The Portal of Wonderland

Shi Mu heaved a sigh of relief as he looked towards the black cage. He held the long blue needle in his hand. Then, he poured his Real Qi into the needle.

Suddenly, the magic characters carved on the surface of the blue needle lit-up brightly. Moreover, the tip of the needle started to emanate a streak of blue light.

‘Buzz!’ a faint sound was heard.

A fine black silk flew out from the tip of the needle. It sparked and pricked into the body of the three-headed python’s beast soul that was fettered in the black cage.

The python’s body quivered. Then, its heads and tail started to sway in a disorderly manner. It struggled with all its might. But, it couldn’t shrug-off the firm confinement of the black cage.

The black silk trembled as it pierced the ominous python’s soul. After that, a wisp of black spiritual power travelled through the black silk, and integrated into the blue needle. It then dyed the needle black.

Shi Mu’s expression looked focused. A golden gleam appeared in his pupils as he narrowed his eyes. He then stuck his gaze on his chest. The skin of his chest became enlarged in his eyes; so much so that even the skin texture and tiny particles were clearly visible to him.

He sucked in a deep breath. He then gripped the needle, and slowly pricked the surface of his cursed totem.

The ray of black light streamed into the needle through the needle’s tail-end. Then, it slowly streamed into the punctured skin. The skin under the needle appeared black – like a tattoo.

Suddenly, Shi Mu’s pupils became enlarged, and his body shuddered. He felt a burst of severe pain infiltrating his body from the place under the needle. He felt as if he was being burnt in fire.

He frowned as he knew that the totem needed to be etched without any pause. Therefore, he started to meditate the Soul Comforting Spell. Then, his intense pain subsided a little.

Shi Mu felt slightly relieved. He sensed that the Real Qi within his body was running in accordance with the description given in the spicule.

The totem that had been left by the black needle seemed to have obtained nourishment. Its color gradually grew brighter and deeper. It was emitting a faint-black light in a continuous manner.

Shi Mu was delighted. He held his breath in order to concentrate his Qi and stabilize his mind. Meanwhile, his hand continued to etch the tattoo onto his chest.

The black tattoo on his chest gradually took the form of a bigger black three-headed python’s prototype pattern. It covered the original curse totem pattern on his chest.

The new three-headed python’s pattern was radiating a black ray of light. The light gradually brightened-up, and took the shape of a black aperture. Moreover, the red light emitted by the original curse totem was gradually suppressed.

The figure of the three-headed python’s beast soul in the black cage had become smaller. Its head-sized body had reduced to a fist-size; it looked dispirited. Even its struggle to get out of his confinement had weakened.

Suddenly, the totem curse exuded a bright-red light. Then, a scarlet-red single-headed python’s hollow-shadow appeared before Shi Mu’s eyes. It stretched open its blood-stained mouth, and battered above the surrounding black aperture.

Shi Mu’s body shuddered. The Real Qi within his body surged since he wished to begin the practice in order to stabilize his Real Qi fluctuations.

However, his hands continued to move; the long black needle continued to puncture his skin to complete the totem of the black snake.

The emanation of the black aperture became more stable as the three-headed python’s pattern grew clearer. Shi Mu remained firm as a mountain even though the battering of the red python’s shadow was extremely intense.

‘Whiz!’ a whizzing sound resounded.

Suddenly, the three-headed python’s beast soul in the black cage flared-up. Then, its stature got submerged in the needle’s tail-end in its entirety. After that, it was routed and dispersed with a ‘puff’ sound.

The needle dazzled brightly, and exuded a profound black light.

The golden gleam in Shi Mu’s eyes flashed once again. Then, he pricked the black needle in the middle of his chest.

The black ray of light streamed into Shi Mu’s body from the needle’s tip.

‘Buzz!’

The three-headed python’s totem was finally complete. It had been etched in an appropriate manner. The black aperture dazzled magnificently. The three-headed python’s totem looked vivid and life-like after its successful completion.

Finally, a relaxed expression glittered across Shi Mu’s face. But, it soon disappeared.

The black totem started to exude a strong suction immediately after its completion. It began to devour Shi Mu’s life essence in a crazy manner.

Shi Mu wrinkled his eyebrows. He felt that his life essence was rushing towards his chest – like flood. But, he didn’t panic or get startled.

This kind of situation had already been described in the spicule. The totem needed to absorb the host’s life essence once it was completely formed.

Shi Mu took a deep breath, and started to practice the Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants in order to protect his meridians and lower abdomen.

The three-headed python’s image became more vivid as more and more of his Real Qi got absorbed. After that, a loud scream was heard. Suddenly, the three-headed python’s hollow-shadow appeared before Shi Mu’s eyes. It then threw itself towards the scarlet-red snake shadow.

The red snake’s shadow didn’t get scared. Instead, it swooped towards the python’s shadow.

The two snake-shaped shadows got intertwined, and started to tear at each other.

The aura of the black three-headed python’s virtual shadow was far more than that of the red python’s virtual shadow. Both of them were hissing and biting each other. But, the three-headed python’s virtual shadow seemed to have an upper hand.

The red python’s virtual shadow was eventually forced to retreat.

Suddenly, the three-headed python’s shadow rolled-up, and entangled the red python’s virtual body. Then, its three heads started to bite at it.

The red python’s shadow exerted its strength in order to unshackle itself from the entanglement. But, the disparity of strength between them was huge.

Suddenly, the three-headed python exerted a massive force in this bite. And, the red python’s shadow was ripped apart in several pieces. After that, it turned into a bunch of red light balls, and got swallowed by one of the heads of the three-headed python.

The red light on Shi Mu’s totem illuminated. But, it was as bright as the setting sun’s afterglow. It quickly dissipated, and vanished into thin air.

