However, he hadn't expected that the form that manifested would be a white fox.
He had originally envisioned it resembling the Heavenly Hound.
As the white fox's face became clearer, its body swiftly solidified as well.
In the blink of an eye, a white fox, seemingly asleep with its eyes closed, appeared fully atop the stone monument.
Once the body was fully formed, in the span of a breath, the fox's previously closed eyes suddenly opened!
Its narrow eyes stared at Lin Xiao, its expression serene, showing no signs of emotion.
Then, the white fox slightly opened its mouth, and a strange, high-pitched voice echoed through the air:
"Sun and moon alternate, cause and effect follow. The heart's wish fulfilled, the soul rests eternal."
"I am the guardian of Changming Mountain."
"May I ask, have you come to bury or to offer respects?"
"Changming" also meant "eternal rest," and Changming Mountain was a burial ground Lin Xiao had specifically built for the Lingxian Sect.
Facing the white fox's inquiry, Lin Xiao stood calmly, his hands behind his back, and responded confidently:
"I'm here to inspect."
Perhaps not expecting to encounter an uncooperative visitor on its first official duty, the white fox stared at Lin Xiao in silence for a long moment.
Just as Lin Xiao was wondering if the fox had frozen, and was about to consider alternative ways to explore the space before coming back to check for malfunctions, the white fox, lying lazily on the stone monument, finally stirred.
Its narrow eyes swept across Lin Xiao's form, and the strange voice echoed again:
"With the sect master present, this little fox has been discourteous. Please feel free, Sect Master."
With that, its thick tail gave a light flick, and Lin Xiao disappeared from where he stood, finding himself transported into another space.
Before him lay a mist-filled expanse.
Aside from the dull gray ground beneath his feet, he could only make out faint silhouettes of scattered trees around him.
The stone monument of Changming Mountain still stood beside him, and the white fox continued to rest lazily upon it.
However, the white fox no longer paid attention to Lin Xiao, merely closing its eyes as if in slumber.
Watching the fox's tail sway contentedly, Lin Xiao felt an urge to give it a tug.
But considering that the guardian seemed rather temperamental, he decided against it.
After all, a guardian of the sect's burial ground deserved some respect.
Shifting his gaze from the fox, Lin Xiao proceeded into the fog-covered depths ahead.
There were many trees in this space.
However, they were all in sapling form.
Each of the saplings looked nearly identical.
They were completely black, even their small leaves a deep shade of black.
If Liao Pantu were here, he would likely be stunned.
Because these saplings were all Soul-Nurturing Trees!
These saplings had been part of a reward from the system after Lin Xiao developed the storage rings.
And the soil in which these Soul-Nurturing Trees were planted was the Ling River Fertile Soil that Lin Xiao had instructed Qin Jianghe to prioritize acquiring.
Over the past few months, Qin Jianghe had managed to procure two batches of Ling River Fertile Soil, all of which had been handed over to Lin Xiao.
The Ling River Fertile Soil was particularly well-suited for growing Soul-Nurturing Trees.
However, while the fertile soil was relatively easy to acquire, the saplings of the Soul-Nurturing Tree were rare. Even if both were available, cultivating a Soul-Nurturing Tree was a difficult task, making the tree a prized resource in the cultivation world.
Fortunately, Lin Xiao had found a solution to this problem.
The system's marketplace offered a detailed cultivation manual for the Soul-Nurturing Tree. With this specialized manual and the many skilled cultivators in the Lingxian Sect, there was no worry that the trees would fail to grow.
Not to mention that Changming Mountain, now a place of extreme yin energy after gathering the negative forces from all directions, provided an ideal environment for the Soul-Nurturing Trees to thrive.
The reason Lin Xiao chose to plant the Soul-Nurturing Trees here was not just because the yin-rich environment was perfect for them.
The trees themselves were also extreme yin objects, and planting them in Changming Mountain created a complementary balance, where both the trees and the mountain would enhance each other.
As Lin Xiao ventured deeper into the area, the surrounding scenery began to shift.
Everything around him distorted, like reflections in a rippling water surface.
In the blink of an eye, Lin Xiao found himself back where he had started, beside the stone monument at the entrance.
He knew this was the boundary of the space, and the force of the space itself had returned him to the entrance.
The purpose of Changming Mountain was not only to serve as a burial ground but also to provide a space for private moments of remembrance between loved ones.
Though the interior seemed like a vast open area, it was actually composed of many overlapping smaller spaces.
While these spaces appeared connected, they were, in fact, independent from each other.
Anyone entering the mountain would only be able to access the space designated for their loved ones' burial, unable to wander into other areas.
Within this domain, only the guardian white fox had the ability to move freely between the different spaces.
Additionally, the Soul-Nurturing Trees growing inside were not restricted by the space boundaries.
The reason the white fox could move freely through the spaces was that it was inherently a part of Changming Mountain itself.
The Soul-Nurturing Trees, on the other hand, could bypass the space divisions thanks to the Buffer Zone within the entire spatial structure.
The foundation of Changming Mountain was the multi-layered composite formation created by linking together multiple small spatial formations.
However, due to Lin Xiao's limited cultivation level at the time, he was unable to seamlessly merge these formations without leaving gaps, which naturally led to some spatial intervals.
At first, Lin Xiao was troubled by how to deal with these gaps.
But then he shifted his perspective.
Instead of struggling to eliminate the gaps, why not consider how to utilize them?
Thus, he began researching these intervals.
After much experimentation and various approaches, his efforts bore fruit, and he finally found a solution.
He used a method of overlapping to envelop these gaps, incorporating them into the overall spatial structure to some extent.
These intervals were different from the usual stable spaces. Unlike the rest of the formation, these areas weren't entirely sealed off.
They functioned as a Buffer Zone, connecting the sealed spaces with the outside world, allowing a degree of interaction between them.
With this design, Lin Xiao effectively killed two birds with one stone.
Because, truthfully, the biggest challenge at the start wasn't just dealing with the spatial gaps.
Rather, as a Nascent Soul cultivator—or even earlier when he was only in the late Golden Core stage—Lin Xiao had lacked the ability to create advanced spaces where living beings could freely enter and move around…
So, in the beginning, he hadn't even mentioned this plan to Elder Liao.
After all, he knew it wasn't very realistic, and back then, it was mostly an idea born out of curiosity and a desire to experiment.
Unexpectedly, he actually managed to make it work.
He couldn't help but feel proud of himself.
No wonder he was so capable.