It was the same room at the end of the long corridor. And it was the same group of people waiting inside, to be served by her.
Except....why did the two women seem especially interested in her today, sending excited glances her way every now and then, then chattering away in low murmurs?! Even the other person, who had completely disregarded her the day before, threw a few sharp and observing looks towards her! Ummm....she thought back and couldn't be sure what she had done to catch their attention today!
Keeping her head low, she scurried over to the corner once more, picking up the table and bringing it to their midst as usual. While pouring their drinks, she glanced around through lowered eyes. To her surprise, the 'Emperor' had not come today.
She finished pouring and serving their drinks and snacks, then silently once again merged with the walls of the room. What was she feeling right now? Was that....a hint of melancholy?! Why was she sad because the 'Emperor' had not come???....Wait...she had also remembered his face abruptly yesterday!....don't tell me.....that I am having a thing for that cold iceberg!! Aish!!!
Rihanna looked around to break her line of thoughts and happened to glance out through the gauzed windows. Hmm....the arena stage seemed to have been changed for today? The stage, which was quite large and raised, was divided into three parts, with the central two layers being the thickest.
The second layer encircled the first and middle layer, and was wholly filled with ice water. White vapor came off the surface, clinging heavily to the air above it.
The middle layer was actually a heightened square platform, with a rows of stairs running down from each side. Molten lava was flowing out of the center of the platform, and poured all over the stairs, slowly dispersing till as it reached the last stair, it turned to thick and dark steam and dissolved into the icy vapor.
At the point of merging of the icy vapor and fiery steam, a dense and dark rolling cloud-line had emerged, ever shifting and trembling, but never disappearing.
Four Dark Greenish-Black crystals floated at the four outer corners of the third layer, and thick, mucous like green liquid flowed down, forming an un-breachable third circle around the second layer. This....was probably some sort of barrier to contain the attack energy of fire and ice?
Despite the number of questions wriggling around in her head, Rihanna dared not contact Little Purple. The pervert could not only cut off her spiritual connection, he could even peek into her soul! So definitely, so could the others. She did not want to make any mistake or take unnecessary risks. Currently they treated her quite well. But she was a arrogant enough to believe such treatment was what she deserved. At least she had yet to prove her worth to deserve a good treatment from this lot!
But surely....this was the same ice and lava energy she had been sucking into her bottomless pit called spirit space just a few days back?! Rihanna licked at her lips, feeling a bit guilty for having snatched off quite a bit of the energy at the pool. Would anyone notice?
As she was lost in her thoughts, the door suddenly opened, and a blast of frigid air entered, cold enough to turn all it touched into frozen icicles. Shivering involuntarily, she turned to stare at this sudden intrusion.....and was glued onto the ice cold face of the 'Emperor' as he stood nonchalantly at the door. And he seemed to be looking at her as well!
She felt as if her soul was being held by numerous tiny frost fingers - chilly, heavy, and stinging with a sharp pain. Her body was being held in place by invisible hands, and not a sound came up her throat. She could only stare, in pain, in fear.....and with a familiar feeling gripping her! What in the hell was this familiar feeling?!
What seemed like an eternity to Rihanna, barely lasted for a few seconds, and then the heaviness and the chilly feeling disappeared along with the feel of being tied down to one single space. She gulped in large bouts of air, crackling the joints of her fingers, toes and neck to relieve the tightness.
As the 'Emperor' flashed past her and moved towards the large seat at the front, his robes wavered in the air, and something glinted through the layers of swirling materials...something silver, strung to a silver-black chain....with three tiny blue stone beads shimmering like light on water surface.
a strange and gripping emotion throbbed in her heart, hammering at her head, and waves of nostalgia washed over her again and again. What was this feeling? Why did that chain and pendant seem so familiar? What was this sensation of deep fondness which was struggling up through her heart, clutching and choking her throat, wanting to drown her in tears and smiles?! Why did she feel such a strong attachment to this block of ice the moment she crossed looks with him?! Why could she not control her raging emotions, and feel like jumping all over him, holding his hands and kissing his hair?!!
Rihanna shuddered as the internal conflicts kept growing, pushing her head as low as it could go, wishing she could dig a hole right here and now and disappear from all sights pinning her down.....why were they all staring at her?! Could they sense her emotional turmoil? Or could they perhaps read her mind?! Ughhh!! This was such a shameful moment in her 27 years of life!!
