"Then... I'll just try a teeny bit first."
Persuaded by the little fox—and by her own longing to look like a Fox Lady—Ah Qing carefully imitated senior Wang Qiqi's movements. Using a straw, she drew a few drops of Spiritual Liquid from the milk tea cup and dripped them onto the back of her hand.
"......"
The Treasure Tree Spirit Liquid fell onto the back of her hand and, in just a few seconds, began to dissipate—or rather, seep into her skin.
Ah Qing stared tensely at her palm, then turned to the little fox on the table and asked:
"Xiaolan, did I turn into a Fox Lady?"
"...No change at all." Ansheng's little fox face showed a puzzled look as he scanned the nervous Ah Qing up and down.
That doesn't make any sense!
When he drank the Treasure Tree's Spiritual Liquid himself, he could feel energy flooding his whole body, like getting a full‑body massage. And after Wang Qiqi drank it, she practically took off and entered an unprecedented Leopard Girl mode, her strength increasing severalfold at least.
So how come, when it gets to Ah Qing, the Treasure Tree Spirit Liquid doesn't cause any change whatsoever?
Ansheng's cheeks took on a suspicious fox-like expression. He spoke to Ah Qing again: "Ah Qing, try again..."
As he spoke, Ansheng took a deep breath and, while maintaining his initial form, revealed a few of his special abilities.
In his current little fox form, although his Physique wasn't much weaker than his complete form, all the abilities that would interfere with daily life were switched off.
For example, his extremely sharp five senses and his ability to see the misting Spiritual Particles with the naked eye.
"Oh..."
Ah Qing stretched out her hand again, drew a tube of Spiritual Liquid from the milk tea cup, and after hesitating for a moment, she brought the straw to her lips and directly swallowed a mouthful of Treasure Tree Spirit Liquid.
From Master Fuli's perspective, the previously ordinary milk tea cup was now emitting mist. The Spiritual Particle mist, which was spreading and dissipating, almost completely obscured the cup.
After Ah Qing drank the Treasure Tree Spirit Liquid, the liquid began to dissipate as soon as it reached her mouth; by the time it actually entered her stomach, there was almost nothing left.
And those Spiritual Particles that dissipated in Ah Qing's body had already entered the interior of her Physique and were wandering through it.
In the end, the dissipated Spiritual Particles all converged at her spine, then surged through the blood–brain barrier and vanished.
"Hiss..."
"She really is a college student!"
Seeing where the Spiritual Particles ultimately disappeared, Ansheng couldn't help but suck in a breath through his teeth.
When the Treasure Tree Spirit Liquid entered Ah Qing's body, ninety‑nine percent of the Spiritual Particles went straight to her brain region. Only a tiny amount remained in the Physique area, catalyzing the evolution of Ah Qing's Physique.
But the amount of Spiritual Particles was just too small, and Ah Qing's Physique had already been weirdly strong to begin with. This bit of Spiritual Particles simply wasn't enough to affect her state.
"Did I change?" Ah Qing asked the little fox.
"No..." Ansheng replied silently, his face blank.
When it came to developing the Physique, Ansheng was experienced—he could tell at a glance how many punches the other person could take from him.
But as for developing the [Will], Ansheng was only at an entry level right now. He barely knew that, on the Wisdom development route, there was an inner and an outer path.
Ah Qing's case looked like the inner path—walking the Life Blueprint route, where Will drives the Physique.
In the end, it could become like the King of the Universe: capable of all transformations and altering the surrounding environment to harmonize with oneself.
"...Then, can I drink a bit more?" Ah Qing's little mouth suddenly puckered, and her grievance was plainly visible.
"You can. The Spiritual Particles aren't affecting you." Ansheng said to Ah Qing with a slightly odd expression.
It wasn't that Ah Qing hadn't undergone Spiritualization; rather, her Spiritualization followed the Life Blueprint route.
On the Life Blueprint route, there wouldn't be any particularly obvious changes in the Physique in the early stages.
Even for Ansheng, it was like that—until the fox deity statue inside him condensed and formed, only then did his external, enlarged traits manifest.
"Then... I'll just drink a small sip."
Ah Qing stuck the straw into the milk tea cup, took a tiny sip of Spiritual Liquid, then looked over at the little fox again.
"...How about we stop drinking this stuff? It's easy to overdose on it and cause the Spiritual Particles to go out of control."
Watching Ah Qing down it in one go had Ansheng on edge the whole time, terrified she'd have some kind of accident from drinking it.
