The Portal of Wonderland

Something strange happened at the last moment.

Shi Mu lay motionless on the ground for a while. Then, he suddenly sprang-up like an energetic fish. He then brandished his arms, and threw two handfuls of white powder on the six wolf-riders.

The six barbarians felt an acute pain as the powder entered into their eyes. And, they couldn’t even open their eyes.

“It’s not good!”

Fei Du shouted in his heart as he saw this. He got down from his giant wolf, and darted towards Shi Mu like a gigantic black kite.

Shi Mu jumped-up in the air, and took a quick rotation – like a spinning top.

‘Hu! Hu!’

A blazing flame burst out on the surface of his black blade. The flame looked dazzling like blazing fireworks in the air. Then, the spurt of flame flared-up, and turned into a long blade light. It swept horizontally, and engulfed the six wolf-riders.

‘Chi! Chi! Chi!’

The bodies of the six barbarians were cut into two halves at the waist with strange sounds. A spurt of blood gushed out, and sprayed around – like a circular rain of blood.

“Ah!”

Fei Du had just arrived when he saw this tragic scene. He felt as if his eyes would burst out of their sockets. He bellowed ferociously. His five-feet-long iron hammer turned into a beam of dark-green light in his hand. Then, the beam of light plummeted down towards Shi Mu’s head with a burst of coarse whizzing sound.

Shi Mu had barely landed on the ground. Moreover, he had used-up a great amount of his stored strength in his previous strike. So, he couldn’t dodge this attack. But, his mind was immediately set in motion. He clenched his teeth, and decided to seize this opportunity. He moved and took a quick rotation. His black blade transformed into a bright red light at the same time. Then, it moved forward to meet the hammer head-on.

‘Clang!’

A dull sound of clanging of metals was heard as the hammer collided with the blade’s edge.

Shi Mu was forced to draw three steps backwards by its impact. He then steadied himself. However, his face was flushed due to exertion.

Fei Du hadn’t yet landed. He was still high up in the air. The impact of this collision had shaken him up, and had sent him flying backwards. But, he took a somersault in midair, and fell to the ground.

His complexion changed. He realized that the arm he had held the green iron hammer with was numb and sore.

His hammer looked ordinary. However, it was forged with several kinds of special ores. Those ores could only be found in the barbarian wasteland. Moreover, it was a very heavy weapon – it was almost two-hundred-and-fifty kilograms in weight. However, he deduced from the intensity of the collision… that his opponent’s blade was equally heavy.

He also estimated from the flow of Qi emitted by Shi Mu… that his enemy was just a Hou Tian middle stage warrior.

“May I know Your Excellency’s identity? Why do you wish to attack our Heavenly Wolf Tribe?” Fei Du took a deep breath. He had started to consider Shi Mu to be their arch-enemy by this time. He stimulated his Real Qi in order to treat the numbness and tingling pain in his arm, and asked in a sinking voice.

Shi Mu didn’t show the slightest intention of giving him any reply. Instead, he stomped on the ground. And, a one foot deep pit was formed with a muffled sound.

He then rushed towards Fei Du at a lightning speed. It seemed as if his body had transformed into a black lightning. The red charm characters carved on the surface of his black blade lit-up brightly at the same time.

“You’re courting death!” Fei Du’s complexion darkened as he sardonically sneered.

He was confident that Shi Mu’s strength wasn’t higher than that of a mid-stage Hou Tian warrior. But, he knew that Shi Mu possessed an extraordinary physical strength. Moreover, he had a special kind of a totem that was probably boosting his strength.

Fei Du thundered loudly. The iron hammer in his hand flashed and transformed into three black hammer shadows. Then, the three shadows darted towards Shi Mu’s head, chest, and lower abdomen.

The golden gleam in Shi Mu’s eyes flashed. His black blade — shrouded with raging flames — quivered. Then, the red blade-light on his blade’ surface changed into thirteen red shadows. And, these thirteen shadows rolled out, and took the form a vortex of blade-light. Then, the vortex engulfed the three hammer shadows.

“It’s strange! You’re not a barbarian! You’re certainly a human.” Fei Du’s complexion changed. He shouted furiously as he witnessed the series of swift and skillful movements displayed by Shi Mu.

He had fought against the human race on the battlefront for some time. He knew that the barbarians’ martial arts were normally simple and crude. So, the barbarian warriors relied on their brute force to beat their opponents. But, these exquisite-styled and skillful movements were something beyond their comprehension.

The three hammer shadows twisted together with the thirteen blade shadows. And, this collision produced a chain of loud metal-clanging sounds.

