The Portal of Wonderland

This was the voice of the curly-haired young man — Hou Qing. He was the Palace Lord of the Dark Green Wolf Palace.

The surrounding people cast their gazes at this person as they heard these words.

“Palace Lord Liu wants us to turn around our respective ships, and take a roundabout route. But, he has made this decision by relying on a one-sided statement. This decision seems like an act of extreme nervousness to me! You do know that this long route will cost us at least ten days?”

“What is the appropriate course of action according to Palace Lord Huo?” Liu An asked.

“I don’t think there are sea beasts in front of us. And, we can force our way through in case a few of them pop up…” the curly-haired man said.

Shi Mu couldn’t help but cast a glance at this person. He realized that this curly-haired man’s cultivation was extremely high. There were many Palace Lords on the scene, but it seemed that only this curly-haired man could compete with Liu An.

“Palace Lord of the Dark Green Wolf Palace… you are playing with the lives of our cult’s disciples who are currently under your guidance.” Liu An said.

“Huo Qing, our sacred Cult is already in a miserable state. Do you still want to be swayed by your personal feelings?” the red-browed man — Di Feng — said in a stern voice; he stood beside Liu An at this time.

“Ke Ke, I think the point of the Dark Green Wolf Palace’s Lord is reasonable to some extent. The crucial period of these ten days may give an opportunity to the Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult and Heavenly Demon Sect to catch up with us. In fact, we would lose more than we would gain if we follow this decision.” The one-eyed man stood beside Huo Qing. He coughed in a gentle manner, and said at a moderate pace.

“I’m sorry to say that we won’t be accompanying you if you take this detour. But, we will wait for you all in Western Continent!” Huo Qing chuckled. Then, he turned around and departed.

The one-eyed middle-aged man also turned around, and walked away along with the curly-haired man. However, Di Feng, Pang Yu, and the five other Palace Lords didn’t budge.

Liu An looked at the receding silhouettes of the two men, and a streak of light flashed across his eyes. However, he didn’t say anything to stop them.

After that, Liu An turned toward Shi Mu, and said, “Brother Shi, only you can see the situation in the sea area ahead. So, I request you to move to my ship, and lead the fleet in the correct direction. This will help us in evading sea beasts.”

“Okay.” Shi Mu nodded.

“Everyone, kindly return to your ships, and immediately pass an order. All ships have to follow my ship closely. They mustn’t change their course at will,” Liu An then said to the other Palace Lords.

“Yes,” all of them responded in unison.

Liu An waved his hand, and a cloud of grey Qi emerged under his feet. Then, it carried him along with Shi Mu, and drifted away.

A distance of nearly a thousand feet had been maintained between every two ships in the fleet since the beginning in order to ensure safety during the voyage. Therefore, the distance between Liu An’s Ship No. 1 and Shi Mu’s Ship No. 22 was over twenty thousand feet.

The howling wind in the air and the skyrocketing sea waves on the sea surface were causing troubles to these two people who were flying in the air.

Liu An waved his hand in a convenient manner, and a grey light-shield shrouded the two men. After that, the gusts of wind slipped past whenever they bumped into the light shield.

The speed of the grey Qi cloud rose substantially since it didn’t have to deal with the fierce wind anymore. The grey cloud passed through several large ships while carrying the two men. Then, it landed on the ship that was in the forefront. A flag had been hung on this ship. It contained the word ‘Liu’.

The two men then walked into a room that was situated at the top of the ship’s hold. The field of vision from this place was fairly wide. In fact, they had a bird’s eye view of the entire sea area in front without any obstruction.

Liu An turned his hand, and drew out a jade slip. Then, he stimulated his magic power, and shot a streak of white light into the jade slip. A map emerged in the void before them the next moment. It appeared to be the map of the Yellow Sea.

The fleet gradually began to separate from each other after a few moments.

The fleet of twenty-two Gigantic Vast Sea Boats soon split into two parts. Sixteen of them began to change their sailing direction. Simultaneously, they also began to reorganize into their new formation. Then, they drifted away toward the left in a gradual manner. However, the remaining six ships didn’t change their course, and remained in the same place as before.

