Transforming into Human

Little Coal Ball was a bit dazed by Su Qing's words and looked up at her.

After a moment of silent reflection, Little Coal Ball asked, "Will I look just like you?"

Su Qing nodded and said, "Yes, exactly. I remember promising you before that once we left Xingyang City, I would teach you the method of transformation. It slipped my mind due to some other matters, but I just remembered it now. I'm here to ask if you want to transform. If you do, I can help you through the process over the next few days."

Su Qing gave a simple explanation of the circumstances, keeping it at a level Little Coal Ball could understand.

Little Coal Ball blinked her eyes and flicked her tail. "I forgot about it too. But are there any benefits to transforming?"

"Benefits? That depends on how you look at it. For you, there should be more pros than cons, right?" Su Qing was momentarily stunned by the question and couldn't help but chuckle.

At those words, Coal Ball looked at her and asked again, "Then what will I look like?"

"I don't know. What you look like is decided by you. However, I don't recommend you turn into someone like me. Just turn into the human form you think looks best, and that will be enough. Of course, the transformation process isn't completely controllable... It's possible that your appearance after transforming might be different from what you originally wanted."

Su Qing rubbed her chin, trying her best to explain clearly to the child.

After all, this child was quite silly.

Little Coal Ball thought seriously for a moment after hearing this, then nodded and said, "Once I become a human, can I turn back into a cat? To be honest, I want to be a human and a cat! I've been a cat for so many years that I'm used to it, but I've never been a human, so I want to try that too."

Su Qing only smiled at the black cat's thoughts.

If it were anything else, wanting to have it both ways might be unrealistic, but the situation with transformation was completely different.

Su Qing nodded and said, "Of course there's no problem with that. After transforming, you can turn back into a cat whenever you want, and turn into a human whenever you want. It's entirely up to your own thoughts. Though, for someone like you, you'll probably have to study a bit to get it right."

Upon hearing this, Coal Ball's interest clearly piqued. She perked up her tail and said, "Okay, okay! Then I want to transform! I want to!"

With her only concern resolved, Coal Ball was naturally more than willing to transform.

She had never been a human before; she definitely had to try it out.

Seeing Coal Ball agree, Su Qing couldn't help but smile. She nodded and said, "Then take this and eat it. Cultivate well tonight, and you can try transforming tomorrow morning."

Coal Ball's talent was decent; it was just that the cat was a bit dim-witted. Fortunately, she could understand most of what Su Qing said.

After Su Qing spoke, Coal Ball nodded and swallowed the pill in one gulp.

She then jumped off the roof and ran to her little nest to cultivate.

Watching her, Su Qing smiled, feeling curious herself about what this silly cat would look like after transforming.

'Given her personality, she'll probably turn into a child or a young girl, right?'

Su Qing rubbed her chin. After reflecting for a moment, she became even more curious.

Shaking her head, Su Qing stretched and headed downstairs.

Next, all that remained was to wait.

Once Coal Ball returned to her nest,

She began to cultivate seriously according to Su Qing's instructions, slowly digesting the medicinal potency of the Transformation Pill.

Although she wasn't very smart, she could feel that this pill was exceptionally powerful. The moment it entered her stomach, she felt a very dense surge of magic power filling her body.

Even if Su Qing hadn't told her to cultivate, she would have had to do it anyway.

After all, if she didn't digest the medicinal potency,

Heaven only knew what she would turn into.

Time trickled by.

Little Coal Ball gradually digested the medicinal potency.

As the medicine took effect, she could feel subtle changes occurring in her body.

These changes felt somewhat unreal and illusory to her...

'Is this what transformation feels like?' Coal Ball thought.

She then continued to digest the medicinal potency with focus.

'Speaking of which, Su Qing told me to decide for myself what I want to look like, didn't she? I was so focused on cultivating just now that I completely forgot. If I don't think about it, what will I become?'

Although Coal Ball was very curious, she wasn't so stupid that she would specifically try to see what would happen.

If she really did that and something went wrong later, the situation would be bad.

