Pouring spiritual spring water is conducive to improving cultivation. Upon arriving at the spiritual spring, Ye Ju placed Xiao Bai into its exclusive pool. Xiao Bai, who had been sleeping, sensed the spiritual spring, opened its eyes, jumped into the pool, closed its eyes, and sank to the bottom. Ye Ju was startled and scooped it up. "This little one with fur can actually dive?" Xiao Bai was pulled out, reluctantly opening its eyes. Seeing Ye Ju’s worried expression, it whimpered, as if to say, "I'm fine." Ye Ju remained confused, unable to understand. Xiao Bai rolled its eyes, then closed them, and a bead-like blue light emerged from its forehead. Ye Ju felt a coolness on its forehead as the blue light embedded itself into its forehead and disappeared.
"Master, I am a Dragon Fox. We are now contracted, and you can hear me speak. Don't worry, this water is fine for me. I need spiritual water to restore my spiritual power. Ever since you broke the spiritual spring's barrier, sister, I drank the spiritual spring water, gained sentience, and was blessed by Master with three spiritual fruits, awakening my bloodline and remembering my heritage. I am a descendant of dragons and nine-tailed foxes. I do not fear water!"
Hearing a small, childish voice speak in her mind, Ye Ju was stunned. She mentally shouted, "This, this is Xiao Bai speaking? It's super unscientific! It's just like the cultivation novels I read, with spiritual beasts! And when did I give it three spiritual fruits? That sour and sweet fruit? Dragon Fox, is there such a breed?" Ye Ju was completely bewildered.
Making eye contact with Xiao Bai, she asked, "Were you just speaking?"
Xiao Bai nodded, and the voice in her mind rang out, "Yes, Master!"
With that, Xiao Bai jumped back into the spiritual water pool, closed its eyes, curled into a ball, and sank to the bottom. Ye Ju remained in the posture of holding Xiao Bai, motionless. Finally, with a delayed realization, she thoroughly believed that she had arrived in the world of cultivation and was no longer on Earth. It was truly as the saying went, in the blink of an eye, a hundred years had passed. Opening her eyes, the world had changed completely!
After a while, Ye Ju came back to her senses, feeling a bit disheartened, as the emotions of her first day stranded on the isolated island resurfaced. She recalled foolishly lighting signal fires for help, which would likely attract monsters rather than people! In fact, so many days had passed with no ships or even birds in sight on the horizon, she should have realized by now. No, she had to become stronger and possess the ability to protect herself.
Recalling the barrier Xiao Bai mentioned, it turned out that the reason this isolated island was so desolate before was due to the spiritual spring's barrier, which prevented spiritual energy from escaping. Now that she came to her senses, she noticed that the area around the spiritual spring had already transformed into a fairyland. Along the stream she had dug, a hundred flowers bloomed, the green grass was crystalline and translucent, and the trees in the distance had grown by more than a circumference without her knowing when. Strangely, the spiritual spring pool itself seemed unchanged.
Ye Ju recalled that when she first arrived, she had run around the entire island and hadn't noticed the spiritual spring. She seemed to have discovered it while exploring and tapping it with a burning stick she found. Could the problem lie with this burning stick? Ye Ju focused her spiritual power onto the burning stick beside her. *Buzz buzz...* A buzzing sound echoed in Ye Ju's mind, followed by a pulling sensation at her fingertips, drawing her into an unknown space. Inside, there was an immeasurably vast tree, as if it were the only thing in existence: eternal, unique, noble, and sacred, connecting heaven and earth. The enormous canopy spread for thousands of miles, covering the sky and obscuring the sun, stretching beyond sight. The trunk was incredibly thick, appearing like a colossal mountain up close. It reminded Ye Ju of Jianmu from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas," which was said to communicate with heaven and earth, serving as a bridge between them. As for this divine tree, its crown could not be seen, as if it had grown beyond the outer reaches of the heavens. From the crown of this divine tree, spiritual water seeped down like pure white silk, ethereal and flowing, transforming into spiritual energy and dissipating before it even touched the ground. Beneath this giant tree, Ye Ju was as tiny as an ant, yet visually, it was like watching a movie; the entire scene was within her view. Looking at this breathtakingly beautiful scene, Ye Ju thought, "This must be a fairyland!" The divine tree had many hollows, nurturing countless living beings. The surrounding spiritual energy was abundant, and the spiritual beasts possessed great magical power; even from afar, Ye Ju could feel their pressure. There were unknown monsters resembling dragons, spiritual beasts with nine tails like foxes, incredibly beautiful giant birds, various flying creatures, and beings that resembled humans… a world of peace and harmony.
