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Chapter 48: Everyone Loves Little Immortal Mushroom (VI)

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The devil tried to get him to perform all sorts of atrocities. Shang Ke tried to express that the pressure on him was truly far too great. When he could hide, he hid. When he couldn’t hide, he would turn into a mushroom and quietly rest in some dark corner.

Seeing how he was ‘too stubborn to change’, Yan Lu did not force him Rather, he went out alone to ‘forage’. When he returned, his body drenched in killing intent, Shang Ke was startled. Not due to fear, but the opposite. It was like he smelled something delicious that roused excitement in the devil dan within him. It was as if all the pores on his body were opened.

Yan Lu said, “Since you’re not willing to absorb other people’s essence energy, I will do it in your place.”

He just needs to gather a bit more essence energy every time he went out, but refrain from absorbing it. Then, he can return and dual cultivate with Little Mushroom. Little Mushroom was a demon spirit, so dual cultivating with him gave Yan Lu a small trace of demon qi. Although the essence qi’s quality isn’t high, absorbing it was still convenient due to quantity.

“Little Mushroom, transform into human form.” Yan Lu pinched Shang Ke’s soft mushroom head.

Shang Ke did not move.

“If you don’t transform, I will keep you in my mouth. Dual cultivation will still work.” Yan Lu undressed and spoke leisurely.

‘Keep, you, in, my, mouth?!’ Can your taste not be so heavy!? Shang Ke’s body trembled and after he struggled with himself for a moment, he finally transformed.

Yan Lu held him and with a twist, they were sitting on the stone bed. He placed his legs on his waist with the unfathomable ease of practice.

Their lower bodies connected intimately.

Shang Ke really loved the scent emanating from Yan Lu’s body, or to be more accurate, it was his devil dan that really loved it. It was like a bee spotting nectar— so delicious and enticing it was hard to resist.

However, no matter how difficult it was to resist, he could not allow Yan Lu to successfully cultivate into a devil.

His chin was raised and essence qi was sent over to him through his mouth. After several minutes, the transaction was completed. Yan Lu was just about to pull back but Shang Ke held onto his neck and kept their lips connected.

Little Mushroom was absorbing his essence qi? Yan Lu was rather surprised but he kept his hands on his waist and didn’t stop him.

Shang Ke’s charming eyes were open a thread as he did his best to draw essence qi from him. His soft white hair drifted gently with the air, brushing past Yan Lu’s eyes and lightly caressing his cheeks. As he absorbed more and more essence qi, Shang Ke’s appearance became more and more enticing. His eyes were bright like precious stones held against the sun.

Yan Lu was planning to push aside this greedy little mushroom when he saw how far too much of his essence qi was being taken. But the second their eyes met, he ceased the action.

Give your everything to me—Shang Ke’s eyes said clearly, firm and intense. 

【Yan Lu, I will take your place in devil cultivation, I will take your place and bear heaven’s punishment. Even if I have to pay for it with my life, I will do it for you. I only ask that you don’t stray to the devil path and injure innocents.】

Yan Lu narrowed his eyes, his large hand trailed up Shang Ke’s back until it slowly arrived at his nape. With just a pinch there he would be punished. 

【Yan Lu, there are thousands of ways to cultivate, why must you choose the one path that heaven does not tolerate?】

Yan Lu did not understand, why was Little Mushroom always stopping him from practicing devil cultivation? He did not feel that there was anything wrong with devil cultivation, let alone when it allowed them to dual cultivate. 

Shang Ke stopped absorbing from him as his body was already full. He gently licked at Yan Lu’s lips, like he was tasting him. His small tongue slid past the line of his lips and carried away a strand of silver.

Because Shang Ke absorbed too much essence qi, he was instinctively intimate with Yan Lu. His every action was seductive and enticing, like a cat’s claw that softly scratching at Yan Lu’s heart. The tolerance and gentleness Shang Ke had shown toward the man was thoroughly blended into his soul.

The lake that was Yan Lu’s heart rippled and his chest tighten as a fire lit in his eyes.

Shang Ke continued a bit longer before falling still seeming to regain his senses. He looked at their postures then screamed soundlessly: Fuck, was he seducing him? Nonono, this was not the plan. He just wanted to absorb all of Yan Lu’s essence qi and cultivation until his devil cultivation was completely dispersed so he could properly cultivate the path of righteousness.

After humans have their cultivation scattered, as long as their spirit roots aren’t destroyed, they can cultivate again. But demon spirits like him were different. Once he loses his cultivation, he will immediately return to his original form, becoming a regular mushroom. As such, even if he wanted to restart his cultivation, he wouldn’t have the chance to. Otherwise, this would be so much easier. Dual cultivating with Yan Lu with an immortal body would be smooth sailing towards his goal.

Just as he began to sink deeper into thought, he found his body was suddenly in the air then pressed down heavily onto the stone bed. A long length entered him and started up an intense ramming exercise.

