The Hum Underground and the Salted Fish's Rag

"The foundation of this generation of mortals... is a bit too dirty."

Ling Ye's whisper, filled with undisguised disdain, fell like cold raindrops on Su Wanqing, who was immersed in enlightenment, her body radiating a soft, lustrous glow. However, at this moment, her consciousness had long since sunk into the vast, boundless torrent of Chaos Dao Rhyme, deaf to the sounds of the outside world.

The shriveled pinch of tea leaves in her palm, after leaking a trace of Origin to guide her into enlightenment, appeared even more withered, as if a gust of wind would turn it to dust. The expensive silk loungewear she wore was stained by the faint grayish-black grime expelled from her body, emitting an indescribable sour, putrid stench.

Ling Ye's gaze shifted away from Su Wanqing, seemingly uninterested in this "rebirth" into a state of filth. His sight seemed to pierce through the walls of the luxurious living room and the expensive flooring, landing precisely beneath a nondescript load-bearing pillar in the main villa structure.

There, deep underground.

An extremely faint, yet ancient and primordial energy fluctuation, like the slow, heavy heartbeat of a slumbering behemoth, pulsed faintly through the thick layers of rock and reinforced concrete. The fluctuation carried a peculiar rhythm, as if a fragment of a formation pattern, after eons, had been inadvertently... awakened at a corner by a higher-level Origin aura?

This fluctuation was extremely subtle, like the rolling of a grain of sand in the deep sea, making it nearly impossible for mortals or even ordinary cultivators to detect. Yet, it was like an invisible thread, faintly tugging at the aura of an item in Ling Ye's cloth bag, creating a subtle, almost imperceptible resonance that spanned endless time and space.

Ling Ye's brow twitched, almost imperceptibly. In the depths of his calm, unrippled eyes, the phantom image of flowing stars flashed and vanished.

"Oh?" He uttered a very faint syllable, tinged with surprise. The sound was as light as a sigh, yet it caused the faint Dao Rhyme ripples permeating the living room, generated by Su Wanqing's enlightenment, to momentarily freeze.

Barefoot, he rose silently from the sofa, carrying the worn cloth bag, and walked towards the direction from which the fluctuation originated—a massive load-bearing pillar on the east side of the living room, adorned with simple bas-reliefs.

His footsteps were silent, landing on the carpet like feathers. He stopped before the pillar, extended his free left hand, and casually placed his palm against the cold, smooth marble surface.

No light, no energy leakage. His palm seemed to merely brush past.

However, the instant his palm touched the pillar's surface—

"Buzz..."

A low hum, almost imperceptible to physical hearing but resonating directly on the soul level, erupted from the load-bearing pillar, from the depths of the earth where it was rooted! The hum was like a broken note from an ancient horn, carrying the vastness and sorrow of endless ages!

Amidst the hum, a clearer, more potent primordial aura surged from the ground like the awakened memory of a sealed past! The aura was ancient, wild, carrying the sharpness of spatial tearing and the profundity of stellar positioning! Though still incomplete, it was enough for Ling Ye to instantly confirm its nature!

"Heh..." Ling Ye's lips curved upwards, a rare, almost imperceptible arc of "As expected," he murmured to himself, his voice audible only to him, his eyes now holding a hint of understanding. "A teleportation array... remnant? Or... a 'Guixu' anchor point?"

The Sign-in System's final words before falling silent, "Return to the Origin Universe"... so the coordinates were not just locked onto this planet, but onto the spatial beacon buried beneath the old ancestral home site! This so-called pre-cursor fluctuation of the "Spiritual Energy Revival" was likely connected to the faint resurgence of these formation pattern remnants buried by time.

Trouble.

Ling Ye instantly tagged this villa with a second label. A label more troublesome than the prying of those "little bugs" outside. An abandoned spatial anchor point was like an old campfire in a dark forest that had been extinguished for years, suddenly showing a spark—who knew what it might attract.

He withdrew his hand from the pillar. The briefly stimulated primordial aura and hum subsided like a receding tide, sinking back into the depths of the earth. The living room returned to its quiet state, with only Su Wanqing's faint breaths during her enlightenment and... the increasingly potent sour odor emanating from her.

Ling Ye's gaze fell back on the meditating Su Wanqing, observing the increasingly obvious grime beneath her lustrous glow, and he wrinkled his nose in distaste. This smell... was more pungent than the corpses of some rotten Star Beasts in the Chaos Sea.

He needed to address this "hygiene issue." His eyes scanned the luxurious living room, searching for something akin to "cleaning tools." Finally, his gaze landed on a... brand-new, snow-white pure cotton dishcloth hanging by the sink in the open kitchen.

