The Portal of Wonderland

Shi Mu slowly walked ahead in the forest while sweeping his gaze around.

The deeper he walked into the forest, the taller the surrounding trees became. In fact, the trees in this place were so huge that several people could simultaneously wrap their arms around a tree trunk. And, such mighty trees could be found everywhere in this place. It could be said that they had been growing since hundreds of years.

However, there wasn’t the slightest trace of human activity in this forest. It appeared to be a primitive forest. In addition, a plentiful quantity of various kinds of spirit herbs and other spirit materials could be seen here owing to the richness of spiritual energy in the atmosphere of this place.

Shi Mu had already found two-or-three spiritual-attribute grass and spirit materials by now even though he had walked only for half-an-hour.

This forest was also a dwelling place of all kinds of poisonous insects and strange beasts. In fact, they could be seen in a large number at this place. Shi Mu had been attacked two or three times by now. But, he had been able to finish them off with a slight movement of his hands and feet. However, it was hard to ensure that he would encounter an unworthy opponent the next time just like the previous encounters.

Therefore, Shi Mu was moving forward in a very attentive manner so that he could guard against the dangers that might pop up.

Conversely, Cai had been bubbling with excitement all along, and had flown away without telling Shi Mu where he was going. Fortunately, they were connected through their minds. And, that thread of connection had allowed them to know of each other’s safety.

Shi Mu jumped over a withered tree that lay on the ground. And, his eyes suddenly congealed, and exposed a glimmer of exultation.

He saw that there was a shaded place not far in front of him. In addition, there were two small blue-colored grasses at that place. These grasses were only four-or-five inches high, and their blue foliages were emitting bursts of blue halos.

“Blue Meadow Grasses!”

Shi Mu quickly walked over to the grasses. This Blue Meadow Grass was considered to be a very rare and precious spirit grass. In fact, it played a very important role in refining several kinds of water-attribute pills. It was extremely valuable.

He carefully collected the two blue meadows grasses. But then, a squeal came from the front.

“Shi Tou, help!”

Cai screamed. Then, a “Whoosh” sound was heard as he flew from the forest, and rushed toward Shi Mu with all his strength.

Boom!

Suddenly, the forest behind him got ripped apart by a gust of wind. Dwarf plants were either directly twisted to pieces or got uprooted.

Simultaneously, several huge deep-green-colored birds rushed over issuing “Quack Quack” sounds. And, their goal was none other than Cai!

Shi Mu was alarmed for a moment. These vicious birds were thirty-or-forty feet in size, and had a mouthful of beast-like sharp teeth. Moreover, their bodies were emanating bursts of evil energy. They were Xian Tian-ranked demon beasts!

Shi Mu didn’t have the time to find out how Cai had managed to provoke these beasts. He quickly turned his hand, and drew out his Sky Splitting Bow and Vulture-tailed arrows.

The bow was emanating splendid green luminescence. It appeared as if it was embracing a bluish-green round moon when it was drawn to its full extent.

Whiz!

A black arrow-light flashed at an unimaginably fast speed… as if a bolt of black lightning had streaked across the sky.

The neck of one of the green birds got pierced by the black light the next moment. Fresh blood splashed, and its huge body started to glide heavily towards the ground. Its breathing had also stopped. However, the momentum of its body allowed it to rush a long distance forward until it knocked against a mighty plant, and finally stopped.

Whoosh!

A black arrow-light flashed once again, and another bluish-green bird got stabbed. Then, that bird similarly collapsed to the ground.

The remaining bluish-green birds issued frightening squeals, and flew towards higher altitudes when they witnessed these back-to-back violent deaths of two of their companions. They didn’t dare to approach Shi Mu afterwards.

Shi Mu gently stroked his bow, and the trace of a contended look glittered across his face.

The might of the Sky Splitting Bow had ascended by a great margin after it had been refined and upgraded. In addition, its perfect coordination with the vulture-tailed arrow which was also a high-ranked magic tool had enabled it to reach an astonishing level. In fact, it was now formidable enough to threaten an Earth-ranked powerhouse. Its incredible strength had been revealed when Shi Mu had been in a tangle with the Earth-ranked Taoist priest of the Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult before.

Shi Mu looked at those bluish-green birds that were hovering in the air. He could’ve shot down ninety percent of them only with the support of his spirit eye if he wanted to despite the fact that there was a considerable distance between them.

The ominous birds in midair seemed to have sensed the murderous intention that had accumulated in Shi Mu’s eyes. Therefore, they wailed a few times. Then, they turned around, and fled into the distance. They disappeared from sight within a matter of few seconds.

