The Portal of Wonderland

Shi Mu started to resolve his spirit power since an idea crossed his mind. He wanted to try and condense the cluster of the white cloud in his mind into a charm character.

He had started this procedure only for the sake of giving it a try. Who would’ve thought that something strange would come out of this unusual idea?

Suddenly, the cluster of the milky-white clouds started to move rapidly. Then, they started to congeal into a charm character. It was the fire-attribute charm character that he had previously failed to perceive several times. However, this charm character was white in color.

The white charm character crumbled and transformed into a cluster of white clouds as Shi Mu took a momentary pause.

Shi Mu was startled.

Could it be that the charm character he had condensed in his dream wouldn’t be of any use?

He smiled bitterly, and started to calm his mind. Then, he looked-up and transformed into the white ape. He started to absorb the moonlight essence while practicing the Moon Swallowing Art once again.

The night passed in a flash. The sky was getting clearer. The dawn was about to arrive; the moon had slid beneath the horizon.

Shi Mu’s body quivered as he woke-up from his dream; he was extremely excited. He felt a sense of refreshment in his entire body.

He exhaled a long breath. Then, he stood-up and examined the spirit power within his mind.

Suddenly, his body became stiff and motionless.

He could see a blood-red character floating inside his mind; it was glowing. It was the same fire-attribute character that he had failed to perceive after three days of meditation.

“This…?” He was left thunderstruck; he almost couldn’t believe it.

His face bloomed with happiness. Then, he considered his surroundings and controlled himself; he didn’t want to burst out laughing in the open.

The ecstatic expression on his face receded as his mood returned to its serene state.

The white ape’s dreamland had far surpassed his imagination.

He shook the morning dew off his body. Then, he started to walk towards his house.

*** ***

Several days later…

Shi Mu arrived at the plaza in an ecstatic mood. He stopped in front of a three-storied building. It had a glazing red-tiled roof.

This place was designed to sell magic objects. It was called the ‘House of the Five Elements’. Shi Mu had seen this place before as the ‘Aromatic Pills Pavilion’ was situated on the street next to it. Shi Mu had taken a note of this place when he had visited the ‘Aromatic Pills Pavilion’ to purchase pills.

Shi Mu was about to enter the place when he discovered that nobody was inside the shop. The first thing that he saw was a huge scarlet wooden counter. A thin middle-aged man stood behind the counter. He had a long beard – like a goat’s. He was rummaging through a thick wad of hides. Two black-robed janitor disciples were assisting him in checking the inventory and completing other tasks.

“Sire, please come inside. How can I help you? Do you want to buy or sell something?” the middle-aged man turned around, and greeted Shi Mu with a smile.

“Oh, do you purchase things as well?” Shi Mu was startled at first. Then, he asked in a casual manner.

“Yes. We accept various kinds of things related to magic. Does Sire have something he would like to sell here?” the middle-aged man’s eyes lit-up as he asked.

“No. I’m here to buy material to draw paper charms. I hope that the shopkeeper would recommend some good material…” Shi Mu replied with a smile.

“You only need a magic brush, magic ink and some charm papers in order to draw a paper charm in an efficient manner. Sire, please look at this. This is the best charm paper in the shop. It was made by blending several precious materials with a hundred-year-old purple spirit wood. It efficiently absorbs magic ink. In fact, it can even enhance the might of the paper charm,” the middle-aged man explained. Meanwhile, he pulled-out a wad of charm paper from the shelf behind him. Suddenly, the air was filled with an unusual fragrance.

“What’s the price of this wad of charm paper?” Shi Mu asked.

“Not much… just thirty-thousand silvers,” the man stretched-out three fingers as he spoke.

Shi Mu was shocked to hear such an exorbitant price even though he was prepared in his heart.

The cost of a hundred pages of charm papers was thirty-thousand-silvers. This meant that the price of a single piece of charm paper was three-hundred silvers.

“This… then what’s the price of the cheapest paper?” Shi Mu’s brows wrinkled as he asked.