Fei Du had devoted a great deal of time in polishing his martial arts skills. But, how could they be compared with human race’s cultivation art that could be changed repeatedly?

The three hammer shadows flashed and dispersed. Most of the blade shadows had also been routed. But, the remaining shadows attacked the hammer’s hilt once again.

A monstrous force was transmitted through the hammer’s hilt. And, this rendered a powerful jolt to Fei Du’s arm. In fact, he almost loosened his grip on the hammer.

His eyes blazed indignantly as he issued a loud roar. His eyes then turned into a pair of spooky green eyes, and started to emit a cold frightening aura – like a wild beast.

His body started to become inflated at the same time. His hands and feet became thicker – almost twice their normal size. And, a layer of green hair sprouted on his palms. Then, his fingernails took the shape of faint-green sharp claws; they started to release a menacing aura.

It seemed that Fei Du had resorted to the strength of his totem. Therefore, his strength had increased by fifty percent. Even the hammer in his hand stabilized as he tightened his grip.

The iron hammer transformed into a deep-green lightning as he waved his sturdy arm. Then, he pounded it on the black blade with an overwhelming force… this force could be compared with a bolt of lightning.

The black blade was swept back with an earth-shaking loud rumble. Even Shi Mu staggered a few steps backwards by this gigantic impact.

An ominous glint streaked across Fei Du’s eyes. He seized this opportunity, and pounded his hammer forcefully in an attempt to crush Shi Mu’s head.

Suddenly, Shi Mu opened his mouth and spouted out a ball of white Qi. The ball darted towards Fei Du at a lightning speed, and pounded on his face.

‘Bang!’

The cloud of white Qi blasted as Shi Mu shouted. It then transformed into a mass of white lights, and enveloped Fei Du’s face. And, blood started to spurt out from his face.

The Qi Explosion Technique couldn’t pose any danger to someone who was already at the Hou Tian consummate stage. However, it had wounded Fei Du’s head and face rather considerably.

Fei Du issued a pitiful screech. However, he reacted extremely fast since he was under the powerful effect of his totem. His injured face wasn’t big deal for him. His legs hit the ground. He was then shot backwards.

Shi Mu also pushed the ground, and swept backwards. Meanwhile, his left hand moved, and ejected a curved silver dagger. The dagger whirled, and flew ahead.

Fei Du was still under a fit of dizziness. So, he couldn’t see the dagger. But, he could hear a buzzing sound of the dagger approach him with a frightening speed. It sounded like a whistle that could only be produced by some sort of a hidden weapon.

He wielded his hammer, and struck the curved dagger with absolute precision.

A thunderous sound rang out. The silver dagger burst into a huge red-colored mushroom-shaped cloud. Then, the cloud shrouded Fei Du from all directions.

Shi Mu sneered. He was quite familiar with the terrifying might of the Moonlight Sea Urchin. Unfortunately, this was his last dagger in the barbarians’ wasteland. He knew that he couldn’t have another one for a while since there was no way that he could find someone in this land who could forge these special daggers for him.

A mournful scream was heard from the mushroom-shaped cloud.

Suddenly, Fei Du rushed out of the exploding red wind, and fled towards a distant place. His entire body was on fire.

He was covered in blood. In fact, he was so severely burnt that it was impossible to see his original appearance.

‘Whiz!’

A black blade-light whizzed through the air, and caught-up with Fei Du. It penetrated into his back up till its hilt, and nailed him to the ground. A spurt of blood splashed out from his back.

Shi Mu then slowly lowered his strained arms. The place between his right thumb and index finger was bleeding heavily. He had received this injury when he had been shaken to fly by Fei Du’s hammer.

He walked towards Fei Du. He saw that Fei Du’s body had been badly mutilated by the Moonlight Sea Urchin’s explosion. He slightly stroke Fei Du’s chest, and realized that he wasn’t breathing.

Shi Mu grinned sardonically as he pulled out his black blade. He then fiercely wielded it… and cut off Fei Du’s head.

This man was the prime culprit who had exterminated the entire Flying Raven Tribe… along with its Chief. Therefore, his head was needed to pay tribute to the souls of the slaughtered barbarians as per the customs of their race.

Shi Mu tore-off Fei Du’s clothes, and wrapped them around his head.

‘Ping!’ A small bundle wrapped in a black cloth dropped from Fei Du’s clothes.

Shi Mu frowned. He then carefully picked-up the bundle.

He opened the parcel, and saw a thick wad of golden leaves inside. A fist-sized black cylinder-shaped object was also present inside the bundle; it was nearly half a foot long.

