Forge a path to success

The bird-headed artist turned and swallowed a mushroom, closing his eyes and feeling the complex flow of information flooding his mind. As before, he didn't have time to process most of the fragments, and many seemingly bizarre images flashed through his mind, but the sensations within his body couldn't be faked.

He felt like his brain was stuffed full, like a giant sausage—that was exactly the feeling he wanted! Inspiration struck! Inspiration struck!

The bird-headed artist tilted his head back and sang with deep emotion: "Puff~ puff-chi, puff-chi-pa~~"

The original song begins with a beatboxing imitation, so vivid and lifelike that it involuntarily reminds listeners of a toilet. The wealthy woman is utterly shocked, and her little dog nervously turns around to sniff, making sure it probably hasn't leaked anything.

Still lost in his inspiration, the bird-headed artist sang the second line with great emotion: "Puji pa puji pa puji pa puji pa! Pui pui pui, pu pui, ou!"

"What are you singing?!" the rich woman screamed.

The bird-headed artist realized something was wrong, but inspiration struck like a torrent, forcing it to open its beak and unleash its artwork: "If I spray this out during a walk, my pet life will be over. So let's make a loud noise to cover it up! Woof woof woof! Woof woof pfft!"

Upon hearing this, the little pug couldn't help but let out a "plop" sound. The onlookers screamed and dispersed, while the rich woman jumped up in anger: "Enough! Swallow your music! You're not getting a single green branch!"

The bird-headed artist was speechless, yet he still involuntarily sang, "Puli Puli!"

Little Flower quickly covered her face with her leaves, leaving Kwaru dumbfounded. He then looked to the other side of the entrance, where a mushroom poet was writing a poem for a couple.

Your eyes are like the boiling yellow of a swamp.

His singing voice was like a thunderous roar, as if a blessing had been bestowed.

Lovers, let us sing praises to a love more profound than durian!

May our love transform into intestines, forever binding us together~

The female couple nearly fainted. Her boyfriend, enraged, yelled, "I'll fucking beat you into a pulp right now!!"

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me!" the poet hurriedly waved his hands. "It was Mushroom who wrote it!"

"Go tell the big intestines, you fucking bastard!"

To the poet's right, the master landscape painter had finally completed yet another new work. He proudly turned the canvas around and showed it to his guest: "Look at this epic masterpiece, 'Blessing and Protecting the Brave's Advance,' which celebrates the spirit of struggle and praises the warriors' heroism!"

The guest glanced at it and screamed, "It's poop!!"

The artist turned around and screamed even more horrifiedly: "Oh my god, there's X!!"

The canvas was covered in dark green and deep black mud and unidentified substances. A group of fully armed fighters, wielding guns, sprayed golden light, scattering the demons and monsters within the mud pits, sending them fleeing in disarray. The painter had creatively used various unique pollens, so much so that one could smell their blessing even through the canvas. Guests turned and ran without a second glance, afraid of getting a speck of it on them; the painter himself ran even faster. The area around the painting quickly became a no-man's land, with everyone except a few canine citizens giving it a wide berth.

Xiao Hua, standing nearby, was utterly astonished: "What on earth happened?!"

Kwaru looked at the mushroom in his hand in horror and quickly threw it far away: "Oh no, there's poop in the mushroom!"

The same horrific scenes unfolded across the Third Order, with a constant stream of squelching sounds and screams filling the air. The pervasive aura of blessing invigorated the canine citizens, adding a golden hue to the summer landscape of the city-state of Thorn Robe. The citizens of the Third Order experienced firsthand the plight of the swamp commoners, a true spectacle of "the entire city clad in golden armor!"

·

The seafood bookstore was well-prepared; the little animals had closed all the doors and windows beforehand. The manager announced that it was not advisable to go out today and suggested that everyone stay in the bookstore until the smell dissipated.

Chu Hengkong held a glass of iced tea and smiled, "Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Everyone has already experienced the benefits of the Inspiration Mushroom. Today, let's reveal the risks of the Inspiration Mushroom so that citizens can have a more objective understanding of this mushroom."

Gulibo listened to the incessant splashing sounds outside the window, staring at its frozen chocolate, unable to swallow a single bite. It poured the chocolate into the seal's mouth, trembling, "Chu Hengkong, how on earth did you come up with this idea... How can you do such a terrible thing without batting an eye..."

"How can you talk like that? This is promoting our advanced experience in breaking down superstitions in the swamps!" Ji Huaisu gave a thumbs up.

