Everyone Loves Little Immortal Mushroom (I)

Shang Ke began to accept the information sent by the System.

This was a cultivation world and his original body was a mushroom—a mushroom that grew on the summit of Phoenix Mountain and absorbed the essence of the sun and the moon for five hundred years. He was originally a good mushroom that could be picked in another two to three hundred years and become some cultivator's tonic. But one day, at the bottom of the Phoenix Mountain in which he resided, a devil cultivator arrived. And that was this world's main character, Yan Lu.

Yan Lu's original name was Yan Lu[1], His family wished for him to become a government official and for his career to go smoothly. Yan Lu did not have any emotions or desires and his relationship with his own kin was thin. When he was twelve, he left home and started to walk on the path of devil cultivation and changed his name to "Yan Lu". The path of slaughter was fearless and free to walk upon.

[1]The Lu part sounds exactly the same, but one is for Kill while the other is for Good Fortune.

Yan Lu was a genius created by the heavens and progressed at lightning speed. In addition to his fortuitous encounters, he only needed three hundred years to cultivate to the summit of strength and the devil tribulation descended.

The location for his tribulation was right under the bottomless cliff where the little mushroom grew. Because of the devil tribulation descending, the little mushroom obtained self-will earlier and thus, its demon spirit tribulation started. With the two tribulations happening at the same time, their might was astonishing. The little mushroom rode along Yan Lu's coattails and with the help of his devil qi, smoothly passed the demon spirit tribulation and turned into a person. But his true body was still a pure spirit mushroom that turned into a poisonous Devil Mushroom.[2]

Afterward, Yan Lu became a Devil Lord and the Devil Mushroom "worked together as villains" and brought disaster to the human realm, causing the cultivation realm to be filled with blood.

Shang Ke felt that a poisonous Devil Mushroom was great, the Devil Lord was also very great. He also wished he could destroy the world right now but he couldn't!

During the final battle, Devil Lord Yan Lu swallowed the Devil Mushroom spirit he had raised for such a long time and his strength greatly increased. He massacred large numbers of righteous cultivators and completely destroyed every sect until they could never recover. From then on, the righteous cultivator group thoroughly came under the rule of the Devil Lord.

Shang Ke was speechless: What happened to "working together as villains"? He actually went berserk and ate up the little mushroom that was like a close friend! Was it really such a bad idea for two bastards to mutually rule the world?

[Main Mission: Cultivate Yan Lu into the God Lord]

F*ck me! Yan Lu was just about to pass the devil tribulation and would be promoted into a Devil Lord in just a few hours. To cultivate a Devil Lord to a God Lord, was this humanly possible? Even if he was the reincarnation of Tathagata (Buddha), it would likely be impossible!

Shang Ke didn't expect that the so-called Mission Difficulty 2x was such an illogical existence.

There wasn't much time to think deeply right now. The only thing he could do at the moment was to stake his old life and prevent Yan Lu from passing the tribulation. If the tribulation failed, Yan Lu could not become the Devil Lord. If he was lucky, he might directly enter the cycle of reincarnation and be reborn. If that happened, perhaps he would still have the chance to complete the mission.

Shang Ke shook his mushroom head and stimulated the spiritual qi in his body out; then, he quietly entered Yan Lu's devil tribulation. There was also a thunder tribulation above his head. It was the immortal spirit tribulation for spiritual items like him. Because the original body had been influenced by devil qi, the immortal spirit tribulation had turned into demon spirit tribulation.

Shang Ke exhausted his spiritual qi to prevent Yan Lu from passing the tribulation. This meant that his thunder tribulation struck him and nearly eliminated his spirit soul. The originally sparkling and translucent, pure mushroom body became coal-like and was making a hissing sound.

To resist the power of the immortal spirit tribulations, Shang Ke had no choice but to absorb Yan Lu's devil qi. When he gave Yan Lu his spiritual qi, he took the other's devil qi into his own body. He bitterly suffered the lightning strikes while the other endured the pressure of the power.

As Shang Ke increasingly absorbed devil qi, the immortal spirit tribulation gradually turned into a demon spirit tribulation. The only difference was that the original had unintentionally turned into a devil while Shang Ke voluntarily did so.

[A single mushroom also wants to attempt in vain to prevent me from passing my tribulation?] A deep and cold voice stabbed into Shang Ke's consciousness like a sharp sword.

Shang Ke's delicate and soft mushroom body trembled slightly; he mustered vigor to reply strongly: [Even if I shatter into pieces, I won't let you turn into a Devil Lord.]

[Then you can try!] Yan Lu did not take this lone mushroom seriously at all.

Tribulations were very dangerous and he had Shang Ke also doing his best to drag his hind leg, making the process even more difficult. But after all, he wasn't a normal person and forcibly endured the eight heavenly calamities.

When Shang Ke saw him about to break through the ninth layer of the tribulations, he suddenly heard the echo of the System's voice: [Curse Halo Activated: Weak for ten seconds. Target: Yan Lu.]

Shang Ke discovered how sweet and pleasant the System's voice could be for the first time.

Yan Lu, who did not know he was about to be cursed, was putting his all into enduring the last devil tribulation. Just when he concentrated his power together and was about to resist the ninth heavenly thunder, he suddenly felt his body go weak. All the power he had condensed dissipated mysteriously and before he could even react, the heavenly thunder had already struck him, sending him flying ten meters away.

Yan Lu spat out a mouthful of blood and a bloody color flashed in his eyes. He remained cold and indifferent, not ruffled in the slightest.

The devil tribulation made a few more rumbles and gradually scattered, having completed its mission.

