The Portal of Wonderland

Three days later… in Shi Mu’s stone house…

Shi Mu sat cross-legged on the ground. Sixteen hilted-daggers lay in front of him. Each of them was six inches in length. The daggers were thin. They were curved in the shape of the crescent moon. They emitted a magnificent pale-silver luster.

The corners of Shi Mu’s mouth curled upwards. He seemed satisfied.

These daggers were special weapons that were recorded in the secret book of the Zhong Family. They bore a strange name – ‘Moonlight Sea Urchin’. It was recorded in the secret book that these daggers commanded the top place in the ranking list of all the insidiously concealed weapons.

It was believed that this dagger was named after a special kind of a sea urchin that was found in the vicinity of the Da Qi Kingdom’s coastal region. This sea urchin was bright-white in color – similar to a brightly shining moon. Therefore, it looked extremely graceful. However, the spur on its body contained a deadly poison. It sprouted a poisonous sting when touched. Therefore, one needed to be treated promptly in case they got stabbed by it. Otherwise, the victim would soon die.

These silver daggers were exactly the same. They were forged with a special kind of metal – a mixture of silver, iron, and zinc. They were extremely fragile and thin. They could be easily broken into pieces if hit by an external force.

According to the Zhong Family’s secret book — the edge of this dagger must be smeared with a virulent poison. Then, it could be used in a hand-to-hand fight. The Moonlight Sea Urchin would explode in case the opponent used his weapon to block it.

It would be impossible for the opponent to dodge the explosion at such a close range – irrespective of how formidable he was.

It was extremely difficult to create a ‘Moonlight Sea Urchin’. It was an arduous task to obtain the special metal that was required to forge it. Moreover, it was extremely hard to find this kind of a deadly poison.

Shi Mu didn’t have such a lethal poison. But, he didn’t intend to make the original version of the Moonlight Sea Urchin either.

He pondered over this matter for a short while. Then, he grasped the daggers cautiously. After that, he walked over to his table and laid the daggers on a side; except for one that he placed in the middle. He then flipped over his right palm. He held several red magic brushes in his hand.

Suddenly, his pupils turned pale-golden in color. His wrist moved swiftly as he started to carve charm characters on the curved dagger. His brush moved briskly – like flying clouds. The charm characters started to emerge gradually on the dagger’s surface.

Finally, the Fierce Inflammation Charm Spell was carved on the dagger. It was the same spell that had been carved on his black blade.

The texture of the dagger was special. So, it didn’t need the Golden lizard’s poison. It could be easily softened if inserted into a stove.

Therefore, Shi Mu had planned to overlay ten layers of charm spell on these curved daggers.

According to the ancient books… even a low-grade charm spell could produce unexpected results; more so if ten layers of a charm spell were overlaid.

The process went smoothly. Shi Mu overlaid six layers of the charm spell within a short span of time.

Shi Mu stopped moving his brush, and let out a sigh. But then, his brush moved again, and started to draw the first stroke of the seventh layer of the spell.

However, his countenance changed before he could finish the first character. Suddenly, he held back his brush as he saw a strong wave of intense magic power gushing out of the dagger.

“Bang” a loud explosive sound was heard.

Suddenly, the curved dagger got engulfed in a ball of red blazing flames with a loud rumbling sound.

The flames disappeared as quickly as they had emerged. However, they transformed into a series of sparks before they vanished.

Then, the dagger shattered into countless fragments, and dropped onto the floor.

Shi Mu’s face revealed a dejected look. But, he grabbed another dagger and started to draw again.

His second trial ended-up in the same manner. The charm formula collapsed as he drew the seventh layer. And, the dagger crumbled into pieces once again.

Shi Mu’s complexion sank.

He racked his brains, but couldn’t understand the reason behind his failures.

After all, he was quite familiar with the Fierce Inflammation Charm Spell. Moreover, he was blessed with a special eyesight that could magnify things multiple times. Therefore, he was capable of drawing identical formulas. He shouldn’t have failed in this manner.

He started to shuttle back-and-forth in his room. He returned to his bed after some time. He sat down cross-legged with a dejected heart. Then, he closed his eyes and started to meditate.

He opened his eyes after a long time. They were flashing with a strange look. He rose from his bed and strode to the table. Then, he grasped another dagger. He picked-up the magic brush with his right hand, and started to draw once again.