Ling Ye padded over and reached out, taking the dishcloth. Its surface was soft and absorbent, emitting the faint lemon scent of detergent. He weighed it in his hand, seemingly satisfied.

Then, while Su Wanqing remained immersed in her enlightenment, completely oblivious to her surroundings, Ling Ye casually walked to her side.

He extended two fingers, pinched a corner of the snow-white dishcloth, and then... casually, as if wiping a piece of ordinary dusty furniture, he wiped it across Su Wanqing's grime-covered, sour-smelling arm!

The movement was gentle, even perfunctory.

However, the instant the ordinary pure cotton dishcloth touched the grime on Su Wanqing's skin—

An anomaly occurred!

Countless fine, intricate, ancient runes, flowing with chaotic starlight and invisible to the naked eye, suddenly lit up on the dishcloth's snow-white surface! A gentle yet irresistible purifying power, like an invisible tide, instantly rippled out from the cloth!

"Hiss..."

A faint sound, like melting ice and snow, rang out.

The sticky, foul-smelling grayish-black grime on Su Wanqing's arm, upon contact with the cloth, vanished like snow under a scorching sun! No, it wasn't vaporization! It was directly decomposed, purified, and restored into the most primitive, purest primordial energy by the chaotic starlight! Not a trace of odor remained! It revealed skin as delicate and smooth as a newborn's, faintly radiating a jade-like luster!

Ling Ye's movements didn't stop, his wrist turning with casual ease. The dishcloth in his hand, as if imbued with divinity, acted like the most efficient cleaning tool. Wherever it passed, the grime disappeared! Arms, shoulders, neck, cheeks... all the impurities expelled from Su Wanqing's body vanished without a trace under the seemingly ordinary dishcloth, like pencil marks erased by an eraser!

In just a few breaths, Su Wanqing was completely transformed! Her skin was lustrous like jade, radiating a healthy, pure glow. Her loungewear was as clean as new, as if it had just been dry-cleaned by the best in the business! The faint Dao Rhyme light that enveloped her body became even purer and brighter after the grime was removed, like a pearl brushed clean of dust!

And the dishcloth, after completing this astonishing "cleaning" task, had the chaotic runes on its surface instantly vanish, returning to being just an ordinary, even slightly damp from absorbing a small amount of moisture... dishcloth.

Ling Ye looked at the now spotlessly clean Su Wanqing, then at the dishcloth in his hand. He casually tossed it back to its original position by the kitchen sink, as if he had merely used a common tool.

"Hmm," he nodded with satisfaction, "much more pleasing to the eye now."

Just then, Su Wanqing's long breath hitched slightly. In her vacant eyes, the starlight depicting the rise and fall of galaxies and the evolution of all things slowly receded like a tide. Her focus re-centered, and her consciousness returned to reality from the vast sea of enlightenment.

She blinked, the first sensation being an unprecedented lightness and clarity! It was as if a heavy burden she had carried for years had been lifted, her body filled with inexhaustible strength, her mind sharp and clear as if polished by the purest crystal! Her senses were amplified to an incredible degree! She could clearly "hear" the faint sound of raindrops hitting leaves outside the window, "smell" the lingering scent of Chaos Tea in the air and... the scent of lemon detergent?

Then, she looked down and saw her own hands and arms, smooth as jade and seemingly radiating a soft glow! Her loungewear was as clean as new!

What happened?!

Her last memory was of the anger at being insulted by that "trash tea" and the moment she clenched her fists! Then... then her consciousness plunged into a sea of chaos and light, witnessing countless incomprehensible profound trajectories... and upon waking, how had she... been reborn?!

Immense shock and confusion filled her heart! She abruptly looked up at Ling Ye, who stood not far away.

Ling Ye was also looking at her, his expression calm.

Su Wanqing opened her mouth, countless questions surging in her throat: What was that tea? What just happened? How did I... on my body?

However, before she could ask, Ling Ye's calm voice rang out, directly interrupting all her swirling thoughts:

"Awake?" His gaze swept over her transformed state, as if inspecting a cleaned item, "Good. Go boil some water." He pointed at the electric kettle, his tone carrying an undeniable command, "And make some tea."

All of Su Wanqing's questions got stuck in her throat. Looking at Ling Ye's matter-of-fact expression, feeling the power surging within her and her clear thoughts, and recalling that she might have just undergone the legendary "Marrow Cleansing"... the CEO of Su Corporation, driven by immense shock and inertia, nodded subconsciously like a robot whose switch had been flipped, and walked somewhat dazed towards the electric kettle.

"Oh... okay..."