The Portal of Wonderland

"Haha! What kind of treasure will there be? The men turned the area upside down and even went deep into the creek below the spirit waterfall for a few days. All they got was moving rocks to the shore. There was no hefty result for such determination," Duan Muguang said.

"I see," Shi Mu said, feeling a little calm in his heart.

"What's the matter? Brother Shi Mu is interested in this spirit waterfall? All I have to say is that the location is remote and the aura resources nearby are average at best. It's not a good place to go. As if the monsters lurking around aren't bad enough."

"Well, I just made it to the second floor and I don't want to compete over spirit waterfalls with the rest of our fellow disciples so I've made up my mind to look for remote ones to claim as my own." Shi Mu gave a smile and explained it.

"Oh, that's not a bad idea either."

The two chatted for a while. Duan Muguang paid up a hundred top-grade spirit stones and left with the wuyuan ginseng.

"Thank you, manager."

Shi Mu glanced at the back of Duan Muguang as he thanked the manager.

"It's no problem. This wuyuan ginseng is yours. This is the least I can do," the fat manager said and quickly waved his hand.

"I didn't expect this ginseng would be sold until now," Shi Mu said.

"It's quite a loss to let it go at only a hundred top-quality spirit stones."

"It's no big deal. I placed the bet down. There's no need for concern," Shi Mu said with a smile.

Speaking of this matter, it was all thanks to Cai that he was able to see it. Shi Mu's spirit sense did not possess the power to see through the ginseng. However, under Cai's spiritual vision, it was not a problem.

After getting the news he needed, Shi Mu did not stay long. After that, he said his goodbyes and left with some medicine.

After returning to his residence, Shi Mu did not immediately leave to the spirit waterfall where the treasure of the white azure ape ancestor was located. Instead, he went straight back to his secret chambers and sat still.

Only when the sky was completely dark and a rounded moon hung on the treetops, he opened his eyes and strode out of the chambers. He rushed toward the remote area like a ray of red light.

After about half an hour, the light on Shi Mu's body subsided as his entire body slowly descended from the air and landed in a primeval forest.

Shi Mu walked through the forest for dozens of miles and suddenly felt the ground faintly shaking and he heard a rumbling roar.

He walked forward for more than ten miles and felt a sense of brightness. He had now walked out of the forest and arrived on a cliff.

Before his eyes was a dangerous valley by a huge waterfall over a hundred feet tall.

The white water flowed down the falls like the Milky Way, spurting out and falling on top of the rock.

It fell on dozens of raised rocks along the wall. Under the moonlight, the pearly splashes were like thousands of silver koi in it jumping up and down in every direction.

Shi Mu could not help praising the beauty of the scenery.

After a pause, he took a step forward and fell straight down the cliff like a rock.

Falling less than ten feet down, Shi Mu's body steadily landed on a flat stone platform.

The platform that he stood on was somewhat strange. It was a prominent rock located at half of the mountainside on the right side of the waterfall. Its location was very special.

Due to its color and the surrounding rocks, whether one was standing under the waterfall or above the valley and looked down at the platform, one would only be able to see the mountain wall but not the platform itself.

Needless to say, if Shi My had not obtained information beforehand, it would be difficult to find anything here, to say the least.

He looked down from the platform and saw the rolls of torrents coming down the waterfall into the deep green pool at the bottom of the valley with a drumming sound.

Shi Mu looked down for a while and then lifted his head as he looked at the deep night sky.

In the dark sky, bits of light showed from the stars as a round moon hung above like a jade plate, giving off a bright mood and a cold chilly light.

Shi Mu silently calculated for a while as a smile emerged on the corner of his mouth.

He put his fingers together and began to quietly chant a mysterious spell.

Following his chants, at the bottom of the green deep pool, the seemingly ordinary pebbles under the moonlight suddenly lit up with rays of white light.

The light emerged from the water like a beam, and reflected onto the waterfall.

Shi Mu's gaze moved with the direction of the light until his sight fell on the center of the waterfall. The drooping water curtain automatically separated from the center under the white light, revealing a black hole.

Inside the big hole was a faint light.

