Chapter 613: Changes

Chapter 613: Chapter 611: Changes

In a dense forest somewhere in Qinling, a foul stench drifted everywhere, driving away all the surrounding animals. A gray rabbit that had just woken up poked its little head out of its burrow, cautiously looking around. Before it could even get a clear look at its surroundings, the smell hit it, making it jolt. Its ears twitched rapidly, and with a WHOOSH, the entire rabbit shot back inside.

And the source of the stench was a humanoid figure under a large tree, caked in an unidentifiable, grayish-black substance.

Consciousness returned, and Su Qing gradually regained awareness. She slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze fell upon the familiar sight of dappled sunlight filtering through lush branches. Lingering at the tip of her nose was…

‘Hmm?’

‘Why does it smell so bad?’

Su Qing couldn’t help but frown. The stench was unbearable. ‘Did an animal relieve itself nearby? It’s just too foul.’

Su Qing decided to leave the area first. She felt like she was about to pass out from the fumes.

‘Hmm, my eyelids feel heavy, like something is crusted on them.’ Su Qing subconsciously raised a hand to wipe it away. In the next moment, however, she saw the hard, grayish-black shell tinged with dark red on the back of her hand.

Su Qing gagged. She smelled it—the strange crust on the back of her hand was emitting the very same foul stench she had noticed earlier.

It was only then that Su Qing realized she was the source of the horrible smell.

Without a second thought, Su Qing immediately found the nearest water source and jumped in. She washed for over an hour before climbing ashore. She then found a large, flat stone in a sunny spot, wove a mat on it out of vines, and lay down on the mat to slowly dry herself in the sun.

Only then was Su Qing in the mood to take stock of her superpower.

Recalling the bone-deep agony from before, Su Qing couldn’t help but shiver. It had been excruciating. She had no idea what had gone wrong during her superpower’s advancement, but thankfully, she had survived it.

She checked her status. ‘Hmm, just as I thought!’

Her space hadn’t gotten any bigger. The Bagua Pool hadn’t expanded. The green mist and gray fog within the Bagua Pool hadn’t grown any denser; they remained just as they were. The range of her Domain was still three kilometers, the scope of her time-reversal hadn’t changed, and she hadn’t gained any new superpower abilities.

Su Qing sighed softly. ‘Something definitely went wrong. The advancement failed.’

Still, Su Qing couldn’t help but feel relieved. At least she had survived it. She had endured the failed advancement. ‘Good heavens, who knew a failed advancement could be so painful!’

Su Qing took a deep breath. Looking at the sun overhead and the lush, vibrant scenery around her, she felt even more grateful to be alive than when she had first been reborn into this world from the apocalypse.

In that apocalyptic world, there was no one left for her to care about. But in this world, she had a family she couldn’t bear to leave.

She leisurely rolled over and continued to sunbathe. Su Qing’s thoughts turned to the Japanese who had entered Qinling. ‘Based on their travel time, they should already be inside the Qinling Mountain Range. But where am I supposed to find them now?’

‘Qinling is just too big. Even if I search nonstop, I doubt I’ll find them before summer vacation ends. Not to mention, it’s entirely possible that our paths won’t even cross.’

Su Qing pressed her lips together. ‘I have to find them. I absolutely cannot let their plan succeed.’

Su Qing lay on her stomach on the grass mat, her hand unconsciously slipping to the grassy ground beside her, where she gently twirled a blade of wild grass.

Suddenly, Su Qing’s gaze shot to the blade of grass in her hand. ‘Wait, did I just feel something?’

That feeling didn’t come from her—it came from the blade of wild grass in her hand!

Ticklish!

Su Qing was in disbelief. She had actually felt an emotion from a blade of wild grass. ‘When I just twirled this blade of grass, did it feel… ticklish?’

Ever since awakening her superpower, Su Qing had never felt any emotions or sensations from plants. Today was the first time.

Su Qing blinked. She picked a new blade of wild grass and gently twirled it. Instantly, she clearly perceived a faint emotion. It was a ticklish feeling—it really was!

“Hey, little guy, can you understand me? If you can, give a little shake,” Su Qing said tentatively, letting go of the blade of grass and watching it.

However, the blade of grass didn’t move. It remained perfectly still.

Su Qing frowned again. ‘Was it just my imagination?’ She tried again and could still feel the blade of grass’s emotion, but it seemed unable to communicate with her.

‘If the grass can’t communicate, what about the trees?’

Su Qing’s spirits immediately lifted. She quickly climbed down from the large stone, found a tree, and began to experiment.

Just as she expected, the trees’ emotional expressions were clearer than the grass’s. Unfortunately, they were still unable to communicate with her. She could only sense the emotions of the trees and grass.

‘Wait!’

Su Qing froze. ‘I couldn’t do this before.’

‘Could it be… that my advancement didn’t fail? Did it actually succeed?’

‘But why is it so different from my previous advancements?’

Su Qing sat back down on the large stone, staring blankly at a mountain stream in the distance. The water in the stream was flowing, not stagnant. The grayish-black and reddish substance she had washed off in the stream earlier was long gone. The shimmering surface of the water glittered and danced before her eyes.

Recalling the pain from before, Su Qing shivered again, but…

An idea flashed through Su Qing’s mind. She seemed to have realized something. ‘Oh my god, it can’t be what I’m thinking, can it?’

Immediately, Su Qing looked down at her skin. It seemed fairer and more translucent than before. ‘What about my strength?’

Su Qing casually picked up a stone from the ground and squeezed it with a bit of force. She then watched as the stone crumbled into dust and sifted through her fingers.

‘Holy cow!’

As a Wood Ability User, Su Qing had always been strong, but she knew that no matter how strong she was before, she hadn’t been *this* strong. At the very least, her old self could never have crushed a hard stone into dust so easily!

‘My skin is better, I’m stronger, and I can feel the emotions of the trees and plants in the mountains… Don’t tell me this was a Washing Marrow!’

At this possibility, Su Qing shot to her feet in excitement and paced back and forth a few times. ‘That’s it, that has to be it! The pain before, it was bone-deep. I could clearly feel it progressing in layers, from my skin to my flesh and then to my bones. And after I woke up, that foul-smelling hard shell on my body… that must have been the impurities expelled from my body, right?’

It was no wonder Su Qing was only thinking of this now. She had never experienced anything like it before, and she certainly never expected that a Washing Marrow would even be possible in this modern world!