The Portal of Wonderland

Booooomm!

The rod lodged in Liu An’s chest shimmered with dazzling light like a small black sun. In the next second, the lights exploded.

A single arc of black light flew out of the giant ape’s hands.

Liu An’s body was thrown backward from the explosion, his chest a dreadful mess of blood and flesh as his rib cage lay bare before his fall was broken with a heavy thud.

The wound looked grievous, but to the current Liu An, it was not lethal at all. He was quickly back on his feet, the silver Soul Flame in his eyes blazing brightly for a split second before he swung the black scythe in his hand.

Chiinggg!

With his swing, a crescent of black light shot toward the ape.

The giant white ape jerked its Black Meteoric Iron Rod and struck back with a similar move!

Both attacks had a similar level of strength. With a clasp, the Black Meteoric Iron Rod collided with the crescent shape into a big ball of black lights!

When Liu An swung his black scythe, he saw a blur of white before his eyes spotted the white ape appearing right before him, its hand clenched into a fist for a swift jab.

The scorched-black left fist turned scarlet while in motion. An inferno burst out of it, and in the crimson fire was a shred of golden flame.

The tides of flames had already preceded the fist’s motion as they roared toward Liu An’s body.

Liu An’s eyes now finally showed fear. He had nowhere to duck, so he raised his black scythe before himself in defense.

Boom!

The scarlet left fist smashed the black scythe into smithereens. As the fragments caught fire from the white ape’s attack, they were broken down into smaller and smaller bits before vanishing completely!

The scarlet fist’s momentum was not the slightest bit compromised by the black scythe as it headed toward Liu An’s head.

“Crap—”

Ka-cha!

Liu An bellowed in indignation before his brain exploded from the impact.

The momentum caused the headless corpse to hurtle backward from the sea of flames. The body wilted at a speed observable to the naked eye, emitting wisps of grey smog that went directly into the Fallen Angel Desk, which was still suspended in midair.

Liu An’s body was reduced to bones as it fell down to the earth.

Without Liu An’s control, the Fallen Angel Desk was instantly dislodged from its current position by the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife’s attack. It floated in the air several dozen yards away, its black shimmer never fading but instead enshrouded the nearby area with a black dome.

The white ape seemed to have put all it had into that single finishing punch. Its gigantic silver-white body glowed with flickering lights as it faded away before the figure rapidly shrank to its original size.

Shi Mu’s face was white as a sheet of paper, with not a single sign of pink.

His body shuddered before collapsing onto the ground.

He was completely devoid of Real Qi—the white ape’s final punch had exhausted every mote of Real Qi in his body. Even what was left to power his protective red shield had been completely used up.

In no time at all, the deathly poisonous miasma poured into him. He could feel his own life rapidly slipping away as he lost control over his own body, right down to his fingers.

Shi Mu shot a look at Yan Luo lying not far from where he was. Through the unsevered connection between his consciousness and Yan Luo’s, he could tell that she was slowly but surely recovering.

He felt a sense of relief.

Eyeing the Fallen Angel Desk still suspended in midair, he took a deep breath and slowly produced a single pill to swallow. With that little surge of strength it granted, he crawled toward the black dome.

It was only about ten-odd yards away from him, but at that moment, it was like a never-ending journey.

He gritted his teeth and braced the miasma’s erosion on his body, crossing his arms as he hauled himself inch by inch. If not for his practice of the Art of the Almighty Ape Rebirth, his corporeal body may have already ceased to be.

It took him several minutes—nearly half an hour—to finally reach the interior of the Fallen Angel Desk’s black dome. As he entered, the deathly miasma that had started to cocoon around his body was abruptly shed off and left outside of the dome’s territory as if by an unseen force. With that, he relaxed a little, and his body plopped down as if completely drained.

The effects of the pill he had consumed were starting to show. When he managed to recover a bit more of his strength, he sat up, holding a mid-rank spirit stone in each hand to replenish his lost energy.

As a red glow slowly coursed into his body, bit by bit, his color finally returned.

It went on for a while before Shi Mu had the strength to stand up at last. He swung his right hand and an invisible Soul-bending Chain shot out from his hand and soared upwards until it meticulously tightened itself around the Fallen Angel Desk above.

Shi Mu heightened his senses and realized that the Fallen Angel Desk was not the slightest bit perturbed by his action as it continued to emit its black light. So, with a beckon, the chain was retracted back to him along with the object it was tangled with.

He eagerly inspected the Fallen Angel Desk in his hand.

The Fallen Angel Desk looked as normal as ordinary black brick. Shi Mu only managed to uncover a layer of very fine mystical runes on it after activating his magical eyes. Strangely, even with Shi Mu’s current knowledge about charms, he was unable to decipher a single rune carved on the object.

Shi Mu’s observation did not yield any further findings. His hand glowed, and a wisp of his spiritual energy entered the Fallen Angel Desk.

To his joy, the Fallen Angel Desk was willing to build a sort of weak connection with him the very moment his spiritual energy entered it, delegating him as an arbiter of the black dome’s coverage.

Shi Mu thought for a while and willed the black dome to cover only himself. Then, standing up, he picked up his Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife and the black rod which had been scattered onto the ground after the fight.

