The Portal of Wonderland

Shi Mu was exhilarated. He took out a white bottle from his bosom-pocket, and removed its cork. Then, he swung the bottle above the black fog that was being emitted out of the magic formula.

A ‘whiz’ sound was heard.

A black fluid flowed out of the bottle, and dripped into the black fog. Then, it disappeared.

There was a loud ‘rumbling’ sound as the black fluid disappeared into the flowing grayish-black fog. Then, the fog started to swirl in the air under the influence of a strange force. It transformed into a grey vapor vortex; it was ten feet wide.

Some large patches of grey fog escaped from the vortex during the process, and spread in all directions. The entire magic formula was soon covered in a layer of grey smoke.

Shi Mu had a solemn expression on his face. His eyes were fixed on the circle, and his mouth was reciting an incantation. Suddenly, he pointed out his finger.

A streak of black light was shot from his fingertip towards the grey vortex. It submerged into the vortex and vanished.

‘Ping!’ ‘Ping!’ a series of crackling sounds were heard.

Suddenly, the spirit stones embedded in the circle crumbled into several fragments.

‘Crackling’ a crisp sound was heard.

Suddenly, a black electric arc emerged in the middle of the black vortex; it was as thick as an arm. It wriggled in the air for a while, and then disappeared.

The entire stone house trembled for a moment.

Then, the rays of light being emitted by the octagonal formula got extinguished. Also, the black vortex swirling in the center of the circular pattern vanished without a trace. It was replaced by a fuzzy and small human figure with a petite stature. There was still a plume of grey fog in the air that hadn’t yet disappeared. It was twisting and twining around the thin stature – like a long thread of smoke. So, the face of the figure couldn’t be seen clearly.

Shi Mu stood-up and gazed towards the fuzzy silhouette.

Suddenly, he thought of something and hurriedly grabbed his black blade. Then, he fished out a stack of paper charms from his bosom.

Then, something strange happened. The fuzzy figure stood motionless. It didn’t move even a little.

Shi Mu felt a little relieved as he saw this.

The silhouette grew a bit clearer as the plume of grey fog dissipated.

It was an ash-gray human skeleton. Surprisingly, it was shorter than Shi Mu. It stood in the center of the circular formula. Two green flames were burning within its eye sockets; they’d flicker every now and then.

Shi Mu moved closer to it and looked at it carefully. He quickly sensed the spirit mark that he had previously planted on this skeleton’s body with the help of the Capturing Spirit Technique. This indicated that this was the same skeleton that he had chosen in the Dead Spirit World. Shi Mu’s heart rejoiced as he realized this.

However, he felt surprised as he sized-up the skeleton from top-to-bottom.

The present skeleton seemed to be different from the one that he had seen in the Dead Spirit World.

He clearly remembered the day when he was in the Dead Spirit World. The skeleton that he had planted his spirit mark on was in an extremely tattered and mutilated state. It was even missing an arm back then.

However, the skeleton in front of him was entirely different. Both its arms were intact. Moreover, there were fewer cracks over its body. Even the color of its bones seemed to have deepened.

Suddenly, the skeleton raised its head. It turned its two glowing eye sockets towards Shi Mu; it seemed to be watching him.

Shi Mu waited for a moment. He felt relaxed as he noticed that the skeleton didn’t have any intention to attack him. He asked, “What’s your name? Can you understand what I’m saying?

The skeleton remained motionless; it didn’t respond.

Shi Mu wrinkled his eyebrows as he saw this.

After all, he had spent a huge amount of money to summon this skeleton to this world. Now, it seemed that the skeleton not only lacked vitality, but its intelligence also seemed quite low.

He started to feel sympathetic towards Young Master Ju since the man had used-up his entire savings to summon the parrot to this world. Shi Mu could understand his pain better than anyone else because he also felt very dejected in this moment.

However, Cai could at least speak. This skeleton couldn’t even understand human language.

Suddenly, Shi Mu noticed that the green flames in the skeleton’s eye sockets were flickering. Then, the skeleton nodded its head.

Shi Mu was startled. Then, his heart was overwhelmed with exhilaration. He said expectantly, “Move two steps forward.”

The green flames in the skeleton’s eyes flashed twice. It seemed after a while that it had comprehended Shi Mu’s words. It took two steps forward in a staggering manner.

“This response… is too slow.” Shi Mu was dumbstruck.

“Sit down,” he ordered again.

The skeleton swayed its head. It tried to sit down on the floor after a while. A few creaking sounds of bones were heard as it bent down to sit.

Shi Mu’s face revealed a trace of satisfaction.

The skeleton was dim-witted. However, it seemed to have an excellent trait of honesty. Shi Mu recollected that he hadn’t yet formed a genuine master-servant contract with him.

“Listen… I’ve summoned you here. So, I’m your master. Now, I’m going to plant a summoning contract on your body. You don’t need to resist.” Shi Mu had a feeling that the skeleton might launch a sudden attack. So, he was little vigilant. He walked up to it as he spoke to it in a slow manner.

The green flames within the skeleton’s eye sockets twinkled. However, nothing abnormal happened.

Shi Mu’s knitted eyebrows loosened a bit.

He thought that he had spoken a long sentence. He had deliberately slowed down his speed of talking, but perhaps the skeleton’s poor intelligence still hadn’t been able to comprehend the meaning behind his words.

