Chapter – 78 - The Underground Blood-Pool

Rihanna quickly checked up on the still unconscious Ye Luo, and was just wondering if she should also take a look at Phantasm and the high-grade beast in the pool, when Little Purple broke through her thoughts.

'There is some movement in the seventh passageway. The aura seems to be of the leader of the Dormions. Do you want to check?'

What was there to think? Of course she needed to check on the daily routine of the leader! Decisively, she stepped into the seventh passage, keeping her aura and senses as close to her as possible. Little Purple said that this female was a hard one to deal with. At least she couldn't do it using the usual means.

So Little Purple sent out his energy instead to check on the surroundings. There were two barriers on the way, one for protection. The other was an attacking array. With his help, Rihanna made it through, wondering what was hidden inside which required an attacking barrier! The passage winded for a long way, and ended in a large hole leading to another, pitch dark tunnel.

Rihanna stepped through the mouth of this tunnel and paused for a while, trying to get used to the dimness of her surroundings. Even without light, she could sense the tunnel sloping downwards at a steep angle, and sounds of splashing water could be heard at a distance.

This must be the place where she bathes! She remembered the man telling her that this woman took off her ring only when she was bathing. Would this be her chance? She slowed down, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible while going down the slope.

Light slowly flooded in through the gaps somewhere in front, and Rihanna crouched down whilst still crawling forward. She could now see the walls of the tunnel. They were black, dark as the moon-less night, and large roots of trees were climbing all over the walls, crisscrossing through the passage.

Thankfully she could go through almost anything in her spirit form. But she would need to be very careful when she came in her body. The roots growing all through and over the passage hardly left much space for a person's movement. How did the leader come here? Was there some other path as well...a hidden passage?

The roots grew larger and thicker as she crawled to the opening of the tunnel, and they suddenly forked out in all directions, as if sprouting through the hole, and moved like tentacles to cover all the walls of the cave where the tunnel led to. Rihanna moved to the edge of the tunnel and peeped out cautiously.

At a glance the cave did not seem very big, but then one could see the water below flowing in a turn and moving back in loops. The whole mountain was made of the dark black stone, making the entire ambience very somber and eerie. The roots of the trees were clinging to these black stone-walls, and growing all over the space, like hungry creepers trying to suck the essence of these stones.

The roof was very high, and the center of the roof caved downwards abruptly, plunging through the gushing water, and forming a pillar with the floor. The pillar was thick, and green creepers and moss grew all over it. The light was still too dim, but Rihanna felt something off about the water flowing past the pillar and the way it seemed to stain the base of the walls.

'Little Purple...why does that water look so thick and viscous?....'

'Look above.'

Rihanna craned her neck upwards. The roots climbing up the walls had gathered like a large web around the pillar, and hung like another ceiling just below the rocky roof. And the web of roots was filled with carcasses of dead beasts, their blood falling drop by drop to splash into the waters running below. This was a Blood-Pool!

Rihanna felt everything churning inside her stomach and wanted to vomit. This large pool was actually filled with blood of countless demonic beasts, fresh and putrid blood, having been in this pool for who knows how long!

And that woman was happily swimming in this stinking blood, like it was the most refreshing and energizing waters of the world!

'Is she a devil cultivator? Forceful cultivation with human males, absorbing blood energy and essence of beasts...what could be more devilish than this?!'

'Technically, she is still within the realms of a normal cultivator. She is only absorbing the essence and energy of blood of dead beasts, not directly killing them through her absorption. But yes.....she does fall on that very thin line of difference.'

Pushing down the discomfort and disgust, Rihanna kept watching as the woman took a dip. When she rose out of the waters again, thick blood streamed from her long, open and drenched hair, flowing down the paleness of her body in gleaming red rivulets. Standing there, half her naked body dripping in blood, and the bloody-water lapping against the other half still below the surface, she herself looked like the devil incarnate, scaring Rihanna to her core.

How was she supposed to fight such a demonic woman? If she got caught.....she didn't want to think of what would happen if she got caught!

She knelt there for a long time, watching the woman bathing in ecstasy, till she finished her bathing ritual and walked up to the rock and sand banks again. Pulling on a black robe with vibrant red patterns glowing all over the dark cloth, she put on the rings on both her thumbs, then swiftly left the cave.

Rihanna only now noticed a flight of stairs at the extreme end of the cave. Just as she had thought...there was a different entry to this cave as well.

Waiting for a long while to make sure that the Leader had left, she started crawling down the tunnel again. Finally dropping down to the narrow and sharp edged bank of the pool, she looked around to check the area.

'Do you think she comes here to take a bath every day?'

'You want to do something to the bath water? We need to be careful...but it is possible to add something to the blood of the creatures hanging from above. If we add it to the corpses, it will mix in with the blood, and will not get separated when coming in contact with the water. Also, the amount can be regulated, and she will not be able to sense it immediately. It will give us a chance.'

'.....I love the way you always understand what I am trying to plan.'

Rihanna chuckled softly, then turned towards the roof once again. After some contemplation, she started climbing up the roots on the cave wall, making her way to the roof. She needed to get a better look at the blood, so she could think of what to add and how to go about it.

After checking the blood, having a regular chat with Phantasm and looking around for some more information, Rihanna decided to return back to the cave where her body was. Now she needed to figure out a plan...and then wait for the time when she could take action.

She spent the rest of the night and the next day in her Spirit Space. Her space ring held a concoction of stuff.....things she had collected in Poison Swamp and at the two different clans. Entering the space, she sat down cross legged, and much to the Seed's annoyance, overturned the entire contents on the ground of the space.

Hmmm.....she still had a lot of different herbs and plants from the Swamp. There was still a few dozen of those energy explosion balls she had taken from the Su Clan. After much shameless haggling, the Seed agreed to lending her some of its refined fire and frost energy. Rihanna spent the rest of the time under the tutelage of the seed, learning the basic methods of extracting juices and elemental attributes from the different plants and herbs, balancing and mixing materials with different properties so the energies don't clash.

By the time she woke up, both suns were high up in the sky, and she had managed to concoct various stuff which might come handy in this mission. But she had a nagging feeling that there was still something she had not planned for.

'Little Purple.....how far are those people? By when do you think we can start carrying out our plan?'

'They are getting close. By early tomorrow they should reach here.'

'Phantasm should remove the barrier only once they reach this place. How do we coordinate that?'

'I'll do that. But before that....we still don't have a way to take Phantasm out of the cage.'

'Ah....yes! I kept feeling I was forgetting something!.....Do you think the Leader will have something in her space ring to open the bars of the cage? Or should we try blasting the mountain wall around the cage?'

'If you can use some of the Fire energy refined by the Seed, you can cut a hole in the wall. it will not be able to resist against the pure, concentrated fire power of refined energy strands.'

'Hmmm.....better to have a way than depend on the space ring for everything. I am thinking of taking away as much of those Fire Mushrooms and Purple Flowers as possible.'

Once the second sun was about to set, Rihanna stealthily made her way to the peak of the second hill. The same two boys were guarding the entrance today as well. Rihanna waited. They would naturally have to answer the call of nature at some point. She needed to keep her patience.

Her plan was simple. With the help of her own Trans-mutating Jade, and the blood and spirit power of one of them, she could take on the disguise of the person.

From there on, she would become a member of the Dormions group and infiltrate. As far as she had seen, except for the Leader and the High-Grade Beast, none of the others had a high enough level. As long as she kept away from the first two, she was confident she could go about setting up her plan without an issue.