The Portal of Wonderland

An ominous glint flashed across the eyes of the black-armored man of the sea race as he looked at Princess Huo Wu. He then aimed the trident in his hand towards her chest; he was looking like a devil.

“Su Gu, get out of the way,” the blue-robed girl’s sharp voice echoed.

The black-armored man glanced at the blue-robed girl with a puzzled expression on his face. He then retrieved the trident, and got out of the way in an angry manner.

Princess Huo Wu shot a glance at Shi Mu inside the cave. She then blocked the fierce beast behind her with her sword light. Then, her body squeezed into the cave in a flash.

The black-armored man stepped forward to block the cave’s mouth once again. Five foxes were in hot pursuit of the Princess. But, he broke the chest-bone of three of them. The cultivation of the other two foxes was extremely high, but they still were sent flying in the air.

Shi Mu nodded towards the blue-robed girl. He then sized Princess Huo Wu up and down. It seemed that she had received several injuries on her body. But, the wounds hadn’t reached her vital parts. So, he felt relaxed in his heart.

This woman could stay conscious in the blood fog. She must’ve had a rare treasure up her sleeves that must’ve been given to her by her Sect.

Princess Huo Wu looked at Shi Mu. Then, she swept her gaze towards the Saintess of the sea race and the black-armored man. Strange colors flashed on her face. She then silently sat down in a corner.

Shi Mu had just opened his mouth to say something when an ear-piercing howl came from the outside of the cave.

The three people quickly turned to look outside from where the sound had come.

A strong smell of reeking blood was coming from outside. That smell had attracted many other beasts outside the cave.

The ominous foxes could be seen everywhere. There were several porcupine beasts among them. These vicious beasts raised their heads, and howled from time-to-time.

“Princess, first take proper rest. Please wait till the beast tide is over.”

This was an emergency situation. So, Shi Mu couldn’t waste a single moment in dealing with anything else. He spoke the sentence very fast. He then drew his black blade, and powerfully dodged to the cave’s mouth before Princess Huo Wu could reply. Then, he and the black-armored man made two divisions to face the enemy.

The blue-robed girl also urged her multi-colored coral, and formed a protective cover for the two men. Moreover, she started to wait for an opportunity to kill the porcupines in the surroundings.

Princess Huo Wu took out a pill as she saw this. She then closed her eyes, and adjusted her breathing. But, she gripped the sword firmly in her right hand.

This attack of the ominous beasts was much more furious than the previous ones. A large number of foxes continued to attack. The porcupines continued to shoot furious and sharp whiskers.

Fortunately, Shi Mu and the two people of the sea race had established a good coordination in the previous round. So, they came up with a tactful solution, and continued to fight.

This round of battle continued for one more hour. Suddenly, the color of the sky became dark outside the cave. The porcupine-beasts had finally been wiped out. The foxes were still present in an endless stream, but they couldn’t make long-distance attacks like the porcupines. So, it was impossible for them to break through the cave’s mouth.

The three people felt relaxed in their hearts, and let out a sigh of relief even though they were gasping for breath.

Meanwhile, Princess Huo Wu had regained some of her strength since she had taken some rest.

The blue-robed girl had also taken some rest as per Shi Mu’s suggestion. So, Shi Mu and the black-armored man were replaced by Princess Huo Wu and the blue-robed girl after some time. And, they continued to switch positions in every half-an-hour to regain their strength thereafter.

The four people continued to defend the cave’s mouth from the attack of the ominous beast tide throughout the night.

Rivers of blood and corpses could be seen outside the cave.

The blood fog gradually diminished on the morning of the next day. The flock of crazy ominous beasts had been cleared by now – as if a tide of river water had receded down a mountain.

Princess Huo Wu and blue-robed girl were resting inside the cave at present.

Shi Mu and the black-armored man felt relaxed as they saw that the beast tide had declined. Shi Mu ridiculed himself in his heart.

He didn’t expect that a freak combination of factors would make the human race and the sea race fight together against a common enemy. However, they had survived the attack only because of this factor.

The two men glanced at each other. Then, they came out of the cave; they kept away from each other with mutual understanding. Both of them took out their beast soul bags, and began to gather beast souls in them.

This kept both the men busy for a while. Each collected more than thirty primary and middle-level beast souls. After that, they had no choice but to give up.

They had killed thousands of ominous beasts the previous night. However, the beast souls contained in the corpses had already dissipated since it took them a long time to come out and collects their souls.

The two men eventually returned to the cave. Princess Huo Wu and the blue-robed girl were done resting in the different corners of the cave by now, and were guarding against each other. The atmosphere inside the cave had become serious.

Shi Mu forced a smile on his face as he saw this situation. Then, he opened his mouth; as if he wanted to say something.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed in the corner of his eye.

Shi Mu felt that there was something wrong. So, the black blade in his hand flashed, and transformed into a heavy black blade-light. It then turned towards the shadow to attack.

‘Clang!’

A metal clanging sound was heard as a portion of Shi Mu’s real Qi surged-up in his blade.

Shi Mu shook, and took two steps backwards; the shadow didn’t seem to be at ease either. Shi Mu was gripping the blade very tightly; so much so that his hands had started to feel numb. He had to take two steps backwards to defuse it.

Shi Mu moved forward to attack. But, the shadow flashed, and blocked the only exit of the cave – like a wall.

