I changed the world.

Furthermore, he discovered another fact. That is, as long as he stepped back a short distance, he could escape the fog-shrouded area, as if a wall of fog was blocking his path. Further ahead, Zhang Jing found that the fog was thickening at a visible rate, and just a dozen steps away, it was already a thick, impenetrable fog, a sight he had never seen before.

After walking for a while, Zhang Jing found a huge stone tablet in a clearing in the forest. One corner of the stone tablet had been broken by some force and was scattered on the ground.

The stone tablet has several blow marks in the middle, and over the long course of history, vines have even grown from the broken parts.

At this moment, on the surface of this damaged stone tablet, a line of divination characters was written in red liquid.

"Those who trespass into XX Garden shall be put to death." Two of the characters in the middle are illegible due to the damage to the stone tablet.

The red liquid resembled blood, and strangely, the scarlet handwriting looked unusually fresh, as if it had only been written recently, especially the character for "death," where a trickle of blood was still flowing down...

Zhang Jing stood in front of the stone tablet for a while, then looked around at the surroundings. He frowned, then squatted down and picked up a twig from the ground next to the stone tablet. He poked around and soon found traces of a road under the layer of decaying leaves not far to the left of the stone tablet.

It was the remnant of a stone-paved road, clearly with a very long history. Zhang Jing suddenly realized that there must have been a road in this woodland at some point in the past, but it was gradually eaten away by the surrounding plants over time.

He was now completely certain that the fog here did not belong to the Tiger-Dragon. However, although the inscription on the stone slab was terrifying, he couldn't just return empty-handed without even trying.

Zhang Jing tried divination again, and after a short while, he obtained vague information that his opportunity for this trip was in the right direction: he was to enter this area shrouded in mist.

Since that's the case, I should at least give it a try. Zhang Jing thought for a moment and then tried to venture deeper into the fog...

After walking more than ten steps forward, the concentration of the surrounding fog began to rise sharply. Just then, the key mark on the back of Zhang Jing's hand flickered slightly, and then something strange happened.

Then they saw the fog in front of them gradually dissipate, revealing a passage that was only wide enough for one person to pass through.

Zhang Jing was slightly taken aback, then realized what was happening and carefully stepped into the passage formed by the clouds and mist.

As he entered, the passage closed behind him. Zhang Jing walked slowly forward, constantly paying attention to his surroundings.

Time ticked by, and Zhang Jing continued forward through the mist. The path wound its way through the fog, constantly changing direction. In the surrounding mist, Zhang Jing seemed to hear some rustling sounds, and sometimes, some kind of murmuring call, as if a familiar person was calling out to him, but he couldn't make it out clearly.

Zhang Jing was no longer a novice who had just entered the extraordinary world. At this moment, he did not try to identify the sounds in the mist, but simply moved forward while remaining vigilant. Finally, the exit of the passage appeared ahead.

As he stepped out of the passage, the mist immediately enveloped him. Zhang Jing looked around; ahead lay a vast expanse of woodland, teeming with various plants, interspersed with occasional abandoned and dilapidated stone structures and collapsed man-made buildings, scattered haphazardly among them.

These buildings and stone sculptures were originally supposed to be quite exquisite, but for some reason they all collapsed and were damaged. Now, most of them can only be vaguely discerned by the occasional parts exposed among the plants.

This environment inevitably reminded Zhang Jing of the ancient buildings scattered in the rainforests of South America that he had seen in his previous life.

The road ended here. Zhang Jing looked around carefully and then noticed something unusual.

The area is surrounded by a large number of vines that climb on the surrounding trees, creating a rainforest-like landscape.

These vines are exceptionally thick, with leaves wider than a hand. Hanging from between the vines are huge fruits, each the size of a human head, looking very heavy.

As Zhang Jing approached, he discovered that these fruits, which resembled some kind of melon, had sleeping, anthropomorphic faces growing on their uneven skin. These faces had closed eyes, made no sound of breathing, and looked more like those of dead people. Moreover, they lacked any hair such as eyebrows or beards.

After Zhang Jing activated his True Fire to refine his pupils, he could clearly see that these vines seemed to be breathing, shimmering with a dark, eerie light.

Just as Zhang Jing approached a fruit hanging from a vine, the eyes of the face on the surface of the fruit closest to him suddenly opened and stared straight at him. Immediately afterward, several other fruits around him also opened their eyes, staring intently at Zhang Jing.

On the surface, Zhang Jing's expression remained unchanged, but inwardly he was extremely vigilant, and the long sword in his hand had been slightly rotated to adjust to the most comfortable angle.

However, after the eyes of these fruits lingered on the key mark on the back of Zhang Jing's hand for a moment, they all closed their eyes again. By this time, Zhang Jing knew that the key on the back of his hand was not only the key to enter this space, but it was also very likely the pass to this place.

With this realization, Zhang Jing felt somewhat at ease and continued onward.

