Taking Liu Yifei back to Northeast China for the Chinese New Year has sent the entire internet into

Just after three o'clock in the afternoon, the light in the woods dimmed quickly.

The snow, which had just been golden, was covered with a layer of grayish-blue in the blink of an eye.

Fang Daqiang glanced at the sky, slowed his pace, and stopped beside an old pine tree.

"Alright, that's enough."

He turned around and glanced at everyone.

"We can't go any further. We need to turn back the way we came."

Although everyone hadn't had their fill of mountain running, they were well aware of the ironclad rules of deep forests.

They all tightened the collars of their cotton-padded coats, preparing to head home.

Fang Yu narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the back of several fallen trees in front of him.

It was at the bottom of a shady old cliff, where the snow was piled up so thick that the sun never shone.

But beneath that expanse of white snow, a faint hint of dark red could be seen peeking through.

The color is extremely pale.

If you didn't have good eyesight, you wouldn't have noticed this anomaly at all.

"Dad, wait a minute, I'll go take a look."

Fang Daqiang turned around and handed over the long wooden stick in his hand.

"Be careful not to slip."

Fang Yu took the stick and carefully stepped over the fallen log.

The snow was knee-deep, and every step forward kicked up a ring of white snow foam.

Reaching the bottom of the cliff, he casually broke off a branch.

He crouched down and began to gently brush away the surface snow, following the dark red hue.

One floor, two floors, three floors...

The thick snow was cleared away, revealing a section of the rotten, blackened trunk of an old broadleaf tree.

Immediately afterwards, that dark red hue also appeared.

"Goodness, there's a real catch down there."

Upon hearing this, Fang Daqiang's expression hardened, and he waded over following the footprints.

Old Fang's eyelid twitched when he glanced down at it.

The others, also intrigued, trudged over.

When everyone looked down and saw what it was, they were all dumbfounded.

At the base of that rotten piece of wood, there grew an umbrella-shaped plant larger than a large bowl.

Hua Yu gasped.

"Lingzhi! This is wild red lingzhi!!"

He slapped his thigh repeatedly, not even caring about the sticky pine oil on his hands.

"Look at its quality! Look at its color! And the size of its canopy!"

"This is absolutely the legendary thousand-year-old red Ganoderma lucidum!"

"That tree stump alone is worth several thousand!"

Hua Yu pointed at the Ganoderma lucidum on the ground and took a bite.

"This thing costs at least six figures!"

These words immediately caused an uproar in the live stream chat.

[A thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum has appeared! I witnessed history firsthand, brothers!!]

[Quickly take a screenshot to absorb some good luck! May it bless me with wealth, a promotion, and a raise this year!]

[Teacher Hua is right! These rare items hidden deep in the mountains are probably worth at least six figures!]

This trip to the mountains has probably wiped out my entire lifetime's salary...

At the foot of the snow cliff, everyone was excited by the discovery.

Fang Yu patted the remaining snow off his gloves and slowly straightened up.

He pointed with a stick at the red Ganoderma lucidum growing on the rotten wood.

"Actually, everyone, there is no such thing as a thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum in this world."

With a single, casual remark, he poured a bucket of cold water on the enthusiasm of the entire audience.

Hua Yu's smile vanished instantly, and her lips twitched.

"Huh...what does that mean?"

Fang Yu shrugged and continued his explanation:

"Ganoderma lucidum is, in essence, just a kind of fungus that grows on trees."

"From the time it grows to the time when the large canopy matures and hardens, it only takes about half a year at most."

"If you leave them on the tree, they'll get soaked by rain when the ice thaws in spring, and then get bitten by insects..."

"It'll rot into a pile of wood dust in less than two years, where would it get the chance to grow for a thousand years?"

This explanation left Hua Yu completely confused.

"Then...how do you explain this one?"

Hua Yu pointed to the red Ganoderma lucidum on the ground, still making its last struggle.

"It's winter! You just said it should have rotted long ago, but it's perfectly fine—"

At this moment, Fang Daqiang, who had been silent all along, took over the conversation.

"Xiaoyu is right, this is a red Ganoderma that has only grown for one year."

Old Fang pointed to the surrounding cliffs:

"This shady ditch never sees the sun, so it gets cold early."

"It is estimated that when this Ganoderma lucidum was only six or seven tenths mature, the extreme cold weather froze it solid."

"The growth period was forced to be interrupted, and the moisture inside was directly dried out by the low temperature."

Fang Daqiang patted the cliff face.

"It's like God himself stepped in and gave it a rapid freeze-drying treatment."

"That's why it was able to survive the entire winter in this icy and snowy place."

"In the jargon of us old mountain runners in Northeast China, this is called 'ice-sealed peak'."

Fang Yu picked up the conversation at the right moment.

"That's right, the millennium-old one doesn't exist."

"But the medicinal effects of wild red Ganoderma lucidum that is naturally freeze-dried before it is fully mature are not diminished at all; on the contrary, they are even more potent than those harvested after they have matured in autumn."

"Absolutely the best of the best."

"If you were to actually sell it on the market, that piece of birch polypore wouldn't even be worthy of carrying its shoes."

Now everyone understood.

This thing didn't live for thousands of years; it was created by nature forcibly exploiting an environmental bug.

The right timing, the right location, the right temperature, and the right humidity—you can't do without any of them.

After hearing this explanation, Chen Daoming nodded repeatedly.

"I've learned so much today, I've really learned something new."

The old man stared at the dark red Ganoderma lucidum, and his eyes changed.

"A natural miracle created by favorable timing and location."

"This is far more awe-inspiring than those vague and ethereal myths and legends."

The style of the live stream also took a turn.

[Holy crap... so the thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum is fake, but this one with the frozen top is even more amazing?? My knowledge gaps have increased again!]

[Even a hundred years of artificial cultivation couldn't replicate this extreme effect; this is truly a game-changer!]