Forge a path to success

"Well, no."

"Then I'll speak for the others." Lico raised her gun and thrust again, "Those middle-aged men pointing fingers like my dad are so annoying!"

Green light surged from her body, gathering at the tip of her cross-shaped spear. The infusion of life force made the wooden spear extremely hard. She thrust the spear with all her might, aiming directly at Chu Hengkong's abdomen. The speed of her Sky-Bearing Wings was unleashed to its fullest extent at this moment, and onlookers could not even see Li Ke's movements clearly. However, the next moment, a heavy thud resounded across the ground, and the tip of Li Ke's spear deflected and fell straight into the soil.

Her gunplay had been anticipated! Chu Hengkong stepped on the cross-shaped gun barrel, prematurely interrupting the decisive blow. His prosthetic body, like a slender snake, broke free of its restraints and instead lunged for Li Ke's neck.

Lico was startled and immediately abandoned her weapon, retreating. Her Sky-Supporting Wings unfolded again, propelling her to an altitude of over a thousand meters. Orange-yellow fruits, like solidified flames, sprouted from the woven branches of her wings. Each fruit was equivalent to a full-force attack from a Point 3 Purifying Fire, even more powerful than the mushroom traps she had previously set. She had already prepared her next move: if close combat proved disadvantageous, she would use her speed advantage to launch a bombardment—

"Be careful."

A heart pounded like a war drum from above; Chu Hengkong had caught up! The man was right behind him!

The explosive power of the Heavenly Demon Furnace brought him unparalleled instantaneous acceleration. He used his willpower to create a blood-red longsword, held it above his head with his right hand, and pressed down on the blade with his left hand, assuming a thrusting stance.

A chilling alarm bell rang in Lico's mind. She folded her wooden wings back into a shield, attaching all the fruits she had intended for attacking to the surface of the wing shield, using the propulsion from the explosion to slow the stabs. With layers of reinforcement beneath the wooden wings, Lico could fly towards the ground at top speed.

Then the sword light slashed down, like the cold, sharp starlight that cleaved through the clouds!

The first thing to appear was the explosive flames on the shield's surface, with a hollow crack in the center—an irresistible, extreme slash. That extremely fine cut pierced the night like a needle, passing through Lico's wooden wings and reaching the ground, cutting through all obstacles in its path before transforming into the sword light that vanished from Chu Heng's hand.

Steel Edge Flow - Heart-Piercing Strike: A lightning-fast thrust that tears through walls of iron and steel.

Chu Hengkong's longsword, now devoid of its former spirit, unleashed a burst of light behind him, like a giant flower blooming, instantly shattering his massive wooden wings. Li Ke collapsed headfirst into the flower field, her body unharmed, only her shield severed by a single sword strike. With the fastest speed she'd ever displayed since joining the battle, she raised a small white flag and cried out, head bowed, "Surrender! Surrender!!"

Chu Hengkong said helplessly, "You didn't use any of your trump cards."

“We’re all just trying to make a living. If we mess things up, we can just pay compensation. Why risk our lives for someone we don’t have a blood feud with?” Miss Lico said matter-of-factly.

She sat down cross-legged, looking disheveled: "What's the point of using your trump card against an opponent you can't beat... What path do you belong to? A mortal cultivator or a Ghost Eye Heartless One? I'm telling you, a dignified Element 5, you really don't need to take this Element 4 girl like me seriously, is it really necessary?"

Ji Huaisu walked over and put his arm around the assassin's shoulder, pointing at him with a grin: "This guy hasn't even passed the first Abyss, he's a 3-point Xu Lie Xin."

"……what?"

Miss Lico stared blankly with wide eyes.

"It's a joke, right? It's a joke, isn't it?"

"real."

"No way?!?!"

Chapter 282 A Flow of Inspiration (5)

"I went to bed early last night and didn't stay up late, so how come I'm having these hallucinations in less than a day?" Lico rubbed her eyes.

“It’s true,” Chu Hengkong said.

"Impossible... I don't believe it... If a particle 3 can be this powerful, how crazy has the world become..."

Miss Lico clutched her head in anguish, trying to ignore the horrifying truth. Vande understood her feelings well; after all, the vast majority of life in the Submerged Realm was still properly on the path of ascension. 4 was 4, 5 was 5, and there was no habit of using parentheses to calculate the actual level. There would be no terrifyingly suppressed level beings like 3 (5), 2 (6), or 2 (7).

Therefore, there is even less reason for the appearance of a terrifying demon king 3 (3) who can defeat all the above-mentioned terrifying level people.

"Don't overthink it. You see, the essence of life doesn't necessarily equate to actual combat power," Vande reassured. "There are also some wondrous beasts in the world that possess high-level combat power despite having low-level essences..."

