The Innkeeper

Instead of directly moving on, Lex studied the three dead assassins for a while. Their bodies did not disappear once the test concluded, so Lex had the opportunity to learn something from them, even if just a little.

With his left eye, he studied their bodies, looking for traces of abnormal laws while he used his hands to check their bodies for unusual muscle growth. He also searched for any treasures or items which may have had special effects. The fact that these assassins had been able to hide from him was not ordinary, especially since they were in the same realm as him.

To compare, the devils who had attacked him back when he was absorbing divine energy from Ra were at the peak of the Nascent realm, but none of their techniques worked on him. Whether they tried to curse him, physically attack him, use techniques, or anything else. They firmly remained under the supervision of his senses as well as his instincts, so he knew at all times that none of their attacks would work.

In comparison, these assassins could not hurt him either, but did manage to avoid detection. There was a better way of finding out the answer, which was to ask Mateo. Lex planned on doing that as well. But he wanted to conduct his own investigation first and then compare his conclusion with the answer.

They had nothing on their person save some weapons, but studying their bodies did reveal something. Their skin had undergone some kind of treatment. That did not directly make it easier for them to stay hidden, but Lex suspected that this treatment perhaps amplified the effects of some technique.

The corpse-assassin had undergone a similar, yet different, treatment. It was probably one which allowed him to use a technique that made him appear dead.

Once he had learned everything he could, he finally moved on. No longer dwelling on the differences in the deeper parts of the temple, Lex asked Mateo how the assassins could stay hidden so well.

"Everything in the temple is to the standard of the temple. Those assassins were designed to mimic real assassins from one of the best of such organizations at the time. Your instincts are prophetic in nature. That means they use a combination of your enhanced senses as well as some influence from the laws of fate, destiny, probability and many more as such.

"So then confusing them is simple. The target need only hide from those laws, or better yet, manipulate those laws so you sense nothing instead of them. These assassins in particular were trained and cultivated in such a manner that their bodies were ignored by those laws on a lower level.

"As a result, this test was conducted as if someone really wanted to assassinate you, and had studied your abilities and attacked accordingly. The fact that the assassins were limited to your own level was a limit of the test, but if you had faced the same test at a higher level, not only would the assassins have been prepared specifically to counter your abilities, but their cultivation level would have been different as well."

"I thought low level cultivators couldn't use laws," Lex commented, slightly bitter that his deduction had been off. But at the same time, it was interesting to see how his exposure affected his world view. If he increased his knowledge substantially, something he suspected the temple could help with, there would be fewer chances for him to be caught unaware.

"They don't. The assassins themselves don't interact with laws at all. It is just that they have been trained, and then cultivated in such a way that their bodies mimic the effects of a physique. They have false or fake physiques, or that's how you can understand it. Basically, someone much stronger than them is responsible for giving them this ability, but they are harvesting its benefits."

Lex contemplated on this while he was led to the next test. Feeling no need to rest, Lex entered immediately and found himself standing on a small fishing boat. The waters around him extended endlessly until they met the horizon, which could only be seen for mere moments amidst the storm.

Heavy rain pelted him and his boat, while lightning and thunder rocked the skies. Large tumultuous waves threatened to capsize the tiny boat and swallow Lex into the dark waters underneath.

Although Lex did not suffer from thalassophobia, he was not exactly keen on entering the water. He immediately erected shields around his tiny boat, and then formed space barriers around it as well.

Lex had reduced his reliance on arrays as of late, but that did not mean he had forgotten that he had it in his arsenal. Without waiting for some deep sea creature to attack him, as he suspected might happen in this test, he used a stronger, more refined version of his lightning tribulation array.

The clouds and lightning above only fed into his array's power, increasing the potency of his attack. Like the hammer of judgment, a thick bolt of lightning slammed into the tumultuous waters.

For the briefest of moments, the darkness below was illuminated and Lex's pupils shrunk. It was not one deep sea creature underneath, but a whole host of them.

They were coming from the depths, and approached his tiny boat while encircling him. The nearest one was already almost upon him. The lightning strike had momentarily stunned it, but it was not enough to stop it.

As daunting and horrific as the situation seemed, Lex was not deterred. Between him and the deep-sea creatures, it was yet to be determined which one was the monster.

Standing upon the boat that seemed completely unaffected by the waves, Lex began conjuring dozens of arrays.

Lightning struck the water, and the waves reached out to the heavens in defiance. Instead of a test, this seemed more like a battle between myths from Earth, Zeus and Posiden. In between was Lex, his boat an undisturbed bastion in the endless chaos.