The Portal of Wonderland

Yan Luo frowned awkwardly as she raised her hand.

A ray of silvery light appeared on her palm and shone brightly before she slammed it onto the ground.

Boom!

A silver light column rose upward, then turned into an electric awning that spread out to the sky. The dense carrion was then blown into pieces by the silver electricity.

Yan Luo’s figure appeared in the air. Her body was completely covered in silver colored armor that was spotless without the slightest bit of dirt.

With just a little jump, her entire body flew onto the air. Under the reflection of the bloody moon, there seemed to be a bit more blood in her beautiful yet pale face.

Her eyes turned and her army of undead looked in her direction.

Tens of thousands of soldiers seemed to have received some kind of instruction and they immediately waved their weapons as they rushed toward the survivors. In the blink of an eye, the surviving carrion was drowned by the army of undead.

Yan Luo hovered in the air, her chest slightly undulating. After the brutal slaughter, the uncontrollable anger in her heart had gradually subsided. Once again, she fell into deep contemplation.

After a long while, Yan Luo raised her head up high.

There was no anger in her eyes but a hint of confusion. She appeared to think of something but was unsure if her thoughts and feelings were true.

She lifted her beautiful face and turned toward the deep sky.

…

In the chamber, Shi Mu shook the groggy feeling out of his head.

He took a long breath as he finally broke free of the illusion.

This experience, though not as dangerous as what he had been through before, somehow made him feel slightly guilty and uncertain. Shi Mu closed his eyes and cleansed his spirit sense once more.

The complex color on his face could not be ignored. It seemed that his connection had become deeper than before, and he was unsure if this was a blessing or a curse.

“Right! The cultivation arts!”

Shi Mu suddenly remembered the words that had disappeared from the previous mind and activated the arts of primordial spirit into his spirit sense.

After a while, his happiness was visible on his face. In the corner of his spirit sense, he found a small ball of light.

When his spirit sense touched the ball, it burst open into countless mysterious characters.

Shi Mu was ecstatic to see the characters.

This time, he finally saw the truth. These little words were none other than the third phase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art.

He hurriedly finished reading the characters. The third phase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art was not as complicated, but there was some more content at the back of it.

He continued to read and his heart was moved.

The content behind the small runes was not of practice methods but a piece of information that was intentionally left behind. It was regarding the treasures left by the white azure ape ancestors.

According to the information, the treasures left by the white azure ape ancestors were meant to cope with the “unprecedented fate of the enemy.”

“Unprecedented fate of the enemy?” Shi Mu muttered to himself.

One of the three treasures was stored in the Holy Land of Qinglan, another in the Cerulean Sea Star and another in the remote planet where the white-azure ape ancestor was born.

Shi Mu’s face once again showed happiness. The treasure left behind by the white-azure ape ancestors was definitely not something ordinary.

Just as he was about to look closely, there was a sudden pain in his mind and he could not help but hold his hair.

There were countless golden characters in the air and some golden tiny men. Their fingers danced as if they were performing some exquisite moves.

“This is the…”

As the pain flashed, the tide receded. Shi Mu looked at the golden characters and little golden men dead in the eye.

After a quarter of an hour figuring out the golden characters, he began to practice.

A voice was heard in Shi Mu’s mind.

“After starting on the path of self-cultivation, one would learn a hundred different staff tactics within their lifetime. Over time, this would culminate in a combination of staff techniques. One would not be mistaken in looking for the power to leverage that of heaven and earth!”

The sound reverberated in his ear before dissipating.

“The Art Of The Vanishing Gods…”

Shi Mu continued to read the text carefully and found that there was only one system of techniques which was the ultimate in magic charms.

He was so stunned that he sighed.

Ever since he began the Eighteen Staves Through Heaven, he forced himself to study the set well, but the Art of the Vanishing Gods was completely incomparable.

But when he looked back and forth nearly a hundred times, he became more aware of how profound and mysterious was this particular staff technique. He could not help but ponder over the thoughts.

It was unknown for how long he had been out, but Shi Mu slowly woke up and looked a little dazed.

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The corner of his mouth slowly arched into a smile and his laughter grew louder.

His laughter abruptly stopped after a while, but his expression was still full of excitement.

“This isn’t right!”

Shi Mu suddenly realized what he was doing. Suddenly, he was immersed in the understanding of the staff technique. Unconsciously, one month had passed by.

This sort of immortality was incomparable. It was a constant temptation to the military, and he was unable to resist it.

Although he had a rough understanding from the beginning of the first month, he already had a partial understanding of the staff technique’s power. It far exceeded the current method he had learned.

