The Portal of Wonderland

Chapter 26 - Acquire Qi-Sensing

In a bedroom of Shi Mu’s suburban manor.

Sitting in a chair, Shi Mu was staring at a small bottle on his desk, giving it a thoughtful look.

At this moment someone knocked the door several times.

“Come in.” Shi Mu said briefly, without even raising his head.

The door was pushed open, and a pretty girl came in with a wooden tray. She then put a bowl of hot meat porridge on the desk, apparently very proficient at doing this job.

“Miss Zhong, why are you here again? I’ve told you many times, just leave the work to the servants.” Until then, Shi Mu looked up and shook his head at the girl. The girl was Zhong Xiu.

Ever since she came to live in the manor, she had been trying to show her gratitude to Shi Mu for taking her in, so to bring tea and food to Shi Mu’s room became her way of showing it.

“Brother Shi, you haven’t eaten anything today, please take a short rest and eat something. I stewed the porridge especially for you.” Zhong Xiu said in a compassionate tone. Her bearing was gentle and soft despite the startling blue birthmark on her forehead.

“I haven’t eaten anything for a day? I didn’t even realize that so much time had passed! Then let me taste the porridge.” Shi Mu was surprised at first, then answered with a bitter smile. He took the bowl, filled with meat porridge, and ate up the contents like a wolf, letting out a sigh of contentedness.

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“Miss Zhong, the porridge is so delicious! I never thought you would be so good at cooking! Your future husband’s so lucky.”

“Now you are making fun of me. Who would set his eyes on me after seeing my ugly face? ….. But if you really enjoy the food I’ll cook more for you later on.” Hearing Shi Mu’s praise, Zhong Xiu’s face blushed, the fair skin growing pink. She answered with a sense of pleasure.

“If you really will, I......”

Shi Mu smiled faintly at the girl, and was about to say something when fast footsteps were heard from outside, and then Zhang Suo burst into the room and said,

“Young master Shi, Butler Cheng of the Jin family is here and he asks to see you.”

“Old Cheng? Well, lets not make our guests wait.” Hearing this Shi Mu narrowed his eyes, and answered without hesitation, then he put the little bottle on the desk into his sleeves and then strode out of the room. Zhang Suo following behind him.

Zhong Xiu paused for a moment, hesitating, before she decided to follow them.

After a moment, Shi Mu was already at the gate of his manor, looking at the silver note passed by Jin Cheng in contempt, wearing on his face a sullen look.

“So, I’m not getting my Qi Ling pill and am now offered three million liang of silver[A] instead. Excellent. One pill costs at most a million in the mark, so I’ll still earn much.”

“Well, young master Shi, madam has done all she can, she even went to the Jin Family’s manor personally, making a scene there just for your pill. But it was the patriarch, madam’s father, who made the order, so madam had no more ways of refuting it. Even the three million liang is offered by madam herself. Also, she asked me to tell you that though she could not get you another Qi Ling pill, but the first choice she offered to you last time, at your father’s funeral, is still within her power.” The blue-robed old man explained to Shi Mu, coughing slightly.

By the way, the butler had always considered Shi Mu a nice young fellow, and also felt sad for him when he found out that the youth’s inspired blood was worthless.

“Ah, so it was the patriarch’s order, good to know... I’m sorry I brought trouble to Auntie Zhen.” The news came as quite a shock to Shi Mu, and he only took the notes after sitting there for a moment.

“As long as young master Shi understands! Also, madam has predicted that some of the younger Jin Family members may do something to embarrass you in the following period, so you’d better stay here and not go to the city.” After some thought, Jin Cheng gave Shi Mu a warning warning.

“Alright, I understand. Please send my best regards to Auntie Zhen.” Shi Mu gave a brief nod.

“Then I’ll retire. Oh, by the way, if young master Shi still wants to pursue his dream of being a warrior, I have an idea for you. “ Seeing Shi Mu’s unchanged calmness, the blue-robed old man cracked a pleased smile, and then unexpectedly took out a paper note from his sleeve, handing it over to Shi Mu, then he left the manor with graceful steps. Meanwhile, Shi Mu remained at the gate and gazed at the old man’s figure until it disappeared, still holding the three silver notes and the paper in his hand.

From start to finish, Zhong Xiu and Zhang Suo stood beside them, listening to the conversation, Zhong Xiu had a worried look came to her face. While, Zhang Suo stood there with a concerned yet serious face.

......

That night, Shi Mu sat on his bed studying the little bottle in his hand, his legs crossed and his eyes gleeming.

“The waste blood of the stone monkey?”

“HAA, I refuse to believe that my blood is waste blood!”

“... Mother, please don’t worry, since I’ve already decided to be the most powerful warrior in the world, I won’t quit midway. What does a waste blood count as? I’m not a cripple!”

After shouting into the air, Shi Mu opened the lid of the bottle without hesitation. A white pill rolled out and he immediately put it in his mouth.

The pill had seemed to be as hard as iron, but once taken in, it immediately became soft and sweet, as though it were sugar. After taking a few breaths, the pill turned into a fluid that was easily swallowed. Suddenly, burning energy began to circulate in the area in and beneath his stomach.

“Boom!”

After hearing a thunderous noise in his head, Shi Mu felt his physical senses become much more acute than before; simultaneously, he felt his body itch all over unbearably.

He instantly sat cross-legged on his bed, closed his eyes, and relaxed his face.

......

At the same time, in a secret room in the Jin Family manor.

A middle-aged man was shouting abuse at a youth looking quite similar to himself.

“You hopeless wretch! You wastrel! You say Shi Mu is a fool? In my eyes you are even worse than a fool! You are a good-for-nothing! This is the second time you’ve taken a Qi Ling pill. Didn’t you say you were fully confident of acquiring qi-sensing before? And now what happened? Are you even my son? If I had known of this earlier, I wouldn’t have paid so much to get the pill from my sister! Better to leave it for that bastard Shi Mu! Then I could at least have saved my money!”

The middle-aged man grew increasingly angry. He slapped the youth on his face and rushed out of the room, furious.

“Shi Mu!”

Stroking his swollen face, Jin Tian gritted his teeth and shouted out Shi Mu’s name.

......

Half a day later, Shi Mu pressed one of his hands to his stomach, feeling the warm qi faintly beneath his hand.

So this is qi-sensing!

If it were not for the help of Qi Ling pill, he would not have sensed his qi at all.

But now, as long as he could obtain a book on Houtian Arts, he could move on and begin to train his real qi that belonged to Houtian Warriors and above!

To some extent, only at this moment could he begin to be called a real warrior.

After a while, Shi Mu directed his attention to the paper note sent by Jin Cheng. He took it out from his sleeve, unfolded it, and began to read the words.

“In the three districts of the frontier fortress. The Hall of Jun Wu[1], a military school for warriors.”

Notes:

[1] The Hall of Jun Wu: “Jun” means soldiers and military affairs in Chinese, while “Wu” has been explained in the last chapter, meaning martial arts, force, strength, etc.

[A] - I would like to point out that 3,000,000 liang of silver is a REDICULOUS amount of silver. It is equal to 165.3 tons(US) of silver (at 2,000 pounds per ton(US) that is 330,700 pounds of silver) and this butler just handed Shi Mu a note for 165.3 tons(US) tons of silver.......