Chapter 49: Everyone Loves Little Immortal Mushroom (VII)

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Chapter 49: Everyone Loves Little Immortal Mushroom (VII)

Shang Ke’s soul had left his body once again. That meant he wasn’t completely dead yet and still had a chance to revive.

Yan Lu, however, was in terrible condition. His eyes were bloodshot, his body severely wounded, and the energy within him was in complete chaos. Without proper recuperation, even his spiritual roots might collapse. Carrying the mushroom body that had transformed into a flower bud, he wandered aimlessly until his strength finally gave out and he collapsed beside a small stream.

Now in spirit form, Shang Ke remained beside him the entire time. After entering his mushroom body several times, he discovered that he could switch freely between the two states. The demon core within his mushroom body had already shattered, so there was no possibility of taking human form again anytime soon. If not for the golden seed Immortal Luo He had given him, Shang Ke suspected he would have been sent back to the System Space the instant his demon core shattered.

Shang Ke suddenly realized that every world contained its own unique opportunities. There was no need to rely solely on rewards granted by the System. Adapting to circumstances, seizing opportunities, and seeking outside help could all increase his chances of completing a mission.

Yan Lu’s external injuries looked severe, but they were not particularly difficult to treat. The truly frightening damage was inside his body, which had been ravaged almost beyond recognition.

【Yan Lu, Yan Lu, wake up.】 Shang Ke tried to rouse him, but there was no response.

He tried moving Yan Lu’s body next, but could only lift him a few centimeters off the ground before running out of strength after three or four seconds. Shang Ke knew that spirits could cultivate too, but a foundationless spirit as weak as his was clearly almost useless.

Even so, through repeated stops and starts, Shang Ke eventually managed to move Yan Lu somewhere they could temporarily shelter.

In spirit form, Shang Ke could not activate the storage ring kept with his mushroom body, so he had no choice but to search for spirit herbs himself. He carefully ventured out only late at night to avoid encountering cultivators. Spirits—especially plant spirits—were considered extremely nourishing treasures. Even righteous cultivators could not necessarily be trusted to resist temptation.

Three days later, Yan Lu awoke from his coma and discovered that many of his injuries had unexpectedly improved. The violent energy rampaging through his body had also calmed somewhat.

Little Mushroom!

Yan Lu abruptly sat up, causing a small object to tumble from his body. He instinctively caught it and looked down. It was Little Mushroom, now transformed into a flower bud.

Yan Lu’s tense muscles gradually relaxed. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed several medicinal herbs placed beside him. One still carried beads of dew, clearly having been freshly picked.

Who had saved him?

A trace of suspicion and wariness flashed through Yan Lu’s eyes as he carefully examined the herbs. They were indeed all high-grade spirit medicines. Strange. If someone intended to give him medicine, why not refine them directly into pills? Once spirit herbs were harvested, unless properly preserved, they should be refined quickly to avoid wasting their spiritual essence and medicinal properties.

Yan Lu did not dwell on the question for long. He would deal with it once the mysterious benefactor appeared. Carefully tucking Little Mushroom against his chest, he picked up one of the herbs and began treating his injuries.

But because his vital energy had been so badly damaged, he managed to absorb less than half of the herb’s medicinal power before losing consciousness again.

When he next awoke, several more medicinal herbs had appeared beside him, yet there was still no trace of whoever had brought them.

Yan Lu found the situation strangely familiar, as though he had experienced something like it before. Taking Little Mushroom from his chest, he murmured, “Is it you, Little Mushroom?”

But his Little Mushroom gave no response.

Over the following months, fresh medicinal herbs appeared beside Yan Lu from time to time. Although his insufficient true essence meant much of their medicinal power went to waste, the unseen person continued bringing him nothing but freshly harvested herbs.

Day after day, without ever stopping.

“Little Mushroom, I know it’s you.” Yan Lu cupped the flower bud in his hands, his gaze sweeping repeatedly around the area. “Where are you? I want to see you.”

He did not realize that a spirit stood in a corner less than five meters away. He simply could not see him.

Shang Ke’s spirit was simply too weak. Only highly accomplished cultivators had any chance of detecting his aura. As Shang Ke’s dual cultivation partner, Yan Lu should originally have been able to sense him, but the shattering of Shang Ke’s demon core had erased that connection and reset everything between them.

And so the two lived together for several years, separated by the boundary between the living and the spirit world despite being only an arm’s reach apart, until Yan Lu had largely recovered from his injuries.

