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Chapter 51: Everyone Loves Little Immortal Mushroom (IX)

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Yan Lu wore a long, navy blue gown that was simple without any decoration. A golden belt was tied around his waist with the front seam was half-open, revealing sturdy and powerful muscles. Unlike the cultivators who dressed neatly and properly, Yan Lu lost a bit of grace and conservation and become a bit more unrestrained and unruly. His black hair floated while his cold eyes looked out disdainfully. He had a dignified and cold aura that made people not daring to look at him.

By his side was Shang Ke. His hair was a snowy white while his clothes were a deep red. He was pure, devoid of any darkness, with a pair of misty phoenix eyes that could charm the stars from the heavens. He was lovely and gentle.

Their temperaments were complete opposites, like north and south, yet they formed a perfect whole together. Both with unsurpassed beauty and elegance. 

Everyone’s gaze was attracted to them. To remain in flight after experiencing such godly might, their strength was clearly something exceptional.

The reality was that Shang Ke had absorbed the immortal qi Daoist Luo He gifted him and recondensed his internal dan, allowing his true essence and immortal qi to fuse together. Although he had only reached the Demigod Stage, his cultivation far surpassed another of the same level.

Yan Lu, after dual cultivating with him, also reaped benefits from this. His true essence had turned into immortal qi, so that his strength advanced by leaps and bounds. At this stage, he could fight against an expert of the Immortalization Stage. In the entirety of the cultivation realm, experts that have reached Immortalization Stage number only ten.

After sizing up him, the present experts all moved their sights to Shang Ke. It was because they could tell that he was a spirit, one formed from a spiritual plant. Different from demon beasts, there were few spiritual plants that transformed. Not only do they contain the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, if you raise one near you, you can raise the concentration of the spiritual qi and nourish your true essence, as well as soothe your qi.

If Shang Ke was still a “devil” shroom, then he would likely receive even more attention. The current him carried immortal qi in his body. To cultivators, that was like a reishi mushroom, an incredibly nourishing item.

The other cultivators with comparably lower cultivations might not be able to make out Shang Ke’s identity, but they could also sense the “delicious” scent from his body.

Yan Lu’s gaze turned cold. He took Shang Ke by the waist and disappeared from the spot in the blink of an eye.

“Where do you want to go?” Yan Lu asked.

“Ruins of the Seeking Immortals.” Shang Ke still held quite a bit of information in his brain about remnants from ancient times.

The two of them walked freely, but their short-lived appearance managed to stir up the entire cultivation realm in an extremely short period. Two experts on par with experts within the Immortalization Stage suddenly appeared, one of them was even a rare spiritual plant spirit cultivator. This was a shocking new without a doubt. What was even odder was that no one recognized them. For a moment, countless people started to secretly investigate who they were.

Within the forest, Yan Lu was roasting (real) mushrooms expressionlessly by a fire when he suddenly heard a call for help not too far from his spot. He did not so much as raise an eyelid as he focused on the mushrooms that were about to be finished roasting.

Not too long later, the sound of breaking through space could be heard and a few figures quickly appeared within Yan Lu’s line of sight.

The eyes of the woman at the head of the group lit up when she saw Yan Lu and she quickly rushed to his side, speaking anxiously, “Fellow cultivator, please help us deal with these evildoers.” 

Only now did Yan Lu raise his eyes to glance at her. He flipped over his stick of mushrooms and once again looked back down. He did not plan to help her at all.

“Fellow cultivator, please…” She had not even finished her words before a man’s voice came through the forest and interrupted her, “Feng Luoling, if you want your fellow disciples to keep living, obediently leave with us.”

“You group of shameless disciples from Soaring Serpent Sect, I will never leave with you!” Feng Luoling’s eyes were wet with tears as she faced death without fear. It looked rather lovely and touching.

When her fellow disciples saw her like this, each one expressed that they would protect her with their lives.

Yan Lu frowned. Such a nice and quiet, leisurely afternoon was just destroyed by this group of crying and noisy people.

