Bearing the blue sky

"As expected, you are the God of Fungi!"

Seeing the devastation on the ground, Zhu Ge took a deep breath.

菌！

Mushroom God!

This is a fungus god!

Zhu Ge had been wondering what kind of god could hide in the village without being discovered.

It should be understood that the birth of gods and demons must be related to death; they are formed after the death of living beings.

Moreover, gods and ghosts are two different things: one steals the spirit, and the other bewitches the soul.

Ghosts need the souls of living beings to be strong enough, while gods need to have enough spirits.

The soul (魄) is emotion.

Some city gods became gods by accumulating enough faith power through the worship of thousands of people.

But Jianshan Village never worships gods, so how did that god come to be?

The answer is bacteria.

Many people have a very special feeling towards bacteria.

It's delicious and fragrant, and much easier to pick than from hunting or fruit trees.

At the same time, people also have a certain awe of fungi, fearing that they might eat poisonous fungi.

In addition, the celebrations during festivals like the Mushroom Festival generate enough emotional power.

This led to the creation of the Bacterium God.

It is estimated that the aura that Mr. Insect mentioned flashed by in the west was the aura of the Fungus God becoming a god.

It's normal that the "bacterial god" was difficult for the teachers to discover.

As for why the Bacterium God can control so many people.

"You are not just a fungus god; your true form should be a fungus like cordyceps."

Zhu Ge's voice was serious: "Using parasitic methods, spores are scattered into the bodies of living beings, paralyzing their nerves, and then controlling their behavior!"

"It's a pity you're naturally fragile. Although you're not at the Niche Realm, you're probably no match for a Confucian scholar at the Body Cultivation Realm!"

If we quantify the realms, the Niche Realm and the Cultivation Realm are both the first realm, while the Fungus God has now entered the second realm.

However, because its innate conditions are inferior to those of humans, the Fungus God needs to hide in the shadows to manipulate everything.

Otherwise, it would be better to simply enslave everyone.

"Having seen through your true nature, you are no longer a threat!"

May Zhuge's eyes be bright.

Fungi and spores!

He was able to recall it because of Mr. Insect's original theory about natural enemies.

There are many things in nature that can serve this purpose.

For example, mantises and horsehair worms, and cordyceps, etc.

Mr. Insect's inexplicable fear of entering Jianshan Village is clearly because Cordyceps is the nemesis of insects.

Some fungi in nature are specifically designed to control organisms.

A fungus called Cordyceps militaris can release more than 30,000 spores per second to reproduce.

If even one spore lands on an arthropod such as an ant or cockroach, it will begin to devour it.

Mycelium extends from the exoskeleton to muscle tissue and then to the interior, directly affecting the central nervous system, such as the brain and spine.

It uses its own bioelectricity to replace the original bioelectricity.

It's important to understand that the essence of the brain controlling the body is that nerves control the limbs by transmitting bioelectrical signals.

The mycelium directly replaces the nervous system of living beings, replacing both the central and peripheral nervous systems.

The creature was thus turned into a living puppet that only knew how to obey the commands of the mycelium.

In nature, the Cordyceps militaris fungus, after controlling arthropods, directs them to crawl to a place where the temperature, humidity, and light are suitable for growth and germination.

It then begins to grow and sprout, absorbing all the nutrients from the host's body.

In my previous life, this fungus would not have caused much harm to the human body.

But the world is different.

Therefore, Zhu Ge was able to be certain that the god before him was the fungus god.

This fungus could very well be called a zombie fungus!

This zombie fungus absorbed the emotional power of Jianshan Village and became a god under certain circumstances. It then lay dormant until the master left, at which point it invaded.

Hua Liusha's body was thus brought under control.

The other villagers were the same; one by one, they became walking corpses under the control of the spores.

Given the characteristics of this fungus, it wouldn't be difficult to alter memories.

However, just as Zhu Ge thought, fungi are inherently inferior to other living beings, and even if they have a higher realm, they are not necessarily stronger.

Just like ants and anteaters, who are at the same level, the anteater is generally more powerful.

The limitations of its physical form mean that even though this fungal god is now a level above the scholar, it can only remain hidden in the shadows.

