The Portal of Wonderland

“Feng Li has sent me a really good thing,” Shi Mu muttered as he stroked the steel bow. A merry look appeared on his face. He completely failed to conceal, and as a result, it kept re-appearing.

He then lowered his head, and found a leather bag after looking around for a while. He had never seen this bag before. Surprisingly, he also found a bundle of light yellow arrows inside the bag. The arrowheads were made of black iron; they were tailed with neatly aligned black feather.

Shi Mu took out a long arrow from the leather bag and tried to gesticulate a few times as he stood in front of the window. He then put a nock on the bow. He could not wait any longer. Therefore, he strode out of his room with the bow and the bag of arrows.

He remained in the manor and practiced with the newly acquired purple steel bow for the rest of the day.

He had learned archery at the martial arts club when he was training. Therefore, it didn’t take him much time to learn how to use the purple steel bow. He could hit the target with 3 or 4 arrows out of 10 by the end of the day even though he would stand at a distance of 50 steps, and would only pull the bow less than half way. The people who went past him could not believe their eyes since the bow was only half open.

******

In the evening; inside a hall in the manor.

“Brother Shi, are you really going to the frontier fortress of the three prefectures to join the Jun Wu Hall?” Zhong Xiu asked with her eyes wide open in surprise.

“Yes. I will leave in a few days,” Shi Mu answered calmly.

“So what about me? And the manor?” the young girl asked confusedly.

“I asked Zhang Suo to sell the fields and the restaurant two days ago. As for you Miss Zhong… you have two choices. I can either take you to Auntie Zhen’s place; the Wu Family is plotting something against you, but they won’t take the risk of offending the Jin Family. Or, your other choice is to come with me. I remember you once told me that you have an aunt who is willing to accept you. You may have no relatives, but your mother has a distant relative in Qing Shui city of the Lu Long prefecture. That city is not far from the frontier fortress. Therefore, I will be able to take you to your aunt,” Shi Mu said. It was obvious that he had been considering this for a while.

“Brother Shi, can’t I just stay with you? You will need a maid to cook for you if you are going to a new place,” Zhong Xiu had lowered her head as she heard Shi Mu’s offer. She had then braced herself to speak. However, her voice was almost inaudible.

“Miss Zhong, you know that the frontier fortress is adjacent to the plains of the barbarian tribes who invade the regions frequently. Moreover, there’s always some war going on there. I may not have consented to Uncle Zhong’s last request. But the least I can do is make sure that you stay safe. How can I take you to such dangerous places? Besides, I’m going there for the sole purpose of joining the Jun Wu Hall. And it’s highly likely that I myself would end up living outside.”

Zhong Xiu’s face turned pale at Shi Mu’s answer. And she only lifted her head again after a long while.

“I’d better go and live with my aunt if Brother Shi can’t take me in,” she said as she bit her lips.

“Good. We can start making some preparations in the next few days now that you’ve decided. We can set off together that way,” Shi Mu said. He seemed satisfied with Zhong Xiu’s decision.

However, just when Shi Mu was gearing up to leave for Feng City the next morning… an unexpected event took place. His plan was completely disrupted as a result.

******

“What? You’re saying some guys are riding their horses on our fields, and are trampling upon our crops? Who would dare to do such a thing?” Shi Mu frowned as Zhang Suo reported.

“I can’t identify the others, but I know the leader. He’s definitely young master Tian, the son of the Fifth Master of the Jin Family. I’ve met him before. So I know I am not mistaken. What should we do Master? We’ve sold the fields, but we haven’t officially handed them over to the buyers. The buyers will refuse to take the fields if they are ravaged!” Zhang Suo said as he burned with a frenzied rage.

“Young Master Tian? You mean Jin Tian? Well, I’ll go see for myself,” Shi Mu said as his eyes grew cold and fierce. It had only taken him a brief thought to perfectly understand the identity of this ‘Young Master Tian’.

Shi Mu may not have had to leave the city if the Fifth Master hadn’t persuaded the Jin Family’s eldest leader to give Shi Mu’s Qi Ling pill to Jin Tian.

Although Shi Mu always remained calm, Jin Tian’s name made him angry. He went straight out of the manor and made his way to the large fields nearby.

He soon reached the edge of the fields. He saw that several glamorously dressed young men were chasing a fox on their big horses.

The fox was rather small, and was jumping nimbly in the farm. Hence, the men were unable to catch it despite their large number.

Shi Mu became furious seeing that the crops that had been trampled by the horses.

“Young master Shi, that man is Jin Tian,” Zhang Suo spoke-up once he had caught up with Shi Mu. He gasped for breath as he pointed at a blue-robed young man. The youngster had a flat nose.

Shi Mu cast a cold glance at the young man. He took long strides and walked to the middle of the farm.

Just then, the fox turned around abruptly in Shi Mu’s direction; Jin Tian followed. The other youths also rushed towards Shi Mu. They too were following the fox at great speed since they were trying to look after their leader. Their leader was the blue-robed young man. He seemed to have paid no attention to Shi Mu’s presence. However, his fellows slowed down their horses the moment they saw Shi Mu approaching. On the contrary, Jin Tian heavily whipped his horse as he continued to rush fiercely towards Shi Mu.

“Stop it, Jin Tian.”

“Do you know what you are doing?”

His acquaintance began shouting warnings in the hope of stopping him. However, Jin Tian sped on as though he had heard nothing.

Shi Mu narrowed his eyes as he saw this. He lifted one leg to kick the fox away. He then moved his shoulders to evade the charging horse; and then turned around and hit the horse with great strength.

Boom!

The blue-robed young man went flying more than three meters… along with his horse. He fell hard on the ground after that marvellous flight.

“Ah!” he uttered.

Jin Tian’s companions yelled at Shi Mu as they hurried to his side, “You bastard, you’re asking for death!”

Just then, the blue-robed youngster got out from under the horse’s body, and jumped onto his feet. He seemed to be unharmed. However, his torn-open shirt exposed something golden on his chest.

“He’s so strong! And yet Jin Tian is unharmed?”

“This is the Seventh Aunt’s step-son? He has such amazing strength!”

“I heard that he used to be the Top Practitioner of our city, but he seems to be rather ordinary.”

“Oh, Jin Tian is wearing the Golden Armor!”

“What? Fifth Uncle cherishes that armour almost as much as he cherishes himself! We can’t even touch it.”

These whispering young men were apparently part of the Jin Family. They let out a sigh of relief after making sure that Jin Tian was safe and sound. They then stopped their horses one after another to watch the scene.

“You bastard! You dare to challenge me? I’ll kill you!”

Jin Tian shouted as he tore his shirt while ignoring his companions’ reactions; glittering-golden armor could be seen underneath. He also drew his sword from his waist at the same time.

Shi Mu narrowed his eyes after he heard the curse and saw the cold light that was being reflected off the sword’s surface.