Immortal Spirit Fungus

After moving to Shrek City, Jiang Ming had thoroughly broadened his horizons. Something occurred to him now, and his eyes lit up.

"A treasure land-the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!"

"Uh, no, no. It doesn't compare."

Jiang Dongjun hurriedly shook his head in denial.

"The Cold Pool here is a far cry from the legendary Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well at the academy. It was formed by the right timing and terrain. Neither could be missing.

Judging by what I saw through the Golden Eyes of Truth, I reckon that simply opening a passage through one of the cliff walls would ruin the feng shui and let the yin qi escape. Then this Land of Yin-Yang Harmony would cease to exist."

Jiang Ming looked a little disappointed. "Then what hidden effects does this treasure land have? Did your Golden Eyes of Truth reveal any?"

There was a reason he called them hidden effects.

Many Titled Douluos, such as Dean Qian, had visited this place to sightsee. They could tell it was extraordinary, but they certainly had not seen through its deeper secrets.

Otherwise, some faction would have fenced off Old Dragon Ravine long ago.

Without giving it much thought, Jiang Dongjun answered as though it were obvious, "Do I even need the Golden Eyes of Truth for that? A treasure land naturally nurtures treasures of heaven and earth."

Jiang Ming gave a mischievous grin. "Exactly. Treasure lands nurture treasures of heaven and earth-that's one of the rules of the Soul Master World. Dongjun, look down there. Forget treasures of heaven and earth; is there even a single medicinal herb of substantial age? Can you smell any medicinal fragrance?"

Jiang Dongjun immediately frowned. He did not look; he already knew the answer.

If the place could sustain aged medicinal herbs, the two of them would not be standing here. Some faction would have fenced off all of Old Dragon Ravine as a medicinal garden.

"Could they be in the Cold Pool?"

No one knew a son better than his father. Jiang Ming spoke again at just the right moment, dismissing his unspoken thought.

"The Cold Pool is deep, and its water is freezing. Even Titled Douluos have never reached the bottom. Besides, there are no living creatures in it, so everyone gradually lost interest."

Just as Jiang Dongjun was about to activate his Golden Eyes of Truth again and peer through the vast white mist to examine the Cold Pool anew-

A ripple of soul power came from the cliff face below.

"A thousand-year soul beast? Where did that come from?"

After briefly sensing it, Jiang Ming was astonished.

Jiang Dongjun immediately lit up his Golden Eyes, their golden light piercing the thick mist.

Through his special vision, a plume of luminous white smoke rose like a beacon from the cliff below.

Jiang Dongjun smiled.

"Dad, our luck really does defy the heavens. Speak of the devil, and he appears-the treasure nurtured by the Land of Yin-Yang Harmony has shown up."

"Quick! Show me the way!"

Jiang Ming's eyes shone. Without wasting another moment, he scooped his son into his arms and strapped the Flying Soul Tool onto his back.

Whoosh-

Amid the powerful roar of its jets, he plunged headfirst into the white mist.

On a stretch of cliff roughly forty or fifty feet above the Cold Pool, the Jiang Family's father and son found a foothold. They stared intently at a luminous white mushroom less than ten feet away, its basin-sized cap breaking through the soil amid a clump of beard grass.

Jiang Ming could not help lowering his voice. "Heavens! What kind of treasure is that? Just smelling that fresh scent unique to mushrooms makes my body feel lighter. I feel completely at ease."

A strange gleam flickered in Jiang Dongjun's eyes. He had begun to guess what the mushroom was.

A Land of Yin-Yang Harmony, breaking through the soil, thousand-year energy fluctuations, a lightened body...

Every key trait pointed to a treasure of heaven and earth revealed in Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, one best consumed by prodigies early on to lay a smooth road for their cultivation.

-the Immortal Spirit Fungus!

Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King had introduced it like this: rarer than a ten-thousand-year soul beast, astonishingly nutritious, and capable of regulating the balance of yin and yang within the human body.

To put it more directly, after consuming an Immortal Spirit Fungus, one was less likely to suffer cultivation deviation. It added a trace of immortal spirit qi to the body, making cultivation bottlenecks easier to break through later on.

The key point-immortal spirit qi!

That stuff was a specialty of the Divine Realm. It had been one of the major factors behind Tang Wulin's spiritual power breaking through to the Divine Origin Realm.

