"What was going on? Why was the smell of blood so strong?" Ye Chen turned around and asked the Earth God. But as soon as the words left his mouth, he guessed what had happened.
"Ah, young man, you know how it is. Wiping out demons and monsters isn't as easy as you might imagine. I can't just cast a few spells and be done with it, so..."
"I understand." Ye Chen nodded and walked out of the baozi shop. As he passed the counter, he saw dark red blood flowing out from beneath it, along with limbs sticking out into view.
Ye Chen said nothing. He knew that in this dog-eat-dog world, strength was the only currency that mattered. Without any strength of his own, he had only been able to let others walk all over him.
Ye Chen went to the woodshed and found his travel pack, but it had been stained a dark red by blood. He opened it and saw that there were hardly any clothes left that weren't bloodstained.
"Ah." Ye Chen sighed. "My clothes are so filthy now. I wonder if I can even wash them back to how they were before."
The Earth God hadn't left. He followed behind Ye Chen, and when he heard him sigh, he stepped up beside him. "Don't worry, young man."
With that, the Earth God shook the cane in his hand. Ye Chen watched in surprise as all the clothes in his pack flew out and floated in midair.
Then, as if an invisible hand were scrubbing his clothes, Ye Chen watched the bloodstains slowly disappear, one by one, until the clothes were clean and neat again.
Once they were all clean, the clothes folded themselves into neat stacks, then returned to the pack one by one.