The Portal of Wonderland

The Eastern Sea…

The Eastern Sea looked turbulent as its waves roared… It seemed as if it had been infuriated. A strong wind was continuously bellowing and rolling amidst the mighty waves. This wind was setting off dreadful and monstrous sea waves.

A black and misty hurricane was wandering-around on the sea’s surface. This monstrous hurricane would condense and disperse unceasingly. In addition, it was interwoven with a set of gigantic howling waves.

The deafening sounds produced by the roaring waves made it seem as if the sky was about to collapse. The scene looked imposing and awe-inspiring.

There was a black island that stood aloft amidst these monstrous sea waves. But, it had continued to stand still all along even though the mighty sea waves had been constantly hitting it like thunderbolts.

The strong presence of a spiritual aura could be felt around… as if the sea was under the effect of some kind of invisible force. The spiritual aura surged up, and converged at a point. Then, it took the shape of a whirlpool that resembled a gigantic funnel.

The black island was the center of the massive spiritual funnel.

The entire island was exuding intermittent bursts of faint black light. Moreover, a bountiful amount of spiritual energy was pouring into the black island along the massive funnel in a violent manner.

A person with extraordinary eyesight could have noticed that the black island was expanding at a very slow rate due to the constant influx of spiritual energy.

Surprisingly, numerous silhouettes stood around the island at the moment. And, they appeared to be several hundred in number.

These silhouettes looked similar to the human race. However, their bodies were gleaming and emanating strange colors. They stood firmly on the sea’s surface. The frightening sea waves or the monstrous hurricane couldn’t render any affect on these silhouettes.

Some of them had colorful scales on their exposed body, while some appeared half-human and half-fish. In fact, these people seemed to belong to the Eastern Sea Race.

These hundreds of Sea Race people had encircled a black mountain peak, and were mumbling something at the moment.

Their bodies were exuding all kinds of rays of light from time to time. And, those rays were converging midair… as if they were arranging into an enormous magic array.

A beautiful maiden stood high in the air. In fact, she stood very close to the black mountain peak. She was clad in an aqua-blue dress. She had exquisite facial features, and was blessed with a stunning beauty. She was reading an incantation in a loud voice. Her body was emanating sparkling and translucent blue radiance. The blue radiance was growing brighter with time, and had almost covered her stature.

This woman was Xiang Zhu.

Seven virtual shadows of stars could be faintly seen behind her head at the moment.

The blue radiance around her body continued to grow brighter. Eventually it exploded, and shot high up into the sky. It then took the shape of a blue light-beam.

After that, the surrounding Sea Race people also started to exude increasingly brighter rays of light. Then, those light rays converged toward Xiang Zhu.

After that, an incomparably large eggshell-like magic formula light-screen got formed in a gradual manner, and enveloped the black mountain peak.

The spiritual energy around the mountain peak suddenly quivered as a result. The fact was that the spiritual energy that had been converging towards the mountain had been blocked by this light-curtain, and hadn’t been able to penetrate it until now.

Xiang Zhu slowly opened her eyes. Her complexion had turned pale out of exhaustion. But, her face revealed a trace of a smile after she saw that a huge light-curtain had been formed.

But then, her body quivered a bit, and it seemed as if she was about to fall.

Suddenly, a blue-colored royal-dressed woman appeared beside her, and held out her hand to support Xiang Zhu’s body.

“Master,” Xiang Zhu cried.

“Miss Zhu, you did well. Now go down and take a proper rest. We need you later to assist us in doing a certain work,” the royal-dressed beautiful woman said.

Xiang Zhu nodded. Then, her body fell down, and she went below the water.

The royal-dressed beautiful woman turned around to look at the black mountain peak. Then, a few silhouettes flashed behind her in quick succession. And, seven or eight Sea Race people appeared the next moment. They were the Elder Chiefs of various clans of the Eastern Sea Race.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our Saintess has laid out a large magic formula of the Soul Suppressing Spell. This has been done to sever the connection between the spiritual things and the outside world. So, we will move according to our plan now,” the royal-dressed women stated.

The other people nodded in agreement. Then, those silhouettes flashed and dispersed in all directions.

