The world enters the fungal world

Chapter 107 The Thousand-Faced Mushroom Mother (10,000 words, please subscribe and vote/thanks to reader 738 for the reward)

Just as Li Yu dodged, the Earth-Splitting Fungal Spider charged forward frantically, its claws slashing out with sharp serrations. Anyone caught in its claws would immediately suffer a laceration.

Li Yu charged forward, swinging his crystallized blade with his right hand. With a series of soft "swoosh" sounds, the crystallized blade severed one spider claw after another that was slashing towards him.

Another blade slashed down, falling above the open mouthparts of the Earth-Splitting Fungal Spider and splitting it in half from the mouthparts downwards.

A large amount of white liquid spurted out, and Li Yu sheathed his sword and retreated rapidly, rushing towards the last Earth-Splitting Fungal Spider that had just been knocked over and flipped over.

Two of the three rare-level fungal beasts that appeared were killed by Li Yu in the blink of an eye. Zhou Xigang and Qian Lili, who were standing motionless to the side, all showed a look of surprise.

They all had the same feeling that Li Yu's strength was getting stronger and stronger.

Unbeknownst to them, Li Yu had not yet used the abilities "Supernormal Capture" and "Eye of Truth and Delusion," and what he was showing now was not his full strength.

Feeling the surging power within him, the "Fountain of Light" unleashed even greater power, and with a push of his feet, he almost leaped into the air.

The Earth-Splitting Fungal Spider sensed danger and lashed out with its claws, attempting to attack and block Li Yu. At the same time, it exposed its abdomen, intending to spray fungal hyphae from within.

Li Yu swung his crystallized blade with his right hand, severing the spider claws that were slashing towards him, while the iron spear in his left hand fell from the air.

Both its speed and power reached an astonishing level. With a "thud," it landed solidly at the junction of the head and body of the Earth-Splitting Fungal Spider.

The terrifying power within the iron spear shattered the connection point, sending the Earth-Splitting Spider's head flying off. From the headless spider's body, its internal organs mixed with fluid gushed out.

Li Yu landed, exhaled softly, and slowly put away the crystallization knife, sensing the changes in the pupil spores in his right eye.

As the spores advance to a higher level, their size increases fourfold compared to when they first entered the field, and they need to double in size for each subsequent advancement.

This means that if he wants to break through to the top level again, the size of the spores needs to double compared to the advanced level.

As the spores grow larger, they require more energy, making it increasingly difficult for them to grow.

Looking at the three corpses of the Earth-Splitting Spiders, Li Yu found a strengthening crystal core among them and picked it up, fusing it into the crystallized fungus.

Now, in his two enhanced crystallization bacteria, three more enhanced crystal cores have been fused together, but unfortunately, he failed to achieve a third enhancement. Li Yu knows that he still needs to fuse more enhanced crystal cores.

"Let's go." Li Yu picked up his iron spear and walked forward again.

The others followed closely behind. Any fungal beast that appeared here was a rare existence, and only Li Yu could deal with it. No one dared to stray too far from Li Yu.

Soon, two more Earth-Splitting Spiders appeared on the crystal wall above. Just like before, Li Yu went forward alone to fight them.

Lin Muying secretly activated "Fountain of Light" to help, and soon, Li Yu killed two more Earth-Splitting Fungal Spiders.

They then encountered three more attacks along the way, but fortunately, the number of Earth-Splitting Spiders that appeared each time was not large, usually between two and three.

With the help of Lin Muying's "Fountain of Light," Li Yu managed to kill these Earth-Splitting Spiders relatively easily.

After killing these Earth-Splitting Spiders, a total of four Enhancement Cores were obtained.

Lin Muying's "Fountain of Light" was very effective in easily dealing with these Earth-Splitting Spiders, so Li Yu gave Lin Muying two of its enhancement crystal cores.

He knew that Lin Muying's Rockclaw had already been enhanced once, and then fused with an enhancement crystal core. With these two more, her Rockclaw could be enhanced twice.

Lin Muying fused the two enhancement crystal cores into Rock Claw, a hint of joy appearing on her face. Sure enough, Rock Claw received two enhancements.

The foot-long rock claws stopped growing, but gained new abilities: the blades of the five rock claws could vibrate, increasing their lethality and destructive power.

The other two enhanced crystal nuclei were fused into the crystallizing bacteria by Li Yu.

Including the three he had fused before, he has now fused in five enhancement crystal cores, but he still failed to achieve a third enhancement.

With the integration of five enhancement crystal cores, although the energy fluctuations within the crystallized bacteria could be felt, it was impossible to break through and undergo a third enhancement.

