Zhen Sheng City, Dragon Soar Hotel.

"Is it Mr. Hu Tuzhi?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Your package, please sign for it."

"Okay. Thank you."

Hu Tuzhi took the package from Dongfeng Express's top delivery personnel, hurriedly went through the hotel lobby, took the elevator, and returned to his room.

"White, I'm back."

He pushed open the door to his luxury suite—there, near the balcony in the living room, stood a wooden bird stand with a half-meter-high White Phoenix Parrot perched on it.

Its feathers were sleek, looking well-maintained, but it exuded a sense of weakness, lacking any vitality, its eyes half-closed as if in a light sleep.

Only when Hu Tuzhi opened the door did it slightly open its eyes to look at him.

This was the White Phoenix Parrot named White, left behind after Hu Tuzhi's wife passed away.

Clearly, it didn't have the same vitality as its counterparts; it was unwell, a lingering illness from years ago made it quite frail, relying on various expensive spiritual materials, potions, and elixirs purchased by Hu Tuzhi to sustain its life.

In front of it, Hu Tuzhi opened the package—inside was a disc enclosed in a transparent box, its cover plain silver, a Memory Disc crafted by a high-star Spirit Master or Spiritual Spirit Beast. Many luxury suites in large hotels come equipped with a spiritual artifact capable of reading and playing it on a television.

He went to the television and inserted the disc into the device, then moved over to the bird stand.

He appeared calm, but his voice trembled slightly as he looked at the head of the White Phoenix Parrot in front of him: "Da Bai, will you keep me company while I watch something?"

The huge White Phoenix Parrot slightly opened its eyes, nodded, and though very tired, affectionately nudged his hand.

With permission, Hu Tuzhi held it in his arms, sat on the sofa, and activated the playback function of the spiritual artifact.

The TV screen lit up, and the spiritual artifact began loading the content.

The awaited day had finally come, yet Hu Tuzhi was not overly excited, not showing any impatience, instead appearing as if he had already come to terms with it, almost as if lost in memory.

He and Da Bai quietly watched the TV, waiting for the loading to complete, when he suddenly spoke:

"Do you remember the first time you and Xiao Li met me at that research institute?"

The bird barely managed to gather its spirit, looking at the TV as it listened to him reminiscing about the events of twenty years ago, nodding gently.

"At that time, Xiao Li said that there must be an evolution form for the White Phoenix Parrot—one we hadn't yet recognized, much more beautiful than the White Phoenix Giant Parrot."

Recalling the moment, a smile unexpectedly appeared on Hu Tuzhi's stern face: "Back then, I was quite unromantic… maybe still am now. Anyway, I started countering her with facts, defending my point by saying the White Phoenix Parrot's potential was limited, its Phoenix Bloodline was quite thin, and that atavism was unrealistic."

"In the end, you suddenly flew over and pecked me, and it hurt a lot."

The White Phoenix Parrot also lightly pecked Hu Tuzhi's hand, as if responding, also maybe reminiscing the past.

"That's where it all started with us."

Hu Tuzhi gently said, "Time flies fast—it's been twenty years in the blink of an eye."

"There really is such a path."

"I've found it for Xiao Li."

"And for you too."

The TV started playing Lin Guang's battle with Huai Shouren in the Demon Qi Secret Realm, but the perspective wasn't that of Lin Guang, rather showing the performance of Wang Dawei and the big bird.

Hu Tuzhi and White's eyes were fixed on the screen.

Theoretically, from the day he learned the complete Evolutionary Path from Lin Guang, he should have started making attempts on White immediately, trying to awaken its inner Phoenix Bloodline as soon as possible before it couldn't hold on any longer.

Not doing so—apart from concerns about the risks and needing more empirical data to eliminate uncertainties—was due to another, more crucial reason.

For the White Phoenix Parrot to evolve into a White Illusion Phoenix, bloodline awakening was indeed important, but the real essence, in fact, was in its fighting spirit and pride.

However.

No one understood White's condition better than Hu Tuzhi.

It existed in this world with significant fatigue, essentially hanging on for his sake, maintaining a connection with the world on his account.

