Chapter – 14 - Green-Stone City

Rihanna felt she was in a surreal space. The stark difference between the dense forest and barren lands on the outside, and the inner beauty and aesthetics within the city had her speechless.

It was like she had travelled to a world in ancient times.....well, somewhat. Actually, this city gave her the vibe of Arabic architecture meets western antiquity.

There were four entrance gates to Green-Stone City, and she had entered through the South Gate. A very broad road led from the Gate to the Centre of the City. Houses could be seen on both sides of the road, made from black, red and dark-brown stones. Huge slabs of these stones were meticulously placed on each other to form the walls of the houses and their outer boundary-walls.

The road itself was very wide, easily able to accommodate at least three large carriages. Shining whitish-gray stones were laid down in patterns to create these beautiful paved roads, giving it a very quaint and medieval-like aura. On both sides of this wide road, were narrow but very deep drains, covered by slabs of gray-black stones.

And on the other side of these drains were footpaths - at least a foot above the level of the road, and at least 5-6 feet wide. Large squares of sand-yellow stones paved the whole footpath throughout the city.

The footpath merged with the entrance of the shops bordering these footpaths on both sides of the road. These shops did not have any staircases leading to them. Instead, all the shops were at the same level as the footpath, with a very short stone door-frame partition, separating the shop from the footpath. Or they had a single small step leading to the door of the shop.

The architecture was a combination - some houses were round, some were square, and some were rectangular. Some of the houses were even a beautiful combination of wooden lattices and frames and windows and doors within stone walls. And the different colored stones used for the buildings gave off a vibrant yet raw feel. There were wide wooden or stone awnings above the doors and windows, probably to shelter the people coming in from the heat and rain.

The round houses had round, funnel shaped roofs, with a very narrow, chimney like appendage in the middle of the roof, very thin and very long. Rihanna couldn't understand the use of this strange chimney, since she didn't see any smoke coming out of it.

The square and rectangular houses had triangular roofs, similar to what she had seen on earth. All the roofs were made from wooden or metal framework, covered with layering's of stone or wooden tiles. These tiles were all imprinted. All the tiles of a house would have the same print in all the tiles. and no two house had the same imprint pattern. Which made Rihanna believe that these imprints were probably the mark of the family living in these houses.....or something of that sort.

Medium-sized and large carriages were being pulled by large demonic beasts on the broad road of the city. Some of the carriages were made wholly of narrow and thin wooden panels. But most carriages had a metal framework, with beautiful designs and molding all over the framework. And within the framework, thin wooden panels were perfectly fitted.

There were even some palanquins being carried by the sides of the road. And these palanquins were being carried by commoners.

The commoners could easily be separated from the cultivators. Being in the forest for so long, she had not had much thoughts about this. But here, inside the city, the difference was vividly visible.

Cultivators carried themselves with an inherent arrogance. Their steps were sharp and determined, bodies straightened by pride and deep arrogance, and a slight killer-aura could be made out as they passed by her. Moreover, cultivators loved wearing bold colors. The tunics covering their upper body were long, reaching below their knees, with short sleeves. Some were even sleeveless. And they came in bold and single colors of red, dark-green, dark-blue, purple, yellow, maroon, orange, etc. There were mostly no designs or embroidery on these tunics. Beneath, the pants were harem styled, or the women sometimes wore very loose bottomed pants, almost looking like skirts.

There was not much of a difference between the clothes of the men and women, except for the pants. Both men and women liked wearing jewelry. And both wore heavy boots or leather shoes. Many of the people carried thin scarfs to cover their head and face from the blistering heat of the day. It also provided protection from the sporadic rainfalls happening throughout the day.

They also carried thick and cold-resistant cloaks within their storage spaces, which mostly came out only at night. Most of these cloaks were darker in color. Bold and bright embroidered patterns could only be found on the long, wide sleeves of the cloak, the lower drape of the cloak, or the scarves covering their heads. The scant amount of embroidery stood out beautifully, against the contrasting bold colors of the tunic.

The commoners on the other hand wore short tunics, ending near their thighs. And thick pants which could be tied near the ankle. Their clothes came in darker colors with duller shades. And all of them wore thick boots. She also noticed that most of these commoners carried broad satchels tied to their back, carrying thick cloaks, food and water and other items of necessity.

Almost all the commoners and cultivators in this world carried some form of weapon, though she never saw them using it within the city.

Comparatively, the commoners looked more humble and easy to approach, smiling often amongst themselves, though they restrained themselves around the cultivators. A sense of fear was apparent in them when around these proud cultivators. Though she rarely saw the cultivators actually bullying or harassing them.