Zhu Ge even speculated that the Fungus God was merely a soul, and its power depended entirely on the host it parasitized.

"You know quite a lot... In this body's memories, you don't seem to be that smart."

After hearing Zhu Ge's words, Hua Liusha replied with a smile, "I didn't expect you to be so clever in a life-or-death crisis, Brother Zhu..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hua Liusha gently waved his hand.

The next moment, the villagers who had been lying on the ground stood up again like puppets on strings.

"I didn't want these lovely uncles and elders to die," Hua Liusha said with a smile.

"But since you, Brother Zhu, are pressing me so hard, I have no choice but to reap the rewards ahead of schedule!"

Zhu Ge said expressionlessly, "You don't want them to die? You want to turn them into puppets who will generate emotions for you for the rest of their lives, don't you!"

This is the true scheme of the Bacterium God!

Living beings possess the power of emotions as long as they are alive.

Everyone in Jianshan Village is alive and has body temperature.

There was no emotional power at all; clearly, it had all been transformed into a tool specifically designed to provide emotional power to the Fungus God.

Being a living dead is worse than being dead.

"So what if you're a puppet? But you, you remained unmoved even as your parents died tragically before your eyes—what a cruel heart you have!"

Hua Liusha sneered, "Such an unfilial person should just die!"

The next moment, the controlled villagers, with their heads tilted to the side, pounced on Zhu Ge like a group of zombies.

"Ma Laizi, wake those people up! Then stop all the villagers!"

Zhu Ge had practiced martial arts for a few days and had previously worked as a laborer, so he easily forced his pursuers back with a few kicks.

These can only be described as walking corpses; they are simply walking flesh with virtually no fighting ability.

While forcing the zombies back, Zhu Ge quickly said to Ma Laizi, "Those people still lying on the ground are those who have broken free from the bacteria's control!"

"Wake them up, then stop these zombies!"

This is a fungus god, not a fungus demon!

In other words, even if one can control the human body, it can still break free of control under the stronger bioelectric shocks from people.

Simply put, it's a battle of wills!

However, in this competition, only four or five people in the entire village survived, while the rest all became nourishment for the fungus god.

But four or five people are enough!

"Okay!" Ma Laizi looked nervous, but he didn't mess up.

He quickly took a few big strides, picked up two long benches, and started waving them around, forcing the zombie villagers back.

He then went to a young man and kicked him, yelling, "You little black bastard! Wake up!"

The young man looked pained, but miraculously opened his eyes at Ma Laizi's voice.

Ma Laizi ignored the young man named Xiao Heidan and continued to wake up the others.

"You big-bellied dog! Damn it, did you get all that drinking for free the other day? Get up!"

"Zhang Lei, Zhang Lei, your wife is dead! If you're a man, get up and avenge her!"

"Damn it, you little rascal Wang, you coward! I borrowed two taels of silver from you and haven't paid it back yet. Do you dare get up now? If you get up, I'll pay you back!"

"Little Li! Wake up! If you don't wake up, I'll take you home as my concubine!"

"Sui Niang! Don't you want your daughter anymore? Your daughter is still young, how will she survive without a mother?"

Ma Laizi followed the same method, calling out to people one by one in either a fierce or humiliating tone, and the effect was surprisingly good.

At least three or four people have already woken up.

During this process, the zombie villagers were also forced back by Ma Laizi.

Just then, Hua Liusha walked lightly towards Zhu Ge: "Brother Zhu, you don't think you can stop these villagers, do you?"

Instead of staying put, Zhu Ge pulled the dazed-looking Yu Xiucai around to avoid them.

Perhaps because of the suppression of Confucian and Taoist power within Yu Xiucai's body, no mushrooms appeared on his body.

However, Yu Xiucai did not return to a conscious state; instead, he seemed to have completely become a vegetable after his mind was taken away.

"Hey, you keep calling me 'Brother Zhu, Brother Zhu,' who's your brother, old mushroom?"

Zhu Ge retaliated without hesitation, while simultaneously rapidly approaching the north side of the village.

The wedding room is located on the north side of the village!

"Little Hua! Come out quickly!"

"Marry me and consummate the marriage immediately!"