For the rest of the journey, Rihanna tucked in her tail, hung her head low and became the epitome of 'Obedience'.
All of the three Uncles were left speechless as she listened to all their scolding's, lectures and complaints, very obediently nodding and shaking her head at the correct moments. Why did it feel like she was actually quite happy behind that façade of compliance and subservience?!
Truthfully, Rihanna was feeling quite happy. She could see that her sudden bout of fainting and then not waking up for days had scared everyone of them. And the concern and care was flowing through every harsh word. She probably wouldn't even mind a spanking right now!
And she had already realized that she was in the wrong. Trying to act like a hero could have led to her death. Moreover, this decision of hers could have put both Artreya and Uncle Yaoi in grave danger. Had she been too complacent while making these plans? What if they had not worked out, or if Zenoba had other means which contradicted all her plans?
Could she take the consequences of a failure in such a situation?
No....she was not a hero. And being in a team meant communicating with all the members of the team. Even if she was leading the plan, it was her failure that she became overconfident. Overconfidence could easily lead to carelessness, which could lead all of them to grave dangers.
Moreover, Rihanna was happy to know that they cared enough to be scared and angry. With Artreya and Ye Luo, she felt the closeness of age and equal capabilities. Though she regarded them as family, she didn't feel the same sense of security and comfort as she felt from her Uncles. Unknowingly, her Uncles had taken on the role of elders in her small, mixed-up family. And it felt warm to have someone older taking the lead once in a while!
If she was not scared of making them more mad, she probably would be grinning at them in warm bliss and contentment. Even though her strange behavior merely left her Uncle's speechless, how could Ye Luo and Artreya, who had spent so much time with her, not understand what was going through her mind! They could feel goose-bumps crawling through their skin watching the way she kept nodding and shaking her head in blissful-obedience.
By the time Rihanna woke up from her comatose-state, the three groups had almost reached the borders of Madsa-Tamu. The leaders of the three groups handed each of the team members a silver medallion-like token.
Rihanna turned the token, squinting her eyes to look at the fine etching of a beast's head on one side of the token. As the metal of the token caught light, it glimmered in a silverish-gray shade, and the dark gold of the beast's engraving stood out from the background. It looked similar to a lion, but had horns on its head and back. The mane too looked much thicker.
"What is this beast?"
"This is the Tengai, the Ancient Beast Deity of the Temple of Abarone."
Rihanna raised her brows while nodding in acknowledgement. She was curious to know what was the story behind this beast deity. Especially since the humans of this world shunned the Aratyuusa's, it was rather surprising they would worship a beast god.
At the borders of Madsa-Tamu, even from a distance, they could make out a translucent barrier shimmering in the sun's light. A brownish-gold shade flickered, as if the barrier was gently rocking to the waves of the breeze.
This token was needed to pass through the barrier and enter Abarone-Tengai.
Apparently, each of the five countries were surrounded by such restricting barriers. This was to keep a tab on all who were passing through, especially the cultivators.
Not wanting the other people to doubt her, Rihanna accepted her Uncle's help in passing through this barrier.
Another three days journey brought them to the peripheries of Void River.
Barren wasteland. This was the first thought which came to Rihanna's mind as she surveyed the large expanse of land spreading out before them.
The ground was lost beneath a thick layer of viscous sludge which looked like boiling tar. It was charcoal black in color, small and large bubbles were erupting everywhere, and some strange ores were mixed into the sludge. The ores were half solid, and half liquid, mixed into the thick liquid, and at a first glance looked like foamy froth floating on the surface of a gutter.
Small and big boulders, formed from this same sludge matter, interspersed the entire stretch, creating nature made stepping-stones for the people to reach Void River.
Rihanna frowned, not liking the idea of having to travel through the midst of this stinking field of garbage. Yes.....the sludge gave off a smell so bad that it felt like hundreds of dead bodies had rotted and mixed into the viscous liquid!
Moreover, this liquid was extremely toxic. Even if a corner of the shoes happened to touch the liquid, even the whole leg might end up being corroded by it. It spread fast, clinging to whatever it could latch onto, and was highly destructive.