The scene flickered, and Ye Ju’s eyes stung, her vision blurring. Ye Ju circulated her spiritual power, and when she looked again, some immense energy had destroyed everything. The divine tree was engulfed in golden flames, its inhabitants perishing without exception. Seeing such a tragic sight, Ye Ju's heart was greatly shaken. The divine tree crashed down, the space collapsed, and the divine tree transformed into a stick, shattering the void. Using its last bit of energy, it wrapped some stones, no, egg-like stones, and escaped through the fragmented rifts. The roaring golden flames consumed everything… Before Ye Ju could finish watching, her eyes ached intensely, and she cried out in pain, her eyes bleeding as she fainted.
Xiao Bai, a streak of light from the spiritual spring pool, darted out and circled Ye Ju anxiously, spitting white energy and using its healing abilities to render first aid. Knowing that its master’s cultivation was shallow and her spiritual power was excessively depleted, it then wrapped Ye Ju in spiritual energy and placed her into the spiritual water pool to restore her spiritual power, jumping in itself. After awakening its bloodline, it knew it had inherited the healing arts of the nine-tailed fox. Now, one person and one fox occupied separate water pools. The person was unconscious, and the fox was weak, with depleted spiritual power, both quite pitiable.
Two days passed. Xiao Bai emerged from the water pool, but its master had not yet woken. It hurried back to the wooden hut to find the purple bamboo water flask the master usually used to store spiritual spring water. Yes, the spiritual spring pool had a barrier, and Xiao Bai, lacking sentience, couldn't get close. Now, for some reason, it couldn't approach either. The spiritual spring water that flowed from the stream dug by the master had dispersed spiritual energy, diminishing its efficacy. To quickly restore the master's spiritual power, only the spiritual water from the spring's source was effective. Xiao Bai knew that the master had stored spring-source spiritual water in the flask. It retrieved the flask, guided spiritual energy, and poured the water into the master’s mouth.
When Ye Ju woke up, it was already half a month later. Opening her eyes, she saw Xiao Bai squatting by the water pool, looking at her. Xiao Bai's size seemed to have increased slightly. Ye Ju looked down and saw herself naked and submerged in the water, her only three-piece garment shattered. She was still a bit dazed, her consciousness still lingering on the tragic scene. Her eyes still ached slightly, but fortunately, she hadn't lost her sight.
"Xiao Bai, what happened to me? Did you save me again? Thank you!"
"Master, you fainted, and I don't know what happened. While I was restoring my spiritual power in the water pool, I sensed you were in danger. I came out of the water and saw you bleeding from your eyes, your spiritual power depleted, holding a terrifying stick, and lying unconscious nearby. My mother, the nine-tailed fox, had a talent for healing arts, and I only healed your eyes. To quickly help you restore your spiritual power, I placed you in the spiritual water pool." As Xiao Bai spoke, it glanced fearfully in the direction of the burning stick. During these days, the purple bamboo flask was out of spiritual spring water, and when it was preparing to burn its soul power to make a desperate attempt, a red stick suddenly appeared beside it and lightly swatted its behind, rolling into the pool. It scared the fox half to death.
Ye Ju sensed Xiao Bai's fear and gently stroked it. Ye Ju reached out and sucked, summoning it with her spiritual power through telekinesis. Looking at the now golden-red burning stick in her hand, she knew it was the last manifestation of that divine tree, a divine object capable of shattering the void. A mere barrier was nothing. Furthermore, Ye Ju now understood that the spiritual spring water's barrier was created by the burning stick. Oh, it was a divine wood now, not a burning stick anymore. Ever since she came to this island, this stick had never left her side, which was why she could freely enter and exit the spiritual spring. It was also her who broke the barrier and dug the channels to lead the water, causing the changes on the isolated island. Thinking that she had even wasted such a treasure to dig channels… Ye Ju touched her forehead, feeling greatly ashamed!