Chapter 138: Mushroom Special Ops
Tao Manfeng’s expression instantly paled, for a moment, she did not dare to believe her own ears. She had a guilty conscience about this whole matter in the first place, and when he asked this way, she had almost exposed herself. “Master, it’s your disciple.”
Yu Yan frowned, evidently, he was very unsatisfied with her answer. The cold aura he was emitting out surrounded his body, yet, he still probed once more. “Yu Wang?”
Tao Manfeng blanked, could it be that this person still had other disciples? Hence, enduring her severe injuries, she deliberated with her answer. “Master, this disciple is Yu Yao.”
Wrong answer!
Yu Yan could no longer suppress the cold aura surrounding his body, as he began to increasingly spread it outwards. Tao Manfeng had wanted to give even more explanations, however, as though the entire sky collapsed, she simply felt an even stronger pressure than before assaulting towards her. Before she could even block in time, her Dantian had already begun to hurt, and her cultivation dispersed greatly. Forget about the efforts she put in the last four months, even half of her initial cultivation had been lost.
Just like that, Tao Manfeng spat out a mouthful of bad blood. She tried to explain with all her might. How could she simply throw away such a good opportunity all of a sudden? However, Yu Yan completely did not give her an opportunity to breathe. Just by forming hand-seals with a single hand, a bolt of Nine Heavenly Lightning was already formed.
In an instant, Tao Manfeng no longer held the intention to explain. If she were struck by the Nine Heavenly Lightning, how would her life still be intact? She immediately cast a defensive Divine Art, swiftly summoned her flying sword, and prepared to flee.
Unfortunately, no matter how fast she was, she could not be faster than that bolt of Heavenly Lightning. A purple-colored lightning bolt was struck straight towards her, and with a loud thundering boom, the lightning bolt then turned into nothingness along with that fleeing figure.
“An illusion? She fled?” Yu Yan’s brows furrowed tightly. Right after, he no longer cared about this person who had the huge guts to break into the Lightning Divine Hall and had even disguised as his disciple. It was really rare to see such a stupid Earth Deity. This will definitely be a bad example for my disciple. Mn. She must definitely not be allowed up the mountain.
And, in regards to Tao Manfeng who was suddenly chased out of Lightning Divine Hall, she was currently being struck all around by the surrounding Heavenly Lightning Formation of Lightning Divine Hall. Her sufferings were indescribable. No matter how she thought about it, she could not figure out why would Yu Yan, who was still alright four months ago, suddenly change and not recognize her? Could it be that she was discovered? But clearly, she did not do anything at all. Back then, everything was still alright, why was it as though he was suddenly enlightened? And even wanted to kill her?
While she was completely puzzled, on the other side, Yu Yan who headed over to visit his disciple stared at the empty straw cottage, and was a little dumbfounded. Spreading out his divine sense, he searched the entire mountain, yet, he was unable to find even a trace of his disciple. His initial ice-cold expression had turned even colder. He seemed to have… lost his disciple again.
In Yu Yan’s eyes, the number of faces of people he could remember was actually not many. One, was his master. One was the Sect Master of Ancient Hill Sect, Zi Mo. And the other one was his own disciple. For the first two people, he simply had to think of their names, and the corresponding faces would naturally surface in his mind. Only his own worrisome disciple was different. It wasn’t because he was unable to remember it, rather, the moment he thought of her name, the number of different faces that would surface in his mind… was four.
As for the rest of the people, even if he were to hear of their names, they would simply be a bunch of blurs in his mind. The only differences were whether there were huge dots, or small dots.
That’s right, he was face-blind. In regards to unimportant people, he had never wasted his time to remember their faces, while the face of his stupid disciple, was the face he had spent the most time of his life to remember. Yet, she just had to be the most worrisome one as well, as her looks constantly changed. Fortunately, she held a strand of his divine sense in her body. With the help of his divine sense, as long as she was standing in front of him, he would remember her look in an instant.
