Chapter – 122 - Gaining the Energy of Life

Mayaroubo could see clearly the redness suffusing her neck and face from above. He had thought the years of being detached from most secular emotional ties would have killed off his capacity of being emotionally affected.

Yet seeing the girl he had dreamt of for so long trying to hide her embarrassment, he couldn't stop the tiny flow of joy coursing through his body before rushing into his head. In the end he had to turn his head away as well to control his flooding emotions.

It was still not the time. She was way too weak, and he had too many enemies to even count. He couldn't bring her into the forefront of the war which was threatening to break out in all the five countries. She had disappeared once. This time he would not let her go again.

Schooling his features back to being expressionless, he focused on completing the array. Once the golden and white energy particles were moving stably in opposing circular grooves around them, Mayaroubo turned to face her again.

Keeping the forefinger and little finger of his right hand stretched upwards, he bent the middle two fingers and thumb to touch the center of his right palm. Bringing the tip of the forefinger and little finger close, he stretched out his right hand, gently touching Rihanna's dantian with his stretched two fingers.

Raising his left hand, he placed it gently on top of her head. A deep green glow emerged from this palm, and her body reacted with vigor, trying to soak in this energy like a gluttonous pig.

Rihanna was watching all his movements with wide eyes, feeling very comfortable as she senses a familiar, warm energy entering her body. Soon her yes started feeling very heavy, and unable to keep her eyelids pried open, she allowed them to close over her vision. Though her outer senses of vision and hearing and smell seemed to have gone to sleep, she could hear everything he said, and also feel everything going on within herself and around her.

Thus, in the dream-like state, she heard someone's deep, low voice chanting incoherent words. The words seemed to be strung on a monotonous note, and the chanting had a dull rhythm. But the more she heard, the more the chanting seemed to grow on her. The notes became clearer, seemingly almost resounding on her heart, the rhythm growing stronger. She could feel her inner senses coming alive, as if some outer power was beckoning and commanding her inner perception powers to awaken and take full control of her body.

Thin streams of golden energy and white energy particles separated from the array circle around them, and slowly entered her dantian using his fingers. The energy streams travelled along her meridians throughout her body, before silently gathering around her dantian. They slowly circled around her energy core, observing the various energies gathered inside the core and their momentum.

"You have accumulated too many volatile and opposing energies within your body. Be it Ice, Fire or Wind, each of them have a very strong core personality, and they do not easily mingle with each other. Though you have managed to bring about a cohesion between your Ice and Fire energy, the amount is rather limited, and the resulting energy is ever more volatile. Also, you still have not learned to completely control this new form of amalgamated energy."

Her inner spirit had settled down, and a blissful calm washed over her entire body, slowly merging in with her energy core. Even as he was observing her energy core, Mayaroubo couldn't stop the feeling of amazement and shock which he felt.

Only demonic beasts could create an energy core, which was something that developed on top of their spirit root. Even spiritual beasts had spirit roots, similar to humans, but neither could develop an energy core. He had never even read of such a case in any ancient records. Yet, here was a human with an energy core, and without a spirit root. And even her technique of cultivation seemed to be rather different from that of any demonic beast.

He sighed inwardly, staring at the blissful smile growing on her face, her eyelids fluttering softly over her cheeks. She had too much confidence on him. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing. She didn't yet realize all the dangers around her. Firstly, her physique was already a huge problem. And now even her methods of cultivation could attract uncalled attention.

The green glow from the palm placed over her head became darker and intensified, and her entire being seemed to be clinging onto his palm, sucking at this green energy hungrily. So much so, that even within her deep consciousness, Rihanna started feeling uncomfortable....like something was happening outside her control!

"Relax. This is the Energy of Life. You can also call it Nature's Energy. It is very warm and gentle and calming, completely opposite to your other three energies. That is why your body is so attracted to it...because it is something you need but lack seriously. So relax and allow it to fill your body. Relax and enjoy the warmth."

