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Chapter 46: Everyone Loves Little Immortal Mushroom (IV)

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Yan Lu waited for several days while Shang Ke remained in his little mushroom form. As such, he straightforwardly took the decaying wood with the mushroom on it with him and left. 

He did not have a clear goal and was just following after the Little Mushroom before. When that guy was still lively and jumping around him he didn’t feel anything, but now that he was quiet, he found that life was really lonely, like snow. His blank white world seems to only contain this single, planted mushroom. Although he sometimes felt he was annoying, he wasn’t willing to pluck it away. 

“Little Mushroom, if you don’t wake up now, I will eat you.” Yan Lu lazily upended the decaying wood in his hand as he threatened.

Shang Ke was dizzy from the sudden spinning and almost fell from the wood.

Light flashed and a shining white Shang Ke in human form appeared in front of Yan Lu.

Yan Lu looked him up and down and felt that he had become even skinnier. His already thin waist now seemed even more fragile.

He reached out and pinched it. It was smooth and did not have any feeling of substance.

Shang Ke dodged aside and then quickly took out some clothes from the space ring and put them on.

“Your injuries healed?” Yan Lu asked.

“Hm.” Shang Ke tested his limbs gingerly for a moment then smiled at Yan Lu, “After a few days of careful deliberation, I decided to take you to the Heavenless Secret Realm.”

“Heavenless Secret Realm?”

“Yup.” Shang Ke explained full of life, “Rumors say that that place has treasures left behind by an ancient God Lord, so there must be some cultivation skills for you in there!”

According to the development of the original world, the Devil Lord and Devil Mushroom would raise hell in the cultivation realm. Not only would they annihilate several sects, they would also unearth many ancient and sacred sites. But what angers everyone the most was that they only retained the devil cultivation methods while burning most of the righteous cultivation methods. This would lead to a significant decline of the cultivation world millions of years later. Cultivators that become immortals became as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. The devils flourished while the righteous diminished. The cultivation realm barely persisted through a five million year period of disorder with the devils. 

The criminal ringleader of all of that was the very man by Shang Ke’s side. The System wanted him to lead Yan Lu to the righteous path instead of killing him. It probably wasn’t just for the peace and security of the cultivation realm, but to also have him repay his karma and understand what it means to be a righteous cultivator.

The path of slaughter will start because of him, and will also end because of him.

After determining the target, the two left for Heavenless Secret Realm. On the way there, Shang Ke did not change his original intentions and still helped others. He was attacked because of his identity as a devil spirit many times and had to hide, but he nevertheless held steady without complaint to his principle. He would rather injure himself and remain unwilling to harm others. 

Yan Lu one day finally couldn’t hold back anymore and asked, “With your nature, why would you fall into the devil path?”

Shang Ke smiled, “Even if I become a devil, I will not harm the human world. But if someone else becomes a devil, then I cannot guarantee that they will also be so kind.”

“Who will feel grateful, no matter how much you do?” Yan Lu felt that this little mushroom was really too stupid.

“I don’t need someone to feel grateful to me.” Shang Ke stood before the green hills and crystal waters, spreading his arms and saying loudly, “Look, there are many beautiful things in this world. I came here to experience all the beautiful things in this world, to leave behind happiness and abandon worry. To be a grand and majestic mushroom!”

Yan Lu fell silent for a moment, before speaking realistically, “Even if you become a Devil God, you would not become grand and majestic.”

Shang Ke glared at him “I am short in body but grand in heart. You, a person who’s all size and without substance, are the ones who wouldn’t understand.” 

Yan Lu did not comment on that but slowly said, “You are not going anywhere on the cultivation path. As devil object departing the devil path, your strength will likely never increase.”

“Don’t I still have you?”

The words he let slip caused a ripple in Yan Lu’s heart. That pure and innocent smile seem to bloom like a lotus flower in front of him. He did not know why Little Mushroom was so calm and free of ill-will. Every time he met danger, Yan Lu would just watch as a bystander, never once considering helping him.

