Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 742: Chapter 729: Top, Middle, Bottom

Spiritual Sea.

Since acquiring the [Inspiration] skill, Lin Jun hasn’t stopped exploring their own soul.

The entire soul sea is roughly divided into three layers.

The sea surface illuminated by daylight is where Lin Jun’s will resides; everything is under control, and the Mushroom Race is also within this range.

In the middle layer, where daylight does not reach, lies Lin Jun’s subconscious.

Lin Jun can exert influence over it, but cannot control it with precision.

The Puki controlled by the Puki Masters fall within this scope.

As for the deeper trenches, Lin Jun can’t control it, let alone utilize it.

This feels like the brain being unable to activate completely.

Currently, in the middle area of the Spiritual Sea, a lump of Slime is quietly suspended within this dark seawater.

Having blocked all perception, the part left by the Demon King has reverted to its most primitive state, a blob.

Beside it, the mushroom on the Mushroom Person’s head lights up, becoming the only light source in this darkness.

Staring at Envy before them, Lin Jun contemplates the new abilities exhibited by the Demon King.

The Demon King’s soul itself isn’t particularly special; Lin Jun could tell the souls he manipulated came from others, likely through sacrificial methods or similar.

The final division of the soul was unexpected for Lin Jun, especially as the Demon King didn’t possess the Sunstone.

However, keeping [Envy] behind by the Demon King was not a voluntary loss during battle, but rather a reluctant move.

Thus, it’s speculated that such a division of soul probably requires virtues, cardinal sins, or skills of a certain level as a foundation for execution.

So, initially dividing into six parts, does it mean the Demon King had at least six special abilities to begin with?

As for [Honesty], its effect when the Demon King used it seemed similar to Word of God.

But after reinforcing that first light gate, it was still burst apart by oneself, indicating that it’s not that whatever is said goes, but there is a certain limit.

Moreover, there must be some restrictions on the use of this skill.

If there were no restrictions, Lin Jun would definitely start babbling as soon as they met, rather than wait until a critical moment to use it to reinforce the light gate and conceal their trace.

Unknown whether this restriction requires energy accumulation or some cost after use.

But in any case, it’s a good skill to pull out a surprise move at critical moments.

It’s just that the Demon King took the spot centuries earlier; otherwise, [Honesty] should belong to Lin Jun by all rights.

Lin Jun initially intended to make a note, but quickly realized that the Demon King was right in front of them, making it unnecessary—even if it was just an unknown fraction.

Looking at this blob, they claim not to be a Slime, yet even their soul is Slime-shaped.

The current issue is how to handle this small lump of soul?

Based on Lin Jun’s rich experience in splitting their soul into countless fragments scattered worldwide daily, the least advisable action is to directly crush this lump of soul.

The soul possesses self-healing attributes, not just with Lin Jun, but universally.

It’s just that normal souls are so small, even a minor mental harm can shatter them completely, hence healing is out of the question.

Furthermore, soul healing isn’t about growing new soul, but rather those shattered fragments, through an unobservable manner, relocate back to the main body of the soul. This was Lin Jun’s conclusion from observing their soul’s regeneration.

Lin Jun speculates that even if they crush a person’s entire soul, it merely loses its main body and doesn’t reunite within the flesh.

Its soul would likely integrate into the world and eventually coalesce somewhere else.

Thus, if Lin Jun directly destroys this part of the soul, given it’s only a small part of the Demon King’s soul, it far from meets the standard of eliminating the Demon King. Most likely, it would only severely damage the Demon King, who can then slowly recover, even retaining [Envy].

Direct elimination is therefore a last resort, maybe usable at a decisive moment on the Purple Forbidden City, but better avoided for now.

The middle strategy is to continue sealing it, as it is now. Unless the Demon King can penetrate the Spiritual Sea to retrieve this part of the soul, they would permanently lose a portion of their power.

The best strategy, however, is to find a way to take this [Envy] and then keep the remaining Demon King soul for some serious humiliation!

Unfortunately, the idea is good, but reality is harsh.

This [Envy], Lin Jun can see it now but can’t consume it.

Their [Greed] disassembly is based on disassembling corpses to seize, and this Demon King is purely a soul, without a physical component, so it can’t be disassembled and seized.

Given the previous transfer characteristics of cardinal sins, perhaps killing it directly might grant the ability, but if guessed wrongly, all effort would be in vain.

Maybe there’s a way to stuff it into a body and then disassemble?

Pondering further, it feels like a solution might be found in Abyss Magic.

However, the middle strategy can also work, Lin Jun’s not insistent on obtaining [Envy].

One reason is that enigmatic Death God seems to want them to collect cardinal sins, purpose unknown.

If by any chance they’re a piece of prime meat and the cardinal sins are the garnish, the Death God might just be waiting for the complete dish to be set!

Another point is that even though[Envy] is a pretty handy ability, taking it doesn’t guarantee usability.

Just like [Fury], it remains grey and inactive on their skill panel.

[Envy] being grey on the Demon King’s panel suggests he gave it up because he couldn’t use it, otherwise why didn’t the Demon King leave behind Lin Jun’s [Honesty]?

How to activate it? Perhaps one must be sufficiently jealous to activate[Envy]?

As someone upright, activating it might be a tall order.

Consequently, Lin Jun finally places the importance of seizing [Envy] from the Demon King at the second tier, to be studied in absence of major events.

Finally, about the soul, the Demon King mentioned something that intrigued Lin Jun very much.

Was their soul... not created by the God?

Lin Jun is clearly aware of the anomalies of their own soul.

During their initial encounter in soul tug-of-war with the Yellow-covered Book, Lin Jun merely thought their soul was a bit peculiar.

However, after exploring half of the Continent, Lin Jun has never encountered anyone comparable to themselves in terms of the soul.

Though others differ slightly in soul capacity, even between the largest and smallest soul, the gap would never exceed a hundredfold.

In Lin Jun’s view, this disparity is negligible.

Lin Jun has considered themselves as perhaps being a modified existence by God, even wondering if the vague memories before crossing over were fabricated.

While they aren’t too concerned whether they previously were a real person or some experimental subject, knowing more can facilitate assumptions about God’s intentions, so naturally, Lin Jun wouldn’t miss the opportunity to learn more.

The seawater receded around the Slime, forming a hollow sphere in the sea.

The spiritual pressure dissipated, and before long, facial features slowly emerged on the small lump of Slime.