Everyone stood in place, unsure of how to react. The two offending Dao Lords had disappeared. The fact that Eclipse would react so strongly surprised no one. In fact, considering her title of butcher, she had been light handed in this matter. What surprised everyone was how angry the Innkeeper had been.

It was just a matter of breaking a few rules. It was entirely natural that the rules that existed for others did not apply to Dao Lords. What if the Inns property was destroyed? They could restore it - even improve what was previously there - with a wave of a hand. So what if some mortals were threatened?

Let alone the fact that they had not died, even if they did, they were the most easily replaceable. Almost no resources were required to get a few worthy mortals. In most of their eyes, none of those should have been enough to anger the Innkeeper. And yet, he had blacklisted them without an opportunity to defend themselves.

The only thing they could think of that would explain this situation was that they had caused the Innkeeper to lose face in front of Eclipse. Alongside the rumors of possible courting between them that had spread amongst them, all the Dao Lords suddenly came to the same conclusion.

Damn, those two Dao Lords had interrupted a date between the Innkeeper and Eclipse!

Well, to be more specific, not all the Dao Lords had thought that. There was one who was occupied with other thoughts.

"I told you," said Voidmaw, nudging Ventura. "She throws a mean fist, and is even meaner if you destroy one of her things. I remember one time, the bed-" Voidmaw disappeared, his body disintegrating to the last atom, leaving behind not even a wisp of his spirit sense. A few seconds later, he reappeared, but all the hair around his face clearly refused to regrow, making the otherwise suave and charismatic bear seem quite comical.

"Dammit Eclipse! Stop cutting me off!" Voidmar roared, but Eclipse only

smirked, feeling pleased at his irritation. Then she gave Ventura a challenging look, as if to see whether he would defend Voidmaw, but Ventura held up his

hands as if giving up.

This mysterious bodyguard that Eclipse had was too enigmatic. He could not sense his or her actions at all, which was incredibly abnormal.

Lex looked back at the destroyed tavern and tried to use the system to fix the damage, but discovered that he could not. The Dao energy had seeped into the wood of the tavern, and the system could not remove it unless Lex sacrificed some Dao materials to the system first.

Now that was not about to happen.

"Dear guests, it seems my hospitality has been lacking, so you will have to make do with only half a tavern," said the Innkeeper, a soft yet apologetic expression appearing on his face. Yet his words did not fool anyone.

It was clear to them all that the incredibly hospitable Innkeeper was incensed, and was leaving the tavern as it was as a form of reminder to them that his hospitality should not be taken advantage of.

The Innkeeper was a master of using soft tactics. From using mortal foods and tools to remind them not to become too comfortable at the garden, to leaving the tavern torn as a warning without saying words, his meaning was always clear to them. They did not consider, even for a moment, that the Innkeeper was incapable of restoring the tavern.

"Innkeeper, please, do not belittle yourself," said Wu Kong, sounding disgruntled. "This lot of degenerates do not even deserve this much."

He was memorising each and every face at the Inn, for he now held a grudge against them all. Wu Kong had spent some time inside the Inn already, and had formed friendships with many of the regular guests and workers. When he saw the looks on these Dao Lords and saw how they all thought that the loss of a few workers was insignificant, he swore an internal oath to rob them all blind! Literally! He was going to rob their eyesight!

"Innkeeper, it is not you whose hospitality has been lacking, but we guests who have been lacking," said Hiran as he bowed lightly towards the Innkeeper. "Please, allow me to make up for the loss inflicted by the guests I invited." Without waiting for the Innkeeper's response, Hiran himself began to wipe the Dao aura covering the tavern, and using his own energy to regrow the tavern in the exact replica of how it used to be. The only difference was that the materials used to regrow it were infinitely better!

Many of the other Dao Lords also began to apologise and then contribute to the reconstruction, hoping to get on the Innkeepers good side.

Eclipse, who had been feeling good about punishing those two delinquents, suddenly felt her mood sour. Why the hell was everyone apologising and making it up to the Innkeeper, and completely ignoring her? Were they both not the hosts here? This was blatant sexism!

Lex, meanwhile, wanted to stop the Dao Lords but couldn't find the words when he saw one of them literally carve out a statue of a giant butter knife right there, in front of the Innkeeper, and placed it in the garden in front of the

tavern.

Another carved the individual rails of the rebuilt railing into the shape of the butter knife, while a third hung up an art work of a brick of butter and a butter

knife approaching it.

Just as Lex was wondering if these Dao Lords were overdoing it, he saw Mary walking around instructing the other Dao Lords on how to rebuild the tavern. She was wearing earrings in the shape of a butter knife, and the heels of her high-heels were... well, butter knives...

Lex suppressed a sigh, and wondered how things had turned out like this. The day had started out so normal.