Strangely, the rocks themselves were made from this same sludge. It looked like many, many decades of sedimentation had created these rocks from the thicker matter of the sludge, and as soon as they solidified, they miraculously lost the high toxicity. Or perhaps, the solidified mass caused the acid within it to go into some form of hibernation.
Staring at the sludge slowly rolling around and boiling, Rihanna wondered why she was always facing such disheartening situations. Let's not talk of the various falls she had encountered from various places.....she still hadn't exactly forgotten that nightmarish walk through the sewer of Green-Stone City! And now here was more about to come!
Due to the dangerous sludge, the 500 or so cultivators could only make a single file and move towards the entrance of Void River. Moreover, there was not much space to stand at the entrance, so there was no point in wasting energy to fly over to the Void River. Teams moved forward together, so once all members of the same team gathered at the entrance, the team would then directly enter the Void River.
It was a very long line, and obviously it took a very long time. By the time it was their turn to move, more than half the entire group had already entered the Void River. All the riding beasts were kept in a wide space with a few people staying behind to take care of them.
When the six of them crossed over the bubbling toxic tar and gathered before the entrance, Rihanna finally got a good look at this entrance to Void River.
It was just as the name suggested.....a large void space of nothingness swirling before them. It was like a large black-hole covering their entire field of vision, and swirling slowly in a clock-wise motion. From the edges, Rihanna could even see that this black-hole was sucking in all energy and elements of the surrounding. This sludge was something which was coming out in thin streams from this dark nothingness. Like the black-hole was devouring everything in its vicinity, and then throwing out the un-digested, waste matter!
The thick sludge looked like small rivers coming out from the hole. Probably that was why this place was called Void River? Rihanna couldn't get a reliable answer from her Uncles.
Apparently entry to this Void River was divided according to the place from where one was entering. Level 2 missions were meant to be entered from the edges of the black-hole. This would lead them to lower level dimensions trapped within this black-hole. For higher level missions, one had to enter from neared the center of this large hole.
Uncle He and Ye Luo took out some hard and thin rope. These were made from the same special green ore from which the Element Binding Chains were made. These were the chains Rihanna had seen previously seen at the Dorminions Lair. Now this rope was something specially made by Ye Luo's Master and his elder Sect Brothers and Sisters.
It seemed, even though Ye Luo was very cold and didn't mix well with other disciples, the elder disciples of his Master still cared for him a lot. Rihanna looked at him in a different light. Suddenly he was looking like a young second generation master of some Chaebol family!
Ye Luo caught her weird gaze and felt speechless. What was she thinking of now? Why was she always thinking of some strange ideas whenever she happened to look at them?! Did they stroke her hidden fetish of being a weird researcher?!
Artreya too noticed the strange glow in his masters eyes, and instantly distanced himself from both of his friends. Uncle Yaoi noticed this sudden shifting of place and looked confused, but chose to overlook the boys antics.
Uncle He and Uncle Ranaba tied the rope to a point at the entrance, then tied it to each of their team members. Everyone of them also received a large number of small green medallions. The rope itself was composed of energy. When they reached the end of the rope, they needed to take a medallion in hand, activate it with their spirit energy, then bind it to the end of the rope. The green ore would continue to turn into green energy and lengthen the rope. Once the medallion was over, they could add another one. This gave the rope endless length, in case they ended up going too deep.
Since the mission was being supervised by the Gavarnum and the Mercenary Mission Hall, they had lent a group of their special members to lead this mission. These people would not be actively joining the mission, but would be waiting at the entrance to see that all teams entering and exiting were following the rules, and the mission could be completed smoothly.
Though this did not mean that they wouldn't fall prey to all kinds of dangers within the dimensions, or someone from outside might not hold enmity and try to cut off their rope.....still, it did provide some semblance of security.
Uncle He, Uncle Ranaba and Uncle Yaoi, had all been to Void River before, and thus they were more or less aware of all the pitfalls. With them in the lead and in the rear, the three kids were wrapped up in the middle, as their team slowly entered into the large black-hole of Void River.