'Wow! How long did it take to build such a thriving city so far under the ground? This is such a spectacle.....it feels like a world created from Lord of the Rings or something!'
Crossing the stone wall, she had entered a gigantic cavern, with a number of small and big caves connected to it. At the center of the cavern was a deep chasm. A rocky wide road circled around the cavern, with a broad stone bridge going over the chasm, joining one side of the road to another. Massive rock pillars supported the tall cavern, stout at the base and tip, narrowing down at the center, looking like sturdy trees. The rocky walls of the cavern and the caves had been cut into, forming small and big shelves covering the entire wall, stone ledges for seating purposes, stone tables and counters to showcase their stuff. Stalls spread out throughout the caves, stalls selling all kind of stuffs.
From the heights of the ceiling, sharp and thin pillars of stones hung low, almost touching the heads of the passerby's. At a glance she could tell these were stalactites, very different from the flexible and more fragile looking Frozen Magma Flower root she had seen earlier. Strangely, there were only stalactites, and no stalagmites in this huge cavern. Or maybe they had been levelled up to make the road smooth and unobstructed. But the stalactites created a dominating presence, hanging all over their heads, and even over the deep chasm at its core. They looked like sharp knives, now resting on their stone hilts, yet ready to fly off and plunge into the enemy at a moment's call. Could this perhaps be a defensive mechanism built to guard this place against intruders?....
The alchemy stalls had their pills and elixirs displayed over their counters and in little shelves carved into the walls. They even had a huge furnace built into the wall at one side, with a large pill making cauldron bubbling away. Every day, a certain number of pills would be made on the spot. This was like a free promotion tactic, attracting a lot of passing buyers, who could even demand any of the pills on their list. If the alchemist made high grade pills, then they were auctioned off on the spot. If the level of the pills was lower than mid-grade, they were given off free.
The Spirit Stone gambling stalls had built a deep recess into the walls, and grooves were cut into the inner wall, with each groove housing one large ore. Smaller ores were showcased on the large stone benches inside and in front of the stalls. A large number of people were crowding around the gambling stalls, some winning, some losing, some there to simply enjoy the excitement.
Large and small grooves had been cut out in the mountainous wall behind the stalls selling artifacts, weapons, armors, spirit tools, inscribed rune stones. The walls of the caves were decked from floor to ceiling with all kinds of wares, and buyers flocked around the shelves and grooves, either window shopping or seriously selecting their requirements.
There were five stalls selling demonic beasts - two in the cavern, and three in the connecting caves. From low level to high level, all kinds of small and big, quiet and ferocious beasts could be seen and heard in these stalls. These stalls were surrounded by not only defence arrays, but also soundproofing arrays. The roars of some of these demonic beasts could injure the eardrums!
Some of the stalls sold rare and precious herbs, ores, stones, tools, and other knick-knacks from other countries. This stuff was apparently very eye catching and in demand as Rihanna noticed hordes of people coming and going from these stalls.
On the walls of the cavern and the caves, at regular intervals, small niches had been carved in, very neat and rectangular hollows, and tiny Moon-Pearls could be seen rotating on their stands, giving out a bright light to drive off the darkness of the caves.
The pillars too had such niches and grooves cut into them, and larger Moon-Pearls were being held in their stands, as their glowing light spilled across the cavern.
The bridge too had tiny stands built on top of it, with small Moon-Pearls lighting the path.
And all the paths were crammed with people. People in groups, people wandering alone, people chattering and laughing and window shopping, people having come with a serious intention for buying something specific, people entertaining themselves in others misfortunes at the gambling pits, people buying, people selling the profits of their mercenary missions. Colorful, elegant robes and soft, sashaying skirts wove eye-catching patterns from end to end, filling the dark, gray and solemn cave with vivacity and frivolity.
Below, in the depth of the chasm, the entire wall had been carved into huge buildings, entirely made of three levels, with stairs between each level, and a narrow path running around the chasm circumference, joining all the buildings together. Each level had its own circular path, so when a buyer entered one level, they could take a tour of all the buildings on that level via the connecting circular path, and could at any moment go up or down to another level using the four staircases on four side of the chasm.
One could use anyone of the stout and broad staircases to go down the chasm. But Rihanna also saw many of the cultivators using Fleet-Wind steps and Treading-Air steps to go down or come up from the chasm. She could now recognize the various steps with the help of the cultivation books she had bought and read. Now, with her heightened senses, her memory too was becoming quite powerful, and she could remember almost everything she saw and read!
Fleet-wind steps was where one used the flow of wind and floated down to the ground, like a feather. Treading-Air needed higher cultivation, and one could solidify the air below their feet, and use it as a solid platform which could be moved up and down. Kind of like a lift made from air! It needed higher level of concentration and power, but was also more reliable than Fleet-wind technique.
