The Portal of Wonderland

Shi Mu’s heart sank. He had nearly given-up hope. But then, he felt that the backward-pull had increased in strength. His body felt extremely light as he got pulled back towards Young Master Ju’s luminous dot. Then, the small and big luminous dots rushed-away at lightning speed.

The traction force of that glittering object receded as it became smaller. Finally, Shi Mu heaved a sigh of relief.

He felt that the traction-force — that had previously weakened and vanished — had re-appeared.

“You got lucky this time. But, don’t expect me to help you if you get trapped again. I don’t have enough spirit power to save you again,” the obese man’s annoyed voice resounded.

“Thank you so much for your help, Young Master Ju!” Shi Mu replied in an embarrassed tone.

Young Master Ju’s spirit – as a luminous dot – flickered a few times. It seemed as if his anger hadn’t yet receded. But, he didn’t say anything more on the subject.

“Young Master Ju, what would’ve happened if I had got sucked into that shining object?” Shi Mu couldn’t restrain himself from asking the question.

“Hmm, can it be that you’re thinking about exploring an unknown space? There are many spaces that can easily erase the connection of the magic circle from your body. Then, you won’t be able to return to your body even when your spirit power gets exhausted. It’s needless to say what happens after that; you know the consequences. Anyways, let’s move quickly,” the obese man thundered angrily.

Shi Mu was silent. However, he felt a slight warmth in his heart.

A huge amount of the obese man’s spirit power had been consumed-up while displaying the magic art to pull Shi Mu out of that perilous situation. This proved one thing – Young Master Ju had a soft side, and it was full of kindness even though he was famous for his hot temperament.

They encountered several shining objects on their way. Some of them were relatively closer. But, both of them had learnt from their mistake. So, they made detours from quite afar. They didn’t bump into another mishap.

Their spirit power was about to get completely consumed-up when they finally saw a fog-shaped fuzzy object. It was emitting a black light.

Suddenly, everything became clear to Shi Mu. He realized that this fuzzy object was the source of the previous gravitational force that had led them here.

“Arrived!”

Shi Mu’s spirits were lifted as the obese man’s joyous voice resounded in his mind.

The two luminous dots got drifted towards the fog-shaped hazy object under the effect of its massive traction force.

“Bang!”

Shi Mu felt as if he had entered a mass of soft and black fog. A strange force hit his and Young Master Ju’s luminous dots as soon as they entered. This transmitted a powerful jolt to them, and they got separated from each other.

*** ***

Suddenly, the light became brighter before Shi Mu’s eyes. Then, a somber world appeared in his sight. He noticed that he had turned into a hazy, grey and empty shadow. It seemed that he was floating midair like a dark cloud.

Shi Mu looked around and realized that it was a gloomy world. The sky was grey and gloomy – like a murky dusk. Moreover, the grey clouds were continuously tumbling – like a cloud of fog.

Twelve blood-red moons were hanging in the sky. They were exuding bright-red rays of light. However, these moons didn’t render any radiance. Instead, they made everything look murkier and gloomier. In fact, there wasn’t any trace of visibility.

The air was filled with black and cold winds. The grayish-black ground was covered with several mud pools; air bubbles were bubbling out of them. Piles of white skeletons of unknown creatures were floating on their surface.

Strong blasts of wind were howling across the sky. They seemed to be infused with a foul odor.

Shi Mu strove hard to adapt to the sense of gloominess that pervaded this place. The world before his eyes had lived up to its name – it was the Dead Spirit World.

Shi Mu had no clue about Young Master Ju’s whereabouts. He looked around a few times to analyze the situation. Suddenly, a burst of a clamorous fight’s sound transmitted from ahead. There seemed to be a huge number of creatures. But, Shi Mu couldn’t see them as a hill had blocked his view.

Suddenly, Shi Mu had an idea. His shadow trembled as it shot towards the hill. He had flown past the hill within a second.

The scene that appeared before his eyes… took his breath away!

There was a vast and boundless wilderness under the hill. Two armies of human skeletons were immersed in a fierce battle. They were massive in number; there were at least fifty to sixty-thousand skeletons.

A faint light was glowing in the eyes of these human skeletons. Some of them were wielding gigantic knives made of bones; some were fighting with sharp bone spears. Some of them didn’t have any weapons. Several of them seemed to be badly damaged. However, they were killing each other ceaselessly.

Some of the skeletons stood-out in a peculiar way.

Some of the skeletons were riding skeleton horses that wore black amours. Their bodies were covered in several wounds, and these wounds were discharging a watery substance. Their movement was extremely slow – like that of a zombie’s. There were some bone tigers, bone snakes and other dead creatures as well.

However, Shi Mu didn’t pay any attention to them. He was attracted by two giant creatures who were flying above the armies.

These two monstrous creatures were also indulged in a furious battle. A continual sad and shrill ear-piercing roar could be heard along with the howls of the cold gusts.

One of these monstrous creatures was a gigantic skeleton of a hound. He was nearly ninety meters long. Its huge stature was covered with rotten flesh. It was a disgusting sight. However, it couldn’t conceal the astonishing momentum with which it was soaring in the sky.

Three distinct skulls could be seen on the hound’s neck. The left one was a dead skull, and the middle one was a rotten head. The right head was alive and new; it was covered with dense black hair. But, there wasn’t any trace of flesh on it.

These heads were constantly discharging stinking saliva.

The other monstrous creature was the skeleton of a black bird. It was as huge as the hound’s. Half-rotten black feathers were hanging all over its body. They revealed large patches of white bone beneath them. Its wings were stirring-up intermittent gusts of cold wind. It had a long spur tail that was moving smoothly. It was frequently issuing shrill noises.

Both of them emitted a formidable and terrifying aura. Shi Mu had seen many powerhouses. But, he had never experienced such an astonishing might. It had far surpassed his imagination. Each of their breaths was powerful enough to grind hundreds of skeleton-soldiers into pieces.

Suddenly, the three-headed hound pounced on its opponent. Its gigantic body moved forward at an alarming speed. Then, its left head nipped one of the wings of that monstrous black bird.

The bird couldn’t dodge this attack. It let out a furious scream, and thrust its sword-like beak into the hound’s neck, while its talons grasped the hound’s lower abdomen. This attack engraved severe deep wounds on the hound’s body.

However, the hound didn’t seem to feel any pain. Instead, its other two heads set into action. They also bit the bird’s wing. Simultaneously, its sturdy forelegs grabbed the bird’s body. Then, the three heads exerted a huge strength, and tore the bird’s wing apart.

“Snap” a loud sound was heard.

A wing of the giant bird was torn apart. The bird staggered, and lost its balance. But, its beak and talons didn’t lose their grip on the hound. Therefore, the two huge creatures crashed onto the ground together.

Thousands of skeleton soldiers were crushed into pieces as the two monstrous creatures crashed on top of them. The remaining skeleton soldiers ran further away from the spot.

However, the two monsters didn’t pay any attention to them. Instead, they continued their fierce battle on the ground.

Shi Mu was dumbfounded as he saw this. Suddenly, his shadow flickered. This was an indication that he was about to dissipate.

Shi Mu felt shaken-up. He cursed himself for his negligence. He could’ve only stayed there for a short period of time since his spirit power was weak. He had wasted precious time.