Spirit Bifulong

Teyvat, Farunos Province, Mushroom Village under Notting City.

The people here all had mushrooms for spirits, and it had been a very long time since a child with innate spirit power had appeared.

Lan Yu, a transmigrator, an orphan, six years old, was currently standing in line to awaken his spirit, and standing right in front of him was Su Yuntao, known as the Blind-Eye God of War.

Lan Yu held no great hopes of awakening some overpowered spirit; after all, his early-deceased parents both had mushroom spirits and lacked innate spirit power.

There was a high probability his spirit would also be a mushroom, and he only prayed to awaken innate spirit power. As long as he had innate spirit power, there was still a chance.

Soon it was Lan Yu's turn. Standing within the awakening array, Su Yuntao activated the formation, and Lan Yu felt the flow of spirit power.

Opening his hand, a mushroom of unusual shape appeared in his palm.

"A mushroom I've never seen before? A mutated spirit? Perhaps it will have innate spirit power. Come, let's test it."

Lan Yu was stunned for a moment before snapping back to reality.

"Yes!"

Placing his hand upon the crystal ball, a flash of light revealed itself.

"Rank 2 innate spirit power. Not bad. Step aside for now, I'll issue your certificate later."

"Yes!"

Stepping to the side, Lan Yu carefully examined his spirit. As a veteran original player, he could not mistake it.

His spirit was none other than the Sage Lord of Fungi, Demon God Bifulong, mocked as the weakest demon god, or perhaps the most "fungal" demon god.

Furthermore, this fellow was actually sleeping; Lan Yu even spotted a snot bubble, though Su Yuntao didn't seem to have noticed this just moments before.

Since he was the most "fungal" demon god, a rank 2 innate spirit power was only normal.

Let's see if I can wake him up later. Communication would be best; I remember Bifulong's growth potential is actually quite strong, except for his rather lacking brain.

Shortly after, Su Yuntao concluded the spirit awakening ceremony, and the only one who ultimately awakened innate spirit power was Lan Yu.

Su Yuntao issued the Spirit Hall certificate to Lan Yu with a somewhat disappointed look on his face, while casually asking him if he wanted to join Spirit Hall.

Lan Yu thought about it and still refused. Rank 2 innate spirit power would not be intensively cultivated, and Bifulong's special nature might also attract unwanted attention.

Therefore, he had to lay low in the early stages; Bifulong was a late-game hero.

Seeing Lan Yu refuse, Su Yuntao said nothing more. With a parting word to the village chief, he left Mushroom Village.

Village Chief Jerry later spoke warmly to Lan Yu as well, which could be summed up as: don't forget the village when you become a Soul Master in the future.

However, Lan Yu had never received any relief; he survived entirely on the meager family savings left by his parents.

The villagers hadn't wiped out his ancestral line, so he truly had to give them thanks. Aside from that, his sense of belonging to this village was approximately zero.

Fending off the village chief with a few words, Lan Yu returned to his own home, a somewhat dilapidated small wooden cabin.

Back home, Lan Yu summoned his spirit once more. "Hey, wake up, Bifulong, wake up. Can you hear me?"

"Mhm... Don't bother me, the great Sage Lord of Fungi is plotting a grand plan for revenge... No, wait..."

Bifulong's snot bubble instantly popped. He widened his eyes, looked at Lan Yu, and then burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha, hahahahaha! Finally, finally someone can hear this Sage Lord's voice! My follower, I can grant you food. Piously worship me!"

Lan Yu's mouth twitched. He really wanted to bite it like a Little Horned Dragon.

"Bifulong, stop for a second and figure out the current situation."

"Eh? How does a child like you know the demon god name of this Sage Lord? Wait... Where is this? How did I get here?"

"This is no longer Teyvat, but a place called Douluo Continent. You've now become my spirit..."

Lan Yu spent a great deal of breath before finally making Bifulong roughly understand his current plight.

"Good, good. The people here don't know that my avatars are delicious. As long as I spread my avatars on a large scale, my power will quickly recover. By then, my follower, you can also become what was it... a Title..."

"It's Title Douluo!"

"Right, Title Douluo! Now, take me to the hottest place. I'm going to..."

"Save it. I do know a place with a very high temperature, but we can't go there right now. Also, when did I become your follower? You are my spirit now, so you should listen to me. Besides, brainless as you are, you'd better stay away from things that require thinking."

What! You actually dare to say this Sage Lord is brainless!

"I didn't say that; Zamalan did. Remember?"

"Zamalan? I seem to remember that's my avatar, isn't it? It's been too long, I'm a bit hazy on it."

"Mhm, that's right. Those were his words. He said you possessed strength alone, yet lacked wisdom, and couldn't even match things with four legs."

"Ah... Damn it, how could he say that? I am his father!"

"Indeed, a foolish father. A very fitting evaluation. Anyway, I'll handle things that require brains from now on, and you'll be responsible for execution."

"Fine, fine. I have to admit, you humans really do have better brains. So, what do you want to do next?"

"I need to know what you can do right now."

"I don't have much power right now, but growing a few mushrooms is still manageable."

"How on earth do your mushrooms reproduce? Don't mushrooms spread by relying on a mycelium network? The fruiting bodies are merely the external manifestation for reproduction. In the past, you didn't just focus on creating fruiting-body avatars and fail to even deploy a basic mycelium network, did you?"

"This... this..."

Lan Yu pressed a hand to his forehead, instantly feeling speechless.

"No wonder you could be eaten almost to extinction by humans in an environment like Sumeru. Did you fail to even figure out the fact that you are a mushroom? And why did you make your mushrooms taste so good? I don't believe you couldn't make mushrooms taste bland."

"Wasn't that to make more people worship me? Delicious mushrooms naturally attract more people. How was I supposed to know humans could eat so much..."

Bifulong's voice grew softer and softer, until it was almost inaudible.

"Alright, alright. From now on, prioritize deploying the mycelium network. With a mycelium network covering the earth, are we going to worry about having no mushroom avatars?"

"Got it, got it. I'll start right now..."

Bifulong burrowed directly into the ground, and then Lan Yu felt his perception expand from his small wooden cabin to the surroundings, stopping once it reached twenty meters.

"I can't go on, I'm tired. I need to rest."

Recalling Bifulong, Lan Yu instantly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him, and before he knew it, he fell asleep.

Meanwhile, this spread-out mycelium network had already begun to feedback into Lan Yu, slowly enhancing his spirit power even without him meditating.

Once the mycelium network spread out on a large scale in the future, Lan Yu's cultivation speed would only grow faster and faster.