“These birds are very sharp in sensing their enemy’s killing intention.” Shi Mu put away the Sky Splitting Bow. Then, he walked over and collected the two arrows he had just shot.

Shi Mu had already lost a few vulture-tailed arrows during the battle at the sea. And now, he had no means to replenish them. So, he wanted to use these few remaining precious arrows very judiciously.

“Quack… a narrow escape. I am safe since I have Shi Tou by my side!” Cai landed on Shi Mu’s shoulder. But, he was still badly shaken.

“Say, how did you manage to provoke these vicious birds?” Shi Mu looked at Cai as he asked.

“I didn’t do anything. It was just bad luck that I ran into these flat-haired beasts, and almost got eaten-up by them!” Cai shouted in rage.

“You’re also a flat-haired beast…”

Shi Mu was speechless for a while. He then shook his head, and walked to the side of the corpses of the two bluish-green birds.

He took a glance at the two birds in order to examine them a bit. Then, he took out his beast soul bag, and shot a streak of red light into it. The beast soul bag immediately issued a suction force. And, two masses of bluish-green beast souls flew out of the corpses, and rushed into the beast soul bag.

“Humph! I want to eat them. After all, I deserve it!” Cai shouted. It seemed as if he was gloating over his success.

Shi Mu cast a glance in the direction of those vicious birds that had just fled, and his brows slightly wrinkled.

“It appears that danger is lurking everywhere in the Western continent. It seems that we may come across these demon beasts of Xian Tian-ranked anywhere in this continent. So, you’d better not go too far from me from now on. Otherwise, you may have to face a demon beast’s attack again. And, I may not be able to save you the next time that happens,” he said.

“I got it,” Cai nodded sincerely.

Shi Mu turned his hands, and took out the Western Continent’s map. However, he shook his head in dissatisfaction when he noticed that the map was too brief to understand. He hadn’t come across any extremely special terrain so far. The only thing he knew was that he would’ve landed in the eastern part of this continent since he had somewhat followed the navigation route of the Gigantic Vast Sea Boat. But, he was unable to determine his exact location on the map at that moment.

He put the map away, and continued to walk toward the west.

He had no other choice but to keep advancing forward for now. However, there was a glimmer of hope in his heart that he might bump into some local people of this continent… or the people of the Eastern Dark Moon Cult on the way. And, there was also a possibility that he would get hold of a much more detailed map of this continent; that would pave the way for him to reach the Rising to the Heaven Mountain.

One day later…

Shi Mu was still forging ahead in the woods. The area of this forest appeared to be astonishingly vast. His rough calculations had left him to conclude that he had already covered several-hundred miles of distance so far. However, the vastness of this place made him feel as if he had covered a very short distance.

He sat down under a big tree after a moment, and let out a sigh.

Shi Mu hadn’t encountered any real danger so far along the way. But, the seemingly endless number of small-scale battles had left him to feel exhausted.

“Then, I’ll look around in the vicinity for something to eat.” Cai lay prone on Shi Mu’s shoulder at the moment. But, he suddenly fired-up with enthusiasm. He then flapped his wings, and flew away.

“Don’t go too far away,” Shi Mu said.

“Ok.” Cai’s silhouette soon disappeared into the woods.

Shi Mu then shook his head, and sat down cross-legged.

A flurried fluttering sound of wings burst forth after some time, and Shi Mu’s eyes opened in response.

“Cai, you got into trouble once again?” Shi Mu stood up.

“No, I haven’t! Shi Tou, take a look at this thing,” Cai swooped down speedily toward him. He had a fist-sized red fruit in his claws. That fruit bore a great similarity to a peach. But, it was sending forth a flame-like radiance.

“This is…” Shi Mu’s eyes opened a bit wider as he took the red fruit.

The red fruit felt hot in his hand… as if he was holding a piece of charcoal.

He sized it up a couple of times, and noticed that it was releasing a sweet aroma as well. This was sufficient to confirm that this fruit wasn’t a poisonous substance.

Moreover, Cai’s eyesight had reached to an awe-inspiring extent these days, and he was blessed with an excellent ability to detect poison. So, he was unlikely to collect a poisonous fruit.

This fruit gave off vibes that made Shi Mu feel drawn to it.

Shi Mu hesitated a bit. But then, he opened his mouth, and took a bite.

The red peach-like fruit melted into a fiery and sweet stream, and integrated into Shi Mu’s body as it entered it.

The Real Qi in his lower abdomen tumbled, and then it showed faint signs of growth.

