Mushroom Man

Chapter 292 The Soul-Leading Chicken, Towards Life and Death!
Wu Liang, as the culprit behind all of this, felt no remorse whatsoever.

He watched all this with a smile, as if waiting for something.

At that moment...

"Giggle giggle!!!"

A loud, deafening rooster crow suddenly rang out.

The golden roosters, who had been scrambling for the red spider lilies and pecking each other until their heads bled, suddenly fell silent.

Without exception, they all trembled like quails, not daring to utter a sound.

"coming……"

Upon hearing the sound, Wu Liang's eyes lit up.

He squinted and quickly looked in the direction of the sound.

Then a majestic rooster, several meters tall, flapped its wings and charged over.

Clearly, the newcomer was no nobody; it was the only sixth-rank Immortal Soul Beast on Golden Rooster Mountain—the Soul-Leading Rooster.

"Hey!"

The soul-leading rooster's eyes gleamed, and with a casual peck, it turned a daring golden rooster that was still trying to peck at the spider lily into mincemeat on the spot.

Upon seeing this, Wu Liang's breathing slowed considerably.

You should know that the golden rooster that was casually pecked to death by the Soul-Leading Rooster was a Soul Beast of the fifth level.

This golden rooster alone is enough to instantly defeat Wu Liang in his current state.

Even so, in the face of the Soul-Leading Chicken, a sixth-rank immortal soul beast, it was less than an ant or an insect.

The difference between immortals and mortals is considerable.

If Wu Liang at this moment possessed the strength of the Blood River Ancestor, even if he wasn't at his peak, he would likely be able to handle this Soul-Leading Chicken.

Unfortunately, he didn't have that kind of strength.

Now, for a mere third-level mushroom master like him, even getting close to this Soul-Leading Chicken is a pipe dream.

He was able to get close to the soul-leading rooster earlier only because Zhuge Huowang was nearby.

If he were to rashly approach this soul-leading rooster now, he would likely be instantly terrified by its unconscious crowing.

"If you want to possess another body and be reborn, you must rely on the external force of the Soul-Leading Chicken."

"Otherwise, with my current cultivation level, it would be nothing short of a pipe dream to attempt to seize another's body."

Wu Liang's thoughts raced, and his eyes flickered.

He didn't run away when the Soul-Leading Chicken arrived; instead, he floated in mid-air, watching the Soul-Leading Chicken's every move.

That's right!

The soul-leading rooster was his ultimate goal in forcing his way into Golden Rooster Mountain.

In his conception, to gain possession of another's body and thus prolong life and escape predicament, the following three conditions must be met.

A suitable physical body, a method of possession, and a powerful soul.

First and foremost, a suitable physical body is required.

Wu Liang's chosen target was naturally his cousin Wu De, with whom he was related by blood.

He made considerable preparations for this...

The Blood Purifying Mushroom refines the bloodline, and the Soul Devouring Wu De enhances the soul's compatibility. Furthermore, he improves the Nine Clans Separation technique, ensuring that only the life is taken without harming the body.

Although the separation of his nine clans would still cause Wu De's physical body and blood to be lost, turning him into a dried corpse, as a master who was proficient in the blood path, he would naturally have ways to recover after successfully possessing another body.

At the very least, three cycles of the Blood Regeneration Mushroom would be enough to reawaken the vitality of Wu De's physical body.

Then comes the method of possession.

Normally, matters involving possession and rebirth are mostly things that only immortals can do.

Few ordinary mushroom masters can master the art of possession.

However, although there are few, it does not mean there are none.

Things like the mushroom house and the magpie's nest have similar methods of possession.

Of course, "cuckoo in the nest" doesn't mean taking over someone else's property, but rather annexing someone else's property and impersonating them.

Its function is more like allowing one person to inherit everything from another, making the two one, a concept that is not much different.

At best, this can only be considered as achieving a similar effect of possession through other schools of thought.

Because occupying another's body doesn't count as possession, Wu Liang is now able to plan his rebirth by possession.

Otherwise, even if Wu Liang had the method of seizing a body and being reborn, he would not be able to do so.

After all, in the mushroom world, possession is forbidden by heaven and earth, and each person only has one chance to possess another body.

The second attempt to possess another body usually fails, and the person is targeted by the heavens and earth.

At present, Wu Liang has neither magpie nests nor mushrooms with the ability to possess bodies.

In this situation, if Wu Liang wants to possess another body and be reborn, he must devise a method that allows him to possess another body and be reborn even without possessing a fungus.

This is something that even the most brilliant geniuses or the fifth-level mushroom masters at the pinnacle of mortals would probably be unable to achieve.

However, Wu Liang was different.

He inherited the memories of the Blood River Ancestor, making him comparable to an old monster who has lived for over a thousand years.

With his profound experience, terrifying insight, and the secrets provided by the hermit, he finally devised an extremely daring method of possession.

The core of this possession technique is this sixth-rank immortal soul beast... the Soul-Leading Chicken.

Wu Liang did not possess the Immortal Mushroom, but he could use a clever method to treat the Soul-Leading Chicken as an Immortal Mushroom.

According to Jian Shouqing, the Soul-Leading Chicken possesses the ability to walk the Yellow Springs, guide the souls of the dead, and keep their spirits conscious on the road to the underworld.

