Volume 6, Chapter 88 – Some Adorable Little Creatures

The central area of the Veiled Domain — the epicenter of the clash between the Trinity of Malevolence.

The ground bore no resemblance to what it had once been. Enormous fissures spread across it like a spider’s web, the deepest of them wide enough to swallow entire buildings whole. The exposed rock had been scorched black by raw energy, glowing with a faint, eerie luminescence. Residual energy fluctuations still lingered in the air — at times ice-cold as frost, at times blazing like fire — and where they collided, they let off faint crackling sounds and sent small spiraling vortexes whirling upward. The dense, suffocating cursed miasma had long since cleared, yet the land still radiated a deathly, oppressive stillness; even the wind threading through the broken ruins carried a note of bleakness.

Xing Wu hovered in midair, silver-white hair drifting gently in the breeze. Her brow was faintly furrowed, violet eyes carrying a weight of gravity as her Divine Graced Realm senses spread outward without reservation, carefully combing through every inch of the terrain.

“Looks like the fighting here really was brutal… And that foul lingering smell — is that Valerdis? Absolutely revolting.”

Xing Wu raised a hand to cover her nose and mouth in distaste.

Distaste notwithstanding, she descended slowly, setting her feet down carefully on the scorched ground. Per Ailiya’s instructions, she was here not only to purge any remaining corruption the battlefield might still harbor, but to search for any signs that the world’s fundamental rules had been altered.

Yet even as she purified and investigated, working through the better part of the area, she found nothing out of the ordinary beyond the chaotic residual energy. That energy, though formidable, was dissipating naturally — entirely consistent with how things ought to behave.

“Did that old woman… get it wrong?”

Or maybe —

She deliberately sent me away. So she could put her hands on my annoying Mom while I was gone!!

The moment that thought surfaced, Xing Wu’s lips pressed into a pout and a dangerous glint flashed through her eyes.

Then again.

Ailiya had looked completely serious when she said it. She probably hadn’t been joking.

Fine. One more sweep, then.

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Xing Wu drew a deep breath and cast her senses outward again — but this time she narrowed her range, focusing on the areas where the energy was most chaotic.

And this time, something caught her.

A thread of energy — extraordinarily faint, and utterly unlike the aura of any Malevolence — slipped into the edge of her perception.

“Hm?”

Xing Wu’s eyes sharpened instantly. She concentrated and followed that trace.

It was coming from behind a massive pile of rubble not far off — a heap standing ten or more meters high, thrown up by the shockwaves of the Malevolences’ battle. Xing Wu crept carefully around it, held her breath, and slowly peered around the edge.

There, curled in a narrow gap between the stones, was a tiny figure.

“…Huh?”

A little sprite barely the size of a palm — or perhaps a fairy — covered entirely in ice-blue, its skin translucent as crystallized frost, shimmering with a soft glow. A pair of see-through wings like butterfly petals were folded against its back, scattered with fine silver markings that glimmered faintly in the dim gap. Blue hair, short and fine. A round little head. Two stubby ice-blue antennae. It was curled in on itself, small head buried in its arms — utterly docile and harmless-looking, entirely at odds with the dead, terrible wasteland surrounding it.

“What is this?” Xing Wu stared, genuinely taken aback.

After everything she had been through in Yao Xing, she had never once encountered a creature of this form. The little sprite carried no curse power, no spiritual power, and no trace of corruption — only a pure, cool current of life energy, faint but tenacious, like a glowworm’s light burning in the midst of the chaotic, energy-soaked battlefield.

Xing Wu extended her hand slowly and carefully. A soft stream of violet Augury Force flowed from her fingertips in a gentle band, easing toward the sprite. Feeling the unfamiliar presence approach, the creature’s head snapped up, revealing a pair of perfectly round ice-blue eyes, full of wariness. Its tiny body trembled slightly — but it did not flee. It just stared fixedly at Xing Wu.

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.” Xing Wu softened her voice, letting it fall as gently as a feather.

Perhaps it was the gentleness in her tone — or perhaps the sprite sensed something familiar in her aura — but the wariness in those small eyes gradually receded.

