41: Chapter 41: The Sword Cultivators Lined Up to Be Beaten, and the First "Visitor" in the Mist.

The general vibe of the Heavenly River Sword Sect had completely warped.

If it were half a month ago, Disciples would always exchange pleasantries when they met.

"Senior Brother, how many hours did you practice your sword today?"

"Junior Brother, has your cultivation progressed?"

Now, everything had changed.

"Senior Brother, why is your face so swollen?"

"Don't mention it. Last night at the Scripture Pavilion, I challenged [Bookshelf C] and was taught a lesson by a copy of 'Basic Arithmetic'."

"That book was too devious. It tested me with the 'Chickens and Rabbits in the Same Cage' problem. When I couldn't answer, it smacked my face with its spine."

"Hiss... Senior Brother, that's a huge blessing! I heard that after being smacked by that arithmetic book, one's Divine Soul becomes much clearer. In the future, you won't get ripped off when buying groceries down the mountain!"

"It's a blessing, alright, but it's a bit hard on the face. By the way, Junior Brother, why are you limping?"

"Hehe, I went to the [Physical Education Elective Zone] and was tied up by a few jump ropes for half the night. I had to break free myself."

"Don't say it, I feel my movement technique is much lighter now, and my sword kinesis is much steadier!"

Outside the Scripture Pavilion, the once-deserted square was long gone.

A long queue stretched from the entrance all the way to the foot of the mountain.

Countless Disciples stared longingly at the tightly closed doors, their eyes filled not with fear, but with an almost morbid fanaticism.

Some even laid out bedrolls at the door just to snatch a "beating spot" in the front row.

Ever since the news of Chen Gang's group of "first beta players" having their Divine Souls skyrocket spread like wildfire, the Scripture Pavilion had transformed from a "terrifying Forbidden Ground" into a "leveling Holy Land" that everyone yearned for.

The process was painful.

One might be scared to the point of incontinence.

Or might be chased by a cookbook trying to nibble off half a buttock.

But the "Divine Soul strengthening" reward was simply too enticing.

...

Inside the Scripture Pavilion.

"I can't... I really can't anymore..."

The ink monster transformed from the Old Ancestor of the Blood River slumped on the ground like a puddle of mud.

His hideous large mouth stuck out a black tongue, his breathing sounding like a worn-out bellows.

"Li Mo! You might as well just kill me with one strike!"

"One night! Over three hundred people! Every single one wanted me to scare them in different ways! My throat is hoarse from screaming!"

"And those books! The cover of 'Postpartum Care for Sows' has been worn ragged by those little brats! This is abuse! This is torture!"

Behind the counter, Li Mo looked at the "Fear Points" skyrocketing on the System panel, a satisfied curve playing at the corners of his mouth.

Without even looking up, he flicked his finger, and a pitch-black Medicinal Pill flew accurately into the ink monster's mouth.

"Throat-soothing Pill."

"Eat it and continue."

"Additionally, in view of your performance last night, you are rated as the 'Best Employee of the Day' and are permitted to rest for two hours during the day."

The Old Ancestor of the Blood River swallowed the pill, filled with grief and indignation.

"You're a real slavedriver! Even the Demonic Path isn't as black-hearted as you!"

Despite the cursing, his body honestly shrank back into the pickle jar used for disguise.

Compared to having his consciousness directly erased by Li Mo's terrifying dragon vein heavenly book, being an NPC here, though a bit tiring, at least provided pills to eat and kept him alive.

After dismissing the Old Ancestor of the Blood River, the smile on Li Mo's face slowly faded.

He walked to the window, his gaze passing through the noisy crowd to look toward the mountain gate of the Heavenly River Sword Sect.

There, the sun was just right, and the sea of clouds was churning.

A scene of immortal elegance.

But in Li Mo's Eye of True Sight, the edge of that pure white sea of clouds had already been stained with a layer of grayish-white death.

That wasn't a cloud.

That was "mold" seeping in from the reality dimension.

"It's here."

Li Mo whispered, his fingers lightly tapping on the windowsill.

"Ding—!!!"

A shrill, distorted toll of a bell suddenly tore through the tranquility of the entire Cloud Break Mountain Range.

There was no peace of a morning bell in this sound, nor the solemnity of a gathering.

Only despair.

Nine consecutive rings!

The highest alarm of the Heavenly River Sword Sect—[Sect Destruction Crisis]!

The noisy crowd in the square instantly fell silent.

The smiles on all the Disciples' faces froze.

"Nine rings... the alarm bell?"

"What happened? Did the demonic cult fight their way back?"

"Impossible! Just a few days ago, the Ancestor Master scared off the Great Zhou Dynasty. Who would dare come to seek death?"

Before everyone could figure it out, a streak of light crashed miserably from the direction of the mountain gate.

It was a patrol spirit boat.

At this moment, the hull was riddled with holes, like a piece of rotten wood that had been gnawed through, still constantly dropping gray debris.

"Bang!"

The spirit boat smashed heavily onto the square in front of the main peak's hall, shattering into a field of wreckage.

"Help... help me..."

A blood-covered patrol Disciple crawled out from the wreckage.

But the wounds on his body were extremely bizarre.

No blood flowed out.

Instead, clusters of slightly trembling gray mushrooms grew from the wounds.

As the caps of those mushrooms opened and closed, they emitted visible gray spores.

"Don't go over there!"

A sharp shout rang out.

Sect Master Gu Canghai and several Elders arrived instantly via teleportation.

He looked at the mushrooms on that Disciple, and his face instantly lost all color.