“I won’t save you.” Yan Lu coldly said, “Even if you will die, I will not save you.”

“Of course.” Shang Ke gently said, “With your current cultivation, you are powerless to confront those cultivators. Not saving me is a sensible decision.”

Yan Lu felt silent.

Shang Ke looked at him, “Let me ask, if you had great strength, would you help?”

He must agree or he was finished! Shang Ke’s gaze was far too bright and piercing.

“Hm.” Yan Lu placed his hands behind his back and replied, “I would.” He would kill all those people who dared attack Little Mushroom.

Shang Ke almost let his tears escape. It was a very near thing! He finally has a spot in this monster’s heart.

Two months later, Shang Ke and Yan Lu arrived at the Crane Feather Mountain where the Heavenless Secret Relm resided.

The entrance to the secret realm was under a cold spring. Within the cold spring was a guardian beast. Shang Ke displayed his species superiority for the first time by using a drop of essence and blood that contained poison to make the beast flip over dead. Then, they smoothly entered the secret realm.

The Heavenless Secret Realm was the easiest ancient site to enter out of all the others Shang Ke knew of. If it weren’t for the entrance being hidden, it would have been emptied out long ago. 

Afterward, under the “main character halo”, the two of them passed through layer after layer of traps and arrived at the hidden treasure chamber.

However, as soon as Yan Lu had stepped one foot into the hidden treasure chamber, the surroundings changed and a heavy wave of power hit him. Yan Lu was forced to lean back under the pressure, but otherwise remained firmly planted where he stood.

“Hmph.” A cold snort echoed from the side of the room like a clap of thunder, shaking Yan Lu.

From behind, Shang Ke did not hear anything. He merely saw Yan Lu maintaining the posture of taking a step before he stopped moving at the entrance. It was rather strange.

He bypassed Yan Lu and walked into the hidden treasure chamber.

Yan Lu’s pupils contracted. He couldn’t make a sound to warn him, he could only watch as Shang Ke walked passed him.

He had thought that Shang Ke would be subdued like he was, but Shang Ke had entered the hidden treasure chamber without any obstruction. 

Yan Lu felt it was a bit strange. The spirit record within the hidden treasure chamber felt the same way. 

The Heavenless Secret Realm was the seclusion spot of an ancient cultivator so he could pass tribulations. After he passed his tribulation, he left behind a spirit record. On one hand, the spirit record could help people open the treasure chamber, while on the other hand, it would prevent people of the devil path from entering.

When Yan Lu took a step in, the spirit record immediately sensed it. Yan Lu’s body did not have any devil qi and he has an extremely high-level immortal cultivation potential. However, that spirit record could easily see through to the devil nature of his soul. Immortal root yet with a devils nature, such a contradicting being actually exists in this world. There was a fine line between turning into a God or Devil. But the devil nature was clearly stronger than his immortal root. A man that reeked of such blood and darkness, like the cry of a devil, caused fear wherever he went.

The spirit record could allow such a dangerous man to enter the treasure chamber! If he allowed such a man to cultivate, it was hard to predict what kind of turmoil he would bring to the cultivation world in the future. 

Just when he wanted to expel this man, another person walked into the restriction of the treasure chamber.

The spirit record was once again shocked.

The very first man has the quality of an immortal, but contains the heart of a devil. The youth after him has the body of a devil cultivator, yet an incomparably pure divinity. The two were complete opposites yet with the same contradictions. 

The moment the youth was by the man’s side, the spirit record felt the dangerous presence of that man was suddenly gone. The world that was originally deathly still acted as if it was reborn. Flowers bloomed, the two ends of Yin and Yang gave birth to life without stopping. 

The spirit record had never seen such a peculiar scene.

Could it be that he was in seclusion for too long so he was too out of touch with the current period? Was the cultivation realm nowadays full of strange people like this everywhere?