"It seems that the first two enhancements of this symbiotic bacteria were not difficult, but the third enhancement is not easy. Even after fusing five of them, it is still not possible to break through."

Li Yu shook his head secretly and stopped thinking about it.

There were no further attacks, but the temperature in the air continued to rise, and the view ahead gradually became brighter.

Finally, the five of them emerged from the crack in the crystal wall, and a huge space appeared before them.

The space was enveloped in a faint, fiery red light, and in front of it rose a giant hill formed by countless mycelia.

The hill's surface is riddled with holes, making it look from a distance like a beehive magnified a thousand times.

As the group slowly approached, they were surprised to see the ground covered with dense mycelium. When they saw what was entwined within the mycelium, they were all taken aback.

These mycelia are entangled with a large number of biological corpses, including humanoid creatures similar to those sealed in crystal walls, as well as the Earth-Splitting Spiders they had just encountered.

There were also giant slugs, vampire moths, and many more creatures they couldn't name.

These creatures all looked as if their life force had been drained, resembling withered, dried-up corpses.

In front of these piles of dried corpses, countless mycelia entwine and spread across the ground, forming a bizarre path of dried corpses.

The cave walls on both sides are also covered with various dried organisms intertwined and fused together by countless mycelia, which, together with the giant crystal walls on both sides, form an indescribable, eerie, bizarre, and terrifying cave.

"What should we do? Should we keep going forward?" Zhou Xigang looked at the four people. If they went any further, they would only be able to walk on the path paved with countless dried corpses.

Qian Lili kept looking around, then stared at the path of corpses in front of her, her face growing increasingly grim.

Lin Muying frowned slightly and sighed, "What else can we do? We can only keep going forward and see what happens, hoping there's an exit ahead."

Qian Lili murmured, "It seems that this is the only way. At least there is a glimmer of hope if we go forward, but if we go back, we will only be trapped in that boundless darkness."

Li Yu didn't say anything and went up first.

Carefully step on the dried corpses covered in mycelium on the ground. These corpses were already stiff as iron, and stepping on them made a slight rustling sound.

With Li Yu taking the lead, Lin Muying immediately followed, and the other three also quietly walked up.

At first, everyone felt strange stepping on these stiff, mummified corpses, but after a few times, they gradually got used to it.

The five carefully followed the path of corpses and soon arrived at the honeycomb-shaped fungal mound. Li Yu saw that the cave was filled with a large amount of mycelium, which wrapped around a huge corpse.

The corpse also looked as if its life essence had been drained, its surface withered, turning it into a dried-up corpse.

It must be some kind of powerful fungal beast, but the booklet didn't record it, and its surface was covered with mycelium, making it difficult to identify.

It was only barely possible to discern that this fungal beast was enormous; its exposed head alone was as large as a millstone, suggesting that its body was certainly not small.

In the surrounding caves, there were basically similar dried-up creatures, each with a different appearance and a huge body.

One can imagine that they must have once possessed immense power, but now they have all become lifeless, turned into dried-up corpses.

"What do you think caused them to turn into mummies? Was it all due to these fungi?"

Zhou Xigang muttered to himself, his expression one of shock as he watched. He could imagine that if these monsters were all alive, it would be a disaster for humanity.

Qian Lili shook her head and said, "Who knows? Maybe this used to be the nest of the fungal beasts, and then some disaster happened, and they died here."

Just as Li Yu was about to speak, he suddenly felt a wave of hunger.

They ate a jelly mushroom earlier, and now they're feeling hungry again, which means they've been here for quite some time.

Li Yu opened Fang Mingxuan's backpack, took out a jelly mushroom, and ate it.

Seeing Li Yu eat, the others also felt a bit hungry, so they all took out a jelly mushroom and ate it.

There are now nine jelly mushrooms left in my backpack.

After finishing their meal, the five continued walking, climbing over the honeycomb-shaped fungal mound, and discovered that on the other side of the honeycomb fungal mound, there were even more corpses piled up.

These corpses were piled up like mountains, densely packed, and extending outwards; their number was probably in the tens of thousands.

To the left of these mountains of corpses, billowing heat and emitting a red glow, the fiery red light they had vaguely seen earlier was revealed from the left side of these mountains of corpses.

Surprised, the five cautiously moved to the left, only to feel a wave of heat. To the left of this mountain was a sheer cliff hundreds of meters deep, with boiling lava below.

Looking down, everyone could only see fiery red magma surging everywhere, with columns of fire reaching tens or even thirty meters high spewing out from time to time.

Everyone was taken aback after seeing this and hurriedly backed away, afraid of falling.