Of course, the Immortal Spirit Fungus contained only a trace-a very, very small amount.

Tang San didn't leave behind the Medicine and Poison chapter. In its ten thousand years of development, has Shrek Academy recorded an unusual treasure like the Immortal Spirit Fungus?

Curious, Jiang Dongjun watched his father's reaction and considered what to say next.

In the era of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, Mu Ye had used it merely as an appetizer. He had even taken out three at once to make soup for Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Zhen Hua.

Clearly, its supposed rarity had to be taken with a grain of salt, and it was relatively easy to store.

Beside him, Jiang Ming could no longer restrain himself. He wanted to secure this fortuitous opportunity.

"Mushrooms are famous for growing fast. It's already broken through the soil, so it should be mature. Let's just pick it."

Clearly, Jiang Ming did not know its true nature.

Jiang Dongjun hurriedly stopped him.

"Wait! Dad, it's still growing. It's roughly at the equivalent of a human's adolescence. It still needs some time to mature."

He vaguely remembered that after an Immortal Spirit Fungus broke through the soil, it needed another nine years-or was it ten?

It seemed that after emerging, each year of growth equaled a thousand years of cultivation. Once it accumulated ten thousand years of cultivation, it would fall under the weight of its own immense energy. Its size would rapidly shrink, concentrating its nutrients.

Only then would it truly be mature.

"You could tell that? How much longer does it need?" Jiang Ming asked.

"I can see that it's still absorbing energy and growing, and its absorption rate is leveling out. It doesn't look like the final burst or slowdown before completion. Besides, it's only a thousand-year Spirit Object right now. With our family's resources, we could get one with a little effort. There's no need to interrupt its development."

Jiang Ming was speechless. "Son, if I let it grow into a ten-thousand-year Spirit Object, will we live long enough to use it?"

"Pah! Pah! Pah! Dad, don't jinx us! Can't we wait ten years?"

"Ten years?" Jiang Ming asked in confusion.

"Yes. Through the Golden Eyes of Truth, I discovered that it absorbs energy very quickly. Its growth rate is about a thousand times faster. If it can maintain that pace, it'll become a ten-thousand-year Spirit Object in ten years. That'll be the best time to pick it."

"Nine years. It already has a thousand years of cultivation," Jiang Ming quietly corrected, then asked in puzzlement, "You said it absorbs energy very quickly, but why does the flow of Heaven and Earth Essence feel normal to me?"

Jiang Dongjun replied, "Because it isn't just absorbing Heaven and Earth Essence. Its main sources are the yin qi and yang qi gathered by the Land of Yin-Yang Harmony. So I reckon its medicinal effects should include maintaining the body's yin-yang balance."

Jiang Ming raised his brows slightly and followed Jiang Dongjun's words down that line of thought.

Because the Yin Spirit his son had projected outside his body as a child had been too frail and needed external protection, he had deliberately studied pharmacology and formulated medicinal incense beneficial to the mind. He knew a little about treasures of heaven and earth.

"What a treasure!

If a Soul Master achieves a balance of yin and yang within their body, harmful external influences won't be able to invade.

So it should be able to prevent or cure cultivation deviation.

Also, just now, a single whiff of its scent made my body feel lighter, as though a heavy burden had been lifted... Considering that I'm eighty percent certain of the effect above, could it also have a related effect of breaking through cultivation bottlenecks?

Its unique growth habits and hundredfold growth rate might indeed let it evade certain Soul Masters with insufficient luck and grow in peace.

Mushrooms are known for springing up in the morning and dying by evening.

Even after becoming Spirit Objects, they can't shed that racial trait so easily. It must reach some limit where this stage of its life ends.

Which raises the question: what would its death look like?

Would it dissolve into a puddle of thick liquid, returning its vast vital essence to heaven and earth?

Or would it leave behind a clump of dried mushroom essence?"

Muttering to himself, Jiang Ming deduced a great deal from pharmacology, leaving Jiang Dongjun, who already knew the answers, filled with admiration.

Because he already knew the answers, Jiang Dongjun had not given the matter much further thought.

But Jiang Ming's next words struck Jiang Dongjun like lightning, pouring sudden enlightenment into him.

"Quick, Dongjun, activate your Golden Eyes and see whether there are any dried mushrooms buried under the soil and rocks nearby!"