Mushroom Man

Chapter 165 The Lady's Dowry, Black Market Slaves (5k views, please subscribe)

"I see……"

Wu Liang carried the now-washed Red Lady out of the River of Oblivion.

After using the Angry Mushroom to heal Lady Red's spine, he gave it to Yan Zhaodi.

"Madam Red's memories are truly quite unbearable to look at..."

Wu Liang rubbed his temples, his mind filled with filthy images.

If that were all, it would be fine; after all, who hasn't seen movies these days?

However, because Wu Liang absorbed fragments of memory, he ended up in the body of Lady Red...

Wu Liang suppressed his nausea, his face looking as if he had swallowed a fly.

At this moment, he even regretted absorbing the fragments of Lady Red's memories.

What if he's influenced by Lady Red...

Wu Liang shivered and quickly banished these chaotic thoughts from his mind.

He calmed himself down and began to sort through the memories he had just acquired.

"This time, I captured Madam Red, but unexpectedly, I also eliminated a potential problem by accident."

Wu Liang narrowed his eyes and let out a cold laugh.

According to Lady Red's memory, his previous deductions were not wrong.

Lady Red is ambitious and is not someone you can cooperate with at all.

She fantasizes about becoming the chief's wife and then controlling the entire White Horn tribe, or even the merged Holy Horn tribe.

The poor third young master was kept in the dark the whole time.

He thought that by borrowing four thousand silver coins, capturing slaves, and winning the Eight-Cornered Holy War, he could become the leader.

However, in reality, the Third Young Master was merely a pawn of Madam Hong.

From beginning to end, Madam Hong never intended to rely solely on the Third Young Master to help her seize the position of the leader's wife.

The people she truly intended to rely on were the eldest and second young masters.

That's right, Madam Hong actually had affairs with both the eldest and second young masters in private.

The reason why the eldest young master knew about the black market slaves was because Madam Hong informed him.

Lady Red cast a wide net, betting on everyone.

Regardless of who wins or loses, she is confident that she will eventually become the so-called leader's wife.

Lady Red was undoubtedly an extraordinary woman.

With her bedroom skills alone, she managed to manipulate the White Horn leader and his three sons at will.

Unfortunately, she encountered Wu Liang, who was completely unreasonable.

Wu Liang didn't buy into Madam Hong's schemes at all. Regardless of her plans, he simply threw her into the Demon Suppression Tower, and that was the end of it.

"The identity of Lady Red is still very useful, and we cannot let her disappear without explanation."

Upon thinking of this, Wu Liang's mind stirred, and he left the Demon Suppression Tower.

He appeared inside the tiger-skin tent and immediately put away the Demon-Suppressing Tower.

"For the time being, you will take over for Madam Red..."

After Wu Liang finished speaking, he activated the illusion mushroom.

The next moment, a vivid and charming beautiful woman suddenly came into view.

Wu Liang and 'Madam Red' exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.

At the same time, Wu Liang seemed to remember something and immediately called Tie Nu in.

"Iron Slave, go to the southeast corner of the tribe and find a mound of earth. My wife's dowry is buried inside. Bring it to me."

Upon receiving the order, the Iron Slave retreated immediately without saying a word.

It won’t take long…

Under the cover of night, Tie Nu carried a mud-covered wooden box back to the main tent.

Wu Liang looked at the wooden box, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Clearly, this so-called dowry came from Lady Red's memories.

As everyone knows, Lady Red was formerly the daughter of a merchant caravan.

The caravan encountered trouble and ended up in Bajiao Mountain, where they took refuge.

The wooden box contained the travel expenses that Lady Red had brought from her own caravan.

Originally, Madam Hong intended to use these funds to make a comeback in the future, or as a dowry to bet on the eldest or second young master.

Wu Liang, the third young master, was not within their consideration.

Therefore, when Wu Liang asked for the silver water earlier, Madam Hong lied and said that she had no silver water left.

However, judging from the current situation...

Whether it was the travel expenses or Madam Hong herself, in the end, it all benefited Wu Liang.

"Ha, you're still too green to play mind games with me."

Wu Liang sneered, then opened the box and began to count the 'dowry'.

Lady Red's 'dowry' was undeniably generous.

First of all, there are three thousand drops of silver water alone.

These silver drops, combined with the silver that Wu Liang already possessed, brought the total to five thousand drops of silver.