Vande glanced at the communication crystal: "Everyone, pay attention and coordinate your statements. The city lord just sent a letter telling us to keep our mouths shut and not let Youyou know anything... He's afraid Youyou will break down..."

"I've blurred everything out, don't worry."

Vande stared at the large title of the video material, "Operation X Dragon City Swamp Spraying Operation Record," and thought that the effect of adding a censorship would probably be almost the same as not having done anything at all.

"Can someone explain this to me?" Bangbangji looked completely bewildered. "I still don't understand why pouring X into the pool—oh, I mean pouring Cifu—would make them all spray X."

The venomous otter hummed a cheerful tune, in an exceptionally pleasant mood.

"You need to understand the principle of Inspiration Mushroom. Its ability to output works relies entirely on imitation and learning from the sample library itself. Chu Hengkong not only added materials to the sample library, but also increased the search weight of these materials, which means that no matter what keywords you enter, the first result is always this jetting operation video. Inspiration Mushroom will always prioritize using Blessing as a material to piece together the content."

Bangbangji's expression became even more interesting: "So no matter what the people who eat mushrooms want to do—there's a high probability that one of them will do X!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Old Octopus Fulatari slumped over the table, sobbing uncontrollably, "You are all utterly wicked! My life's work has been insulted by you, by you, by you using X!! Every bite of energy I eat now tastes like X, do you know what that feels like?!"

"I don't want to eat this." The sea seal held up a sign.

"Even your manager doesn't eat it!"

The old octopus slammed its hand on the table. Chu Hengkong glanced at it and laughed, "Professor Fulatari, you don't need to pretend. You should know better than us how risky these mushrooms are."

Fulata looked out the window and whistled loudly. Ji Huaisu sneered, "The output content is basically beyond the user's control, transmitting a large amount of information regardless of personal will. These two points alone are like dancing on the edge of safety! If even a little bit of contaminated information leaks into the database, the consequences would be unimaginable. Why did you go to the docks yesterday? Wasn't it because you knew this thing was dangerous, and after making a quick buck, you wanted to leave the city to avoid trouble!"

“I beg you young people not to be so perceptive, okay…” Fulatali said with a mournful face.

Lico, who was happily reading comics nearby, looked up when she heard this: "So the Divine Guard hasn't made a move all this time because they're waiting for something to happen so they can catch them red-handed?"

“There’s no reason to act directly. It’s much easier to deal with things after we’ve made a mess of things,” Chu Hengkong said. “If anything really happens, Cui Ke will be the first one there. Do you believe me?”

“He’s the kind of person who would do something like that…” Li Ke said resentfully.

As Chu Hengkong had predicted, shortly after lunch that day, Captain Trek arrived with two pounds of cured meat. The following day, the shopkeeper of the Big Sea Seal was invited by "Poetry and Prose Daily Commentary" to write a column on Inspiration Mushrooms, sharing the principles and manufacturing process of mushrooms with the anonymous creator of Inspiration Mushrooms (omitting the ritual part of Vlata Li).

This article immediately sparked a heated discussion about Inspiration Mushroom, making it a hot topic in the current entertainment industry. Discussions on topics such as originality, copyright, qualifications, and autonomy were rampant. Those who supported and opposed Inspiration Mushroom held their own opinions, creating quite a stir in the entertainment industry.

At this time of soaring attention, the Third Order Guard announced that it will join forces with the Jingsha Cultural Bureau, the City Copyright Bureau, the City Writers Association, the Artists Association, and the Mansa Starburg Supreme Prosecutor's Office to carry out the supervision and development of Inspiration Mushroom, prevent copyright infringement such as illegal inclusion of samples, provide users with a variety of usage methods that they can choose, promote the healthy, legal and positive development of the Inspiration Mushroom industry, and ensure that mushrooms provide safe services to every citizen.

After the official intervention, the operation mechanism of Inspiration Mushroom was greatly improved, and private enterprises began to cultivate their own Inspiration Mushroom brands. Only after a series of regulations on mushrooms were formulated did the mushroom industry finally become more standardized.

But all of this is hindsight. For those who exposed the risks of the mushrooms, the matter was already over the day after Operation Blessing.

"We have decided not to review submitted books," said the editor of the Poison Otter magazine.

Chu Hengkong raised an eyebrow: "I thought you guys would exterminate the Inspiration Mushrooms."

