《Carrying a Hoe to Cultivate》 CH 1 It took Xia Yi half a day to verify that he had transmigrated. For a few days, he had been reading two novels at the same time. One was a newly started fictional novel about cultivating; another was about farming, with around two hundred chapters. Logically speaking, in view of the probability, there is a 50% chance for him to be on a cultivator path, save the world and transform into a god or something. Yet, instead, he had entered the world of that farming novel. There were a variety of farming novels. For example, some were about building facilities and becoming the diviner of a Nation. Instead, some were about making cakes and soaps and opening shops all over China yadda yadda. However, unfortunately, the one Xia Yi was reading was exactly what the genre suggested, about farming. This novel was also used by Xia Yi as a lullaby, reading about the main character fertilizing, catching pests, sowing, the farmland developing from one acre to ten acres, ten acres to a hundred acres. It was just like watching a documentary on a farming channel. ¡°System, system come out. I know you are here.¡± Xia Yi shouted in his thoughts. ¡°System 179 is here to serve. Host, please accept the main route storyline.¡± A robot voice rang inside his brain. An immense amount of data flooded into his brain instantly; Xia Yi kept his cool and slowly filtered the data. ¡°System, who are these people standing on the long sword gourds flying? What is the Qi Shan Sect? I am the son of a prefectural magistrate and have enjoyed sumptuous food and luxurious clothes for my whole life? What¡¯s the deal with joining Qi Shan Sect to cultivate?¡± Xia Yi felt that things were straying from their path, and he started to become furious, ¡°Not only do I need to farm, I also need to cultivate?¡± ¡°Farm? You only have to focus on cultivation missions. Why would you be farming?¡± The system sounded confused. Xia Yi had a faint bad feeling about this, ¡°Cultivation? Look around. Look at me. Do I look like the son of a prefectural magistrate who had been enjoying sumptuous food and luxurious clothing for my whole life? Do I look like a cultivator?¡± Now Xia Yi was standing in a field ridge, with sparse cornfields around him; everything in view was farmland. He was wearing some tattered clothes, the lower parts of his trousers had turned into strips, the pair of cloth shoes had his toes out, let alone his haggard shape with a sallow face. In his one hand, he held a stick supporting himself, a bowl in the other, which made him look perfectly like a beggar who had fled from somewhere. Xia Yi, leaning on the stick, spoke in a trembling voice, ¡°You better go figure out what¡¯s happening.¡± He was so hungry he could not fully control his voice. ¡°Please wait a moment, host. I will check it right now and see if there is any problem.¡± The System was panicking a little as well. Xia Yi began to wobble towards a distant village. He was already sweating intensely after a few steps and on the verge of losing consciousness. That farming novel talked about the main character fled to this place, opening up and farming new lands diligently. ¡°Host. Are you still here?¡± The voice of the system echoed, ¡°I have checked. Since a bug appeared in the main server, the timeline has been mixed up, causing an error during data transmission. Host, although you have now entered the farming world, the system which follows you was a cultivating world system.¡± Xia Yi thought for a while, ¡°Then you should rectify the issue; if you can¡¯t do that, then let me go back.¡± The system went silent for a short while, ¡°Due to a large amount of data, I cannot change the result though the bug is fixed. Therefore, host, you must stay in this world. Concerning your missions, they will still be distributed by me; cultivation system 179 is here to serve.¡± Xia Yi was deeply shocked, but he could only compromise, ¡°Then how about sending me to a cultivating world?¡± System, ¡°Host, everything is settled and cannot be altered. If you complete all of your missions, you can choose to go to your preferred world.¡± Xia Yi had no choice but to resignedly say, ¡°Then give me the missions quickly. What do I have to farm? I have to find something to eat afterward.¡± ¡°Host, please accept your first mission: Becoming the apprentice of a master. Mission description: Join the Qi Shan Sect and become the apprentice of the Sect Leader. Completion 0/1 Award 1 Starter Pack.¡± ¡°How am I going to find a master and cultivate in a farming novel? Where am I supposed to find that freaking Qi Shan Sect? I am reporting you.