The three-headed python’s shadow flashed, and submerged into the totem on Shi Mu’s chest.

Shi Mu’s face beamed with happiness as he saw this. He couldn’t stop himself from exhaling a long breath. He had extricated himself from the curse that was similar to a large rope chasing after his life.

Then, something strange happened.

Suddenly, the three-headed python’s totem on his chest emanated a dazzling light. Then, the python’s soul began to devour his Real Qi at a fast speed.

Shi Mu felt a slight chill in his heart. But, he didn’t get enough time to recover. Then, a cold and ferocious idea dawned upon him.

His complexion changed. He felt as if a heavy hammer had started to bombard inside his mind. Soon, a burst of dizziness fell over him.

“What’s going on?”

Shi Mu felt a stiffness in his heart. He then recalled the words of the High Priest, and decided to follow them. He attempted to stop the flow of his life essence from streaming into the totem.

The secret totem technique had almost reached halfway by that time.

Shi Mu’s complexion turned unsightly. He couldn’t stop the totem from doing its work; no matter how hard he tried.

The current situation seemed to be different from what he had thought.

There was no reduction in the strong suction of the black totem. And, it continued to devour Shi Mu’s life essence.

A series of cold and fierce ideas continued to raid his consciousness at the same time. Fortunately, his spiritual power was quite impressive. So, he remained unaffected.

“How is it possible?!”

Shi Mu was contemplating in his heart. According to the spicule, he just needed to stop pouring his life essence into the totem in order to restrain its operation. He tried to not let the fear – that an ominous beast soul was fusing together with his main body – take over him. He could still stop the beast from backfiring… even though the sealing process had failed.

He needed an enormous amount of Real Qi in order to stabilize the totem. Therefore, he slowly injected his Real Qi to seal the beast soul. But, the situation didn’t seem right.

“Is it possible that there is something wrong with this secret totem technique?” Shi Mu was startled.

He shook his head, and decided to stop thinking about these points.

This wasn’t the right time to think about these things. Shi Mu then exerted all his efforts to practice the Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants. He wanted to reduce the flow of Real Qi with the help of this Art. Unfortunately, his efforts yielded little results.

A little time passed. A huge amount of Shi Mu’s Real Qi had already been devoured by the totem by this time. His Real Qi finally got exhausted after another half-an-hour. Then, the suction force of the totem finally stopped.

After that, a relatively darker, fiercer and more formidable force plummeted down in his sea of consciousness.

Shi Mu couldn’t guard himself against it. He felt a burst of tingling pain all over his body. He thought that it was futile to shout loudly in agony. Therefore, he operated the Soul Comforting Technique in order to hasten the stimulation of the spiritual power. He wanted to form a layer of the spiritual barrier to hold his sea of consciousness from draining out.

The three-headed python’s shadow continued to launch attacks on his sea of consciousness.

“Backbite!”

Shi Mu was startled. His complexion turned pale.

He knew that the totem seal had reached an irreversible point, and that the three-headed python’s soul had started to launch counter-attacks. Now, it was impossible to stop it. So, he was left with only one option – to make use of his own spiritual power to suppress the opposite party.

Shi Mu’s spiritual power was quite formidable. But, it wasn’t enough to confront the three-headed python since it was a Xian Tian middle-stage beast. Shi Mu was afraid that he would get swallowed by it. So, it was pointless to talk about making an attempt to suppress it.

Innumerable thoughts started to bubble-up in his mind. But, he didn’t have any idea about how to solve this problem.

A wave of cold and gloomy ideas continued to attack his spiritual barrier. His spiritual barrier started to tremble. Finally, it couldn’t endure it any longer.

Suddenly, the strange necklace in his neck emitted a ray of light.

Then, a surge of berserk ideas floated before his eyes, and rushed to enter his mind.

Shi Mu’s complexion changed as these ideas infiltrated his mind. These ideas were brimming with ruthlessness, stubbornness, and an impulse to kill.

Suddenly, a gigantic grey ape emerged in his sea of consciousness. It was as huge as a lofty mountain. It had a white head and red feet. It looked extremely malevolent and dreadful.

An ominous glint sparkled in the eyes of the three-headed python’s shadow as it noticed that Shi Mu’s spiritual barrier was on the verge of a collapse. So, it continued to attack his collapsing spiritual barrier.

Suddenly, the huge grey ape’s gaze shifted, and fell on the python’s body. It stretched open its mouth, and issued a loud roar. Then, it darted towards the python.

The python’s virtual body became stiff. An expression of panic crept into its eyes. It seemed as if the python had seen the most dreadful thing. A shiver ran down its spine.

Shi Mu clenched his teeth as he saw this. He withdrew the spiritual barrier that was protecting his consciousness. Then, his spiritual power began to stream in torrents. It gradually transformed into an enormous and powerful current of spiritual power. It dashed towards the three-headed python’s beast soul and enveloped it.

The python’s body looked like a delicate egg in the gigantic and formidable current of spiritual power. It was pulverized, crushed, and submerged within a moment. Then, it merged with the current of spiritual power, and got integrated into the snake totem on Shi Mu’s chest.

An ominous look flashed across the grey ape’s eyes. It raised its face, and issued a violent and shrill roar. Shi Mu felt another wave of spiritual power fluctuation in his sea of consciousness. An irresistible and bloodthirsty impulse surged from deep within his heart. Then, a spurt of blood gushed into his eyes.

Suddenly, the strange necklace exuded a bright light once again. The grey ape’s face exposed a terrified look. It then disappeared with a loud roar… as if it had never appeared.

The red radiance gradually faded away from Shi Mu’s eyes. He then sat down on the ground. He was sweating profusely. There wasn’t even a tiny bit of strength left inside his body.