Chapter – 136 - Face to Face With an Old Enemy

Rihanna was still processing the words of their discussion in her mind as she kept flipping through the records in the scroll.

'Oh!....They also have Telepathy as a part of Mental Powers. That seems justifiable......But wait.....What is Comprehending Line of Time? Why is this noted in Mental Ability Power?'

'Hmmm...that is indeed a very rare Mental Ability Power. Very rarely, a special cultivator is born, with special powers. They are said to be destined to walk down a certain path in their life. These cultivators who have the power to comprehend the Line of Time are one of them. Tsk! This brings back so many memories!'

'Hello....planet zero to the high heavens above.....may the great almighty return back from his reminisces to answer my puny questions!'

'Don't be too cheeky little girl.....I am merely remembering these great cultivators from another time. Anyway.....you might also understand this as the Power to Read Time. Literally, these people can connect to any part of time and find out what had happened in the past or what might happen in the future. Something like fortune readers back in your own planet. Except, these people have real abilities, unlike those quack fortune tellers. They are also able to read the destiny of a person or even the entire planet.'

'......And then you'll be asking me to start believing in a God who is sitting somewhere high up above, and dictating our lives with a pair of dices.'

'Sarcasm doesn't bode well with your face! Destiny is not a prewritten line of action. Of course a person has the right to choose his or her own thoughts and actions.....that is the free will gifted by the universe.'

'But you were just talking about destiny.'

'Hmmm.....think of life as a game....where all future actions have already been thought of, and everything that will happen, has already happened. Many choices lead to many new paths. Now what the Destiny Reader does, is he reads the most important set of different choices which have already been taken in the past. And he figures out the sets of choices with the highest probability of happening in the future. It is a very complex mathematical derivation.'

'Sounds like an evolved level of astrology! So, do these Destiny Readers exist even today?'

'Don't know about that. A long time ago, these people preferred staying away from society. The noise of crowded places disrupted their state of mind. Moreover, they were often kidnapped or threatened by others and used for personal gains and schemes. They found it too burdensome and life-threatening to live in society. However, times have changed. Wonder if they have still maintained their dis-attachment to society, or they have been forced to merge in with crowds to keep themselves alive.'

Rihanna frowned trying to recall when she had heard him saying similar words. Wait.....didn't he say the same thing about the Aratyuusa's? It seems a lot had changed in this world since the time he had lived in this world. She wondered again what kind of an ancestor she had picked up!

Continuing to scan through the words in the mind-scroll, she stopped again.

'Hmmm...and what is a Space Time Lock?'

'That would be the first step for reaching the Space Time Dimension level. The Mental Ability merges with Space Ability, to create a separate space around the user. This space is governed by the laws and principals as set down by the user, and everything and everyone inside this space lock will be under the laws and principles of the locked area.'

'Ohhh.....I read this in some book! Is this not like a domain? Where the user can control everything and everyone within their domain, and the others are unable to use their powers?'

'Sort of. However, the others can use their powers, but the powers will be heavily guided by the laws and principles of the space. For example, the user can change the time taken for the formation and movement of elemental attack energy. Or change the gravitational force within the domain. Or change certain properties of the different elements being used within the space. Of course, the number of changes the user can make, and the strength of those changes, will wholly depend on the users own level of cultivation.'

'Why do I feel that you have Space Ability Powers?'

'.....used to have it....yes. Though I didn't have Mental Ability. My domains were much weaker. With the added help of Mental Ability, a domain can become more concrete. Especially helpful when controlling the laws of the space.'

Rihanna waited for a while longer, but Little Purple didn't seem eager to clarify more about his powers or his past. Her mind was stuck on the point he had just made. 'Used to have it'. Did he mean that he no longer had Space Ability Power? How did he lose his Ability?

Rihanna pursed her lips. She knew from experience that no amount of badgering hi would make him speak up. If he wanted to keep his mouth closed, then she could only patiently wait till he felt ready to open them again to speak.

She was not sure how much time she had spent inside the Illusion Chamber, but when she walked out of the library, the first sun was setting in the west, and deep orange glow spread in the sky, merging into the yellow glow of the second sun.

Ye Luo was not inside the chamber, and even the other illusion chambers had been de-activated. She seemed to be the only one, as she paused outside the large doors of the chamber, trying to recall which direction they had come from in the morning.

The open sided passages surrounding the second floor rooms were wide. A decorative and heavy wooden balustrade surrounded the entire passages on the exterior side. Rihanna leaned on the balustrade, silently watching the setting sun painting the sky in its slowly dimming light.

"My sister sure has some great capability of appearing in the most unexpected places!"

Rihanna turned and stared at girl accompanying a group of young women as they walked quietly down the passage.

And.....she was back in the old face-slapping drama. Oh, wait! She never actually went for face-slapping. She just created some explosive chaos.....and then blissfully escaped! Nonetheless, Rihanna couldn't help cursing her luck in the most 'interesting' things her life loved to shove into her face.

While Rihanna was cursing in her mind, Beibei had mastered the art of expressionless-face. Su Maihiya stared hard into those dark eyes, seeking a reaction, but gained nothing even after a long while. She was surprised at the nonchalance of the girl before her. This was so not the Su Matsao she had known before, who would tremble in fear, beg and bow to escape harsh punishments, and barely ever raised her eyes or even looked at her face. She always knew her place, and that the fate of her life was in their hands.

Nothing like those sharp gleaming eyes staring back into her eyes, and the lazy languid way her body slowly leaned into the wooden balustrade, elbows resting on the railing in an easy casualness. What was she depending upon? What or who could make her change so much in such a short time? Was there some unknown power backing her? Impossible! Then.....was it that tool which she had used the last time they had tried to capture her?

Su Maihiya stepped closer, her pupils with a strong vicious light as the memories of that day flashed behind her eyes. A tool is after all an external object. It can save you once or twice. But how can it possibly last before pure, unadulterated spiritual power. That is something a trashy commoner could never understand!

How could Rihanna not know what this girl in front of her was thinking. She didn't even need to consciously read her mind. Her expressions were hanging all over her face, and the thoughts were running amuck in the air surrounding them.

How very interesting. A while ago, she would have been scared of provoking this little princess. But now...after her stay in the dimension, she didn't seem to like being the under-dog. As long as she didn't provoke...Hmmm.....should she really let her go just because she didn't provoke? Though Rihanna was still at odds with Beibei on the topic of killing people...it didn't mean she would let a possible threat thrive and grow. Perhaps.....for the time being she should keep an eye on this girl.

"I didn't know even a commoner could have the great blessing of visiting a Major Clan one day. Oh, wait! Aren't commoners generally banned inside the Core City? I really have to wonder what means this little sister of yours used to enter not only the Core City, but also one of the Four Major Clans? Should we call it trespassing?...or maybe infiltration?"

Rihanna was still leaning against the balustrade, as her eyes casually glanced over the group of girls. She could already sense that they were all at the late Qi-Sensing or early Foundation Building stage. She could take them all down very easily. However.....that would reveal too much of what she was trying to keep hidden. Tsk! Her cultivation was such a problematic thorn!

Unfortunately, life was not always a drama. And before the group of girls could close in on her and try to shame her existence or scheme to toss her out of the clan and perhaps the city, Ye Luo ran up towards them from the other side.