Chapter 189
Chapter 189
Jiang Yunsui took two steps toward them with a huge armful of mushrooms.
“Don’t come any closer!”
Everyone leaped back together, covering their mouths and noses as they stared at her in horror.
The adorable girl holding the mushrooms tilted her head.
“Oh. You can’t touch these. They’re poisonous.”
“You knew that and still picked up so many?” Song Jin cried. “No, no. We can’t keep this child anymore!”
They could not keep her at all. Who knew how many spores from those mushrooms now clung to Jiang Yunsui?
It went without saying that the mycelium spread through mushroom spores.
Jiang Yunsui scratched her head.
“But the mushrooms are pretty.”
“They’re pretty enough,” Fat Chef exclaimed, “but they’ll cost us our lives!”
Jiang Yunsui muttered, “I can collect their spores.”
She was not afraid in the slightest. As a mushroom herself, Jiang Yunsui was immune to every poisonous mushroom.
She could also heal herself with energy from the stars and moon, which made her immune to other toxins as well.
Jiang Yunsui loved collecting pretty or unusual things. Beautiful poisonous mushrooms naturally belonged in her collection.
But everyone was frightened. After thinking it over, she reluctantly put the mushrooms down and collected only several clusters of spores.
She used her own spores as containers and gathered the foreign spores inside.
Her spores could collect energy and tiny substances almost invisible to the eye, then condense them into beautiful little spheres.
Only after finishing did she skip away.
As she approached, Song Jin and the others hurriedly backed off again.
“Stay there. You stay right there.”
Jiang Yunsui gazed at them with large, innocent eyes.
Anyone unaware of the situation would have thought she was being bullied.
“What do we do?” Song Jin asked. “We have no idea whether those poisonous spores are still on her.”
Shen Qingzhu also felt a headache coming on.
Anything that spread by spores, parasitized a host, and then controlled that host was especially difficult to deal with.
“Should we throw her into water and wash her?”
“Or roast her over a fire? The mycelium spores should fear fire, but would water wash them away?”
“How would we roast her? A quick pass over a flame surely wouldn’t be enough.”
Pair after pair of eyes landed on Jiang Yunsui as they offered one heartless suggestion after another.
The state of those parasitized animals had truly terrified them.
Jiang Yunsui’s scalp prickled.
Oh no. These people were planning to turn her into a roasted Mushroom!
She hurriedly protested.
“There aren’t any of those mushroom spores on me!”
“Little Yunsui,” Fat Chef said, “those things aren’t visible to the eye.”
“Really!”
Jiang Yunsui took out the little spore spheres she had collected and showed them.
“I gathered all the spores in here.”
Each soft-looking sphere was smaller than a marble. The spores within were far too fine to see individually, but gathered together beneath the sunlight, they resembled flowing golden light.
They were exceptionally beautiful.
Only after everyone questioned her several times and she repeatedly confirmed that no spores remained on her did they approach.
Fat Chef stared at the little spheres with huge eyes.
“Good heavens. You can gather spores together like this?”
“What exactly is this?” Shen Qingzhu asked.
He picked up one sphere. It was soft, yet highly elastic and surprisingly sturdy.
His eyes brightened.
“Can you collect spores from other mushrooms too?”
Jiang Yunsui nodded. “I can.”
Shen Qingzhu returned the sphere to her.
“Then you could poison someone without them ever noticing.”
“That ability is rather incredible.”
“This may be a good thing,” someone said. “Little Yunsui finally has a way to protect herself.”
She would no longer be limited to running away, though the method was admittedly rather sinister.
But Jiang Yunsui was only a child. As long as no one harmed her, she would never poison them.
“How many of these poisonous mushroom spores can you collect?” Song Jin asked.
“Lots and lots.”
“Then gather more. From now on, these can be your little poison pellets.”
He rubbed his chin in thought.
“If you could make the spores germinate and grow mycelium the instant an enemy swallowed them…”
Everyone’s gaze shifted to the animal and human corpses nearly wrapped in mycelium cocoons.
They shuddered.
The thought was horrifying.
Shen Qingzhu’s eyes, however, lit up.
“The King Serpent is lethally venomous, enormous, and agile. Killing it will not be easy. I wonder whether these spores could control it. Even if they only slow it down, our chances would improve enormously.”
The others brightened as well.
“That’s right! The King Serpent is powerful and immune to poison, but parasitic spores aren’t poison.”
“We’ll keep this method in reserve,” Song Jin said. “We should also look for other strange poisonous things. Little Yunsui, can you collect only mushroom spores?”
Jiang Yunsui nodded, then shook her head.
“I don’t know. I’ve never tried anything else.”
Song Jin immediately picked her up.
“We won’t go to Wushan Cavern yet. First, we’ll collect those strange things.”
“Don’t become separated. The fog is too thick. Tie everyone’s wrists together with rope.”
“And cover your mouths and noses. Anything carried through the air here could be poisonous.”
Shen Qingzhu simply made masks for everyone.
After Jiang Yunsui collected more spores from the parasitic fungus, the party left in another direction.
Along the way, the two Nuqing Roosters constantly chased the venomous insects around them.
Shen Qingzhu’s expression suddenly hardened.
“Something is wrong. These insects aren’t wild. They’re Gu insects under someone’s control.”
Song Jin watched some of the Gu insects retreat deeper into the forest.
“No wonder only three of the men Young Master Ji sent here returned. They were probably discovered the moment they entered Wushan Cavern’s outskirts.”
“These insects are Wushan Cavern’s eyes.”
Shen Qingzhu took out a medicinal powder. After judging the wind’s direction, he scattered it.
The powder vanished from sight as soon as it dispersed.
Rustle, rustle…
Countless venomous insects poured from the forest and fled.
The two roosters ate some of them. They even picked through the swarm and carried back several especially venomous insects that Little Pink favored.
When the party stopped to eat, Little Pink emerged from around Jiang Yunsui’s wrist and devoured the insects.
“We need to leave quickly. The people at Wushan Cavern have probably discovered us. After the last intrusion, they are certain to be even more vigilant.”
While the Gu insects remained scattered, Ji Si picked up Jiang Yunsui and the entire party used their lightness skills to flee at top speed.
Shen Qingzhu and Song Jin had guessed correctly.
Not long after they left, several people with bizarre patterns painted across their faces appeared where the party had been.
“They escaped.”
“Damn them. They took our sacrifices, and now they dare return. Once we catch them, we’ll throw them into the Forest of Ten Thousand Serpents!”
“Report this to the High Shaman. We don’t know their purpose. They must be captured.”
A woman scoffed.
“This is our territory. Catching them will be effortless.”