Chapter 140 - Pearl's Agony

"Ureff, why did you pause there? Something wrong?" Ellisa asked as she wondered what the reason was behind Ureff's abrupt stop.

Ureff just went silent and only the noise of the crowd left, which Ellisa could hear. She continued pondering and was curious about it as nothing could even take Ureff's attention for that long.

And as Ellisa continued to search for the answer, she shoved Ureff's shoulders with a slight complaint.

"Hey, answer me, you disrespectful brother. What happened there?" Ellisa pressed.

Ureff started making gaps in his lips as he tried to answer her calmly.

"I... felt something..." Unsure of it, Ureff tilted his head.

"What? What did you feel?" Ellisa asked once more.

"A familiar essence. It was like a previously used energy of mana in someone's veins. I just don't know if I was sure, but it felt like it was strong." Ureff explained as he contemplated on his own.

"Hey, we are in the middle of a crowd and I can't understand you. Care to elaborate on it?" Ellisa pressed.

Ureff became silent for a few seconds, then shrugged.

"Nevermind. It is possible that I only confused it for something. Let's go." Ureff said.

"Hey, can you be sure? What is it really is?" Ellisa asked more.

"Nothing. It was nothing. I just felt like there was a familiar essence from that lady I accidentally bumped into earlier. Nothing serious."

Ellisa was silent and then made an assessment. "Yeah, it could be. It is natural to have misconceptions since it is normal. It is just an effect of absorbing plenty of essences. It is natural for you to react like that since you use blood arts. Maybe blood from you recognized hers. It could be like that." Ellisa explained.

Ureff also thought of it. And even though it was something that he hadn't strongly felt in the past, he just ignored it.

"Let's go. We had already wasted minutes standing here."

"Yeah, let's go, Brother Ureff. We have to enjoy our stay here."

And so, they decided to visit the entertainment place, where a variety of areas were present. They visited an amusement park, a museum, and plenty of areas where they could entertain themselves. At the very least, this is the only time they can use it until the competition begins.

***

Pearl Lim, the daughter of Arthur Lim, the landlord of the Duster City which Lucas had first visited, escaped from that city because of the flocks of individuals that wanted to learn about him.

Of course, she wasn't threatened there to live at first. But a few months later, after Lucas left, her life would get into trouble because of individuals using her life as an exchange for information. And such a lifestyle won't give her any benefit.

And so, her family had decided to send her to the Southern Region to live quietly. 

For a few months living here, she lived with a good sect. It was some kind of sect that fit well with her physique, as after her body recovered, she developed a physique that enabled her to perform illusion arts.

Illusion arts are a hybrid of martial and mystical arts. It has fatal illusionary attacks that don't only attack physically but also mentally.

Mentally... in a way that they would fight with their minds.

It is such a complex art, and her physique helped her overcome the complexity of illusionary art.

"Disciple Lim, Sect Elder Long has called for you." A disciple from the same sect called Pearl while she was meditating.

Pearl lifted her head and complied with the call of the sect elder.

'I wonder what it is...' Pearl thought.

Pearl went to the place where the Sect Elder is, and as she stopped in front of the door, her hands were shaking. For some unknown reason, she doesn't know why her hands were even trembling. It was as if it had to tremble before entering the room.

"Come in!" Sect Elder Long said.

Before opening the door, Pearl released a nervous sigh. Then, finally, she opened the door and saw the sect elder at the other end of the room.

Pearl gestured her greeting by clasping her hands and bowing. After it, the Sect Elder gestured with his hands to carry on.

"Pearl Lim... there is something I would like to tell you." 

Pearl got more nervous as he said it.

"What is it, Senior Long?" Pearl asked in a low tone, an obvious nervous one.

"Pearl..." Slowly, Sect Elder Long stood up and approached Pearl.

"What... is it... Senior?"

Pearl's face was slowly approached by Sect Elder Long's hands. Pearl flinched once she felt the sweaty hands of the sect elder. As a reaction, she moved her face away from him.

"Sect Elder!" Surprised, Pearl moved away hysterically. "What are you doing?!"

