Chapter 43: Everyone Loves Little Immortal Mushroom (I)

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Chapter 43: Everyone Loves Little Immortal Mushroom (I)

Shang Ke began receiving the information transmitted by the System.

This was a cultivation world, and his original body was a mushroom—a mushroom that had grown atop Phoenix Mountain, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon for five hundred years. Originally, he was a perfectly good mushroom. In another two or three hundred years, he would have been ready to harvest and become some cultivator’s nourishing supplement. But one day, a demonic cultivator arrived at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. That man was the protagonist of this world, Yan Lu.

Yan Lu’s original name was written with the character for “fortune.” His family hoped he would rise to high office and enjoy a prosperous official career. The wish was beautiful; reality was cruel. Yan Lu had been born without the seven emotions and six desires, and his ties to his family were weak. At twelve, he left home alone and embarked on the path of demonic cultivation, changing the character for “fortune” to one meaning “slaughter”—a declaration that he would kill without restraint and live entirely as he pleased.

Yan Lu was a heaven-blessed genius who advanced at astonishing speed. Favored by extraordinary fortune as well, he needed only three hundred years to reach the pinnacle of his cultivation, whereupon his demonic tribulation descended.

The place Yan Lu chose to undergo his tribulation happened to be at the bottom of the immense cliff directly beneath the little mushroom. The arrival of the demonic tribulation awakened the mushroom’s spiritual awareness ahead of time, triggering a Demon Spirit Tribulation of its own. With the two tribulations occurring together, their combined might was astonishing. The little mushroom hitched a ride on Yan Lu’s tribulation and, with the help of his demonic qi, successfully survived its own, transforming into human form. However, its true body also changed from a pure spirit mushroom into a poisonous Demon Mushroom.

Afterward, Yan Lu became a Demon Lord, and he and the Demon Mushroom “joined forces in villainy,” bringing disaster to the mortal world and plunging the cultivation world into bloody chaos.

Shang Ke thought being a poisonous Demon Mushroom sounded great. Being a Demon Lord sounded great too. At the moment, he practically wanted to destroy the world!

During the final battle, Demon Lord Yan Lu devoured the Demon Mushroom spirit he had raised for so long, causing his power to soar. He slaughtered a vast number of powerful cultivators, leaving the major sects permanently crippled, and the entire cultivation world ultimately fell under his rule.

Shang Ke was speechless. What happened to “joining forces in villainy” ? He actually went completely insane and ate his little mushroom buddy! What was wrong with two villains ruling the world together while loving and tormenting each other?

【Main Mission: Raise Yan Lu into a Divine Lord.】

You have got to be kidding me! Yan Lu was about to undergo his demonic tribulation, and in only a few hours he would advance into a Demon Lord. Raising a Demon Lord into a Divine Lord—was that even a task meant for a human being? Even if Shang Ke were the reincarnation of the Buddha himself, he probably couldn’t pull that off!

Shang Ke had never imagined that the so-called Mission Difficulty ×2 would be this ridiculously unreasonable.

There was no time to think about it now. The only thing Shang Ke could do was risk everything to stop Yan Lu from successfully completing his tribulation. If Yan Lu failed, he would be unable to become a Demon Lord. If Shang Ke got lucky, Yan Lu might even be sent directly into the cycle of reincarnation and be reborn as a human. If that happened, there might still be hope of completing the mission.

Shang Ke shook his mushroom cap and released all the spiritual qi within his body, quietly sending it into Yan Lu’s demonic tribulation. Another thunder tribulation had also formed above Shang Ke himself—the Immortal Spirit Tribulation belonging to spiritual beings. In the original timeline, the mushroom had been contaminated by demonic qi, causing its Immortal Spirit Tribulation to eventually transform into a Demon Spirit Tribulation.

Shang Ke was exhausting his own spiritual qi to interfere with Yan Lu’s tribulation, so when the first bolt of tribulation lightning struck him, it nearly destroyed both his soul and spirit. His once translucent, crystal-clear mushroom body was charred black like a lump of coal, thin wisps of smoke curling from it.

