The Portal of Wonderland

There was no one outside the Hall of Magic as Shi Mu stepped-out of its entrance. The huge crowd of disciples – which was gathered outside the hall – seemed to have diverged.

His eyes flashed as he looked around. Then, he started to walk.

He arrived in front of a building after quarter-of-an-hour. The building seemed to be made of some kind of yellow wood. A huge horizontal board hung over its gate; it was inscribed with three words – Holy Spirit Pavilion.

The pavilion’s door was wide open. No one could be seen outside the building; there was complete silence. However, someone’s faint voice could be heard from inside.

Shi Mu raised his head. He got excited as he saw the board inscribed with ‘Holy Spirit Pavilion’. He took a deep breath, and stepped into the hall.

Suddenly, a person’s silhouette flashed past the gate; it was another person who had walked out of the hall.

Shi Mu was relatively inattentive. Therefore, he was about to bump into that person. However, he quickly controlled his feet and stopped.

Shi Mu raised his head to see a thin and tall youngster standing in front of him. He was a little taller than Shi Mu. He had a skinny stature with sunken cheeks and long limbs; like a bamboo pole.

The youngster’s physical attributes weren’t eye-catching. However, his persona exhibited a trace of astonishing strength; this couldn’t be overlooked.

Shi Mu’s countenance changed as he noticed the uniform of the youngster; he seemed to be a primary disciple. However, he seemed to be an older primary disciple with regard to his age.

Moreover, this person might have been a magician since he had showed-up at this place.

Shi Mu’s body moved aside and made way for him to pass even though his mind was occupied with these thoughts.

The scrawny youngster looked at Shi Mu in an indifferent manner. Then, he walked away with an expressionless face.

Shi Mu looked at the departing figure of the youngster for a while. Then, he entered the Holy Spirit Pavilion.

The inside of the pavilion was simply decorated. A wooden table had been placed in the front; a thirty-year-old man stood beside it with an expressionless face.

“A new magician practitioner?” the simple and inarticulate man glanced at Shi Mu and said in a soft tone.

“Yes, Senior. I’m here to receive the resources as a newly registered magician,” Shi Mu said in a courteous manner. Then, he took-out the white jade ornament from his pocket, and handed it over to the middle-aged man.

The man received the jade ornament. Then, he moved his hand, and took out a green ruler. After that, he gently whipped the ruler on the jade ornament.

Suddenly, the jade ornament exuded a beam of white light; this light flew and submerged into the ruler.

The green ruler dazzled as Shi Mu’s name emerged on its surface.

The middle-aged man nodded as he saw this. Then, he returned the jade ornament to Shi Mu.

*** ***

Shi Mu arrived at his room after half-an-hour.

His face was lit-up with excitement as he closed the door. Then, he took out a small green packet from his shirt and untied it.

He opened it to find twelve Flaming Demon Tokens, a green bottle, and three crystals – one blue and two red.

Shi Mu looked at the twelve Flaming Demon Tokens.

Now, he was convinced that the resources provided to magicians were far more than the ones provided to martial warriors. These extra Flaming Demon Tokens had the power to stir-up the jealousy of several ordinary disciples. However, such a preferential treatment could only be enjoyed by those magicians whose names had been carved on the jade wall in the Hall of Magic. Surprisingly, only around a hundred names had been carved so far.

Shi Mu picked-up the green bottle. A delicate fragrance entered his nose as he opened its lid. There were three thumb-sized green pills inside the bottle.

A joyful smile spread across Shi Mu’s face.

He had seen this pill before; it was the Spirit-Strengthening Pill. It could replenish a magician’s spirit power in a fast manner. Magicians used this pill to maintain their life. Therefore, it was extremely precious.

The value of these pills would be more than one hundred thousand silvers.

Shi Mu put-away the bottle carefully. Then, he picked-up one of the crystals.

The crystal was about the size of a pigeon egg. A gentle red light was emanating out of its surface. Also, the presence of a vaguely visible airflow could be felt moving inside it.

