Tang Muxi said it would be quick, and indeed it was.
Normally, she would take at least half an hour to soak in the bath, but today she finished her grooming in just a quarter of that time.
As she hurried over, the sky began to darken.
The evening glow faded in the dim sky, leaving behind a lingering crimson, like burning flames floating in the air.
Jiang Yin had set up the table and chairs, sitting upright on the stool.
With the glow gone, the evening breeze blew gently, and from a distance, one could only see a vague silhouette.
It was quiet and steady, like a fragrant wooden carving, full of charm.
Seeing the food still on the table, Tang Muxi couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief and jogged over with a smile.
Like a gust of wind, she stirred up the scent of grass along the way.
“Senior Sister, I’m back!”
She had just come out of the bath, her hair still damp, and after changing into clean clothes, she rushed over.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, her skin dewy, and a few tiny droplets of water rolled down her fair neck, following the glistening trails of water into her collarbone.
Her hair, blown by the wind for a while, was no longer dripping but still moist, sticking restlessly against her ear.
“Come here.”
Jiang Yin waved her hand.
Tang Muxi tilted her head and walked over, sitting down beside Jiang Yin: “Senior Sister?”
Her tone was filled with confusion.
In the past, they would never sit apart during meals.
“Wet.”
Jiang Yin was succinct, casually taking out a clean handkerchief, gently pinching a strand of hair, and began to wipe it with focus.
In truth, it wasn’t necessary to go through such trouble.
As a foundation-building cultivator, she could easily use a spell to dry off the moisture, but Jiang Yin preferred to do it herself.
Tang Muxi didn’t resist and obediently sat there, allowing her to fuss over her.
“Did you use a spell when you ran over just now?”
Jiang Yin suddenly asked.
She had clearly seen Tang Muxi far away moments ago, yet in the blink of an eye, she was right beside her.
It was faster than flying on a sword.
Tang Muxi beamed with pride, her eyes squinting: “Star Shift Technique, I drew it from the Treasure Gathering Pavilion last time.”
The Star Shift Technique was an earth-level skill, primarily for movement, but it contained many principles of space.
If mastered completely, it would have even more applications.
Recently, Tang Muxi had been trying to use her mind to retrieve items, and when picking spiritual plants, she didn’t even need to use her spiritual power; she could take any plant she saw from a distance.
However, she kept failing, indicating something was amiss.
Jiang Yin understood and suddenly smiled, saying, “That’s good.
If any formidable opponent appears that I can’t handle, you can quickly escape.”
Tang Muxi pouted, “I won’t run away alone. If I escape, I have to take Senior Sister with me.”
Running away by oneself isn’t much of an achievement.
Jiang Yin smiled, not taking it seriously.
“Alright, let’s eat.”
Bai Ling had been busy with her cultivation lately and hadn’t shown her face in a long time.
After finishing her meal, Jiang Yin deliberately brought an extra serving of Snow Mountain Flying Fox (which was actually fried shrimp chips) to her, telling her the name of the dish with a smile before leaving.
Bai Ling was infuriated, staring at the delicious fried shrimp, unsure whether to eat it or not.
With the Transformation Grass and Spirit Spring in hand, Tang Muxi didn’t delay any longer and took several spirit plants into seclusion to refine pills the next morning.
The Transformation Pill was a mid-grade Xuan level pill that could help the monster race transform into human form, making it much quicker and safer than figuring it out on their own.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yin took advantage of her alchemy time to start working on the island’s protective formation.
Most defensive formations are similar, differing only in the arrangement and combination of their formation eyes.
The more powerful the formation eye, the more complex the formation tends to be.
Last time, Tang Muxi won a piece of Golden Dragon Heart Scale in the lottery, a rare treasure.
It would be quite suitable as a formation eye, but Jiang Yin couldn’t bring herself to ask her for it.
Anything related to dragons is a treasure, and the Heart Scale is the hardest scale of the dragon race.
If used wisely, it can be refined into a life-saving magical artifact, capable of withstanding a full-force strike from a Great Ascension stage cultivator.
Rather than using such a treasure to protect the immortal island, it would be better used to protect Tang Muxi.
The formation eye Jiang Yin found was a tail feather containing the bloodline of a phoenix.
It was a mid-grade Earth level item, worth its weight in gold, and the most valuable and useful among all the treasures of the Ancestor of Heavenly Mechanisms.
The phoenix is known for its fire, capable of spewing flames that can incinerate everything.
Jiang Yin combined the island’s protective formation with an illusion based on its characteristics.
If an intruder with a weak mind entered the illusion, they would be burned by the phoenix fire and unable to escape, leading to their soul’s destruction.
Even if they were lucky enough to avoid the illusion, they would still face fiery attacks from the offensive formation.
This formation was incredibly complex, and only after running through the calculations three times without discovering any issues did she consider it complete.
To set up the protective formation for the island, Jiang Yin spent a full three days.
When she finally emerged, Bai Ling had already transformed.
However… it didn’t seem to be a complete success.
“I assure you! The transformation pill is definitely, definitely, definitely not the problem!”
Tang Muxi, seeing Jiang Yin frozen in place, quickly defended herself.
Three days ago, the transformation pill she had concocted was ready, and the process had gone as smoothly as ever.
The quality was not particularly high, merely mid-grade in the Xuan tier, but it certainly couldn’t be considered bad.
After all, the Yuan Ying pill was only upper-grade in the Xuan tier, and earth-grade pills were only used by cultivators at the God Transformation stage.
After she had given the transformation pill to Bai Ling, it showed effects that very night.
Bai Ling felt a warm sensation throughout her body and slowly began to take on a human form.