“One-thousand-five-hundred silvers.” The man’s smile receded as he heard this. He put down the precious paper, and replied in a cold voice.

“Well… then what about the price of the cheapest ink and brush?” Shi Mu calculated in his mind, and asked.

“Each of them costs three-thousand silvers.”

“Well… I’d like to buy a set of them.” Shi Mu clenched his teeth as he took out seven-thousand-five-hundred silver notes from his bosom, and handed them over to him.

The middle-aged man received the paper notes with an expressionless face. He took a look, and waved to a nearby janitor disciple. He whispered a few words in his ear as he arrived. Then, the janitor disciple turned around, and left to fetch the wad.

After that, the man turned around and began to flip through the hides; he seemed to have forgotten about Shi Mu’s presence. However, Shi Mu wasn’t affected by this treatment. Instead, he felt free. So, he started to size-up the magic objects that were kept in the shop.

“Brother, your items.” The janitor disciple approached Shi Mu and handed over a parcel to him.

The package consisted of a low-grade magic brush, a bottle of ordinary red ink and a stack of hundred pages of yellow charm paper. The magic brush and red ink seemed to be made-up of some unknown beast’s essence and hair.

Shi Mu nodded as he examined the contents. Then, the janitor disciple wrapped them-up and handed them over to Shi Mu. Shi Mu left the place, and rushed towards his room.

He arrived at his room after a short while. He sat on his stone bed and adjusted his breathing. Then, he adjusted his physical and mental states to their best. After that, he got-up and went to his stone table. He then took-out a single charm paper from the bundle. He spread it on the table carefully, and took-out the magic ink and brush.

A light smell of blood was spread around as he opened the lid of the ink bottle.

He then picked-up the magic brush, and closed his eyes. Suddenly, the red charm character appeared in his mind; it was rotating.

He let out a sigh as he opened his eyes. He recalled the red character as he dipped the brush in the ink. Then, he slowly drew the character on the charm paper in an extremely careful manner.

It took him a while to complete the charm character.

He realized that he was covered in sweat as he finished drawing the character.

He narrowed his eyes as he picked-up the paper. He cautiously looked at it for some time. He was finally convinced that he hadn’t committed any mistake; he felt relieved and calmed down.

Then, he pointed his right index finger at the paper. Suddenly, his magic powers surged-up from his dantian. Then, he started to pour-out his magic powers into the paper charm as per the instructions given in ‘The Sacred Book of Charm Magic’.

Several luminous dots emerged on the paper and joined together as he started to infuse his magic powers with it. The charm character dazzled-up when he had finished instilling the last bit of his magic powers. Then, it started to wriggle – like a living animal.

Everything seemed to have gone smoothly. So, Shi Mu put down the brush and waved his hand. Suddenly, the paper charm flew to his hand.

Then, he rubbed the paper and threw it in the air. “Bang” there was a loud explosion as the paper charm ignited itself. Then, the bean-sized spark spread-out and burnt the entire paper. The magic that he had instilled into it had been unleashed.

Shi Mu’s face beamed with happiness as he saw this.

However, his face soon became expressionless.

He realized that this was only a trivial accomplishment. The charm character was only a basic ‘fire element’ character; it wouldn’t exhibit any remarkable might even if he memorized it. It could only be used to ignite fire.

Moreover, ‘The Sacred Book of Charm Magic’ only contained a few elementary formulas of the five elements apart from some basic characters.

He realized that General Library’s Master Ju had indeed been right. He could find all the powerful formulas of this Sect in the Holy Spirit Pavilion… but — at exorbitant prices.

He shook his head and put away the things. Then, he went to his bed and sat down cross-legged.

He could accept a variety of well-paid tasks in the Hall of Wealth as long as he could become a true Charm magician. This would pave his way towards massive resource accumulation for his future practice.

Shi Mu became overwhelmed as this thought crossed his mind. Then, he took out ‘The Sacred Book of Charm Magic’ from his bosom, and started to work on the next character.