Mushroom Man

Chapter 31: Mushrooms have poison, people have loneliness

"What a shame for my cheat mushroom..."

"If I had the Fraud Mushroom in my hand, I might be able to use my first level of cultivation to tell a huge lie and play a trick on Master Wen, just like I did before."

"The means I can use now are too few."

Wu Liang sighed lightly and felt powerless.

Ultimately, he was just too weak...

In the face of absolute strength, any conspiracy is in vain.

Now it seems that there is only one choice left for him.

That is, using the imaginary power behind him as an excuse, he could temporarily hold Master Wen back and pretend to be friendly with her.

For Wu Liang, obeying Master Wen's investigation of the abbot was too risky, and he might become an abandoned pawn if he wasn't careful.

You know, only cooperation under equal status between both parties can be called win-win.

But the current situation can only be regarded as exploitation at best.

Wu Liang did want to deal with the abbot, but definitely not now.

Master Wen didn't want to expose herself in front of the abbot, and so did he.
"Forget it, there's no point in thinking so much. I'll just hold Master Wen back for now."

"As long as the so-called power behind me isn't exposed, she shouldn't do anything to me in the short term."

"Otherwise, both sides will perish together. Master Wen will have to consider whether she will be exposed to the abbot too early."

"The most urgent issue that needs to be addressed is the mushroom poison that has inexplicably appeared in my body..."

When Wu Liang thought of this, his eyes moved slightly.

After he impersonated Sekong, he was placed under house arrest in the Songzi Temple by the abbot in the name of cultivation.

During this period, most of the people he came into contact with were monks and nuns from the Songzi Temple.

In this case, who poisoned him?
Could it be that because the lecherous monk Sekong had offended too many people in his daily life, he had suffered an unexpected disaster and was secretly retaliated against?
"No, that's not right..."

"If you really want to take revenge on the lecherous monk Sekong like I do, you shouldn't poison him."

Wu Liang stroked his chin, thinking about this.

Mushroom poison is not a common method of poisoning, but it is widely known.

This is because this poison was mentioned at the beginning of "The Story of the Mushroom Man".

The so-called mushroom poison actually refers to... loneliness.

In this world, everything arises from loneliness.

The mushroom man grew mushrooms and created humans because he was lonely.

Mushrooms are often poisonous when eaten, so they are called poisonous mushrooms.

People are born lonely, and because of loneliness they spontaneously gather together, form tribes, and bring about civilization.

Conformity is a gradual evolutionary process in which humans try to combat loneliness.

"If I remember correctly, as long as people don't eat mushrooms raw, they shouldn't be able to contract mushroom poisoning."

"Unless someone took advantage of the loneliness mushroom and infected me with mushroom poisoning."

"But hasn't the Lonely Mushroom long been considered a demonic means of poisoning living beings, along with the Blood Mushroom and the Killing Mushroom?"

"Who is so bold as to use this thing against me? Is it really that serious?"

When Wu Liang thought of this, he suddenly realized something.

The most likely existence in the entire Songzi Temple to possess this kind of magical means, it seems there is no need to guess, it can only be...

"Abbot Shanren."

Wu Liang's face was gloomy, and he instantly locked on the candidate.

Even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cubs, yet this old man actually poisoned his own son. He had originally thought that since Sekong was so arrogant and unpunished for his crimes, Abbot Shanren should have loved him very much.

Now that I look at it this way, I'm afraid there's something else going on.

"The effects of mushroom poison are not lethal."

"If loneliness is primarily used against people, then mushroom poison is a means of acting on mushrooms."

"When mushrooms are infected with mushroom poison, everyone will naturally avoid them like the plague, and no one wants them, no one will raise them, and no one will grow them."

"As everyone knows, when humans refine mushrooms, they are actually using their own willpower to suppress the wild will of the mushrooms."

"If a mushroom master is infected with mushroom poison, the mushrooms in his dantian will gradually lose their self-will and transform back into wild will."

"Abbot Shanren resorted to such insidious means against his own son. What exactly does he want to do?"

Wu Liang calmed down, sorted out the clues, and thought hard for a long time.

Soon, he came to a conclusion...

Abbot Shanren's poisoning of him might be related to his improved cultivation.

When the mushroom master's cultivation level is low, mushroom poison rarely has any effect.

Only when the mushroom master's cultivation reaches a certain level will the mushroom poison have an effect.

“The strong are always lonely. The stronger a person is, the lonelier he is in his heart.”

"Abbot Shanren's purpose in doing this is probably to trigger the mushroom poison after I reach a certain rotation point, causing me to lose the mushroom."

"This way, I will be in his presence and will be easily controlled by him."

"He wants me to improve my cultivation quickly, but he also doesn't want to lose control over me."

"Could it be... that he has set his eyes on my Grade A Dantian and wants to use his old tricks to usurp my position?"

Wu Liang's eyes gradually became colder, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this possibility was not small.

This could explain why Sekong's disappearance caused such a big fuss by Abbot Shanren, who directly sent two fourth-level mushroom masters, both civil and military, to investigate the matter.

There is no love without reason in the world...

Abbot Shanren has a beastly heart and does not look like a kind father at all, yet he indulges Sekong in every way. It turns out that everything has a reason.

No wonder this guy is so concerned about his practice, it turns out he is doing it for himself.

"Perhaps the former Sekong also noticed this."

"Otherwise, no matter how much he indulges in wine and women, or listens to music in brothels, it would take more than half a year for a Grade A Dantian to reach the peak of the first level."

"Even someone as wicked as Sekong, who has become a lecherous monk, might have seen through all this and knew he was doomed, so he indulged himself while he could."

Wu Liang narrowed his eyes, as if thinking about something.

I didn’t expect that even though Sekong was completely ruined, he still left a big hole for himself!
He took a deep breath, stopped thinking about these trivial things, and turned his attention back to the mushroom poison.

Although his cultivation level is low now and the mushroom poison has no effect on him for the time being, this thing is still a thorn in his body.

Wu Liang didn't want all the mushrooms he had worked so hard to cultivate to be burned one day.

"There are many ways to solve loneliness, and most of them can be found in Mushroom Man Legend."

"Unfortunately, when I was at the Wu Family Academy, I only read the first section of the Mushroom Man's Tale."

"I only vaguely remember that the story behind it seemed to be about the mushroom man's child and the world's first venerable, the Great Sun Heavenly Venerable."

Wu Liang shook his head, regretting that he didn't take a closer look at the time.

But it was too late to regret now. It was his fault for having a preconceived notion and treating this thing as a useless picture book.

"Looks like I need to ask the errand boy at the temple to go down the mountain for me and buy a copy of the Mushroom Man's Biography..."

(End of this chapter)