Long before, the Mushroom Brothers had forged an alliance with the Grass King, agreeing to mutual non-interference and mutual support.

Recently, on the advice of the Grass King, the Mushroom Brothers had decided to expand their territory from the Great Dream Marsh.

However, the Mushroom Brothers were always puzzled as to why the Grass King remained solitary, never seeking to expand its own territory.

"I am here to help you, of course. Hurry, the Immortal has already arrived in the Great Dream Marsh," the tender voice of the Grass King emerged from the small green sprout.

Panther Cap pointed in the direction of the fading sword light, "I've seen it, the Immortal just flew out of the Marsh. It's likely that my brothers are all dead."

The Grass King expressed surprise before asking, "What will you do then? Will you fight the Immortal to the death?"

Hatred flickered in Panther Cap's eyes. "Of course, I want revenge! But not now. I will take my followers far from the Great Dream Marsh to find a new territory, where we can secretly gather strength. When I become a level six supernatural being, I will return to kill the Immortal and avenge my brothers!"

Panther Cap looked at the Grass King, "We are allies; you will help me, right?"

"Of course, we are allies, eternal allies," the Grass King nodded.

Panther Cap felt moved, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the Grass King smiled. The next moment, numerous grassroots burst from the soil, piercing into Panther Cap's body. These roots had been lying in ambush all around him and now emerged suddenly, leaving him no time to react.

"Why are you attacking me? Weren't we allies? Didn't we agree that you take the central provinces and we take the eastern ones?" Panther Cap's psionic energy was rapidly being drained. He howled in pain and cursed in anger as the Grass King increased the intensity of the extraction.

"I dare not kill the Immortal," the Grass King said calmly. "I only encouraged you to expand so that you would expose yourselves deliberately."

In its view, the Mushroom Brothers were a significant threat. Should their power grow, it could potentially endanger its own safety. Rather than wait for that day, it was better to set a trap and lead them to their own destruction.

Panther Cap's eyes widened in rage. "You..."

He couldn't finish his sentence. The draining of his psionic energy was so severe that he was rapidly losing his intelligence.

Within minutes, the last of the Mushroom Brothers was drained of all psionic energy, turning into a dried-up husk.

The Grass King looked in the direction of the departing sword light. "Immortal, may we never meet. Even though it was the golden rain that awakened my intelligence, I still do not wish to encounter you."

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

The Grass King retracted its roots and wrapped itself in its leaves, quickly forming into a sphere. The sphere rolled along the ground and swiftly disappeared from sight.

...

The squeal of brakes tore through the silence as Wang Yong's van screeched to a halt. He leaped from the vehicle, his face a mask of despair as he surveyed the bridge ahead, completely overrun with mushrooms.

Tasked by Wang Gangjian to seek assistance from the Ship Gang, he had left Black Blade Security Company, hoping they could help stem the southward tide of mushrooman. But now, the very path to the Ship Gang was also claimed by the encroaching fungi, signaling that even the Ship Gang was in peril.

"What do we do? Go back?" Wang Yong sighed deeply.

"Who's there? Don't you know this is Ship Gang territory?" a wary voice called from beneath the bridge.

Wang Yong looked down to see a small boat with two middle-aged men aboard. He sighed in relief and quickly explained the situation, ending with a plea, "Can you help me contact the Ship Gang's leader? We have no one else to rely on. Whatever the Ship Gang wants, we will provide!"

The two men exchanged a glance, their expressions odd.

"Yuhai City was attacked by mushroomen just two days ago, and several superhumans died," one of them said. "We probably can't help you."

Wang Yong's face fell. The Ship Gang had been attacked too? But he quickly seized on a crucial piece of information, "Did the Ship Gang repel the mushrooman?"

"They did, but the casualties were heavy," the other man replied. "How exactly they repelled them, we don't know. All we heard was that the mushroomen suddenly ran away."

Wang Yong was taken aback. They ran away?

"I have a walkie-talkie; I can ask the boss for you," the calmer of the two offered.

"Thank you, brother!" Wang Yong expressed his gratitude.

Moments later, the reply came through: "The Ship Gang doesn't have the resources to help Linjiang Province's forces. You're on your own."

Wang Yong's expression froze. "Okay... okay then." He climbed back into his car like a zombie, turned around, and headed back the way he had come.

The Ship Gang wouldn't help. The mushrooman were unstoppable. Was there a future for Black Blade? Would they have to relocate en masse as they had when facing the zombie horde?

As he drove back, Wang Yong's thoughts drifted to the Immortal. How the initial zombie tide had vanished remained a mystery, but it was clear it had something to do with the Immortal. Would the Immortal intervene again with the mushrooman moving south?

"The Ship Gang won't help. The Immortal is our only hope now," he murmured, a flicker of hope reigniting in his eyes. "I hope my cousin can persuade the Immortal..."

At the Haotai Hotel, no sooner had Chu Xuan returned than he immediately cast the Psionic cores of Ink Cap and Green Cap into the Hundred Woods Nurturing Spirit Array.

Inside the array, the remains of mushrooman had amassed like a small mountain. At a rough count, there were at least three thousand bodies. Under the influence of the array, these carcasses would transform into rich energy, infusing into the Psionic cores of Ink Cap, Green Cap, and Stinkhorn, and over time, metamorphosing into wood attribute spiritual items.

"Given the current pace, they should take shape within a year at most," Chu Xuan mused, a smile playing upon his lips. "It remains to be seen, however, just how many wood attribute spiritual items will ultimately emerge."

If the energy infused was sufficiently abundant and concentrated, a single seed could yield multiple spiritual items. Were this the Mystic Azure Realm, merely procuring spiritual wood would cost a vast sum of spirit stones. The spirit stones required to create wood attribute spiritual items were only about twenty to thirty percent less than buying the items outright.

But here on Blue Star, spiritual wood could be wholly substituted with mushrooman—a most lucrative venture indeed.

"I must not exterminate the mushrooman," Chu Xuan pondered. "It would be prudent to cultivate a few more, even if they are not quite as formidable as the Mushroom Brothers. In doing so, I would secure more Psionic cores, enabling the creation of additional wood attribute spiritual items."

With this thought, Chu Xuan promptly dispatched Long and other corpse puppets to capture more mushrooman and breed them. There would be ample need for their selfless offerings in the future.

Just then, Chu Xuan raised an eyebrow. "Black Blade's people have come looking for me again?"

...