"Plagiarism, which involves the spirit of creation, remains the bottom line. Of course, inferior works that are obviously made with mushrooms are also unacceptable. Regardless of whether mushrooms were used, we will strictly control the content." Poison Otter patted its paws. "But if we delve into the mushrooms themselves, when will it end? Using mushrooms in part of the text is prohibited, but should we reject a manuscript if it only uses mushrooms in one sentence? If the entire book is handwritten, but some information was looked up using mushrooms, does that count? If you don't have any ideas at the moment, and you improve upon and incorporate ideas provided by mushrooms, how should that be judged?"

“We run a bookstore—not a court!” Bangbangji shook his head.

[All this back and forth, creating unnecessary anxiety, is pointless.] The Big Seal held up a sign. [The pros and cons of Mushroom have been revealed; now it's up to the creators and readers to decide. We will continue to publish only books we approve of. As for Mushroom's creative process itself, let time be the fair judge.]

The little animals always seem to be able to let go quickly and believe in the true goodness and beauty of humanity, which Chu Hengkong believes is why the city-state is always able to live happily. If this were on Earth, it's hard to say what the future would hold, but in the Jing Sha city-state, he believes the creators will always arrive at a fair and reasonable answer.

It was another beautiful day. Sunlight streamed through the lattice windows of the mushroom-shaped house, making it warm and cozy. He went up to the second floor, intending to pick up a book to pass the time, and saw the shop assistant, Miaonu, sitting in front of the bookshelf, lost in thought. In her hand, she clutched a recently completed pollen painting, depicting a beautiful sunrise.

"It's drawn quite well," Chu Hengkong said.

“It’s finished. But…” Miao Nu said hesitantly, “I’ve never been good at color painting. I ate four mushrooms to finish this painting.”

It stared blankly at the sun in the painting: "I originally wanted to show it to my mother... but now I understand the principle behind mushrooms. I thought I was trying to draw, but have I actually never 'created' anything?"

Chu Hengkong squatted down beside it and took out a travel guide.

"What exactly is creation? It's a difficult thing to say. Whether or not to use tools, whether or not there is originality, I think these are things that professional creators have to worry about."

For the average enthusiast, I believe there is another set of standards for judging creations, standards that have never been wrong throughout history.

He placed Miaonu's painting on the book.

[Spore-themed painting - Sunrise]

Rating: Bottom-tier

【Origin: The Secret Realm of Senluo - Jingsha City-State】

[Effect: The completed painting after incorporating expressive materials generated using spores as a medium]

[Longing: Miaonu, a clerk at the seafood bookstore, has always loved the sight of sunrise, a precious memory from a trip her mother took her on when she was young.]

“This painting contains your emotions, doesn’t it?” He patted Miaonu’s head. “Then it is your painting.”

Miaonu's eyes lit up, and it happily picked up its drawing and ran into the bright sunshine. The other animals gathered around to give their opinions and encouragement to their friend who was drawing for the first time.

The little animals are still happy today, finding joy in creating and appreciating art.

Chapter 284 A Flow of Inspiration (EX)

On the night of the day the blessing reappeared in the third lineage.

Fulatari quickly finished revising the manuscript, tossed it to the Poison Otter, and roared, "One last time!"

"You even plagiarize a dialogue draft? I don't know what to say to you." Poison Otter carefully read it over. "I'll let you off this time. We'll accept the manuscript. When will the payment be settled?"

"Let's go with the Green Branch. Anyway, you can get divine power crystals anywhere..."

The old octopus curled up a bunch of green branches and listlessly slumped onto the table. Van der, quick to notice, handed him a cup of hot ginger tea: "Professor, you've had a hard day."

"If it weren't for you, you wicked disciple, exposing my past, I wouldn't be in such a predicament," Fulatali sighed.

"Oh my, you yourself said that there is a code of honor among thieves in class. Taking free mushrooms and putting them in your own pocket, I wonder who was dishonest first."

Vande wasn't afraid of it at all, a testament to the teaching style of the Twilight Library. It poked the old octopus: "So, Professor, what brings you to the city-state to write books? Our library isn't bad, everyone copies each other's work every day, you're guaranteed to have a full stomach and plenty of food."

"Never heard of 'stillness breeds restlessness'?" Vlataari glared, his beard bristling. "We demons value freedom above all else! For a bite to eat, ah, a library for centuries, is that even right? We need poetry and distant horizons!"

"You have a youthful mindset; even though you're old, you're not..."

Fulatari grabbed it with one hand and sneered, "Don't just talk about me. Vande, let me ask you, how much of your graduation thesis do you still remember?"

Upon hearing this, Vande smiled innocently: "To be honest, I've forgotten everything except the title."

"I knew you were a good-for-nothing! You're completely clueless, and you still dare to travel like that? You're a disgrace!" Fulatari cursed.