Never mind what she would look like;

Just the thought of Su Qing's mocking face made her head throb.

Therefore, no matter how curious Coal Ball was, she wouldn't dare try it.

Deciding on a direction for her transformation wasn't actually difficult. For Coal Ball, as long as she transformed into a human form that was good-looking and fit her own aesthetic, that was enough.

So, she quickly thought of what she wanted to look like.

Coal Ball gradually entered a deep state, becoming completely oblivious to the outside world.

Naturally, she didn't notice that Su Qing was standing right beside her, quietly watching her transform...

And protecting her.

Although using a Transformation Pill was very safe and the probability of danger was extremely low, as long as there was any risk, guarding her was necessary.

Therefore, upon sensing that Coal Ball had officially entered the transformation stage, Su Qing hurried over to help guard her.

This was her cat, after all; she definitely had to be more protective.

And so,

Time continued to flow slowly.

Coal Ball's transformation proceeded steadily.

In the blink of an eye, it was the night of the next day.

Finally, after so much time had passed, Coal Ball's transformation was complete.

A small figure slowly crawled out of the cat nest...

And subconsciously licked her own paw with her tongue.

The little figure looked to be about six or seven years old. Her palm-sized face was delicate and cute, especially those amber eyes, which revealed a hint of feline cunning. But if one looked closely, they also betrayed a sense of pure, innocent stupidity.

The little one was currently naked, her ink-black hair hanging loosely like a waterfall.

Clearly, this was Coal Ball's appearance after transforming.

Looking at the girl's appearance, she didn't surprise Su Qing at all.

Su Qing reached out to rub Coal Ball's head, then tossed a set of clothes onto her to cover her body...

"Hurry and put your clothes on. What's the point of staying naked like this?" Su Qing said with a chuckle.

Upon hearing this, Coal Ball took the clothes off herself and said, "I... This is my first time being a human, how am I supposed to know how to wear clothes? Why don't you help me put them on?"

At those words, Su Qing's mouth twitched slightly. She then nodded helplessly and said, "Fine, I'll help you dress, but you'll have to do it yourself from now on."

"Hmph, do you think I like you helping me?" Coal Ball curled her lip and said with a look of dissatisfaction, "I suddenly feel like being a human is so troublesome!"

"Where there are benefits, there are naturally drawbacks. These things coexist. Don't go thinking only about the benefits and ignoring the drawbacks!"

As Su Qing spoke, she began helping Coal Ball into her clothes, not forgetting to rub the little one's head a few times and pinch her cheeks along the way.

Su Qing wasn't a lolicon—in fact, to some extent, she disliked children—but cute children were the exception. Whenever she saw one, she couldn't help but reach out and pinch them a few times...

Especially stupid ones like this; she loved teasing them.

"Ow, ow, ow~ What are you doing!" Little Coal Ball cried out after being pinched and immediately tried to run away.

Oh, wait—this little thing didn't even know how to walk. Calling it running away was more like crawling away.

Seeing this, how could Su Qing possibly let her escape?

She pulled her back in one go...

Then she finished dressing her completely.

She also handed her a pair of shoes.

"Not only do I have to wear clothes, but I have to wear shoes too? So annoying! Being a human is so troublesome!"

When Coal Ball saw the shoes, her face immediately fell into a look of misery.

She had just transformed into a human! She already disliked being one.

She felt that being human was so troublesome, not nearly as free and easy as being a cat.

"Don't complain. Since you've already transformed, you have to learn how to be a human properly. At the very least... don't run around like a silly cat."

Su Qing said helplessly:

"Additionally, you also have to learn how to walk and run, as well as read and write! However, there's no need to be too hasty with those; just take it slow. Regardless, the one thing we aren't lacking is time..."

After Su Qing helped the silly girl put on her shoes, she said to her:

"Come on, I'll first teach you how to walk and how to use your hands like a human."

"I hate wearing shoes. Can I not wear them?" After Coal Ball put on the shoes, she felt her feet were restricted and the whole experience was very uncomfortable, so she couldn't help but ask.

