Chapter 390: A Substitute Death

The fungal mat was not as sharp as other monsters. It had already been pumped full for quite a while before it finally realized something was wrong, only when it had swollen to the limit. Furthermore, the cloud brocade sealing the cave entrance was simply too strong; it could not squeeze its way out.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

It tried to sever its connection to the ladybugs. After all, it would be better for them to die than for it to die.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

A surge of energy ten times greater than before suddenly erupted out of He Lingchuan’s meridians. It blasted through the ladybugs’ bodies and, in an instant, poured straight into the fungal mat!

How could the fungus possibly withstand it? In a desperate attempt to dump the excess true energy, the mushrooms growing on it abruptly inflated to ten times their size.

At the same time, across the forest, there were twenty-four or twenty-five other spots where fungal mats began expanding in violent bursts, rapidly claiming ground, rock faces, ravines, and creekbeds. The ladybugs living within them fled in panicked swarms. Meanwhile, the miscellaneous mushrooms on the mats grew rapidly as well, some even emitting blue and green light.

They burst and regrew, regrew and burst again, trying to burn through the extra true energy. For a while, the whole forest drifted with a strange, toxic smoke and floating lights.

Birds and beasts dropped the instant they inhaled it. Whatever did not fall outright bolted in blind terror.

The Three-Heart Plain had only just begun to calm down after the imperial nectar eruption, but now it plunged straight back into frenzy. Many monsters that had taken imperial nectar and were in the middle of seeking breakthroughs were simply smoked to death on the spot.

However, He Lingchuan knew none of this.

All he knew was that the true energy inside him had been about to blow him apart into countless pieces when suddenly hundreds of tiny “holes” opened in his meridians and the torrent began pouring out in a steady stream.

But he quickly realized that the amount those supposed holes were taking was simply far from enough.

If he wanted to save his own life, the current outflow was far too small.

He did not know what was happening, and he did not have time to think about it. He just forced the true energy from Danzhong and Qihai outward as hard as he could.

If he could get it out, he could live.

The mirror saw everything, and it was so shocked it could not even speak. It could only watch in silence as a deafening “Pop!” suddenly took place.

The fungal mat exploded.

Moreover, it was not just the one in the cave that did so.

Every fungal mat in the forest that had swollen out of control burst at the exact same time.

Hyphae, spores, dust, and drifting fluorescence rained down everywhere. Even when imperial nectar had fallen yesterday, the forest had never been this bizarre.

Very soon, all kinds of roars and cries rose from every direction.

It was as if a riot had chosen the cover of darkness to begin.

However, none of that chaos touched the cave in the gully.

After the fungal mat blew apart, most of the excess true energy inside He Lingchuan had finally been drained away, and his condition at last had a chance to stabilize.

His Danzhong acupoint had successfully been opened into his second dantian. The process had been brutally crude, but imperial nectar once again showed its protective side, sealing and repairing the damage bit by bit.

Where there had been chaos, there was now a true sea of qi. The yin–yang true energy He Lingchuan cultivated formally entered the new space, made a few exploratory circuits, and seemed quite pleased with its new home.

With the second dantian established, all that excess true energy finally had somewhere to go.

Now, from the Guanyuan point to the Danzhong point, true energy could travel freely, while the Conception and Governing Vessels had become high-speed meridian channels.

He Lingchuan, still riding the momentum, ran several major cycles while the iron was hot. Only then did he slowly draw the circulation down and finish.

The moment he opened his eyes, he sneezed hard several times in a row.

“Eh? What happened here?”

It looked as if it was snowing red inside the cave.

Why are these strange threadlike fibers everywhere?

He Lingchuan realized he was covered in dust and scattered points of faint light.

He shook his clothes, and innumerable specks of dust fell off him in a thick cloud.

A few dead white insects dropped from his body as well, each one the size of an egg.

“Whoa, ladybugs can get this big?” He had never seen anything like it. He was thankful that they were all dead.

“I’m over here!” a weak voice called from a corner.

He Lingchuan walked over and yanked the heart-protecting mirror out from under a thick layer of hyphae.

“Why are you over here? What happened?”

An eyeball spider crawled out from who-knew-where and hopped onto him.

“You nearly got eaten by a man-eating fungus,” the mirror said, clearly struggling to explain. “No, actually, you did get eaten. I watched it siphon your true energy until it swelled up. And then, not long after... the mat blew up.”

Only then did He Lingchuan understand what all the mess on the ground was. He had heard stories about man-eating fungi, but he had never expected one to crawl up on him while he was cultivating. “How did it get in here?”

“It was already here,” said the heart-protecting mirror. “It was that big lump of dry moss at the back of the cave!”

Ah, no wonder the defenses I set did nothing.

All of his precautions had been aimed at enemies from outside. He had not imagined that a threat would come from right inside the cave.

It was a wrong move that turned out to be rather fortunate. Otherwise, he would have almost definitely been the one blown into nothing by his own true energy.

“So... it saved me?”

“Saved you?” The mirror did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Anyway, you broke through?”

“Mm-hm, more or less.”

Seriously?

The heart-protecting mirror muttered, “You really are a child of fortune.”

He Lingchuan gave a dry chuckle. He was already sick of hearing the words “child of fortune.”

But seriously, why is it always such a coincidence? Just as I was about to die, a substitute actually showed up.

The more he thought about it, the more that kind of absurd, fate-bending luck made his skin crawl.

Still, surviving a disaster like this usually came with its own reward.

