The Portal of Wonderland

“Master, this spirit weapon…” Shi Mu began.

“You ignorant kid. How dare you say that this weapon is an old-fashioned iron rod and too light for your liking?!” Yong Zhu said furiously.

“Please enlighten me, master.”

Seeing Shi Mu bow in respect for his guidance, Yong Zhu’s anger faded slightly.

“This staff was named for the power contained within the rune. It allows one’s mind to be read, making everything big into something small and something heavy into something light. Although it is not of the highest grade that I’ve refined, it is still one of my most prize possessions. It’s been unable to find an owner for a long timeand sat gathering dust until today, but don’t look down on it,” Yong Zhu said softly while looking at the weapon as if watching his own child.

“Thank you for allowing me to be its owner..”

Once he understood how precious the weapon was, Shi Mu caressed its slightly rough surface.

“It’s fine. You chose it without knowing the weapon’s attributes. It was fate that both of you would find each other.”

“Elder master mentioned that this is made of iron and it can alter its size and weight. Is there a limit to it?”

“This staff can expand to a giant size or shrink as small as a toothpick. It can be extremely light like a feather or reach at least 100,000 pounds. However, I believe even this is not its limit. The weapon now belongs to you so use it to its fullest potential as you wish.”

After listening to Yong Zhu, Shi Mu thought about it and said happily, “In that case, elder master, would it be alright for me to try it here?”

“This is your spirit weapon now. You can do as you please.”

Shi Mu took his words into account.

Snap!

He took out the Heavenly Meteoric Knife Staff that was hanging behind himand joined it together with his new weapon. He began swinging it in his hand and cutting it right off the staff.

Dang….

The Heavenly Meteoric Knife Staff in Shi Mu’s hand trembled from the force.

When Shi Mu’s gaze swept away, he saw no trace of damage or cuts on the Black Meteoric Longstaff. Seeing this, he could not contain his happiness.

“This… Isn’t that the Meteoric Black Iron?” Yong Zhu’s gaze swept over the strange knife in Shi Mu’s handand was caught off guard.

“The Meteoric Black Iron?” Shi Mu wondered.

“Let me take a look at it..” Yong Zhu insisted.

Shi Mu hesitated slightly but handed over the knife to Yong Zhu.

Yong Zhu slashed the knife and tapped it twice. He even placed it under his nose to sniff it. In an instant, the tip of his fingers began to glow bright red. He placed his fingers on the surface of the knife as if checking a pulse. His expression was stern when he handed the knife back to Shi Mu.

“You, my boy, are very lucky. A metal like the Meteoric Black Iron is rareand the fact that you have such a big piece of it says a lot. It is said that this iron is formed after the collapse of the stars. It’s extremely difficult to obtain in the turbulent flow of stars. The weapon can only be built to store the aura of the Heavens and Earth so that the power can be greatly increased. If you’re interested, I can spend some time helping you melt the black knife into the staff,” Yong Zhu offered.

“Really? Is this true?” Shi Mu excitedly asked once more.

“Do you not believe my words? All I need to do is smelt the knife. It won’t take long and isn’t much work. I’ll merge and refine it on your behalfand the remaining Meteoric Black Iron will be mine as compensation. How about that?”

“How long will it take then?” Shi Mu pondered.

Yong Zhu was silent in deep thought for a moment before finally saying “It’s just smelting, not re-forging. It won’t take much time, maybe a month.”

“Well, I shall hold you to your word,” Shi Mu nodded in agreement.

“You have my word,” Yong Zhu said in a joyful tone.

Since Shi Mu had agreed to it, he did not hesitate to hand the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Knife to Yong Zhu.

“Smelting will take only a month. Please come over and take it when it’s time. Also, please rely on this token once more to look for me,” Yong Zhu said as he handed the casting hammer back to Shi Mu.

Shi Mu took the hammer and nodded. He did not stay any longer and soon left.

After that, he did not immediately head back to his residence. Instead, he planned to visit the Holy Spirit Pavilion.

These days, he had fully mastered the location within the Xuanling Tower. It was not long before he had arrived at the Holy Spirit Pavilion.

Once again, Shi Mu was still shocked by the vast collection of ​​books available. He could not help but wonder how long it took for the Holy Land of Qinglan to collect all these books.

He shook his head to stop himself from thinking such a question and began to look around.

Not far from him was a platformand he flew towards it.

A white stone wall was erected on the platform with a dense pattern on it.

Shi Mu looked at it for a moment and immediately understood that this was a map of the Holy Spirit Pavilion.

The space within the Holy Spirit Pavilion was extremely large. According to the above classification, it was divided into twenty-two areas, each of which was stored in a classic category.

Some were on cultivation, martial arts, pharmacopoeia, medical skills, human geography and the list went on. Shi Mu was amazed.

Before he came, he knew that there was no guard in the Holy Spirit Pavilion. If anyone wanted to find something, they had to look for it themselves.

It was said that the person who made this rule was the ancestor of the Qinglan. The idea was that everything depended on opportunity, not brute force.

