The Portal of Wonderland

A loud sound was heard.

The black blade-light dazzled like a black dragon; it hovered and danced in the air. It sprinkled a rain of blood wherever it went.

More than a dozen wind wolves were torn into pieces in a couple of breaths’ time.

The magic power rushed into Shi Mu’s hand. Suddenly, raging flames soared on the surface of the black blade. Then, a splendid circle of blade light rippled.

More than ten wind wolves were about to pounce at Shi Mu when they sensed the hot fire wave. They withdrew a few steps backwards. However, the ominous glint in their eyes didn’t fade away. And, they weren’t retreating either. They stood staring at Shi Mu.

Shi Mu looked around. A golden light flashed in his eyes. He spotted the alpha of the wolves; it was hiding among the pack. Suddenly, a flame was shot as he shook his right hand.

The flame whistled past the pack of the wolves. Shi Mu went over to his chosen spot. He then ignited the waves of raging flames. The flames engulfed more than ten wind wolves in the blink of an eye.

“Aouuuuu…” a sad and shrill howl of wolves pierced the sky.

The cunning alpha-wolf became alert. It turned around to run away. But then, the burning flames of the black blade pierced its chest and abdomen. And, the wolf got nailed to the ground. A huge amount of blood started to spurt out of its wounds. Then, its entire body ignited due to the raging flames, and got burnt to ashes.

The remaining wolves were startled to see the alpha-wolf getting killed. They bent their tails, and started to issue shrill sounds. Then, they started to run away.

Shi Mu didn’t chase them. He walked a few steps towards the burnt body of the alpha-wolf. He then pulled the black blade, and put it back in its sheath.

After that, he pulled out the water container from his waist. He then poured the blood from the burnt corpse of the alpha-wolf into it. This was a commonly used ‘fetching water’ technique in the wasteland.

Shi Mu sat down. He drank a few mouthfuls of the wolf-blood, and took some rest. He waited till after the sky had become completely dark. Then, he set-off for his journey.

He had arrived at a big hill-sized rock before sunrise.

Shi Mu walked all around the huge rock, and found a natural cave. There was ten feet of space to enter the cave. But, this cave was hidden.

Shi Mu lowered his body to make his way into the cave. He then sat down cross-legged, and started to practice the Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants.

A sudden sound of horses’ hooves was heard after an unknown period of time.

Shi Mu opened his eyes; he felt cold in his heart. It seemed that the sound of the horses’ hooves was approaching in the direction of the cave.

Shi Mu turned his head to look through a narrow opening in the wall of the cave. He started to recall the warnings that Feng Li had given to him before he had set-off for this journey. His vision flashed. Then, he picked-up his black blade, and prepared to jump out of the cave.

He was about to step out of the cave when he saw three horses – two in front and one at the back – rushing towards the giant rock at a very high speed. They were about two-hundred feet away from the cave.

Two barbarians – a man and a woman – were riding the front two horses. The horse at the back looked quite strange. It wasn’t really a horse. And, no one was riding it. Moreover, it looked as if the creature at the back was chasing after the two people in the front.

Shi Mu stared at them. He saw that the creature at the back had a cattle’s head, deer’s body, horse’s legs, and a lion’s tail. It looked extremely strange.

The two people in the front saw Shi Mu coming out of the cave. Their complexion changed. And, the strange creature at the back let out a strange roar.

The two horses in the front seemed to be frightened. So, they knelt down all of a sudden. And, the two figures flew, and fell on the ground near Shi Mu.

Shi Mu couldn’t understand what was going on. Suddenly, a fierce wind hit his face as the strange creature changed its direction, and dashed towards him at an astonishing speed.

It had two pointed cow-horns; they looked like two sharp daggers. The strange creature advanced towards Shi Mu with an intention to insert its horns into Shi Mu’s vital parts.

‘Puff!’

A fire lit-up. Shi Mu’s black blade produced thirteen blazing blade-shadows in a flash. The shadows advanced towards the monstrous creature to chop it into pieces.

