Mushroom Man

Wu Liang seemed to understand and nodded slightly.

At this moment, his understanding of the fickle nature of human nature deepened even further.

Previously, he had used the idea that human nature is unpredictable, merely a superficial attempt to forcibly change the will of others.

Now, through the fraudulent mushroom, he has gained a glimpse into the bigger picture and realized that people's hearts are unpredictable, and it is not necessary to forcibly change other people's will or control their hearts.

He can also use words to subtly guide others.

This approach exploits the fickle nature of human nature, not only failing to change others' personalities but also leading them to believe that this is exactly what they think and feel, leaving them with no room for doubt and making it even harder to decipher.

At this moment, Song Jinlian might have already regarded him as a great person who helped her and her daughter escape their suffering.

But Wu Liang himself knew clearly...

All he did was try to take advantage of the mother and daughter.

Of course, if everything goes smoothly, he wouldn't mind giving the mother and daughter a little opportunity.

But with Zhuo Buqun's face, he was destined to cause trouble on the island, make a fortune in silver water, and might even offend the Star Palace.

If he were to be exposed later, the mother and daughter would likely still face certain death.

In fact, Song Jinlian should have been aware of this as well.

For Song Jinlian, the best options were to report Wu Liang or to take Tao'er and elope away from this place of trouble.

But she didn't do that; instead, she regarded Wu Liang as her benefactor.

Undoubtedly, this was due to Wu Liang's guidance and the influence of the fraudulent mushroom.

What does it mean to manipulate people's hearts?

That's called manipulating people's hearts!
Wu Liang's attainments in this area already make him a qualified successor of the Formless lineage.

"Your Majesty the Special Envoy..."

Just then, Bone Immortal surfaced and came to greet Wu Liang.

Wu Liang withdrew his gaze, immediately stepped into the water, and followed him back to the West Palace.

Others can breathe underwater thanks to bubble mushrooms.

Wu Liang and Gu Zhenren, on the other hand, do not need to go through such trouble.

The Bone Man is essentially a skeleton; he doesn't need to breathe at all.

Wu Liang, on the other hand, has the Fetal Qi Mushroom by his side, making underwater breathing a natural and effortless skill.

They were perfectly at ease underwater, and the aura emanating from them kept even the most ferocious mushroom beasts from the seabed from getting any closer.

Only a group of white-boned skeleton soldiers followed closely behind the two.

These skeleton soldiers were clearly obtained by Bone Master during this day when he eliminated the mushroom masters who tried to spy on the Western Palace.

Wu Liang glanced at it briefly, then asked, "How was the harvest? Did you manage to expose yourself?"

Upon hearing this, Master Gu chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Your Excellency, I know what I'm doing. I've been targeting lone mushroom masters."

"Moreover, they are all independent mushroom masters; I haven't even touched the Star Palace mushroom masters."

"As for the gains..."

Master Gu paused here, and then respectfully handed over Wu Liang, which he had given to him beforehand.

"Your Excellency, I have dealt with eight unfortunate individuals this time."

"I have collected all their flesh and blood."

"In addition, there was an unexpected surprise..."

"Oh? An unexpected surprise?" Wu Liang took the storage mushroom and raised an eyebrow with some curiosity.

Master Gu chuckled, not keeping anyone in suspense.

"To be honest, while I was cleaning up those unlucky guys, I also unexpectedly ran into a few mushroom beasts that had been attracted by the noise of the falling into the sea."

"I killed it casually and put it into my storage mushroom. Your Excellency will know this at a glance." Upon hearing this, Wu Liang immediately became interested.

With a thought, he saw the corpse of the three-headed mushroom beast inside the storage mushroom.

These three mushroom beasts, one with two turns and two with three turns, are all mushroom beasts that resemble pufferfish.

It appeared to be an entire family, all of whom had been captured by Bone Master.

"This is... an inflatable pufferfish and an atmospheric pufferfish?"

Wu Liang instantly recognized the origins of these three-headed mushroom beasts: the second-stage was the Expanding Pufferfish, and the third-stage was the Atmospheric Pufferfish.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

This is really a case of searching for something without much effort, but finally finding it without any effort!
It must be said that Beihai is rich in resources, and its reputation is well-deserved.

Wu Liang originally wanted to steal Xinggong's business and breed bubble fish himself, but he was still missing the large pufferfish and the small sea turtle.

Unexpectedly, the waters surrounding Chaotic Star Island are home to giant river dolphins.

These atmospheric pufferfish should also be the source of the bubble fish that the Star Palace breeds.

That's great! As long as he can capture a large number of live atmospheric pufferfish, the cost of breeding bubble fish will be greatly reduced, and he won't have to spend silver to buy them anymore.

"Very good, well done."

"In the coming days, I will trouble Fellow Daoist Bone to keep an eye out for these kinds of mushroom beasts."

"This kind of mushroom beast is of great use to me; it is crucial to capture it alive."

Wu Liang patted Gu Zhenren on the shoulder and offered some words of encouragement.

Bone Master appeared loyal and excited, and respectfully replied, "Yes, Your Excellency!"

But who exactly is Wu Liang?
How could he be fooled by the superficial skills of the Bone Immortal?
"You can have this for now..."

"Work hard for me, and I will not treat you unfairly."

"When I ascend to immortality in the future, I will need a helper like you in heaven."

Wu Liang spoke calmly and casually bestowed the extremely precious Heavenly Origin Spirit Mushroom upon True Man Bone.

Of course, he added the word "temporarily" before the reward, indicating that he might take it back at any time.

Even so, it was still a great thing for Bone Master.

It should be noted that the biggest flaw of Bone Immortal's skeletal body is that his dantian is dead, making it impossible to generate true qi.

This is why Master Gu often struggles to activate the fungi due to insufficient true energy, thus being restricted in many ways. He wishes he could split his true energy into two strands to use.

Now that he has the Heavenly Origin Spirit Mushroom by his side, he can finally unleash the full power of a fourth-level White Bone Corpse.

Even if it's just a temporary reward, it's enough to let him enjoy himself for a while and prepare for his advancement to the fifth rank.

Under such circumstances, how could Bone Master not be happy?
"Thank you very much, Your Excellency!"

"I can never repay the kindness of the Special Envoy."

"I will follow the Special Envoy to the death, until the heavens and earth collapse and the seas dry up and the rocks crumble."

"A mere few mushroom beasts? I guarantee that I will search all the nearby seas for Your Excellency and capture enough of these mushroom beasts to present to Your Excellency."

"If I fail to fulfill the special envoy's request, I will die without regret!"

Master Gu was extremely excited and immediately made a solemn vow, signing a military pledge!
Wu Liang nodded slightly and said nothing more.

He wasn't worried about whether Bone Master could collect enough atmospheric pufferfish.

With his fourth-stage cultivation level and the Heavenly Origin Spirit Mushroom, as long as he doesn't deliberately slack off, catching some second- or third-stage mushroom beasts is a piece of cake.

With a swift movement, Wu Liang led Gu Zhenren back to the West Palace.

He hadn't forgotten that there was still a 'wife' in the palace, threatening suicide, waiting for him... (End of Chapter)