…

Half a month later…

In a certain inn’s room in Pi City…

Shi Mu stood in front of the wooden table with full concentration. A faint golden gleam could be seen in his eyes. He held a wind-attribute middle-grade spirit stone in his left hand, and a magic brush in his right. The brush seemed to be made of green wood. He was drawing a magic formula on a blank magic paper at an extremely slow speed. The magic paper was pale-golden in color. The magic formula that Shi Mu was drawing so attentively was a high-ranked magic charm that he had just learnt. It was called Wind Shadow Magic Charm.

The Wind Shadow Charm was a kind of high-ranked wind-attribute magic charm. It was one of the Five Elements magic charms that were recorded in the “Charm Book on the Heaven-Trigram”.

Shi Mu could use this formula to draw strength from a wind-attribute element, and then condense an identical shadow of himself in his vicinity. Then, he could use that identical shadow to confuse the enemy’s hearing and seeing abilities. This magic charm could also enhance the speed of the caster’s actions by a big margin. Consequently, it could increase the odds of success before a confrontation with an enemy. So, it could be said that this magic charm was very practical.

However, the Wind Shadow Charm wasn’t the most powerful magic charm recorded in the “Charm Book on the Heaven-Trigram”. Some other Five Elements magic charms or Yin-attribute curse-type magic charms were far better than this one.

But, Shi Mu had chosen to draw the Wind Shadow Charm because of his own difficulties.

Shi Mu had wanted to draw a high-ranked Yin-attribute curse-type magic charm since the beginning. The Charm Book on the Heaven-Trigram was bound to excel at Yin-attribute magic arts. After all, it had been passed down from the Dark Moon Cult. Moreover, the majority of the magic charms compiled in this book belonged to the same category.

Shi Mu still remembered the day when he had confronted the masked woman; Liu An’s fellow apprentice. He had badly suffered that day owing to his lack of knowledge regarding magic arts of this kind. Therefore, he had gained interest in such magic arts.

However, the present outcome had made him depressed. The fact was that he hadn’t been able to achieve any fruitful results no matter how hard he had tried. He had failed to condense the Yin-attribute charm characters in the white ape’s mind through the Moon Swallowing Art as well.

In fact, he hadn’t even been able to complete the first step.

Therefore, Shi Mu had eventually given up after a series of attempts. After that, he had devoted himself to study the magic charms of all five elements that were recorded in the “Charm Book on the Heaven-Trigram”.

However, drawing a high-ranked magic charm was far more complicated than he had imagined. After all, it had many different requirements like magic brushes, charm papers, magic ink etc. In fact, each high-ranked magic charm had its own weird requirements and limitations.

Consequently, Shi Mu had spent one week of time to travel to almost every corner of the Pi City in order to cobble together the materials that were needed to draw the Wind Shadow Charm. He had even participated in two other underground trade fairs. Moreover, he had spent around two-thousand spirits stone in this process.

However, the materials that he had gathered were barely enough for hundred attempts.

It was because a Wind Shadow Charm was composed of twenty-seven distinct wind-attribute charm characters. So, even the slightest mistake could end up ruining the entire effort. In fact, the success rate was extremely low.

Shi Mu had a pair of extraordinary spirit eyes to draw support from. However, he had spent so many days, but had only been able to draw the charm barely more than a dozen times. Moreover, only two of those draws could be considered as ‘successful’.

“Dong! Dong!” suddenly, knocks were heard on the door.

Shi Mu’s brush trembled slightly. Then, a light “Puff” sound was heard, and the charm paper burst into flames the next moment. Shi Mu had drawn the greater part of the charm characters on that paper.

Shi Mu’s face sank as he saw this. Then, he put down the magic brush, turned around, and walked toward the door to open it.

There was nobody else but Hou Sai lei outside the door.

Hou Sai Lei’s face was beaming with a blissful look at the moment. He was about to say something when he saw Shi Mu’s facial expression. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed this, and he became cautious about his next action.

“What’s the matter?” Shi Mu asked.

Hou Sai Lei was a very smart and quick-witted person. He was good at observing someone’s mood through their words and body language. He had been constantly scouting in the city to gather necessary information for Shi Mu these days. And, he would never dare to interrupt Shi Mu’s practice unless he had an important matter to discuss.

