Chapter Eighty-Eight: Six Thousand Years of Waiting

“What…what on earth is happening?” Yi circled the girl in white several times, her face still locked in disbelief. “Xiao Bai, is it really you? How did you…how did you grow so much?”

“I…I don’t know either,” Xiao Bai replied, her voice tinged with the shyness and awkwardness of someone newly transformed. “It was after last time…when Yi gave me the rest of the cultivation method. I practiced diligently every day, and then, a few days ago…it just happened.”

Her explanation was simple, but I immediately grasped the crucial point.

I looked at Xiao Bai, sweeping her with my spiritual sense, and a ripple stirred in my heart.

This little one’s foundation is far deeper than I ever imagined!

“You’re not an ordinary snow fox,” I said, my tone certain.

Xiao Bai stiffened, nervous under my gaze, unconsciously straightening as if awaiting a teacher’s question. “I…I don’t know what I am. From as early as I can remember, I’ve always been in this immortal palace.”

“How long has it been?” I pressed.

Xiao Bai tilted her head, thought earnestly for a moment, then spoke in a childlike tone, uttering a sentence that made both Yi and me gasp.

“Hmm…about six thousand years, I think.”

Six thousand years!

Yi and I exchanged glances, each seeing the shock in the other’s eyes.

Alone in this empty immortal palace, she had endured six thousand years of solitude!

“Then before…” Yi’s voice trembled.

“I was always just a little fox. Every day, I would sleep or search for fruit on the island,” Xiao Bai recalled, golden eyes reflecting loneliness. “Until two thousand years ago, you and Yi suddenly appeared and gave me a cultivation method. Only then did I realize I could become stronger.”

Understanding dawned in my heart. Two thousand years ago, Yi and I first set foot in the immortal palace. While I secluded myself to cultivate, Yi passed the basic ‘Living Spirits Method’ to Xiao Bai.

“That method was too simple. I finished it quickly, but then I didn’t know what to do next,” Xiao Bai said, distressed. “Until last time, when you and Yi returned, and Yi gave me the later part of the method. Suddenly, all the blockages in my body cleared!”

Accumulated power unleashed!

This little one, in six millennia of solitude, had absorbed the dense spiritual energy of the immortal island and countless treasures, amassing unimaginable energy. She’d been trapped in her juvenile form only due to the lack of proper guidance.

The complete ‘Living Spirits Method’ I gave Yi was the key to unlock the treasure vault!

A sudden enlightenment—a leap to immortality! She transformed from a naive spirit beast into a six-tailed immortal fox, rivaling a Nascent Soul cultivator!

Looking at the graceful, ethereal young woman before me, thinking of her six thousand years of unknown waiting and loneliness, compassion welled up in my heart.

“From now on, you’ll never be alone again,” I said gently.

Xiao Bai’s head snapped up, golden eyes brimming with tears that poured like pearls on a broken string.

She nodded vigorously, her cry choked with emotion but filled with joy.

“Yes!”

Penglai Immortal Palace was no longer a cold, lonely citadel.

Since Xiao Bai’s transformation, it had gained a long-missed, vibrant vitality.

Two girls of similar height and stunning beauty became the brightest sight on the immortal island.

Yi took Xiao Bai’s hand and together they ran through every corner of the island. They played by the spirit springs, chased through peach groves, rummaged through the alchemy rooms for strange, expired pills, laughing together.

Yi, like a devoted older sister, excitedly shared stories of the outside world: towering buildings, cars and planes, online games, delicious ice cream… Xiao Bai, curious as a child, listened wide-eyed, occasionally uttering small cries of amazement.

Xiao Bai in turn led Yi to her secret places: a cliff overlooking the entire Eastern Sea and cloud ocean, a cave filled with glowing mushrooms, and her collection of sparkling stones and shells amassed over thousands of years.

They quickly became inseparable, even sharing a bedroom at night, whispering their secrets.

Watching their carefree happiness, a profound peace settled in my heart—a peace more real than the “Great Freedom” attained through cultivation.

Yet amid this tranquility, I did not forget the true purpose of this journey.

After several days spent with them, confirming Yi had fully adapted to her new body and was in good spirits, I went alone to the heart of Penglai Immortal Palace—the Startrack Grand Array.

This was the center of the entire immortal island, a vast hall able to accommodate tens of thousands. The floor was carved with an intricate array diagram, every line echoing the movements of cosmic stars.

At the array’s center sat nine main energy nodes, like nine stars in a row, encircling the core array eye.

I took a deep breath, steadying my excitement.

I looked at the eight spirit stones I had gathered.

Opening my palm, the eight stones—each with distinct color and aura—floated silently before me.

Shushan: Heart of the Azure and Violet Twin Swords

Kunlun: Core of the Haotian Mirror

Tang Clan: Source of the Thousand Mechanisms Box

Kou Kingdom: Soul of the Demon Blade Muramasa

Western Church: Tears of the Holy Grail

Blood Clan: Heart of Cain

Ancient Indus: Eye of Brahma

Demon Sect: Heart of the Primordial Demon

Each one represented an extraordinary journey.

With a sweep of my sleeve, the eight spirit stones turned into eight streams of light, embedding precisely into the eight outer energy nodes of the Star River Grand Array.

In that instant, the entire hall—and the whole Penglai Immortal Island—shuddered violently!