Mythical Scroll Artist: Starting with the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming

Chapter 482 The Association's Talent Pool

After trying it out, I felt that it was no different from decomposing plants on a regular basis.

Since that's the case, there's no need to hesitate any longer; just expand outwards.

Of course, the spread and diffusion of mycelium is the kind that happens silently and cannot be seen on the surface.

However, Elder Feng and the others vaguely sensed that the aura of flesh and blood on the surrounding flesh and blood earth was showing signs of weakening, and the area of ​​weakening was continuing to spread.

"That really works!" the association's experts exclaimed in surprise. "What's the principle behind it?"

"They say it can absorb the enemy's life force," Elder Feng said truthfully.

"Vitality?" The association members were secretly alarmed. "No wonder. But won't he be affected by the evil power if he absorbs it so directly?"

Elder Feng couldn't help but worry.

Faced with the humans' questions, the Great King Fungus was secretly puzzled, "You don't know either?"

It's understandable that Wu Xian didn't know, since he's still young. But these people in front of him, who are all in their seventies and eighties and are high-ranking members of the association, had never heard of the characteristics of their fungal creatures.

what's going on?
Are they, the fungal family, too low-key in their daily lives?

"Know what?" Elder Feng asked, puzzled.

“We fungi are not afraid of evil forces,” the giant fungus said, puzzled. “Are you high-ranking members of the human world? Don’t you even know about this?”

"..." Elder Feng and the others from the association exchanged surprised and doubtful glances. "What? You fungal creatures are not afraid of evil forces?"

"Have you ever heard of any malevolent creatures appearing in my Green Abyss?" the Great King Fungus asked with a smile. "Or rather, have you ever seen any malevolent scroll painters hiding in our Green Desert?"

Everyone shook their heads blankly, as if they really didn't remember anything.

At this moment, an elder from the Qi Clan frowned and said, "No, I remember encountering a powerful and eerie aura in the Green Desert once, which terrified us all."

“That’s a magical fungus, not an evil fungus,” the King Fungus explained. “It’s a special development path for us fungi after absorbing and mastering evil power.”

Then, he briefly explained the details he had discussed with Wu Xian earlier.

After hearing this, the association members were still somewhat incredulous.

"So, in other words, because of your unique nature, your fungi have fundamentally eliminated the possibility of being infected by evil forces?" Elder Feng's eyes flashed wildly.

"That's one way to understand it," the Great King Mushroom said with a smile.

"Hiss~" Elder Feng's eyes flickered uncertainly. After a long while, he turned to his assistant and said, "Xiao Yun, go and collect information on the personnel of associations in various places. See if there are any scroll painters who specialize in the study of fungi and mushrooms."

"Ok."

The assistant, named Xiaoyun, immediately accessed the association's database to search.

The people around naturally understood Elder Feng's thoughts.

Previously unaware of this characteristic of fungi, now that we know, it is natural to pay attention to its development.

After all, their association has been able to develop to this point because of its comprehensive development.

For thousands of years, the association has turned danger into safety several times, thanks to various scroll-drawing talents who were previously overlooked.

In just a short while, Xiaoyun, the assistant, brought good news: "Found it. After a simple screening, we found no less than a dozen relevant member information files, and most of them are distributed in prefecture-level city associations."

"Very good," Elder Feng nodded in satisfaction, seemingly unsurprised by the result. "As soon as possible, gather this group of people at headquarters and train them in a unified manner."

Unfortunately, while the association may not excel in other areas, it is unmatched in terms of potential talent reserves.

The association can find talent for any niche type of scroll painting.

Therefore, after learning about this characteristic of fungi, Feng Chang did not think about where to find relevant talents, but rather how to quickly mobilize the relevant personnel under the association.

Because he knew perfectly well that there would definitely be scroll painters in the area.

Don't ask, the answer is confidence!

"The old master wants to develop a fungal scroll system?" the King Fungus asked in surprise.

"Is there a problem?" Elder Feng asked with a smile.

"Forgive my bluntness, but you humans have never created a true fungal scroll," the Great King Fungus quipped. "I have never encountered a true fungal scroll either."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions turned strange. "Your Excellency, are you joking? I've seen quite a few of them on a regular basis, and there are quite a few at the Botanical Gym alone. Would you like to ask someone there to show you?"

“We’ve naturally come into contact with those mushroom scrolls; they’re just pseudofungi,” the King Mushroom laughed.

"Pseudofungus?" Elder Feng asked, puzzled.