The blade light was about to hit the monstrous animal when Shi Mu recalled the origin of this beast.

This strange beast’s body had the characteristics of four animals; it was known as David’s Deer. It was a unique and rare animal of the barbarians’ wasteland. Its strength was ordinary. But, it could run at an astonishing speed. In fact, its speed surpassed that of the ordinary mounts of the barbarian tribes.

There was a flicker of excitement in its eyes. It changed its direction as the fiery-red blade-light fell, and raised its head once again.

‘Whoosh!’

The black blade went flying, and got stuck in a stone wall.

Shi Mu let out a loud shout as he saw that David’s Deer’s horns were about to penetrate his chest. Suddenly, the Real Qi densely covered Shi Mu’s body. Then, Shi Mu held both the horns of the beast with his huge hands. He then bent his waist, and put one of his legs before the other. After that, he pressed himself against the beast to resist its attack.

‘Boom!’ a muffled sound was heard.

Shi Mu felt a wild strength rushing forth in his huge arms. His face was flushed. But, his body stood motionless – like a tree.

David’s Deer felt as if it had bumped against an iron block. It let out a painful scream. And, traces of fear flashed through its eyes.

Suddenly, it started to exert a brute force. And, its four hooves started to retreat. Then, it swung his head in chaos. It wanted to get rid of Shi Mu. So, it turned around to escape.

However, its horns started to hurt because of the terrifying force with which Shi Mu held them. So, it was difficult for him to run away from Shi Mu.

Shi Mu’s entire bodily muscles were bulging like a drum. And, his Real Qi was galloping like waves within his body. It seemed that he had used the entire strength of his Real Qi.

Shi Mu’s body could deal with the strength of an initial level Xian Tian warrior since he had entered into the fifth stage of the Art of Breeding a Strong Evil Ape and Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants. Therefore, he could shook the entire body of this beast.

The beast was almost within Shi Mu’s reach. It shouted painfully as Shi Mu pulled with his entire strength. It then took two steps forward.

Shi Mu turned over to ride the beast by using his legs. He tightly gripped its horns, and clamped his legs into its abdomen.

The David’s Deer was startled, and angry at this. So, it started to jump in a chaotic manner. It ran and jolted because it wanted Shi Mu to get down from its body.

However, it didn’t know that it won’t be able to even budge Shi Mu. And, Shi Mu remained seated motionlessly on the body of the beast. In fact, he’d kick it from both sides every time it didn’t behave well. And, this caused the beast to whine loudly.

The David’s Deer finally calmed down after a quarter-of-an-hour. It had a fearful expression in its eyes since Shi Mu’s legs were clamped on its abdomen. Shi Mu softly pressed his legs from either side into the abdomen of the beast. And, the beast intelligently turned in a certain direction. Then, it stopped as Shi Mu moved his legs again.

Shi Mu’s heart was filled with great happiness. So, he loosened his hands from the back of David’s Deer, and jumped down. But, this beast was extremely clever. And, it started to follow Shi Mu, and didn’t try to run away.

Shi Mu noticed that the two young people had already crawled-up from the ground. They looked dumbfounded.

The young barbarian-man appeared to be fourteen or fifteen years old. He was only a little shorter than Shi Mu. Several black feathers were fixed to his head. Moreover, he had some fresh scars on his face and upper body. It was clear that he had fallen heavily.

The young barbarian-girl looked one or two years older than the young boy. Her skin was slightly dark, and her facial features were delicate and pretty. She was quite tall. In fact, stature resembled that of a fully-grown woman of the human race.

Shi Mu sized her up. He noticed that there was a horse behind her. The horse had collapsed, and had hidden itself behind the cave. It seemed that its leg was broken since it was wailing in a continuous manner.

“Thanks a lot to the warrior for his kindness. Please let Sha Xing of the Flying Raven Tribe pay you respect.” The young barbarian-man respectfully bowed before Shi Mu. He then looked at Shi Mu with adoration and spoke.

The barbarian-girl also cupped her hands in front of her chest, and bowed before Shi Mu in salutation.

