Chapter 940 Open Sesame

“Wait, that tree is the portal into the realm of Chaos?” Li Mu was stunned.

Li Mu was aware when the tree first appeared at the Hidden-dragon Bay. But the tree’s appearance did not cause any harm to the people nearby and its magical fruits contained power that after consuming them, common people, or even Cultivators would derive tremendous benefits. Hence after observing it for quite some time, Li Mu had pretty much forgotten about it.

“Well, that’s all thanks to you for placing an enchantment inside Baoji City. You turned this area into a rich and bounteous place. That is why someone had tossed a seed into the reservoir, thinking that they could invoke some sort of monstrosity from the Battlefield into the city,” said the priest of Randeng Temple, “You don’t know how much trouble I’ve gone through to get this information for you…”

Before he even could even finish speaking.

“Woof! Old man! Mrs. Sun from Jackpot City mahjong parlor is asking about your three-hundred-thousand-dollar debt and when would you be paying her back—” Silly Dog barked loudly as soon as it padded in.

A venomous glare from Old Swindler burrowed through the husky, making whatever he was going say next got swallowed down his throat. The frightened dog shuddered and spun on its heels, scampering out the door with its tail between its legs.

It was from the conversation between Bi Yan and Imperial Lord Void that he had overheard inside the dimension of the Immortal Palace where he had learned that Old Swindler wasn’t the average miscreant monk that he could trifle with.

“The mahjong parlor?!” Li Mu scowled at Old Swindler with disbelief, “That’s where you’ve been all this time!?”

“I’ve been on a losing streak against those old seniles in the village whenever we play here,” Old Swindler stammered feebly, “There must be something wrong with the fengshui of this temple! Yeah, that’s it! So I decided to try my luck somewhere else! After all, what else to help with my divination of where the portal is other than good luck?”

“Good luck my foot!

“It’s your skills you should be blaming instead of the fengshui here, you lousy snake-oil salesman! If you need better fengshui for your auguries to work, then your skills might not be as reliable as you always parrot!

Li Mu was so enraged that he could barely bring himself to fully articulate his full wrath.

“You knew all along that the tree is the portal that leads into Chaos, did you?!” he demanded.

In fact, for all he knew, Old Swindler might have already guessed that something was amiss with the tree when it first appeared. He must have kept the truth of the tree to himself all this while, waiting for it to grow. By Li Mu’s reckoning, he might even have a hand in promoting its growth here all so that he could make use of it one day!

“Quite the smartass now, eh?” Old Swindler grinned facetiously. “You’re one of the handfuls being handpicked by Destiny. Of course, I expect no less from you! Anyway, nothing escapes the eye of the Lord of Mystic Flair. I knew for a long time what that tree is all along!”

“I knew it…” Li Mu groaned.

He did not know how he should be reacting.

“So what next? What should I do to recover Shiyu’s psyches and soul once inside? And how am I going to take them back here?”

These were all crucial information that he needed to know.

“Bring the rusted sword with you,” said Old Swindler. “Shiyu is the new owner of this sword, hence the rusted sword would show you the way to her psyches and souls. As for the how, that’s a question that you must seek the answer for yourself. I’ve not been inside this Battlefield before, you see.”

Li Mu nodded. He recapitulated to his mentor about Bi Yan’s visit earlier. “You only told me about how dangerous and terrible things are inside the Battlefield of Chaos. Can you tell me more so that I can be better prepared?”

Old Swindler stared at him in silence for seconds before he scowled, “Moronic brat, that’s what you get for wanting to save face! Fool! You should have taken her offer when she was trying to give you more information! I told you! I haven’t been inside before! What sort of information do you suppose I’ll be able to give?”

Li Mu grimaced, his hand rubbing his temples as if he was having a headache. “Didn’t you just say nothing escapes your notice, O Lord of the Mystic Flair?”

“You’re mistaken. What I mean is that I’ve not been there at all. How am I supposed to notice something that’s not even within my line of sight?” Old Swindler defended himself unabashedly.

Li Mu groaned again lugubriously.

“That mutant god had once gone inside the Battlefield and she came back. That means she must know a thing or two about the situation inside. Now with that mutant god inside her, it’s not surprising that Bi Yan knows all these. You should have been more grateful instead,” he hissed with every semblance of a disappointed teacher facing a student who had let him down.

“Whatever,” Li Mu answered, “I’ll just find my own way then.”

“By the way, my auguries reveal that the tree will open the portal into the Battlefield on the morrow,” said Old Swindler, “Get prepared. And take that moronic hound with you.” He paused for one second before adding, “I’ll go inside the dimension of the Immortal Palace. Maybe I might find that lady in yellow you spoke about. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of things outside here for you.”

Li Mu stared at his mentor blankly. “Wow, since when you’re so dependable? Anyway, how would you be able to enter the Immortal Palace dimension without a key?!”

“Just leave all that to me. By the by, that pair of rings you showed me? I’ve found a way to use them. You can try for yourself.” He proceeded to hand over the rings and taught LI Mu the incantation for which to control the rings.

