Chapter – 27 - Old Man Dancing!!

The day flashed by like a mirage, and once more Rihanna was standing before the same green jade archway...only now the entire courtyard had no room to breathe! Guests and Hosts were everywhere - disturbing the gardens, dirtying the cleaned pools, getting into the ways of the servants....it was like a sea of people had flooded the central hall! Even the beautiful dark green jade floor tiles, creating the much hyped splendor of this Main Hall of Chen Clan, was lost in the sea of legs and shoes and clothes.

For once, Rihanna noticed the clan leader smiling and almost dropped the wooden trays in her hand - that was the creepiest smile of all horror films! Suddenly she missed the gloomy clan leader with his little doomsday clouds!

The newborn child was in the center of the hall, on a raised dais, which was freely floating in a square pool set into the floor tiles. The water in the pool gave off a fragrance that was like a mild refreshing breeze, and kept changing colors. A semi-circular wooden crib, with stout wooden legs designed like the paws of a Keeneth was placed on this lightly bobbing dais.

FYI - the Keeneth was a rare spiritual animal. It looked like a lion, but it's upper body, from forehead to tail was covered in dragon like scales. On its forehead and on both sides of its front limb, large and twisted horns grew, while its tail was extremely long and thin, like a long whip, with tiny but sharp barbs covering its length.

This was also the Holy Spirit Beast of Madsa-Tamu.

A group of priests stood below the dais, chanting blessings continuously. The guests came and went, taking a peek at the confused, but thankfully silent baby. The officials from the Mayor's Office, who had come to register all the details of the newborn cultivator, had completed all their work, and were currently strolling around aimlessly, trying to mingle with the high flying crowd.

Most of the servants had been sent off to the residences and kitchen. Who needed servants when everything was being controlled with spiritual energies and arrays? There were tiny fountains between the seats which poured water, drinks and juices. There were running water channels, flowing around the guest seats, carrying all the food, plates and utensils - guests only needed to pick them and place them on their table.

A large blue moon-pearl was hung at the center, washing the entire room in a pleasant yellowish-white light. Other than that, tiny ice-pearls, giving off a cold bluish-white light, were floating in the air. These pearls were inscribed to randomly shift their positions and also become brighter or dimmer. This created a kind of mood lighting in the hall, making the entire place more enchanting and relaxed.

Tsk.....be it on earth or here.....those who had money - rocked! Being at the bottom of the chain - sucked! Rihanna was feeling bitter, envious, sarcastic.....and at the same time enraptured and over-awed. If this was the closest she was ever going to get to luxury and lavishness.....she might as well soak in its surrounding vapors!

'Master...I have found something!'

The excited, shrill squeak shooting through her brain almost made Rihanna scream out in fright. The trays balanced in her hands wobbled dangerously, as she took deep breaths to balance herself.

"Is this some new kind of dance you learned in Dark Forest? Why not perform for all the guests instead of shaking a leg in the corner?"

Why did this cold and gloomy voice creating chills at her back, sound so surprisingly familiar? Rihanna shuddered inwardly, as she finally regained her balance and turned around - to find the Clan Leader smiling as creepily as ever, his sharp eyes stuck to her!

He gestured towards the raised platform at one end of the hall, facing all the guest seats - a perfect place for all performances. Except there were not really many people performing. Someone performed a sword dance, a group performed some form of traditional slow dance, some youngsters showcased their new skills...but why was he looking so adamantly at her, as if he would not let go till she ended up on that stage?!

'Master...are you still there?'

Rihanna smiled ingratiatingly, then turned away to keep down the trays in her hand.

'Of course I am here...and you just landed me in trouble!'

'What?! Stinky master! I am running around, working my buttocks off to find out information for you....and you don't know how to be grateful and instead blame me?! See if I talk to you again!'

'Ahh....don't get angry now...little guy! I am just kidding! Know what.....I am going to dance! you have never seen me dance...have you? You don't know what you'll be missing today!'