These two people, one was kind but turned to a devil while the other was cruel but turned into a god. This was really too unbelievable!

The spirit record opened the restrictions and let the two in. He wanted to see what kind of future development the two would bring.

Yan Lu noticed that the power that was imprisoning him disappeared not long after Shang Ke entered. He looked at Shang Ke by his side, then looked at the portrait hanging on the wall. The portrait was of an ancient cultivator. It looked very normal yet contained an overwhelming aura that was hard to ignore.

Yan Lu looked at it for a while then took back his gaze. He started to look around the hidden treasure chamber. Not only were there all sorts of rare cultivation manuals around, there were also many treasures.

Yan Lu did not hurry to take any treasure, the portrait on the wall kept him on his guard.

But Shang Ke did not care, as an open and candid person, he did not hold back at all. 

Just as he was about to dig through all the treasure with extreme joy, the spirit record in the portrait spoke, “Little guy, hold on.”

Shang Ke raised his head, looked at the portrait then asked Yan Lu, “Did he just say something?”

Yan Lu nodded expressionlessly. 

Although Shang Ke relied on “prior information” to find the Heavenless Secret Realm, he was not clear on all the details of the plot. The existence of the spirit record only has a vague impression in his memories. Now that he heard him speak, he slowly started to understand.

“Who is this Senior?” Shang Ke asked.

“This old cultivator is ‘Luo He’. Millions of years ago, I passed my tribulation and became an immortal, leaving behind this spirit record to wait for someone fated to do the same.”

Shang Ke smiled, “Since Senior has allowed us in, then I suppose we are the fated ones.”

“Hehe, little guy, you’re quite smart.” That spirit record continued, “The things within this treasure chamber, you two are free to use. However, there are several treasures that have restrictions placed on them. I will teach you the way to lift the restriction, so that you don’t accidentally injure yourself.”

The spirit record used “you” instead of “you two”, meaning that he was only willing to teach Shang Ke the way to lift restrictions and not Yan Lu.

Yan Lu did not care, knowing Little Mushroom’s character. As long as he asked, Little Mushroom would give anything to him.

Shang Ke asked, “Senior, is there any way for us to pay you back after taking your gifts?”

“There is no need to repay as long as you two focus fully on cultivation and rid yourself of evil desires, keeping to the righteous path.”

After the spirit record spoke, it taught Shang Ke the way to lift the restrictions, then added in secret, 【The man by your side has a devil’s nature, you must be very careful.】

Shang Ke replied back in secret as well, 【I know. He was about to pass the devil tribulation before, but I forcefully obstructed him so he failed and forgot his past.】

To a spirit record, Shang Ke did not mind telling the truth.

【So it was like that, no wonder he has an immortal root yet an obsessed nature… wait, as a monster so accomplished in devil cultivation, why would he have an immortal root?】 The spirit record thought a bit then said in shock, 【It’s you!】

Shang Ke smiled, 【I destroyed his cultivation and willingly took his place to turn into a devil so he could become an immortal.】

The spirit record finally understood why he saw such a bizarre scene from the two. The young man before him had fallen to the devil path without hesitation for a monster, using his own body to take on the devil cultivation to help the other step onto the immortal path. 

This made him recall the sad oath of the great Buddha: “Before the hell is empty, I will not become Buddha. After all sentient beings are saved, will I attain Buddhahood. If I don’t go to hell, who will?”

The man who had believed the world would never see another person like the Buddha, who was so compassionate and sad, unexpectedly found a similar soul within a devil spirit. They both shared the same compassionate heart. 

【Child,】 The spirit record spoke gently, 【I believe that you can fulfill your wish. This old one shall gift you once more.】

A golden light flashed by and gradually condensed into a seed in the air that then slowly entered Shang Ke’s right chest.

“What is this?” Shang Ke rubbed his chest, asking curiously.

But the surroundings were silent. Not a voice responded.

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