The demonic beasts were just as proud and arrogant as the cultivators. Even Low-Grade demonic beasts had the intelligence of a human kid, and thus they had almost all the emotions which a human could evoke. They didn't shy from staring into the eyes of the humans as they passed by them on the road, and their eyes held a sharp light. Even under contract binding them to the human cultivators, their wild, untamed aura was prominent.

On the footpath, between the doors of two shops, stalls would be placed. Some of the hawkers even simply spread out wooden boards or stone slabs on the ground and placed their wares on it.

The one thing which was common to everything she saw.....were strange patterns in meticulous combinations. They were everywhere - houses, shops, stalls, carriages, satchels, clothes....everywhere! Either they were directly engraved on the stone wall or wooden panels, or embroidered on the clothes. or they were etched out in separate stone or wood strips, which were then attached to the panels or walls of the shops and stalls. After looking at many of these patterns, Rihanna had a theory - that these might be arrays of some kind.....but then she had nowhere to verify her theory.

Everything under the two suns could be seen in these shops and stalls. Shops mostly sold medicine, food, clothes, weapons and armors. There were also weapon inscription shops, spirit stone gambling shops, spiritual artifact shops and a whole lot more which Rihanna did not understand. Stalls were mostly of street food, daily divination, low grade spirit stones and energy cores, spiritual nick-knacks, low grade demonic beasts for contracting, etc. Shoppers, laborers, hawkers, and other pedestrians scurried along the footpath.

There was also some grand event going on in the city, and colorful streamers, glowing with different colored spiritual light were hung in the air, crisscrossing over the shops. The different emblems of all the various participating sects also glowed on the tiny flags hanging from these streamers. Little bursts of lights emerged from these streamers every now and then, and sparkled in the air like glitters. They were very eye-catching and lit the entire market in a festive and celebratory atmosphere!

Rihanna was lazily wandering around, trying to take in all the sights and sounds of the city. It had taken them five days of traveling by foot to break out of the forest and finally reach Green-Stone City. All the shops had these quaint wooden boards, signs and hoardings, in different shapes and sizes. Some even had spiritual stones embedded, and they glowed at night. It gave off a very charming, antique, and medieval-ish feeling. But the roads and infrastructure were much more well planned and accommodating. Though this world was not a world of technology, but their cultivation growth had left no loopholes, and everything worked in a very systematic manner. She couldn't help praising the diligence of the people and governance.

In fact there were two markets in this city - one in the North-East and the other in South-West. And no residences were allowed to be set up in this entire area. This place was only for shopping! And to top it off - every shop had protective defense runes inscribed on their wooden or stone panels, whereas the stalls had paper or jade inscriptions hung at their front side. Without these protective arrays, the City Governance did not allow the shopkeepers to set-up shop! It was only after stepping into the market, and eavesdropping on the conversation of others in the market, that her prior theory was finally verified!

A group of traveling cultivators were rushing her way. Remembering that she still had the aura of a commoner, she hurriedly moved off to one side. The passing people gave a disdainful look at the ugly creature slobbering over her shoulders, then immediately moved their gaze away. Rihanna looked at Fluffy with an apologetic look.

Yup. That black, hairless, wrinkle skinned Hog like creature was the fluffy white furred fox. What a drastic change of appearance – both had yet to adjust to it. She could still remember Fluffy's pathetic whining and protesting against this very atrocious idea, all to no avail. Father Musakat entirely ignored him as he slashed a cut on his son's paw and his own paws. Then he forcefully joined their palms together, to merge their blood as he passed on some energy through his blood. Within moments the white fur ball turned and became this pitiful black blob. Fluffy was extremely resentful, and she had to expend much energy in coaxing and dragging him out of the underground place.

Well, at least he was not the only one. Cultivators carrying demonic beasts seated on their shoulders, perched on their hands or trotting alongside them was entirely common scene here. Kind of reminded her of humans on earth on a walk with their pets - only thing missing here were the leashes.

Something sizzled. Intense aroma of something being cooked immediately filled her nostrils, and she could feel an invisible thread of flavor pulling her by the nose towards a little shop at the corner. Just before she entered the restaurant she gave a warning to Fluffy.

'Don't you dare get off my shoulders and wander off. Remember what happened outside the city? Your arrogance would have killed you. Remember – we need to stay low key. L-O-W K-E-Y....get it?!'

'But I am hungry! And you keep eating like a glutton and forget to feed me! I have never seen a master like you!'

Rihanna wanted to roll her eyes at him.

'I am the only master you have ever seen! Okay, fine.....just tell me what you want to eat and I'll order it. But no running around....and no trying to steal other people's food!'

Rihanna smiled brightly at the manager sitting behind a counter, all the while carrying on this conversation in her mind.