Looking at the mushroom soup that had suddenly appeared, Yan Lu barely reacted anymore. He had long since grown accustomed to it. Although he could not see Little Mushroom, he knew that Shang Ke had remained faithfully beside him all along.

But he still wanted to see him. He wanted to hold him and, just as before, travel together across countless mountains and rivers and witness every facet of the mortal world.

As Yan Lu drank his soup, he considered how he could help Little Mushroom increase his cultivation and regain human form.

He had tried transferring his own true essence into the flower bud, only to be met with violent rejection. Little Mushroom had clearly possessed a demonic cultivation body, yet the flower bud now contained immortal qi. Back in the Voidheaven Secret Realm, the old Daoist in the portrait had given Little Mushroom a golden seed. Presumably, it was that seed, filled with immortal qi, that had preserved Little Mushroom’s spiritual consciousness. Nourished by it, Little Mushroom—whose demon core had shattered—might eventually transform into an immortal spirit body. That was probably why Yan Lu’s own power was being rejected.

For the first time, Yan Lu considered dispersing his cultivation and starting over. Little Mushroom had always wanted him to follow the righteous path. Yan Lu had refused only because he wanted to continue dual cultivating with him.

Now that Little Mushroom had received the opportunity to start anew, why shouldn’t Yan Lu start over with him?

Once he made the decision, Yan Lu did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately circulated his true essence and destroyed the cultivation he had only recently recovered.

“Ah—!” Yan Lu let out a long cry of pain. True essence violently collided within his body, his clothing bursting apart as his muscles split and blood poured from him.

Shang Ke stared at him in utter disbelief. Before this, he had exhausted every possible method without managing to make Yan Lu abandon demonic cultivation. Yet after Shang Ke became a spirit, Yan Lu had suddenly destroyed his own demonic cultivation without the slightest warning. Only Yan Lu could make such an enormous decision with this kind of ruthless decisiveness.

Once his cultivation was completely dispersed, Yan Lu aged dramatically. His black hair turned silver, his muscles rapidly withered, and his skin became dry and wrinkled until he looked like a man approaching the end of his life.

Only then did Shang Ke truly understand the consequences of dispersing one’s cultivation. For the sake of completing his mission, he had constantly urged Yan Lu toward the righteous path, simply assuming that changing cultivation methods would be good for him. He had never understood how much courage and willpower it took to destroy everything one had cultivated and begin again.

Shang Ke walked over to the weakened Yan Lu, opened his arms, and gently embraced his shoulders. Even knowing Yan Lu could not see him, Shang Ke still wanted to offer him some support.

【Yan Lu, in this lifetime, unless death separates us, I will always remain by your side.】

Yan Lu opened his weary eyes. A strange brilliance flashed through them, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly. Then he closed his eyes again and sank into deep sleep.

Fate could be strangely wondrous. Shang Ke had entered the demonic path for Yan Lu, while Yan Lu would pursue the Dao for Shang Ke…

One hundred years later, amid a bustling market street, an old man in ragged clothing made his way through the crowd with the aid of a walking stick. Wherever he passed, people moved aside, looking at him with disdain and disgust.

The old man paid them no attention and continued at an unhurried pace. Though he appeared elderly and destitute, anyone who looked closely would notice that his steps were steady, his gaze sharp, and his entire bearing carried an indescribable presence.

This man was Yan Lu, who had spent the past century in secluded cultivation. His cultivation had once again reached the Golden Core Stage, placing him only one step away from the Nascent Soul Stage. He had emerged from seclusion because the Primordial Realm, which appeared only once every thousand years, was about to open.

Legend held that the Primordial Realm had once been a battlefield of the ancient gods. Countless powerful immortal artifacts and divine treasures were buried within it. With sufficient fortune, a cultivator could not only increase their strength but might also obtain extraordinary relics and divine-grade cultivation techniques left behind from antiquity.

However, the Primordial Realm opened in a different location each time, and its entrance remained accessible for only one day. Three months later, the realm would expel every outsider, whether living or dead.

Yan Lu entered the Primordial Realm not for divine artifacts or cultivation techniques, but to search for divine wood that could help Little Mushroom cultivate.

Despite being nourished by Yan Lu’s true essence, Little Mushroom had changed very little. One reason was that Yan Lu’s current cultivation was still too weak; the other was the lack of suitable spiritual treasures to nourish him.

A hundred years of monotonous waiting had left Yan Lu feeling profoundly empty and lonely. Although he could now occasionally glimpse Little Mushroom’s spirit as a faint, blurry figure, he still could not touch him or smell his familiar scent, which frustrated him endlessly.

That was why Yan Lu decided to take the risk and try his luck in the Primordial Realm.