No matter how strong their bodies or how powerful their strength, if they were to fall into the boiling magma hundreds of meters below, they would surely die and be reduced to ashes in no time.

"How can there be lava here?!" Zhou Xigang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Li Yu looked around, and Lin Muying suddenly said, "The presence of lava is a good thing. At least we can see the rock walls, so maybe we can find an exit here."

Qian Lili perked up and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, if we follow the direction of this rock wall, we might actually find an exit."

O

Just as she finished speaking, Li Yu suddenly heard a sound and looked towards the end of the corpse mountain. Immediately, he saw a thick, dark red fungal tendril extending from the corpse mountain, its surface densely covered with suckers.

The mushroom tentacles that had been extended out of the mountain of corpses suddenly slapped down.

Several dried corpses were swatted away from the surface of the mountain of corpses, and then a second dark red fungal tentacle emerged from below.

Li Yu's heart tightened: "King Cuttlefish?"

The culprits who caused them to fall into this underground world are the giant squid and the rotting human-faced mushroom.

The rotting human-faced mushroom is now entangled by the crystal fungal tendrils in the cave, sucked dry and hanging there, while the giant squid has disappeared.

Li Yu never expected to find it in this mountain of corpses.

Thinking of this, Li Yu suddenly had a thought. The rotting human-faced mushroom had been sucked dry, and what he saw before him were also various dried corpses of creatures. Could it be that—

Their dried-up corpses were piled up here, caused by some being in this cave?

And those crystal fungal tendrils are part of this existence?

Li Yu recalled the countless mycelial networks he had seen underground using the Eye of Truth and Illusion. If there was indeed some mysterious existence in this underground world, it must be that mycelial network.

"Look, what's that giant squid digging for in that mountain of corpses?" Zhou Xigang whispered.

They discovered the giant squid in the distant mountain of corpses, and dared not approach. They could only hide quietly, lurking beside a pile of dried corpses, and secretly observe.

Li Yu saw that in just a short time, mycelial tentacles emerged from the distant pile of corpses, frantically pulling the dried corpses to one side.

Many of the mummified corpses were torn apart and sent flying to the left, rolling down the rock face and falling into the boiling lava below.

The lava was terrifying; the fallen dried corpses were instantly swallowed up by it, rising into raging flames before quickly disappearing.

Gradually, a huge pit was dug out by the giant squid at the far end of Hushan Mountain. The group dared not approach, as their view was blocked and they could not see clearly.

All that could be seen were dark red mycelial tendrils frantically wrapping around the dried corpses and tossing them to both sides.

Suddenly, a strange, faint sound came from somewhere, and everyone's heart tightened.

But then, from those mycelial tentacles, a huge squid-like head emerged, revealing the head of the giant squid.

Immediately following with a "boom," as if attacked by some force, the enormous giant squid was thrown out.

The giant squid's enormous body rolled along the mountain of corpses, its mycelial tentacles extending out to entangle something from the excavated mountain of corpses and drag it out.

It was an enormous mushroom cap, and the bottom of the cap was densely covered with human faces. Just looking at the heads, it looked like a rotting human-faced mushroom magnified many times over.

However, what lies beneath the cap is not a white vertebra, but rather a large number of corpses melted together.

Most of the corpses had melted together, their bodies resembling giant pythons, and the giant squid dragged them more than ten meters from below the mountain of corpses.

Upon suddenly seeing the monster being dragged out of the mountain of corpses, Li Yu's heart skipped a beat. He suddenly remembered that the booklet had mentioned it briefly when it recorded the description of the rotting corpse human-faced mushroom.

That is, places where corpses accumulate over many years may give rise to rotting, human-faced mushrooms.

If the rotting human-faced mushroom can be nourished by the earth's energy, it may evolve into an even more terrifying and bizarre monster after decades or even hundreds of years, known as the Thousand-Faced Mushroom Mother.

Compared to the Corpse-faced Mushroom, the Thousand-faced Mushroom Mother is far more terrifying. It is said that its thousand faces can spew corrosive corpse gas, and once a living person is touched by the corpse gas, their bones will immediately melt and be corroded.

These monster brochures contain no pictures, only brief descriptions of one or two sentences, and there is no description of the Thousand-Faced Mushroom Mother's appearance or any further details.

But when Li Yu saw the monster dragged out by the giant squid, it was the first thing that came to his mind.

If nothing unexpected happens, this monster hidden deep in Hushan is very likely the Thousand-Faced Mushroom Mother mentioned in the pamphlet.

At this moment, the giant squid entangled the monster with a human face, trying to drag it out from the bottom of the mountain of corpses.