"That's naturally not allowed. If you run around barefoot like that, the soles of your feet will be completely black in no time."

"I was a black cat to begin with, so what does it matter!" Coal Ball curled her lip and said with great dissatisfaction.

She was clearly a black cat originally, and even the pads on her paws were black. What did it matter if the soles of her feet turned black after becoming a human?

However, upon hearing this, Su Qing gave the girl a flick on the head and said, "When you're a human, you must follow the rules of being a human. I can't let you be as wild as you want."

Coal Ball immediately became unhappy upon hearing this and said, "This General became a human to experience the joys of being human, not to be restricted! I want to change back! I want to change back! Didn't you say I could change freely?"

Normally, changing back to one's original form after transforming was a skill all demons knew.

But Coal Ball didn't know how...

The reason was quite simple.

Because this child hadn't transformed naturally; Su Qing had helped her transform using a Transformation Pill.

So, she still needed to learn how to return to her original form.

Otherwise... if she had to figure it out herself, it would probably take her ten days to half a month.

"Is that so? But you still have to learn!" Seeing this, Su Qing chuckled and shook her head, saying, "Once you've learned how to be a human, I'll teach you how to change back into a cat."

Su Qing's hand pressed firmly on Coal Ball's head, making it impossible for the little one to escape even if she wanted to...

'This child probably has the potential to become a brat... But then again, this silly cat was already a bit of a brat normally; it's just that I didn't pay much attention when she was a cat. Now that she's transformed into a human, it's become much more obvious to me.'

Su Qing thought to herself as she began planning how to educate this silly cat.

"By the way, since you've transformed into a human, do you want to take a new name? 'Coal Ball' doesn't really sound like a person's name."

Upon hearing this, Coal Ball said indifferently, "I think calling me Coal Ball is fine. Anyway, I prefer being a cat; I don't really like being a human."

Coal Ball regretted it deeply; being a human wasn't fun at all...

Su Qing didn't pay much attention to Coal Ball's words. She simply rubbed her chin and said, "Since you don't want to change your name, then whenever you're in your human form, I'll call you Qiu'er. It's a homophone for 'Ball'... and it counts as a person's nickname more or less. Since you look like a little girl now, the name is quite fitting."

Coal Ball was stunned for a moment. She had only spoken casually; she didn't expect Su Qing to actually stop thinking of a new name for her.

She opened her mouth, but in the end, she closed it and gritted her teeth. She was a bit concerned with her pride and couldn't bring herself to ask Su Qing to think of another name for her.

'Argh, fine, fine. Qiu'er it is!' Coal Ball thought.

While Coal Ball was lost in thought,

Su Qing spoke again, saying, "Alright, the matter of the name is settled. Next, it's time to teach you how to walk. Come on! Let's begin!"

As Su Qing spoke, she pulled Coal Ball along to learn, completely ignoring Coal Ball's own thoughts.

Learning how to walk wasn't difficult; even real human children would learn it unconsciously, let alone a cat demon who was quite old.

In only about half an hour, Coal Ball had completely mastered the human way of moving.

However...

Her learning was far from over.

Because she had many things to learn, she still couldn't escape Su Qing's grasp.

In the courtyard,

Ao Yiyi, who was sitting at the tea table watching Su Qing instruct Coal Ball—now Qiu'er—took a sip of tea.

"Has Big Green Sister been very bored lately?" Ao Yiyi asked Jin Xin beside her.

Jin Xin looked at Su Qing, rubbed her chin, and said, "When there's nothing to do, she does seem quite idle! But do you think if I pretended not to know how to walk, Su Qing would teach me?"

"..." Hearing this speechless question, Ao Yiyi didn't know what to say for a moment. After a moment of silence, she said, "She would probably just ignore you. Coal Ball just transformed and truly doesn't know anything. If you pretend to be like that, don't you think Sister Su will see through it?"

"You have a point there!" Jin Xin nodded, speaking thoughtfully.

Seeing this, Ao Yiyi thought to herself in exasperation, 'Does a matter like this really require being thoughtful?'