His decision suited Shang Ke perfectly. As the “protagonist” of this world, Yan Lu naturally possessed a protagonist halo. No matter how weak he might be, adversity would inevitably bring extraordinary opportunities his way.

Events unfolded exactly as Shang Ke expected. Yan Lu entered the Primordial Realm without difficulty and, right under the noses of numerous powerful cultivators, scavenged overlooked treasures and picked up one lucky find after another, becoming a glorious and fortunate “scavenger.”

With only two days remaining before the Primordial Realm closed, Yan Lu encountered a woman and unexpectedly saved her life.

Yan Lu rarely saved anyone. Even after switching to orthodox cultivation, his way of conducting himself had never truly changed. He simply kept a low profile and spent most of his time cultivating and nourishing Little Mushroom. Consequently, throughout the past century, he had neither made any close friends nor formed any serious enmities.

Even Shang Ke was surprised that Yan Lu had taken the initiative to rescue someone.

Shang Ke later learned that the woman was Feng Luoling, renowned as the “foremost beauty of the cultivation world,” and that her cultivation had already reached the Soul Transformation Stage. She had been ambushed inside the Primordial Realm and forced into a forbidden region, where she nearly lost her life. Yan Lu happened to pass by, casually gave her a spirit pill, and then led her safely out of the forbidden area.

Shang Ke carefully sized up this Number One Beauty. Her appearance and bearing truly were one in ten thousand. Don’t tell me Yan Lu, after abstaining for more than a hundred years, has finally taken a liking to her? Hmph. Even if he had, it would be useless. There was no way a beauty like her would take an interest in a certain decrepit old man.

“Many thanks for your assistance, Fellow Daoist.” Feng Luoling thanked him aloud, but a trace of disdain and cold arrogance remained in her eyes.

Yan Lu himself showed no reaction, but Shang Ke became annoyed first. Yan Lu’s current cultivation might indeed be low, but Feng Luoling had just had her life saved by him. It was bad enough that she wasn’t particularly grateful—she actually dared look down on him?

What the hell is there to look down on?! If you’re so capable, spit out the spirit pill Yan Lu gave you and go lie back down in that forbidden region coughing up blood!

Just then, members of Feng Luoling’s sect arrived one after another after receiving her distress message. The moment they saw Yan Lu, they immediately mistook him for her attacker and launched an assault without even asking questions.

What kind of goddamn luck was this?

Even worse, Yan Lu was besieged for quite some time before Feng Luoling finally spoke up to clarify matters. “This Fellow Daoist is not the culprit. Everyone, stop. Do not harm an innocent person.”

Her aloof, otherworldly bearing had the group of foolish men completely entranced.

Shang Ke raged inwardly: Where the hell was that explanation earlier?!

Afterward, the group offered Yan Lu a few perfunctory apologies, then surrounded Feng Luoling and left with her.

They were seriously just leaving like that?

Yan Lu had saved her life! The least she could do was give him a token or make some promise to repay him in the future. Even empty words would have been better than simply walking away!

It was obvious that none of them took Yan Lu seriously at all.

Shang Ke thought about how, if he had never appeared and changed Yan Lu’s fate, Yan Lu would already have become a mighty Demon Lord whose name shook the world, someone no one in the cultivation world dared make an enemy of. Yet now, after saving another person’s life, he not only failed to receive the respect he deserved but was treated with such cold indifference. The contrast between the two possibilities was enormous, and Shang Ke, knowing the truth, could not help feeling distressed on his behalf.

Yan Lu himself did not care. He had no interest in wasting energy on insignificant people. But if someone truly crossed his bottom line, then even if both sides were destroyed together, he would never let them go.

【So, Yan Lu, why exactly did you save her?】 Shang Ke communicated with him through spiritual sense. After more than a hundred years of nourishment from Yan Lu, his spirit had become substantially more condensed, enough for the two of them to communicate directly mind-to-mind.

Yan Lu remained silent for a moment before calmly giving him two words.

“Too bored.”

Shang Ke: “…”

In truth, it was because the woman had a pair of phoenix eyes that resembled Little Mushroom’s. But after saving her, Yan Lu immediately lost interest. Little Mushroom’s eyes were vivid and expressive, changing endlessly with his emotions. That woman did not possess even a fraction of his charm.

“A few days ago, I passed Divine Rest Peak and found a clear spring at the summit. Let’s go soak in it,” Yan Lu suddenly suggested.

Naturally, Shang Ke had no objection.

And so Yan Lu took his Little Mushroom and flew directly toward Divine Rest Peak.

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