. The Dao Senate were working together to form a barrier, utilizing their synergy that they had mastered over millions of years, making it so that even thousands of Dao Lords might not be able to break the barrier, let alone those few.

Of course, of the whole group, the Innkeeper was one of the sole few who seemed entirely unbothered by the aura. Something like this couldn't be faked, because the stupendous aura of the barrier made it so that the Dao Lords automatically became tense to react and protect themselves if needed, yet there was not an ounce of tension in the Innkeepers body.

The secret to his casual demeanor was the fact that the aura was so profound and abstract that Lex, as a mere Immortal, could not sense it at all. He would need the senses of a Dao Lord to detect it, which he did not have, so he was totally relaxed.

Besides him, only Eclipse, Ventura and Nullith remained at ease. Even Little Crusty began looking at the barrier warily.

Although something like this could not be equated to the Bone Meadow Crystal, for these few, it was effectively the same. Lex even suspected that once this barrier was completely formed, he wouldn't even be able to return to the Inn if he wished.

Yet, just like the others, he did not try to leave.

Eventually, the barrier was completed after what seemed like an eternity, sealing them all in. For a fraction of a second, even Lex felt a sense of terror deep within his being as if he was cut off not just from the Midnight Inn, but the actual universe itself. In truth, that is exactly what happened.

Jack suddenly lost his connection to Lex, though he was not alarmed because he knew what was happening prior to the connection loss. Similarly, Lex lost his connection to Jack, but also much more.

He felt countless chains suddenly disappear from around him - chains he never knew he carried. The connection to the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum was lifted, allowing Lex to realize just how much of a burden the destiny or fate of the human race was to him. It constantly kept him restricted, as if pulling him down, and his rise was in spite of it!

He had a feeling that if he cultivated now, his cultivation speed would skyrocket to speeds he could never have even imagined!

But that was merely one of the connections. He felt many external influences disappear - influences he could not even identify. All his karma vanished, as if non-existent. Unbeknownst to him, certain forces had cast subtle and difficult to detect curses on Lex after his rise to fame - curses to weaken him or perhaps leech off his fortune and luck. Now, without a target, those curses began to fade.

Lex was, for the first time in his life, entirely cut off from the entire external universe, existing solely within this small spot. If his system were not hidden within his soul, his Host Attire would have failed because of its loss of connection to him.

Many others went through similar experiences, though they were not nearly as surprised as Lex was by this, for they had a much more mature understanding of themselves and the forces affecting them.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, let us begin," said Harriot, walking to the center of the crowd. He summoned a statue of an Eclipseweaver - the very race from which Eclipse belonged, though no one was sure if the face on the statue belonged to Eclipse herself.

Lex marveled at the smooth, grey statue that was merely ten feet (3 meters) tall, and yet had an aura so imposing it seemed giant in front of them. Then again, this could be the effect of the Primordial Garden shrinking the statue down to this size.

For a brief moment, Lex could not help but wonder about this race. Why was it that he had never heard much about them? If the strongest Dao Lord in the universe was an Eclipseweaver, shouldn't the whole race be a Sage race? Yet he was pretty certain that they were not a Sage race, or even an Elder race for that matter. Very peculiar.

"You must all consent to this karma. If any of you use what you learn here today, in this activity, to harm any one present here, or reveal the contents of what you learn here to anyone else, then you must bear the consequential backlash of karma equal to the sum of all karma that will be created in this activity. In case any of you fail to understand what that means, if you use what you're about to learn against anyone here, or leak it, then you better be strong enough to bear the full karmic weight of nearly a hundred Dao Lords - including the Primordial Queen herself - or else your very existence will be wiped from the face of the universe."