Shi Mu looked carefully for a while and he flew in one direction toward the distance.

After flying for half an hour, Shi Mu had arrived at his destination. It was the 19th district of the Holy Scriptures, where countless martial arts books were stored.

Shi Mu intended to exchange for a brilliant martial art to match his possession of the Black Meteoric Longstaff.

The 19th district was extremely large. If someone were to read slowly, it would undoubtedly take at least a year.

It was subdivided into thirty-two units, each of which had a detailed introduction for both armed and unarmed fighting arts.

According to the map, Shi Mu had swiftly found the place where material on fighting techniques were placed.

He flew on an acre-sized cyan stone platform with hundreds of bookshelves. There were hundreds of books on each shelf and tens of thousands of books on the stone platform altogether.

Shi Mu’s face showed excitement as he began to look through the first bookshelf.

The shelf was sealed with a prohibition spell, making it impossible to look through easily. However, there were a number of annotations under each sutra, which indicated the characteristics of martial arts that could be used as a reference.

“Rolling Serpent Staff Technique, Earth-level Art, Cultivation Of The Territory can condense into a dragon-like style, able to attack people even from hundreds of miles away…”

“Eight Phantom Shadow Staves. Heaven-level Art, innate magical technique, making others hard to withstand…”

“Shadowless Staff Technique, Earth-level Art, from length by length, able to hurt others through invisibility… ”

Shi Mu was picky. There were too many martial arts hereand each possessed its own unique characteristics. It was an eye opener.

However, he was not eagerand began to read from bookcase to bookcase.

After two or three hours, Shi Mu raised his head from the bookshelf and breathed a sigh of relief.

At first when he heard that of Qinglan claiming to possess all classics of the Great World of Magnum Solis, he could not believe it. However, after a few hours in the Holy Spirit Pavilion, he was shocked.

The sacred ceremonies were numerous and well-known, far beyond his imagination.

He even saw the Seven Kill Rod Technique. Although he could read it in detail, the description of the staff technique was exactly the same as the Seven Kill Rod he practiced. This must have been the technique from the Cerulean Sea Star.

Although he had been searching for some time now, he was still unable to find a staff technique that caught his eye and fit him perfectly.

As Shi Mu browsed, the corner of his eyes caught sight of a particular book.

“The Eighteen Staves Through Heaven, an Earth-level art. One would have to be physically strong in order to practice it. The stronger the body, the greater the power of the staff. When the cultivation has reached its peak, the deep realm can roll the vitality of the surrounding world, shaking the earth…” Shi Mu mumbled as he read the introduction. With each word, his eyes got bigger and brighter.

This particular technique was simply tailor-made for him. In addition, after the combination of the iron knife with the staff, the weapon would have the magical effect of absorbing the aura of the heavens and earth. This made the staff method a good match for the weapon.

More importantly, the name of the Eighteen Staves Through Heaven and the rod were somewhat similar. Was there a reason for the coincidence?

Shi Mu’s thoughts turned as he looked at the top of the classics books where the redemption points were marked.

The next moment made his body stiff and his face dark and cloudy.

95 Xuanling points!

He had been here for so long and the Xian Tian level techniques only needed below 10 points. Generally, Earth-level arts only needed 50 points. The technique he was interested in was twice the points of an Earth-level art.

Shi Mu’s expression changed and he immediately took out his Xuanling Wall. Under the sway, a white light flew out from the inside and hit the surface of the prohibition seal on the bookshelf.

The one hundred points on his Xuanling Wall had decreased to ninety-nine points.

Buzz!

A white light appeared on the curtain, which quickly condensed into a huge face.

“Is it you who summoned me?” the face looked at Shi Muu and asked. The figure’s voice was empty and vast.

“Yes, it’s me,” Shi Mu respectfully bowed to the huge face.

It was not wrong to say that this Holy Spirit Pavilion was left unguarded. In the end, the entire Holy Spirit Pavilion was actually under the control of the Protector of the Prohibition Ban.

Though the stone tablet on the Holy Spirit Pavilion had clearly written the details, summoning the protector of the ban to ask further questions would cost some Xuanling points.

Of course, the question asked needed to be strict and of serious business only. If the question were of a playful act, the protectors would not answer it and the point would not be returned.

“What do you seek?” the protector asked.

“I’ve noticed the staff technique known as the Eighteen Staves Through Heaven. I’m wondering why does it cost 95 Xuanling points.”

“This technique is an ancient secret that has been passed down. Only with given opportunity would one get the chance to master it.”

The protector sounded etherealand his words echoed in Shi Mu’s ears.

Shi Mu heard a word and was more confused than ever. What kind of answer is this? It was too general and without any specific details to help him better understand.

“I have answered what you’ve asked. If there is nothing else, I shall leave now.”

The protector began to slowly fade away into thin air.

Seeing the protector fading, Shi Mu did not hold back and quickly asked “Hold on! Respected protector, I have one last question. May I know where the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art is placed? How many points would it cost in exchange for the third phase of the cultivation?”