“Senior Mu, I have just received the news that the senior envoy has arrived in the city. He will be in-charge of Pi City’s preliminary selection quota. In addition, he has taken shelter in a nearby guest house which is located in the western part of the city,” Hou Sai Lei informed.

“Oh, let’s go to take a look at him,” Shi Mu’s spirit got pumped up by Hou Si Lei’s words. So, he walked out of the room, and locked the door.

Hou Sai Lei was delighted by this. So, he moved ahead to lead the way.

The two arrived in the front of an average-sized guest house after some time.

But, Shi Mu was very surprised to see such a tumultuous situation in front of the guest-house. In fact, a large number of people had already gathered here. Judging by their appearance… they all seemed to be the disciples of the Dark Moon Cult.

Shi Mu stopped there, and started to pay attention to the surrounding people’s discussion in a silent manner.

“Tsk Tsk, it seems that this respected envoy is somewhat different from the previous one.”

“Hmm, he’s indeed not the same. Senior Lian Li just wanted to pay him a visit. However, he also received the cold-shoulder treatment, and was stopped at the entrance. He is an honored figure of our Pi City’s sub-altar, and commands high respect in the city. But, that envoy didn’t show him any respect.”

“I heard that this respected envoy pretended to be a businessman, and entered the city quietly last night.”

…

Shi Mu listened to their conversation for a moment, and was left dumbstruck. It seemed that the new envoy of the Main Altar didn’t wish to meet any outsiders.

Shi Mu pondered for a moment in the same place. Then, he turned around, and walked to the side of the guest-house; Hou Sai Lei followed him.

It wasn’t long after when it seemed as if the two men were wandering-around the guest house. They circled outside the guest-house at a moderate pace. Then, they returned to the original place again.

Shi Mu had noticed that the guest house was only three-storied. However, he soon turned around and returned to his inn.

That night…

The bright moon looked like a mirror in the dark sky. The whole sky was studded with countless stars.

Shi Mu and Hou Sai Lei appeared near the fence of the guest house once again. They were clad in a suit of night dress.

This was a remote and unguarded place.

Shi Mu stood still in his place, and tried to listen attentively for a moment. However, he didn’t sense anything suspicious in the guest house.

He then pulled Hou Sai Lei closer, and started to read an incantation at an extremely fast speed. A large mass of white Qi clouds appeared under the feet of the two men. Then, it supported the two men and flew them toward the third-floor attic in a slow manner.

The Qi cloud technique could also carry another person apart from the caster. But, it would demand substantial consumption of the caster’s magic power in return.

Hou Sai Lei looked around as he stood on the Qi clouds. There was a trace of excitement on his face. The flying magic techniques were very few in number. So, there were very few Star-Ranked magicians who could fly. Hou Sai Lei himself was only a Spirit-Ranked magician. So, it was obvious that he hadn’t experienced flying until now…

The two of them soon arrived above the third floor’s attic. Then, the Qi clouds started to dissipate at a fast speed. So, the two quickly landed on the roof of the attic.

Only the hall on the third floor was brightly illuminated in the entire building at the moment. Also, faint voices of people could be heard.

Shi Mu carefully moved to an appropriate spot. Then, he gently removed a piece of roof tile, and quickly swept his gaze around the hall.

Two men sat in the hall. One of them had a thin stature, and was dressed in grey. He looked around forty years old. The other man was Deacon Quan; he had seen this man in the Dark Moon Cult’s sub-altar in Pi City.

He judged the concealed magic power fluctuations in the grey-dressed man’s body… and, guessed that this person was also a Star-Ranked magician.

The two seemed to be discussing matters related to the selections.

Shi Mu listened to their conversation for some time, and got convinced that this grey-dressed man was that famous envoy who had been sent by the Dark Moon Cult’s Main Altar.

Moreover, Shi Mu was greatly surprised to know that Deacon Quan happened to be the apprentice of this grey-dressed middle-aged man.

Shi Mu was waiting for the two to conclude their conversation when Deacon Quan’s voice rang once again.

“Senior Brother Li, I have just received a vital piece of information. I wonder if you are interested,” Deacon Quan whispered.

“What information?” the grey-dressed middle-aged man asked.

But, Deacon Quan didn’t reply. Instead, he flashed a mysterious smile to the middle-aged man, and took out a white jade slip from his bosom. Then, a white ray of light darted out his hand…