As she calmed down hearing the deep, lulling voice next to her ears, her mind settled into a tranquil-like state. Every particle of her body felt alive and fresh like never before, the warmth of the dark green energy reaching out within every pore of her body and mind. The heaviness and lethargy of sore muscles, the discomfort of an over-taxed mind, aching joints....every part of her body was soaring in the warmth and comfort of the green energy, feeling rejuvenated.

Thankfully Rihanna couldn't see her exterior self at the moment, or she would turn red from embarrassment once more. A silly, blissful, carefree smile hanging on her lips, gradually grew into a wide, happy grin, almost joining her ears together. A smile escaped the austere lips of Mayaroubo. He really wanted to take this tiny bundle of happy ignorance and smother it within his embrace.

Rihanna was still enjoying the joy which came from this strange energy, and watched wisps of dark green energy circling around her energy core. So much was her involvement within herself, that she never even noticed when the comfortable presence of the man beside her had disappeared. No until Little Purple decided to break her happy moment, did she realize that the Icy Emperor had left the array circle at some point.

"You are too careless around him. What if he wanted to take over your body or soul? You would have been completely under his control if he wished to do anything evil with you!"

"He won't."

"You seem to trust him too much. Tell me.....why do you trust him so much? You came to know about him only at the Underworld Abyss Base at the Labyrinth. Or....do you know him from before?.....But how is it possible for you to meet him, and me not know about it?"

"I don't know if I have ever met him before. But my instinct tells me that he will never hurt me. My instinct is rarely wrong. But if you tell me about being wary and careful about other people.....don't you feel the same caution applies to you as well?"

"....What are you implying?"

"There seems to be too many large gaps in my memory from the Space Time Duplicating Dimension. I am aware that even though our spiritual channel was blocked, you could see and hear everything. Yet you keep evading my questions. What is your purpose behind keeping things from me? For that matter.....what is your purpose for being with me in the first place? In fact, if you attach yourself with some powerful cultivator, you'll be able to recover your powers faster."

"...I cannot tell you anything right now. But that is because you are still too weak. Knowing too much is not always a good thing. Especially if you do not have the capability of protecting yourself or doing anything after knowing about it."

Rihanna slowly opened her eyes and looked around. The array circle had dispersed at some point, but the list mists of golden and white energy still remained, gently clinging to the air. The Emperor had long disappeared. She felt a sudden sense of loss at not being able to see him after opening her eyes. What in the world was wrong with her! Rihanna kept sitting, taking deep breaths to calm her churning emotions, then heaved out a long, deep breath.

"Then just tell me one thing......did I know you before?"

Little purple fidgeted for a while.

"...Yes....and no...."

Rihanna quirked her eyebrows at this dubious answer. She knew that he was not going to elaborate his reply, which made her all the more mad. As it is there were too many things being kept from her from the beginning itself. Now, after returning from the dimension, she felt more and more things were accumulating around her in the shadows. And it irritated her when she couldn't grasp them!

But she did understand his point. At her current cultivation level, she could defend and fight against anyone in the Foundation Building stage. And probably even win against someone in the first level of Sprouting, but only if the person was alone, and she managed to take him completely by surprise. After all, though it was only a gap of one cultivation stage, there was a large gap between the power of someone in the 5th level of Foundation Building and one in the 1st level of Sprouting.

But in the world of cultivation, a mere Foundation Building Cultivator meant nothing. Knowing too much, too soon, might be more of a hassle than a boon.

"You have stayed here long enough. Or do you not plan to return back to check on the children and this body's sister and also your friends from the dimension? Why do I feel you have become more laid back after returning?"

Rihanna wanted to retort back, but she paused. She couldn't ignore everyone else just because she still felt uncomfortable facing Ye Luo. What had to be faced, would need to be faced someday. Then there was no use procrastinating. She might as well get it over with. Coming to this decision, Rihanna stood up and exited the array circle. Even as her figure gradually faded into the distance, the golden and white streams of energy kept circling around the same place, slowly dispersing till they completely disappeared from their place.