He packed away the mirror and the cloud brocade, pinched his nose, and climbed out of the burrow.

The tiger was right outside, wagging its tail and shaking its head when it saw him. It had tried to force its way in earlier, but the brocade sealing the entrance was too solid. It had not managed to squeeze through at all.

By now, daylight was bright overhead.

Even down in the gully, he could see light, so he guessed it must be around noon. “I was in there all night?”

“All night? Yeah, right!” the heart-protecting mirror snapped. “You were in that lousy hole for three full nights!”

He Lingchuan sucked in a sharp breath.

Two days and three nights gone just like that?

He held up the mirror and looked at himself.

Yikes, that’s some wild hair.

When he climbed out of the ravine and started walking, the air was full of drifting powder, and visibility was poor.

Then, he noticed dead animals everywhere.

The mirror explained, “That dust that the fungus released is poisonous. Even after being baked by the sun all day, ordinary animals can’t handle it.”

Only then did He Lingchuan realize he had taken another stroll through the gates of hell.

At that moment, he heard hooves and a sharp bleat. A big-horned cliff ram burst out of the pinewoods ahead. A massive bear was chasing it.

The bear’s ambush had failed. It wanted mutton, but failed to get it.

Then it saw He Lingchuan, and its eyes lit up.

In its simple mind, two-legged creatures were slower and easier prey.

The bear was fat and strong, charging like a small hill on legs.

He Lingchuan had just spent a night refining himself. True energy still churned inside him. His whole body was itching to test what he had become, so why would he fear a bear?

He pushed off with the tip of his foot and drew his blade in one smooth motion.

Normally, he would dodge the bear’s first strike, slip to the side, and attack from an angle, a safe, mature technique.

But this time, he barely tapped the ground.

And a shallow pit appeared where his foot had touched.

Whoosh!

A blur cut through the air.

In the next moment, He Lingchuan was right in front of the bear’s jaws, almost face-to-face.

Woah!

He startled himself.

One step. He had taken a single step, and he had instantly covered ten meters!

His battle instincts kicked in before surprise could slow him. His blade flashed, and the bear, which had just raised its paw to strike back, immediately lost half of its foreleg.

The bear monster howled in agony. Then, from the forest, a tiger leaped out with murderous momentum.

How could a crippled beast fight a man and a tiger at once? The bear’s anger flipped instantly into fear.

It ran, they chased. Even with wings, it would not have gotten away.

By the time the bear collapsed, He Lingchuan finally let out a long breath.

I didn’t even break a sweat.

This strength, this speed, and this feeling, it’s as if I’m a fish that’s slipped back into water.

This is a real breakthrough. A complete, undeniable leap.

He stored his blade and turned, only to find that the big-horned cliff ram had not fled far. It stood a short distance behind him, tail twitching nervously, staring at him with wary eyes.

Its coat was pale brown, with a long black stripe along its belly. Interestingly, there was a saddle sitting on its back. It actually turned out to be someone’s mount.

To be honest, it looked more like a deer than a ram.

But the saddle on its back was stained with blood and partially torn by claw marks. He guessed the original rider had met a bad end.

Looking again at the bear’s corpse, he saw plenty of old wounds, some from teeth and claws, others from a sharp weapon. One of its large teeth on the left side was broken.

It seemed that the bear had been fighting nonstop against monsters and humans alike. The two bloody punctures in its hind leg were probably from the ram’s horns, because He Lingchuan spotted blood on the tips of its horns.

So this ram has a temper, too.

Looks like the last two days in this forest have been brutal for everyone.

He took two steps forward. The cliff ram immediately backed away.

He motioned for the tiger to retreat into the woods first, then approached the ram and patted its neck gently, murmuring coaxing words. He peeled a piece of corn candy and offered it.

The ram showed an unusual gentleness, though it was probably because He Lingchuan’s clean, effortless bear-slaying had scared it stiff.

Of course, one candy was not enough. It took at least three.

“You came at the perfect time. Give me a ride back.”

He found a stream, washed his hands and face, then swung onto the saddle and headed for the forest edge.

Even so, he was attacked twice on the way, both times by monsters. However, his newly acquired mount was surprisingly fast, bounding over three meters at a time and slipping past trouble again and again.

The entire forest was steeped in riot and frenzy.

He even passed a few human corpses, and judging by their wounds, they had died in the jaws of beasts.

After imperial nectar, chaos truly did follow. Fortunately, he was already close to the forest boundary.

As the one who had inadvertently lit the fuse on this forest-wide upheaval, He Lingchuan felt no guilt at all. He left without hesitation.

As for the tiger, he withdrew the evil ghost possessing it and spared its life.

Through his connection to the mirror, he knew the tiger did not hate him.

“Let bygones be bygones, let’s end on good terms.” With his saber in hand, he offered the tiger a jade bottle containing five newly refined Hundred Virtues Pills, as thanks for guarding him.

Cultivators believed in karma. With no remaining enmity between them, why force a life-or-death ending?

When the tiger regained full clarity, it did not attack. It only looked at him for a moment, took the bottle, and then bounded twice into the forest and vanished.

* * *

On the way back, every town and township He Lingchuan passed was no longer as peaceful as it had been a few days earlier. Local defense patrols marched back and forth. Villagers were clearing bodies from the woods and repairing damaged houses.

There were noticeably fewer travelers and merchant caravans on the roads.

He did not delay. He traveled through the night and headed straight back to Fufeng City.

Compared to the orderly calm of a few days ago, Fufeng City now felt different.