To withstand the power of the Immortal Spirit Tribulation, Shang Ke had no choice but to absorb Yan Lu’s demonic qi. He sent his own spiritual qi into Yan Lu while drawing Yan Lu’s demonic qi into himself, all while being mercilessly struck by lightning and struggling against the oppressive pressure radiating from Yan Lu.

As Shang Ke absorbed more and more demonic qi, his Immortal Spirit Tribulation gradually transformed into a Demon Spirit Tribulation. The only difference was that the original mushroom had been demonized unconsciously, while Shang Ke was doing it deliberately.

【A mere mushroom dares to stop me from passing my tribulation?】 A deep, icy voice pierced Shang Ke’s sea of consciousness like a sword.

Shang Ke’s delicate mushroom body trembled lightly, but he declared with heroic righteousness, 【Even if I’m smashed to pieces, I won’t let you become a Demon Lord.】

【Then try it!】 Yan Lu clearly did not consider a single mushroom worth taking seriously.

The tribulation was already extraordinarily dangerous, and Shang Ke was acting like the world’s worst teammate overhead, doing everything possible to sabotage him and make it even harder. But Yan Lu was no ordinary man. He forcibly endured the first eight stages of the tribulation.

Just as Yan Lu was about to overcome the ninth stage as well, the System’s voice suddenly rang in Shang Ke’s mind: 【Curse Halo activated: Weakness for ten seconds. Target: Yan Lu.】

For the first time, Shang Ke discovered that the System’s voice could sound so incredibly beautiful.

Yan Lu, completely unaware of the curse about to descend upon him, had focused everything on the final stage of his demonic tribulation. He gathered his strength and prepared to withstand the heavenly lightning crashing down from the Nine Heavens when weakness suddenly swept through his body. The power he had just accumulated inexplicably dispersed. Before he could react, the lightning struck him head-on and blasted him dozens of meters away.

Yan Lu spat out a mouthful of blood. A crimson gleam flickered through his red eyes, yet his expression remained cold, empty, and utterly undisturbed.

The demonic tribulation rumbled overhead a few more times, then began to disperse as though its task had been completed.

Yan Lu stared at his palm. The wounds upon it were healing at extraordinary speed, but the energy inside his body was in complete chaos. His consciousness gradually blurred, and he toppled backward into darkness.

He had actually… failed?

On the other side, only a few lingering aftershocks remained of Shang Ke’s Demon Spirit Tribulation. His formerly charred mushroom body became smooth and translucent, gleaming like obsidian. A dazzling light flashed, and the mushroom abruptly disappeared, replaced by a human-shaped silhouette.

As the light faded, the figure of a young man appeared. His skin was pale as jade, his short white hair soft as silk, and his slightly upturned eyes were as dark as ink. There was something both innocent and bewitching in his bewildered expression, an almost supernatural beauty that seemed distinctly demonic.

Shang Ke examined his new body and discovered that all the immortal qi within him had been replaced by demonic qi. Yan Lu had failed to become a Demon Lord, but he had successfully become a Demon Mushroom.

So now he was supposed to reform the future Demon Lord… while being a poisonous mushroom himself? Even thinking about it sounded completely unconvincing!

Shang Ke tried mobilizing his power, then looked down into the seemingly bottomless abyss beneath him. In the end, he still couldn’t summon the courage to jump, so he resorted to the most primitive method available—climbing.

Shang Ke did his best not to imagine the magnificent sight of a naked man scaling a cliff and instead concentrated on coordinating his limbs and becoming familiar with his new body.

After climbing down the cliff, Shang Ke headed straight toward Yan Lu. The man lay unconscious on the ground, his exposed skin showing no wounds at all apart from some dirt and grime. His breathing was steady, as though he were merely asleep.

Shang Ke lifted Yan Lu’s right hand and opened his palm. When he saw the familiar black mole there, his feelings immediately became complicated.

It was him—and yet it wasn’t.

Although Shang Ke encountered him in every world, the man retained none of his memories and was essentially reborn anew each time. The feelings from every lifetime were unique and irreplaceable. Shang Ke could not simply transfer everything he felt for Juanjuan onto this man immediately.

Forget it. I’m not thinking about this anymore!