¡± Xia Yi was suspecting that this system had a virus. ¡°Host, the main system, and I had discussed. We agreed that you can keep farming in this world and fulfill the cultivating missions with the corresponding farming missions. For instance, if you have farmed three acres of potatoes, the primary mission of cultivating will be considered as complete just as it will be in the farming world.¡± The system replied with its robot voice, in which a hint of nervousness could be heard. ¡°I have never farmed before, and I don¡¯t know how to, I can¡¯t complete the missions.¡± Xia Yi was starting to feel annoyed, followed by dizziness, and he almost collapsed. ¡°Give me something to eat first.¡± The system said in a flurry, ¡°Host, there is a cornfield fifty meters from you on the right. As an advanced cultivation system, I can scan five hundred meters around you. There is no one nearby at the moment, you can pick some corn to survive the current situation.¡± Right now, Xia Yi was in no mood to care about the system, he staggered a couple of steps towards the cornfield, then he straightly blacked out and fell. Before completely passing out, he heard 179 saying ¡°Host, please do not go off the deep end.¡± ¡­ Xia Yi sluggishly opened his eyes, finding himself in a bed. He looked around, the furnishing arrangement was simple, there was the bed he was in, and a wooden cupboard in the corner. ¡°179, where am I?¡± Xia Yi asked in his thoughts, uncertain. ¡°You have been rescued. Now that person who rescued you is coming in.¡± 179 replied. With a squeaking sound, the door was pushed open. Rays of marigold light shining from behind him under the casting sunlight, a huge male figure stood at the door. He stepped in a little, noticing Xia Yi had regained consciousness, he froze for a bit and said, ¡°You¡¯re up already? Let¡¯s get you something to eat.¡± His voice was deep and gruff, very husky. The man came up to the bed, holding a big porcelain bowl in his hand. Ever since he saw this man, there was nothing else on Xia Yi¡¯s mind, his eyes were fixed on that bowl. Seeing the man arriving at the side of the bed, even Xia Yi did not know how but he managed to sit right up with strength from nowhere, and further extended his hand to grab the bowl. ¡°Slowly now. Don¡¯t grab it.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s extended hand was stopped in mid-air by a pair of giant hands with sharp outlines. The bowl was then put in front of him. A rich aroma of rice wafted into his nose, Xia Yi¡¯s stomach started to churn restlessly, saliva was produced immediately inside his mouth. In the bowl was some thick millet congee, with dices of pickled vegetables on top of it. Xia Yi grabbed the chopsticks on the bowl to scrape the content into his mouth, took the bowl next, headed up, and gulped it in. The man stretched out his hand to take the empty bowl away as Xia Yi intended to scrape the very last grain of rice. Licking his lips, savoring the aftertaste, Xia Yi finally began to examine the man who saved his life. This was a man with a large, strong build and distinct features, tall and handsome, wearing deep blue linen clothes. If he changed his clothes, he would be just like a model. With gratitude, Xia Yi considered for a second, then he said to the man seriously, ¡°Brother, even though this favor of yours is so great which makes saying thank you pointless, I insist on repaying you handsomely someday in return for your act of saving my life.¡± Xia Yi thought he was speaking appropriately. His tone also suited the era, nothing strange at all. Unexpectedly, the man did not reply. He only glanced at him with a strange look, took the bowl with him, and exited the room. ¡°179, did I say something wrong?¡± Xia Yi was feeling a little uneasy. ¡°No worries. I think this is not the time for you to dig deep.¡± 179¡¯s flat robot voice. Xia Yi had restored his strength after filling his stomach. Lying in bed felt not right and so he got off the bed, pushed the door open and went out. This was a small yard, not big but clean and tidy. There were a few houses with red walls and green tiles, in the corner of the yard were some farming utensils. It seemed like quite a good life to be living here. Gazing afar to the sky, there were endless mountains. At the foot of the mountain was farmland after farmland. Xia Yi took a deep breath, ¡°179, I can smell the scent of nature. It is so refreshing and cleansing.¡± ¡°And the smell of farmland.