“You’re welcome!” Shi Mu took back his long black blade. He then nodded at both of them in an indifferent manner.

“My name is Sha Jiao. I’m Sha Xing’s elder sister. May I know the honored name of the brave warrior? If it’s possible… then I want you to come with us and be a guest of the Flying Raven Tribe. You’ve saved us. Father will be extremely thankful to you. We – the members of Flying Raven Tribe – are soon going to hold a sacrificial ceremony for our Raven God. It’s going to be very lively and full of excitement. Father will certainly be very happy to have such an honorable guest participating in the festival,” the young barbarian-girl looked at Shi Mu and said.

“Yes… the sacrificial ceremony for the Raven God is indeed very lively. Moreover, our father is personally managing it,” the young barbarian man’s eyes lit-up with pride as he spoke about his father.

Shi Mu felt moved as he heard this.

According to his understanding about the barbarian tribe… the general sacrificial ceremony could only be presided over by the sacrifice of the clan.

There was no way that he could understand all the mysteries that surrounded the barbarian’s totem technique. Coincidently, he had rescued the children of a tribe that was soon going to hold a sacrificial ceremony.

“My name is Shi Mu. Thank you so much for your invitation. If you don’t mind… then I would like to see and know about the sacrificial ceremony for the Raven God,” Shi Mu said humbly.

“Really? That’s great! Father will be very pleased,” Sha Xing said excitedly.

Sha Jiao smiled. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Shi Mu.

“Sister, let’s go.” Sha Xing pushed the barbarian-girl impatiently.

Sha Jiao turned her head and stared in his eyes. Then, she turned around to climb her horse. Sha Xing also leapt on to sit behind the young girl. The young girl pushed aside the horse’s head. Then, they started to advance in the north-east direction.

Shi Mu rode on the David’s Deer. He gently pushed his legs into its abdomen. Surprisingly, the beast easily understood Shi Mu’s instructions. Then, it started to walk alongside the horse.

“Sha Jiao, how come you were being chased by this David’s Deer?” Shi Mu asked in a curious manner.

“Because of Sha Xing… He forced me to accompany him on hunting today. He said that this beast’s fresh meat was important for the sacrifice to the Gods. I don’t know where this David’s Deer came from. The trap that we arranged not only failed to trap it… but also made it angry. And, we almost lost our lives,” Sha Jiao said. She then turned her head to look at Sha Xing in an angry manner.

Sha Xing lowered his head in embarrassment. He didn’t dare to say anything.

Shi Mu wasn’t much older than these young barbarians. So, the three of them advanced forward while chatting with each other. There didn’t seem to be any unfamiliar feeling among them.

They continued to move for an hour. Then, they saw a long and thin brook at a distance; it was about ten feet wide.

Hundreds of leather tents could be seen dispersed disorderly on a creek lawn. Many herded cattle could also be seen in the surroundings. Moreover, cries of the cattle could be heard in a continuous manner.

In addition, a large crowd of dense black spots could be seen dancing in the sky over the tribe.

Shi Mu looked at the black spots. Surprisingly, these black spots were crows.

The crows let out a sudden cry as the three of them came closer to the tribe. Then, they launched themselves like arrows towards the three youths with a very fast speed.

Shi Mu tightened his grip on his black blade. However, he loosened it the next moment.

He noticed that Sha Xing and Sha Jiao had already whipped their horses to rush forward. And, he saw that the crows had started to revolve over Sha Xing and Sha Jiao. But, they looked exceptionally intimidating.

Suddenly, Shi Mu realized something. It seemed as if these crows belonged to their father. This tribe offered the sacrifices of fierce beasts in the sacrificial ceremony to their Raven God.

Shi Mu had talked with these young barbarians, and had come to know that the Flying Raven Tribe was an extremely small tribe. So, it only had a population of three-to-four-hundred people. Moreover, there were only three totem warriors in the tribe — including the Sha Xing and Sha Jiao’s father — who was managing the sacrificial ceremony.