The Portal of Wonderland

“Senior Mu, you wish to go to the Yellow Sea. But, the Dark Moon Cult’s main altar is also situated in the western region. So, the Cult’s influence would continue to grow as you’d advance towards the west. It’s because the majority of my cult’s disciples dislike outsiders. So, the people who aren’t related to the cult always face difficulty in that region. It would be better if Senior carries this thing along with him. It might make a lot of things easier, “Hou Sai Lei said in a suggestive manner.

Shi Mu nodded after a momentary consideration.

“Gee!”

Shi Mu’s brows snapped upwards as he heard this sound. The fact was that the blood-red order token in his hand had issued a strange but light sound.

One of the corners of the token portrayed a red star pattern that was three-inches in size. However, it seemed very difficult to find this pattern if a person didn’t look in a careful manner.

“What is this?” Shi Mu asked.

“This is the contribution logo of the disciple. It also represents the status of the disciple in the cult. It’s divided into three grades – the sun, the moon, and the star. The grade would increase as the number of sacrifices you’ve offered to the Dark Lord increase,” Hou Sai Lei replied.

Shi Mu turned his head, and looked at the Dark Moon Order in Hou Sai Lei’s hand. He saw a pattern of two stars on it.

“What’s the use of a higher rank?” Shi Mu asked.

“The higher the rank is… the higher is the number of magic tools, pills, cultivation arts’ books, and other stuff that the disciple can receive from the cult every year. Moreover, it is said that one can also obtain a pill to enhance their spatial induction force after attaining a certain degree,” Hou Sai Lei answered. A hint of excitement could be felt in his tone.

Shi Mu was dumbfounded to hear his reply.

“However, the Dark Moon Order contains the identity of its owner. So, the Cult won’t recognize others even if they have it,” Hou Sai Lei added.

“So, that’s how it is.” Shi Mu nodded, and received the Dark Moon Order that he held in his hand.

Suddenly, a burst of wings’ fluttering was heard. A black bird’s shadow departed from a distant tree, and flew over toward Shi Mu.

“What’s that thing?” Hou Sai Lei was startled. He pinched his fingers to cast a magic spell. Simultaneously, a spurt of grey radiance emerged on the surface of his body. He was about to cast a magic spell to block the black bird’s shadow.

“This is my spirit pet,” Shi Mu said.

Shi Mu had made Cai infiltrate the village before he had set foot here. He had done so in order to guard against any unseen danger.

Shi Mu had to travel to the west, and it was a strange land to him. So, he had used Cai mostly in this way. And, this technique had indeed saved him a lot of trouble.

Hou Sai Lei heard these words, and dispersed the grey radiance that had appeared in his hand.

Cai collected his wings, and landed on Shi Mu’s shoulder after some time. Then, he cast a glance at Hou Sai Lei and said, “Boy, do you also want to follow Shi Mu from now on?”

Hou Sai Lei was struck dumb for a moment. He stared at Cai with an expressionless face… as if he had never seen a bird that could speak.

“Cai is a spirit beast. His intelligence is the same as any ordinary person’s. In addition, he’s proficient in the human race’s language,” Shi Mu said.

Hou Sai Lei heard his words and nodded. Then, he gazed at Cai in an inquisitive manner.

“What are you staring at?! Listen boy, I’m the first little brother of Shi Mu’s. And, you must be considered behind me since you’ve just arrived. Understood?” Cai stuck out his chest, and said in a chiding manner.

Hou Sai Lei was awestruck. His eyes couldn’t help but turn toward Shi Mu.

“Well, don’t make a scene.” Shi Mu outstretched his finger, and hit Cai’s head as he said.

“Ah… it hurts!” Cai grasped his head with his wings and squawked.

The corner of Hou Sai Lei’s eyes twitched. He turned his head and silently gazed into the distant horizon.

There was a trace of faint white color in the eastern horizon at the moment. The sky was about to brighten up.

“It’s about time. We should be on our way,” Shi Mu looked towards the sky and said.

“Senior Mu, could you wait a moment?” Hou Sai Lei spoke-up after a momentary hesitation.

“What happened?” Shi Mu asked.

“The town will be left unguarded once this trivial man leaves this place. And, the only person who is relatively talented and qualified in this town is Tong Song. So, my intention is to tell him the method of activating the existing Restriction spell in the town before I depart. In addition, I’ll also leave behind some pills for the martial arts practice, and make him practice by himself. Perhaps, I may come here someday to take shelter for a couple of days,” Hou Sai Lei said.

