The Portal of Wonderland

Shi Mu plunged from the slope, and disappeared without a trace.

“Boy, where will you go?”

Zha Gu bellowed loudly. Then, a green light began to flow on the surface of the green whip he held in his hand. After that, a few green magic characters flickered on its surface. He flicked his wrist, and the long whip elongated to ten times of its original length. It galloped towards a huge twenty-feet-high boulder in the vicinity.

‘Wu!’

The boulder was sent flying in the air as it was struck by the whip. It had been shot towards Shi Mu! It dashed towards him at an incredibly fast speed. It carried a terrifying and imposing aura along with it. In fact, it seemed as if he had infused it with a lot of Real Qi.

Shi Mu seemed to have felt something. Consequently, he turned around, and saw the approaching boulder. He then quickly bent his legs. The muscles protruded out of his arms as he wielded his eight-feet-long extended blade, and hacked at the bottom of the boulder. The upper part of his body bent backwards at the same time.

A loud sound was heard.

Shi Mu had hit the bottom of the boulder in such a way that it was deflected upwards in the air. Consequently, it flew past him while brushing his bent body.

Shi Mu stood-up straight once the boulder had passed him. His complexion looked pale. This attack had stirred-up the insides of his body. Fortunately, he hadn’t received any injuries.

He shot a glance at Zha Gu who was still far from him. Then, his stature flashed, and he crossed over the steep slope in an instant.

A trace of haze flashed through Zha Gu’s eyes as he noticed that Shi Mu had disappeared from his line of sight. Then, he turned his head, and looked at the wound on his left leg.

He saw the faint trace of a black smoke curling-up around his wound. That smoke also exhibited the tendency of spreading in the surrounding area of his leg.

Suddenly, a hilted knife appeared in Zha Gu’s hand. He clenched his teeth as the sharp knife pricked his wound. Then, his hand began to move the knife.

Fresh blood splashed out as he scooped out the rotten flesh that had been infected by the black smoke, and removed it from the area surrounding his wound.

Zha Gu issued a stuffy groan. But, he looked somewhat relieved now.

The sense of numbness vanished from his wound once the infected flesh had been scooped out. However, his mind was still gripped with the feeling of dizziness since it hadn’t been dispelled in its entirety.

He shook his head. Then, he waved his hand, and took out a paper charm. He stuck it on his wound. The blood stopped flowing. After that, he stood-up, and dashed in the direction where Shi Mu had fled.

He had allowed Shi Mu to flee far away from him since he wasn’t the least bit anxious about the prospect of Shi Mu’s successful escape. This confidence had obviously sourced from his own cultivation.

“He’s in pursuit!”

Shi Mu could clearly see Zha Gu’s movement through the vision of his parrot which was flying approximately five-hundred meters above his head. Therefore, he murmured.

Yan Luo was also following closely beside him. It seemed to have heard Shi Mu’s words since the black smoke had already begun to emanate from its body. Then, its stature flashed, and disappeared from its place.

Shi Mu stopped running as he saw this. Then, he swept his gaze all around. But, Yan Luo’s silhouette was nowhere to be seen.

He then tried to contact Yan Luo through his mind. But, Yan Luo didn’t respond to his call either.

In this meantime, he got a closer look at Zha Gu as he had stopped running.

Therefore, he stamped his feet in a fierce manner, and started to run once again. A ray of green light flashed on his body as he stuck a Body Lifting Charm. Consequently, his momentum increased substantially once again.

Zha Gu was hundreds of feet behind him. But, he concentrated his full attention on Shi Mu’s aura, and continued to chase after him at a moderate pace.

His speed was far more than Shi Mu’s owing to his Earth-ranked cultivation. Therefore, the distance between them was rapidly decreasing. And, Shi Mu’s figure soon appeared in his field of vision.

A ferocious look flashed through Zha Gu’s eyes as he raised his arm. But, a mass of black smoke flashed behind him. Then, Yan Luo’s silhouette appeared behind him. A cold light flashed as it flicked its bone-spear. After that, the light transformed into numerous densely-packed white spears, and rushed towards Zha Gu’s back.

A whiff of cold and gloomy air swept over Zha Gu at the same time.

Zha Gu felt a slight chill in his heart.

He had been severely injured by Yan Luo a short while back. Therefore, he couldn’t continue to attack Shi Mu in the face of this strike. He quickly jumped to a side. He flicked his arm at the same time, and his long green whip turned into a green whip-shadow. His whip was now prepared to receive that formation of the white spears.