¡± 179 reminded him. Meanwhile, the man walked out of the kitchen. He said to Xia Yi with a calm expression, ¡°Come here.¡± After that, he walked to the main house. Xia Yi hurriedly followed. They came to the table in the main house. The man pulled out a tattered bag and put it on the table. He said to Xia Yi, ¡°You fainted along the road, the lady in the neighborhood found you and brought you here. She said she saw a map and some credentials in the bag, so she carried you to my place. You¡¯re looking for your aunt, right?¡± Xia Yi was befuddled, but he cleverly did not answer straight away nor showed a muddled expression. He only let out a serious and thoughtful, sincere look. He was good at this. He did this every time when he was reading and could not answer the teacher¡¯s questions. The man frowned and thought for some time, then he continued, ¡°Your aunt was my stepmother, she passed away last year.¡± As his sentence finished, he looked up at Xia Yi, inspecting his facial expression. Xia Yi was still distracted with his sincere face unchanged. He finally responded when he realized the man was staring at him silently. He quickly looked down and showed a sad face. The man nodded and kept talking, ¡°I know it¡¯s not easy for you to come all the way here on your own. Besides, you are also my stepmother¡¯s nephew. My father left me an old house near the entrance of the village, you can live there for now. I have rented out three acres of land to the south. After this season, I will have half-acre of land back and let you farm it.¡± Here it came, the three acres of land, finally. CH 2 ¡°That house hasn¡¯t been tidied up yet. You can stay at my place for a few days. I am your brother. You need not worry about your reputation. My name is Gu Wen Zhu.¡± Gu Wen Zhu glanced over the name in the credentials, ¡°Your name¡¯s Xia Yi?¡± ¡°Zhu.¡± Xia Yi immediately called affectionately, ¡°I am Xia Yi. You can call me Yi.¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded, ¡°Take a bath in the bathroom. I¡¯ll fetch you some clothes. We can go to the city to buy some new ones.¡± When mentioning bath, Gu Wen Zhu seemed a little jittery. The bathroom was a room divided from the bedroom. Xia Yi used the pig pancreas soap in the room to wash his face. ¡°179, this body looks quite nice. This face is fine except it¡¯s slightly feminine, not manly enough. I even have a red mark here. It¡¯s fake, right?¡± Xia Yi looked closely at himself in the copper mirror. He used his finger to scratch and found the mark was real. The body was born with it. 179 did not say a thing. ¡­ After a while of rubbing dirt and dead skin off his body, Xia Yi relaxed and sat in the wooden bath barrel, with a towel on his head. This body looked malnourished. It was such a skinny and tiny body; the color of the skin was so light it nearly seemed white. He would start training his body after settling things. He would tanned his skin, adding some honey color to it, Xia Yi thought to himself. ¡°179, let¡¯s talk about the mission.¡± Xia Yi felt rejuvenated after stuffing himself, and began calling the system to account for the chaos that happened. ¡°You guys made this mistake, took me to this damned place, and demanded me to farm. Farming, I can do. That cultivating mission, I can also fulfill it with farming. However¡­¡± Xia Yi pulled the towel from his head and slammed it into the water, ¡°you need to compensate for your mistakes.¡± ¡°Host, I have discussed this with the main system. We agreed to lower the difficulty of your missions as compensation. For example, the original primary mission requires an acre of potatoes being farmed, now you only need to produce an amount of 25 points of land of potatoes.¡± ¡°How large is 25 points of land?¡± ¡°A little more than 60 meter square.¡± ¡°This is bigger than my home. How is this a compensation?¡± Xia Yi used his hand to wipe the water off his face, then he decided to just say, ¡°Give me a cheat, then we are even.¡± ¡°If it does not cost too much trouble. What kind of cheat do you want?¡± 179 was oppressing the arising annoyance. Xia Yi knew absolutely nothing about farming, he thought a bit and said, ¡°I will tell you when it comes to my mind.¡± ¡°179, what do you get if I complete the mission?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°Upon completion of missions, the host may rate the system. Ratings directly affect our performance report.¡± ¡°Trash system, how dare you talk about your performance report?!