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Lin Ling was so frightened he nearly shattered his own flowerpot. He searched the entire Imperial Garden and realized Old Tortoise had truly vanished without a trace, so he hurried to find Shi Changyuan.

"Something terrible has happened! Something from your Imperial Garden has been stolen again!"

Lin Ling timed it perfectly and entered Shi Changyuan's dream the moment he lay down.

Though this dream still began in desolation, the courtyard was no longer dilapidated, nor were there any of those terrifying sounds.

But Lin Ling still preferred the resplendent Imperial Study.

The moment the dream changed, Shi Changyuan knew that ungrateful Mushroom had arrived.

Before he saw the mushroom, he heard him.

Listening to those repeated cries of disaster, Shi Changyuan pinched the bridge of his nose and suddenly wondered why he had deliberately lured him out in the first place.

"Old Turtle was captured again!"

The mushroom before him looked genuinely anxious. He rushed over, still unable to catch his breath, and immediately began chattering away, pouring out the entire process of discovering Old Turtle's disappearance like beans spilling from a jar.

"What does your friend's business have to do with Me?"

Compared to Lin Ling's urgency, the emperor, leisurely playing chess, appeared exceptionally composed—so composed that his reaction could even be called indifferent.

Lin Ling froze for a moment and stammered, "B-but you said before..."

"Those who show disrespect will naturally be supervised and dealt with. Must I personally concern Myself with every turtle?"

"It's a turtle, not a bastard," Lin Ling quietly corrected.

"But what if the people supervising and dealing with it are a little slow, and Old Turtle gets turned into turtle soup?" He blinked. Shi Changyuan's words had convinced him, but he was still worried about Old Turtle's life.

"Alright, I actually wanted to ask you to help fish Old Turtle out."

Lin Ling grabbed Shi Changyuan's sleeve, trying to plead with him. But he did not know the name of the human monarch before him, so he thought about how the palace servants addressed him and pitifully mimicked them—

"Your Majesty."

"Please, save Old Turtle."

Shi Changyuan lowered his eyes to stare at the hand clutching his sleeve. Only after a moment did he look away, snorting coldly. "So now you remember Me?"

Lin Ling felt there was a trace of resentment in those words, but he did not understand. Mushroom only knew that sincerity was the greatest finishing move.

He tugged on Shi Changyuan's sleeve and gave it another shake. "I always remembered you. It would be even better if you could tell me your name."

"How could an emperor's personal name be..." Shi Changyuan frowned, but before he could finish, the mushroom before him seemed to recall something and added—

"My name is Lin Ling, you know. Lin as in forest, Ling as in clear water. Dark, damp earth is what mushrooms love most."

When Lin Ling looked up again after saying that, Shi Changyuan's expression seemed much better, and even Lin Ling's request had room for negotiation.

Shi Changyuan pondered. "Saving that Old Tortoise is no difficult matter."

"I need you to change My dreams and give Me an environment in which to rest."

The moment Lin Ling heard that, he nodded almost without hesitation and patted his chest in assurance. "That's easy! I also thought the dreams you had before were far too scary. They were practically nightmares."

If one did not sleep well, one's temper would become irritable. Perhaps that was why this tyrant, whom people always called excessively brutal, was the way he was.

"Leave it to me. Then remember our agreement, okay? Go save Old Turtle soon," Lin Ling reminded him softly once more.

Lin Ling had even secured the human monarch's protection for Old Turtle. The next day, he heard that Old Turtle had returned and rushed to the Imperial Garden to see whether he had been injured.

But Old Turtle said not only had he not been hurt, he had even been taken to a resplendent fish tank to broaden his horizons and had eaten plenty of delicious food. His words were full of longing.

"They wanted to fatten you up before stewing you! You can't be fooled." Lin Ling picked up Old Turtle and gave him a thorough lecture.

As dusk approached, Lin Ling returned to the Imperial Study and waited for the human monarch to rest.

Changing a dream only required a tiny amount of hallucinogenic spores. For Lin Ling, it was merely a wave of his hand.

So he confidently fulfilled his promise.

And so Shi Changyuan waited in his dream for an entire night.

There was only the empty Imperial Study in the dream, with no mushroom.

Shi Changyuan felt the annoyance of having been stood up, but he also understood that the youth had kept his promise and had indeed given him an environment in which to rest.

He waited another three days before Mushroom finally appeared again. Mushroom had excellent after-sales service and had come to ask for feedback.

Shi Changyuan glanced at the mushroom sitting across from him, suppressed a trace of irritation, and casually asked, "You seem to appear only in My dreams. Why?"

Lin Ling was completely unguarded and answered as though it were only natural, "Because I'm a spirit creature. I'm supposed to avoid truly appearing before humans."

"That way, even if a human tells someone else, they'll only think it was a dream or some delusion."

"Of course, there are also some silly spirit creatures who accidentally appear before humans and end up being written into Liaozhai storybooks."

At this point, Lin Ling glanced at Shi Changyuan and defended everyone's honor. "But there are very few spirit creatures as silly as that, so everyone thinks those storybooks were simply made up by their authors."

Shi Changyuan could not help letting out a soft laugh, drawing a strange, puzzled look from Lin Ling.

Seeing that Shi Changyuan had no intention of speaking, Lin Ling continued revealing his own secrets.

"That's also why I'm planning to go to the deep mountains and forests. There are simply too many people in the palace."

The moment Lin Ling finished speaking, Shi Changyuan sharply caught an important point. "You're going back to the deep mountains and forests?"

"Yes."

"You can't—" The words had barely left Shi Changyuan's mouth when the mushroom before him revealed that he had already arranged everything.

"Don't worry. I'll do what I promised. Before I leave, I'll use spores to grow a Little Mushroom. If you keep Little Mushroom beside your bed, you'll be able to have good dreams."