It turned out to be the half-fish and half-man black-armored man of the sea race. He looked towards Shi Mu and the Princess with an evil grin across his face.

Princess Huo Wu had already anticipated this situation. So, she exposed no look of surprise on her face.

There was no need to conceal the contradiction between the two sides anymore since the beast tide had receded.

Shi Mu looked at the blue-robed girl.

He knew that the Water Attribution magic skill of the Saintess of the sea race wasn’t shallow or easy to deal with. The black-armored man’s cultivation had also reached the consummate level of the Hou Tian realm. It was hard to determine the outcome of the battle if they would fight.

“Su Gu, move back,” the blue-robed girl ordered with a cold complexion.

“Saintess, the crisis has been wiped out. Then, why…” the black-armored man looked distracted and puzzled.

“Would you dare to go against my orders?” the blue-robed girl asked in a deep voice.

“I won’t!”

The black-armored man was startled. He then got out of the way from the exit of the cave. But, he didn’t move much away from the cave’s mouth.

Shi Mu and Princess Huo Wu glanced at each other even though the blue-robed girl spoke to them carefully.

“Young Master, I’ve finally found you. I went to the seaside of the small fishing village to look for you two years ago. I didn’t know that you had already left from there. So, I thought that I’d never see you again in my life,” the blue-robed girl turned her head to look towards Shi Mu and spoke in a merry manner.

“Who are you?” Shi Mu looked distracted.

“Young Master, do you remember this thing?” The blue-robed girl smiled. Then, she lifted up a finger, and pointed at a green jade. Shi Mu felt a little empty.

Suddenly, the object in Shi Mu’s bosom started to shake. His complexion changed. He thoroughly searched for the object with his hand. He then spoke-up without thinking, “Are you that big white clam from those days?”

“Hehe… I didn’t expect that you’d still remember me. I met my master after I left that water area… and turned into the Saintess of the sea creatures of the eastern sea.”

The blue-robed girl smiled sweetly as she saw Shi Mu’s shocked expressions. Then, a huge white light emerged from her back, and surrounded her white-jade-like body. After that, a pair of wings slowly emerged from the spotless clamshell on her back.

Shi Mu blankly stared at the white clamshell on the blue-robed girl’s back. Then, past events started to flash across his mind.

Whatever he had accomplished in his life was mostly because of this beautiful clam girl of the sea race.

The black-armored man and Princess Huo Wu looked dumbstruck.

Who would’ve thought that this Saintess of the sea race and Shi Mu knew each other? Moreover, their relationship didn’t seem to be shallow.

Princess Huo Wu became doubtful as she looked at the expression in Shi Mu’s eyes.

“Yes! I have a name now. The clansmen have named me Saintess Xiang Zhu. You can call me Xiang Zhu. Young Master, I still don’t know your name. Where have you been all these years?” the blue-robed girl laughed warmly and asked. The clamshell on her back started to open up at the same time.

This youngster had saved her life in that fishing village. Those unforgettable memories were deeply stored in her heart.

“My name is Shi Mu,” Shi Mu’s eyes exposed traces of complicated colors as he said slowly.

They had met by destiny in those days. But, things had changed. They were fighting from different factions. But, he managed to speak out his name. However, he sealed his mouth from speaking any further due to his previous experiences.

Saintess Xiang Zhu wrinkled her eyebrows since she had detected something. She gradually held back the smile on her face. Then, a white light flashed in the white clamshell on her back. Everyone was taken back.

There was absolute silence in the cave.

“Saintess Xiang Zhu, this pearl is yours. So, it should be returned to its rightful owner.” Shi Mu took out a thumb-sized transparent and sparkling pearl out of his bosom, and reached out to hand it over to the Saintess.

“There’s no need to return it. Young Master can keep it.”

Colors of happiness flashed across the Saintess’ eyes as she saw the clam pearl in Shi Mu’s hand. Suddenly, she raised a hand. Numerous blue charms started to emerge from the palm of her hand. Then, three blue lights rolled-up, and flashed into the crystal pearl. After that, it disappeared without a trace.

Shi Mu was surprised as he saw this.

“Young Master Shi, I’m sure that we’ll meet again. Su Gu, let’s go!” The young girl didn’t ask anything from Shi Mu. She then turned around, and walked out of the cave.

The black-armored man shot a quick glance at Shi Mu and Princess Huo Wu. He then turned around, came out of the cave, and started to follow Saintess Xiang Zhu.

Shi Mu watched the two silhouettes disappear into the depth of the mountain-forest. He then looked at the crystal pearl, and shook his head. After that, he wore the pearl next to his skin once again.

“Well, now you can tell me. What’s the relationship between you and that Saintess of the sea race?” Princess Huo Wu’s voice echoed near Shi Mu’s ear.

“You must’ve heard what I said. You can leave if there’s any suspicion,” Shi Mu replied in an expressionless tone.

He didn’t wish to tell anything about his experience with Saintess Xiang Zhu, and his unusual blood essence to anyone.

“You…”

Princess Huo Wu seemed angry. But, she thought of something, and returned to her normal state.

“Humph. Don’t tell me if you don’t wish to. This Princess doesn’t care. Let’s go!”

She then came out of the cave with a white sword in her hand. After that, she started to walk in the opposite direction of the two people of the sea race.

Several thoughts started to roll in Shi Mu’s mind. However, he silently followed after the Princess.