26: Chapter 26 Three Hundred Years: The Development of the Mushroom People

When Su Bai stepped into the Fungal Realm again, only a void remained.

Along with over five thousand three hundred unconscious Mushroom People.

He stood before those Mushroom People, his gaze sweeping across these strange lifeforms.

They were 1.2 to 1.5 meters tall, slender like children. Their brownish-grey skin was covered in fine mycelium, and atop their heads were umbrella-like caps, varying in color from white to black.

At this moment, they lay scattered in every direction; some were still twitching slightly, while others had completely lost consciousness.

Su Bai raised his hand and pressed it against the forehead of a middle-aged Mushroom Person with a grey cap.

[Brand]

A greyish-white light seeped into the depths of his soul.

The Mushroom Person's body stiffened, and then he slowly opened his eyes.

In those eyes, the previous fear and madness were gone.

Only awe remained.

And loyalty.

One after another, they were Branded.

Over five thousand three hundred Mushroom People were all imprinted with the Brand of the Netherworld, becoming an absolutely loyal subordinate race.

Su Bai stood up and looked at the Ghost King.

The Ghost King knelt on one knee: "Master, I have fortunately not failed my mission."

Su Bai nodded, his gaze sweeping over the Ghost Bride, Sadako, and the Slit-Mouthed Woman.

Their auras were clearly much stronger than before.

[Ghost King Upgrade: First Order → Third Order]

[Sadako Upgrade: Second Order → Third Order]

[Slit-Mouthed Woman Upgrade: Second Order → Third Order]

In one conquest, all three heroes had leveled up.

Su Bai nodded with satisfaction and turned to look at the void space.

He raised his hand, and the mark of the Netherworld World emerged in his palm.

Greyish-white light poured out like a tide, beginning to devour everything in the Fungal Realm.

[Devour Complete]

[Obtained Power Of Faith: 742 points]

[World Diameter Expansion: 88.8 km → 128 km]

[New Map Generated: Mycelium Deep Forest]

Su Bai lowered his head, looking at the map of the Netherworld World appearing in his palm.

The originally eighty-eight-kilometer greyish-white world had now expanded outward to one hundred and twenty-eight kilometers.

The newly added nearly forty kilometers was a dense forest.

But the trees in the forest were not ordinary trees.

They were mushrooms.

Giant mushrooms dozens of meters high, their caps blotting out the sky and sun, with mycelium covering the ground. Greyish-white Yin Qi curled through the mushroom forest, casting a bizarre veil over this newborn land.

Mycelium Deep Forest.

Su Bai withdrew his consciousness and looked at the Mushroom People who had completed their Branding.

Over five thousand three hundred of them stood densely together, awaiting his command.

Su Bai took a few steps forward and stood before them.

"From today on, you will live here."

He raised his hand and pointed at the newborn Mycelium Deep Forest.

"That place will be your territory from now on."

The Mushroom People looked in the direction he pointed and saw the familiar mushroom forest.

Although the sky had turned greyish-white, and the air was no longer filled with the smell of mold but with Yin Qi, the shape of the forest, those giant mushrooms, those familiar outlines... it was indeed their homeland.

Someone began to sob quietly.

Su Bai ignored them and continued.

"I give you two orders."

His voice suddenly turned cold, carrying an unquestionable majesty.

"First, you are not allowed to leave the Mycelium Deep Forest."

"That is your territory. Without my command, no Mushroom Person may step foot outside that area. Violators will die."

The Mushroom People all shuddered in unison.

"Second."

Su Bai's gaze swept across the face of every Mushroom Person.

"Survive."

"Survive at all costs."

"Reproduce, grow your clan, and let the Mushroom People take root once more in this land."

"This is your only mission."

"Do you understand?"

After a few seconds of silence, the Mushroom King with the black cap was the first to kneel, his forehead touching the ground.

"Understood."

Then came the second, the third, the tenth, the hundredth, the thousandth.

Over five thousand three hundred Mushroom People all knelt prostrate on the ground.

Su Bai watched this scene and nodded.

"Go."

He turned around and no longer looked at them.

The Mushroom People scrambled up, supporting one another as they walked toward the Mycelium Deep Forest. The young were carried in arms, the old were supported by shoulders, step by step, entering their familiar homeland.

The Ghost Bride floated to Su Bai's side, watching their receding figures, and tilted her head to ask: "Master, can they survive?"

Su Bai was silent for a few seconds.

"I don't know."

"Then why let them go?"

Su Bai didn't answer.

He just raised his hand, his consciousness sinking into the world core.

[Current Power Of Faith: 742 + (628 - 500) = 911]

Su Bai was stunned for a moment and quickly did the math in his head.

Previously there were 628 remaining, creating the Ghost King cost 500, leaving 128.

Conquering the Mushroom World gained 742, totaling 870.

That's not right.

He frowned, thinking back carefully.

During the conquest, the Ghost King, Sadako, and the Slit-Mouthed Woman all rose to the Third Order, but the upgrade itself didn't consume Power Of Faith.

No new Yin Soldiers were added, and none were lost.

870 should be accurate.

But just now the world core showed 11?

Su Bai's consciousness probed into the world core to check carefully.

[Current Power Of Faith: 911]

[Note: During the process of devouring the Mushroom World, a small amount of natural faith crystal veins were discovered within the Mycelium Deep Forest; they have been automatically mined and converted into Power Of Faith]

Natural faith crystal veins?

Su Bai's eyes lit up.

This was indeed an unexpected pleasant surprise.

He withdrew his consciousness and looked at the Mycelium Deep Forest.

The Mushroom People had already disappeared into the depths of the forest.

