Lex did not kill the attackers - he was not a mindless, brutal savage. No, he merely left them with some minor mental and psychological trauma that may haunt them for the rest of their lives and may possibly devolve into a Heart Demon. Or not. Who was to say? Maybe with the help of a decent therapist, they could overcome their trauma.

What truly mattered was that they wouldn’t be attacking Brenda and Pierre anymore, and also that the rumors about him would continue to spread. Acting without the slightest bit of restraint, since he had no fear of leading trouble back to the Inn, allowed Lex to truly appreciate just how incredibly powerful immortals really were.

Most of the time, even if had tremendous power, he wasn’t really doing anything that a mortal wouldn’t do. Making use of his spirit sense also counted since it could be gotten in the mortal realms! That was also why such a huge part of his repertoire was to rely on his physical strength - because he still thought like a mortal human.

It was a result of spending a majority of his time restrained. Sure, from time to time he would do incredible things, which is why he had slowly started to acclimate to his identity as an immortal. But internally, he still thought of himself as the same old Lex.

When he started cultivating, he was told that most cultivators start to develop something akin to a God complex, seeing themselves as superior to others of the same race who were weaker than them. Well, that never happened to Lex, to the point where he was actually fighting and occasionally beating up some minor Deities, he still just thought of himself as a stronger human, that’s all.

Now, though, he was morphing the dreams to his will, devouring nightmares and hostile dreams alike, and using terror as a means to spread his karma far and wide as quickly as possible to increase his reach. He was doing so for extended periods of time, to the point where he spent more time in the form of traveling karma than in his human form, which was disguised as a devil.

While he consciously obviously already knew that he was a cultivator, and an exceptional one at that, it was the continuous absurdity of what he was doing that started to somewhat evolve how he perceived himself.

After all, although he was doing it because he was in a rush to save his workers and guests, the fact that he alone could cause so much chaos within the Dream realm allowed him to gain a new perspective about himself in relation to the rest of the universe.

At the same time, it also encouraged him to use his powers in even more imaginative ways. Only like that could he continue to evolve his thought process, and come up with more ideas.

Lex never rested, he never stopped, he never even slowed down. He was an unrelenting force of absolute dedication, but the one thing he wasn’t was invincible and untouchable.

The farther his rumors spread, the more his plan unfolded. While most could not see, or even detect anything, there was no shortage of powerful beings in the universe. While not all of them may have as in depth a command over karma as Lex did, some understanding of Tether itself allowed them to see hints of what he was doing.

More and more beings caught onto the fact that the spread of the rumor was not organic. No, it was spreading like an unstoppable plague only because there was someone fueling that spread. Most ignored it, only taking note of it to avoid unnecessary trouble. But most did not mean all.

A week into his search, Lex had already found and delivered his compass to several workers when he felt something unexpected. Someone was targeting him through his karma, even without knowing who it was targeting!

They didn’t need to know the identity of who the devil really was. Knowing that they were likely targeting the devil himself was enough.

Lex could resist the attack, or avoid it if he wished. But since this was the first time he was being targeted like this, Lex decided to go investigate. Switching to his karmic form, Lex disappeared as he traveled towards the one targeting him.

Mere seconds passed in the Dream realm before the devil reappeared... and found himself in a surprisingly luxurious lounge. Soft music was playing in the background, while the spiritual energy in the air carried a comfortable, soothing sensation, relaxing him. The room smelled pleasant, but the smell was subtle, and easy to dismiss.

Besides him, there were dozens of others in the room, all extremely well dressed, all powerful, and almost all not really caring about his sudden arrival. A number of flying waiters were serving drinks and taking orders.

Lex looked around, and then turned to the one sitting right opposite to him. Lex immediately recognised that the one sitting opposite to him was a Havi. Havi were members of the Elder, were similar to birds, and were excellent hunters. As far as Lex knew, Havi also had a unique method of growing stronger, and didn’t follow traditional cultivation, which made them difficult to deal with.

He wasn’t quite sure of the details because there were so many that Lex assumed most of them were rumor and hearsay.

Still, Lex was not intimidated by a mere Elder race, though this particular Havi did have a threatening aura about him - far stronger than the instructor who had fought him at the temple.

"The famous Red Moon Devil, we meet at last," the Havi said, her feminine tone revealing that she was female. "When I heard the rumors, I knew immediately that a new name would soon appear on the Celestial Apex list. I never expected that the legendary devil... wasn’t even a Celestial to begin with. How interesting."

Lex looked at her, and then around the room once more. This was a dream, he could tell that much. But it was much more stable than any dream he’d seen so far. What was going on?

"What’s the Celestial Apex list?" he asked, changing his voice somewhat.