"This is... the Abyss Strain?"

As a Sect Master, Gu Canghai had seen records of this ominous thing in the most ancient texts.

"Sect Master... I... I'm not hurt..."

The Disciple looked up, his eyes terrifyingly hollow.

He grinned, a bizarre smile appearing, and even a small mushroom grew at the corner of his mouth.

"I've just... returned to the embrace of nature..."

"The soil here... is so fragrant..."

"You all... come taste it too..."

Before he finished speaking, he actually grabbed the mud on the ground and stuffed it into his mouth in large gulps.

He ate with great relish, his expression incredibly intoxicated, as if he were enjoying the world's finest delicacy.

"Blech..."

Some watching Disciples bent over on the spot, retching violently.

This scene was ten thousand times more disgusting than any man-eating book in the Scripture Pavilion!

"Seal the area! Activate the Mountain Protection Grand Array!"

Gu Canghai made a prompt decision, lashing out with a powerful wave of spiritual power, attempting to restrain the Disciple.

However, in the next moment, everyone's scalp tingled.

That Nascent Soul Stage spiritual power, enough to shatter mountains and crack stones, was actually instantly absorbed upon contact with the mushrooms on the Disciple!

Having received nourishment, those mushrooms began to grow frantically.

In the blink of an eye, they completely covered the Disciple's body, turning him into a gray humanoid monster composed of mushrooms.

"Hee hee... so delicious... energy..."

The "Mushroom Man" let out an incoherent murmur, his body suddenly shrinking inward, and then it exploded with a bang!

Pfft—!

A sky full of gray mist—that was a cloud of death composed of billions of spores.

"Retreat! Hold your breath! Seal all the pores of your body!"

The Grand Elder roared in terror, waving his sleeves to whip up a gale, attempting to blow away the spore cloud.

It was useless.

The wind couldn't blow it away, and magic couldn't stop it.

Those spores ignored all physical rules and all spiritual power shields, penetrating all barriers like ghosts.

They landed lightly on several Enforcement Hall Disciples in the front row.

Sizzle, sizzle...

Tiny hyphae instantly sprouted from their skin.

"Ah! My hand! My hand is growing hair!"

"It's so itchy! Something is crawling in my bones!"

Screams and despair instantly ignited the scene.

This was not a battle they could understand.

No glint of blades or shadows of swords, no clashing of Spells.

Only this undefendable, incomprehensible, and irresistible "pollution."

...

Scripture Pavilion, second floor.

Li Mo quietly watched the prelude to the apocalypse unfolding outside the window.

"So this is the vanguard of the 'Weird Tide'."

His expression was calm, but his knuckles were slightly white as he held the scroll.

"It's not a toxin, nor is it an illusion."

"This is a replacement at the 'conceptual' level."

"That mushroom isn't a real mushroom. It's forcibly replacing the concept of 'flesh' with 'fungus'."

"Because in the rules of the Weird, humans are originally composed of mushrooms."

"Physical defense is ineffective, and spiritual power defense... will even become its nourishment."

Li Mo sighed.

For Cultivators accustomed to the existing cultivation System, this kind of dimensional reduction strike was unsolvable.

Unless...

Your mind is abnormal enough, or your cognition is strong enough, to fundamentally reject the erosion of such concepts.

"System, calculate the current fall rate of the Sect."

"[Calculating...]"

"[Estimated that the Mountain Protection Grand Array will fail in three hours (the Weird is modifying the underlying logic of the Formation).]"

"[Countdown to total Sect fall: 12 hours.]"

"[Current safe zone: Limited to a hundred-meter radius around the Scripture Pavilion (due to the host's high-level rule suppression).]"

Li Mo rubbed his temples.

"It seems the 'beta version' of this 'Nightmare Trial' needs to be upgraded to the 'official version' immediately."

He turned and looked at the books on the shelves behind him, which were trembling due to the aura from the outside world.

"Don't be afraid."

Li Mo lightly clapped his hands. His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached every corner of the pavilion.

"The ones outside are amateurs."

"You guys are the regulars."

"Since they want to turn the Heavenly River Sword Sect into a mushroom garden, then we'll turn this place into a real 'asylum'."

"Only a madman can fight a madman."

Li Mo picked up a brush and wrote a new line of announcement in the void.

He suddenly waved his sleeve.

Whoosh—

Countless sheets of paper covered in writing flew out of the Scripture Pavilion's window like a sudden funeral snow, drifting toward the main peak's square submerged in panic.

Gu Canghai, who was frantic and at his wit's end, suddenly saw a piece of paper drift down in front of him.

He instinctively reached out and caught it.

There was only one sentence on the paper. The handwriting was messy, yet it exuded a reassuring... madness.

"[All who are infected, panicked, or have nowhere to go, proceed to the Scripture Pavilion for refuge immediately.]"

"[Pavilion Entry Notice: There are no mushrooms here, only books that want to eat you. Please weigh for yourself whether you want to become fertilizer or be 'beaten' by knowledge.]"

"[— Left by the Scripture Pavilion Administrator.]"

Gu Canghai stared at this note, his whole body freezing.

He suddenly looked up, staring intently at that ancient pavilion.

The gray mist receded around it, and lights flickered within the windows.

That haunted house that everyone usually feared had, at this moment, become the only lighthouse in this apocalyptic scene.

"Pass the order!"

Gu Canghai let out a roar that bet everything, his voice so hoarse it broke.

"All Disciples!"

"Abandon the outer defense lines!"

"All personnel... retreat to the Scripture Pavilion!"