Sect Elder Long grinned viciously as he looked at Pearl with perverted eyes. His eyes ventured from top to bottom, then again went up and stopped on Pearl's chest.

"I do really want to say that you have such a good body."

And just like that, a woman's defense mechanism was triggered. Pearl shouted.

"Help! Help!" She ran to the door, but as she approached the door, her head bumped into an invisible force.

'Protective Array?!' Pearl panicked.

"Pearl, it will only be for a short time. Why don't you stay still and let me... touch you." Sect Elder Long muttered.

As Pearl heard that hoarse voice, she could only feel her cold body. Her knees were also weakening, her lips were turning numb and pale, and cold sweat was forming on her back.

The nervousness drowned her system as she stood still when, for the next second, she felt the breath of the sect elder behind her.

"Please... don't, Senior," Pearl mumbled with her eyes closed. Then suddenly, she felt the hands again, but now they were touching her hips.

On the other hand, Sect Elder Long was grinning with extreme delight. His nose was steaming with joy.

Pearl was now shaking, as the hands of the sect elder moved against her hips, and what she could only feel was disgust.

"Please!" And snapping out of it, she released her energy, using some technique that she knew.

Sect Elder Long felt that pain. He grunted as he moved backward, seeing some illusionary tentacles forming behind Pearl's back. He knew her physique, but he didn't have an ounce of fear.

He was confident now that he had already done what he had been planning for almost a few days.

"Pearl, you really had a good body. Just let me in for a short time. You don't have to worry about anyone, they won't know."

"Shut up!" Then again, Pearl performed another technique that gave her a fake aura around her.

However, as she tried to fight Sect Elder Long, she only became hopeless as it didn't even work on him. 

Sect Elder Long had a higher cultivation base than she did, and as the sect, they came from specialized in arrays and illusions, the mental attack that the technique had didn't work on him. Only the illusions could be seen, but the mental effects were absent.

Pearl's face had turned ugly as she panicked and feared being drowned entirely. Then, slowly, her body touched the ground as, in the next second, she saw the Sect Elder's eyes glowing in purple.

He was like a serpent, and even with him just being a serpent, Pearl couldn't help herself to get up. This serpent was entangling her motors, making her freeze while lying on the ground.

"Please... don't do this to me... I beg you, Senior. Please... My father trusts you, so please don't do this..."

However, as she cries, Sect Elder Long was as if he was deaf and only cleaned his ears once a month. He then cleared his ear and jokingly asked, "What was it? I can't hear you."

Pearl had been in the Southern Link Sect because of some connections her family had with Sect Elder Long. 

Her father and he were batchmates before, and as her father left their previous sect for some personal interests, Sect Elder Long stayed to hone more of himself.

But Pearl doesn't know that. If she knew, she could use it to emotionally attack the blinded sect elder. It is only lust, so if she could learn how to resurface his conscience and also his responsible side, she could escape this agony.

However, she doesn't know, so no matter what she says, her pleadings will fall on deaf ears.

"Pearl, I only wanted to have a taste of you. And I wanted it to happen without tormenting your mind. But... our techniques only limit us to where we can mentally attack and trick our foes, not control their minds of some kind. We aren't those kinds of cultivators."

It was all true. Sect Elder Long would have tried to brainwash her, but brainwashing is taboo for their sect, so what he could only do is ask her personally. 

But Pearl doesn't want it. So, he could only force her to do such a thing.

"Don't worry... Stay still... You can't even overpower me, so a word of advice, just stay still..."

Sect Elder Long's voice was like the voice of a terrific monster. It has been in Pearl's ears since she felt threatened by his lust.

And as for the second time of trying to fight him, she almost lost her voice.

Pearl launched her tentacles and performed martial arts, but Sect Elder Long defended himself, and in the next second, he also snapped out.

"I said, stay still!" Then he slapped her after his exclamation.

Pearl was ultimately shocked by that slap. She had expected it, but she was still trying to fight him. She scratched him if she could, but all was in vain as in the next seconds, her consciousness disappeared.

"What a real pain in the ass. If the sect didn't teach her a technique that allows her to defend herself from mental attacks, this would be easy.." Sect Elder Long groaned in complaint.