He didn’t have any patience to give a proper explanation to the skeleton. So, he extended his hand and held the skeleton’s head. Then, he quickly started to mutter an incantation.

A streak of faint-black light was released from his palm.

The green flames in the skeleton’s eye sockets became faint. It didn’t move and let the black light seep into its skull. The black light transformed into black magic characters as soon it entered its skull.

A wisp of Shi Mu’s spirit melted into the skeleton’s spirit along with the contract. Finally, the master and the servant’s spirit were blended.

The entire process was completed without a hitch since the skeleton didn’t resist.

Shi Mu’s complexion changed. He heaved a sigh of relief and retracted his hand.

Now, this skeleton was his spirit pet since the contract had been officially made.

Shi Mu asked the skeleton to move freely and attack him a few times. He felt extremely disappointed even though he had anticipated the outcome.

The skeleton didn’t seem to possess any special ability. However, its attacking speed was considerably fast. But, its strength seemed ordinary; it could be placed on par with a martial disciple who was at the seventh or eighth level of the Body Tempering Technique.

“You can return now. I’ll summon you again if I ever need your help. By the way, you were shrouded in a drifting smoke when you appeared in this world for the first time; it looked like a band of silky smoke. So, I’ll call you Yan Luo.” Shi Mu realized that this skeleton wouldn’t be of much use to him. So, he sighed and instructed it to leave.

An official contract had been established between the spirits of Shi Mu and the skeleton. So, the skeleton seemed to have become comparatively quicker in understanding Shi Mu’s words. It nodded quickly this time.

A huge consumption of the master’s magic power was needed to maintain a spirit pet from a different dimension. Shi Mu had already used-up a significant amount of his magic power while setting up the magic formula. So, he was extremely exhausted.

He waved his hand and began to mumble an incantation. Suddenly, a plume of black smoke appeared and started to swirl around the skeleton’s body. The skeleton’s body gradually disappeared into the smoke.

“Be careful… don’t get killed in the Dead Spirit World.” the skeleton faintly heard his final words before it disappeared.

*** ***

At the foot of a giant mountain in the Dead Spirit World…

Suddenly, a puff of black smoke appeared. An ash-grey skeleton emerged from inside it. It was Yan Luo – the skeleton summoned by Shi Mu.

It stood motionless; it seemed to be lost in its own world.

The green flames in its eye sockets twinkled as the black magic characters appeared in its soul’s flame. It seemed to have a relationship with a distant existence. A wisp of faint cold energy was being emitted by the characters in a continuous manner. It made Yan Luo feel extremely comfortable. It seemed to have become more intelligent than before.

Yan Luo remained motionless for a few more minutes. It looked around with a blank expression in its eyes. Then, it took a step forward and started to walk towards a distant place.

Yan Luo’s movements seemed much quicker than before. It was unclear whether it was because of the black magic characters embedded in its soul’s flame… or some other reason.

It continued to walk for a while. Suddenly, a heavy sound of footsteps was heard from ahead. A pale-white skeleton was walking with tottering steps nearby. Its eye sockets were also glowing with feeble green flames.

Skeletons were considered to be the lowest creatures in the Dead Spirit World. But, they were huge in number. In fact, several skeletons armies could be seen around this lofty mountain peak alone. There was no commander to convene them. So, many skeletons wandered around aimlessly. However, they couldn’t go beyond a limit because of certain restrictions.

The pale-white skeleton had noticed Yan Luo’s existence. But, it hadn’t reacted.

The skeletons were considered low-grade creatures in the Dead Spirit World. However, they didn’t disturb each other meaninglessly unless they were forced to fight in a large-scale war. They usually walked their own paths.

The green flames in Yan Luo’s eye sockets flickered. However, it didn’t make any move. It continued to march ahead.

Now, there was only a distance of two feet between the two skeletons.

Suddenly, the pale-white skeleton heard a sharp swishing sound. Then, its world was flipped upside down.

‘Bang!’ the pale-white skeleton’s head fell onto the ground with a loud sound.

It saw an ash-grey foot bone rushing towards it before it could make out what had happened. Then, there was a crushing sound as the pale-white skull was trampled upon and crushed into several pieces.

A ball of green light departed from the shattered pieces of its skull.

Yan Luo shook its head. Then, it opened its mouth and sucked the green light ball. The green flames within its eye sockets brightened-up; as if to reveal a satisfied look.

Yan Luo squatted down near the headless pale-white skeleton. It stretched out its hand and picked-up some bones that looked relatively firm. Then, it used them to replace some tattered bones from its own body.

A puff of grayish-black smoke floated around Yan Luo’s body. Then, an arm and some of the ribs in its body turned white.

Yan Luo’s grey-and-white appearance looked queer. But, Yan Luo wasn’t bothered by this. It appeared delighted to move its new body freely. It couldn’t help but dance about merrily for a moment. Then, it resumed walking.

But, where was it heading to?

Even Yan Luo didn’t know the answer to this question. The only thing it knew was that it had met a strange man. An inexplicable thought was endlessly bubbling-up in its mind. This thought drove him to become stronger. Also, a ‘roaring’ sound kept reverberating in its heart. It constantly reminded Yan Luo that it didn’t have much time left, and that it had to find something that it had once lost.

But, what did it wish to retrieve?

Yan Luo wondered about this. But, its head was clouded by murkiness. Therefore, it couldn’t find any answer. It subconsciously continued to totter down the path. It knew that walking down the road ahead was similar to sinking down an unending abyss…