The Portal of Wonderland

Fei Du wrinkled his brows as he saw the burn marks on his broken whip. And, a black flame-like lightning could be seen emanating out of the cane in Sha Lang’s hand.

“Hehe… I didn’t know that you’ve made such a huge progress in your Witch Fire technique in such a short period of time. But, do you think that you can save your tribe from a warrior of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe with your tiny trick?” Fei Du laughed coldly. Suddenly, his body started to emit an imposing aura. Then, his black fighter-wolf looked-up and howled loudly.

Then, around twenty fighter-wolves started to howl loudly. The foot soldiers also started to shout. Then, they all stepped forward. Suddenly, an invisible wave of strange fluctuations started to emanate out of their movements.

Sha Lang’s complexion sank as he looked at their imposing aura. He immediately recognized the famous and commonly used trick of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe.

He waved the cane in his hand. Suddenly, a black light was shot out of the cane. The black light then transformed into a black layer, and formed a barrier in front of his tribesmen.

Suddenly, the invisible fluctuations surged-up violently, and struck the black layer.

The black barrier broke and scattered with a mild cracking sound. But, it didn’t let the huge fluctuation pass through it.

Sha Lang’s face turned red. He drew a step backwards. Then, the black light on his cane dispersed.

The men of the Flying Raven Tribe looked extremely scared. So, they looked towards Sha Lang with hopeful eyes. However, they didn’t budge from their places.

“Sha Lang, be smart. Don’t try to oppose the Heavenly Wolf Tribe. I’m giving you two options – either hand over the stuff that I’ve asked for, or let your entire tribe be exterminated. The choice is yours,” Fei Du spoke-up with grim laughter.

Sha Lang’s complexion turned pale as he looked at the twenty-or-so totem warriors of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe.

“Twenty buckets of food grains is too much. I can only offer you five buckets of it. We don’t have enough good wine and horses in this tribe. So, how can I offer you what you asked for?” Sha Lang replied after he had given it some thought.

Several men of the Flying Raven Tribe became angry as they heard these words. They shouted out loudly once again.

Sha Lang waved his hand to suppress the resentful voices of his tribesmen.

“Hehe… Five buckets of food grains? Sha Lang, do you think that we – the people of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe – are beggars? We can’t accept less than twenty buckets of food grains. Alright! Our Young Master has his heart set on your daughter Sha Jiao since he saw her years ago. If you promise to grant your daughter a place of concubine in our Young Master’s harem… then we won’t take any food from you. And, she’ll keep the honor of your Flying Raven Tribe,” Fei Du suggested with an evil grin.

“Fei Du, you’re not satisfied with smaller gains. Our Flying Raven Tribe is small… but it doesn’t give you the right to humiliate and dishonor us.” Sha Lang complexion turned cold. He then replied in a stern voice.

The clansmen of the Flying Raven Tribe also lifted their weapons and shouted loudly.

“Very well then… You’re most welcome if you’re willing to die.” Fei Du’s face had turned ashen. A cruel grin flashed at the corner of his mouth. He then waved his hand.

More than twenty totem warriors of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe turned into a flood of steel, and rushed towards the members of the Flying Raven Tribe. A hundred or more foot soldiers also dashed after them.

“Move back inside!” Sha Lang commanded in a loud voice. He then recited an incantation. Suddenly, a thick black light started to appear around his cane.

Then, a black cloud appeared in the sky with a ‘quack’ sound.

Dozens of black ravens rushed out like dozens of arrows from the sky. And, they shot themselves at the totem warriors of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe.

Those black ravens were extremely fast; their beaks were as sharp as awls. In fact, they looked more ferocious than the fastest arrows.

Several totem warriors of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe couldn’t dodge this attack. The black ravens knocked themselves against them, and hit their legs and bodies. Several knights got knocked-off from the back of their wolves.

Blood started to flow out of the wounds of several totem warriors. An unlucky man was hit by one of the crows in his eye socket. His head was pierced by a long and sharp beak.

This initial-stage Hou Tian Totem warrior screamed. Then, his body fell on the ground and rolled up twice. After that, it became motionless.

Sha Lang recited the incantation once again. Then, black rays of light started to emanate out of his body. Suddenly, a light started to flash somewhere inside the Flying Raven Tribe. And, this light surrounded Sha Lang’s body at an incredibly fast speed.

The black light rolled over Sha Lang’s body, and took the shape of a black raven. Then, his cane started to emit bursts of red light.

His complexion turned ruddy as the red light reflected upon his face.

He shouted out loudly and thrust his cane forward. The cane darted at an extremely fast speed – almost two times faster than its usual speed. And, it went straight into the chest of a soldier of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe, and pierced it.

A black light emanated from the direction of their tribe once again. It entered into the body of the totem warrior of the Flying Raven Tribe. But, this light was weaker than the black light that had been emitted by Sha Lang.

The two men shook their sharp weapons in their hands. Then, a red light covered the weapons, and increased their attacking power.

These three men rose and joined rest of the members of the Flying Raven Tribe. And, they succeeded in resisting the attack of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe at the cost of the lives of more than twenty of their men.

Fei Du became furious. These twenty totem warriors were his right-hand men. They were equivalent to his private soldiers. So, it would be a great loss for him if they died.

He bellowed loudly. Then, he waved his hand. And, a black light was shot out of his hand at a lightning speed.

Sha Lang was fighting a middle-level Hou Tian warrior of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe with the cane in his one hand, and a hammer in the other. Suddenly, his chest ached and his movements stopped. He lowered his face. And, his complexion suddenly turned pale.

