Chapter – 60 - Maid to a Sadistic Master!

Rihanna was looking around, trying to be as subtle as possible, but she couldn't catch sight of where this person was speaking from. Instead she saw a number of rooms circling the entire hall at the top level. Each room had a large window which was covered in thin golden gauze, perhaps to maintain the privacy of the people within. Without asking, just from what she had seen in the arena the other day, she could guess these rooms were for the higher ups and special guests of the Underworld Abyss.

Rihanna sighed in depression. Whether one was on earth or in this world, money and power sure were beneficial things.....they were all cultivators....yet look at the difference in treatment! Unfortunately.....she didn't really have much money!

The crescent red moon suddenly lit up, with two sizzling blue beads of light at each tip, and another green bead of light midway between the two, in the air. The three lights formed lines connecting to each other, glowing brighter every second, till the light at the core burst out in a shower of sparkles and disappeared. As Rihanna blinked to lessen the effect of the bright light and looked back, she was stunned to see something had appeared in the center of the crescent moon, floating in the middle of its two tips!

"The Flame Bead Flower from the inner most core of Poison Swamp! As all are aware of the difficulty of securing this temperamental fire flower which loves to hide within the poisonous waters of the swamp whenever it senses any danger. The bidding of the first item of today's auction will start at a 100,000 mid-grade spirit stones!"

Rihanna was still appreciating the beautiful flower when she almost barfed. What? A 100,000 mid-grade spirit stones?! Secretly taking a peek inside her space ring she felt like crying. Was there anything in this auction which she could possibly bid for? Oh well....might as well consider this a window shopping spree!

But the flower was mesmerizing. It looked like a Flame Lily, except all its yellow base - red tipped flame petals were turned down and outwards. At the center of the flower was something which looked like a miniature pine cone, glowing like molten lava. The molten lava formed rivulets, running down the petals, hanging like fire beads from the tips, and then falling down onto the earth. There was a single flower growing on a tiny bonsai sized plant, with numerous woody and thin stems curling around each other to form the main stem of the plant. At the nodes of this stem, tiny double leaves had sprung out like dark green butterflies, with antennae like nodes at their tips which glowed golden. The leaves were crisscrossed with very thin golden veins. The entire plant was planted inside a wide brimmed green jade container, and the drops of golden lava turned into tiny rivulets flowing across this potted earth.

More than the flower, Rihanna was amazed at the clarity of this visual. This plant was so small and right in the middle of the stage, and the audience hall was large - and yet every single detail was observable from this huge distance?! That must be the purpose of that crescent moon....right? probably had some kind of runic inscriptions on it which could enlarge the visual one was seeing of whatever was placed within it?! Amazing!!

The bidding had already reached 2 million mid-grade spirit stones, but now was slowly falling. Finally, it stopped at 2.3 million spirit stones.

That was when Rihanna noticed that many of the people had a dark silver-gray stone in their hands. It had inscriptions on it, and could be activated by the spirit energy of the holder. This was something that all the people participating in the bidding needed to collect from the counter in the outer hall of the auction hall. Even the uncles had them.

All the details of the items being displayed in the auction for the day were recorded inside the stones. So as soon as one activated it, they could look through the details and decide what they wanted to bid for. Also, once they made a successful bid, a staff member would come over with a similar looking but deep silver-blue stone, and place it on the silver-gray stone.

The silver-blue stone would then note down the aura from the silver-gray stone. This was so that later no one could create trouble while the final transactions took place at the back chamber. Systematic, efficient and completely out in the open! Rihanna quite liked the neat working style of this hidden organization!

One by one the various items for today's auction were displayed, and each were sold for sky high prices. As the auction proceeded, Rihanna realized that the first one had indeed been the appetizer. Very quickly, the bidding dropped mid-grade spirit stones and shifted to high-grade spirit stones. And for the items at the end, they straightaway shifted once again to spirit items or tools to match the value of the auctioned item.

Rihanna stopped bothering about the bidding price once it reached high-grade spirit stones...why bother and waste energy when you don't even have it? She might as well enjoy the spectacular display of the items.

The Tonsils of the Vibrating Tortoise living in the waters of Nakalak Ocean in Abarone-Tengai country; the entire spinal column, with bones, nerves and muscles of the Stone Crown-Head Wild Boar from the second circle of the Dark Forest; The entire intact skeleton of the Double Fanged Three Headed Water Snake, also from Nakalak Ocean; the Silver Origin Roots of the Water Spirit Hyacinth from the interior of Magaderma Cave in Ruaan-Jamphu; the Golden Inner Bark of the Spiral Dodemus Tree from Shifting Valley in Madsa-Tamu....