This is a huge sum of money!
However, Wu Liang carefully considered the matter.

If he used four thousand silver coins to buy that slave, he would only have one thousand silver coins left for cultivation, mushroom refining, and mushroom raising.

"Tsk, it's just a drop in the ocean, still not enough to cover expenses."

"Indeed, you can never have too much money."

"If only I had the Heavenly Origin Lingzhi Mushroom from the Ranking of Extraordinary Mushrooms..."

Wu Liang shook his head and turned his attention to the other 'dowry' items.

Perhaps because Lady Hong wanted to make a comeback one day, most of her remaining dowry consisted of mushrooms.

One four-turn mushroom square, two three-turn mushroom squares, five two-turn mushroom squares, and ten one-turn mushroom squares.

For a powerful force or caravan, the most important thing is not the mushrooms themselves, but the mushroom recipe.

Only with the mushroom formula can we cultivate mushrooms, ensure a steady stream of income, and make a comeback.

Therefore, the value of mushroom extract is usually higher than that of mushrooms.

For Wu Liang, Lady Hong's possession of so many mushroom recipes was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise.

With Wu Liang's Demon-Suppressing Tower, there will definitely be more and more Dao-Refining Mushroom Masters in the future.

With these mushroom recipes, he might one day be able to make a fortune by selling mushrooms.

"Ok?"

"good very good!"

"I never expected to find the mushroom's extract here!"

Wu Liang casually flipped through the mushroom recipes.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on a three-turn mushroom square.

On it was clearly recorded a method for refining a product called Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom!

The so-called Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom is actually one of the combined training routes of Wu Liang's first-turn Wine Fragrance Mushroom.

As far as Wu Liang knew, the most popular training route for the Wine Mushroom was: first turn to Wine Mushroom, second turn to Drunken Mushroom, and third turn to Haze Mushroom.

Unfortunately, this joint training route was basically firmly in the hands of those large merchant caravans, and it was not something he could covet at all.

Unexpectedly, by sheer coincidence, I obtained another training route from Madam Red.

It is true that there is no place to look for after wearing iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get it.

If he could refine a Rank 3 Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom, with his foundation, he should be able to break through to Rank 3 without breaking a sweat.

"Hopefully, the mushroom materials for the Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom joint training won't be too outrageous..."

Upon thinking of this, Wu Liang quickly and carefully reviewed the recipe for the Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom.

You wouldn't have known if you hadn't looked, but what you saw shocked you!
One good news, one bad news.

The good news is that the mushrooms listed in the recipe are very common and won't cost much money at all.

For example, to transform from a single-stage wine-infused mushroom to a double-stage wine-infused mushroom, only four types of wine—sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy—are needed.

To upgrade from the second stage of four-flavor wine mushrooms to the third stage of seven-flavor wine mushrooms, only seven spices are needed.

These are not hard to find in Bajiaoshan with a little effort.

The bad news is that the cost of training the Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom is not in the mushroom materials, but in the mushrooms themselves.

The Four Flavors of Wine Mushrooms requires two wine-flavored mushrooms to be combined.

Seven-Flavor Wine Mushroom requires two Four-Flavor Wine Mushrooms to be combined.

Including the one wine mushroom Wu Liang already has, he needs to buy at least three more wine mushrooms to have any chance of making the Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom.

And this doesn't even take into account the possibility that the mushrooms might be damaged if the training session fails.

Although Yan Zhaodi is a genius in the Dao of Refining, she cannot achieve 100% success in refining three-stage mushrooms.

Each time he refines three-stage mushrooms, he can only achieve a 50% success rate.

If the joint training session fails, the losses will be huge.

It's important to know that shiitake mushrooms are a rare and precious type of mushroom, as they can condense the true energy of mushroom masters, elevating them to a higher level. Therefore, they are often in short supply.

On the market, the price of a single shiitake mushroom has now been inflated to 300 yuan.

This price is already more expensive than most second-generation mushrooms.

Of the five thousand silver coins Wu Liang had, four thousand were used to buy slaves, leaving him with only enough to buy three wine mushrooms at most.

In other words, Yan Zhaodi must make no mistakes for Wu Liang to have any chance of refining the Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom.

This is incredibly difficult...

Ultimately, it all comes down to being too poor!

"If I have enough silver, why should I hesitate?"