"You're talking about those ultimate prehistoric creatures that are even bigger than Dust Island! But this thing is clearly human just by looking at it!!"

"He's the super-compressed kind," Ji Huaisu said with a grin. "Alright, little Li Ke, now you're in our hands!"

Lico took two steps back, protectively covering her chest: "What do you want to do with that wicked laugh!"

Ji Huaisu took out a camera crystal, grinning mischievously as he cracked his knuckles: "Hehe, if you don't tell the truth, I don't know what this crystal might capture in a moment..."

"Where did you come from, some kind of gangster?!" Lico raised her hands high. "I confess! I just happened to be hired to guard the flower field and protect the secret of the mushrooms, that's all!"

Ji Huaisu scoffed loudly, and Li Ke looked horrified: "What's with that regretful look on your face...?"

"I was originally planning to use the thorns on you."

"What a vengeful woman!"

Lico was clearly a mercenary, and Chu Hengkong didn't bother to make things difficult for her. He showed her the Inspiration Mushroom: "Please introduce your employer."

Li Ke chuckled and said, "Oh, brother, please consider the professional ethics of us freelancers. Honesty and integrity are fundamental in our line of work. Betraying your employer is against the rules and deserves to be killed a thousand times."

Having been an assassin for a long time, Chu Heng felt a sense of familiarity seeing her advocating for her employer's interests. He smiled and said, "You're very disciplined and have a clear understanding of things. I just wonder if your employer told you that this mushroom field is a prop for their ceremony?"

"What ceremony?" Lico looked completely bewildered. "What does this have to do with a ceremony?"

Vande poked his head out and mumbled a few words. Chu Hengkong watched as Li Ke's face turned from white to red, and a red mushroom suddenly sprouted from the top of her head, turning into a small plume of smoke and exploding.

"That old bastard—!!!" Lico cried out in anguish, "This is a completely different kind of commission, we have to pay more!"

“That’s not the problem, is it?” Van der said.

"That old bastard withheld information and cheated me out of my hiring fee first, so don't blame me for turning ruthless." Lico sneered, pulling out a seashell. "Hey, otter? Is it still there? Block the door so it can't escape. I'm going to settle some score with it!"

She put away the conch shell and spread her wings: "We'll settle accounts anyway, so I'll give you two a ride?"

“It is possible…” Ji Huaisu said, “but didn’t you just mention otters…”

“You know the Poison Otter? That makes things much easier.” Lico shrugged. “The old man is at the Seafood Bookstore. He tried to run away this afternoon because he missed his deadline, but I caught him and put him in the dark room.”

Ji Huaisu's expression was quite interesting: "You kidnapped your employer?"

"No, no, the logic is backwards." Lico shook her finger. "I was the one who put it in the dark room first. The old man was too busy to look after the flower field, so he asked me to help him."

"What an outrageous guy!"

·

When Chu Hengkong returned to the bookstore entrance, he heard a heated argument once again. This time, everyone in the bookstore sounded calm and composed, while the new shouts were practically furious.

The new member, who was shouting fiercely, was a giant ice-blue octopus, nearly three meters tall including its tentacles, with a semi-transparent whisker growing under its round head.

"You bastards! This is illegal imprisonment! I'm going to report you to Mansa Star Castle!" Old Man Octopus exclaimed in anguish.

The editor, holding a stack of manuscripts, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and spoke calmly: "Let's look at this sentence on page 289, line 14: 'I cried out wildly, responding to the drifting clouds in the sky.' Coincidentally, I saw this metaphor in an essay I wrote last quarter..."

Grandpa Octopus immediately shrank back a bit, but still stubbornly insisted, "It was just a coincidence! A coincidence! As for inspiration... is it called plagiarism? The overall framework is original!"

"The general storyline does bear some obvious homage, but I'll turn a blind eye because your ending is original." Poison Otter raised an eyebrow. "But this kind of complete sentence repetition is absolutely unacceptable. Change it."

Grandpa Octopus howled as he slumped onto the counter: "Is there no justice left?! Manager, say something fair! You editor are deliberately trying to kill me!!"

The seal handed over a handful of dried fish and said sympathetically, "Mmm."

"Oh, it's dried fish, thank you..." Grandpa Octopus took the dried fish and slammed it on the table. "This isn't something that can be solved by just eating fish!"

The sea seal nodded sympathetically and handed over a large piece of ham: "Mmm."

“It’s ham, it looks delicious…” Old Man Octopus slammed the ham on the table. “Is nothing else on your mind but food, you scoundrel!”

Its tentacles thrashed wildly, its expression fierce: "I'm telling you this, I will never revise the manuscript again! If you don't let me leave, don't blame me for getting serious!"