The Great King Fungus said unhurriedly, "You just said it yourself, the Plant Gym. We fungi are not plants. How could they possibly draw real fungal creatures using the thinking and logic of plant scrolls?"

"You mean that humanity's current fungal-themed narratives have essentially gone astray?"

“That’s right, they’ve all gone astray,” the Great King Fungus said with certainty. “I’ve never seen an exception, not a single one.”

Elder Feng's eyes flickered slightly. "How many human scrolls has Little Fungus seen? What if there are genuine fungal scrolls among the common people?"

"Tch, it's not that I look down on you humans," the Great King Fungus mocked.

Elder Feng didn't rush to refute, but instead pressed on while the iron was hot, saying, "If a suitable fungal scroll is discovered later, could Little Fungus offer some guidance?"

For some reason, Elder Feng always felt that there must be such talents within the association.

After all, in his mind, any kind of eccentric or unconventional talent could be found within the association, and there had never been any exceptions.

“If such a human truly exists, I myself would like to have a good discussion with him without you even having to ask.” The Great King Fungus was equally confident in its deduction.

Not only him, but the entire fungal family believed from the bottom of their hearts that humans could never create a truly meaningful fungal scroll.

As they spoke, the mycelium of the giant fungus had already spread to the entire front line without anyone noticing.

A continuous stream of immense life force flowed into his body, along with some powerful and malevolent forces.

As he expected, the evil force was trying to assimilate him into flesh and blood.

However, the assimilation of evil forces is like hitting thin air; it's completely useless.

Or rather, the evil forces simply cannot find a foothold or a point of attachment.

Evil forces are like this, and so is human thought.

At this moment, the Great King Fungus has two paths before it: one is to absorb and refine the life force that is not of very high quality but is plentiful and filling.

The other is to absorb evil power, pushing oneself completely down a different path.

Before encountering Wu Xian, the Great King Fungus might have tried to transform into a demonic fungus, since it's not easy to find some evil power to devour in their Green Abyss.

The endless, malevolent power before him was readily available, enough to transform him into a top-tier demonic fungus.

But after meeting Wu Xian, he saw another promising path.

He still vividly remembers the wonderful taste of the incense from the faith.

Therefore, after only a brief hesitation, the Great King Fungus decisively began to absorb and transform the massive amount of life force to further enhance its lifespan and medicinal properties.

"There's a serious problem now," said the Great King Fungus solemnly. "What do you mean?" Elder Feng inquired.

“I naturally don’t want to switch to the path of demonic fungi,” said the Great King Fungus. “So while I absorb the life force of flesh and blood, a lot of evil power will also accumulate.”

A small amount is fine; it can just stay inside my body.

But if there's too much, I can't handle it all. It needs to be expelled from my body somehow. What do you think is the best way to solve this?

Upon hearing this, Elder Feng and the others couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

After all, evil forces are really hard to deal with.

Seeing everyone's troubled expressions, the Great King Mushroom changed the subject, "Since that's the case, then let's use my method. I will then spawn some mushrooms full of evil power in various places."

These mushrooms, imbued with malevolent power, may be quite potent, requiring you to physically destroy them.

I will also try my best to control the output of evil forces, let them spread out as much as possible, and control their individual strength.

Even so, these malevolent forces can merge and converge, so try to prevent them from gathering on a large scale.

"Good!" Elder Feng was both surprised and delighted, not expecting that the Great King Fungus had such a good solution. "I will now gather all parties to cooperate in this action."

“Oh right,” the giant fungus suddenly added, “I guess I’m doing this as a contribution to you humans?”

"of course."

The Great King was overjoyed. "Could you please spread the word about my great deeds and let more people know about them?"

"Huh?" Elder Feng's expression was strange. "Why is that?"

"I enjoy the feeling of being worshipped and valued by you humans," the Great King Fungus said, feigning importance.

"That's easy to say. We'll arrange for you to be featured in all the major newspapers and media outlets," Elder Feng chuckled, surprised that Little Junjun had such a hobby. "In addition, the subsequent battle to eliminate the evil spirits will definitely be covered by live broadcasts from all sides. You'll get plenty of fame and credit for that."

"So good."

The king mushroom was overjoyed and full of energy.

Elder Feng and the rest of the association were puzzled by this.

Why should a mere mushroom care about such empty fame?

It's important to understand that reputation and merit are concepts that emerged after human society developed. Essentially, they are used to gain the trust of more people and achieve goals that are widely expected.