Wu Liang sighed, then put all the mushroom recipes into the Demon Suppression Tower, leaving them for Yan Zhaodi to study.

Most of the remaining mushroom recipes were wind-dried mushroom recipes, which were not as useful to him as the Seven-Fragrance Wine Mushroom recipes.

The only mushroom recipe that could pique his interest even slightly was the four-turn mushroom recipe.

The mushroom described on it is called the Wind-Listening Mushroom.

It's a decent scout mushroom.

Unfortunately, Wu Liang doesn't have a great need for this kind of reconnaissance mushroom right now, so he has to put it on hold for the time being.

"Regardless, this harvest is more than enough for me to squander." "My next plan is to go to the black market after I finish my training tomorrow."

"After I break through to the peak of the second stage, I will go to the Black Horn Tribe again to test Morobi."

Wu Liang's mind raced, but he immediately calmed himself down and began cultivating by channeling his inner energy.

During this time, Wu Liang also made a special appearance outside 'Madam Red'.

The mushroom masters of the entire White Horn tribe all cultivate strength and servility, and they cannot see through the illusionary mushrooms at all.

No one could have imagined that in less than one night, the alluring Lady Red would fall into Wu Liang's hands without anyone noticing.

Another day has passed in the blink of an eye...

Wu Liang finished his day of cultivation.

At this moment, his dantian had expanded to nine acres and eight fen.

With just one day of arduous training remaining, one can reach the peak of the second stage.

Such a speed of cultivation would surely astound anyone who knew about it.

It's important to know that for ordinary Grade D or Grade C dantian, the time required to advance to a minor realm can even be measured in years.

"It's time to go to the black market..."

Wu Liang nodded slightly, and then quietly left the White Horn Tribe with Tie Nu.

He possessed the memories of the Third Young Master, and thus easily located the black market.

The black market of Bajiao Mountain is located in a cave halfway up the mountain.

It was gloomy, dark, damp, and cold here.

Most of the mushroom growers coming and going were independent practitioners who wrapped themselves up tightly.

Most items sold on the black market are significantly cheaper than those sold by caravans.

However, all of these mushrooms and mushroom substrates have dubious origins.

Most of them were rogue mushroom cultivators who obtained their stolen goods through various dirty means.

That's why things here are much cheaper than those from caravans.

Correspondingly, when mushroom growers buy things here, it's equivalent to voluntarily taking on risks.

If your enemies come knocking on your door, you can only accept your bad luck.

When Wu Liang entered the black market, he did not appear as the Third Young Master, but instead casually transformed into Lu Renjia's appearance.

Perhaps it was their first time visiting the black market.

Wu Liang was quite curious about this, and wandered around several stalls, but did not go to find the black market merchant right away.

While he was wandering around, he actually came across a mushroom that really caught his eye.

That was a three-stage gas bottle mushroom.

This is one of the upgrade routes for the second-stage air sac mushroom.

The effects of the gas bottle mushroom are not much different from those of the air sac mushroom; both can store various types of gas.

However, compared to the air sac mushroom, which can only store ten strands of air, the air bottle mushroom can store nearly a thousand strands.

It is said that the Air Bottle Mushroom is a combination of the Air Sac Mushroom and the Air Storage Mushroom, combining the advantages of both.

This mushroom was of paramount importance to Wu Liang.

"You brat, you've been looking for ages, are you going to buy it or not!"

"If you're not going to buy, then get out of here and don't get in my way of doing business."

The stall owner, wrapped up tightly like a mummy, couldn't help but curse and speak when he saw Wu Liang hesitate to move.

"Ok?"

Wu Liang glanced at the stall owner.

Standing beside him, the Iron Slave, as imposing as an iron tower, immediately stepped forward.

The third-stage aura struck the stall owner directly in the face.

The stall owner had only turned around twice when he sensed this aura, and his eyes instantly cleared.

"Uh, haha, gentlemen, I wasn't talking about you."

"Keep watching, watch for as long as you want..."

Wu Liang raised an eyebrow and didn't beat around the bush.

"I never expected that a second-stage mushroom master like you could actually get a third-stage air bottle mushroom."

"You don't need this thing, sell it to me cheap."

Upon hearing this, the stall owner rubbed his hands together and chuckled.

"My lords, to be honest, this three-turn mushroom is small. It was cut from a rough stone and is definitely not something smuggled."