Shi Mu was astonished to hear his words. He couldn’t help but look into Hou Sai Lei’s eyes. Then, he nodded and said, “Fine, you can go.”

Hou Sai Lei’s face beamed with happiness. He then greeted Shi Mu as a part of the courtesy. Then, he turned around and walked away.

“Shi Tou, do you believe this person? This man had taken the lives of this town’s people to offer sacrifices. But now, he’s playing the part of a good man… that’s so hypocritical!” Cai’s chronic problem of blabbering had reemerged.

Shi Mu flashed a mild smile on hearing his words. He then found a place and sat down. After that, he turned his hand, took out a grey Jade slip, and pasted it on his forehead.

Cai noticed that Shi Mu had ignored him. Hence, he started to mutter to himself. But, he eventually got bored and zipped his mouth.

The map of the Xixia ancient country was recorded in that jade slip. It was very thorough and detailed. Shi Mu had found this map in the package that the black-robed bandit had carried.

Shi Mu soon found the position of White Feng Town on the map. So, he now knew that he had to proceed towards the west from here…

He then pondered over the journey ahead for some time. He muttered to himself… as if he was thinking about something.

Hou Sai Lei came back after half-an-hour.

“I’ve made Senior Mu wait for a long time. But, I’ve settled all the important matters.” Hou Sai Lei said.

“Then, let’s go.” Shi Mu stood up and walked toward the exit of the small town.

Hou Sai Lei hastily followed him.

This group of two men and a bird soon disappeared in the hazy mist of dawn.

… …

A black rock-forest stood aloft a vast grey wasteland. It stretched for dozens of miles.

The entire rock forest was covered with odd looking pillars and strange rocks of varied heights. Some were in groups, while some were scattered haphazardly. Some stood upright, whereas some seemed to be lying down. Most of the upright pillars and rocks were lofty, and had a smooth contour.

The area outside this rock forest was raided by a blackish chilling wind at this time. Countless lofty howling and spinning black wind-columns could be seen around. They soared into the sky… as if they connected the earth to the sky. Layers of windblown dust and stones were fluttering in the air. They seemed to be causing a sense of murkiness in the world.

However, the thing that felt very strange was the serene atmosphere of the black rock forest; it was dead calm. Even the chilling winds had seemingly decided to avoid the range of rock forest.

There was a dull-red puddle in the center of the rock forest. It was two or three-thousand-feet in size.

Piles of ash-grey skeletons could be seen scattered around this deep puddle. A few other rotten corpses were also mixed with them.

Moreover, a square-shaped group of a few dozen armored human skeletons could also be seen beside the puddle. Some of these skeletons had lost some of their limbs. Also, they seemed to be headed by two skeleton cavalrymen.

They were constantly brandishing their bone-weapons; as if they were celebrating a victory.

Yan Luo’s entire body was covered with a suit of white armor. Even its face was covered with an armor-mask. Only a pair of faint-purple soul flames could be seen, and they were flickering a little bit.

It stood quietly in front of a huge skeleton that was dozens of feet long. It seemed that this skeleton had been of a huge bear. A big watermelon-sized hole had been split-open in this skeleton’s head. But, there was nothing inside it.

Suddenly, Yan Luo whirled around, and opened its mouth while facing the puddle. Then, it issued an invisible suction force that dashed towards the water’s surface, and set off ripples on the surface.

“Chi Chi” a loud sound echoed!

Then, a mass of red mist ascended from the water’s surface, and turned into a red wisp of air current. Then, it entered Yan Luo’s mouth.

A burst of loud bellowing sound spread not far from the puddle at this very moment!

Then, a greenish thing suddenly emerged amid the countless spinning black wind columns.

Suddenly, the flying speed of that green thing increased greatly. It was surprisingly a mass of green clouds that was rolling in a fierce manner. Moreover, it was flying in the direction of the puddle at an unimaginable speed.

Yan Luo tightened its guard near the puddle, and stopped the suction-and-devouring action. Then, it turned its head, and looked towards the horizon. And, the soul flame in its eyes throbbed.

The two human-skeleton cavalrymen and dozens of armored human skeletons also turned their heads in succession.

The green clouds got closer to them, and they were eventually able to see the silhouette of a large body that lay prone on the clouds. In fact, it was a gigantic two-headed carrion dragon!

