Translator: AnubisTL
A gentle voice suddenly echoed through the air, halting Li Qing's imminent act of burning the city to the ground.
"Stop."
Hearing this telepathic message, Li Qing knew his threat had worked. The mushroom spirit, naturally, wouldn't want to be reduced to ashes—it was only logical.
Li Qing temporarily suppressed the spiritual flame he had condensed, his voice remaining icy:
"Release your spiritual sense and offer no resistance. Allow me to imprint a divine sense brand upon you, and you will live!"
The mushroom spirit remained silent for a long moment, then finally replied, "I want to negotiate terms. To be bound for eternity and forced into premature defeat—I refuse to accept such an outcome."
Premature defeat?
Li Qing's brow furrowed, puzzled by the spirit's words.
But given his absolute control of the situation, he had no intention of negotiating any terms with the mushroom spirit.
"I see you haven't grasped your current predicament. The right to negotiate requires both parties to be on relatively equal footing."
"Do you truly believe you possess such a right now?"
As he spoke, Li Qing brandished the spiritual flame in his hand, a power capable of annihilating the mushroom spirit with ease.
After another long silence, the mushroom spirit finally spoke again. "You're right, you could destroy me effortlessly. But you haven't acted yet, choosing instead to control me. This means I possess something you need."
"If you refuse to even hear my conditions, then go ahead and destroy me."
Li Qing's eyebrows arched slightly. He hadn't expected the mushroom spirit to be such a skilled negotiator, so quickly grasping his weakness.
Indeed, he desperately needed to subdue the spirit and exploit its production of crimson moon spores, flesh spores, and other resources to strengthen himself.
"Very well," Li Qing said, his voice still cold. "State your conditions."
"I refuse to be your eternal slave," the mushroom spirit declared. "Set a time limit. Once that period expires, grant me my freedom."
Set a time limit?
It wasn't an entirely unreasonable request. Li Qing considered it carefully.
Given the mushroom spirit's current level, the crimson moon spores it could produce would likely only be effective against fourth-tier exotic beasts at best.
Once Li Qing reached the Divine Transformation stage or achieved even greater cultivation strength, the crimson moon spores would likely lose much of their utility to him.
At that point, releasing the creature would become a viable option.
After careful consideration, Li Qing, now somewhat tempted, proposed a number: "Three thousand years!"
"Submit to me for three thousand years. Once that period expires, I will grant you your freedom."
This duration wasn't a casual suggestion but a carefully calculated proposal.
Firstly, Li Qing's current lifespan was just over two thousand years. Even with continued refinement of magical treasures, including Heaven-Piercing Magical Treasures, his lifespan would likely only extend to around three to five thousand years.
Within these three thousand years, he could secure a city-sized entity that continuously produced high-grade strange beast blood for him.
If even this failed to help him advance to the Divine Transformation stage, his chances of ever reaching that realm in this lifetime would be exceedingly slim.
Moreover, while the strange plants of the World of Eternal Night possessed remarkably long lifespans, they were not truly immortal. They, too, had their limits.
If Li Qing proposed an excessively long term, the creature would likely reject it outright.
Even for a cultivator, a lifespan of three thousand years was an extraordinarily long time—an age of immense duration.
The mushroom spirit remained silent for an extended period. Its first words weren't about bargaining, but rather a surprised question:
"Three thousand years? Are you certain you can live that long?"
Indeed, the world had only been plunged into darkness for less than a millennium due to the cataclysmic changes in heaven and earth. Li Qing's demand to control it for three millennia was astonishing.
"Don't worry about that," Li Qing said dismissively. "If I don't live that long, consider yourself freed early."
"Very well, then. I will submit to you for three thousand years!"
"There's another condition. During these three thousand years, I will serve you, but you must not excessively exploit me or deplete my primordial origin."
The mushroom spirit ultimately agreed. Three thousand years was a long time, but still within its acceptable range.
Hearing the agreement, a faint smile tugged at Li Qing's lips. "How will this promise take effect? Are you relying on my conscience?"