Shang Ke searched the surrounding area and found a cave where they could temporarily shelter, then moved Yan Lu inside.

He had no idea when Yan Lu would wake, nor what the man would do to the culprit responsible for ruining his tribulation once he did. Shang Ke hoped he would remain unconscious for a little longer. That would give him time to strengthen himself and search for rare heavenly treasures capable of purging some of Yan Lu’s demonic qi and weakening his demonic nature.

Shang Ke never expected Yan Lu to remain unconscious for quite as long as he had wished—an entire hundred years. During that century, Shang Ke explored the surrounding mountains, rivers, and wilderness, collecting all kinds of rare treasures: Water-Dew Essence, Purplewood Lingzhi, Lotus Purifying Mist, Jade Pool Silverfruit… As a spirit plant himself, he possessed an innate sensitivity toward such treasures. Although they were scarce, he still managed to find a fair number over the years.

Unfortunately, Shang Ke now possessed a demonic body, whose nature conflicted with these spiritual treasures. Every time he harvested one, he had to be exceedingly careful, or he risked damaging his own vital energy.

Shang Ke’s transformation was incomplete, having been forcibly triggered ahead of time by the demonic tribulation. Although he had advanced into a demon spirit, he was still extremely weak. Fortunately, he had become a poisonous mushroom, so ordinary demon beasts had little interest in eating him.

Because he was so weak, Shang Ke avoided contact with humans as much as possible and entered human cities only when absolutely necessary. After taking human form, his demon-spirit aura was extremely faint and difficult even for powerful cultivators to detect. But if anyone did discover his true nature, it would inevitably bring unnecessary trouble. Poisonous mushrooms were highly prized by demonic cultivators and could also serve as materials for orthodox cultivators refining magical artifacts.

And so Shang Ke carefully tended Yan Lu like a particularly troublesome plant for an entire century. He fixed up the cave, established protective wards, cleaned Yan Lu’s body, trimmed his nails, nourished him with spiritual qi, regulated his meridians, played music for him… and accompanied him through more than thirty thousand days and nights.

Whenever he grew tired, Shang Ke transformed back into a mushroom, rooted himself on a piece of rotting wood, and cultivated while recuperating.

For this purpose, Shang Ke had even gone out of his way to collect many different varieties of rotting wood and place them throughout the cave so he could change “flavors” whenever he felt like it.

One day, while Shang Ke-brand Mushroom was peacefully recuperating, Yan Lu—who had been unconscious for a hundred years—opened his eyes without warning.

He slowly sat up and discovered that he was inside a cave. Pieces of rotting wood of every size were piled throughout its corners, all covered with mushrooms—red, yellow, purple, white, and every variety of spotted cap, growing in lush clusters and flourishing magnificently.

Yan Lu surveyed them for a while before finally fixing his gaze on a small mushroom gleaming glossy black.

He crouched in front of it and gently poked it with one finger.

The mushroom cap wobbled, adjusted its angle, and appeared ready to continue dozing. Then it abruptly trembled again and jerked its cap upright. Unfortunately, it used too much force and, with a bonk, rolled straight off the rotting log.

Yan Lu reached out and caught the little mushroom, brought it beneath his nose, and gave it a sniff. His eyes flickered as though he were considering taking a bite.

Instantly alarmed, Shang Ke transformed into his human form, becoming a graceful young man—albeit one without any clothes on.

With practiced ease, he retrieved clothing from a chest in the corner and slipped on a loose long robe. There was little point dressing in multiple layers when transforming back into a mushroom would only leave the clothes behind anyway.

Yan Lu remained crouched on the floor, staring at him without blinking.

Shang Ke gave him a strange look. Why was there no reaction at all? Faced with the chief culprit behind his failed tribulation, even if Yan Lu didn’t attack immediately, shouldn’t he at least throw out a few threatening lines?

There was not a trace of hostility in Yan Lu’s eyes, nor the slightest emotional fluctuation. He merely looked calmly at Shang Ke.

The two stared strangely at each other for a moment before Yan Lu finally spoke.

“I’m hungry. I want to eat mushrooms.”

Shang Ke: “…?!”

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