Chapter – 35 - Chaos In Chen Clan!

'Stop! Rihanna....do you hear me? Listen to my voice. Stop whatever you are doing right now! Rihanna!'

Little Purple was trying hard to penetrate inside her mind, but Rihanna seemed to be caught in a deep emotional whirlpool, and her subconscious was blocking him out. No matter how much he screamed her name, she remained unresponsive.

On the other hand, her emotions were churning her energy into a mini gale as they lashed at everything outside. The earth around her started trembling, then as the vibrations grew, pebbles and dust rose up in the air, reaching almost to human height.

The vibrations grew stronger, crushing the tiny pebbles and stones to dust. More and more dust accumulated around her. The puddle nearby also started vibrating, ripples forming in quick succession over the flimsy layer of water. Slowly the layers started rising from the center, spreading out and dissipating at the edges of the puddle.

As the vibrations grew, the ripples increased in size, till it looked like a pot of boiling water. Water particles started shifting upwards, merging into the churning layer of dust as it grew in size, revolving around Rihanna. Innumerable fine hair-like cracks spread out on the rocks beneath her, and tiny green buds spread out, covering the stones like fine moss.

The whirling wind and dust and water kept growing in size, speeding up little by little, as if wanting to break free from all constraints, like a eternally hungry beast wanting to devour everything in its way.

Rihanna herself was too absorbed in the sudden rampage of emotions growing like a dark abyss deep inside her, cutting off all of her senses from the outside. The grief at suddenly being uprooted from a safe, secure and predictable life, the pain of knowing she might never meet her family and friends again, the frustration and anger at being bound to a destiny she couldn't control, the helplessness of her own weak strength.....she felt as if she was standing on top of a very tall cliff surrounded by complete darkness.

And this eternal darkness was wanting to consume her, even as she grit her teeth, fighting just to be able to stand against a raging hurricane threatening to sweep her off her feet. She refused to give in, refused to fall....but everything and everyone was trying to push her down, make her succumb and accept a fate she found unacceptable!

'Rihanna! Rihanna!! RIHANNA!!'

Tears came pouring out of her tightly closed eyes. They rolled down her cheeks, clinging to her chin, then falling and merging into the whirling wind and dust.

Perhaps it was the warmth of her own tears. Or perhaps it was her energy which was already used up and could hold on no more. Whatever the reason, Rihanna started feeling dizzy and fatigued, and her body started trembling with exertion. Amidst the fading focus, she finally regained some semblance of consciousness, and Little Purple's loud scream broke through her inner barriers.

'Huh!'

Rihanna frowned as Little Purple shouted again, her lips twitching. Something sticky choked her throat, and a trickle of blood surged out from the corners of her mouth. Her trembling body shook once more, and then she dropped down on to the ground like a stone - heavy and unconscious.

'Aish! This was really dangerous. But....what kind of cultivation is this? How are we supposed to develop this thing?!'

Even as Little Purple cribbed around in his head, a dark purple light surged out from within her again, trying his best to heal her internal injuries. With the amount of noise she had created just now, it was already a wonder that no one had sensed this massive fluctuation of power and rushed over for inspection!

It was almost time for the first sun to rise when Rihanna dragged herself back to her temporary room. The others of the dorm were still asleep as she pulled herself on to the bed. Yesterday had been extremely taxing on her body and nerves and emotions.

She felt terribly drained and exhausted, yet sleep did not come. She had been unconscious for a long while, and now she lay staring up at the ceiling, rubbing her aching limbs and joints. Today morning the Su Clan would be sending someone to fetch all of them. She really hadn't thought this before.....but would it be safe to let Young An tag along with them? She was already this weak, could she look-out for the little kid as well?