This time, Yan Lu did not cultivate but “purely” exercised. This wild way was completely different from their first time. Back then, there might have been some pleasure, but it was not filled with such intense desire… 

The two of them did it until the next day. If it weren’t for Shang Ke taking the chance to quickly turn back into his original form, a certain someone who was still full of energy would likely continue on for another few days and nights. 

Yan Lu casually draped a gown over his shoulders revealing a muscular chest littered by small scratches. He leaned lazily against the wall, his gaze deep as he looked at the little mushroom hidden in the corner. The desire between his legs was still holding strong, as if he hadn’t quite eaten his fill.

Shang Ke felt that he was about to lose all his integrity. The actions between the two of them were going a bit out of control. However, as long as Yan Lu was willing to let him “suck”, then there is still a chance of saving him. With Yan Lu’s cultivation, just another three to five times and his cultivation should be completely cleared and to restart.

Unfortunately, if Yan Lu’s will was so easy to sway then he wouldn’t become the Great Devil King that topples the cultivation realm in the future.

Besides becoming more intimate with Shang Ke, Yan Lu did not show any mercy in absorbing other people’s essence energy. He did not urge Shang Ke if he was not willing to dual cultivate with him. From time to time, he would take a portion of the essence energy he gathered and used it to “feed” his Little Mushroom. Yan Lu had to admit, the action delighted him in some ways. 

Shang Ke had no choice but to change tactics. From then on, he would follow whenever Yan Lu went out to forage to curb his slaughtering as much as possible. If he only took a bit of other people’s essence energy, then it was less likely to cause them permanent harm.

Yan Lu did not pay attention to Little Mushroom’s obstruction, rather, he felt that his appearance of worry over him was rather interesting.

He was not that attached to devil cultivation nowadays either, the only reason why he was unwilling to disperse his cultivation being Little Mushroom. If he changed back onto the righteous path, then wouldn’t he be unable to “dual cultivate” with Little Mushroom? He would lose most of the things that brought him joy by doing that, so it was better to stick to the devil path.

If Shang Ke were to ever find out that he had actually become the reason for Yan Lu’s stubbornness on sticking to devil cultivation, he would certainly cough blood out of depression.

“There appears to be more and more people suffering from serious essence energy deficiency.” A black-clothed daoist made his way toward the village that lay a little ahead of him. The villagers there were all becoming gloomier, their spirits depressed. It was clearly not the appearance of a regular person. 

By the black-clothed daoist, a white-clothed man closed his eyes to observe for a period of time. He then stated, “It is a demon causing trouble, the demon qi of one still remains in the air.”

The black-clothed daoist spoke coldly, “Notify each sect. We must locate this demon quickly. We cannot allow it to continue harming humans. With the rate it’s absorbing essence energy, it would take only a few hundred years to complete its cultivation and by then it would be too late to deal with.”

The white-clothed man nodded, “Senior Brother words hold true.”

The town several hundred miles away also experienced a similar scene.

“Wenjie, this demon qi, is it the same as the demon spirit you met before?” Daoist Qing Chong stared coldly at Yu Wenjie.

Yu Wenjie smiled bitterly and answered, “Yes.”

“Hmph!” Daoist Qing Chong spoke severely, “If it weren’t for you pleading mercy with me that day, I would never have let him leave! Then these common people wouldn’t suffer the consequences like now.”

Yu Wenjie kept his head low and did not speak, his face ashamed. Although he wasn’t willing to believe it, with the reality before him, he can’t find a reason to absolve Shang Ke of guilt.

“Draw the appearance of that demon spirit and sent it out to all the disciples of the sect. Report back immediately once we uncover his tracks.”

“…Yes.”

Yan Lu and Shang Ke traveled westward. Wherever they passed, essence energy would be gathered. If it weren’t for Shang Ke doing his best to prevent it, Yan Lu would have likely left not even a single person alive.

The two of them did not realize that their actions had gotten them noticed by a great many cultivators. Large numbers of men on horseback were dispatched to search for their tracks. Specifically, Shang Ke’s tracks.

Today, the two of them rested in a hidden place to relax and reorganize. Yan Lu cultivated while Shang Ke kept watch.

Shang Ke was researching the spell within the jade strip when he heard a commotion coming from outside.

He let out his divine sense and followed the sound in search of the source. He discovered in the distance dozens of cultivators, all flying toward their resting place.

At first, Shang Ke paid them no mind and waited for them to pass by. But then, he saw that one of them was holding a strange magic treasure. A light formed from its tip and pointed directly toward the cave where he and Yan Lu resided.

Following that, he noticed that Yu Wenjie, Daoist Qing Chong and a couple other familiar figures were among them. He then realized that they were likely heading for him.