Walking through this dense vine forest, each fruit resembles a human face. Whenever Zhang Jing approaches, the eyes on the fruit open and stare at him. Combined with the dim light and the silent, desolate ruins, it creates a rather eerie atmosphere.

After walking in the woods for about fifteen minutes, I faintly heard an unknown song ahead. The song drifted in the wind, melancholic yet ethereal and melodious, as if it had become one with the sound of the wind.

Zhang Jing continued walking forward, and the number of ruins ahead increased. Every now and then, he could see some buildings that looked like pillars or pavilions collapsed on the ground, blending into the weeds and vines.

The ground was no longer as flat as before, and began to show undulating terrain of varying sizes. Fortunately, with Zhang Jing's current agility, the irregular terrain was no problem at all. He only needed to lightly touch the ground, and his whole body would float by like a feather.

Zhang Jing would occasionally stop in front of some collapsed ruins, tearing away the plants clinging to them, his eyes flashing with fire. For him, there were two things to focus on: first, to see if he could find anything useful, preferably something like a Buddhist scripture.

In addition, another thing that intrigued Zhang Jing was what exactly happened to this site to cause it to become like this.

It must be said that after his experience with Lishan Cave, Zhang Jing had a vague guess in his mind, and as he continued to move forward and explore, his subsequent discoveries confirmed his guess to some extent.

Although a long time has passed, he still found traces of being struck by a sharp weapon in many broken parts of the stone structure, which also confirmed his guess.

After walking a while longer, the singing became clearer and clearer. Finally, after passing through a large patch of tall grass, Zhang Jing arrived at the top of a small hill. In front of him was a large area of ​​sparse woodland, and before Zhang Jing's eyes was a scene that seemed like a dream.

Numerous twinkling lights, tinged with a pale purple hue, floated in the sky, while on the ground grew all sorts of strange mushrooms, large and small.

These mushrooms have enormous, exaggerated caps, the smallest being the size of a fist, while the larger ones can reach over two people's height. Most of these mushrooms have beautiful purple or blue patterns on their caps.

"puff!!!"

Just as Zhang Jing was carefully observing, a chimney-like organ atop a mushroom cap taller than a person suddenly opened wide, spraying a mass of matter into the sky. The mass quickly dispersed in all directions, turning into drifting specks of purple light...

It seems that these beautiful starlight are mushroom spores... Zhang Jing secretly made a guess.

However, what surprised him most was not the beautiful spores. Rather, it was that he could clearly see that on the cylindrical stems of these mushrooms, large and small, there were clearly defined faces.

Furthermore, many of the mushroom faces were singing with mouths open and expressions of deep concentration, while others showed obvious signs of rapture, making them quite anthropomorphic.

Although the spores floating in the sky and the brightly colored mushrooms on the ground did indeed make the whole area look like a fairy tale world, Zhang Jing sensed something eerie behind this beauty.

He once again used his True Fire to refine his eyes and observed. He discovered that every mushroom in the mushroom forest ahead emitted a mesmerizing light of varying intensity. Even the spores in the air carried this light, so much so that in his vision, the light seemed to merge into one, forming a large patch of light mist.

He doesn't believe that this mushroom forest, which looks so "unique," exists simply as a tourist attraction.

Although the key in his hand seemed to have served as a pass when he encountered fog and vines before, Zhang Jing was not sure if it would be the same for the mushroom forest in front of him.

Therefore, he didn't immediately step into the area. Instead, he hid behind a tree and carefully observed the mushrooms. He discovered that the density of the numerous spores floating in the sky was quite high, making it extremely difficult to avoid getting any on them. Furthermore, the mushroom forest was quite vast, and it appeared impossible to traverse it directly using any escape techniques, at least not at his current stage.

So, is it possible to bypass this entire mushroom forest? If possible, he would rather not deal with these creatures he doesn't understand.

Chapter 187 Mushroom Forest

Zhang Jing thought for a moment, then put down the backpack on his back and took out a plastic box. The box had some scratches, indicating it wasn't brand new. He opened it, and inside were five disassembled mechanical parts, which looked quite sophisticated.

Zhang Jing took it out and quickly put it together; it turned out to be a palm-sized drone and a remote control.

Zhang Jing had specifically purchased this drone from an online platform to test its reconnaissance capabilities during the expedition, and now it was time for it to prove its worth.

Of course, Zhang Jing couldn't buy genuine military-grade drones; all he could get his hands on were civilian models. Before buying, Zhang Jing had researched online and learned that the operating mechanisms of civilian drones in this world were essentially no different from those in his previous life.

Considering that he would most likely use it in an environment without any network or satellite positioning, Zhang Jing ultimately purchased a relatively uncommon model that was compatible with radio control.

This quadcopter drone, known as the "Explorer 3," is a relatively old model. It was previously used for engineering support in remote areas with limited network coverage. However, with the rapid advancements in satellite and aerospace technology, even remote locations without network access can now be linked via navigation satellites. Therefore, this older model lost its market and was discontinued decades ago.

The one Zhang Jing bought was a used item he found online. Although the design was a bit old, it still worked without major problems. Zhang Jing had tested it in his own courtyard, and the test was quite successful.