A big hole had been split-open in his chest; a black burning wound surrounded it.

‘Bang!’ a loud sound was heard.

Meanwhile, the soldier who stood in front of Sha Lang bombarded his sledgehammer on Sha Lang’s body. And, Sha Lang’s body was sent flying in the air.

“Chief!” The big blond man’s complexion turned pale. He let out a loud cry.

Suddenly, a black pike flashed like a poisonous dragon, and pierced the blonde man’s throat. Blood started to spurt out of his wound, and got sprinkled all over his body.

This battle had already become lopsided. The last totem warrior of the Flying Raven Tribe struggled for a few breaths, but eventually got killed by several totem warriors of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe.

The Heavenly Wolf Tribe also lost several people. But, it didn’t affect their position.

The defense of the Flying Raven Tribe was soon shattered by the Heavenly Wolf Tribe. They then wielded weapons in their hands, and started to kill the ordinary clansmen of the Flying Raven Tribe.

“Follow me… and catch whoever is alive.”

Fei Du jumped-off his wolf and raised his blade. Then, he bellowed and rushed into the tribe. More than a hundred barbarian foot-soldiers followed after him.

A sense of terror had enveloped the entire Flying Raven Tribe.

*** ***

It was evening. Shi Mu, Sha Jiao, Sha Xing and others were on their way back to the tribe.

Shi Mu was riding his David’s deer. Sha Jiao and Sha Xing were riding on their horses side-by-side. And, a young yellow roebuck was hung on their side.

Shi Mu held an egg-sized yellow ball in his hand. The ball looked like an ordinary stone, but it was emitting a strange aroma.

“Thanks to everyone for helping me catch this roebuck.” Shi Mu put the yellow ball into a small bag and hung it on his waist. He smiled towards everyone, and cupped his hands in front of his chest to thank everyone around him.

More than ten people had spent a lot of effort to catch this fragrant roebuck beast. And, it had taken them the entire day.

“You’re welcome, Brother Shi. It’s normal for us – the clan members of the Flying Raven Tribe – to help our friends,” Sha Xing patted on his chest and replied in a loud voice.

The other young clansmen also waved their hands. Then, they bid him goodbye in-advance after they had chatted for a while.

Sha Jiao was riding by their side. She looked a little lonely and was silent.

Shi Mu didn’t talk to her either.

The group of youngsters arrived near the tribe in a lively mood.

Suddenly, Shi Mu wrinkled his brows as his strong vision fell upon the black smoke that was rising from the direction of the tribe.

A layer of thick black clouds seemed to float in the sky above the tribe. It looked strange.

The hint of an unknown feeling rose in Shi Mu’s heart. And, his complexion became pale.

“Brother Shi, what happened?” Sha Jiao had been secretly staring at Shi Mu. So, she was the first one to notice a change in his facial expressions; she asked hesitantly.

“There’s something unusual in the tribe; we need to speed up,” Shi Mu replied with a dignified complexion.

Other people’s complexion changed as they heard this. They all looked in the direction of the tribe.

But, they couldn’t see anything with their ordinary eyesight. However, they increased their speed since they saw the seriousness in Shi Mu’s expression.

They soon arrived near the brook. Everyone was dumbfounded as they saw the scene in front of their eyes.

The entire Flying Raven Tribe… had been wiped out…

It had turned into ruins. The tents situated on either sides of the brook had burned down, and collapsed. In fact, some of the tents were still emitting smoke.

Piles of corpses lay here-and-there among the ruins of the tents. Corpses of old men and women, children and all the warriors of the Flying Raven Tribe… lay beside the broken stone hammer and bone spears on the ground.

Every familiar face had changed into a dead body. Several people had been severely cut into several pieces. It was evident that the murderers were exceptionally ruthless people.

The ground on both sides of the brook was soaked in blood. It was even reeking of blood.

The faces of Sha Jiao, Sha Xing and the others were filled with horror. They issued loud cries of despair as they saw this. Then, they jumped down from their horses, and ran towards the ruins of the tribe.

“Father… Brother…”

“Little sister…”

“Boo… hoo… No… it can’t be true… ”

Their faces were streaming with tears. They wailed loudly as they searched for their loved ones in the ruins.

Shi Mu’s body was also shaking; his face had turned as white as a paper.

He had seen a lot of blood and gore in the battlefield in the past few years. But, he was feeling a ‘knife-twisting’ pain in his heart after having witnessing this gory scene.

These barbarian people had been drinking, chatting, listening to music and dancing merrily last night.

They were honest despite being poor. They didn’t have good supplies, but they never gave-up hopes. Everyone had prayed to the Raven God for his blessings… in the hope that he’d provide them with better resources and cattle in the following years…

The David’s deer also seemed to be scared. It issued a burst of restless noises, and started to dig the earth with its hooves.

Shi Mu clenched his fists tightly. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His face had now restored its tranquility. But, his eyes shone with bright and severe colors.

He turned over to jump-off from his David’s deer. He then walked towards the tribe with his head lowered to gaze at the ground. Countless footprints were overlaid on each other on the ground. Moreover, there were innumerable footprints of people and wolves.

He walked forward as he followed those footprints. Then, he looked at the barren land in front of him.

The barren land was solid, but the large footprints were still faintly visible. There must’ve been over a hundred people. And, it seemed that they had come from the south-east direction. But, the number of the returning footprints seemed to be double the original number.

Cold and gloomy colors flashed in Shi Mu’s eyes. He immediately understood the situation. He then turned around, and walked towards the tribe.