This crystal was a spirit stone that commanded a high value in the world of magicians; the air-current flowing inside it was its refined magic power. This crystal was bright-red in color; similar to that of a blazing fire. This meant that it was the Spirit Stone of Fire – one of the five elemental stones.

The value of these spirit stones was at par with the Spirit-Strengthening Pill; even though they were the lowest-level spirit stones.

Shi Mu had seen a spirit stone for the first time. Therefore, he continued to play with them for long time before he put them away.

Every practitioner would receive these things once a year. However, they were an enormous wealth for a disciple like Shi Mu.

Shi Mu tried to control his excitement since he was aware that these things were external resources. He knew that he must rely on his own painful sessions if he were to forge his strength in an effective manner.

He took out the jade slip of the ‘Art of Accumulating Spirit Power’ from his bosom, and placed it against his forehead.

Suddenly, various small characters from the jade slip began to appear in his mind. He had finished scooping the entire contents of the jade slip within quarter-of-an-hour.

He noticed that the methods to practice the ‘Art of Accumulating Spirit Power’, the ‘Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants’ and the ‘Art of Breeding the Strong Evil Ape’ were widely divergent.

The ‘Art of Accumulating Spirit Power’ involved absorbing the spiritual energy into one’s body from one’s surroundings. However, it also played a crucial role in transforming the absorbed spiritual energy into the purest form of spirit power[1]; it was more refined than Real Qi. Moreover, it needed to unify the strength of spirit power at the time of practice. It also required the induction-force of the corresponding element. In addition, it was ten times more difficult to practice than any other Hou Tian art.

According to the jade slip, each stage of the Art of Accumulating Spirit Power would double the spirit power of the practitioner. One could try to break-through to the Spirit Grade once one had accomplished all the five stages. However, even the most talented magicians needed a couple of years to master the first stage. Therefore, the ordinary magicians would take three to four years to master it; depending upon their intelligence.

It would take twice as much time to practice the second stage. This rate of time consumption would continue with each of the following stages – with an advanced stage taking twice as much time needed to practice the previous one.

Shi Mu sucked in a cold breath.

He quickly calculated and realized that even the most talented magician would take at least thirty years to master this art; even if he immersed himself in its practice.

A bitter smile spread across his face.

He finally understood the reason behind the limited number of Spirit Grade magicians in the Sect. He also realized why even the practitioner level magicians were treated so highly in the Sect.

The Art of Accumulating Spirit Power was difficult to practice. However, one could acquire skills named “Qi Bursting” and “Qi Binding” at its fourth and fifth stage respectively.

Shi Mu withdrew the jade slip from his forehead after an hour; his complexion looked gloomy.

The difficulty level to practice this art had surpassed his expectations even though the prospect of becoming a magician seemed to be bright. However, he couldn’t back down after reaching this far.

He put-away the jade slip, and closed his eyes. Then, he controlled his breath, and adjusted his mind to reach its optimal state.

He had memorized all the five stages of the Art of Accumulating Spirit Power. He was convinced that he hadn’t forgotten anything as he carefully recalled every minor detail. Then, he followed the first stage of the art, and started to revolve his spirit power.

His mind got immersed in a mysterious state with the passage of time. His spirit power started to expand outside his body. The surrounding scene seemed to be reflecting in his mind even though his eyes were closed.

Shi Mu felt as if everything around him had become empty and bright. Then, numerous small light-dots started to emerge from this vacant state of nothingness, and got integrated into his body.

The luminous light-dots revolved and turned into a faint trace of refined spirit power; this spirit power started to flow through his veins and vessels.

This refined energy was so tiny that it didn’t conflict with the Real Qi within his body.

Shi Mu was ecstatic since he had learnt the method to practice this art.

Some time passed…

Shi Mu continued to sit in meditation for half-a-day. The spirit power accumulated within his body had gathered in his dantian. Then, it had transformed into a wisp of a thick stream of spirit power, and had started to revolve within his body.

Suddenly, a mutation broke-out as the wisp of spirit power reached his head.