Rihanna lost track of what is what and from where after a while. Half the names sounded alien to her! She only had the map of Madsa-Tamu with her. The other countries...how could she dare to touch them, when she wasn't even clear about the country she was currently staying in! Anyway, she had not found maps of any of the other countries as yet.

By the time the auction ended, her mind had clammed shut, unable to accept anymore strange names and information about unknown creatures and places. The ones who had made successful bids left the hall first, guided by some of the staff. Only then did the golden stone doors open once more, and the rest of the people slowly walked out of the hall, through the passage, past the outer hall, and exited from the main entrance archway.

Rihanna breathed out in relief as the huge crowd dispersed, turning to glance at the hanging golden stone sign over the archway - Green Dragon Auction House.

"Why is it named Green Dragon Auction House?"

Uncle He was busy inside with Uncle Daogi. Uncle Ranaba didn't speak much, so Uncle Yaoi took the lead.

"It is said that amongst all the dragon species, the Green Dragon were the most greedy. You must have heard that dragons like to hoard all things shiny! Well, the Green Dragons were the craziest hoarders, and they loved hoarding only gold, jewels and jade, making them the most prosperous race. I guess they took the name as a sign of wealth and prosperity."

Rihanna scoffed inside....yeah...wealth for the underworld....while the ones who are bidding are turning into paupers!

"Uncle Yaoi....I have heard that they also auction low level cultivators and commoners in the underworld auction houses?"

Uncle Ranaba was leading them to a more secluded place so they could wait for the others and also enjoy some window shopping. He turned back sharply at this sudden question, his gaze sharp and piercing as he stared at her. Rihanna felt her heart jerk in shock at such a intimidating gaze, but before she could react, Uncle Ranaba had already looked away.

Uncle Yaoi seemed ignorant of what passed between the two, as he was feeling complicated. She herself was a commoner....was she asking because she was scared of being whisked off and sold at one such auction?!

"Eh! Don't worry little girl. As long as you are with us, nobody will touch you. Yes....they do sell commoners and low level cultivators.....but they will hold separate special auctions for that. And they will never sell of people who are inside the premises of the Underworld Abyss. So as long as you are with us, there is nothing to fear! ...Oh! I was wanting to ask....who was that man whom you called your new master? Where did you meet him?"

Rihanna felt like choking on the water Uncle Yaoi had just handed her. What master?! If that damned sadistic pervert wasn't so strong, she would ditched the entire group a long time ago and turned tail to flee!! Unfortunately she was now stuck cross-playing the 'Obedient Maid' in that sadists version of 'Maid-Café'! She must be cursed with bad luck, or why would she keep bumping into this pervert wherever she went!

"Ahem....I actually met him in Moon-Grave city. He helped me from a dangerous situation involving the Su Clan, so I accepted him as my new master. Of course, he is very magnanimous, and refused to accept me. Only after much crying, he agreed I can serve them if and when we meet again in future. Since we met here....it must be my good fortune!"

"Ah....really?! That is so nice to hear....my little grateful servant! Now that you are brimming with gratitude, I am feeling most anxious, seeing you so stressed and wanting to serve us with such heartfelt diligence. So why don't I be the 'Magnanimous Master' that I am....and allow you to fulfil your desire to serve all of us tonight....at the Beast Fighting Arena?"

The smile almost slipped off her face, and Rihanna shuddered as the sudden warmth of the words washed over her ears. Grudgingly, she widened her smile till it looked like her lips would tear off from her teeth, and turned to the scoundrel lazily leaning against the pillar near the balcony where they were currently standing. A scornful smile hung down his lips, seemingly challenging her shamelessness. Rihanna took two deep breaths to steady her nerves, then widened her smile even more.

"Master! You are here? And you know how much I crave to serve all of you from the bottom of my heart? This little maid is blessed to have such a magnanimous master in this life!"

Wait....why did it sound so ambiguous?!.....no, no, no!....She was only an 11 year old child....and she only meant serving as in a maid serving food and drinks....okay?! Squinting her eyes, she gritted her teeth, her smile still as wide as the widest ocean, and turned to stare back at the sadistic fellow.

Suli Wenzhaobei smiled back just as kindly, inwardly cursing the ferocious looking smile, and even stretched out his fingers to let the tips run over Rihanna's head.

Rihanna felt goose bumps at this sudden, albeit very faint contact. No....she did not want to have any form of contact with this scourge of a thousand lives! But seeing the gesture he left before turning around and leaving, she had to bear up with all inner conflicts. She looked at Uncle Yaoi and Uncle Ranaba.

"Uncle, my new master is calling me, so I have to go now. Please tell Uncle He and Uncle Daogi....I will be back tonight after the arena fights have ended!"

And inhaling deeply to ready herself, Rihanna turned and followed in the footsteps of the person she really wanted to run away from!