"Go ahead and move, old man. I want to see just how much you've actually gained from this whole ritual!"

Lico flung open the door, pointing her wooden spear directly at the octopus's tentacles. The old octopus recoiled, stammering, "What ceremony are you talking about... I don't understand what you're saying... Eek!"

Halfway through its speech, it suddenly spotted something small peeking out from behind Lico. Startled, the entire octopus leaped three meters off the ground to the top of the bookshelf. It trembled violently: "You, you! You are!!"

Van der skipped up to Rico, waving excitedly, "Professor Vlataari, I didn't expect you to be in the city-state too! Long time no see!"

The old octopus, Fulatali, looked as if it had seen a ghost; its head swelled violently and then contracted rapidly, its eyes filled with suspicion and uncertainty.

“Dusk…” it hesitated, then changed its words, “No, Vande? Are you Vande?”

"You still remember me? I'm so touched." Vande beamed. "Let me introduce you all. This is a senior professor from our Twilight Library, a grandmaster of octopus karate, known as 'Ice Melting'—a master of melee combat among marine creatures."

Fulatali frantically mouthed a signal for someone to stop, but the overly excited Vande didn't notice at all, and instead introduced the old professor's most resounding title with overflowing pride: "'Plagiarism Demon' Fulatali!"

“Plagiarism?” Lico stared wide-eyed.

"Demon!" Ji Huaisu sneered.

The old octopus suddenly covered its eyes and slid limply off the bookshelf. The venomous otter patted the stack of manuscripts, making clicking sounds.

"Well, well, Mr. Vlatatri. No wonder you've written eight books and still haven't learned your lesson; it turns out you have this deep-seated problem of plagiarism!"

“What’s wrong with me copying a little!” Vlataari rolled on the ground, throwing a tantrum. “I’m not doing this for fame or fortune. It’s just copying a few lines, it’s not like I’m killing or setting fires! I won’t feel right if I don’t copy it. Please, kind animals, have mercy and take this manuscript…”

The venomous otter smiled: "Come inside, let's revise the manuscript."

"Help me—!"

Ji Huaisu rushed forward, blocking the old octopus's path. Without a word, she gripped her Shadow Blade: "Isn't there something more important than this? This thing is a demon, and judging by its aura, it's at the Madman level. Are you all just letting it go?"

“So what if I’m a demon? I’m a citizen of Thorns.” Furatali said matter-of-factly. “Little girl, I advise you not to be racist, and don’t bring your outside ways into the city-state. Although I don’t have an ID card, a household registration, or a place of origin, I am still a member of Thorns. What right do you have to lay a hand on me!”

Ji Huaisu was dumbfounded: "Holy crap, even demons can talk about reason!"

Vande tried to smooth things over: "Captain Ji, you don't know this, but there are indeed demon citizens within the Jing Sha organization... Some demons don't kill or do evil, they just have some peculiar hobbies. Professor Fulatari, apart from his love of plagiarism, has never done anything bad. Why can't we let him live a peaceful life?"

Fulatali wiped away his tears while holding the dried fish: "Oh, Vande, I really didn't teach you for nothing back then... Even in the face of such a vicious villain, you spoke up for your master. I am so moved..."

Vande squinted and turned around, his expression changing: "So the Inspiration Mushroom ritual was your doing, right? Don't try to deny it, old man. I wrote a special report on your core system back then. I know the theory better than you!"

Fulatari gasped, "You wicked disciple, why did you have to expose my secrets!"

It immediately tried to dash out of the bookstore, but the seal lay down at the door, physically blocking its escape route. Fulatali turned its head shakily, meeting the venomous otter's terrifying, demonic gaze.

"You kid..."

“I…I created this wonderful little tool to make everyone’s creations easier…” Fulatari trembled.

"Nonsense! Collecting fragments from millions of books, modifying and piecing them together—that's plagiarism! It's plagiarism no matter how you look at it!" Poison Otter was furious. "Damn it, what you did is even worse than plagiarism! Most people only plagiarize three or five books, but you plagiarized millions! You dissected perfectly good works, pieced them together into a Frankenstein's monster, and then used other people's mouths to spit out 'new works.' What kind of despicable behavior is this!"

Vlataly turned and straightened his head, retorting, "You're being too biased. This is the early stage! There are always shortcomings in the early stages of technological development. My Inspiration Mushroom has a built-in advanced algorithm that will automatically iterate and optimize based on the number of samples to complete its evolution."

The plagiarism you see now is still quite obvious, but as the mushrooms spread more and more, they will naturally move beyond the patchwork stage and begin to imitate autonomously, even generating their own. At that point, who can still call it plagiarism?

