Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Du Yinsui could sense a strong…anticipation in the air. Baili Ying’s subordinates handled information quickly. After everyone had returned to their own yards for a while, Du Yinsui detected several presences hurrying up the mountainside toward Qingning Temple.

Before she even met Wen Junzhi, Du Yinsui was overwhelmed with a flood of complex details she hadn’t processed yet, so she couldn’t share more with Jiang Wu. By the time Wen Junzhi pushed open the courtyard gate, Jiang Wu only knew her as Du Yinsui’s former teacher.

But when the elegant woman called out "Suìsuì" and Du Yinsui’s eyes reddened slightly, Jiang Wu instantly understood Baili Ying’s earlier words: "I can’t stand her having someone more important in her heart than me."

Wen Junzhi appeared to be in her early twenties, just like the teacher Du Yinsui remembered from the start of the End Times. This made Du Yinsui instinctively stride quickly toward the gate, eager to greet someone who shared her strange journey.

Du Yinsui hadn’t gone two steps when a sharp wave of jealousy surged behind her, thick and domineering, as if it would devour everything if ignored.

Instinctively, Du Yinsui turned and met Jiang Wu’s guilty, darting eyes. She felt amused…

Enough of this—go sell vinegar with the other jealous one next door!

With a playful glare that made Jiang Wu look away, Du Yinsui turned back to welcome her teacher.

"This spot isn’t good for talking—let’s go higher," Wen Junzhi said. Seeing her old student’s face, her certainty solidified. Though excited, she held back and raised a hand to stop Du Yinsui from speaking.

Qingning Temple sat on Zhenfeng Mountain. Moving past the guest yards, they entered the mountain peak.

Wen Junzhi and Du Yinsui stayed silent the whole way. Only when they reached the summit did Wen Junzhi turn to Du Yinsui and ask slowly, "Suìsuì, is this place safe?"

Du Yinsui sensed no one nearby; the closest people were at Qingning Temple, too far to hear them.

"Safe," Du Yinsui smiled. "Teacher, aren’t you afraid you’re wrong? People can look alike—what if I’m not me?"

"If you solved the story’s mystery and found three clues by scent, I’d accept it even if I were wrong," Wen Junzhi joked. "But for our peace of mind, let’s confirm."

Du Yinsui agreed readily.

They skipped talk of this world and instead shared memories of the End Times and even school days before that. Questions and answers matched perfectly, easing their tension.

Then, before Du Yinsui could ask, Wen Junzhi poured out her reasons for writing the "End Times Saga" and spreading it everywhere.

Before, Du Yinsui only knew she’d closed her eyes during the End Times, became a light orb that flew skyward, and woke on a hillside in exile. She never expected a "way station."

According to Wen Junzhi, the End Times explosion turned many into light orbs. Most got pulled back into the twisted Earth, while a few flew into space.

During the flight, strange spinning and pressure made Wen Junzhi lose consciousness. When she woke, she floated above this planet with another light orb beside her.

As she fell here, that orb stayed suspended. Back then, she didn’t know it was Du Yinsui, only that both came from the End Times.

Later, after gaining influence in the Jin Kingdom, Wen Junzhi deliberately hunted for "miracles" across the land. But she found her fellow traveler not in those tales, but in a secret report stolen from a Jin Kingdom spy.

The spy codenamed Oxhead, planted in the Wei family who had been exiled twice and recalled to the Zhao Kingdom’s capital, had sent back a secret report ahead of schedule after the antidote was stolen.

While most of the report discussed the Wei family, Wen Junzhi immediately spotted Du Yinsui’s name amid the fragmented details.

The person she transmigrated into shared her name—could this Du Yinsui be the one she knew from the apocalypse?

The deposed crown princess scavenging for wild ginseng, often successful in hunts… Clues others missed served as evidence to Wen Junzhi, who understood Du Yinsui’s abilities.

Even before Oxhead’s report reached her, Wen Junzhi had learned through other channels that the deposed crown prince of Zhao had vanished during his exile. She even knew Zhao likely believed the group had fallen to starving refugees.

If Du Yinsui among them was indeed her acquaintance, Wen Junzhi was certain they hadn’t perished—it was a staged death.

Though Wen Junzhi had operatives, they couldn’t scour all of Zhao. Thus, the *End Times Saga* was born.

Du Yinsui should have been found once she deciphered the clues in the tale, reached Jin Kingdom, and investigated the first location.

But Wen Junzhi had been delayed until today.

Yet… it worked out.

The three clues requiring olfactory powers had already reconfirmed the visitor’s identity.

Du Yinsui detected no falsehood in Wen Junzhi’s words.

Of course, Wen—who knew her secrets—wouldn’t lie to her.

