Journey to the West: Life Simulation of Sun Wukong

The Fungus Brain Mushroom was initially cultivated for consumption to enhance the human brain. However, it was sealed away by Sakura due to its containment of a certain specific neurotoxin.

Yet, the Fungus Brain Mushroom also served its greatest purpose, as its mushroom body, resembling a brain, could carry a spirit, essentially acting as an external brain.

"For my own safety, I had no choice,"

Sakura muttered, finally making up her mind, a white glove materializing in her hand as she grabbed the Fungus Brain Mushroom, which softened instantly into a "brain."

It wasn't Sakura's application of chakra that caused it, but rather the very nature of the Fungus Brain Mushroom's body composed of countless mycelium, which, upon contact with other objects and sensing "danger," would rapidly disperse into mycelium, scattering in all directions to seize more opportunities to survive.

Before the appearance of "intelligent" beings like humans, every species, no matter what environment it evolved from, had only one fundamental goal—to pass on their genetic material and continue to survive and reproduce.

The Brain Mushroom was naturally the same.

Sakura placed her hand on the ground, and under the influence of her chakra, the white mycelium of the Brain Mushroom rapidly infiltrated the soil. With chakra providing energy, the Brain Mushroom continuously devoured and digested the humus in the soil, breaking it down into beneficial substances that propagated and strengthened it, allowing it to keep growing.

In just thirty minutes, the mycelium had covered all of Konoha, reaching a depth of about a kilometer underground where mushrooms resembling human brains began to sprout.

One kilometer—this depth was beyond even a ninja's perception.

However, considering Konoha's Hyuga Clan, known for their Byakugan's strong perception of chakra, Sakura allowed the mycelium to cover all of Konoha and then deliberately drew some natural energy, covering it over the mycelium.

Natural energy is everywhere, but even the Byakugan couldn't detect it.

With this layer of energy as a camouflage, the mycelium could be secured worry-free.

After that, Sakura infused a trace of her spirit into the first Fungus Brain Mushroom's body, which rapidly grew and then continuously copied and split, quickly covering all the Fungus Brain Mushrooms.

In an instant, Sakura felt as if her brain had undergone a tremendous transformation, enabling her to observe the entire situation of Konoha in an instant without missing any detail.

And she did it not with chakra, but merely with her own spirit.

This way of observing was undetectable by methods that used chakra for surveillance!

"I hadn't expected the brain bodies of Fungus Brain Mushrooms to be so similar to an actual brain that once spiritual power is injected, they can continuously divide and replicate," Sakura thought, now feeling as though her brain could think about countless issues simultaneously, even those she previously couldn't comprehend, she could now think of countless answers. My Vi%r!tu!a!l Lib@r$ary% E.mp#ire^ ($M|V|L^E+1M-PYR@)# t%ha^nk.s^ you for r$e-adin-g* at the sou!r%c$e.

Efficient, convenient.

Shortly after, Haruno Sakura immediately severed her connection with the Brain Mushrooms through the blood mist, returning to normal state, her heart pounding as she said, "Although my thoughts were very clear, it felt like I could lose myself."

In that state, Haruno Sakura felt detached, almost divine, completely rational.

This state fascinated her yet filled her with fear.

Emotions are also an important part of who I am. If this part of me disappeared or was suppressed, would I still be myself?

"Maybe other methods could be adopted."

Sakura thought of the Shadow Clone Skill.

Each shadow clone was condensed from Chakra, possessed a physical form, and even had its own emotions, since Chakra is fundamentally a mix of physical and spiritual energy, in a sense, these clones could completely be considered another self, except that they were fragile.

"Shadow Clone Skill!"

She created hundreds of clones, but these clones were extremely mini, only the size of a thumb, and their forms were very ethereal, even transparent.

Because Sakura had altered the ratio of Chakra, reducing the physical energy drastically while increasing the proportion of spiritual energy.

"Go, me!"

"Yes!"

These mini clones had the same memories as Sakura, and they immediately transformed into the purest Chakra, traveling along the filaments into each of the brain mushrooms.

As Sakura continuously created more clones, after about a hundred thousand mini clones were produced, nearly a third of the brain mushrooms had been occupied by a clone, and signs of fatigue began to show on Sakura's face.

"Phew~ This is kind of tiring." Sakura sat cross-legged on the ground, formed the Seal of Great Void with her hands, and slowly absorbed natural energy to recover herself.

Ten minutes later, an energized Sakura began creating more mini clones.

After about three such sessions, finally, three hundred thousand brain mushrooms had each been occupied by one of her clones.

After resting and recovering, Sakura again connected to the mycelia with Red Shadow, and this time, it was much easier than before—with the load shared by over three hundred thousand Sakura clones, she could retain her own emotions.

In addition, each clone could transmit their thoughts back to Sakura, who could then choose whether to accept them or not, to avoid being overwhelmed by the enormous amount of information.

Moreover, Sakura's spirit could sense that each clone, existing within the brain mushrooms, did not feel lonely because the mental space within the brain mushrooms allowed her clones' imaginations to roam free, even enabling each clone to visit each other and share their mental worlds.

Fungal Brain Collective!

"I originally just wanted to plant some more brain mushrooms under Konoha to uncover Konoha's secret labs, but I didn't expect to stumble upon such a pleasant surprise," Sakura exclaimed excitedly, "The mycelia and fungal bodies have formed a complex yet clear 'thoroughfare,' enabling my spirit and the wills of the clones to shuttle back and forth, continuously observing everything in Konoha and assisting me in thinking through various problems."

Three hundred thousand Sakuras pondering the same question, now that's something to be concerned about!

"Master, what do you think of my achievement?" Sakura asked somewhat proudly.

"Not bad," Sun Wukong said indifferently, "However, as all things have strengths and weaknesses, the brain mushrooms you cultivated, while being greatly convenient, also have their natural counters."

Sakura's spirit explored and found a type of black bacteria near the mycelium, approaching and attaching to the brain bodies and drawing nutrients conveyed by the mycelia.

"I see, but—"

The clones of Sakura also instantly realized something, controlling the mycelia to absorb some fluid from the bacteria, and then secreted a substance within the mycelium that could kill the black bacteria, poisoning them, and afterward devouring and digesting them, turning them into their own nutrients.

However, a portion of the bacteria resisted being poisoned and survived, continuing to absorb nutrients from the mycelia······