It was then when Yan Luo stood up weakly from where she was before finally taking a few shaky steps toward the other side. Visible lines and cracks marred her bones, but after a few moments of recovery, she could finally walk properly and her Soul Flames stabilized.

Shi Mu was about to walk to her as he watched, but Yan Luo’s voice came to him first through telepathy. “No, there’s no need,” she said ass he trudged toward a pile of glowing bones.

It was Wu Ye’s remains. After Liu An’s assault, he was reduced to a pile of inanimate bones as his Soul Flames were completely snuffed out.

Yan Luo tapped on the pile with her right hand and kept the entire heap in her storage ring.

Finally, she turned to Shi Mu and said, “Follow me.” That was all she said before turning wordlessly.

Shi Mu eyed the headless skeleton from a distance one last time. Then, silently, he turned back and caught up with Yan Luo.

…..

It took only an hour-odd long stroll with Yan Luo for Shi Mu to cement his opinion that the Dead Spirit World was quite a desolate wasteland.

They passed through a seemingly endless bleak desert dotted with red-brown gravel. It would take a long journey to spot a single hill.

Many of these hills were filled with a few undead creatures, and a few among them even exuded a formidable aura, belying their true strength.

Shi Mu had been following Yan Luo without rest. On their way, he had encountered a few undead creatures who had tried to get close to them, but they always, without exception, left very quickly the moment their eyes landed on Yan Luo.

Finally, Yan Luo stopped next to an altar several yards tall. It was made out of the same red-brown gravel commonly found in their journey, which meant that the altar was not inherently unique in any way. However, after getting past the altar, Shi Mu found himself standing before a large pool filled with blood-red water.

“There are many similar lakes like these here. Sometimes, Soul Flames that had been broken off would be taken here via air flow,” Yan Luo explained simply.

It was only then Shi Mu noticed that the blood-colored lake reflected a deep glint.

Yan Luo stood on the side of the lake quietly for a while before her Soul Flames suddenly blazed brightly as she let out a voiceless howl.

Very soon, Shi Mu found himself surrounded by all kinds of undead skeletons from all sides. In fact, thousands of them had gathered.

Shi Mu was quite unnerved at the sight, but the next second he saw that these skeletons all walked toward Yan Luo before kneeling to her in obeisance.

“Guard the altar’s perimeter, and let not a single dead soul within a hundred miles of her,” Yan Luo’s Soul Flames blazed as she commanded.

The skeletons did not answer her, but they stood up and automatically started organizing themselves into several troops before they walked into position, forming a defensive perimeter.

This was the first time Shi Mu had seen Yan Luo’s undead army. Needless to say, he couldn’t even describe the magnitude of his awe. Although many of these undead creatures possessed the powers of only about Xian Tian or Hou Tian rank, their numbers had already given them an advantage.

He thought about how Liu An wanted to summon a massive league of undead before marching into Heavenly Yu City, he finally understood why Liu An and all the other Dark Moon Cultists had been pouring so much effort into summoning a massive army of the undead.

In sufficient numbers, coupled with dynamic control over their actions and behaviors, the combative power of such a fearless army cannot possibly be understated—they could rival a gang or even a sect.

“I didn’t know that Soul Magicians are this powerful!” Shi Mu exclaimed in his mind.

The truth was that his own knowledge as a Soul Magician—whether on the topic of the otherworld or Subjugated Spirits—was drastically limited to Yan Luo only.

Yan Luo ignored Shi Mu and went to the edge of the Darkwater Lake and carved some strange symbols on the side. In a span of minutes, a sinister image consisting of a circle, a triangle and some sorts of squiggly lines were formed next to the lake.

Shi Mu watched in silence, his mind racing with unfathomable thoughts.

With the preparation done, Yan Luo produced Wu Ye’s remains from the storage ring and placed it on top of the image. Then, as Yan Luo’s Soul Flames blazed within her sockets, her hands blurred in a frenzy of mystical hand signs.

With a low hum, the image on the ground began to glow. Wu Ye’s bones were even starting to reflect the sinister red glow.

Shi Mu then noticed that the erstwhile calm Darkwater Lake was suddenly stirring as ripples broke the surface of the lake. Then, like a water serpent, a spout of water gushed out from the lake into the sky before plummeting down into the red glowing image.

When the water settled into the red light, they calmed down again, surrounding Wu Ye’s bones.

Golden lights flashed in Shi Mu’s eyes and saw many tiny star-like sparks slowly moving into Wu Ye’s sockets.

The lake stirred like that for about three times before the turbulence subsided until it became completely calm. The image, too, stopped glowing.

Phewww!

The tiny bits of Soul Flames in Wu Ye’s eyes slowly solidified before turning into pale blue fire.

“Milady!” Wu Ye immediately knelt before Yan Luo the moment he was revived.

Yan Luo eyed him for a while before replying, “Stay here and recover your strength.”

“Yes.”

With that, Wu Ye immediately sat down, cross-legged.

“Yan Luo, I—” Shi My started.

“You stay here, recover. Do not wander away from the altar,” Yan Luo seemed to have preemptively guessed Shi Mu’s inquiry and cut off his sentence.

After that, she walked into the middle of the Darkwater Lake before slowly immersing herself in the blood-colored water.