After learning the evolution conditions, Hu Tuzhi tossed and turned, sleepless for several nights, finally grasping a realization.

Mental ailments are incurable by medication.

Especially for a White Phoenix Parrot whose intelligence doesn't lag behind humans, with emotions purer than humans.

Ever since his wife passed away, White's will to live had been very faint, almost as if it had resigned itself to its fate, only living on to keep Hu Tuzhi from further sorrow.

Without a will to live, could it genuinely have the fighting spirit, the dissatisfaction, the passion, the anger, to fuel its evolution?

Under such circumstances, was prolonging its life, allowing it to live wearily, a form of salvation, or a form of torment?

Hu Tuzhi didn't know.

For over nine years, he had been avoiding this question.

But after receiving the photo taken by Wang Dawei after the joint exam, amidst a fleeting joy and excitement, Hu Tuzhi finally prepared to confront this question.

To face… the truth that he might have been forcing White to live all this time.

This video in front of them, beyond making a last attempt, might just be a way to give it, give himself, an explanation.

To let it know that Xiao Li's dream had been realized by him.

Hu Tuzhi and White watched Wang Dawei and the big bird's eruption—the defiance, the fury, the burning resolve and roaring echoed in their eyes, making their gazes subtly fluctuate.

And when that white light, symbolizing a miracle of life, flashed by, as the beautiful figure of the White Illusion Phoenix descended onto the world, Hu Tuzhi trembled with excitement.

But he immediately noticed that White remained quietly in his embrace, without any motion.

Even when seeing this image, it seemed unaffected.

Perhaps it... was truly tired.

Hu Tuzhi had long anticipated this highly likely outcome, yet upon witnessing it, an uncontrollable and overwhelming sadness arose within him.

The video sent by Lin Guang was not long and soon came to an end.

Holding White, Hu Tuzhi remained silent, trying his best to regulate his breathing so it wouldn't sense his unease.

Yet at this moment, he suddenly froze.

Because White suddenly turned to look at him, and in its eyes was an emotion unseen in nearly a decade—such a complex and indescribable feeling, but if put into words, it would be called a glint of determination.

He was momentarily taken aback.

White stirred, and Hu Tuzhi hurriedly loosened his hold.

White stood up straight, walked a couple of steps on his knee, turned around, and in Hu Tuzhi's excited and incredulous gaze, displayed the White Phoenix Parrot's signature move—its typical action when it got excited.

White spread its wings as wide as possible, the feathers on its crest standing tall, though still silent, it displayed an intent to sing aloud.

Hu Tuzhi choked up momentarily, trembling as he spoke:

"Do you... want to evolve? Do you want to live?"

It slowly yet firmly nodded.

"...!!!"

"Great... Great! Yes!!"

Crystalline tears filled the eyes of this rigid middle-aged man.

"I've long been ready!"

"Just waiting for you to make the decision!"

Tears fell one after another from behind his golden-rimmed glasses, wetting his clothes, but he continued to endlessly reassure it.

...

Morning.

Leaping from the back of a gigantic Wind Speed Wolf along the Beast Path, Lin Guang took a slight breath of relief, starting to stroll along the city's streets, basking in the July sunshine.

Or perhaps it couldn't be called basking, more of a mild torment.

Because right now, though he was wearing a short-sleeve shirt, his face was covered with a thick mask that concealed his identity, along with a pair of sunglasses.

This was to hide his face and prevent others from recognizing who he was.

Although the physique of a Two-Star Spirit Master had already surpassed ordinary people, not finding it suffocating, the heat still gave off somewhat, considering it wasn't to the level of immunity to cold or heat.

Today marks the seventh day since the end of the joint exam.

Although the reporters lurking at the residential entrance initially showed a declining trend, the interview with Lei Wanting the day before yesterday reignited Lin Guang's already cooling-off popularity.

Even rising early, the residential entrance crowded with a group of people, forcing him to rely on Vishdair to take him over the community wall.

Such hassle undoubtedly meant there was important business to attend to.

Not long after, a figure bearing hair like a cascade of black silk, with two Golden Birch Hairpins on her head, appeared in his sight, holding an umbrella.

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