She appeared as a girl of about fifteen or sixteen, with a cute and endearing look, her voice crisp and carrying the unique innocence of youth.
With the aid of the pill, Bai Ling quickly adapted to her new body.
However, for some unknown reason, her fox ears and tail had not retracted successfully, leaving them awkwardly attached to the girl’s form.
Initially, Tang Muxi thought it was just that the effects of the pill hadn’t fully manifested, but three days later, there was still no change.
Bai Ling looked dejected, her face filled with a sense of grievance as if she were about to cry: “Will I be like this for the rest of my life?”
As she spoke, her fluffy ears drooped sadly, making anyone who saw her feel a pang of sympathy.
Yet, it must be said, she was still quite adorable.
Half-beast, half-human traits were characteristic of half-monsters.
Pure-blooded monster clans looked down upon half-monsters, considering them of lowly birth.
Bai Ling had never lived among the monster clans, but she instinctively disliked her fox ears and tail.
“That won’t happen! It shouldn’t… there must be some mistake…”
Tang Muxi tried to comfort her, but her tone was uncertain, even doubting whether Bai Ling might actually be a half-monster herself.
Typically, most monsters could transform once they reached the Foundation Establishment stage, and it was rare for someone like Bai Ling to still be in beast form even after reaching the Golden Core stage.
“Senior Sister, what should we do now?”
Tang Muxi was in a state of panic and could only seek help from Jiang Yin.
However, Jiang Yin shook her head as well: “I don’t know either.”
She had very little experience with monster clans and had never encountered such a situation.
Yet, as she looked at Bai Ling’s fox ears, a thought crossed her mind: “Is it possible for you to revert to your original form now?”
Bai Ling was taken aback, her ears perked up: “I’ll give it a try.”
With that, she began to channel the spiritual energy within her.
Having just transformed into human form, she struggled to control the shift between forms, taking quite a while before she managed to revert back.
The exquisite garments were scattered on the wooden floor, and the snow fox inside nudged them, soon poking its head out of the collar, “It seems possible.”
“Can you change back to your human form?”
Bai Ling followed the suggestion again, and after a short while, she transformed back into a lively and charming little girl.
However, the fox ears on her head and the tail at her waist still remained, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t retract them.
“Senior Sister, have you figured it out?”
As soon as Tang Muxi spoke, Bai Ling looked over with anticipation, her fox ears twitching adorably atop her head.
Jiang Yin pondered for a long time before slowly speaking, “Perhaps she hasn’t reached the time to transform, but took the medicine too early, forcing the transformation.”
“But isn’t it common for monster clans to transform once they reach the Foundation Establishment stage?”
Tang Muxi was puzzled, “And she can already speak.”
“Have you forgotten how she learned to speak?”
Jiang Yin added.
Tang Muxi was taken aback, suddenly realizing.
Bai Ling had already reached the Golden Core stage, but she couldn’t even speak, relying on frost to communicate.
Recently, after consuming a lot of Cold Spirit Fruits, her throat had gradually started to itch.
If that’s the case, not only was she unable to transform, but even speaking was only possible due to the catalyst of the spiritual plants.
Without the influence of the Cold Spirit Fruits and the transformation pills, she should be a snow fox that couldn’t speak.
Perhaps, as Jiang Yin said, she hadn’t reached the time to transform, but was instead catalyzed prematurely by the spiritual fruits and pills.
Bai Ling also understood, her heart filled with anticipation yet also confusion, unable to believe, “Even at the mid-Golden Core stage, it’s still not the time to transform?”
She thought it was just her own clumsiness.
Jiang Yin shook her head, suddenly recalling Wen Mingyu, and couldn’t help but frown.
Although she didn’t like monster clans, this was something she could only ask her about.
In the following days, Bai Ling rarely showed herself in human form, mostly locking herself in her room, huddled and motionless.
Several times during mealtime, when Tang Muxi went to deliver food, Bai Ling didn’t open the door.
She placed the meals at the entrance, and when she returned to deliver food again, it remained untouched.
Tang Muxi had no choice but to let her remain closed off.
Perhaps once she figured things out, she would naturally come out.
A major monster at the Golden Core stage could already abstain from food, and even if they didn’t eat daily, it wouldn’t matter.
But out of concern, Tang Muxi still delivered meals at the same time every day.
Five whole days passed without Bai Ling showing up, but instead, an unexpected guest arrived.
“Hey~ Tang Muxi!”
On this day, Tang Muxi was practicing the Star Shift Technique at the peak of the Misty Mountain.
Recently, she had been pondering why her attempts at telekinesis had failed.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head as she found the reason and tried to come up with a new solution.
Just as she was focusing on her practice, she suddenly heard someone calling her.
Tang Muxi looked up in confusion.
The mountaintop was incredibly empty.
During this time, she had moved quite a few spiritual plants to the Heavenly Island, leaving behind many traces of disturbed earth.
She scanned the area but found nothing unusual, frowning and muttering, “Did I hear wrong?”
After a moment of doubt, she returned to her practice.
However, not long after, the voice called out again, this time more clearly.
Although it was distant, it was indeed someone calling her.
“Tang Muxi! I’m over here!”
Tang Muxi stood up, brushed off the dust from her clothes, and scanned the surroundings with a furrowed brow.
“Over here!”
After a while, she finally spotted a small figure in the distance, rushing toward her at high speed.
Tang Muxi instinctively took a step back.
In such a desolate place, who would coincidentally come looking for her?
But before she could turn to run, she heard the voice call out again, “It’s me, Wen Mingyu!”
Tang Muxi froze.