Rihanna was roaming around, wondering how one got entry to such a spectacular place under the ground. She had stood by the three tunnels which opened into the cavern, and through which the people were coming and going. The tunnel entries had heavy array barriers, and also groups of guards stood around them, checking each person entering and exiting. She noticed all the people entering showing a tiny token - they were yellow, red, blue, white and black. Probably something like those cards given by the mall stores on earth - the colors probably depended on the owners level of power, amount of purchase, regularity in purchase, family or clan they came from.....was there a way for her to get one too?
Leaving the entry-exit tunnels, she roamed around, randomly entering and exiting stalls. She wanted to go down the chasm as well, but there was some sort of an array blocking her. By reading the people around she knew those buildings were mostly restaurants; inns; permanent shops selling spiritual and divine level pills elixirs, weapons, armors, supreme level Demonic Beats, superior level spirit stones; a large auction house; and also a large trading house for all illegal and dangerous cultivation resources.
There seemed to be a large arena of some sort on below the first level. Both cultivators and demonic beast fights were held there. Even without reading minds, simply taking a peek at the people and beasts coming out of the exits of the arena, covered in various degrees of injuries, hobbling on one foot, being dragged out by fellow participants, or even being carried out on make-shift carry-beds.....Rihanna was already too afraid to venture downwards!
Unfortunately only holders of red, white and black token were allowed to go down. So even if she managed to find a way in with her physical body, there was currently very little chance of her being able to go anywhere. In fact, she wondered if she would be kicked out if found not possessing a token at all!
Even though she was in her spiritual form, she stayed in the shadows, away from the places where people crowded. Last time Wen Haoli had senses her even when she was invisible, and even the clan leader could see through her disguise. There were all kinds of powerful people here, and she didn't want to become the center of someone's attention.
'Isn't that.....That's Uncle He! And the group of lone cultivators I had met with at Green-stone city! Fancy seeing them here!'
Staying at a safe distance, she followed the group of 'Uncles' for some entertainment. They swaggered all the way, up and down the market, stopping at each and every gambling house. It seemed they were especially addicted to gambling! And they lost quite a bit of money at that. No skills....yet great love for betting on stones! Why don't you go and do some charity instead? Some unlucky poor scum like me could benefit from your love of spending money!
"I heard that the Green Grass Cockerel Beast is coming over today for the Devil Emperor Beast Coronation fight in the arena?"
"Yeah. The Green Grass Cockerel has been the Supreme Level King, winning hundred fights consecutively. No one has been able to win against it."
"Hah! But this is the Shino Monte Paradun. All the Supreme Level Kings of the past hundred years will be coming today. Who knows who will last till the end of Shino Monte?"
"But do we have enough spirit stones to book us an inn for the next fifteen days here? The inns in the Underground Abyss are extremely costly!"
"But they are also extremely lavish! But I agree with you. We don't have enough spirit stones. Why don't we come back for the semi finals instead. After all the Supreme Level King Beasts won't be coming out till then anyways. That'll be only for the last five days. We can surely scrape together for five days of stay?"
"I wanted to attend the auction today. Unfortunately the Great Seer of the Underground Abyss refused to upgrade my token to the white one! Aish! How much longer do I need to keep doing their missions till they take back the penalty and return back my shiny, smooth, milky white token?!"
"Let's not go back to the same repetitive topic. You are the one who lost out on that mission. And you know these people are very finicky. You failed a black grade mission. Thank your lucky stars they only took away your white token. A token you can get back with more hard work. At least you escaped with your life!"
"Shhh!! Keep your voice down! Who knows how many of these buyers are their people. The higher ups always seem to know exactly who is where, and what is going on in all parts of all the five countries!"
The 'Uncles' kept moving through the crowd, tossing out money all around and buying a lot of stuff. Looks like they had made it big in some new mission, and simply wanted a place to splurge their newly acquired wealth! As she trotted behind, Rihanna mulled over what she had heard.
The higher ups knew about everything happening in every country?! She had realized a while ago that this was the famous Underground Abyss, a tyrannical Underground Organization operating all over the outskirts of Madsa-Tamu. It had many branches, and many people knew where it's branch markets were. Yet the government and other sects were never able to inflict much damage, which also meant that they had many more bases unknown to the people.
But she hadn't realized it was this big! It seemed to have branches all over the five countries! Who in the world owned such a large hidden organization? Just the size of this corporation itself must be a great threat to all governments, not to mention that it was a hidden one at that. They were always in the dark even as they held all the strings of information of the countries always in the light! With just a twist of their fingers, they could create a whole lot of mess in any of the five countries!
Finally the group of 'Uncles' walked up to the great staircase, and went down to the levels in the chasm. Rihanna had to quit following them as she could not follow them any further. She returned to wandering around in the cavern and caves.
Tsk! But in all of her wanderings, she had yet to come across any clues as to how to open that darned door! Looks like that door was really a forgotten door. Now from where was she supposed to find the chanting's to open it? Was returning back to that pit the only way she could get out of this place?
'Rihanna....I suggest you return back immediately!'