The whip-shadow was about to collide with the spear formation. But then, the white spear formation dispersed, and turned back into the bone-spear. It was then pulled back with a lightning speed in order to evade the collision with the green whip shadow.

The black smoke on Yan Luo’s body flashed, and its stature became fuzzy. It then disappeared from sight without a trace.

Zha Gu’s complexion sank. Yan Luo’s silhouette had disappeared from his line of sight. But, he could still faintly feel a wisp of killing intention through his spirit sensing ability. Moreover, it seemed to be wandering around in a continuous manner while keeping an acceptable distance from him.

It was obvious that the skeleton hadn’t left the place. The fact was that it would hide in the vicinity every time it disappeared. But still, it couldn’t be detected.

“Damn!”

Zha Gu was enraged. He could sense that the cultivation of this skeleton wasn’t very profound and formidable. It seemed to be at the advanced stage of the Xian Tian realm at best. However, its speed was inexplicably fast. Moreover, its attacking techniques were extremely strange. All these features were sufficient to make Zha Gu extremely cautious.

“Wait a minute, a human skeleton. Can it be…”

Suddenly, the thought about a possibility crossed Zha Gu’s mind.

The trace of an ominous glint flashed through his eyes. After that, a bright-red luminescence flashed on his back. Then, a twenty or thirty-feet-long red-colored fiery snake shadow emerged behind his back. After that, a pair of fiery-red wings sprouted on the snake’s back. But, the snake didn’t have any scales on its body.

The fiery snake’s virtual shadow transformed into a mass of raging flames, and started to soar into the sky. After that, it underwent a change once again, and transformed into a pair of ten-feet-long fiery-red wings.

The fiery-red wings flapped a few times. Then, Zha Gu began to fly. Zha Gu then swooped down towards Shi Mu like a gigantic red hawk.

Zha Gu had barely started to fly when the mass of black smoke flashed beside his body. Then, a long and white bone-spear was thrust towards him from the black smoke.

“You’ve courted death!”

Zha Gu had already anticipated this attack. Therefore, a layer of green light flashed on his body. Then, three thick green arrow-like shadows darted out, and bumped into the white bone-spear.

The long whip sprang out at the same time – like a spirit snake. It then swept towards Yan Luo’s head.

The soul-flames in Yan Luo’s eye-sockets didn’t even flicker while confronting this kind of a challenge. In fact, Yan Luo simply shook the bone-spear in its arm in a casual manner.

The bone-spear became fuzzy, and transformed into three long spear shadows. Then, these shadows smashed against the three green arrow-like shadows in a precise manner.

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

The three arrow-like shadows were routed and broken into pieces. The bone-spear emerged in Yan Luo’s hand once again. Then, Yan Luo wielded its hand – like lightning.

A half-moon-shaped spear light appeared high in the sky. It then hacked at the green whip in a fierce manner.

This string of actions came to an end within the time frame of an electric spark.

A loud metal clanging sound rang out in the air.

Yan Luo shot backwards by taking advantage of the counter-shaking force. And, the black smoke began to curl around its body as it went backwards. Then, it vanished into thin air once again.

Zha Gu’s complexion turned pale. But, he still looked calm and composed. Moreover, the trace of a dignified look could be seen in his eyes.

Yan Luo’s strength had far exceeded his expectations. In fact, Zha Gu might have suffered severe injuries if it weren’t for his formidable strength that was far beyond his enemy’s.

That pair of fiery-red wings on his back had begun to surge in a rapid manner as he continued to dash towards Shi Mu.

He had barely flown for a moment when the mass of black smoke emerged beside his body once again. It was followed by the appearance of Yan Luo’s silhouette. It then thrust its bone-spear towards him once again.

“Humph!”

Zha Gu pointed his foot, and his body shifted to a side. He didn’t pay any attention to Yan Luo’s attack, and continued to fly forward.

The green whip in his hand transformed into a group of fuzzy whip shadows at the same time, and shrouded him from all directions.

It looked like a mass of green light from afar.

The soul-flames flickered in Yan Luo’s eye-sockets. Its bone-spear bumped into the green whip shadows. Then, Yan Luo pulled its spear back.