It pulled a gleaming silver key from its beard and tossed it to Vander: "When you have time, go to the Mansa Star Castle library and look for your old reference materials. Get your old skills back. Remember, people are only willing to take you around because they care. You need to have your own abilities when you're out in the world. With your mediocre hypnosis skills, you're not going to go far!"

Van Der's eyes lit up: "A certificate from the Jingsha Grand Library? How generous! Thank you so much!"

Vande slung the key around his neck and happily slipped away. Fulatari finished his ginger tea irritably, yelled a few words towards the counter, and stormed out, grumbling.

Chu Hengkong waited for Fan De to go upstairs to read, then asked Gulibo, "How long has Fulatari been in the city-state?"

“It’s been quite a while…” Gulibo thought for a moment, “His first book seems to have been published decades ago.”

·

Furatali's home is located on the most remote branch of the third vein. Its little house is almost right next to the edge of this vein, and from a distance, it looks as if it would fall from the sky and into the sea at the slightest tremor.

In such a remote area, there are naturally few residents, and even the municipal facilities are quite old. The streetlights on the street are intermittent, with intervals lasting more than ten seconds. During the ten seconds that the streetlights go out, there is no light at all, and it is pitch black, like a monster silently opening its huge mouth.

Fulatari groped its way into the house in the dark and turned on the lights. It sat down by the window, gazing silently at the road that appeared and disappeared, its tentacles trembling with its thoughts.

Fate is a strange thing. Fulatari thought to itself. It had long since given up, keeping the little key only because the trouble of losing it might be even greater… out of a sentimental reason—a longing for the past…

It quite liked the city-state of Thorn Robe, but it stayed there only to avoid trouble. The city-state was about to become unsettled, so it naturally wanted to make a quick profit and then find another way to hide itself in a paradise or a dust-free land.

But "Vande" truly appeared. Despite being completely ignorant and surprisingly weak, it was undoubtedly "Vande"... and the silver-armed man was its contractor...

Fulatari let out a long sigh and slumped down at the table.

"Twilight, my mission is complete," it whispered.

It does nothing; the moment the key leaves its side, the curator's concealment spell fails. At this moment, it has been exposed, and the people searching for it should be arriving soon.

The streetlights went out. 13 seconds. They came back on, but no one was on the street. The second darkness lasted longer, 15 seconds. Still quiet. The next time, it was only 3 seconds. The next time, darkness stretched for a full 17 seconds.

When the darkness ended, three men stood in the light.

One was a man wearing an old helmet and covered in hair. His wrists were crimson claws, and blood-red eyes were hidden among the curled hair.

The imagined demon is "cold-blooded".

One of them was a man wearing a gray robe, carrying a metal spear, and bearing a bone cannon on his back. Tiny, viscous tentacles grew from under his hood.

The fantasy demon "Oblivion".

The last one was a burly man wielding two hammers, white flames burning in his eye sockets, his bones tearing through his flesh, forming bizarre structures like jet vents on his back.

The mad fantasy demon is "tyrannical".

One Madness-level demon and two Fantasy-level demons pierced the darkness towards the house. The pursuers had arrived; it could no longer hide. The demons approached the house slowly, seemingly unconcerned about the old octopus escaping.

The lights went out again, and a snoring sound came from the darkness.

Someone is eating noodles.

He ate with great relish; even just from the sounds, one could imagine the blissful way he ate. He must have been extremely hungry, so hungry that he ate and drank heartily, scraping the bottom of the bowl with the tips of his chopsticks, not spilling a drop of soup or water.

The dim lights came on again, and the tall man squatted under the streetlamp, eating noodles. The noodles were a simple stir-fried noodle dish, topped with cabbage, a fried egg, tomatoes, and two large shrimp. The bright red broth in the large bowl smelled delicious. Such a bowl of noodles could satisfy any hungry person's craving; no wonder this man ate with such relish.

The tyrannical demon raised his twin hammers, while the man continued eating his noodles, seemingly oblivious. A slightly shorter man stood nearby, enjoying a jianbing (Chinese crepe) with relish; a folding fan was tucked into his waistband.

"Squatting while eating is bad for your stomach and intestines," Ji Qiufeng said.

“You have to squat down to eat noodles,” the man said, starting to drink the noodle soup. “Eating standing up is no fun!”

He wiped his greasy mouth with the back of his hand, stood up holding the bowl of noodles, his sunglasses fogged up from the heat. The demon-possessed people's gazes were fixed on what was behind him, on the dirty military overcoat.