"Naturally not. Swear an oath to the Red Moon with your own life as collateral. Once your oath is complete, I will voluntarily open my spiritual sense, allowing you to implant the master-recognition brand," the mushroom spirit replied.
Swear an oath to the Red Moon? This was novel. Could the crimson moon in the sky possess a restriction similar to the great heart demon oath?
If he broke this oath and fled back to his original world, could he evade its consequences?
The thought flashed through Li Qing's mind, but he didn't dwell on it.
There was no need. To maintain his clarity of mind and spiritual harmony, he refused to resort to tricks or exploit loopholes in the agreement.
Thus, Li Qing swore an oath to the Red Moon, promising to control the mushroom spirit for only three thousand years. Upon the expiration of that term, he would release it to freedom.
With the oath completed, a small, golden mushroom tree floated out from the ancient castle below.
True to its word, the mushroom spirit opened its spiritual sense to Li Qing.
Without hesitation or ceremony, Li Qing unleashed his powerful, condensed divine sense, implanting a divine sense imprint within the spirit's consciousness.
Since advancing to the nascent soul realm, Li Qing's divine soul had grown significantly stronger.
Combined with his cultivation of the Soul Refinement Scripture, a rare cultivation manual, his divine soul's strength now rivaled that of a mid-nascent soul realm cultivator, allowing him to bear even more divine sense imprints.
After confirming that the mushroom spirit's spiritual sense was completely under his control, Li Qing dismissed the Fire Extreme Dharma Body and retracted the spirit fire that had engulfed the surroundings, extinguishing the sea of fire.
It had been a considerable effort, but he had finally subdued the mushroom spirit.
His figure descended before the ancient castle.
Yang Gong knelt at the castle gate, not daring to move.
Just moments ago, the mushroom spirit he had served had acknowledged the tall, imposing youth before him as its master.
Li Qing's status and authority had now reached an even higher echelon, shattering Yang Gong's worldview into fragments.
Gazing at the old charlatan, a playful smile gradually spread across Li Qing's face. He spoke, "Stand up. Slap yourself across the face. When I return, I want to see your cheeks and mouth swollen from your own blows."
Li Qing had lost all interest in personally punishing this man, not wanting to dirty his hands.
With that, he brushed past Yang Gong, and a series of crisp slaps immediately rang out behind him.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Having successfully subdued the mushroom spirit, Li Qing felt a faint yet profound connection with the colossal mushroom beneath his feet.
Carrying this strange sensation, Li Qing ventured deep into the ancient castle in his true form. He still had many questions he wanted to ask the spirit.
This time, facing Li Qing directly, the mushroom spirit dared not show the slightest disrespect. Instead, it proactively flew before him, its demeanor utterly submissive.
At least it knows its place.
Li Qing nodded in satisfaction and asked, "Tell me, what did you mean when you said you didn't want to fail and withdraw too early? Are you currently participating in some kind of trial, competing with other strange plants?"
He recalled the massive demonic willow of the Black Wind Domain and his own peculiar blood lotus.
Could similar extraordinary plants exist in other great domains, undergoing trials of evolution?
Li Qing was eager to unravel these mysteries, suspecting they held the key to the secrets of this world.
The mushroom spirit, having already acknowledged Li Qing as its master, offered no secrets. It spoke slowly:
"Since my birth, I've possessed this subconscious drive. All my actions have stemmed from this innate impulse."
"I must grow stronger, constantly surpassing my limits, until I surpass all other beings like myself."
"Alas, I emerged too early. A strange beast sensed my presence, causing me to suffer an innate deficiency and wounding my primordial origin."
Hearing this, Li Qing's eyes flickered slightly. He hadn't realized these strange plants held such profound significance.
He had long suspected the World of Eternal Night resembled a vast trial ground, teeming with diverse paths and bizarre creatures.
Within this trial, beings competed fiercely, and the sole survivor would emerge as the victorious Gu King.
Li Qing nodded slowly and asked:
"It seems an invisible hand guides all this. What do you know about it?"
The mushroom spirit replied:
"Nothing. My memories before my birth are a complete blank."