"Since you two gentlemen want it, I'll make it cheaper, 1200 drops of silver water, how about that?"

Wu Liang's expression turned cold upon hearing the price.

Without hesitation, he turned and left without the slightest regret.

Upon seeing his appearance, the stall owner's expression changed immediately, and he hurriedly cried out, "Sir, don't go, sir!"

"If it's too expensive, we can discuss it further!"

"How about a thousand silver coins?"

Wu Liang let it go in one ear and out the other, without stopping for a moment.

While the air bottle mushroom is important, it's not enough to make him spend a thousand silver coins.

After all, he could use a thousand silver coins to buy wine and mushrooms.

The bottle mushroom is significantly inferior to the seven-spice wine mushroom.

"My lord, stay!"

"Alright, I'll sell it to you for five hundred silver coins!"

The stall owner gritted his teeth, made a final, desperate offer, and quoted a bottom price.

Selling three-times-turned mushrooms for 500 silver coins is neither a profit nor a loss.

If it weren't for the fact that there are no air-bottom mushroom masters in Bajiaoshan, the effects of the air-bottom mushroom would definitely fetch a higher price.

Upon hearing the price, Wu Liang indeed stopped in his tracks.

He didn't turn his head, he just waved.

"Iron Slave, pay up."

Upon receiving the order, Tie Nu, without a word, took Silver Water and, together with the pained stall owner, successfully traded for a three-turn Qi Bottle Mushroom.

Wu Liang accepted the bottle mushroom and was in a great mood.

This time, he didn't wander around aimlessly; instead, he went directly to the black market merchant that the Third Young Master had contacted.

The black market dealer was crouching in a dark corner; he had a shifty, rat-like appearance.

However, you can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't judge the depth of the sea by its depth.

Although this guy doesn't look good, his cultivation level is not low at all. He is actually at the third level of high cultivation, even higher than Tie Nu.

As soon as Wu Liang walked over, the guy became alert.

He did not recognize Lu Renjia, who was actually Wu Liang in disguise, but he did recognize Tie Nu.

"You're the Third Young Master's men, aren't you?"

The black market merchant squinted, his voice hoarse, and spoke in a deep voice.

Wu Liang nodded slightly.

"You guys are here."

"If we hadn't made a contract beforehand, I would have sold that guy to someone else."

The black market merchant had an unfriendly expression and spoke in a cold voice.

He waved his hand, said "Come with me," and got up to head deeper into the cave.

Wu Liang followed without hesitation.

A mere third-level mushroom master is not enough to scare him.

Not long after...

The black market dealer led them to a secluded corner.

With a wave of his hand, a large iron cage flew out.

Just listen to a "bang"!
The iron cage fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"These are the slaves that your young master has taken a liking to."

"Pay with one hand and deliver with the other hand."

“Your young master has paid a deposit of six thousand silver coins. If you pay an additional four thousand silver coins, you can take this guy away.”

As the black market merchant spoke, he gestured with his chin toward the iron cage.

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Liang narrowed his eyes.

Curious, he glanced at the iron cage.

The iron cage was covered with countless yellow talismans.

As the smoke and dust cleared, the contents of the iron cage came into view.

After Wu Liang saw what was inside, his pupils contracted slightly.

"This is……"

"Zombies?"

That's right, it's a zombie!
Inside the iron cage covered with yellow talismans, locked up was a zombie with a blue face, fangs, and disheveled hair.

This zombie appeared to be an elderly man over eighty years old, with a face full of wrinkles and looking very old.

His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were tightly closed. A thick aura of death emanated from his entire body, making his forehead appear black.

Wu Liang sized up the zombie.

Its aura fluctuated in strength, making it impossible to determine its exact cultivation level for the time being.

"interesting……"

Wu Liang raised an eyebrow, his expression strange.

He truly hadn't expected that the slave the Third Young Master was willing to sell everything to obtain would turn out to be a zombie.

You should know that zombies are all pitifully weak unless they reach the fourth or fifth rank, and are even weaker than mushroom beasts.

The fourth turn is the Jumping Zombie, and the fifth turn is the Flying Zombie.

No matter how Wu Liang looked at it, this zombie didn't seem like a jumping zombie or even a flying zombie.

Could it be that this zombie has some other special characteristics?
(End of this chapter)