Shang Ke looked back to the still hidden Yan Lu, then stood. He exited their hiding place, flying out of the restriction,  quickly headed in another direction. 

“Over there!” A loud shout came from behind him.  Following that was the sound of air breaking. Dozens of sword cultivators caught his tail and raced to catch him. 

“Demon spirit, let’s see how long you can run!” long and short swords alike slashed open the sky as they shot toward Shang Ke’s back, each a tiny, pointy meteor.

Shang Ke’s cultivation had increased somewhat under Yan Lu’s ‘care’. His figure twisted as he dodged the flying sword attack.

However, the flying swords acted as if it had spirits of their own and quickly turned around, once more attacking Shang Ke and sealing his escape.

The dozens of cultivators from behind quickly caught up and surrounded Shang Ke. 

Within the cave, Yan Lu’s eyes snapped open. His sharp gaze scoured his surroundings but failed to find his Little Mushroom. A faint ill premonition stirred in his guts and he quickly rushed out of the cave, following the trail that Shang Ke left behind.

From afar, the light of a sword shone with murderous intent.

Shang Ke’s body was covered with injuries from the attacks of the dozens of cultivators.

“You devil practitioner, if you had kept to yourself and cultivated away from mortals, then you would not have died today.” A daoist lectured him with righteous words.

Shang Ke knew very well that all these people had placed all of Yan Lu’s misdeeds onto him. He could not explain, nor did he want to. In fact, he was already at his wit’s end. No matter how much he tried to obstruct, guide or disturb him, he could only lessen Yan Lu’s slaughtering and not completely change his ways. He was like a thousand-year-old block of ice. Even if he did his best to bring warmth to him, he refused to melt.

After an exhausting wait with almost no hope, Shang Ke felt that he was almost at his limit.

But he didn’t want to give up. Even if it was only a small glimmer of hope, he wanted to persist until the end.

Countless blades shot toward Shang Ke like rays of light, forming into beautiful metal flowers that reflected in his eyes. As his gaze began to blur, he felt like he saw a familiar figure flying over to him. 

When Yan Lu arrived, it was to the vision of Shang Ke being stabbed through by a number of flying swords. The spraying of blood dyed his eyes red.

Little Mushroom!

His figure froze, rigid in the air, staring blankly at Little Mushroom, half-hidden by a red mist.

“Brother Yan?” Yan Wenjie noticed Yan Lu and greeted him with some hesitation.

“What is going on?” Yan Lu asked expressionlessly, his voice cold.

Yu Wenjie grimaced as he explained, “Does Brother Yan know of Shang Ke’s identity?”

Yan Lu did not react.

Yue Wenjie continued to say, “Recently, there are many common people who are having their essence being drained, causing their body to weaken significantly. The criminal left behind devil qi, so each sect sent people to follow this devil qi and found Shang Ke.”

It was not that they found Shang Ke, but rather, Shang Ke deliberately let them find him so that he could draw them away to protect Yan Lu, the true criminal.

Yan Lu stiffly stared at Shang Ke within the bloodbath. A violent storm seemed to be raging within him. 

Yue Wenjie’s expression abruptly changed as he felt the dangerous presence from Yan Lu’s body. He subconsciously retreated but was still too late. Yan Lu’s figure flashed and appeared behind Yan Wenjie in a moment. A sword was immediately thrust through his chest. He didn’t even have the time to cry out in pain before his life was taken.

Yan Lu’s eyes were cold and jumped into the sky. With his murderous spirit lit, he raised his sword and pointed it at all the people present… 

A couple of hours later Yan Lu returned reeking of blood, one bloodied arm dangling uselessly at his side. He walked somewhat unsteadily to Shang Ke.

Bloodstained hands lightly traced his face. It was still warm. 

“Little Mushroom…” Yan Lu whispered softly.

Shang Ke’s eyelids trembled, his eyes opening halfway. He opened his mouth to speak but pools of blood bubbled out instead.

He had wanted to struggle a little more, to have Yan Lu go back onto the righteous path, but everything was going worse than he wanted. He looked around at the pieces of flesh littering around him and reckoned that this time, he did not have a chance at all.

Shang Ke looked at Yan Lu, vaguely spotting unrest in those stagnant eyes. It looks like fear and maybe a trace of confusion.

It looks like he really does possess some spot of kindness within his heart… 

Shang Ke’s consciousness gradually blurred. His eyes closed and he thoroughly sank into the darkness.

Right at the moment he closed his eyes, a golden light suddenly emitted from his right chest. The golden seed Daoist Luo He had given him had sprouted and quickly grown into a red flower that slowly blossomed on his chest. The appearance of the flower was, astonishingly, identical to the Flaming Red Sky Flower.

With the blossoming of the flower, Shang Ke’s body started to shrink until he was back into his original mushroom form. His body was wrapped in the petals of the flower, turning into a small red bud that landed gently into Yan Lu’s hands…

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