Yes – they were finally connected through their souls. It had been one of the high points of her entire two-lives! The solemn way in which Father Musakat had made sharp cuts on her palm and Fluffy's paw, then squeezed out blood from each onto a slab of stone with a bowl-like center. As the blood drops merged with each other, a Golden-red light shown from each. Then both of them repeated some weird words recited by Father Musakat – felt like chanting Sanskrit Mantras – equally exotic sounding words going tangent over her brains. Finally, with the last words, the light intensified, and the blood separated to form two golden red blood spheres, which shot out and went into their glabella.

Immediately Rihanna felt her head pounding with a host of new thoughts and memories. Was this Fluffy's memories? They seemed very little and quite repetitive. But why was his head full of so many thoughts?! And most of them seemed to revolve around digging, scratching, running, playing, eating.....was this like a 24 hours new podcast which she could not turn off?! Oh....The days on this planet were actually longer.....almost 36 hours. But still, that was not the point!! How was she supposed to turn off this constant noise bouncing around her peaceful mind – she could barely hear her her own thoughts?!

Thankfully Father Musakat taught her how to connect and cut off this spiritual connection – she was on the verge of turning insane!

Rihanna chose a corner table and settled down, placing Fluffy on the opposite chair. She had been really intelligent for once, heading for the Mercenary Guild as soon as her foot crossed over the city entrance. She sold of all the energy cores Ye Luo had passed on to her. And now she had a bunch of low grade spirit stones, aka – spirit currency lining up one side of her space ring. She had money...she could spend....she wanted to sing! Once again she blessed Ye Luo for his generous heart. 'O Happy Days...!!'

The waiter disturbed her thoughts with a line of dishes as he placed them all over the table. The aroma was quite delectable. She sniffed each dish, savoring the rich scent of cooked food. Ahhhh....how long had it been seen she had even seen cooked food.....the kind cooked in a kitchen with spices and condiments and served fresh! She felt like throwing kisses and hearts at all the people of this world – even though they looked like elves, at least they knew how to cook!

Stewed meat, fried meat, stir-fried vegetables, meat in gravy – she piled it all up on her plate till it could hold no more, and then was about to start digging in when a flurry of pulling and scratching reminded her she had forgotten Fluffy. He was looking at her in disapproval. 'I knew it – you have forgotten me as soon as you saw food!' written all over his face. Rihanna scratched her nose in embarrassment, then piled another plate with food, before tossing it to Fluffy's side.

Then both started digging into their piles with gusto.

"This time the competition seems to be quite intense! I heard even sects from neighboring countries have been invited to spectate the various events of the competition."

"Hmm....this year even the preliminaries have opened up for the general public.....I even saw some commoners at the starting event yesterday!"

"They are making it into a big scale event. But then two new dark horses have suddenly come up, and no one can predict the outcome anymore. So they are trying to cash in on the suspense and excitement of the people."

"Yes.....Divine Root Sect and Ancient Beast Aura Sect. But Divine Root Sect had been on decline for the past so many decades. Yet suddenly they came up on almost all platforms. It is being speculated that they managed to recruit some genius disciples. People are betting on who they are!"

"True. They were already at the border of their performance. A few more years and they would be forcefully expelled from the Alliance of Sects. They managed to turn their fortunes around in the nick of time. So naturally everyone's interested."

"I am more interested in Ancient Beast Aura Sect. No one's heard of them before, yet they completely rolled over all the minor and mid-minor sects in the Elementary Madsa-Tamu Inter-Sect Competition. They made it to the Championship without a single drop in any of the prior competitions. This is already such a rare occurrence!"

"Huh! But now the city is crowded by all the challengers from the sects, the specially invited guests from neighboring countries as well as hordes of cultivators who have come to spectate. It's so crowded that Inn's have run out of space. I overheard a group of loose cultivators threatening some commoners to hand over their housing spaces for the duration of the competition. Such shameless acts have become common nowadays!"

"Wait and watch. As the competition reaches the finals, more and more such scenarios will develop. Every other day, someone or the other blocks the roads, and then a fight ensues. The city governance is running out of hair trying to keep these people in check. They are competing in the championship, and then taking out their losses on the roads. The people of the city have to bear the brunt!"

'CRASH!'

Rihanna was busy gnawing on a piece of bone, trying to suck out the marrow, as she fully concentrated on the gossip going on at the table next to hers. Suddenly something smashed forcefully through the window next to her and crashed onto the table. All the dishes flew into the air, and the food landed on everyone around – Rihanna, Fluffy, as well as the table full of people next to her jumped in shock, then glanced down at their ruined appearance....and then turned simultaneously at the scenario outside.