Cave Refuge

No matter if it's a plant or an animal, the most basic requirement for their appearance is a seed. Although he did not know why mushrooms would grow on the Spiritual Power Shield, he believed that the prerequisite must involve seeds attached to the Spiritual Power Shield.

Thinking about this, Dong Tianyu subconsciously took out an abandoned steel pipe from his Storage Space and casually tossed it onto the ground nearby. In less than a minute, mushrooms miraculously began to grow on the randomly discarded steel pipe as well.

Moreover, compared to the crystal-clear mushrooms that had grown on the Spiritual Power Shield, the ones that had just sprung up on the steel pipe were of a dull, gray color. Most importantly, the mushroom caps even faintly reflected a metallic luster.

As the mushrooms on the steel pipe gradually grew larger, they managed to eat away at the steel pipe, creating a hollow. Although when the hole appeared on the steel pipe, the mushroom's roots immediately fell into it, leaving only the mushroom caps just high enough to cover the hole.

However, Dong Tianyu, using his Divine Sense, keenly noticed that many tiny tentacles had appeared at the base of the mushrooms, and from the tips of these tentacles, small mouth discs had formed.

When Dong Tianyu noticed these developments at the bottom of the mushrooms, he immediately shifted his focus to the mushrooms growing on the Spiritual Power Shield. Unlike observing the situation on the steel pipe that required Divine Sense, Dong Tianyu could clearly see, through the transparent Spiritual Power Shield, the details of the mushrooms' roots attached to it.

Through his careful observation, the roots of the mushrooms growing on the Spiritual Power Shield showed almost an identical situation to those on the abandoned steel pipe, with countless tiny tentacles with mouth discs constantly trying to eat the Spiritual Power Shield they were attached to.

Even though the Spiritual Power Shield was entirely made of Spirit Power, its defensive power was in no way inferior to that of special alloys, and its durability naturally far surpassed that of ordinary iron.

Thus, compared to the steel pipe, which was easily eaten and absorbed by the tentacles at the bottom of the mushrooms, the Spiritual Power Shield showed little to no damage.

Since the Spiritual Power Shield was entirely composed of Spirit Power, although the mushrooms only managed to nibble a tiny bit of residue, the nutrients provided far exceeded those of ordinary iron. Therefore, the size of the mushrooms growing on the Spiritual Power Shield was notably larger than those on the steel pipe.

From the situation of the steel pipe nearby, Dong Tianyu began to speculate about the origin of these mushrooms.

Holding his breath and concentrating, he gathered his Divine Sense for a closer observation. It was only after Dong Tianyu used his Divine Sense that he noticed the seemingly dim air was, in every area, filled with more or less fungal hyphae.

These hyphae were extremely small; their size and length were even less than one-tenth of a hair strand. If it were a bright day, although the fungal hyphae were very small, they engulfed every inch of space around.

Thus, if one observed carefully, these hyphae would appear like the floating miasma in deep forests; with cautious and careful observation, one could still detect them beforehand.

However, in this dim environment, even someone with sharp senses like Dong Tianyu, if not taking the time for careful observation, would find it almost impossible—similar to an ordinary person trying to observe microorganisms floating in the air with the naked eye.

If someone entered this forest without full-body protection like Dong Tianyu, even if they just stepped into this area, regardless of breathing or not, they would get contaminated with the fungal hyphae ubiquitous in the air.

Moreover, the most critical point was that without full-body protection, once they merely entered this space and came into contact with the fungal hyphae in the air, those hyphae could very likely enter their bodies through the skin's capillaries and take root.

Especially if they had not made adequate protection for their facial respiratory organs, merely stepping into this area would inevitably result in inhaling many hyphae into their bodies. Once those fungal hyphae settled and grew robustly inside their bodies, it was very likely they would end up as nutrients for a pile of mushrooms.

Fortunately, Dong Tianyu always maintained his Spiritual Power Shield, so unknowingly, he was quite lucky to be immune from this method, which was unsolvable for most people.

Ordinarily, it's quite simple for people to pass through this area. Everyone has seen willow catkins, and to clean those on the ground, using a broom or sprinkling water are rather troublesome methods.

As for the simplest, most relaxed, and fastest method of clearing, it's actually to set the catkins on fire. The connected catkins would then be swiftly burned up.

Therefore, as everyone is clear that catkins are highly flammable, most people overlook the fact that, aside from having good conductivity, the most important aspect is that the heat generated from burning catkins is very low. It is not only difficult to use in real combat but also collecting willow catkins is quite a troublesome task.

At this moment, the fungal hyphae filling every region in the air are of this same nature—floating fungal seeds, which, despite their strong reproduction capability and vast numbers, there are virtually no methods available to utilize them effectively.