The Portal of Wonderland

Shi Mu woke up; he was in his stone house. His heart was beating fast and he was sweating profusely; so much so that his clothes were completely drenched.

His complexion looked different. However, his eyes were brimming with joy.

His eyesight had been mutated. So, the moonlight had enabled him to climb to a high altitude every night and enter his dreamland by incarnating as an ape. Therefore, he had been able to absorb life essence in the form of moonlight and had continued to strengthen his eyesight.

However, the growth rate of his eyesight had slowed down with time. Now, his eyesight didn’t achieve an increased range even if there was plenty of moonlight.

But, he had seen an entirely different dream tonight. Today, he didn’t climb up a tree as an ape to absorb the moonlight but was listening to an old man’s speech instead.

Shi Mu vaguely felt that it wasn’t a misdemeanor even though he didn’t know the reason.

However, a bitter smile spread across his lips.

Shi Mu couldn’t recall a single word from the dream; let alone its comprehension.

Shi Mu wasn’t feeling sleepy. Therefore, he jumped from his bed and started to walk back and forth in his room as he scratched his head. This action was similar to the white ape’s action of scratching its face in the dream.

The words the old man spoke to him in his dream seemed to be very important.

But, he couldn’t recall a single of these words even after several attempts. Therefore, he let out a deep sigh and went back to his bed.

Shi Mu ate some dry foods after waking up the next day. Then, he pushed open the door and walked out of his room.

Shi Mu had gone through a self-torturing session. Therefore, he had attained the beginning stage of the Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants. He had also condensed the Real Qi in his body. Now, he could become a Hou Tian Warrior. However, he needed a large number of Bone Tempering Pills to continue to practice this cultivation art.

The one million silver notes that he possessed were accepted in each of the three kingdoms. Also, such a big amount of money was considered to be a great asset. However, it had no value in the Black Demon Sect. Therefore, Shi Mu couldn’t be at ease until he had searched for the Bone Tempering Pill.

The entire valley was filled with morning mist and appeared peaceful.

Shi Mu noticed several new faces as he stepped out of his room. These people wore the same clothes as him. Some new disciples had an excited and cheerful look on their faces. They must’ve chosen suitable cultivation arts for themselves and must be making preparations for the practice.

Shi Mu crossed the intersection and started to walk towards the center of the valley. The Bluestone Plaza was situated at this location according to Bai Shi and Xiao Ming.

Shi Mu reached the broad streets of the Bluestone Plaza in a short while. Various kinds of shops were situated on both sides of the street. Shi Mu could smell a faint aroma of medicines.

Shi Mu’s spirits were elevated as he smelled the aroma. He started to walk hurriedly and arrived at an exquisite three-storied building. The place was flooded with people and was bustling with noise and excitement.

Shi Mu looked up and saw a ten-feet-long golden board hanging above the entrance of the building. The board was engraved with huge and elegant words — “Aromatic Pills Pavilion”.

Shi Mu was startled as he entered the shop since its interiors were similar to what he had imagined.

The hall was bright and spacious; its ceiling was 10 meters high. The hall could hold a hundred people at a time.

There was a sales counter in the hall. It seemed to be made up of precious Purple-Heart wood. There were several rows of shelves. They were also made-up of the same wood. Some of these shelves were filled with various kinds of herbal pills, while the others held small and exquisite porcelain bottles. These bottles presumably contained various kinds of pills.

Twenty or thirty Black Demon Sect’s primary disciples were inside the hall. Majority of them were talking to the people who wore the same black uniforms and stood behind the counters. These black-attired people frequently moved back and forth to fetch herbs and bottles from the shelves; they seemed to be quite busy.

The uniform of the primary disciples and the black-attired people was exactly the same. However, there was one difference. The uniform of the black-attired people had a red-flame mark on its cuffs just like the primary disciple’s uniform, but the silver-colored “primary” pattern wasn’t printed in the center of that flame.

In addition, the black-attired people were older.

Shi Mu thought for a while and realized that these black-attired people were probably the “janitor-disciples” as mentioned by Wild Zhou.

These people were martial artists even though they were called “janitors”. Even the weakest of these people were at the sixth or seventh level of the body tempering; the strongest disciples were at the eleventh level.[1]

These people had willingly joined the Black Demon Sect as janitors because each year thirty of them would get the chance to get promoted to the primary level.

Not everyone could comprehend Qi-sensing at the age of fifteen. But, this Sect’ strength and heritage was far beyond the Kai Yuan Martial Arts school’s grade of country institutes.

These people could become Primary disciples as long as they could upgrade. Then, their status would be uplifted.

“Brother, are you looking for something? Can I help you?” an eighteen-year-old janitor disciple walked over and asked Shi Mu with a courteous smile as he noticed him wandering around.

“Thank you. But, I would like to look around first,” Shi Mu shook his head as he said.

The young janitor smiled as he bowed respectfully. Then, he walked away.

Shi Mu looked around. Then, he walked towards the middle counter and started to observe the shelves carefully.

‘Extreme Tiger Pill’, ‘Purple Cloud Herb’, ‘Five Snakes Liquid’, ‘Primary Spirit Pill’…

Shi Mu was flabbergasted as he saw the myriads of pills and medicines.

The first floor was supposed to be for the low-ranked disciples. However, the cost of the cheapest pill on this floor was 20 silvers. The cost of majority of the pills and medicines started from hundred to several hundred silvers.

It would be difficult for people without any social status to afford these medicines and pills.

“Oh! The Blood Strengthening Pill!” Shi Mu’s face brightened up as he came across a familiar name.

He looked down and read the figure written below the shelf. “85” was written with black color on a red base.

Shi Mu was taken aback. He hadn’t expected that the price of the Blood Strengthening Pills could be so high. After all, they were distributed to the new disciples for free. Each primary disciple received three pills every month for free. This would amount to about three hundred silvers. There were more than two thousand primary disciples in the Sect according to Wild Zhou’s account.

The higher level disciples received more resources than the primary disciples even though they were lesser in number. Therefore, the cost of the Blood Strengthening pills paid by the Sect every month would be at least one million silvers.

Shi Mu sucked in a deep breath as he pondered over this. His trust for the Black Demon Sect’s wealth and might had been strengthened.

“If Brother wants any pill… we have almost everything here.” A black-attired janitor with delicate facial features appeared behind the counter.

“Bone Tempering Pill!”

Shi Mu didn’t refuse the janitor’s help this time. In fact, he had gradually lost the interest to look for his pill among these various kinds of unknown pills.

“One thousand silvers for one pill,” the janitor replied with a faint smile.

“It’s so expensive!” Shi Mu’s complexion changed as he heard the price.

“Brother, I think you don’t know… but an extremely precious medicinal herb is needed for making this Bone Tempering Pill. So, it obviously couldn’t be cheaper,” the janitor smiled mildly as he replied.

“Then… give me three pills.” Shi Mu pulled out three thousand silver notes from his bosom after some hesitation.

He had planned to purchase a few more pills, but he didn’t wish to expose his financial prowess since he had just arrived. Moreover, he could come here to buy more pills anytime if needed.

Notes:

Body tempering stage is an alternate name for “Martial Disciple” stage. The backstory of this would be found in Aunt Zhen’s description of the common martial terminologies right in the beginning of the novel.