So here's the question: you're a fungus, you don't need a promotion or a raise, so what use is this thing to you?

Could it be that fungal organisms also have psychological needs, such as a need for a sense of accomplishment and a sense of existence?

Subsequently, under Elder Feng's command and coordination, people from all sides began to prepare one after another.

Just then, Elder Roundworm suddenly opened his eyes, as if something significant had happened. "Elder Feng, something's up!"

"Have you found Mayor Chen?" Elder Feng asked excitedly.

“No, not at all,” Elder Roundworm explained seriously. “Elder Strip Worm and I just discovered what appears to be an extremely powerful embryonic physical body, which is in a very high stage of development and is not far from where the main force is currently located.”

Upon hearing this, Elder Feng did not hesitate at all, "Notify all the powerful figures in the new abyss to eliminate it as soon as possible, and absolutely do not allow that nascent physical form to be conceived!"

This situation should naturally be addressed as a priority.

The more powerful the physical form, the faster it should be eliminated.

Once successfully conceived, the demon god will truly become a demon god, instead of its current "clumsy and adorable" state where it is at the mercy of others.

……

The New Abyss, a vast world of flesh and blood.

The vanguard teams from all sides have gradually regained their footing after the initial panic and shock.

They coordinated and cooperated with each other to completely suppress the flesh-and-blood monsters that kept appearing.

This also gave people from all sides a preliminary understanding of the situation inside the new abyss.

"Isn't this supposed to be a demon god? This is it?"

On the side of the Necromancer's Guild, Zhao Qinghe and several disciples of the Necromancer's Guild scoffed.

To be honest, the danger level in the new Abyss is far less than they expected, and it feels like the parties can completely disperse and act independently.

"It seems the association's findings are correct; the Demon God is indeed in a rather awkward situation," many elders analyzed cautiously.

"In that case, wouldn't there be an opportunity to completely resolve this issue?" someone thought.

"It's going to be tough. Right now, the Demon God is just lacking in power and is in a somewhat passive position overall, but it won't be an easy task to completely destroy it."

"Indeed, this demon god is too large. Even if all parties unite and fight for ten or more years, they may not be able to harm even one-thousandth or one-ten-thousandth of the demon god."

Upon hearing this, all parties involved were filled with a sense of helplessness.

"That's why we've found this window of opportunity," Elder Bai of the Peak Martial Arts Academy remarked. "If a fully-formed demon god were to invade, we wouldn't even have the qualifications to infiltrate this area."

Bai Shiqi agreed, saying, "From what Brother Wu is saying, the current situation seems to be somewhat related to that Mayor Chen."

"What a joke!" Zhao Qinghe scoffed. "Could it be that the mayor severely injured the demon god, leaving it in this state?"

“It’s naturally unlikely,” Shiraishi analyzed, “but there are other ways to achieve this goal.”

"For example?" Zhao Qinghe asked, his face full of disbelief.

At this moment, Wu Xian, who had just dealt with a group of flesh-and-blood demons, said coldly, "For example, we can lure that evil god here in advance and cause this disaster to break out ahead of time."

Upon hearing this, the crowd was stunned and bewildered.

"You mean, the demon god was attracted by Mayor Chen?" Bai Shiqi asked in surprise.

“That’s right,” Wu Xian said calmly. “As you all know, there are frequent activities of the evil scroll painters in Yaoyang City. In fact, Mayor Chen has been cooperating with us to deal with those evil scroll painters.”

Not long ago, Mayor Chen suddenly disappeared, which led to this infiltration by the evil spirits and the invasion of the demon god.

Upon hearing this, people from all sides marveled, their eyes darting around uncertainly.

"In that case, Mayor Chen's contribution is truly immense."

The top officials from all sides took a deep breath, naturally understanding just how valuable this move was.

At that moment, everyone present was stunned at the same time, and they all felt a brief fluctuation of divine thought from the roundworms in their bodies.

The moment the message was received, everyone present became serious.

"It seems everyone has received the news," the elder leading the Demon God Dojo said in a deep voice. "In short, we must not allow that evil god to develop a real physical body."

"According to the association, this nascent physical form seems to be very powerful, and their parasitic power is unable to get close to it at all."

“No matter how powerful it is, it’s just a powerful scroll puppet,” Elder Bai of the Peak Dojo said in a deep voice. “But if it were to fully develop, it would be more than just a scroll puppet.”

(End of this chapter)