Zha Gu took advantage of the whip shadows to protect his body. Yan Luo’s sneak attack had made the enemy refrain from acting recklessly. But, its attack clearly wasn’t as smooth as the previous one. Zha Gu’s speed was reduced by a great margin. But, the distance between him and Shi Mu was also reducing at an extremely fast speed.

Cai was hovering at a high altitude. It was hundreds of feet above the ground. It could clearly see the situation below. So, it was a little anxious.

However, it didn’t dare to fly any lower.

Shi Mu also had a panoramic view of the situation behind him through the parrot’s vision.

Zha Gu was barely three-hundred feet away from him now.

“Shi Tou, that skeleton doesn’t seem to be in a good situation,” Cai’s voice resounded in Shi Mu’s mind.

“I know!”

Shi Mu bore a calm expression on his face. However, the trace of an anxious look could be seen under the mask of his calmness.

The brightness of Yan Luo’s soul-flames seemed to have faded to a great extent. It had been trying to keep up with an enemy who had an earth-rank cultivation. And, this seemed to have consumed an enormous amount of its spirit power.

Shi Mu’s eyes flickered as he established a communication with Yan Lan through his mind. He then issued an order to it.

Yan Luo’s soul-flames fluctuated for a moment; it seemed as if it was hesitating. Then, it stopped attacking Zha Gu, and jumped backwards. The black smoke flashed, and gradually vanished.

Zha Gu was startled. But then, he was overwhelmed with joy.

The dreadful killing aura that had been lingering around his body had finally disappeared.

He started to flutter the fiery-red wings behind his back without any disturbance. And, his speed increased as a result of this. It only took him a few breaths to catch-up with Shi Mu. In fact, he was only a hundred feet away from Shi Mu now.

Suddenly, Shi Mu turned his head, and waved his hand. Two red magic characters fled from his hand, and transformed into two fiery spears; each of them was ten-feet long.

The raging flames on the fiery spears were surging-up in a violent manner. They issued bursts of crackling and rumbling sounds as they dashed towards Zha Gu.

“It’s just a trivial technique.”

Zha Gu grunted. He then wielded his arm, and the green whip transformed into two whip shadows. After that, the whip shadows thrashed the two long and fiery spears.

‘Boom! Boom!’

The two fiery-spears shattered into small pieces, and blotted the sky with fire-rain.

“Human boy, I didn’t expect that you’d be a ‘dark moon disciple’. You were able to summon a Xian Tian ranked human skeleton for the battle! It seems that you have a very high status. Well… I’ll exterminate your spirit today. Then, you’ll never be reincarnated!”

Zha Gu roared loudly as he waved his arm. Then, the green whip started to exude bright rays of light. Moreover, numerous green magic characters emerged amid the green light. Then, the body of the whip began to swell, and became as thick as a bowl. A long barbed-tip emerged on top of it.

It then pounced towards Shi Mu in a fierce manner – as if a sinister python was flinging its tail. It darted towards him at an astonishing speed.

The huge wind pressure had hit Shi Mu’s face even before the whip had arrived. And, Shi Mu started to have a problem in breathing owing to its oppressive force.

The words that Zha Gu had just spoken had left him a little bewildered. But, he cast this thought aside. He then issued a low shout, and a ray of light dazzled on his chest. After that, the virtual shadow of the three-headed fierce python appeared behind his back. It looked vivid and life-like. It integrated into his body at an extremely fast speed.

Then, numerous black scales started to sprout on the surface of his body. They quickly covered his entire body.

This was the first time that Shi Mu had transformed into the beast mode after he had stepped into the Xian Tian realm. The spirit power of the three-headed python began to float around his body. In addition, his own Xian Tian Real Qi got fused with the python’s spirit power.

The aura around Shi Mu’s body surged-up, and reached the Xian Tian middle stage at one fell swoop. Then, it continued to surge higher.

The extended blade in his hand flared-up as he issued a loud shout. He then raised his hand, and a ten-feet-long blade light hacked at the thick whip shadow. It carried a huge blazing-red flame along with it.

A loud rumbling sound was heard.

A mass of red and green light exploded in the air, and the raging flames soared to the sky. An invisible airwave entrained with an enormous force also surged-up. Shi Mu’s body shook, and was sent flying by its impact – like a meteorite. He got knocked against a mountain-wall that was almost a hundred feet away.

The mountain-wall collapsed with a loud rumble. And, a large piece of broken rock buried Shi Mu beneath it.