Zhao Wumian, with his own strength, swept through Yunmeng Mountain, defeating everyone until they lost their ability to fight.
Seeing that no one could disturb him further, he extended his right hand, intending to recall the Floating Light Palace in the air.
He was already impatient, eager to check the situation inside, solely because of the baby's transformation.
When the baby was enveloped in golden light and flew towards the Floating Light Palace, he had already been stunned.
However, despite the tempest in his heart, his composure allowed him to maintain a calm exterior.
The last time he saw the baby was at a trade fair, a little girl of three or four years old.
At that time, he hadn't noticed at all that the baby was the very sparrow he had selected from thousands of bird eggs using the Floating Light Palace, then meticulously cultivated in the laboratory, and finally escaped.
The transformation of a Golden Crow into a human was his ultimate experimental goal. The laboratory had researched for so long without success.
He never expected that the Golden Crow, after escaping the laboratory, would transform into a human on its own.
He was ecstatic. If he could bring the Golden Crow back to the laboratory and discover the method of transformation, their plan could be realized ahead of schedule.
Zhao Wumian's heart was filled with excitement, and he sent a command to the Floating Light Palace. But his face immediately turned grim.
The Floating Light Palace completely ignored his command and was out of his control.
Mingyue followed closely behind the baby and Ba Jiu, rushing into the Floating Light Palace before its doors closed.
As soon as she entered, she felt a wave of heat, and golden flames filled her vision.
The baby was trapped in the center of a high platform, enveloped in a net of light.
Her eyes were tightly shut, motionless, appearing to be on the brink of life and death.
Below the platform, Ba Jiu was clenching his small face, repeatedly charging towards the platform.
But the entire platform was surrounded by golden flames. Although he possessed fire abilities, any contact with those golden flames would burn him.
The pain of his soul being pierced was unbearable, yet thinking of the baby's danger, he couldn't help but charge forward again and again.
These days, he had been with the baby every day, playing and getting into trouble together.
Ba Jiu now considered the baby his sister, so he had to save her no matter what.
"Ba Jiu, stop, you'll get hurt."
Seeing Ba Jiu's fair skin covered in blisters, with some areas already burned, Mingyue quickly pulled him back.
"Sister, you're here, that's great! Quickly save the baby!"
Without bothering to ask why Mingyue appeared in the Floating Light Palace, and disregarding his own injuries, Ba Jiu urged Mingyue to save the baby.
"Don't worry, leave it to me. The True Sun Fire here is a hundred times more potent than what the baby emits.
It's beyond your tolerance. Step back, don't touch it again."
Taking out a drop of pure Life Water, Mingyue handed it to Ba Jiu, telling him to apply it to his body for healing.
The True Sun Fire was extremely potent and a nemesis to zombies. Although Ba Jiu had gained human emotions and form,
he was, in essence, still a zombie. If he forced his way through, he would die here.
With Mingyue present, Ba Jiu was no longer agitated and obediently found a spot free of flames to heal.
A ray of moonlight appeared above Mingyue's head, and she walked step by step towards the high platform.
That moonlight originated from the primordial era, intertwined with her soul, and had accompanied her to this world.
After her cultivation recovered, Mingyue had discovered that the moonlight contained intense Tai Yin power, which was perfect for resisting Sun power.
Protected by the moonlight, the golden flames not only failed to obstruct her but instead parted to the sides, revealing a winding stone staircase.
She quickly ascended the stairs to the top of the platform and approached the baby.
"Little one, you truly are a Golden Crow. It seems I wasn't mistaken when I saw you transform in the space."
Looking at the baby's body wrapped in golden light, a small ball curled up on the ground, Mingyue couldn't help but let out a wry smile.
Under the suppression of the Floating Light Palace, the baby was no longer in human form, but had transformed into a black Golden Crow.
The Golden Crow clan were the emperors of the demon race and the sworn enemies of the Witch race. Donghuang Taiyi and Di Jun were both Golden Crows.
It could be said that the Wu and Yao races harbored deep hatred for each other, and their enmity with the Golden Crow clan was irreconcilable. Yet, Mingyue chose to save the baby first.
This was because the baby had not participated in the Wu-Yao war, nor had she killed a single member of the Witch race.
She herself didn't even know she was a Golden Crow; she had always believed she was just a little sparrow.
Furthermore, in Mingyue's heart, the baby was like Ba Jiu, her family.
Just as she hadn't cared about Ba Jiu's zombie identity and kept him by her side, she wouldn't refuse to save the baby now just because she was a Golden Crow.
Mingyue extended her hand and brushed away the net of light from the baby's body, holding her in her arms.
The baby was still in the form of a Golden Crow, her eyes tightly shut, her body trembling continuously, as if undergoing painful torture.
Mingyue's brows furrowed, and she sent her divine sense into the baby's body to examine her carefully.
Logically, with the golden light binding the baby removed, she should have reverted to human form and woken up.
But judging by the baby's current condition, something must have gone wrong.
Withdrawing her spiritual power, Mingyue let out a sigh of relief. She understood the reason.
The baby was indeed a little sparrow that, by chance, had come into contact with the True Sun Fire of the Floating Light Palace, acquiring Golden Crow bloodline.
Now that she had been brought into the Floating Light Palace, the Sun Fire within her body acted as a catalyst.
It was drawing the Sun power from the Floating Light Palace into her body madly. The baby couldn't withstand it for the moment, hence the intense pain.
Moreover, if too much Sun power surged in and the baby couldn't bear it, she would explode and die.
There was only one solution: to make the Floating Light Palace recognize the baby as its master and merge into her body.
However, the crucial point was that in her current state and with her abilities, the baby could not subdue the Floating Light Palace and make it recognize her as master.
The only possibility was for Mingyue to assist, first by reducing the power of the Sun in the Floating Light Palace, and then allowing the baby to accept it as master.
With this thought, Mingyue held the baby in her left arm and changed her hand seals with her right. Two beams of light lit up on the high platform.
One golden and one red, two humanoid light projections appeared on the platform.
They were the Dharma bodies of Ru Shou, the Ancestral Witch of Metal, and Zhu Rong, the Ancestral Witch of Fire, among the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
Although Mingyue could not directly absorb the Sun power, she knew that the Sun power within the Floating Light Palace was formed by the combination of metal and fire.
Therefore, she had condensed the Dharma bodies of the two Ancestral Witches, Ru Shou and Zhu Rong, to decompose and absorb the Sun power.
As the two Dharma bodies radiated brilliantly, the Sun power within the Floating Light Palace was continuously decomposed and absorbed, and the surrounding flames also extinguished.
The Floating Light Palace, as a magical treasure with metal and fire attributes, could continuously generate Sun power.
But under the suppression of the two Ancestral Witches' Dharma bodies, it eventually stopped, temporarily entering a state of stagnation, and the power of the Sun reached its lowest point.
This was the moment Mingyue was waiting for. She made a cut on the baby's little paw with her index finger, and blood dripped onto the high platform.
Seeing the baby's blood roll on the platform and then disappear, Mingyue put the baby down and jumped off the platform.
The entire platform suddenly lit up with golden light, which converged onto the baby's body. The golden light lifted her, and the baby transformed back into a little girl.
"It's done."
Mingyue let out a sigh of relief, stroking the moonlight on her body. Ba Jiu also showed a smile.
Outside the Floating Light Palace, Zhao Wumian cast another incantation, attempting to recall the palace. Unexpectedly, the Floating Light Palace suddenly erupted in light, and its two large doors burst open, sending a surge of fiery waves towards him.