The circle of thoughts were making her drowsy, and she didn't realize when she had nodded off to sleep. Only when her body started shaking continuously, and a great din arose all around her did she finally manage to nudge her eyes open. Chaos seemed to have descended all around in Chen Clan. Every Chen Clan member was running around with panicked and angry faces. The commoners were cowering around their rooms, or going about their tasks in trepidation. The guests were roaming around looking confused and curious, trying to wean information out of the members scurrying back and forth.

'Oh....so finally the works of the Chen Clan Leader has been discovered?'

'Don't be too conceited. There was one other person besides him in the interior regions that day. Just hope that they don't track you down.'

'Oh!.....That ball of pink is outside with Fluffy....if they are spotted together, everyone will immediately know that I am involved as well!...Do you have any suggestion?'

'Hmmm....we definitely can't take that thing with us. Tell Fluffy to entice it to that weird rabbit hole he found on the first day, and stuff it inside it. Once we are gone, even if it is found it won't be tracked back to us.'

Fluffy did as he was told, and pushed the ball of pink down the weird hole....which, surprisingly, was rather long and seemed to go all the way down to who knows where! He bided his time, waiting for the hog to fall asleep, then silently disappeared, appearing before Rihanna once more.

The outside was extremely chaotic by now. Seven cultivators at the 4th and 5th stage of Foundation Building had disappeared from inside the interior regions of the clans territory. Moreover the Heritage Tower had been ransacked, and some things were missing.

The Clan members were adamant that every guest who had been present during the banquet had to go through interrogation and checking. Problem was, some guests had already left. Thus the remaining ones refused to budge and were equally adamant that they should be allowed to leave as well. The Elders of the Clan were stuck between appeasing the clan members and trying to make the guests agree with their request.

However many of the guests were on equal footing with the Chen Clan, and were also part of Leading Clans from other cities. Thus everything was quickly becoming very messy.

The commoners were the most silent of the entire lot. They were scared to make any move as they might get caught in the cross-fire and be sacrificed. They were too scared to even ask for their wages. They either hid inside their rooms, hoping for the storm to pass, or went about their tasks trying to hide their heads between their knees. Why are we caught in such troublesome matters!!

In the midst of all the hullabaloo, the servant from the Su Clan arrived, rather arrogantly requesting the leave for the three new servants taken in by the Su Clan. This further incited the anger of the clan members, since the Su Clan was also not exempted from suspicion. Rihanna felt that she was like 'an-ant-on-a-hot-pan', jumping around inwardly, wondering if she would be able to escape this predicament!

Surprisingly, the Clan Leader had a discussion with the Elders, and determined that the whole incident was beyond the capability of a commoner, and since such was the case, there was no point in keeping these extra people around and increasing the confusion.

And so, by late noon, Rihanna very gladly accepted the wages for the work she had done, and tugging onto the hands of An and Siyu, she almost ran out of the Chen Clan gate, and rushed on towards the Su Clan, following the servant.

Unnoticed by all present, a ball of pink flashed out of the gates before it closed, and chased behind the three, hiding itself in the shadows of the trees and walls on the path. It seemed to have developed great efficiency in hiding and running, as it managed to reach the gates of the Su Clan without any one being the wiser.

Unfortunately it was still a little behind, and got stopped by the closed gates. It whined and whimpered and sniffed around the entire territory wall, but not a single hole existed through which it could smuggle itself in.

'You little fellow....so scheming at such a young age! But do you really think you can run? If I have set my eyes on you, there is no place on these lands where you can hide! Go, enjoy your freedom for a few more days. Once I figure out how to enter this blasted place...you can only be mine!'

Sitting atop Rihanna's shoulder, and making their way to Grandfather Su's place, Fluffy felt a chill crawling down his back. And he sneezed loudly.

'Have you caught a cold?'

'No....I don't know why....but I keep feeling that something disastrous is about to befall us!'

Rihanna glanced at Fluffy, who seemed to shiver unconsciously. Then she sighed at his weird sixth sense, and threw the talk out of her mind.....never knowing these same words would soon come back to haunt her!