Chapter – 30 - The Little Golden Dragon

'Is that really....the Chen Clan Leader?'

'Hmmm....it looks to be him alright.....though I am not sure....'

'But why would the Clan Leader kill the cultivators of his own clan? Is he trying to steal something from his own clan? But....couldn't he just ask an elder or something? Or use his own token of authority?'

Rihanna felt all her worldview she had built so patiently over the months, collapsing in an instant!

'I don't....think.....that he is the Clan Leader...'

'Eh! But he sure looked like the Clan Leader from the back! Is he someone who looks similar to the Clan Leader?!'

'No.....I mean....the one you know as the Clan Leader....is probably not the real Clan Leader. This is someone who has disguised himself as the Clan Leader and infiltrated the Clan....most probably to take whatever is hidden here.'

Whoa!....This was so James Bond! But...

'Is he after the Trans-mutating Jade as well?'

'He doesn't need the jade. He has some other means of disguising.....and I can tell it is far superior to the trans-mutating jade. No matter what he is after, there is going to be chaos out there soon. We have to get out of this clan before they start holding up the people for interrogation.'

Rihanna was keeping a close eyes on the pyramid tower while discussing with Little Purple, otherwise she would have missed the flicker in the light surrounding the building. This fellow had expertly merged with the shadows of the building itself, and using this cover, he slipped out of the tower.

Rihanna waited till she was sure the shadow was long gone, then swiftly reached the opening in the array barrier which, strangely, was unable to mend itself.

'He is a cultivator of Shadow Element - a shadow assassin, whose strong attack is shadow poison. This can corrode particles of most other elements. Though he cannot completely remove the barrier, he can create a tear in the elemental composition, and the corroded particles will not be able to regenerate. Be careful when entering. If these particles of poison come in contact with your clothes or skin, it will be very dangerous.'

Rihanna could now connect the elemental powers to the working of organic chemistry - very similar, and followed similar structure and laws of permutation and combination. Keeping her senses at high alert, she deftly slipped in through the same path as the 'Clan Leader' before.

"Oh my eyes! I am going to go blind! Is this what snow-blindness feels like?"

Rihanna's eyebrows were tightly furrowed, eyes squinting and blinking rapidly, trying to dispel the bright light bouncing off from all the....everything! Everything was white, like the whitest snow, with nothing to absorb the eye-piercing light.

White walls, white floor tiles, white roof, white cupboards, white tables and desks, white chairs and stools, white flower pots, white leafed plants with white flowers, white writing desks with white paper, white brushes, white quill pens, white ink bottles, white paper-weights....!! Was the ink white as well?? There was so much of white that Rihanna was having trouble focusing in any specific direction.

'This is to confuse intruders and disrupt their thoughts and actions. If anyone tries to break in, they will be blinded by the whiteness here, and that is the best time for the counter-attack of the towers defense system.'

'Does tearing through the array wall count as intruding?'

'Hmmm...yes, actually! Only, the tower defense has not yet been able to sense the intrusion in it's array. You should not dawdle around here, and seek out the trans-mutating jade fast. If the system of the tower is activated, we'll not be able to leave alive.'

Rihanna started, feeling anxious and panicked, and rushed towards the only door on the opposite side. The door opened into a passage, thankfully not white, and a flight of green-jade stairs twisted upwards towards the next level.

'Cross the second level. Go straight to the third level. I can sense the aura of the trans-mutating jade coming from there.'

Rihanna rushed up, taking two steps at a time, trying to keep her balance as she twisted around along with the staircase. In order to reach the next level, she had to cross through each level below it, because each staircase was disconnected and placed at a different part of the tower!

This was such a waste of time....but probably a good way to hinder the path of an intruder! By the time she reached the third level, she was panting. Truly, she had given up completely on her physical workouts. With this state of her physique, she could not even escape low level cultivators!

As she opened the door and entered the gray stone hall, Fluffy bounded out from her shoulder perch, running towards some low stone shelves stashed in a corner. The glob of pink had followed Rihanna, or rather Fluffy, all the way up, and now plopped down in the center of the hall, rolling around from fatigue and listlessness.

Those guards who had died....she had known them vaguely. But their deaths still affected her. After all, they were all creatures living in the same space for such a long time. It kept looking around, whining in short sniffles, till Rihanna couldn't bear its piteous look, and plucked it off the floor, seating it on her other shoulder.

Fluffy had stopped to make sure his favorite perch was not being sacrificed, then trotted on to the shelves.

'Go to the right side of the hall. Go behind the stone counter.'

