Perhaps because they were all craving at, the group ate every last bit of their late-night hot pot. Even the soup base at the bottom of the pot was lapped up by Bai.
"You’ve certainly got a good appetite." Qi Xiang stood up and stroked Bai’s glossy, smooth fur. Feeling a bit stuffed, she flopped back down again.
But she hadn’t been lying down for long before Gu Xi called for her to get up.
"Didn’t you want to practice with your abilities? This area is perfect for it." Gu Xi waved the three of them over to follow her, eventually picking out a small valley.
The spot wasn’t far from where they’d had their hot pot. Bai had already lured away most of the nearby mutated beasts with a lump of its droppings, leaving only a few stragglers in the distance—perfect for them to use as practice.
Gu Xi looked at Qin Yi, who nodded. Using her ability, Qin Yi lured over a mutated beast. It looked sothing like a pre-apocalyptic black swan, but it had six pairs of wings, four legs, and a long, sharp beak that ended in a hook...
After luring the mutated beast over, Qin Yi stepped aside, leaving the field to Qi Xiang and Yang Chi. She used her ability to control the surrounding plants, only lashing out at the beast unexpectedly when the two of them were in mortal danger.
anwhile, Gu Xi lazily sat off to the side with Bai, not lifting a finger from start to finish. She only offered a few pointers on combat techniques from ti to ti...
Half an hour later, a panting Qi Xiang walked back to Gu Xi and asked for a bottle of water. As for Yang Chi, he was already flat on his back on the ground.
"Get up." Qin Yi walked over to Yang Chi and nudged him with her foot. "We’ve barely started. You’re giving up already?"
"Co on," Yang Chi pleaded, his clothes completely soaked with sweat. He lay motionless on the ground, staring blankly with lifeless eyes. "Have a heart. Just let rest for a bit."
"Do you still want to get stronger or not?" Qin Yi asked, crouching down beside him.
Yang Chi stared up at the sky and thought for a mont. "Actually... I could just handle logistics and intelligence from the rear."
Qin Yi: "..."
"Fine, then. Stay down." She turned to look at Qi Xiang, who nodded. Qin Yi then sent her ability out toward another mutated beast farther away.
Soon, a deafening tiger’s roar echoed through the mountain forest.
WHOOSH. Yang Chi shot up, tightly gripping the knife Gu Xi had tossed him earlier.
’Not a bad reaction for a kid.’ Pleased with her success, Qin Yi retreated.
A mutated beast with a tiger’s body, a snake’s tail, and tusks sprouting from its back charged toward them.
This ti, it took Yang Chi and Qi Xiang a full hour to finally deal with the creature.
Yang Chi collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. He didn’t even have the strength to speak, but his right hand still held a death grip on the knife.
"You’re in pretty bad shape," Qi Xiang said, lying next to him. She tilted her head to glance at him, her expression peculiar. Where her gaze landed was... also quite peculiar.
Yang Chi desperately wanted to say that there was nothing wrong with his constitution, but he was completely out of energy.
Qin Yi ca over with so water. Hearing Qi Xiang’s comnt, she nodded in agreent. Just as she was about to say sothing, she heard—
"SKREE!"
Bai, who had been lying beside Gu Xi contentedly wagging its tail, suddenly shot to its feet. It arched its back, its fur standing on end, and let out a roar in a certain direction.
’Bai’s reaction...’ Gu Xi looked up, her gaze following the direction of Bai’s roar.
By now, Qi Xiang and the other two had also realized sothing was wrong and all looked in that direction.
Yang Chi and Qi Xiang struggled to sit up, gulping nervously as they tightened their grip on their weapons.
"Should I go check it out?" Qin Yi suggested, glancing at the two of them.
"Wait," Gu Xi said suddenly, stopping her.
Qin Yi faltered. She had assud Gu Xi wouldn’t intervene in a situation like this today, since the whole point of the outing was to help them improve their combat strength.
The previous fights hadn’t been on a level that required Gu Xi’s intervention. Judging by Bai’s reaction, a powerful opponent had arrived, which was why Qin Yi wanted to test her skills against it.
’...Maybe with Qi Xiang’s good luck on our side, I could even have a breakthrough with my ability in a life-or-death crisis.’
Qin Yi was already prepared for battle.
But unexpectedly, Gu Xi had stopped her.
Beside them, Qi Xiang looked up and frowned slightly. "I feel..."
"Feel what?" When the rest of the sentence didn’t co, Qin Yi couldn’t help but turn to look. She saw nurous plant roots suddenly sprouting around Qi Xiang. The seemingly delicate, fragile white rootlets shimred with a faint, cold light in the desolate night, spreading silently outward...
They sward over her, wrapping her up completely without leaving the slightest gap.
Even as a Wood Elent user, Qin Yi couldn’t help but gulp at the bizarre sight. The Qi Xiang before her had beco a literal plant-person, with countless roots bursting forth from her very flesh...
Yang Chi scrambled back to Gu Xi’s side. "Gu Xi, Qi Xiang, she... she... she’s..."
"She’s fine. She’s just been affected by sothing and is being forced to advance," Gu Xi said, her gaze fixed on the distance instead of on Qi Xiang.
Bai let out another "SKREE!" and shot off, vanishing in an instant.
Qin Yi and Yang Chi looked at each other, confused. What had just happened? What startled Bai and caused Qi Xiang’s ability to spiral out of control, forcing an advancent?
But the atmosphere had grown inexplicably tense, and neither of them dared to make a sound.
For one, they were afraid of disturbing Gu Xi’s judgnt. For another, they were worried about disrupting Qi Xiang’s advancent.
More and more plant roots erged from Qi Xiang’s body, but other than that, nothing else seed out of the ordinary. The surroundings were still deceptively calm.
Yang Chi instinctively felt that sothing was wrong.
Qin Yi’s face was growing paler and paler beside him, yet he couldn’t perceive anything amiss himself.
He subconsciously turned his head to look at Gu Xi.
Just then, all the surrounding mutant plants began to writhe as if in a frenzy, making a rustling sound. RUSTLE, RUSTLE.
At the sa ti, a sound wave that no human could possibly produce erupted from Qi Xiang’s mouth. The sonic cry hit Yang Chi, making him feel like his head was about to split open.
He instinctively clutched his head and crouched down. When he subconsciously looked up at Qi Xiang, his eyes widened in shock:
The roots that had erged from Qi Xiang’s body seed to take fright and began burrowing back inside her. But her body’s evolution was clearly not yet complete. The result was that her entire being—from her muscles and organs to her very bones—was transford into plant roots.
Countless densely packed white rootlets tangled together, replacing what was once human tissue.
All except for her face, which, though covered in roots, still vaguely retained its human features!
Horrified, Yang Chi took an involuntary step back.
Gu Xi frowned slightly. A small green sprout flew from her fingertip, circled Qi Xiang once, and then dissolved into her body.
A minute later, Qi Xiang slowly returned to her human form.
The mont she turned back into a person, Qi Xiang didn’t even think before asking Gu Xi for a mirror. Staring at the ugly freak in the reflection, Qi Xiang first froze in a daze, then felt blood rush to her head.
—Her face!
"I’m gonna kill you!" Qi Xiang rolled up her sleeves and made to run deeper into the mountains.
Seeing this, Qin Yi and Yang Chi hurriedly blocked her path. "Don’t be reckless..."
Suddenly, the three of them froze as if soone had hit a pause button. They remained standing stiffly in their original positions, only their eyes able to move.
Gu Xi sighed. She fiddled with the small green sprout that had, at so point, returned to her fingertip, and looked ahead. "When are you ever going to change this habit of yours?"
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