Shi Mu’s eyes flickered and a moment later, he made a decision.

His thoughts shook a little as he sent a message to both Cai and Qi Feng, saying that he would continue his retreat and that he was not to be bothered with the affairs of the residence.

At the end of the communication and before they could even respond, Shi Mu had immediately cut off contact. He closed his eyes and continued to immerse himself in the Art of the Vanishing Gods.

Back at the cave residence, Cai was playing near the spirit fountain when he turned around and looked at the place where Shi Mu was in retreat as he let out a sigh.

“This idiot with his isolation. How boring!” Cai complained as he fluttered his wings and flew outside the residence.

In one of the chambers in the spirit land, Qi Feng who seemed to be cultivating a while ago seemed to be excited after receiving Shi Mu’s message.

In the past 90 years, Shi Mu has been retiring and cultivating and had thrown him all kinds of affairs of the spiritual land to him and Cai to handle. Although Cai would come up with some strange ideas from time to time, he never really asked about the specifics of the affairs. Naturally, he would not question the allocation of the spirit stones.

In his view of this, Qi Feng had secretly made a lot of benefits but he was self-aware. Though the benefits were not as much, he still did his best to attend to all affairs right.

After all, he knew that Shi Mu seemed to ignore everything but he was extremely savvy. He did not dare to surpass Cai’s eyes, which shared the same connection with Shi Mu’s.

Qi Feng remained silent for a while before he stood up and walked outside.

Judging from the news he received from Shi Mu, the next retreat did not seem to be a short one. There were some affairs in the spiritual land he had to attend to.

…

Time passed and three years had passed by in a blink of an eye.

On this day, the chamber in the residence where Shi Mu had retreated.

He sat with his legs crossed and his body suddenly shook. He slowly opened up his eyes and there were strange black and white lights in his eyes. As quick as it appeared, it had dispersed in seconds.

He stood up with a big smile on his face.

After three years of the staff technique, the Art of the Vanishing Gods was only getting started. He could barely perform the best part of it.

Even so, the power of this staff method exceeded his expectations.

He was suddenly eager to try, and his eyes were full of excitement. He immediately got up and walked outside.

The gate of the residence opened up and Shi Mu emerged from it.

“Shi Mu, you’re finally out!” Cai flew down from the air and landed on Shi Mu’s shoulder.

Shi Mu nodded and kept up his pace.

“How was your retreat? Was your training a success?” Cai asked when he noticed Shi Mu appeared somewhat absent-minded.

“Some things can’t be forced. I’m sure you’re aware of that,” Shi Mu said.

“Then, what are you going to do? Are you going out?”

“I’m leaving Qinglan to attend to some issues.”

“Going out…? That’s great! I’m going with you. I’ve been so bored staying in Qinglan. It’s suffocating!”

Shi Mu smiled lightly and waved his hand to summon the green-winged flying carriage.

It was not a big deal for him to head out this time, so bringing Cai along was no burden.

A ray of twilight flew away toward the Xuanling Tower.

Four or five days later, a blue twilight appeared in a deserted mountain tens of thousands of miles away from the Holy Land.

The mountain looked troublesome. Except for a few ores, it produced nothing but countless monsters. Most of them were weak and without any rare varieties.

Therefore, despite its close proximity to Qinglan, only a few had been here.

“Shi Mu, why did you come to the wasteland? To kill some beasts?” Cai looked around confusedly.

With his eyesight, Cai was able to scan through the surroundings within hundreds of miles.

Shi Mu shook his head and his eyes showed a hint of excitement.

Seeing it with one hand, a black light flashed in his hand and the Wishful Steel Staff appeared.

“In the past few years, I’ve had some small success with a certain staff technique. I just want to try it and see the power it holds.” Shi Mu said as the Wishful Staff glowed in black light.

“How can it be so troublesome? Isn’t it possible to practice in the spiritual field? Why bother to come here?” Cai asked.

Shi Mu shook his head. This staff method was strong and he did not dare to display it in the Holy Land of Qinglan.

The reason was the same as the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art. Who could guess, someone in the Holy Land might know about it. It would blow his cover and put him in a tight spot.

Shi Mu took a deep breath and no longer conversed with Cai, His mind went quiet and the black light glowed brighter.

“Hey Shi Mu, wait a minute,” Cai shouted as his eyes flashed while looking in a particular direction.

“What’s wrong?” Shi Mu stopped and asked.

“There are two monsters with a lot of qi. I’m afraid they are already of Heaven rank. Since you have the power to test this technique, why not try it on the two monsters.”

“Okay, I shall!” Shi Mu nodded in agreement as he charged toward the monsters’ direction.