Shi Mu's heart moved. With a step, he leaped straight into the black hole from the stone platform.

As soon as he stepped into the hole, he heard the sound of rock rumbling behind him.

He glanced back and saw a black stone door slowly falling down and re-shadowing the hole.

Shi Mu did not care too much about it. He looked ahead at the belly of the huge cave in the mountain.

Dozens of huge cyan copper pots were suspended under the cave. The pots were burning with a blazing flame and most of the caves were reflected in white light.

Shi Mu took a big step and walked toward the cave.

He moved his ears and heard a slight noise behind him. He jerked back consciously to see what and where the sound was coming from.

A tiger-like monster suddenly smashed out from the gap, rushing toward Shi Mu's direction.

Because Shi Mu had prepared for any potential harm that might come his way, the monster was unable to land an attack on him, and merely brushed over Shi Mu's shoulders.

The demon crouched on the ground and growled before leaping toward Shi Mu.

Shi Mu was finally to see the monster's full form. It had a dragon-like skull, a body shaped like a deer, four legs like a tiger, and a long tail like a cow. Its scales were red like a fish.

Seeing its eyes glowing golden eyes and the aura surrounding its body, it looked extraordinarily powerful.

The demon squatted for a while as it locked eyes on Shi Mu before rushing toward him again.

The light in Shi Mu's eyes flashed and so did his hands. With just a sweep, the golden light slashed across the monster.

The monster saw this but had no intention of avoiding it. With a flash in its eyes, two golden-red electric lights suddenly shot toward the Shi Mu's golden light.

Bang!

The two electric lights and the golden light canceled each other out. The sounds of the blast rang like a bird within the cave to the point that Shi Mu's ears were buzzing.

Chi-cha!

Shi Mu heard a strange noise and another similar monster appeared behind him. It spat out a golden red light toward him.

Shi Mu's foot moved as he slid two steps to the side. When he opened his mouth, he spat out the Wishful Steel Staff as it enlarged in his palm.

Before he could even stabilize himself, a gust of wind blew into his ears and the monster that was crouching on the ground leaped at him again.

Shi Mu clenched his fist at the side as a black light appeared in the palm of his hand. The Wishful Steel Staff grew from the size of a needle and slammed down onto the monster.

Peng!

With a muffled sound, the monster was smacked out of sight toward the wall of the cave.

Shi Mu took a step forward with the intention of chasing after it but he was cut short by two golden-red lights coming toward him from both sides.

He immediately stopped and pulled back as two electrical lights landed right in front of him.

Shi Mu saw a monster on either side, including the one who had previously been wounded by his Wishful Steel Staff. At this time, there were three monsters in the cave and their individual aura was not at all weak.

Shi Mu saw that the monster which he hit had already stood up. Other than some damaged scales, it did not look like it suffered from too much injury.

Ao…

The monster screamed out as fresh red blood frothed in its mouth, and it spat out a foggy mist.

Seeing this, Shi Mu's body flashed brightly and became covered in golden scales.

As soon as the scales wrapped around his body, the bloody mist had already filled and shrouded him.

Shi Mu felt that the temperature of his body had reduced slightly. His flaming aura was unstable as well. As soon as he came into contact with the mist, he did not feel any burning sensation.

At the same time, three monsters had surrounded him. Their eyes shined brightly and shot out the electric light.

Shi Mu was caught in a tight spot as he began to move his feet to retreat.

An electric light suddenly shot right through his heart, forcing him back into the mist.

The red electricity in the eyes of the three monsters followed.

Chi-cha!

Four electric lights could be seen almost simultaneously within the red mist. The fog that was still calm and diffused seemed to be suddenly boiling as it constantly landed its attack on Shi Mu.

"Ah!"

Shi Mu only felt a strong sense of numbness throughout his body and immediately became stiff. He could no longer hold his staff.

Dong!

The weapon fell to the ground. 𝒇𝙧𝚎𝐞𝙬𝒆𝑏𝑛𝑜v𝚎𝒍.c𝑜m

To his surprise, when the golden-red electric light burst, there was no feeling of pain in his body. Apart from feeling numb, the rest was just a tingling sense of cold.