The Portal of Wonderland

Shi Mu was surprised at the map presented to the crowd. It was meticulously painted by an artist. Every inch of the map was drawn specifically, including how dense the forests were and the dwellings within.

The mountains, rivers, trees, and palaces all seemed to have a life of their own… Even the mysterious white tower that they were in. It was reduced in size a thousand times, visible in all its glory for everyone to behold.

Shi Mu and the others looked surprised and could not help but widen their eyes, glancing back and forth across the map.

“This is the overall topographic map of the Yellow Stage area. The west side of Wanpengyuan is your future living area. The yellow region on the map will be the place where all of you will be staying. You can choose whichever residence you wish,” Elder Hou said.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their eyes to the area and noticed a light shining. Over a thousand of them were yellow, while the green ones numbered only in the hundreds.

That was to say, there were more than a thousand places in the district but there were only a few hundred for them to choose from.

“Now, according to the results of the trials, those who ranked first get to choose their favorite residence based on their own liking. All of you release your spirit sense into the place you want. The number of affiliated servants and ​​the spiritual area under their jurisdiction — including some of the special spiritual objects they produce — will also be marked in detail. Once your mind has been made up, the spot will turn from green to yellow and no further changes can be made. Understand?”

“Understood,” answered everyone in unison.

“Zhao Ji, you are the first. Come and choose,” Elder Hou said.

Zhao Ji responded with a sigh of relief and walked towards the light. He turned his eyes to the map and began to release his spirit sense and carefully selected his residence.

In a short period of time, he retired and the light point of a caving residence close to the Spirit Mine turned yellow.

There were only about 600 servants in this residence and the area was not too large. It housed the treasured Spirit Mine that produced a variety of spiritual medicines. Among all the areas, this was the herbs were most abundant.

Elder Hou was impressed by Zhao Ji’s decision and precise vision.

Next, Qing Zhangtian also went forward to look up with his spirit sense. He took almost twice the time Zhao Ji used and in the end, he chose a residence which was not far from Zhao Ji’s. However, there were more than 2000 accompanying servants there, and the area of ​​the spiritual land was as wide as 10,000 hectares. It had the largest number and area compared to the other residence in the area.

After him, the top disciples one by one went forward to choose their own residence.

When it was finally Shi Mu’s turn, the green light on the map was almost one-third less.

The amount of time he used to choose a residence was fast as there were not many options left.

Others would wonder why did he not pay attention to his choice but he did not care much as it was his own residence.

In fact, as early as half an hour ago, he had already decided which one to choose.

The caving residence chosen by Shi Mu was located far away from the Garden of Panacea. Its location was very remote and there were only about 300 servants attached to it. The spiritual land occupied by it was only a hundred miles away. There was only one spirit fountain and a few elixirs produced around the area.

From the remaining dozens of caving residences left on the map, there was not much treasure or resources. However, it was good of Shi Mu to deliberately avoid the needs of others.

Ma Long was somewhat surprised by Shi Mu’s choice, even to the extent of feeling that it was a shame to let Shi My become a disciple. She gave him a questioning look. Zi He was eager to question too.

However, Shi Mu did not notice and walked away slowly on his own.

Upon walking past Lu Jing, Shi Mu even heard a sneer under the green cloth covering his face but he did not care. He continued walking back to the crowd and stood still at his place.

At this moment, Shi Mu noticed that the refined young man named Zhao Ji was staring at him. Shi Mu could not tell what kind of expression he was showing but he felt uncomfortable.

Due to Shi Mu getting into a big fight during the middle of the trials, people turned a blind eye to him. Whenever someone did notice him, it made him felt uneasy.

…

A quarter of an hour later, the disciple who ranked 108th place was also dejected and walked back to the crowd. There were only four or five places left for him and the resource attendants were unsatisfactory. There was almost no room for choice left in the caving residence. At this point, the decision had finally come to an end.

Elder Hou waved and removed the map light curtain suspended in midair. Once again, the palm of one of his hands suddenly lit up a group of blue-gray light. With a wave of his sleeves, twelve rays of light flew out and fell into everyone’s hands.

At the same time, its voice began to sound in everyone’s ears.

“This is the manual of Xuanling token and Qinglan. Please keep it well.”