She kept her head and eyes down, also trying to push down all her passionate responses down her gullet, down her stomach, and if possible down her intestine and out of her body! Due to her being entirely focused on her inner surging sensations, she lost track of what was happening outside, unable to hear her 'new master' calling out to her.
By the time she clamped down all her emotions and calmed down, she felt the rush of warm air blowing all over her ears and face. Panicking, she opened her eyes and met with the annoyingly smirking eyes of the lat scourge on this land.....Tsk!
"Tsk-Tsk!! This is the first time ever seeing someone come to a Beast Battle in the arena of the Underworld Abyss and completely disappearing in her own world! It seems Bodus....you have not worked hard enough this time! See....even a commoner, who has never had a chance to spectate such a large scale battle championship.....instead of feeling gratified and excited....is already bored to sleep!"
Rihanna turned....and three pairs of eyes were staring at her. Needless to say that the two women were still full of mirth and anticipation for some grand showdown. Bodus on the other hand merely frowned slightly, then entirely disregarded her....again. The 'Emperor' didn't even seem to have heard all the commotion happening right behind him.
Rihanna sighed, partly relieved, partly disappointed. Then abruptly turned her head up to look at Little Wenwen with a startlingly bright smile. Staring at this sudden change and the glittering and shining smile, Wenzhaobei could barely keep his own smile in place.
"This is a mega event of an Ice Scaled Walrus battle a Lava Hound. You should pay deeper attention. Who knows when accumulated knowledge might come in handy in life? It is a long life after all!"
Wenzhaobei sauntered off in a relaxed manner, but inwardly he was questioning the sudden strange demands of his master. First he wanted him to inform her to sell off the flowers....and now he wanted him to tell her to focus on this fight.....What in the world was he up to?! Could it be he had taken special interest in this tiny, underage commoner girl? There was no way it could be a love interest! Ha-ha! What was he thinking?! But what exactly was he planning to do with this girl? Take her in as his maid?....helper?.....one of the members of the organization?! No way!! That definitely couldn't be it! Tsk....better not think! Master's thoughts were way too deep and unfathomable.
Rihanna cursed eighteen generations of the fellow and his family as she moved silently to the last widow and examined the stage below.
The Walrus was as large as a small mountain, with its flippers, tail and half its body submerged in the ice water. Thick icy scales covered all of the upper exposed body. It had four fangs. The two at the corner of its mouth were long and thick and reached his chest. The ones at the front were more sharper and thinner, barely peeking through its lips. Freezing icy vapours rolled out of its mouth, turning the already cold water around into ice blocks. The surface of the water in its vicinity had already frozen over in to a hard and thick layer. Further from it, large chunks of ice blocks floated in the freezing water, melting slowly as they approached the lava stairs.
In comparison, the Lava Hound looked like a baby. It looked like a very muscular mastiff running high on steroids and testosterone, with thick bulging muscles on its body and limbs. Long and sharp metal spikes covered its neck like a lion's mane, standing out straight, as if ready for the oncoming attack. The stout body was imprinted with thin and long scar-like lines, and one could see the fire coursing through its veins below the skin, seeping out through the wounds. Its tail was made of flowing lava, and the magma dripped and merged with the fiery stage.
These were merely high level beasts, and they already looked this scary!
"I do hope these beasts will provide some thrill! This year's beasts challenges look far interesting than the human cultivator's challenges. Isn't this Ice Scaled Walrus from the Void River? I heard these creatures can also use dark energy!"
"Well....so can the Lava Hounds, though this looks like a baby! Has it even activated its dark core?!"
"This Lava Hound was specially brought for this fight by our Master.....do you still think it is inept?"
Both Wenzhaobei and Xiaxia shut up after this one sentence from Bodus. Any beast tamed by their Master could only be a raging bloodthirsty demon! Tsk! The staff would probably have to scrape out the remains of the poor walrus from all over the floor once again! This was not enjoying a fight....this was being forced to behold a massacre!
Rihanna listened to their chit chat as she trained her sight to observe and memorize all the details of the fight. She wasn't sure why the 'Emperor' wanted to give her this chance....but it couldn't have come at a better time. With the fire and ice energy inside her, she needed a clearer perception of what were the possibilities and limits of these controversial energy forces. But.....could it be possible the 'Emperor' too had an inkling of what was going on within her?...And was this his way of helping?!....Rihanna shook her head inwardly. Tsk! She needed to stop living in a delusional world! Such things could only happen in mindless romance stories....and this was not one of them!