'Eh....do you even know how to dance? And anyway....what's so great about seeing an eighty year old man dance? You are so skinny and wrinkly....make sure your skin doesn't tear up and your bones don't fall off your body!'

By now Rihanna had stepped onto the platform...!! Oh right...she had forgotten....again.....that she was now disguised as an old man.....and who in the world wanted to see an old man dance?!! She glanced at the Chen Clan Leader, and found him still smiling and looking at her. She really felt like swatting the head off his neck! Did he love seeing the world in chaos so much?!

But now that she was here....what was she going to perform? She wasn't particularly well versed in all the new dances - popping, locking, B-boying, reggae..... she couldn't even recall the entire list! Also, she wasn't exactly sure an old man B-boying was going to look very appealing! She didn't want to scare the daylights off these guests! What else? Ballet - looked good, could not do any....contemporary - Hmmmm...could muddle through....then experimental contemporary it is!

And so Rihanna pulled her bag of bones to the center of the platform, refusing to look at the Clan Leader whose smile by now looked positively dark and sinister, and turned towards the guests with a nervous smile. What kind of Clan Leader enjoyed watching his own banquet become the laughing stock of the city?!

'Master.....I said I found something, and you didn't even ask what?'

'Fine, fine....what did you find?'

'I think I found the place where the children of the clan are kept and taught cultivation.'

'That's good. Keep a note of the place, but don't try to enter. Elders might be there guarding the place. Keep searching more....there must be a lot of other things in the back area.'

'Okay....so did you start dancing?'

By now all the guests were staring at her in anticipation and fun. Though they didn't particularly enjoy bullying inconsequential commoners, sometimes it was just for fun! Watching an old man floundering around on a stage - way better than watching those same, repetitive, over-practiced performances given by those flowery girls and lanky boys!

Aish!...There's no music....oh, wait.....is that a flute sound?.....Dancing contemporary to slow flute....this was going to be such a heartfelt performance!

And so, much to the audience's shock and bemusement, under the light of a group of ice-pearls assembled atop the stage, one could see a thin old man trying to pirouette on his 'legs-as-thin-as-stems'; his lanky, skin wrapped arms flew weirdly in the air, making strange, flapping movements around his body and over his head; the audience was thoroughly scared when he started bending his body into weird, cramped positions - they were scared the bag of bones was going to fall apart to commemorate the banquet!

Amidst all the clapping, whistling, shouts and screams of the audience, no one noticed the sharp gleam which passed through the eyes of the Chen Clan Leader. He took a look around the hall, slowly moving towards the exit. Making some small talk with the elders supervising the entrance, he silently made his way out, and disappeared into the surrounding darkness.

'I found something else! It looks like an important building.....there are arrays protecting it....also there are some people guarding this place!'

Rihanna had just ended the sweat-creating performance, and was bowing repeatedly to this over-enthusiastic audience who wanted another performance from her...'Not-on-her-life'!! She gave a brilliant smile, nodding and waving her hands enthusiastically, bowing and hopping all the way to the side entry, and quickly slunk out of the brightly lit hall, before any of the guests could catch her!

'A building?....Perhaps the place where all important artifacts are stored? That would explain why it is so heavily guarded. Thousands of years of history.....the clan must have some very special and important heirlooms! Don't go too close, or they might sense you out. Just take a look from far....check how many guards are there, when they change shift, how to operate the entrance....do as much as you can, but do not get caught!'

'Okay, okay....sheesh!....Anyone would think you are my Grandma!....So, when are you coming in?'

'Hmmmm...I do have a plan....but I do not know if it will work. So I will not tell you about it till my plan succeeds. Stay online and pray everything works out!'

Fluffy grumbled in dissatisfaction...what was 'stay-online'? And why couldn't she tell him what her 'plan' was?.....Never mind....it must be a rotten plan to begin with. Nothing good ever came from all her plans! Thankfully he wouldn't have to partake in her weird brainless schemes for the time being! Oh, the thought itself was so appealing...He-he-he-he!....Fine-fine....he would 'wait online' for her signal of success!