As the light dissipated, a square box appeared out of thin air in Shi Mu’s hand. When he opened it, he saw a piece of palm-sized cyan jade and a roll of emerald jade.

“The green jade is a handbook of Qinglan which records many rules and codes for practice in the Holy Land of Qinglan. If anyone is unsure about anything, you can get the answer from this manual. In addition, at the end of the jade, there is also a panoramic map of the yellow region. When you can’t find the target you want to go to, you can use it.”

Shi Mu took a brief look at the jade slip and put it down, then picked up the cyan jade card.

When Ling Feng took out the token, he just passed it in front of everyone, so he did not get to see it clearly. Until now, he could watch this piece of jade that was important for his future practice in Qinglan.

The appearance of the Xuanling wall looked like an ordinary jade card. There was no exquisite pattern on it, and it did not emit any light. There was also a rough feeling of matte fingers. In short, it looked very ordinary.

Shi Mu released a glimpse of his spirit sense into the jade but could not get even the slightest response. A single spiritual power could not be felt, as if it was just a stone, another dead object.

Aside from Shi Mu, the others obviously felt the same as their faces had a strangely different expression.

“First, you would need to inject a drop of blood into the Xuanling Wall to establish a blood bond in order to use it,” the voice of the elders sounded again.

Shi Mu heard the words and immediately condensed a drop of blood at his fingertips, dripping it on the cyan jade.

As soon as the blood made contact with the wall, it immediately absorbed it and illuminated with a red light.

Shi Mu saw that the drops of blood had penetrated to the interior of the jade and slowly spread out into a red leaf.

At the same time, the rest followed Elder Hou’s instruction and did the same.

“After the establishment of the blood bond, it cannot be broken. It is your own private property. Even if someone tried to use it by dripping their blood on it, it would not respond and would display the rightful owner’s name on it.” Elder Hou continued as he realized most of them had already completed the blood bond.

Shi Mu pointed to a mangling red light and quickly shot into the jade. The center of the red leaf on the jade wall suddenly lit up with his name on it.

At the same time, under his name was a golden number and “one hundred” on it..

“Okay, now you can leave.” After arranging the completion of a transaction, Elder Hou commanded.

“Thank you Elder Hou!”

At that moment, Elder Hou retreated to where he was sitting before the new disciples came in. He closed his eyes and again and sat there quietly. The others did not say anything.

After the 108 new disciples withdrew from the service hall, they came to the forest and did not stop. They called out their carts as they turned into a colorful stream of light, flying toward the west.

When everyone flew over the Garden of Panacea, it was not long before they arrived at their residence.

Zhao Ji’s light was of a white cloud-like flying instrument in the air as the force fell below.

“Brother Zhao Ji, please stay for a while.”

It was several members from different demon races chasing after him.

“What is it?” Zhao Ji asked coldly.

“I generally admire brother Zhao Ji and my residence is not very far away from here. I hope we can spend time together in the future…”

“No, I never forge frivolous relationships or bonds.” Zhao Yi waved his hand, coldly cut off the man’s words. He turned around and began to flow towards his residence.

Those who initially wanted to come up to Zhao Ji were awkward that it did not turn out the way he wanted and shifted their attention towards Qing Zhangtian.

Qing Zhangtian was no cold person. He was very happy to talk to those who came up to him admirably.

Of course, there were also some who had gone to other top disciples such as Chi Ni Zi, though their number was not as many as Qing Zhangtian’s.

After a while, Qing Zhangtian arrived at the residence and greeted Shi Mu and the others before leaving again.

“Humph!”

In Chi Ni Zi’s eyes remained undiminished with anger staring at the back of Qing Zhangtian. Obviously, he could not show his feelings.

Lu Jing on the other hand was riddled with smog. No one dared approach him though he ranked top ten among all the disciples. However, he did not seem to be bothered, and occasionally he would turn to look at Shi Mu with no good intentions running through his mind.

Standing beside Shi Mu were two disciples. It was none other than Ma Long and Zi He who looked like a little girl.

Shi Mu had a cold-hearted attitude towards the two women. His answers to their questions were always one sentence long.

At the end of the day, Ma Long and Zi He were very happy. The two of them told each other about their residence and agreed to travel together frequently.