Huo Qing and the one-eyed man stood side-by-side on the ship that was at the forefront of these six ships. They were watching the ships that were changing their direction.

Huo Qing’s brows slightly creased, and he issued an order with a cold snort, “Set sail and continue to advance ahead!”

Then, the six ships slowly started to advance ahead.

“Palace Lord Huo, is it okay to go ahead? Perhaps, it is true that there are sea beasts in front of us…” the one-eyed man hesitated for a moment, but then said.

“Relax… Shi Mu’s words are very unreliable. In fact, there’s a possibility that he had been arranged by Liu An with the prime intention of seizing our rights. I’m afraid that all of our rights will be taken away by Liu An once we arrive at the Western Continent if we keep following his orders like this,” Huo Qing replied.

The one-eyed man became relatively calm and content when he heard these assuring words.

“By the way… let’s assume that we bump into some marine beasts. Won’t we be able to deal with them with our present strength? In fact, it would be a fortuitous chance to offer sacrifices! You should know that many of my spirit pets can display magnificent strength at sea,” Huo Qing snorted, and said with full confidence.

“Yes. Anyway, this trip has been a bit boring. These sea beasts would be sufficient enough to relieve us from this boredom!” The one-eyed man’s eye brightened as he nodded in agreement.

The six ships held their heads high, and continued to cut their way through the storm as they forge ahead.

In the distance…

Shi Mu and Liu An stood by the side of a window in a certain room. They were gazing at the six ships that were advancing ahead. It couldn’t be said when the red-dressed girl — surnamed Zhen — had arrived in Liu An’s room; she was Liu An’s junior female apprentice.

“Why did you let them proceed forward?” Shi Mu looked at Liu An, and asked.

Liu An turned his back toward Shi Mu, and didn’t give him a reply.

Shi Mi’s brows slightly wrinkled since he couldn’t understand why Liu An had turned his back on him. This behavior left Shi Mu with a sense of gloominess… as if he was shrouded by a layer of dark clouds.

“Can it be possible that he has let them proceed forward to eliminate these two people at the hands of the sea beasts?” Shi Mu felt a slight chill in his heart, and his complexion changed accordingly.

But then, Liu An turned around as if he had sensed his thoughts.

Shi Mu’s facial expression had returned to its normal state by this time. He looked at Liu An once again, but there was calmness in his eyes this time.

“Brother Shi, your comprehension ability seems to have marked an astonishing pace of progress since you have left the Heavenly Yu City!” the trace of a smile bloomed across Liu An’s face as he said.

“Brother Liu is flattering me. There’s no way I can be compared with you…” Shi Mu replied.

“Oh, by the way… I want to know why Brother Shi sneaked into our Dark Moon Cult?” Liu An didn’t dig into this matter, and abruptly changed the thread of conversation.

“As a matter of fact… this is also a gift bestowed on me by Brother Liu! I got involved in the scope of the Heavenly Cult’s ‘seize and kill’ order after you wreaked havoc at the Ascension to Immortality Auction. Therefore, I had no choice but to turn to Xixia country,” Shi Mu looked into Liu An’s eyes, and said in such a manner as if he was pointing at him.

“So, this is the case. Please accept my apology. I had never thought that my act would implicate Brother Shi as well!” Liu An didn’t seem to understand the implied meaning behind Shi Mu’s words. Instead, he wore an apologetic look, cupped his hands, and said a few words in apology.

Shi Mu chose to remain silent since he couldn’t understand whether Liu An’s words were true or false.

“I have asked this question many times before. But, I would like to ask it once again today. Brother Shi, don’t you ever think about joining our cult?” Liu An said.

“I… ” Shi Mu’s brows creased. He was about to speak something. But then, Liu An raised his hand, and stopped him.