At that moment, the people from Soaring Serpent Sect attacked. One of them sent a sword flying straight for Feng Luoling. It was unknown if Feng Luoling did it intentionally or not, but she stood right in front of Yan Lu and immediately dodged when the attack came for her, so the sword was sent flying at Yan Lu.

A cold light flashed through Yan Lu’s eyes and he flicked out a stone. The stone knocked against the flying sword and shattered into pieces while the sword’s trajectory was knocked off course, heading for an open spot.

Everyone from Soaring Serpent Sect was secretly fearful. This man used only a stone to knock away a flying sword that held true essence?

“Scram!” Yan Lu viciously spat the word. His voice was a loud alarm, warning each of them. It was mighty and cold, shaking everyone’s heart and soul.

The people from Soaring Serpent Sect looked at each other full of fear. One of them asked, “May we ask from where honored Sir comes from?” 

“I said,” Yan Lu turned the roasted mushrooms in his hands again, “Scram!”

The second “scram” carried a sound attack. Like a needle, it viciously prinked at everyone’s primordial spirit. Everyone’s expression abruptly changed after that burst of pain.

So strong! Both groups of people thought in shock.

“We have offended senior. We have been impulsive, please forgive us.” The people from Soaring Serpent Sect at least had some sense and tactfully conceded, “We will leave at once.”

Yan Lu no longer paid any attention to them. If it weren’t for Little Mushroom dislike of killing people, he would have long since killed them all.

After the Soaring Serpent Sect left, Feng Luoling slowly walked forward and saluted, “Many thanks for fellow cultivator’s assistance.”

While she spoke, her beautiful eyes timidly loitered on Yan Lu’s body. She had already recognized this man, he was the man that had appeared in the golden light from the Origin Realm. That impressive appearance left behind a profound impression in her heart and was unforgettable. She didn’t expect that they would be fated to meet again, it really delighted her.

“This one is Feng Luoling from the Purity Sect, may I know how to address sir?” 

Yan Lu turned a deaf ear to her and started to eat when he saw his mushrooms were done. He had just tasted it when he pursed his brows. Hm, it wasn’t as good at the ones Little Mushroom made.

Feng Luoling felt somewhat indignant in her heart at how Yan Lu ignored her but she did not flare up and maintained her smile, “Fellow cultivator likes to eat mushrooms? This one is good at cooking, why not have this one make some food for fellow cultivator as repayment for saving me?” 

“Junior Sister Feng…” Feng Luoling’s fellow disciple was about to stop her but was curbed by her meaningful look.

She only wanted to make friends with Yan Lu right now. She held no consideration for her injured fellow disciples.

Feng Luoling leisurely bent down and held back her long sleeves as she reached out to take the mushrooms scattered on the ground. She did not notice that a white mushroom among them quietly rolled to the side, brushing past her fingertips.

Yan Lu’s eyes darkened and he swept his sleeve, ruthlessly sending her flying.

“Junior Sister Feng!” The people from Purity Sect immediately rushed up to help her and glared at Yan Lu thoughtlessly. “What are you doing? As a man, you would actually use violence against a weak woman? Do you not feel it is beneath your dignity?”

“When I said ‘scram’, I said it to you lot as well.” Yan Lu did not care about identity and so on. His eyes saw them all as the same, regarding them as someone would roadkill.

Feng Luoling had been loved and pampered since childhood due to her beauty. She had never been so humiliated by a man before.

She fragilely reprimanded him, “I treated you with respect. It’s one thing to not accept it, but why did you have to attack me?”

The killing intent flashed through Yan Lu’s eyes as his fingers rolled the bamboo stick in his hand. Inwardly, he contemplated which method was best to kill this group the fastest way possible.

“I will say it one more time, scram!” Yan Lu emulated Little Mushroom’s kindness and for the last time, resisted his instincts..

“You…” Feng Luoling wanted to continue arguing but she was stopped by her fellow disciples. Although Feng Luoling had no sense of priorities, the others could clearly sense the danger. Compared to this man, they would rather face the people form Soaring Serpent Sect again.