"You!" The Poison Otter stretched out its claws and stabbed the octopus wildly. "Look in the mirror and see how much fatter you've gotten since the last time you came to the bookstore. You plagiarism demon, you've gotten this fat through this ritual, and you still have the nerve to say this isn't plagiarism?! Besides, which of these authors ever gave you permission to use their work as material? You have the nerve to talk about such blatant copyright infringement!"

Fulatali held its head high, looking every bit the part of a martyr who would sacrifice himself for the truth. Van der glanced at it sideways: "So, Professor, why did you come up with this idea out of the blue?"

Vlataly immediately shrank back, chuckling sheepishly, "Oh dear, you know, these days it's not easy for us little devils to make a living... The city-states are cracking down on copyright like crazy these days, they won't even let anything blatantly plagiarized be published. But I am, after all, a plagiarism devil, if I don't plagiarize, I won't have enough to eat!"

To survive in this city-state, I've had to resort to contracting with mindless animals. My constitution was already weak, and this lack of harvest makes it even more unbearable. If I don't find a way to replenish my strength soon, I'm afraid I'll have to follow you... ah, no, go with the flow and die..."

Chu Hengkong observed silently and realized that the octopus wasn't lying. Its possessor was just a slightly larger octopus, not even qualifying as a beast. Such a body was rather pathetic for a demon of the Madness level, almost comparable to the gluttonous demon who possessed an eel back then.

Fulatari repeatedly nudged his tentacles: "My heroes, please have mercy! I invented this not for fame or fortune, but just to make a living. There's no need to mess with me like this."

Poison Otter glared at him, his eyebrows furrowing: "You old codger, you've got nothing better to do than look at the creative atmosphere of the city-state? What about the other diligent writers?"

Lico stepped in front of the octopus, but spoke up for it: "To be fair, the old man did profit this time, but he didn't do much wrong. While the Inspiration Mushroom is a headache for creators, it's a great tool for ordinary people who aren't skilled in chess, music, calligraphy, or painting, and it has many uses in other fields as well. It's not right to destroy it just for the sake of one creator's livelihood, is it?"

"I'm talking about the atmosphere that mushrooms have created right now!"

"Are you planning to change the minds of hundreds of millions of people?"

The venomous otter and Lico started bickering, while the sea seal and the crucian carp nervously ate their ham. Chu Hengkong pondered the principle behind the mushroom, and suddenly an idea came to him.

"In my opinion, the Inspiration Mushroom itself doesn't need to be destroyed. We just need to reveal the principles, advantages, and disadvantages of this mushroom, and everyone will naturally have an objective understanding of it."

Detective Chu revealed a mysterious smile, and Ji Huaisu suddenly shivered. She remembered that the last time she saw this smile was during the blessing operation on the eve of the attack on the swamp.

"What the hell have you come up with this time, you lousy idea...?"

Chu Hengkong lowered his head and asked, "Fan De, since you also understand the principle of the Inspiration Mushroom, you should be able to make it increase the search weight of a certain type of material, right?"

"That's possible... What do you want to do?"

"Let's add some spice to the mushroom field." Chu Hengkong patted Ji Huaisu on the shoulder: "Do you still have the recording of the last Blessing Operation?"

Chapter 283 A Flow of Inspiration (The End)

The next morning, the chubby artist, Quaru, carrying his easel, arrived at the "Gulugua" shopping center, which was some distance from the school.

There were more and more people working in the art plaza, and if he stayed any longer, he probably wouldn't earn any extra money. If he wanted to make quick money, he had to be quick to make room for others. He bought some less common paints from the pollen and paint shop—Inspiration Mushroom's paintings would consume a lot of colors that weren't usually used—and while mixing paints, he observed the other people working in the art plaza.

This shopping mall, run by the Fufu tribe, had a considerable flow of people and a relatively high-end clientele. Street artists mainly sold poetry and sang, while the few painters painted more upscale landscapes, which meant there was no competition for his sketches. Logically, this should be a good thing, but the more Kwaru looked at it, the more uneasy he became.

"Business is tough, Kwaru," a little flower with cartoon features said to him.

Kulu clicked his tongue: "They're all too shrewd. We poor students really can't outsmart them."

Xiaohua was absolutely right; all the artists here were well-prepared. Whether singing or reciting poetry, they all had plenty of mushrooms. One bird-headed artist even took the advantage of the Inspiration Mushroom to the extreme, displaying a sign that read "Custom Original Songs," attracting a large group of wealthy women waiting to hear him sing. This idea impressed Khurru, who simply sat closer, wanting to hear what kind of good music the mushroom artist could produce.

"Master, please compose a piece for my little Hada!" A plump, wealthy woman held up her tiny dog, no bigger than her palm. "It has always been a good boy who loves music~"

"It would be my pleasure, madam. Please wait a moment."