Shi Mu’s face beamed with happiness. The wasteland was considered to be pretty rich in gold. Therefore, the barbarians relied on gold for all kinds of business deals. These golden leaves were huge in number. In fact, they could be considered to be a huge amount of wealth.

Shi Mu had plenty of silver notes and other stuff when he had set foot in the wasteland. But, the silver notes weren’t accepted in this land. So, most of his other stuff had been used-up in exchange for Bone-Tempering Pills and other materials. Now, he could easily replenish his supplies in the barbarians’ markets with the help of these golden leaves.

He carefully kept the golden leaves. Then, he picked up the black cylinder. The front area of the cylinder was extremely cold; it seemed to be made up of a special metal.

His facial expressions changed as he examined it closely.

He then carefully turned it over. There was a small hole at the bottom of the cylinder; it was the size of a small finger.

Suddenly, Shi Mu’s shocked face brimmed with overwhelming joy.

He hadn’t paid any attention to this object earlier as he had presumed it to be a container. Who could’ve thought that his presumption would be wrong?

There was a long story attached to this object. And, it was an extremely deadly secret weapon. He had once seen it in the Secret Arts of the Zhong Clan. It was called The Black Locust Firing Tube. It was ranked far above the Moonlight Sea Urchin Dagger.

However, it could only be used within a radius of small distance. Moreover, it required a great deal of preparation time to stimulate it.

Shi Mu’s heart was overwhelmed with extreme happiness. He was in urgent need of an effective hidden weapon since he didn’t have a single Moonlight Sea Urchin Dagger left with him.

Therefore, he decided to conduct a thorough examination of this object later on. He stored it with great care. Then, he rode the David’s Deer, and retrieved the thirteen Wind-Chasing Arrows. He also collected the treasures that he could find on the riders’ bodies. And, he found several broken gold pieces therein.

*** ***

Over a hundred ordinary soldiers of the Heavenly Wolf Tribe were anxiously looking into the distance under a hill.

It had been half-an-hour since their leader had chased after the mysterious archer along with the other totem warriors.

They had heard faint fighting sounds in the beginning. But, they could only hear a dead silence at this time. In fact, it felt as if the twenty wolves had been swallowed-up by someone.

Therefore, the barbarian soldiers eventually started to panic. Suddenly, a shadow appeared on a faraway hilltop. And, he was galloping towards them at a lighting speed.

The barbarian soldiers became fearful as the shadow approached closer to them.

The soldiers saw a man riding a strange ominous beast. His face was covered with a mask. There was a black blade hung on his shoulder. They quickly understood that he wasn’t a wolf-rider.

The soldiers’ complexions changed. How couldn’t they anticipate this situation?

‘Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!’

A number of black arrows were shot by the mysterious man towards them. Each of the arrows struck a soldier with a mighty force. In fact, some arrows killed two soldiers at the same time.

Around ten barbarian soldiers were killed in a flash.

“Run!”

The Heavenly Wolf Tribe’s soldiers broke into a chaos. Dozens of wolf-riders were slaughtered in a couple of seconds. But, they didn’t have the courage to confront this mysterious man. So, they started to flee in all directions. And, the entire area had been emptied in a fleeting moment. Only the captives who hailed from the Flying Raven Tribe were left behind. They were gazing at Shi Mu blankly.

Shi Mu arrived before the captives, and took-off his mask.

“You… you’re Warrior Shi Mu!”

Most of the women were familiar with Shi Mu. Therefore, they exclaimed joyfully, while the children smiled through their tears as they saw Shi Mu.

“You people have gone through a lot of suffering. I’m here to rescue you,” Shi Mu jumped down the David’s Deer and spoke-up.

The women were dumbstruck for a moment. Then, they broke into cheerful shouts. Many of them hugged each other as they shed tears of joy.

They had witnessed the miserable scene of their tribe’s destruction. However, they were happy because they wouldn’t be tortured to live the life of a slave anymore.

“Thank you so much, brave warrior Shi Mu. You’re indeed the ‘Balut’ who was sent by our Raven God for our rescue.” The barbarian women had finally calmed down. They bowed to Shi Mu respectfully along with their children; traces of respect and gratitude gleamed across their faces.

They had just witnessed Shi Mu’s illustrious strength. He had killed over twenty wolf-riders by himself. Therefore, Shi Mu had engraved a profound impression in their hearts. In fact, he had become the Messenger of the God in the eyes of these people.

“Don’t mention it,” Shi Mu waved his hands, and replied in a calm manner.