Feng Luoling was quickly herded away by her fellow disciples. Before they left, she glared at Yan Lu once, eyes filled with hatred and malice. In her heart, she secretly vowed to one day have this insufferably arrogant man crawl beneath her feet.

After the people left, Shang Ke who was mixed in with the other mushrooms transformed into human form again. After tying on his gown, he sat near to Yan Lu and took the roasted mushrooms from him, saying, “Let me roast some more for you, I’ll eat these.”

The killing intent on Yan Lu’s body immediately vanished and he held Shang Ke’s waist, lazily placing his chin on his shoulder and quietly watching him roast mushrooms.

“In the future, stay with me when you turn into a mushroom or you might be picked by someone.” That woman just now should rejoice that she didn’t touch his Little Mushroom, otherwise, he would have stripped her of one arm at the very least.

“Heh.” Shang Ke suddenly laughed.

“What are you laughing for?”

“Do you remember that woman just now?” Shang Ke asked.

“Why would I remember her?” Yan Lu was not concerned about her at all.

Shang Ke smiled, “Of course.”

Back in the Origin Realm, she had been disdainful towards the old Yan Lu, not even giving him the minimum respect. Now that she saw his valiant and handsome self, she was extremely polite. The difference in treatment couldn’t be any clearer. Even if this was a world that is based on appearance, the moral standing was also very important.

The two did not know that from then on, Feng Luoling would start hunting down information on them from all over the place and following their tracks, trailing behind them the entire way, orchestrating  “chance encounters” with them from time to time.

Very soon, Yan Lu and Shang Ke’s name would become known. No matter where the two went, they would always draw the attention of the masses.

Shang Ke’s very existence caused numerous experts to madly scramble around on a wild goose chase. It goes without saying what kind of impact the immortal qi on Shang Ke’s body had on cultivators.

Cultivators of the righteous path weren’t all truly kind. The only difference between them and devil cultivators was the way they cultivated. Killing people for their treasure was common everywhere. As long as one’s state was stable and their strength was high, they need not need to fear karmic retribution. Before passing their tribulations, most people would not think about what kind of evil consequences killing would bring to their cultivation.

After many conspiring people gained nothing but defeat from Yan Lu’s hands, Yan Lu’s reputation became even more widespread. Quite a few believed that the reason for his great strength and lighting speed progress was because he has Shang Ke, a spirit demon’s help.

The fact that the two of them were dual cultivating was no longer a secret. Although Shang Ke was a man, with his remarkable beauty, dual cultivating with a spiritual item is a novelty and greatly enticing from other people’s perspectives.

The more the rumors spread, the more unusual they became.

Shang Ke was treated as some kind of godly object with whom you would make rapid progress if you dual cultivated together.

Shang Ke quickly became the target that everyone in the cultivation realm was falling over themselves to get. But Yan Lu’s strength was tyrannical and no one was willing to make him an enemy. So they adopted a conciliating method, trying to suggest “renting” Shang Ke or exchanging kinds of treasures for some of his blood and hair.

“Renting” Shang Ke? Exchanging some blood? Does this group of people really believe that Shang Ke was a little mushroom he raised? Even if he was, they can stop thinking about even trying to get a single hair from his Little Mushroom.

“Let’s go into seclusion.” Yan Lu proposed.

“Alright.” Shang Ke gladly agreed.

Yan Lu did not want them to be disturbed while they were dual cultivating.

For Shang Ke, it was because their cultivation was only a step away from Immortalization so they needed to find a quiet place to cultivate and make their breakthrough.

The two of them searched for a paradise near water with a quiet and secluded environment and abundant spiritual qi. After setting down a restriction, the two once again went into seclusion, distancing themselves from the mundane secular world. 

They did not pay attention to time as they lived in the mountain. Shang Ke and Yan Lu spent their time like a pair of mandarin ducks playing in water, making love at sundown, and when they’re free, focusing on dual cultivation to cook the mushroom through and through. Life was ordinary, satisfying and shameless.^[1]

Until calamity descended.

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Footnotes:

[1]Everything means making love, just using different phrases, including the mandarin ducks… 

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