Still…

Even after their long conversation, the thick scent of *expectation* clung to Wen Junzhi.

*Was her teacher anticipating something else?*

As Du Yinsui suspected, Wen Junzhi—aware of her abilities—would neither lie nor hesitate without cause.

Now that "this" Du Yinsui was confirmed as "that" Du Yinsui, a weight lifted from Wen Junzhi’s heart.

Calming her excitement, Wen Junzhi smiled sheepishly. "You must smell it… the scent of what I’m asking for…"

Unlike elemental abilities (metal, wood, water, fire, earth) whose ranks were obvious in combat, bodily mutations were subtler. Du Yinsui’s olfactory power left no visible trace; only she knew its limits.

Her most astonishing evolution wasn’t her range or ability to dissect blended scents—it was detecting emotional shifts.

*Treasures invite trouble.*

By the transmigration, Du Yinsui still didn’t know if other olfactory mutants shared this trait. She’d only told Wen Junzhi during their reunion on a mission in the apocalypse’s fifth year. The mission’s severity far exceeded its rating; their squads suffered heavy losses. Trust in Wen Junzhi had driven her confession.

So Wen Junzhi’s candidness now was no surprise.

That persistent fragrance mingling with joy and relief—was it the hope of asking a favor?

"Since when does my teacher hesitate with me?" Du Yinsui chuckled. "Just name it."

"It’s not difficult, but luck-dependent…" Wen Junzhi’s lips curved as she closed her right hand, then opened it before Du Yinsui. "First, a gift."

"This is—!" Du Yinsui’s pupils constricted at the sight.

"Somehow, though I came as light, this body retained my storage ring." Wen Junzhi placed the faintly green-glowing crystal into Du Yinsui’s palm. "Yours came too?"

"Teacher, you’re lucky! Did the ring bring the crystal, or did you arrive with residual energy?" Du Yinsui marveled, pulling a silver-etched ring from her necklace. "Only my ring came—the crystal’s gone."

Detecting no apocalypse-era energy here, Du Yinsui assumed Wen Junzhi couldn’t replenish her metal powers without crystals. Unless residual energy lingered…

But Wen Junzhi laughed, watching her fumble with the crystal. "Luck? My energy was drained, and the ring arrived empty. Took me nearly two years to open it."

"Without energy or crystals?" Du Yinsui froze mid-motion. "Wait—*two years*? You’ve been here two years?"

Earlier, they’d swapped apocalypse stories, not life updates. Having arrived months ago, Du Yinsui was stunned she’d floated as light for so long.

Wen Junzhi shook her head. "Seven years. Almost eight."

Over seven years prior, Wen Junzhi awoke in this twenty-year-old body—eleven years younger than her apocalypse self.

The original owner lay head-injured by a pond where seven-year-old Baili Ying was drowning.

With her last strength, Wen Junzhi dragged the child out. Months of recovery followed. Gaining partial trust from Baili Ying’s mother granted her a small team, letting her attempt opening the storage ring.

No zombies. No mutated flora or fauna… After countless failed methods, Wen Junzhi condensed bezoars from cattle, dogs, and horses into a "counterfeit" crystal, barely extracting the lowest-grade crystal.

That crystal unlocked more. As long as she replaced spent crystals, the ring functioned.

As Wen Junzhi summarized this, Du Yinsui secured the green crystal.

"All I had was silver. You need something from here, right?" Du Yinsui waved her ring. "Thanks for the ‘key’ to my vault—ask freely. Oh! I’ve stockpiled useless crystals here. Can you absorb them now? Want some?"

A wooden box materialized in her hand, brimming with crystals.

"I can, but I have reserves." Wen Junzhi gently pushed the box away, then spoke hesitantly: "Yinsui… do you have nine-legged mole rat meat?"

Nine-legged mole rats—hideous, sludge-dwelling, reeking rodents. Even cleaned, their meat was cheap and unwanted…

"You… *like* eating those?" Du Yinsui shuddered, nearly dropping the box. "I have jerky. Task leftovers—too cheap to sell, so I dried them as compact rations."

Pre-apocalypse delicacies like stinky tofu or luosifen paled against mole rat stench. But if Wen liked it…

"What nonsense!" Wen Junzhi huffed at Du Yinsui’s disgusted look. "I told you—after I rescued young Baili Ying, oxygen deprivation left her mentally regressed to toddlerhood. At fifteen now, she’s still like a three-year-old… The *Culinary Classic* prescribes nine-legged mole rat as the key ingredient in a brain-restorative dish. I have all five supplementary ingredients—just missing the rat…"

As Wen Junzhi recited the recipe, Du Yinsui’s thoughts drifted.

*Baili Ying, you’d better confess quickly… or you’ll be eating nine-legged rat stew.*