The Plague Rat looked up at the gray-white light-points dancing in the air, his expression growing increasingly grim.
Chen Zhou gave a low grunt of agreement; he had noticed it as well.
Each of those spores floating in the air contained a dense concentration of death qi and plague, and they were highly infectious.
They were breathing, growing, and searching for hosts.
Chen Zhou reached out his hand. A spore landed on the back of his hand and instantly burrowed into his skin, transforming into a small, gray-white fungal patch.
The patch spread at a speed visible to the naked eye, its edges sprouting fine mycelium like countless tiny tentacles trying to burrow deeper.
Chen Zhou channeled his death qi. The patch immediately stopped spreading, then rapidly ossified and fell off, turning into a wisp of gray smoke.
“They have a very strong parasitic ability,” Chen Zhou remarked. “They can grow on anything.”
He looked up at the points of light in the air.
They drifted from deep underground, surging up along the cracks in the ley line like a reverse galaxy. The gray-white light flowed through the darkness, beautiful yet eerie.
“Let’s go. Follow them and see what the source is.”
The two walked forward in the direction the spores were drifting.
The ground beneath their feet grew softer and softer, like stepping on rotten mushrooms. Every step they took sank in with a squelching sound.
The air grew increasingly viscous; every breath felt like their lungs were being filled with glue. Fortunately, as evil spirits, they didn't need to breathe and didn't have to worry about suffocation.
The surrounding light grew dimmer, with only the spores providing illumination. Their gray-white glow cast upon the rock walls, coating everything in a color of deathly silence.
After walking for about half an hour, the space ahead suddenly opened up.
Chen Zhou came to a halt.
Before them lay a massive underground basin, spanning hundreds of miles. It was surrounded by steep rock walls riddled with countless holes, resembling a honeycomb.
Spores erupted from every hole, surging out and converging in the air above the basin to form a thick cloud of light.
The light cloud rotated slowly, its center a mass of gray-white light so dense it seemed inseparable.
The floor of the basin was covered in mushrooms.
The large ones were dozens of zhang tall, like gray-white towers with their caps spread wide, blotting out the sky.
The small ones were only the size of a fingernail, densely carpeting the ground in a myriad of strange shapes.
Every mushroom was glowing, their various lights intertwining to illuminate the entire underground basin with a ghostly aura.
Chen Zhou's Ghost Domain automatically expanded, enveloping both him and the Plague Rat.
The mushrooms seemed to sense the intruders. Their caps trembled slightly, and mycelium probed out from beneath the ground, crawling toward Chen Zhou and the Plague Rat.
Chen Zhou frowned. Death qi surged from his body, and the Ghost Domain suddenly expanded, crushing all the mushrooms within a hundred-zhang radius.
The mushrooms shattered into powder, which danced in the air before rapidly coalescing into new mushrooms—larger and more hideous than before.
The Plague Rat curled his lip, his spirits rising. “My lord, let this rat give it a try.”
He stepped out of the Ghost Domain and onto the fungal carpet. The mushrooms immediately grew excited. Mycelium surged from all directions, entangling the Plague Rat's ankles and crawling up his legs.
The Plague Rat glanced down and calmly activated Great Plague Heaven.
Inherited from Purity and Filth, Great Plague Heaven could absorb all plagues and filth into one's body and refine them into one's own power.
Dark green mist surged from his body. Wherever it passed, the mycelium rapidly withered, transforming into streams of energy that fed back into the Plague Rat.
He spread his arms, and the dark green mist grew thicker, spreading out in all directions like a tide.
But there were too many mushrooms.
As one patch withered, even more sprouted from the ground. The Plague Rat felt his skin itching. Looking down, he saw a layer of fine fungal patches growing on his arms.
The patches spread, their edges sprouting mycelium that burrowed into his flesh. While he was absorbing the mushrooms, they were also parasitizing him in turn, greedily draining his death qi.
“Damn, these things are quite persistent,” the Plague Rat cursed.
He operated Great Plague Heaven at full power, absorbing all the fungal patches within his body.
But as soon as he finished, new ones sprouted again.
The mushrooms' attacks grew more aggressive, and the Plague Rat's recovery speed gradually fell behind the rate of infection.
Small, gray-white mushrooms began to grow on his arms, their caps covered in fine fuzz like miniature monsters.
The Plague Rat's expression changed, and he quickly retreated back into Chen Zhou's Ghost Domain.
The concentration of death qi within the Ghost Domain was extremely high, immediately suppressing the mushrooms' growth rate, yet the small mushrooms on his arms continued to grow stubbornly.
The Plague Rat gritted his teeth and tore the skin right off his arms.
The skin came away, revealing the bright red muscle beneath. Mycelium still lingered on the muscle, burrowing even deeper.
He channeled his death qi to force the mycelium out, then stimulated his death qi to regenerate his flesh. New skin soon grew back.
He took a breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“My lord, these things are not easy to deal with.”
Chen Zhou remained silent, merely observing the mushrooms.
He had noticed a problem.
Although these mushrooms were numerous and possessed strong regenerative abilities, their methods of attack were very singular, relying only on parasitism and assimilation.
They had no intelligence or strategy, acting entirely on instinct.
They were somewhat like evil spirits.
“Let's keep going. There are too many mushrooms to clear out, and there's no need to,” Chen Zhou said.
The Plague Rat nodded and followed behind Chen Zhou.
The two walked along the edge of the basin. The mushrooms became more numerous and grew even larger.
Some mushrooms had already reached hundreds of zhang in height, their caps spreading wide to cover the rock layers overhead.
Countless fine strands of mycelium hung beneath the caps, swaying gently in the wind like curtains.
The mycelium was covered in spores that dropped in batches every few breaths, falling like snow.
Chen Zhou led the way, his Ghost Domain expanded to block out all the mushrooms and mycelium.
After walking for about another half an hour, a giant tree suddenly appeared ahead.
Chen Zhou stopped and looked up.
The giant tree was massive, its trunk at least several hundred zhang in diameter—it would take hundreds of people holding hands to encircle it.
The canopy towered into the clouds, its top out of sight. Only countless thick branches could be seen stretching out in all directions like a giant palm, supporting the dome of the entire underground space.
The leaves were emerald green, each as large as a millstone, emitting a soft light.
When the light shone upon the surrounding mushrooms, they immediately shriveled. The mycelium retracted underground, and the caps closed as if they were avoiding something terrifying.
But the giant tree was on the verge of death.
Half of the trunk was covered in various mushrooms—red, white, black, purple—a riot of colors resembling ugly scars.
The mushrooms were deeply embedded in the trunk, their mycelium burrowing into the bark and the xylem, greedily absorbing the tree's nutrients.
The giant tree was resisting.
Emerald light radiated from within the trunk, pushing the mushrooms back slightly, but they were soon reclaimed by the mycelium once more.
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