He took a deep breath and raised his hand again.

[Time Flow Adjustment]

[Adjustment Target: Mycelium Deep Forest Area]

[Adjustment Ratio: An instant outside, a hundred years inside]

[Required Power Of Faith: 100 points / hundred years]

[Please select acceleration duration]

Su Bai did not hesitate.

"Three hundred years."

[Consumed Power Of Faith: 300 points]

[Time Flow Adjustment Activated]

[One second outside, one year inside]

[Duration: 300 years (internal)]

Within the greyish-white Yin Qi, the Mycelium Deep Forest began to blur.

Like being separated by a layer of mist, or looking through a distorted mirror.

Su Bai stood at the edge, watching quietly.

Watching those five thousand three hundred Mushroom People walk into that forest.

Year One.

The Mushroom People knelt before the largest mushroom and wept aloud.

Then they dried their tears and began to clear the ruins, build new mycelium houses, distribute food, care for the young, and settle the old and weak.

Finally, they sat in a circle, using mycelium to light a campfire, shivering in the Yin Qi.

Year Ten.

More and more mycelium houses were built, becoming increasingly sturdy.

The Mushroom People built a crude altar to sacrifice to their deceased clansmen. In the center of the altar lay the last batch of relics they had brought from the Fungal Realm: a few pieces of moldy mycelium cloth, some tattered mushroom caps, and a few broken staves.

The younger generation grew up.

They had never seen the true appearance of the Fungal Realm, never tasted the flavor of groundwater, and never felt the warmth of sunlight.

They only knew this Mycelium Deep Forest.

They only knew the greyish-white sky, the cold Yin Qi, and the eerie mist that always drifted at the edge of the forest.

Year Thirty.

The Mycelium Deep Forest began to undergo changes.

The color of the Mushroom People's caps gradually transitioned from the original brownish-grey, white, and black toward greyish-white.

It wasn't a sickly white.

But a greyish-white that merged as one with the Yin Qi.

They were evolving.

They were adapting.

Year Fifty.

The first mutated Mushroom Person was born.

His cap was pure greyish-white, exactly like the Yin Qi. His skin was no longer covered in mycelium; instead, it directly produced a strange resonance with the Yin Qi. He could breathe freely in the Yin Qi and sense every corner of the forest through the mycelium.

The clansmen surrounded him, their eyes full of awe.

They gave him a name.

"Prophet."

Year Eighty.

The Prophet was now eighty years old.

He became the spiritual leader of the Mushroom People, leading the clan to survive, reproduce, and evolve within the Yin Qi.

He invented new mycelium cultivation methods, allowing mushrooms to grow taller and larger in the Yin Qi.

He discovered new food sources; the humus soaked in Yin Qi could actually cultivate edible fungi.

He established a new social order, leading the Mushroom People out of chaos and revitalizing them.

Year One Hundred and Twenty.

The Prophet died.

His body was buried beneath the altar. The clansmen wrapped him in the most precious mycelium and sent him on his final journey with the most devout hearts.

But he left behind seeds.

His descendants inherited his greyish-white cap and his ability to resonate with the Yin Qi.

Generation after generation.

Evolution never stopped.

Year One Hundred and Fifty.

The Mycelium Deep Forest had completely changed its appearance.

Those mushrooms that were originally dozens of meters high had now grown to over a hundred meters. Their caps blotted out the sky, almost completely covering the sky above the entire forest. Mycelium hung from the caps like waterfalls, drifting gently in the Yin Qi.

In the depths of the forest, new mycelium cities rose from the ground.

The Mushroom People used mycelium to build houses, refined energy from mushrooms, and transmitted information via spores.

They had even developed a simple civilization.

There was writing, art, religion, and heritage.

Year One Hundred and Eighty.

The population of the Mushroom People grew from the initial five thousand three hundred to over twelve thousand.

The reproduction speed far exceeded expectations.

Because a generation cycle of three months was simply too fast.

One hundred and eighty years, seven hundred and twenty generations.

Seven hundred and twenty iterations were enough for a race to completely transform.

Year Two Hundred and Twenty.

In the largest mushroom city in the center of the Mycelium Deep Forest, a special individual was born.

His cap was not greyish-white.

But pure gold.

When he was born, the mushrooms of the entire forest trembled, and all the mycelium extended in his direction as if in worship.

The clansmen knelt prostrate on the ground, their eyes full of fanaticism.

It was a miracle.

Year Two Hundred and Fifty.

The golden Mushroom Person grew up.

His height far exceeded his peers, reaching two meters. His cap was like cast gold, shining brightly in the Yin Qi. His eyes were a deep purple, as if he could see through everything.

His strength was climbing frantically.

First Order.

Second Order.

Third Order.

When he broke through to the Third Order, the entire Mycelium Deep Forest cheered.

The clansmen knelt before him and called him:

"Mushroom King."

Year Two Hundred and Eighty.

Under the rule of the Mushroom King, the Mushroom People entered an unprecedented period of prosperity.

The population surpassed twenty thousand.

Civilization was highly developed.

They had even developed their own Hero Unit—individuals of great strength and superior wisdom who became leaders of various tribes and spiritual guides.

But the Mushroom King always remembered.

He remembered that figure standing at the edge of the forest.

That figure who created all of this.

That existence they called the Creator.

Year Two Hundred and Ninety-Nine.

The Mushroom King stood alone at the edge of the forest, gazing at the distant area where greyish-white mist always drifted.

That was the place where Hero Unit resided.

It was a restricted zone.

But the Mushroom King knew that beyond the restricted zone, there were even further places.

And that existence who created everything.

He had waited for a long time.

A very long time.

The last day of the three-hundredth year.