Fifth Floor Mushroom Forest
The mushroom forest that once emanated a faint, ethereal glow had long since been reduced to utter devastation. Mushroom trees lay toppled and scattered everywhere, their broken trunks and caps covered with savage claw marks and bite wounds.
At the center of the ruins, a spatial rift approximately four meters long gaped open menacingly.
Beyond the fissure lay a lush, verdant primeval forest teeming with vibrant life—yet deadly in equal measure, as evidenced by the demonic beasts that emerged from within.
A thick-shelled worm, attracted by the acrid smell of burning drifting from the fifth floor, slowly extended its massive body from the rift, clumsily crawling outward.
However, just as its shell-covered torso had barely crawled halfway through, the fissure contracted without warning!
The unstable edges of the rift transformed into spatial blades, and the worm's hardened carapace proved as fragile as paper before the spatial fracture, easily sliced through!
Even more terrifying, the rift's edge embedded deeply into its soft flesh, causing excruciating pain with every slight movement. Caught between advance and retreat, it could only tremble futilely in agony.
But it didn't realize this was its last chance to escape.
As time passed, the fissure continued contracting, slowly closing... until it finally vanished without a trace, leaving only half a worm carcass behind.
...
Oh!
So this is what repairing rifts feels like!
Within the core chamber, that massive crystal monument still flowed with pure azure radiance, Lin Jun's soul still embedded within.
The suction force from the core hadn't ceased, but Lin Jun no longer worried it would drain him dry.
After Lin Jun's soul completely filled the crystal monument, a miraculous cycle had formed!
The core continuously absorbed his soul essence at a constant rate, while simultaneously expelling his soul at the same constant rate.
Lin Jun's soul now existed as if connected to a unique dual-channel circulation system, achieving a semi-permanent link with the dungeon core through dynamic equilibrium.
It was "semi-permanent" because once he obtained core permissions, Lin Jun could forcibly extract his soul from the core through sheer will.
However, firstly, the dungeon still required computational power to maintain itself, and secondly, overly forceful methods might cause unpredictable consequences. For now, maintaining the status quo remained the safest approach.
Controlling the core meant Lin Jun now possessed tremendous authority within the Purple Crystal Dungeon's domain.
Theoretically, he could manipulate the dungeon's punitive lightning, access permissions, spatial transfers, and more...
The key word being "theoretically," because practical operation was like coding, and Lin Jun was a complete novice who could only fumble through trial and error!
That lightning arc that struck the Yellow Book earlier was purely because within the core chamber, invoking permissions was as direct as moving a finger. Once outside the core area, operational complexity and difficulty increased exponentially!
Fortunately, repairing spatial rifts didn't require much "technical" skill.
He simply needed to direct the computational power provided by his soul to the rift's location, and the dungeon would automatically complete the remaining repairs.
Naturally, since his soul had to continuously provide computational power, there were consequences for Lin Jun.
The most immediate effect was that his puffshroom legion's control capacity was permanently reduced by five hundred units, with additional capacity consumed during rift repairs.
Facing the dungeon's current state of devastation, Lin Jun could only adopt a conservative repair strategy—prioritizing rifts that posed the greatest threats and might cause significant trouble, leaving the rest to be addressed gradually.
As for the dungeon's other complex functions, he could only explore them while making repairs.
However, Lin Jun had a strong intuition: the punitive lightning would likely be the easiest button to accidentally trigger in this complex permission system.
Beyond the core, Lin Jun had gained an unexpected harvest.
**[Spiritual Insight LV1]**
Simply put, his perception had been pried open a crack. Though currently only LV1, with weak perception that made other souls appear blurry through thick fog—except for his own magnificent, clear azure soul—this still represented a leap from zero to one!
This skill wasn't plundered but awakened through personally experiencing his soul being pulled by the core.
Knowledge and power in the soul domain had always been Lin Jun's blind spot.
As this crisis had exposed, his carefully arranged contingencies—whether transferring his main body or severing the mycelial network—were all on the physical plane.
In the end, he was easily outmaneuvered at the soul level by the Yellow Book. It wasn't even a soul attack, just a trap utilizing the core's mechanisms, yet it nearly caused his downfall.
Had he possessed this **[Spiritual Insight]** earlier, he might have seen through the Yellow Book's scheme.
Speaking of the Yellow Book, Lin Jun hadn't simply tossed it into the void for a reason—it was currently in a delicate state, with a small portion of Lin Jun's soul occupying its cover.
Initially, it had tried to squeeze Lin Jun out, but every time it pushed, Lin Jun pushed back, maintaining dynamic equilibrium until the Yellow Book finally gave up.
This allowed Lin Jun to make contact with the Yellow Book's essence—something like a soul, yet not quite a soul.
What exactly it was remained unclear, but evidently, by using his soul to envelop and crush it, he could easily destroy the Yellow Book. Its very life and death rested in Lin Jun's hands—more direct than mycelial parasitism.
With mycelial parasitism, one could escape its influence by traveling beyond the mycelial network's coverage.
But based on his experience with soul contact transcending space, even if Lin Jun threw the Yellow Book to the far reaches of existence, he could still eliminate it at will.
Come to think of it, the Yellow Book had mentioned having important intelligence.
*Slap—*
With a flick of its tentacle, a puffshroom tossed the tattered book—its cover still bearing azure patterns—onto the cold ground like garbage.
Now, judging by appearance alone, it would be difficult to associate this ruined tome with the former sacred scripture.
A puffshroom kicked the book aside: "Didn't you say you had important intelligence? Stop playing dead and spill it!"
After waiting a moment with no response.
A thin lightning arc struck precisely, accompanied by the acrid smell of burning and wisps of smoke.
Still silent.
Then... continue the electrocution!
Lightning arcs lashed like whips, one after another, until the Yellow Book nearly became a Black Book.
The Voice Puffshroom then exclaimed with feigned "sudden realization": "Oh my! So sorry, Lord Scripture~ I forgot you don't have a single page left and can't write on your cover!"
Soon, outside the core, a minotaur was sacrificed to the Yellow Book.
Sensing that weak soul entering the cover, Lin Jun gave the Yellow Book's essence a firm squeeze.
"Listen carefully," Lin Jun's voice came through the Voice Puffshroom. "From now on, no souls are to be stored in the cover! Store one, and I'll crush you to death! Understand?"
Under threat, the spine trembled minutely, and a fresh but obviously fragile page quickly grew out with desperate "survival instinct."
The moment the page formed, the Yellow Book frantically began proving its worth!
[Stop electrocuting! Stop electrocuting! I'll tell you everything!]
[The secret lies beyond the core's small door!]
...
...
...
Several puffshrooms stood before the small door. With a mere thought, Lin Jun, who possessed supreme authority, could easily push open this door.
But—
"What do you mean there's one-sixth of a Demon King sealed behind there?"
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