“Brother Shi, don’t rush to decline this offer. You have plenty of days at sea. So, you’d better take a few more days to consider it. The Western Continent’s demon beasts are very fierce and rampant as far as I know. That continent is going to be far more dangerous than the Eastern continent. I admit that Brother Shi’s strength is remarkable. But, it would still be extremely difficult for you to survive there alone. In addition, Your Excellency has seen that neither the Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult nor the Heavenly Demon Sect remains a reasonable place for you to return to. You don’t have enough strength right now despite the fact that you’ve suffered many injustices. Besides, they are unlikely to give you an opportunity to explain yourself. In fact, they now have an even stronger reason to kill you since you’ve killed one of Wu Chen’s disciples. Forgive me for being blunt… But, you can never return to the Eastern Continent,” Liu An said.

The hint of a thoughtful expression emerged on Shi Mu’s face as these words surfaced in his ears.

Liu An’s last words didn’t seem to be wrong in any respect. Whether it was the Eastern continent or any other place… Shi Mu perhaps couldn’t even speak about it with this level of strength.

It was a case of the so-called ‘fairness only existed between two parties of the same level’.

“This Liu can guarantee to make you a Palace Lord if you agree to join my cult. In addition, I’ll allow you to learn all the secret techniques of our cult… including the method of improving your spatial-element induction force,” Liu An continued.

“Brother Liu, I appreciate your kindness. However, I still don’t want to become a member of your noble cult,” Shi Mu remained silent for a moment. Then, he shook his head, and said.

“It seems that Brother Shi has made a firm resolve. But, he is welcome to join my cult if he changes his mind someday. By the way…a room has been reserved for Brother Shi here. You will now stay on this ship.” Liu An smiled.

“Many thanks for your kindness, Brother Liu. I’ll go to take a rest.” Shi Mu cupped his hands to bid him farewell. Then, he turned around and departed.

“Big Brother, Shi Mu is a complicated boy. And, I can see that he has no intention of joining our cult. Why don’t you…” the red-robed girl said after Shi Mu’s departure.

“Our cult is in desperate need for capable people nowadays. This boy is a double-practitioner. He practices both martial arts and magic arts. In addition, he has an unyielding temperament. And, such a temperament can be very useful at the right time. Wait till he reaches the Western Continent. After that, there is a possibility that he will come to our side since he will have nowhere else to go,” Liu An said.

“What if he continues to show unwillingness to join our cult even after we arrive at Western Continent?” the red-dressed girl asked.

“Sister Zhen, don’t worry. I understand the reason for your anxiousness. But, you should know that Liu An isn’t a kindhearted and lenient kind of a person,” the hint of an imperceptible cold gleam flashed through Liu An’s eyes as he said these words.

… …

Six Gigantic Vast Sea Boats were quickly advancing toward the west under Huo Qing’s leadership.

The one-eyed man had returned to the rear area, and had taken the command of the three ships at the rear end of the fleet. The fleet of ships led by Liu An had taken a detour, and had fallen behind these six ships.

It seemed from Huo Qing’s facial expression that he was delighted about this in secret. He felt that he would be able to take advantage of this situation if he reached the Western Continent before Liu An. He would also be able to snatch away the authority of the Dark Moon Cult from Liu An’s hands at the designated time.

Huo Qing’s heart brimmed with a sense of complacency as this thought streaked across his mind.

“Forge ahead at full speed!” Huo Qing commanded.

The person who stood next to him complied, and passed on the order. And, the sailing speed of the six huge boats got accelerated once again.

However, a group of mighty shadows flashed through the bottom of the sea right under Huo Qing’s feet at this moment.

Bang! The ship received a powerful jolt, and was shaken-up!

All the disciples on that ship were left swaying by this impact… so much so that many of them had fallen down. Their complexion had changed greatly because of this sudden occurrence.

“What’s going on?” Huo Qing’s complexion sank, and he shouted aloud.

He heard a louder sonorous crashing sound in response the next moment. Simultaneously, the entire ship swayed in a crazy manner.

“Sea beasts! The sea beasts have attacked!”

The disciples on that ship pointed to the sea surface, and issued a loud shout.

They saw that there was a massive black shadow below the sea’s surface, and it was advancing toward their ship.

All six ships had gotten surrounded by these dark shadows in a blink of an eye.

Huo Qing’s facial expression changed very profoundly as he witnessed this scene.