This carrion dragon’s body was nearly two-hundred-feet-long. There was a pair of horns on the top of each of its massive heads. Deep-purple luminous soul flames could be seen burning in its four huge eye sockets. Its whole body was covered with rotten flesh. But, this festering carrion also had many red and green scales. Also, circles of queer spirit patterns could also be seen on the surface of its scales.

A green and viscous liquid was constantly dripping from the dragon’s flesh while it was flying in the air.

In addition, there were hundreds of human skeletons and zombies below the green clouds. They had constituted a huge Dead Spirit army. They were also advancing towards the puddle in a majestic and valiant manner.

The carrion dragon hadn’t even arrived when one of its heads’ eyes flashed with a bright red light.

The sky suddenly turned dark, and a burst of magic power fluctuation ensued in the void above the red puddle.

Then, a large deep-red-colored gloomy cloud appeared above Yan Luo and the others.

“Bang”

Numerous blazing fireballs that were of the size of a person’s head darted out of the dark clouds; they were deep-red in color. Then, they plummeted rapidly, and it appeared as if meteors were showering. A small part of the sky was shrouded in complete darkness as a result.

A black smoke flashed on Yan Luo’s body as soon as it witnessed this scene, and it disappeared from the place.

But, the skeleton cavalrymen and the dozens of armored skeletons beside the puddle started to brandish their bone-weapons in order to resist the bombardment of these red fireballs.

There was an armored human skeleton that held a broken shield in its hand. It wielded its blade, and chopped down a fireball. However, that fireball blew up, and a dark-red flame flared up and engulfed that human skeleton.

The blue-colored soul flame flashed in the eyes of a skeleton cavalryman that had only one arm. It flicked its bone-spear, and countless spear-shadows burst forth. They struck three masses of fireballs, and sent them flying.

However, a dozen or more fireballs still managed to fall down to the ground. The skeleton cavalryman was pretty strong. But, it flew into a panic-stricken mode when it saw this situation.

Then, a mass of red light shone. And, this skeleton cavalryman was also devoured by a massive red blazing flame.

Hardly five or six breaths had passed from the beginning till now. However, dozens of Yan Luo’s formidable assistants had already vanished in a puff of smoke under this meteor-like shower.

Moreover, the two-headed carrion dragon had flown over to the vicinity in the meantime. However, a mass of black smoke suddenly emerged out of thin air. And, Yan Luo’s stature flashed out of the black smoke.

The bone-spear in its hand was wrapped in a white flame. Also, a circle of magic characters was glowing brightly on the surface of the spear. Innumerable tiny electric currents were also throbbing on the bone-spear.

Yan Luo flicked its arm, and the bone-spear darted to puncture the head of the two-headed carrion dragon. It seemed as if the bone-spear had turned into a white light.

The soul flame in the two-headed dragon’s eyes flickered. And, the green clouds below its body suddenly rose and wrapped its body.

The bone-spear drilled into the green clouds very swiftly… as if it were a white spirit snake. But, the blazing white flame on the spear’s tip extinguished as soon as it touched the green clouds. A ‘Chi Chi’ sound was heard from the spear’s body, and grey smoke started to wind around it. It seemed like the spear was on the verge of a collapse.

This green cloud was very strange. In fact, it was extremely corrosive!

Yan Luo was thunderstruck. So, it quickly retracted its arm. But, it had barely thought of pulling its spear back when the spear’s body suddenly sank into the cloud. Then, a wisp of a dreadful pulling force rushed forth through the spear in a crazy manner.

Yan Luo’s body couldn’t bear but incline forward under the effect of this force. Then, it started to get pulled towards the green cloud.

Yan Luo forthwith loosened its hand, and its bone-spear got sucked in by the green cloud the next moment. Only a second had passed, but it felt like the existence of the bone-spear had been erased in its entirety.

Meanwhile, a part of the green fog transformed into a whip-shadow. Then, it sprang out of the green cloud in order to wrap itself around Yan Luo’s body like a poisonous snake.

But, the black smoke again bubbled-up on Yan Luo’s body. And, Yan Luo vanished into thin air almost instantaneously.

The whip-shadow swept past the place where Yan Luo had stood, but ended up empty-handed.

But then, the green cloud tumbled in a violent manner, and started to fall to the ground. Simultaneously, it became increasingly weak and dull.

The incomparably dense green fog had become very thin by the time it fell to the ground. In addition, it had finally revealed the massive body of the two-headed carrion dragon before everyone.