Chapter 171: The Great Mushroom Summoning Technique
The Lingzi growing midway up the cliff was called the Feiyun Zhaoyue Lingzi. When mature, it was snow-white all over, shaped like piled-up clouds.
Its timing of maturity was also quite particular—it usually ripened on the night of a full moon, when the moon stood high at its zenith.
Si Er and the others were quite fortunate. They had arrived just as the Feiyun Zhaoyue Lingzi was about to mature.
Guagua said, “Tonight is the full moon. We just need to wait here.”
Lu Taiping asked, “But won’t it take a long time until the moon reaches its highest point? Are we just going to stand here doing nothing?”
“It feels like we’ve been inside for quite a while already. Shouldn’t we find somewhere to rest and grab something to eat?”
Guagua blinked in confusion. “Can’t we just rest here? I have plenty of watermelons. No need to look for food elsewhere.”
Lu Taiping shook his head. “You eat them every day, so you probably don’t notice. But the melons in Student Si Er’s hands are incredibly fragrant—you can smell them from far away.”
“If you start eating here, the exotic beasts on the cliff will be drawn over immediately.”
“Before we even get a chance to seize the Feiyun Zhaoyue Lingzi, those beasts will come rob us first.”
“Will it really be like that?”
Guagua turned to Si Xu and Yu Beixuan for confirmation. Both of them nodded.
Yu Beixuan thought to himself: if those melons hadn’t smelled so irresistibly sweet, would he have chased Si Er all the way to Black Tortoise Academy?
Although Si Er constantly astonishing him was a bigger reason, those fragrant, sweet melons had also played an indispensable role.
Still, what he liked most was Si Er himself. The melons weren’t that important anymore.
Si Er also felt his melons were quite fragrant—especially the Power Watermelon and the Soul-Nourishing Hami Melon.
At first, he had assumed all fruits on the Ten Thousand Beast Continent smelled this good. Only after contracting Guagua did he realize his melons were special.
He had smelled fruits with even stronger aromas on the Ten Thousand Beast Continent—very fragrant—but none were as popular as his watermelons and Hami melons.
Si Er suspected that exotic beasts had particularly keen noses and could detect that his melons contained no baleful aura.
Food without baleful aura was naturally the most sought-after delicacy on the Ten Thousand Beast Continent.
The five of them moved to a nearby forest to rest. Cui Cui hopped down from atop Si Er’s head and performed a mushroom-summoning technique it had just figured out.
Then Si Er saw a vast number of spirit mushrooms bouncing toward him from all directions of the forest.
“Wow—a third-tier Wind Spirit Mushroom!”
Lu Taiping’s eyes lit up as he pointed at a white mushroom spinning and dancing in midair.
“Student Si Er, can I eat this? I don’t have any soul stones right now, so I’ll have to owe you. How about I write you an IOU?”
“Wait a moment.”
Si Er patted Lu Taiping’s shoulder and walked over to Cui Cui, cupping it in his hands.
“Cui Cui, did you summon these spirit mushrooms to give to me, or are you going to absorb them yourself?”
Though it sounded odd for a mushroom to eat mushrooms, some exotic beasts and plants grew stronger by devouring their own kind.
But Cui Cui only needed to absorb light energy. It rubbed against Si Er and transmitted its thoughts.
“They’re all Er-Er’s. Er-Er can eat them, give them away, or hand them in.”
“These spirit mushrooms all have ranks. They can be converted into competition points.”
“Our Cui Cui is amazing.”
Si Er lifted Cui Cui and kissed it before handing the Wind Spirit Mushroom to Lu Taiping.
“Take it, Student Lu. Xiao Bai has been treasure-hunting this whole way. He’s worked hard too.”
Lu Taiping beamed and quickly reached out to grab the Wind Spirit Mushroom.
“Thank you, Student Si Er.”
At the moment, he didn’t have anything valuable to give in return, so all he could do was express his gratitude.
When he had something good in the future, he would share it with Si Er.
As for the good items they had found earlier in the forest, most of them had been located through Xiao Bai and Guagua working together, so Lu Taiping and Si Er had always split those fifty-fifty.
Yu Beixuan and Si Xu didn’t care about personal rankings. Apart from what they found themselves or gained through battles they participated in, they didn’t join in other distributions.
Si Er gathered up all the fire-attribute spirit mushrooms, intending to give them to his father and elder brother later.
He handed the wood-attribute ones directly to Si Xu and immediately set up a large pot to stew them on the spot.
Si Xu laughed. “There’s no need to rush, is there? We still have to seize the Feiyun Zhaoyue Lingzi tonight. Stewing these will take time.”
“I think it’s absolutely necessary,” Si Er replied seriously. “Anything taken out of the Four Symbols Mountain has to be split in half with the Four Great Academies.”
“Father and Big Brother aren’t here, so we can’t do anything about that—we’re bound to give half away.”
“But these wood-attribute ones—you can finish them right here, Second Brother!”
“That way, nothing goes to waste.”
What a fine example of ‘not wasting a single bit.’ The Azure Dragon Dean’s face turned green.
In the past, plenty of students had snuck a bite or two during competitions, but they usually found very little to begin with, so the deans didn’t mind.
But judging from Cui Cui’s display just now, the entire patch of wood spirit mushrooms he had personally planted had been harvested!
Though at his current strength those mushrooms were neither here nor there to him, he simply loved that flavor! Was it too much to want a bowl of mushroom soup after meals every day?
Why did this already unlucky year have to leave him empty-handed—without even a sip of soup?
Seeing the Azure Dragon Dean’s mournful expression, the other three deans looked delighted.
Especially the White Tiger Dean, who laughed uproariously.
“Hahaha, Old Qing, I told you long ago not to plant all your mushrooms on Azure Dragon Mountain.”
“It’s not just the Freshman Exchange Competition—every year’s Grand Academy Competition is held there too!”
“You thought your mushroom patch was hidden well enough that students and exotic beasts wouldn’t find it.”
“Well, look at this now! Your mushrooms grew legs and ran off themselves! Hahaha!”
“They jumped straight into someone else’s pot and became soup in someone else’s bowl. No soup for you today!”
The Vermilion Bird Dean chuckled. “I’m afraid it’s not just this year. Those wood spirit mushrooms have been growing for many years. There were even higher-tier Emerald Spirit Mushrooms mixed in—now they’re all in someone else’s pot.”
“Old Qing relied on his knowledge of formations and treated that land as his private property, slipping in after each Grand Competition to harvest a few mushrooms. For decades, that patch was never empty.”
“But with that green mushroom’s summoning just now, his mushroom field is probably bare.”
“If he wants to eat them again, he’ll have to start replanting. And by the time they mature, it’ll be years.”
Grinding his teeth, the Azure Dragon Dean said, “It’s not empty. I checked. The ones that weren’t mature didn’t run off. I’ll still have soup next year!”
The Black Tortoise Dean asked calmly, “So this year you still don’t?”
The Azure Dragon Dean snapped back through clenched teeth, “Who says I don’t? If I can’t pick any, can’t I just buy some? They’re only third-tier spirit mushrooms. It’s not like you can’t buy them outside!”
The White Tiger Dean burst out laughing again. “Wasn’t it you who said the ones sold outside can’t compare to what’s grown on Azure Dragon Mountain?”