Li Mu recited the incantation and performed several hand seals. The rings around his wrists shot out and danced around in the air.

But that was all that the incantation could do, nothing else.

“Wait,” yelped Li Mu, “That’s it?!”

“Which is already good enough,” said Old Swindler, “These are Emperor-class relics. That means it’s harder than the hardest diamond. At least you can still throw it at your enemy when times are desperate.”

“Oh, all right,” Li Mu muttered glumly, sliding his left hand through the rings.

The rings might not really be useful yet, but as Emperor-class relics, they might still have magical properties that he could rely on.

“Woof! I overheard you guys talking! Where are you off to? Taking me along?” Silly Dog came bounding in cheerfully.

Li Mu glanced at the Huawei Mate 100 smartphone the dog was holding and muttered, “There’s no Wi-Fi in the Battlefield, you know.”

“Woof?!” the dog’s excited grin froze.

The next day.

It was a cloudy day.

Grey, strand-like mists hung around in the skies.

Misty days like this have been rare in Baoji City—or in fact, the whole country—since Earth’s Spiritual Qi has returned. Hence the appearance of mists dangling over the top of the city was a sight that left many citizens both surprised and perturbed.

What was more amazing was how fresh and invigorating was the air from the mist when inhaled, instead of choky and torrid like smoke.

Li Mu stepped out of Randeng Temple with the rusted sword hanging over one shoulder.

Silly Dog padded out after him.

“I thought you said that you’re not going?”

The dog sniggered before looking absolutely pleased with himself, “I’ve downloaded every single offline game in the Huawei AppGallery into this phone, so I won’t have to worry about not having Wi-Fi in the Battlefield.”

A speechless Li Mu could only shake his head.

The Hiding-dragon Bay was just a stone’s throw away from Randeng Temple.

Both man and dog descended the slopes of the hill and passed by the village below, where they traveled along Xinsi Road before walking over a bridge just somewhere on the midsections of Wei River that led into the Hiding-Dragon Bay reservoir just east of Baoji City.

In the past, the mediocre quality of water in the reservoir hardly made it the chosen source of water for the city and was only used as a water catchment and retention area. But since the magical tree’s appearance, the quality of water in the reservoir has increased so greatly that almost every drop of water in the city now came from the reservoir.

The tree’s gigantic crown could almost shroud the more-than-few-hundred-acres-wide reservoir under its canopy.

From afar, the several-thousand-meter height of the tree made its verdant-green crown look like an impressive-looking mountain forest filled with life and energy.

Thick tendrils of mists coiled around the boughs of the tree.

By the time Li Mu arrived, he was not alone. Crowds of thronging onlookers had arrived, most of them being Cultivators.

These were all Cultivators who had, with their acute senses, noticed that the mists in the city came from the tree, hence here they were to absorb the mists for themselves and observe to see if something could be happening.

Among the number of Cultivators, Li Mu caught sight of a Cultivator in White Center Continent garb, looking unusually excited.

“At long last! Mimameidre has reached full bloom! We’re finally going to see the pearly gates opening! Get ready to receive the coming of our Lord!”

He looked like he was just bursting with pride and exhilaration.

The Caucasian approached the banks of the water and retrieved a leather case from inside his large travel knapsack. Inside the leather case were three golden rods which he connected the ends into a long staff. Next, he attached at the top of the staff a golden cross chased with a ruby, a diamond, an emerald, a topaz, and a sapphire, making the staff almost two meters in full length. The gems were all embedded in the arms of the cross, with the topaz right at the center where the arms met.

“THE SCEPTER OF THE GODS!”

The Caucasian roared at the top of his voice.

That made every Cultivator around look his way.

The Caucasian held aloft the golden staff and began chanting. Next, he drove the bottom end of the staff into the ground, planting it there.

RUMBLE!

The ground shook.

Right after that, the quiet and serene tree began shaking violently like a thrashing toddler jolted awake before it stretched lazily like a real human.

The waters of the reservoir began bubbling.

Bubble!

It was boiling.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“Is that some sort of infernal ritual?!”

“What is he up to? Should we stop him?”

“As if you even need to ask. He’s an outsider so whatever he’s up to, I’ll bet it’s nothing good!”

Among the heated cultivators, some dashed toward the Caucasian, but before they could approach him, still around ten meters away, they were swept away by some unseen forces. Before everyone knew it, the gossamer strands and tendrils of mists circling around Mimameidr began to swirl quickly in a clockwise direction, creating a huge vortex in the middle of the air. No one knew what it was or where could the eye of this mysterious spiral lead to. Lightning began to crackle sporadically in the brewing storm overhead.

Li Mu stood amongst the crowd and watched silently.

“O Almighty God! Hear your subject’s call! Here, I implore your presence upon this unworthy earth!” Like a fanatical devotee, the Caucasian fell to his knees right in front of the staff and began his incessant and guttural howl.

The gemstones on the golden staff each glimmered radiantly, and a five-colored ray shot into the sky, punching through the spiral and the clouds overhead.

What happened next was nothing short of amazing.