The Treasure Tree Spirit Liquid hadn't gone through any testing; the Security Bureau's Spirit Particle Potion was much milder. They should take it slow.
"Gulp..."
As if unconvinced, Ah Qing took another swallow of Treasure Tree Spirit Liquid and sent it down to her stomach.
This time, Ah Qing's body did change. She had originally been about to put the milk tea cup down, but her pupils gradually grew hazy and unfocused, crossing into a pair of wall-eyes.
She almost failed to set the milk tea cup down properly and nearly spilled the Spiritual Liquid all over the table.
"Huh? My head feels kinda woozy."
Ah Qing plopped down on the floor, looking up at the little fox with a big "genius" expression on her face. "It's like being drunk. Little Fox, did I turn into a Fox Lady now?"
"If you did, you can let me know, and when I go home, I'll have my dad mount the both of us in a frame together."
Ah Qing giggled foolishly as she described to Ansheng the underworld scene of herself sitting on an altar, holding the little fox in her arms.
By then, the little fox could focus on eating chicken legs, she'd specialize in roast meats, and together they'd lay siege to all the pastries.
As she talked, Ah Qing hugged the leg of the dining table, pressed her cheek against the backrest, and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.
"...I told you not to drink it, but you just had to." Ansheng complained helplessly, "What's going on with your body is already in the high‑school basics of Spiritual Particle studies. There's no way just a few sips of Treasure Tree Spirit Liquid are going to give you obvious changes..."
"Mmm..."
Ansheng jumped down from the table, stood up on his hind legs, helped the Spiritual Liquid–overloaded Ah Qing to her feet, and headed toward the bedroom.
"Wait..."
"Mmm... no, I'm not that kind of person. You go out and close the door. Little Fox can help me change clothes."
Ah Qing slurred, face muzzy, raising her arm to point at a spot in Momo's wardrobe as she spoke.
And right after Ah Qing mumbled this, a burst of plastic and glass shattering sounded from inside the wardrobe.
"Crack..."
Supporting Ah Qing, Ansheng froze at the sound, looked toward the cabinet where the noise came from, then glanced at Ah Qing slowly lowering her arm, his expression turning a bit strange.
"What... did you crush? If it's too private, something like a well‑digging device, I really won't be able to explain it to Momo."
Ansheng's face was full of dark lines as he griped, having no idea what drunk Ah Qing had just done.
Ansheng walked over to the wardrobe, opened the door, and saw a smashed camera inside, its dead lens clearly aimed at the bed.
Roughly... this was one of Momo's little kinks derived from her Daffodil Lady traits, something she did in private.
Except—
When Ansheng got a clear look at the broken camera, his expression turned surprised.
"What is this..."
With his sharp gaze, Ansheng caught sight of something squirming in the Fuji camera's remains. He reached in, flicked it aside, and pinched out a black rubber band.
As soon as the black rubber band touched his hand, it tried to cling to Master Fuli's palm, attempting to spread.
But...
It tried to burrow inward and realized the palm in front of it seemed unusually hard, impossible to penetrate. The black rubber band wilted again, going limp and half‑dead.
"Black Fungi..."
Seeing the true form of what had smashed the camera, Ansheng immediately realized what it was, a look of shock crossing his face.
"...Ah Qing said there was an outsider, and then the camera in the wardrobe got crushed by Black Fungi."
"But where did the Black Fungi come from?"
Back in the Second Epoch, the Black Fungi had been destroyed when the Dragon People were wiped out, but the fungus was extremely tenacious. Some were still clinging to life, though they were a far cry from their former glory, and the number that could move around was very limited...
The Black Fungi still existed in the world, but were very rare—unless someone deliberately found a clay box to cultivate them.
Then what about the Black Fungi in the wardrobe?
"Could it have been influenced by Ah Qing?" Ansheng looked oddly at Ah Qing, who was flopping around on the bed.
"Mmm... Xiaolan, don't hold me back, there's still some in the pot. After I finish eating, I have to go to class."
"This evening... this evening when I come back we can kiss again."
"The hand‑biting ritual... ptooey, so salty."
The whole apartment was temperature‑controlled, and Ah Qing, sweating inside a thick down jacket, wore a pained expression as she muttered all sorts of outrageous nonsense.
"You're just hallucinating from being zapped silly by the static from that polyester coat..."
"No, wait... why are you the one saying it's too salty?"
Ansheng snarked, then scrambled onto the bed, flipped the salty‑fish Ah Qing over and over, took off her coat, and shoved her into the covers.