This older type of drone cannot transmit shooting data in real time. However, it can still shoot 360 degrees from a fixed altitude and then read the shooting data via a wired connection after landing.

Under Zhang Jing's control, the drone quickly rose into the air, but what happened next was clearly not what he wanted...

Under his expectant gaze, the drone, which had risen to a height of about fifteen meters above the ground, suddenly burst into a spark, and then, like a bird shot by an arrow, plummeted straight down, landing in a bush not far from Zhang Jing.

Zhang Jing frowned and hurried over to check the drone. He found that the drone had been smashed to pieces. In addition, he could smell a distinct burnt smell from the drone. Zhang Jing tested it again and found that, as he had seen, all the functions on the drone were no longer working.

With a sigh, Zhang Jing thought for a moment, then disassembled the drone, put it back in its original box, and stored it in his backpack. He planned to investigate back home to find out exactly what had caused the drone's malfunction.

However, before that, it is obvious that there must be some kind of protective measures in the sky here, so his idea of ​​reconnaissance from the sky seems to be impossible to realize.

In that case, it seems we still have to resort to divination.

Zhang Jing squinted and began to calculate the six palaces in his palm. As he continued the calculation, his face gradually turned pale. Finally, he stopped what he was doing.

Letting out a long breath, Zhang Jing realized with some helplessness that, according to his divination, he could only vaguely sense that something he needed was deep within the mushroom forest in front of him.

This is a bit of a headache; it seems that there's no way to avoid the mushroom forest in front of us.

After careful consideration, Zhang Jing made a decision. He felt it necessary to confirm whether his key mark could also serve as a pass for these mushrooms.

However, Zhang Jing did not act immediately. Instead, he took out the Demon Refining Pot again, took a sip, and then meditated for a while to adjust his condition before carefully sneaking over.

Using the trees as cover, Zhang Jing quickly approached the outer edge of the mushroom forest. The spores that were floating irregularly in the air were already able to drift over.

Zhang Jing nimbly leaped onto a branch of a large tree, as thick as a person's embrace. There, he clearly saw more than ten spores on the outermost edge drifting over...

At this distance, he could clearly see that the spores were about the size of a fingernail, and their shape was somewhat similar to miniature umbrella-shaped mushrooms, except that the caps were made up of hair-like strands that resembled jellyfish tentacles.

Zhang Jing observed for a moment, then took out a pair of thin gloves from his pocket. Although the gloves were thin, they had a protective layer on the surface that looked like fish scales. They were made of nanomaterials, which made them quite strong and also corrosion-resistant.

He carried it on his hand, and when the spores approached him, he reached out and grabbed one of them...

Yes, Zhang Jing's plan was to alert the enemy. He had already observed that unless he could shrink to the size of a cat, it would be impossible for him to pass through this mushroom forest without getting covered in spores.

Zhang Jing speculated that these spores flying everywhere might not be so simple.

So, given this situation, rather than waiting until I sneak deep into the mushroom forest and, with no way to avoid it, get spores on my hands and cause unpredictable danger, it's better to capture a spore beforehand to test it out. That way, if there are any problems, I can be prepared in advance.

After all, he hadn't actually stepped into the mushroom forest yet. If things got really bad, he could use his teleportation technique to get away from here at any time and then make further plans.

As expected, just as Zhang Jing had predicted, the spore had barely landed in his hand before he could examine it closely when it emitted a high-pitched scream, like a squeaky chicken.

This scream was extremely peculiar. If Zhang Jing were still an ordinary person, he wouldn't have been able to hear it, as this extremely high-frequency sound was outside the range of normal hearing. However, Zhang Jing was now a late-stage second-tier cultivator, about to enter the third tier. His physical abilities and even his senses had reached an extremely high level of development. He could clearly perceive certain spectrums and sound frequencies that ordinary people couldn't see or hear, and immediately realized that he had been exposed.

Zhang Jing looked at his hand. This spore, the size of a fingernail, had an extremely small face growing on its surface, which was now trying its best to open its mouth and scream.

At the same moment the sound was made, Zhang Jing noticed that all the mushrooms nearby turned their gazes toward him instantly, and even the singing mushrooms stopped singing.

At the same time, pairs of eyes turned towards Zhang Jing's position.

Being stared at by so many mushrooms with eyes at the same time, even though Zhang Jing was prepared, he couldn't help but feel a strange sensation, along with a sense of crisis as if he had thorns in his back.

This inexplicable sense of crisis immediately alerted Zhang Jing. Without hesitation, he stood up from the treetop where he had been hiding and raised his hand to face the onlookers so that they could clearly see the mark on his hand.

Just as these mushrooms focused their attention on the mark on Zhang Jing's hand, some mushrooms, after examining it for a while, turned their gazes away, while others that had previously fallen silent began to sing again, and everything seemed to have returned to normal.

Even the spores in Zhang Jing's hand seemed to sense something and finally stopped screaming.