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And then, unprompted, the little sprite crept forward and wrapped both hands around one of Xing Wu’s fingers.

Xing Wu blinked. A quiet gleam crossed her eyes.

“Well… it’s actually… kind of cute, isn’t it.”

One hour later.

“What is this?”

In the Lingyuan family’s underground base, Ailiya looked at the box Xing Wu had brought back and frowned in puzzlement.

“No idea. Found it at the core of the battlefield. You said to look for anything strange — this thing is the only strange thing I found. As for rules of the world being changed… there’s nothing like that. Not even close.”

As she spoke, Xing Wu held the box out toward Ailiya and switched it to transparent mode.

“Hm?”

Through the clear casing, Ailiya saw the little blue sprite dancing within.

The puzzled look on her face locked solid the instant she made it out clearly. Her pupils contracted sharply. Her cherry-colored eyes filled with gravity — her fingers even trembled slightly — and when she spoke, her voice carried an unease she couldn’t entirely suppress:

“This is… a Frost Sprite?”

“A Frost Sprite? What’s that?”

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Xing Wu pressed immediately. Seeing Ailiya’s reaction only confirmed that this little creature was anything but ordinary.

But Ailiya didn’t answer right away. She stared hard at the Frost Sprite in the box, brow deeply furrowed, as though pulling at the threads of some important memory — or perhaps confirming something she wasn’t sure she believed. The air in the living space grew heavy all at once. Xing Wu could feel the subtle fluctuation radiating from Ailiya — extreme caution, laced with a wariness she rarely showed.

Seeing Ailiya’s silence, Xing Wu was about to press again.

And then — without warning — a violent wave of dizziness hit her.

The Augury Force inside her body drained away as though something had siphoned it out, vanishing rapidly. A flash of alarm crossed her violet eyes. She reached out on instinct to brace herself against the sofa — but her body swayed beyond her control. The violet armor-dress she wore began to fade in a soft light, and her form shrank at a visibly accelerating rate.

“Xing Wu? What’s wrong?”

Ailiya noticed immediately and moved to catch her — only to find that Xing Wu had already contracted to infant size. A pink onesie had reappeared on her frame. The long, slender limbs had become pudgy little arms and legs, and the silver-white hair had shrunk back into a newborn’s fine wisps. She was exactly as she’d been before — back in her baby form.

“Goo… gah…” Xing Wu opened her mouth, trying to speak, and produced only baby babble. Her violet eyes were absolutely brimming with aggrieved indignation.

Her transformation timer had run out.

Ailiya stared at the sudden baby in front of her, startled for a beat — then let out a helpless sigh, bent down, and scooped her up: “Honestly, you know what? You’re actually cuter when you’re small.”

“Goo-GAH!!”

Xing Wu squirmed furiously in her arms, tiny fists clenched tight — and completely powerless. All she could do was glare daggers at Ailiya, then cut another pointed glare toward the glass box on the table, making it entirely clear she blamed the Frost Sprite.

Ailiya caught her meaning perfectly. She looked down at the Frost Sprite still curled inside the box, and the look in her eyes grew more complex still:

“A Frost Sprite… is her bonded companion.”

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“Goo-yah?” (Who?)

“Ailiss.”

“…Hm?”

But just as Ailiya’s expression twisted with the effort of explaining —

The door to the room swung gently open, and a slender figure stepped through.

“Ai’er… do you want… some ice cream…?”

It was Bai Lianyue, holding two chocolate sundaes. She had on a light green loungewear set, gradient emerald-to-silver hair falling loose over her shoulders, dark-red eyes carrying the hazy, soft confusion of someone who had only just woken up.

The moment she stepped into the room, her gaze was immediately drawn to the adorable little baby cradled in Ailiya’s arms.

“A baby!!”

Every last trace of sleepiness vanished from the elf girl’s eyes in an instant, replaced by a surge of pure, uncontained delight.

And at that moment —

Bai Lianyue was not the only one whose expression changed completely.

Inside the box, the Frost Sprite — upon catching sight of Bai Lianyue’s appearance — burst into a flurry of joyful, ecstatic wingbeats.