Chapter 1851: Second Wave of Benefits

"Since that's the case, I'll have to finish this quickly. Little Mushroom, can you also devour the life essence of these Lightning Wolves?"

Little Mushroom paused for a moment, then vigorously nodded its tiny head.

"Their life force is incredibly powerful. Normally, I wouldn't even dare to think about it, let alone provoke them easily. I can only attach myself to powerful plants and absorb their life force to barely sustain my own energy consumption. If I could truly get this much life force from the Lightning Wolves, it would probably be enough to keep me alive for hundreds of years. And my physical form might even undergo new changes due to this life force enhancement."

Xu Yang revealed a satisfied smile. "Then just watch. This will be the second wave of benefits for helping me all this way."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Yang got serious this time. Two streaks of sword light, named 'Lingering Emotion', appeared simultaneously behind him.

Xu Yang wielded the Eternal Sword Dao with both hands simultaneously. At this moment, he was like a sword god galloping through the jungle, each swing of his twin swords unleashing a powerful sword light that reaped lives.

Everywhere he passed, an incredibly powerful aura of slaughter was unleashed. However, no matter how fast these countless Lightning Wolves were, they were no match for Xu Yang at this moment.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of Lightning Wolves attempting to block Xu Yang's path all fell beneath his twin swords.

Their soul power was devoured by Xu Yang's red Lingering Emotion sword. As for the remaining powerful bloodline energy, Xu Yang did not use his other sword to absorb it. Instead, he fulfilled his promise and let Little Mushroom, who was beside him, absorb it all into her body.

It's worth noting that the little creature, originally less than a meter tall, began a new phase of growth at a rate visible to Xu Yang's naked eye after devouring so much powerful life force.

Originally, this little creature already had seven colors, which was extremely rare among mushroom-type life forms. As such a large amount of life force continued to pour in, two entirely new colors appeared on Little Mushroom.

What Xu Yang didn't expect was that with each new color the little creature gained, it awakened a new innate talent. And this time, Little Mushroom actually transformed directly into a human form!

"Haha, how about it? Am I not adorable?"

Seeing this scene, Xu Yang instinctively gasped.

"Holy cow, this actually worked? I can't believe such a bizarre life form like you exists within the Empire's most terrifying forbidden zone, the Labyrinthine Mountains."

The little creature looked like a girl in her early teens. She hopped over to Xu Yang, her sparkling, bright eyes fixed on him.

"Anyway, from now on, you are no longer my enemy. I want to follow you and help you find your two teammates. Don't worry, I won't accept your gifts for nothing. You helped me awaken new talents and transform into a human form. You also increased my strength by several levels. I will absolutely not treat you unfairly; I'm a very loyal person." Xu Yang watched with a half-smile as the little girl couldn't help but make a face at him.

"If that big tree hadn't fallen by my hand, perhaps I could truly believe what you're saying."

The little girl shook her head helplessly.

"Do you really think he was my intimate and good companion? If that were the case, even if it meant my life force would be depleted, I would never have left him alone. In reality, I was just a puppet he forcibly took. He needed my power to better transfer the essence of life force from his body to awaken the physical bodies of the human martial artists he had devoured, turning them into his puppets. This is because one of my talents allows me to bind life force to a corpse after death. While it's not enough to directly resurrect them, it can allow a corpse nourished by life force to regain its abilities for a short period. If I didn't have such a talent, do you think that big tree would have kept me alive until now after it caught me?"

Hearing this, Xu Yang understood the little creature's predicament and naturally stopped holding it against her.

"Alright, I won't discuss your moral character anymore. It's still the same offer: as long as you can help me find my two teammates and lead us to the exit of the Labyrinthine Mountains, I promise you that any life form we encounter along the way that dares to oppose me, I will eliminate them and turn them into your spoils of war."

"Hahaha, that's excellent! It's a deal. However, this place isn't suitable for staying too long. Soon, the scent of these fallen Lightning Wolves will spread far and wide. Wolves are pack animals. Once the wolf packs lurking near the jungle smell their kin, they will appear immediately. We should leave here quickly."

With that, Little Mushroom suddenly flickered her hand, and a delicate glow appeared in her grasp, revealing a light green bamboo staff.

The head of the bamboo staff glowed faintly. This was another innate ability Little Mushroom awakened besides transforming into human form, and it happened to be able to help Xu Yang detect changes in the aura of human powerhouses deeper within the Labyrinthine Mountains.

As they journeyed, Xu Yang quickly realized that Little Mushroom was truly extraordinary. Her various incredible abilities genuinely helped Xu Yang solve many problems along the way.

Xu Yang even had the thought of keeping this little creature as his pet, always by his side. That way, whenever he entered a battlefield within a jungle environment in the future, this little creature could play a very important role.

Little did he know, at this very moment, while Xu Yang was advancing at full speed with Little Mushroom, Long Kun and Po Xiao were facing vastly different circumstances. Long Kun, perhaps due to his simple-mindedness, never detected any trouble with his two companions beside him.

Unknowingly, he had already been led deep into the Labyrinthine Mountains by these two illusory figures. He himself hadn't realized that true danger had quietly arrived.

However, the girl Po Xiao was clearly much smarter than Long Kun.

Perhaps because she was especially attentive and concerned about Xu Yang, three days after separating from Xu Yang and Long Kun at the starting point, she observed a clear difference between the Xu Yang beside her and the "esteemed one" she knew.

Furthermore, they hadn't encountered any formidable opponents along the way, which made the highly perceptive "Goddess of Slaughter" from Tianzhong, as she was once known, suspicious of everything around her.

Finally, at a certain point, Po Xiao decided to forcefully attack the fake Xu Yang beside her to test his true strength, and indeed, she uncovered something amiss.

"How long do you two intend to keep up this charade? You fake 'esteemed one'! Do you want me to expose you?"