However, the situation this time was a little different. Yu Yan blankly stood in front of his disciple’s small straw cottage. No matter he tried to think, he couldn’t recall just what the disciple, he had picked up four months ago, look like?
Hence, Tao Manfeng’s tragedy was not because her scheme was exposed, rather, Yu Yan basically did not recognize the person he sent flying, was the person he picked up four months ago!
A moment of silence!
The disciple Zhu Yao who was currently a jade, because of an unexpected catastrophe, she was kicked off the Lightning Divine Hall, falling into a dense forest. However, because of this, she unlocked her talking skill. Towards this situation, Zhu Yao who received a blessing from a crisis simply wished to say two words.
The hell!
Zhu Yao’s face was facing the ground, and an entire half of her jade-body was dug into the soil. Only a small part of her green-colored emerald body was exposed.
“Eh? A new mushroom?” Suddenly, a curious voice could be heard from beside her.
Zhu Yao habitually rebutted. “I’m not… Oh god, a mushroom!”
Such a huge mushroom! Zhu Yao lost her composure out of shock when a flowery-white mushroom that was as tall as a tree suddenly appeared in front of her. Why was there such a huge mushroom in this world!? This was illogical!
“You can talk?” That mushroom revealed an excited expression. Like a mushroom monster in a game, it bounced towards her. “Where did you come from, mushroom spirit? Why are you planted in my home?”
“Home?” Zhu Yao blanked for a moment. She glanced at the place she was at, other than the soil being a little soft, she really couldn’t see how this could be called a home. Could this piece of soil be where this mushroom is living on?
“I’m not a mushroom spirit.” Zhu Yao felt that she had to explain. “I’m… a rock.”
“Oh, you’re a rock spirit.” The mushroom revealed an understanding expression.
“…” Uh.
“True.” Before Zhu Yao could explain, the mushroom made its own guess. “Rocks like to stay underground as well, it’s no wonder you will fancy my home. The soil quality there is soft, and well fertilized. Anyone will fancy it.”
“Uh…” Zhu Yao’s expression darkened. How did he come to the conclusion that she had actually fancied this pile of dirt? “It’s not that I want to take over your home. It’s just that because I was thrown down here by someone, I coincidentally fell down on this spot, and I’m unable to move.”
“What? You dare to despise my home?” The mushroom, however, suddenly became enraged. A good white mushroom instantly turned bright red.
“…” Where did such logic come from? But what could she do about being an unmovable rock? With just a single glance, it could be known that this mushroom had cultivated for many years, so she couldn’t accord to offend him. “Great Deity, you have misunderstood. It’s not that I dislike it, it’s just that I feel guilty for taking Great Deity’s residence.”
Only then did the mushroom satisfyingly reverted back to its former white. Sizing her up for a moment, he then said a little complacently. “How did you know I have already become a Deity?”
“Great Deity, you’re filled with divine energy, and you also possess such a… stalwart body.” Zhu Yao began to lick his boots with a straight face. “With just a single glance, it can be seen that you have cultivated for many years.”
“That’s right…” The mushroom was satisfied, feeling all comfortable from her praises. “You sure are a rock spirit with great eyes. I will not fuss about you being planted in my home then.”
“Many thanks, Great Deity.” Even if he were to fuss over it, she couldn’t come out either.
The mushroom bounced towards her, and at the end, stuffed himself in the soil next to her, splattering her entire face will dirt. “It’s been a long time since I talk to someone. In this forest, other than those vicious divine beasts, there’s only those plants without spiritual consciousness. Seeing that you can be considered smart for a rock spirit, tag along with me in the future then.”
Zhu Yao endured her urge to paste dirt on his entire face, took a deep breath, and said. “I wonder how long Great Deity has cultivated for?” Since they were both spirits, probably, he could give her some cultivation pointers. She might even be able to cultivate into human body quicker.
When she brought this up, the mushroom’s expression became even more divine. “I have already cultivated for thirty thousand years. I can escape the earth, and move at will. How’s that? Awesome, right?”