Li Qing wasn't surprised by the answer. In his eyes, the depths of this world seemed to grow ever deeper.
The entity lurking behind the scenes remained shrouded in mystery, and even with his nascent soul cultivation, Li Qing felt a profound sense of unease.
Using an entire realm as a trial ground—such a grand scheme bordered on the absurd.
Choosing not to delve further into this matter, Li Qing resolved to maintain a low profile in the future, avoiding the mysterious entity's attention for as long as possible.
In short, discretion remained the best course of action.
Next, Li Qing briefly inquired about the current state of the mushroom spirit's operations.
Within the vast Mushroom City, sixteen third-tier exotic beasts were imprisoned in various locations, serving as sources of blood.
Periodically, the mushroom spirit produced large quantities of flesh spores to feed these formidable third-tier beasts.
In addition to these, the city also housed a substantial number of second-tier strange beasts—the seeds for cultivating future third-tier beasts—which were meticulously cared for by the city's inhabitants.
Finally, there were the various unique spores. Currently, the mushroom spirit could produce five distinct types of spores.
Li Qing already knew about the crimson moon spore, flesh spores, and corrosion spore. The other two types were called spirit control spore and armored spore.
The spirit control spore was used to enslave others. Yang Gong, who had been slapping himself outside the ancient castle gate, had been implanted with this spore and become a servant of the Ji Ling. Li Qing's Spirit Flame Dao Body had also been attacked by this spore just now.
The armored spore, on the other hand, was far more useless. This spore could temporarily make anything extremely hard, granting exceptional defensive capabilities.
The word "temporary" alone made it clear just how useless the armored spore truly was.
"When I emerged prematurely, I faced threats from strange beasts and was forced to develop this spore for protection," the mushroom spirit explained.
As its strength grew and its life level advanced, it could choose to develop spores with unique functions.
Having evolved to its current state, despite its initial innate deficiencies, the mushroom spirit had still chosen to develop a useless spore, greatly increasing the difficulty of its growth.
Fortunately, by enslaving creatures with the spirit control spore and cooperating with the human race, it had managed to evolve to its current state.
"Now, tell me about the Crimson Moon Spore," Li Qing asked, his tone sharp. "Can you currently produce crimson moon spores capable of evolving third-tier exotic beasts into fourth-tier ones?" This question was of particular concern to him.
The mushroom spirit answered honestly, "Yes, I can, but the creation of fourth-tier exotic beasts is far from simple. The failure rate is extremely high!"
"Moreover, producing fourth-tier crimson moon spores takes a significant toll on me. After cultivating even a few, I need a long period of rest to recover."
In truth, not only did cultivating fourth-tier exotic beasts have a high failure rate, but evolving second-tier strange beasts into third-tier ones also carried a substantial risk of failure.
This explained why Mushroom City currently housed only sixteen surviving third-tier exotic beasts. While this number seemed considerable, they were the result of meticulous selection and cultivation from a much larger pool of second-tier strange beasts.
Listening to the spirit's explanation, Li Qing finally understood the true purpose of Mushroom City.
This place was essentially a strange beast processing factory. Once a beast was brought to this city, its fate was sealed.
Either it would fail to break through, be buried in the mycelium, and succumb to the corrosion spores, its corpse becoming a guardian of the city's peace.
Or it would succeed in breaking through, evolve into a higher-tier beast, and be imprisoned to serve as a blood-draining tool for the Ji Ling, ultimately meeting the same end—death.
"Alright, next I need you to produce fourth-tier crimson moon spores. Don't stop producing flesh spores either. Of the sixteen beasts in the city, I'll take the blood from the remaining six!"
Hearing Li Qing's demands, the helpless mushroom spirit could only comply.
Circumstances were stronger than will; even if it didn't want to, it had no room to resist.
The fourth-tier crimson moon spores were naturally for Fan Tong, while the blood from the remaining six beasts would be used to nourish Li Qing's blood lotus, allowing him to strengthen his great self.
Thus, Mushroom City, now under new ownership, began operating according to Li Qing's commands.
(End of the Chapter)
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