The Portal of Wonderland

The preparations seemingly took a long time. However, they had taken only a fraction of a second in reality.

The obese man didn’t wait for Shi Mu to see the earthen silver bowl properly. He placed it in the center of the circular pattern. Then, he placed the five middle-level spirit stones in their respective indentations around the circle.

“This paper charm contains the record of the Dead Spirit World’s spatial coordinates. You stick the paper charm to the piece of bone as soon as I activate this magic array. Then, our ceremony will begin,” the obese man spoke with a dignified expression on his face. Then, he handed over the piece of black bone and the silver paper-charm to Shi Mu.

Shi Mu held both the things carefully. He then entered the gigantic circle with the paper charm in his right hand and the piece of bone in his left. He sat down cross-legged on the floor, and faced the direction of the silver earthen bowl.

The obese man also went inside the circle, and sat down cross-legged opposite Shi Mu.

Young Master Ju’s fingers started to move extremely fast as he muttered an abstruse incantation. Shi Mu couldn’t help but gaze at Young Master Ju as several streaks of white light flashed from his palm and flew towards the bowl.

The tiny characters on the surface of the bowl lit-up. Then, a strong wave of magic power spread in all directions – like a sea-wave.

Suddenly, the charm characters and heavenly pattern on the formula of the Soaring Stars started to emit a bright luminescence. Then, a huge fluctuation started to flow in the air; so much so that the entire room was filled with a ‘droning’ sound. Some places even began to get twisted and blurred.

Suddenly, darkness spread in front of Shi Mu’s eyes. It seemed as if all the butter torches in the room had been extinguished.

Then, something strange happened.

The circular pattern underneath them began to dazzle with a miraculous glow. It exuded a layer of multicolored light, and it started to bubble-up from its surface. Then, it enveloped the both of them.

Both of them seemed to be attired in cloaks of red clouds that appeared to have been made-up of multicolored light that constituted of vibrant colors.

Suddenly, a cloud of fog – looking like silver mist – bubbled-up from the sparkling silver bowl placed in the center. Then, the silver mist whirled from the silver bowl and slowly rose-up. Its size started to expand. The star-like silver light-dots within the mist started to twinkle as it grew bigger and wider. These silver light-dots stood-out in the dark background of the room; the room had started to look like a vast and starry sky.

Shi Mu was astonished as he witnessed this mesmerizing and dream-like scene.

“What are you doing? Still gawking…”

Shi Mu jolted out of his trance as he heard Young Master Ju’s words. He then pressed the silver paper charm in his hand.

He stuck the silver paper charm on the bone piece with a loud ‘puff’ sound. Suddenly, a group of dazzling silver lights burst-out and got submerged in the bone.

“Shi Mu, you must stay close to me once we enter the chaotic space,” the obese man shot a glance at Shi Mu as he said.

“Yes!” Shi Mu restrained his awestruck heart and replied.

The obese man didn’t say anything more. Instead, he flicked his hand.

The charm characters engraved on the surface of the silver bowl responded with a flash. The pair of one-legged birds came to life in unison. They flew out of the pattern, and got submerged into their foreheads with a flash.

Shi Mu felt that his eyes had become heavy. He was under the spell of a trance before he could understand anything. Suddenly, his spirit left his body, and got attached to one of the silver birds. That bird then submerged in the bowl again.

A limitless space appeared before his eyes — it was like a vast sea with various kinds of fuzzy objects hovering on its surface. Some objects were near, while some of them were very far. Some of them were shinning, while some looked dark.

Shi Mu felt an inexplicable and distant force drawing him to its side.

“How are things with you? Have you felt the traction force of the Dead Spirit World yet?” Young Master Ju’s voice reverberated in Shi Mu’s mind.

Shi Mu was startled to discover that he had turned into a white and luminous dot. There was a bigger luminous dot next to him. It was Young Master Ju.

“Yes… I can feel it… but vaguely,” Shi Mu replied subconsciously.

“Good… good! Now, we’ll follow this traction force together. You mustn’t approach these fuzzy objects. I’ll cover you.” The obese man let out a long breath. He couldn’t conceal his excitement.

Shi Mu answered and started to follow the inexplicable force. He followed the obese man’s luminous dot as he floated forward.

This chaotic space was extremely strange. The only thing that Shi Mu could feel was complete emptiness. It was a kind of an illusion.

However, there were some strange and wonderful objects that piqued Shi Mu’s interest. Each one of them was a different and independent space according to Young Master Ju.

They continued to advance towards the distant place by following a fixed route. The inscrutable strange traction force grew stronger and clearer with the passage of time.

Shi Mu eventually started to get a little bored by seeing such a monotonous scene around him. Suddenly, he realized that a huge amount of his spirit power had already been consumed-up.

“Young Master Ju, does traveling in this chaotic space consume one’s spirit power?” Shi Mu asked anxiously.

“Of course! This goes for not only this chaotic space… but for every other space. In fact, the consumption of our spirit power in these spaces is considerably higher. Your spirit will be forcefully pulled back to your original space by the power of the circular pattern once your spirit power gets exhausted.”

A cold shiver ran down Shi Mu’s spine as he heard this.

Suddenly, he realized that his and Young Master Ju’s luminous dots were shrouded in a thin layer of multicolored rays.

Young Master Ju had explained this before. This multicolored layer was the key to ensure the return of these two people to their world.

“Don’t worry. Your spirit is much stronger than what I had expected. So, we can easily arrive at the Dead Spirit World if we don’t face any trouble on our way,” Young Master Ju’s voice resounded again.

Shi Mu felt relieved as he heard these words.

Suddenly, a glittering ray of light swept over them.

Shi Mu noticed that it was a long, narrow and shiny object – like a dagger. This object has got closer to them as they were talking; they hadn’t noticed as it had approached them.

The object was emitting a hazy and ambiguous halo; it was similar to the light of a firefly against the dark sky. Therefore, it had attracted Shi Mu’s attention.

“That’s not good… Hurry up! Come closer to me. That object is highly dangerous. You mustn’t get pulled by it!” the obese man reduced his speed as he warned Shi Mu in a loud voice.

Shi Mu was taken aback. He started to get closer to Young Master Ju’s luminous dot.

Shi Mu was about to get closer to him when an irresistible traction force pulled him towards that long and shining object. The original traction force of the chaotic space got weakened at the same time.

Shi Mu was panic-stricken. He exerted his utmost strength to resist this formidable force. Another huge strength passed from behind at the same time. It was Young Master Ju’s luminous dot.

The effort stemmed from Young Master Ju’s strong strength counter-balanced the force. However, Shi Mu was still slowly getting pulled towards that bright object.

Shi Mu was gripped by an extreme terror!