These abilities of the Soul-Leading Chicken are crucial to Wu Liang.

As we all know, true death occurs when the body decays and the soul sinks into the underworld. As long as the soul has not sunk into the underworld and has not completely perished, then the person cannot be considered dead.

Therefore, Wu Liang suddenly had a brilliant idea and put forward a bold one.

If he is forced to embark on the road to the underworld after his death, can he live towards death like the Dark Moon Celestial Venerable in the Legend of the Mushroom Man?

Before he truly reaches the Yellow Springs, if he tries to escape the Yellow Springs Road and return to the mortal world by the same route, can he be reborn?

And the answer is yes.

The underworld and the mortal world, symbolizing life and death, have extremely blurred boundaries in the mushroom world. They are complementary and interconnected.

Even the Heavenly Venerable of Oblivion, who was born an inanimate object, was able to live from death and be reborn from death in his story. Why can't he?

He didn't even need to achieve the true transformation from death to life like the Celestial Venerable of the Obscure Moon.

After all, all he wanted was for his soul to escape the Yellow Springs and return to the mortal world, so that he could have a chance to possess another body; it wasn't a true reversal of life and death.

However, achieving this is not easy either.

First, he must ensure that he remains conscious when his soul enters the underworld after his death.

This alone is enough to stump most people, including even the Mushroom Fairy.

That's right!

Even a mushroom fairy, without the corresponding means, cannot ensure that her soul remains clear on the road to the underworld.

That is why Wu Liangcai needed to rely on the external force of the Soul-Leading Chicken, which was at the level of an immortal, to keep himself conscious on the road to the underworld.

Once he regains consciousness, the first challenge he will face is how to escape the underworld and be resurrected.

The road to the underworld is winding and twisting; one wrong step and you could get lost in it, becoming a lonely ghost in the netherworld.

In the legend of the mushroom people, the Heavenly Venerable of the Hidden Moon, who wanted to live even in the face of death, went through countless hardships on the road to the Yellow Springs.

This shows just how difficult the road to the underworld is.

However, Wu Liang actually has a significant advantage over Huiyue Tianzun.

As mentioned before, in the mushroom world, the underworld and the mortal world, life and death, are actually interconnected concepts.

The other end of life is death, and the other end of death is life.

When the Celestial Venerable of Oblivion walked the Road to the Underworld, he deliberately headed towards the depths of the Underworld, which was actually a way of seeking death.

Only by reaching death can one attain life; this is living towards death.

Wu Liang, however, did not need to actively seek death like the Dark Moon Celestial Venerable.

Because he himself entered the underworld after death, he naturally stood at the end of death.

He only needs to follow the path he came from and return to find the gate of life.

However, the road to the underworld is intricate and complex. How can Wu Liang be sure that the path he is taking is the same one he came by?

This requires the help of the Soul-Leading Chicken and the Resurrection Grass.

The soul-leading rooster can enter and leave the underworld, so it naturally knows where it came from.

The resurrection herb is meant to guide the souls of the deceased back home.

With both working together, they should be able to help him find his way back.

Of course, that's not all!
If resurrection were that simple, there would be countless creatures in the mushroom world that stubbornly refuse to die.

The Road to the Underworld has always been easy to enter but difficult to leave; one is only allowed to enter, but not to exit.

As the saying goes, the little devils of the underworld are the most troublesome.

The road to the underworld is filled with the souls of the dead. If Wu Liang wants to go against the current and return, he must possess a soul that is powerful enough.

The Thousand Souls and the Ghost Mushroom were prepared for this purpose.

Clearly, Wu Liang had considered all the dangers he might encounter in his journey to the underworld and his resurrection.

Even so, the probability of him successfully reviving is still less than 10%.

After all, everything he conceived was just theory, and no one knew the real situation.

This path was destined to be fraught with peril, yet he had no choice but to embark on this path of facing death to find a way out.

However, compared to the previous hopeless situation where there was no chance of survival, at least he now saw a glimmer of hope for breaking the deadlock and turning the tide.

For freedom, for his obsession, he had to take a gamble and see if he was destined to survive!

And now, all he needs to do is...

Take down the Soul-Leading Chicken!
Wu Liang's eyes burned as he looked at the majestic, spirit-leading rooster that was feasting on its meal.

At this moment, less than ten breaths had passed.

The Soul-Leading Chicken had actually eaten all the spider lilies that Wu Liang had scattered.

The other golden roosters only dared to watch, not daring to get any closer.

"Giggle giggle!!!"

The rooster, leading the soul, crowed joyfully to the sky.

It had been a long time since it had opened its belly wide and pecked at its beloved spider lilies as it did today.

Zhuge Huowang, that stingy little rascal, wouldn't even give it any spider lilies.

I finally got to eat the delicious spider lily, and I really enjoyed it.

After the rooster crowed once, it looked around and found that it had eaten all the spider lilies. Its excitement gradually faded.

Clearly, it still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

The rooster looked around, then its gaze finally settled on Wu Liang, who was suspended in mid-air.

Do not!
To be precise, its gaze was fixed on the remaining spider lilies that Wu Liang's bloody hand was holding.

(End of this chapter)