Shi Mu’s eyes went wide open, and he ate the whole fruit in two-or-three bites. Consequently, the Real Qi in his body somewhat increased. It could be said that the wondrous effect of this fruit was almost equivalent to that of practicing in a place that had an abundance of Fire-attribute Spirit for several days.

Shi Mu’s face sparkled with elation.

“Cai, are there more such fruits ahead?” he asked.

“Yes, there are still some more,” Cai replied.

“Well, take me there.” Shi Mu forthwith said, and his eyes gleamed with excitement.

Shi Mu soon arrived at a mountain valley under Cai’s guidance. The temperature felt much higher at this place. Even the mountain rocks were pale-red in color.

“A place with Fire-attribute Spirit?”

Shi Mu’s brows plunged into a frown. But then, he discovered that his conjecture was wrong. There was apparently a fire spirit mine in this valley. So, this valley had the ability to give birth to this kind of fire-attribute spirit fruit.

He had barely walked a few steps into the valley when he saw a strange deep-red tree in front of him. The tree was red from top to bottom. Even its foliage was red. It seemed as if the whole tree had been set on fire.

There were more than a dozen brilliant red fruits in the midst of its leaves. And, they were the same as the fruit that Cai had just brought to him.

Shi Mu brimmed with ecstasy. He was about to approach the bright-red tree when the ground suddenly burst open. A bluish-green vine drilled out of the ground, and coiled around his leg.

Shi Mu was alarmed. He hastily pointed his foot below, and shot a few feet backwards.

However, the crack in the ground grew wider, and a bluish-green human-shaped thing emerged out of it; it was ten-feet tall.

“What’s this thing?”

Shi Mu was stupefied. This bluish-green thing had a head that was similar to that of human beings. And, it possessed various other characteristics of humans as well. It had human-like facial features and long and green curly hair on its head. However, its skin had a tree-bark-like wrinkled texture. And, its hands and feet were made of a tree-roots-like thing.

“A barbarian? No, I can sense the Dark Moon Cult’s aura on your body…” The tree-like person opened its mouth, and issued a hoarse voice… which seemed like the sound produced by friction of iron sheets.

“You can speak?” Shi Mu’s face beamed with happiness since he had finally encountered a creature that could communicate on this continent.

“Who are you? Are you the companion of those people inside?” the tree-man asked.

“The people inside?” Shi Mu eyes brightened, and he looked towards Cai.

“I didn’t go in. I don’t know the situation inside.” Cai shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter who you are… you are bound to die if you are planning to steal away the fire-attribute peach fruits!” the tree-man bellowed. Then, it waved its hands, and the thick roots of the deep-red tree radiated green radiance. Then, they darted toward Shi Mu.

“Hold on; let’s not start a fight. I have some matters that I would like to ask you about.” Shi Mu moved aside, and escaped the attack. Then, he said.

However, the tree-man didn’t pay attention to his words. It waved its hands again, and a green shadow rushed forth toward Shi Mu from all directions… like sea waves.

This tree-man looked clumsy and stupid, but its strength was not inferior to that of the Xian Tian-ranked demon beasts that Shi Mu had previously encountered in any respect. In fact, his offensive methods were rather special. In addition, it could also launch attacks from under the ground. Shi Mu would’ve been injured if not for the spirit sense that he had been using all along to keep watch on the surrounding area.

Shi Mu moved sideways to evade a sharp green hardwood’s thrust that had just drilled out of the ground. Afterwards, Shi Mu’s face was clouded with a cold look. He waved his hand, and a golden light burst out. Then, it started to inflate until it turned into a ten feet long sword. After that, it hacked towards the tree-man.

The tree-man was taken aback. It waved its hands, and a thunderous sound spread from the ground. After that, several vines drilled out of the ground, and appeared before its body at a lightning speed. They intertwined to form a green rattan wall before the tree-man’s body in order to block the attack.

However, the large golden sword was able to cleave the rattan wall without any difficulty.

Then a light “Ka-cha” sound was heard as the golden sword hacked at the tree-man’s shoulder. It then cleaved the tree-man’s body into two halves with ease… In fact, it had seemed as if it had cut a withered branch from a tree.

The tall tree-man issued a loud scream filled with agony. A green fluid welled up from his wound. He made a few futile twitches for some time before he drew his last breath.

“Shi Tou, what is this thing?”

Cai flew over, and threw an inquisitive look at the tree-man’ corpse on the ground.

“It appears to be a special kind of evil beast. I think it’s probably a tree-demon,” Shi Mu waved his hand to recall his golden sword.