“…” She had clearly only cultivated for four months to gain the ability to talk, and he needed thirty thousand years to walk!? Just where the hell did you get the confidence that you’re so incredible from? “I wonder what cultivation technique Great Deity used?”
“Cultivation technique?” The mushroom blanked. “What’s that?”
Alright. There was no point in her asking. She shouldn’t have expected any good cultivation techniques from this mushroom which could only bounce about after cultivating for thirty thousand years.
“Don’t worry, rock spirit. Although your cultivation isn’t as high as mine, I won’t despise you.”
I despise you though!
“Things like cultivation, you just have to bask under the moonlight to obtain it. Although it’s impossible for you to chase after me, it’s still possible to surpass other mushrooms.”
She did not want to surpass mushrooms in the slightest. It had actually gained its cultivation level just by basking under the moonlight, without cultivating in any sort of techniques? Just how did it manage to safely grow to such a size?
“Hoho… Many thanks, Great Deity.”
“And stop calling me Great Deity, there’s no need for such distinctions. Just call me Mushie (Gu Gu).”
Aunt (Gu Gu)?
“Hello, I’m Guo’er.”¹
“Guo’er? Such a strange name.”
How’s that any stranger than yours!? He really believed it, hey.
“The sky is darkening. The dark clouds today are too dense, it seems there won’t be moonlight today. It’s very dangerous at night, alright? Have an early rest.” The mushroom suggested with goodwill, and glanced to look at her. “Do you want me to cover you with some soil?” After saying that, it bounced, splattering the surrounding soil. Zhu Yao simply watched as a thick amount of soil came crashing down on her, as though the sky itself was falling, covering her completely. “Mn, you will be safe now.”
Zhu Yao: “…”
Safe my ass. She couldn’t even see anything, you know?
Zhu Yao felt like crying. Just as she was about to express a few words of resistance, that mushroom tilted its head, and even his mushroom cap had retracted by half a size, as a snoring sound could be heard. Wasn’t that too quick!? Zhu Yao felt a little helpless. There was indeed no moonlight today, hence, she could only sleep. Taking a deep breath, just as she was about to enter the land of dreams, she heard the sleep talk coming from the mushroom.
“Do not get eaten tomorrow, do not get eaten tomorrow, do not get eaten tomorrow…”
For a moment, Zhu Yao was worried of her future.
Although this mushroom was a little unreliable, he was still rather good towards Zhu Yao. In the morning he would bring her everywhere to gather dew, and at night, he would bury her back into the soil. Only in nights with moonlight, would he dig her out to have her bask under it. Probably because it had really not found a talking partner for a long time, he treated this talking rock as though it had stumbled upon a treasure, as he would not forget to bring her along wherever he went, and he was so talkative that she couldn’t help but want to take him out.
Although he could move, in the end, he was still a mushroom which had yet to cultivate a human body, and when he wanted to walk, he had to bounce. And, his body just had to be extremely big, as with a single bounce, a large crater would be smashed out of the ground. Also, not to mention, as he was something which did not have any hands, he thought of a plan, and had her placed on top of its cap.
But, his mushroom head was round. Hence, whenever he bounced, she would go “swoosh”, and fall of his head. Hence, he could only return and pick her back up, continue to bounce forward, and then, “swoosh”, she slid off once again.
This process thus repeated over and over. Zhu Yao felt that before long, her Version 6.0 should be up and running very soon.
The mushroom thus bounced and picked her up over and over. A few days passed, and he had actually found a sense of balance, as Zhu Yao no longer slid down his head.
Her cultivation still did not make much progress, and her absorption of moonlight was extremely slow. After ten days, she still had yet to recover even a tenth of the energy she had in four months.
Zhu Yao’s route to cultivation was far and out of sight. Yet, when she accompanied the mushroom to gather dew this time, she even encountered a familiar person – the little bitch who impersonated her.
¹Aunt and Guo’er are references to Legend of the Condor Heroes, a widely popular chinese martial art novel, which was later made into several TV shows and comics.