Yan Lu looked at his palm. The injury on it healed very fast while the power in his body was in complete chaos. His consciousness gradually blurred and his body tipped back as he sank into darkness.

He actually… failed?

On the other side, Shang Ke's demon spirit tribulation was about to end. His mushroom body that was charred black became bright and clean, like obsidian. Dazzling light flashed and the mushroom suddenly turned into a human.

The light faded and a youth appeared. He was completely naked. His skin was white like jade and his short hair was soft like silk. His eyebrows were high and his eyes were dark like ink. Altogether, he looked both lovely and enchanting.

Shang Ke sized up his own body and sensed that all of his immortal spirit qi had turned into devil qi. Yan Lu did not turn into a Devil Lord, but he became a Devil Mushroom.

Did he have to wear the identity of a poisonous mushroom to reform the future Devil Lord? No matter how he viewed it there was no persuasive power to it!

Shang Ke tried to mobilize his power and then, he looked at the abyss. In the end, he still couldn't gather the courage to jump down. So without any better options, he used the most primitive method—climbing.

Shang Ke did his best not to imagine the beautiful scene of a naked man climbing rocks; he concentrated on moving his limbs, becoming familiar with them.

After he descended down the cliff, Shang Ke headed straight for Yan Lu. The latter was currently unconscious, lying on the ground without any clothing. His naked skin did not hold a single injury besides being a bit dirty. His breathing was leveled and it appeared that he had fallen asleep.

Shang Ke pulled his right hand and spread out his palm. When he saw the mole on it, his mood was quite complicated.

It was him; yet, it was not him.

Although he had met him in every world, he did not have any memories and for him, it was like a brand new life. The feelings of every world were unique and could not be replaced. Shang Ke was unable to immediately transfer his feelings for Juan Juan to this man.

Forget it, he wouldn't think about it!

Shang Ke searched around for a while and found a cave in which they could temporarily stay. Then, he moved the man over.

He did not know when Yan Lu would wake up. He also did not know how Yan Lu would treat him, the guy who destroyed his chance of passing his tribulations. Shang Ke hoped that he would stay unconscious a bit longer. If he did, then he could use the time to increase his strength, find some heavenly treasures to clear Yan Lu's devil qi and weaken his devil attribute.

Shang Ke did not expect that Yan Lu would really be unconscious for a very long time, just as he had wished—a hundred years. In those hundred years, he visited every place nearby and gathered all sorts of heavenly treasures. Water Dew Essence, Purple Tree Reishi Mushroom, Pure Lotus Mist, Jade Lake Silver Fruit… as a spirit plant, he had an innate instinct towards these heavenly treasures. Although sparse, he was still able to gather quite a few.

But in this life, he had the devil attribute, so he had to be very careful when he plucked these spiritual items that had a different attribute. Otherwise, it was likely that he harmed his own strength.

Shang Ke's transformation wasn't complete as he had turned earlier than normal because of the devil tribulation. Although he had already been promoted to a demon spirit, his strength was very weak. Luckily he had turned into a poisonous mushroom so average demon beasts showed no interest in him.

Because he was too weak, Shang Ke did his best to avoid contacting humans. Only when necessary would he enter a human city. The presence of a demon spirit on him was very thin after he turned and the average cultivation expert could barely detect him. But if he was detected, then needless troubles would likely come looking for him. Poisonous mushrooms were the true love of devil cultivators and could also be used as a righteous cultivators' material for refining.

Like this, Shang Ke carefully took care of Yan Lu like a plant for one hundred years. He decorated the cave, set up restrictions, washed his body, trimmed his fingernails, nursed spiritual qi, cleaned his meridians, played music… he accompanied him for over thirty thousand days and nights.

When he was tired, he turned into a mushroom and stuck himself on a decaying log. While he maintained his own health, he would also cultivate.

For this purpose, Shang Ke had found different types of wood and had arranged them all over the floor of the cave so that it was convenient to change his 'taste' whenever he felt like it.

On this day, Mushroom Shang Ke was recuperating when Yan Lu, who was unconscious for one hundred years opened his eyes without any warning.

He slowly sat up and saw that he was currently in a cave. Around him were all sorts of decaying wood and on them were all sorts of mushrooms. There were red, yellow, purple, white and all sorts of spotted types. They were bunched together in groups appearing delightful and enchanting.

Yan Lu looked for a moment and finally set his gaze on a little mushroom that had a black sheen.

He crouched in front of the mushroom and poked it lightly with a finger.

The mushroom head swayed and adjusted its angle, planning to doze off again. Soon after, he shook it again and swiftly raised the mushroom head. But he accidentally used too much force and with a "thump", the mushroom tumbled from the decaying wood.

Yan Lu reached out to catch the little mushroom and moved it near his nose, smelling it. His eyes flickered; it appeared that he wanted to take a bite of it.

Shang Ke was on guard and quickly transformed, turning into an elegant youth. But it was a naked one.

He skillfully took out a set of clothes from the corner of the box and put it on without even wearing underwear. The long gown merely hung loosely on his fame. Wearing any more was superfluous since the clothes would fall off when he transformed again.

Yan Lu was crouched on the ground, staring at him unabashedly.

Shang Ke gave him a strange look. Why didn't he have any reaction? Facing the main culprit of his failed tribulation, even if he didn't do something to him immediately, at least, he had to spout some lines to him, right?

There wasn't any enmity in Yan Lu's eyes, nor were there any emotions fluctuating in them. He just looked at Shang Ke calmly.

Both faced each other strangely for a moment. Then, Yan Lu spoke, "I'm hungry. I want to eat mushrooms."

Shang Ke: "…?!"