Rihanna weaved in through the mess of stone tables and chairs, stone stoves, stone hearths, half-height stone cupboards, full height stone shelves and cabinets...okay, so this was the stone room! Got it!! The second level was definitely the wood room.....everything and anything of wood could be found there. Rihanna wondered what would happen should someone light a fire in the second floor?!

'Everything in this pyramid tower, from level one to level nine, is fire proof, rust proof, age proof, weather proof, water proof.....an incompetent piece of junk like you doesn't need to think about what would happen. You won't even be able to run if it does set on fire anyway!'

Aish!....This old fellow always had his underwear in a knot! It was just a hypothetical question.....'what if'....after all, accidents could happen anytime!

Shaking her head, Rihanna rounded the stone counter overflowing with little stone bottles. Behind the counter, there were deep groves running all along the counter wall, and also the wall of the hall which was hidden by the counter. These grooves were separated by thin stone partitions, and in each groove stood a small stone chest.

They were of different types - ornate stone chest, chests with painted lids, chests with engravings all over, chests which were designed to look like small beasts and plants, highly polished stone chests which looked like pearl orbs, simple stone chests, broken stone chests - there were really all kinds of them!

Sensing Little Purple's aura through her fingers, she soon stopped before one of the grooves which attracted her towards it. It was a stone chest looking like an orb, but time had left thin cracks all over its egg-like shell. The stone itself looked a Golden Tiger Eye stone.....or at least something similar.

'How to open this? This looks pretty old and untouched for ages....sheesh....what a thick layer of dust!.....Has the dust entered inside through the cracks as well?'

'Tsk....if there are already cracks on the stone, then what are you waiting for? Just crack the entire thing open, and take out the jade.'

Rihanna took the orb and hammered it lightly on the floor. After a few tries, the cracks lengthened, covering all of the orb. With a final hit on the floor, the entire stone started crumbling into fine dust and stone shards, leaving a yawning hole on one side of the orb.

Rihanna reached inside with two fingers, and slowly nudged out a Blue Jade Egg. There was a yellow metal dragon coiling around it. A dark red jade was shaped like the petals of an Aereos flower, and the egg was supported on its center. It was so tiny that the entire thing fitted in her palms, but it was extremely detailed in carving.

This was definitely not the token she had in mind! Wasn't a token supposed to be square, rectangular or circular, flat at the bottom, and can be carried in her pocket?!

'Prick your fingers on the central stamen of the flower, then hold the drop of blood over the mouth of the dragon.'

Rihanna raised her brows in surprise, following the instructions and pricking her forefinger of her right hand on the sharp stamen. Bringing the drop of blood to the dragon's mouth, she looked on curiously as the mouth opened and bit into her wound, sucking the drop of blood, followed by more blood!

Before her startled eyes, the entire yellow dragon puffed up with her blood, turning a vivacious scarlet red. From the base of the egg, innumerable thin lines spread all over the blue surface like a web of blood. The dark red stamens of the flower glowed at the end, and tiny red anthers made of blood drops formed on them.

Rihanna was shocked by the amount of blood being sucked out by the dragon! She didn't want to lose too much blood and faint here.....going through so much trouble only to be caught like a sewer-rat in the end! When the dragon finally removed its tiny fangs from her fingers, she breathed in relief.

'Now pour in a stream of your energy into the stamen of the flower. Make sure to keep the stream very thin and stable.'

Rihanna took a deep breath. Little Purple had made her do this continuously for the past few nights.

'Close your eyes and focus on the energy around. Absorb it in the body. Focus on the thin strands as they travel through the body and reach the dantian. Now focus on the energy stream, and gently pull them towards the forefinger of the right hand. Let it accumulate, then slowly push it outwards. Keep a deep focus and stable breathing, and allow a continuous movement of the stream of energy as it flows outwards'.

As Rihanna pushed out this stable stream of energy outwards, the blood stamens joined together, forming a small hollow in the center of the flower, and excitedly started sucking the energy. As more energy entered the egg, a golden light flickered all over the egg's surface, and the colors of the egg became brighter. Finally a bright golden light flashed at the tip of the stamens, and the entire egg vanished.

Rihanna was about to exclaim, when she felt something wrapping itself around her upper right arm. Startled, she raised her sleeves.....to find a golden-red dragon wrapped around her arm, above the elbow. It's eyes flashed blue, and a dark red mane hung from its head. It looked like a beautiful piece of jewelry, ornate in design, and nothing like the egg it had once been. So....now this aura changing, feature disguising Trans-mutating-jade.....was finally hers?!