He closed his eyes after completing the second layer. Then, he stayed motionless for a while. Meanwhile, he started to practice the Art of Accumulating Spirit Power in his mind. He gradually entered a mysterious state. He felt his spirit power leaking out of his body. His surroundings became very clear in his mind.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of fire element’s magic power moving on the surface of the dagger. This kind of an energy wave would’ve eluded anyone’s eyes. Shi Mu’s eyes would’ve also been dazzled if he hadn’t entered this tranquil state of mind.

He opened his eyes. Then, his brush started to move again, but at an extremely slow speed. He overlaid the third layer of the charm spell.

He was drawing very slowly as he had figured out the origin of the abnormality with the help of his spirit power.

He had the ability to copy the spells in a perfect manner. But, he hadn’t noticed a minute difference between the charm spells. The overlaid charm spells could collapse since they’d start to emit a wave of undulating magic power because of a minute difference.

The slight disorder grew more and more unstable with each layer that had been overlaid on the dagger.

Therefore, Shi Mu decided to draw slowly. He also continued to emit his spirit power to track the fluctuation of the magic power that was being exuded by the charm spell.

Shi Mu’s eyes beamed with exhilaration after a short while. He had finally completed the seventh layer of the Fierce Inflammation Charm Spell. He heaved a sigh of relief.

He halted for a moment. Then, he slowly started to draw the eighth charm spell.

However, he couldn’t maintain this position for a long time. He had completed half of the eight layer when the dagger caught fire, and the charm spell collapsed.

Shi Mu’s complexion sank. But, there was a firm and persistent look in his eyes. He picked-up another dagger and started to draw again.

*** ***

A purple-red light flashed in the stone house after an hour’s time. The handle of a silver dagger engraved with twelve purple magic characters lay in front of Shi Mu.

It was the first successful attempt after the destruction of five daggers in a row. Shi Mu had finally overlaid ten layers of Fierce Inflammation Charm Spell on a Moonlight Sea Urchin.

His eyes glittered with excitement as he gently stroked this dangerous yet fragile piece of art.

Suddenly, his body staggered as he felt an intense pricking pain in his mind. He was about to fall, but he took the support of the table.

He realized that his spirit power had got completely consumed-up.

He went to his bed and sat down cross-legged. He then calmed his mind down. Then, he began to practice the Art of Accumulating Spirit Power in order to restore his spirit power.

*** ***

Shi Mu continued to work for three days at a stretch. He continued to refine the Moonlight Sea Urchins.

A massive amount of his spirit power got consumed-up in the process. So, he bore an exhausted look.

However, his hard work had yielded a good result. He had successfully refined three daggers by the end of the third day. These three daggers had been overlaid with ten layers of the Fierce Inflammation Charm Spell. They had finally become magic weapons.

Shi Mu lay in his bed for an entire day afterwards. The next evening, he took advantage of the dim light and sneaked outside into the valley. Then, he arrived at an uninhabited open area. It was located at the foot of the mountain. He had gone there to test the might of the ‘Moonlight Sea Urchin’.

He looked around. Finally, his eyes fell on a huge black boulder; it was more than ten meters tall.

His right hand moved towards his waist. Suddenly, a dazzling silver light fell on his hand. It was that of the crescent moon-shaped dagger. Its surface was engraved with a row of purple characters. They were exuding a threatening aura.

A cold look streaked across Shi Mu’s eyes. His magic power surged-up, and burst out of his body. Suddenly, the purple-red characters engraved on the surface of the dagger lit-up brightly.

The entire dagger got shrouded in a layer of purple-red light. It quivered fiercely, and started to produce a shrill humming sound. Then, the ten overlaid layers of the Fierce Inflammation Charm Spell got activated.

“Ha!”

Shi Mu’s Real Qi erupted as the dagger got transformed into a purple-red ray of light. The light shot past the black boulder at an extremely fast speed.

It covered a distance of more than thirty meters in a flash.

The purple-red light exploded as soon as the dagger bumped into the huge boulder. It exuded a dazzling light which looked like a small rising sun. Then, it engulfed the entire boulder.

Suddenly, the dazzling light set-off ripples of huge heat-waves with a loud rumble. The heat-waves scattered with countless fragments of the black boulder.