¡± Xia Yi was deeply shaken. ¡­ Having finished the bath, Xia Yi put on some old clothes of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s which appeared to be oversized for him, making him have to turn up the sleeves of the shirt as well as the bottom of the trouser legs. Outside of the room, Gu Wen Zhu was chopping wood, his blue linen shirt was sticking to his body, fully soaked with sweat. The shape of his incredibly athletic and sturdy back muscles were showing with every move he made. Xia Yi felt that he had to greet him, and thus walked up and called, ¡°Zhu.¡± Movement nonstop, Gu Wen Zhu just nodded as a reply and did not turn around. Since Gu Wen Zhu was not paying much attention to him, Xia Yi shyly walked to his side, and, with an intention of fawning, said to him, ¡°Zhu, your body looks fantastic. Look at how buff you are. Your figure is great too.¡± Then he stared at Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s rock-hard pecs, nodding and admiring. Having heard his words, Gu Wen Zhu stopped what he was doing, sluggishly looked up, flabbergasted. His face gradually turned red. He opened his mouth but failed to speak. His countenance had been changing in only a few breaths worth of time. Finally, he straightened himself and walked into the house, banging the door heavily behind him. This made Xia Yi nervous and also stupefied, ¡°179, what happened to him? Did I do something wrong to make him mad?¡± 179 remained silent for a second, ¡°People in ancient times are very reserved, they don¡¯t like their body being praised.¡± ¡°Then you should tell me what I shouldn¡¯t do here, or else I may step on the landmines again. That farming novel was brief. The author wrote in an incoherent manner, they just wrote whatever came to their mind. At the end of the day, I only know that it¡¯s about farming. Tell me more about this world.¡± Xia Yi started grumbling. 179, equivocating, murmured, ¡°I¡­am not sure¡­. You know, I am a cultivation system¡­. I guess it¡¯s up to you to explore in the future.¡± Trash system, not only had it transferred me to the wrong world, it also skipped the world introduction. What is the use of this system besides telling me to farm? Some time had passed, Gu Wen Zhu, came out from the house and walked straight into the kitchen without looking sideways, not even paying Xia Yi a glimpse. Xia Yi ingratiated himself anyways, watching Gu Wen Zhu and discovered that he had changed. Under the setting sun, smoke curled up from the chimney. Xia Yi peeked at the door. Gu Wen Zhu was making a dough with his sleeve turned up above his forearm, revealing a few veins. A fire had been lit in the stove. There was a pot with boiling content bubbling. Xia Yi felt slightly shameful about himself making no contributions. He stood beside the door, rubbed his hands, asked awkwardly, ¡°Zhu, do you need any help? Like, peeling garlic or picking spring onion or something?¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not make a sound; he kept making his dough. Xia Yi then slowly entered the kitchen, sometimes touching the firewood, sometimes laying his hands on the cupboard. The blue veins on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s forehead had become more prevalent. At the end, he threw the dough into the bowl and said, ¡°Go outside and wait. I will call you when it¡¯s ready.¡± Xia Yi felt relieved and went to the yard. He hung around doing nothing interesting for a short while then he went to observe the ants under the big tree in the yard. ¡°179, I can keep playing this for a day.¡± ¡°179, check if the team in the corner had set off or not.¡± Xia Yi crouched and poked the ants for a long time until a pair of feet in cloth shoes showed up in front of him. Raising his head, he saw Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s stern face. ¡°Dinner!¡± Dinner included sliced sheets of dough in soup and handmade noodles. Taking a biteful, the alluring smell of wheat filled Xia Yi¡¯s mouth. Xia Yi ended up eating four bowls of them. ¡°Host, if you keep eating like this, I suggest you farm three acres of land.¡± 179 was worrying for him earnestly. With the chopsticks in his mouth, Xia Yi thought, ¡®I know what I want now, my cheat is 25 points of land yields the production of three acres of land.¡¯ ¡­ Upon finishing dinner, Gu Wen Zhu tidied up the dirty dishes, ¡°Xia Yi, tomorrow I¡¯m going to the city to sell some goods. I am returning after noon. The rice and dough are in the jar, you can make something out of those. I¡¯ll clean up the old house at the entrance of the village the day after tomorrow, by then you will be able to move there.¡± He had some thoughts, then added, ¡±I¡¯ll give you some food when you move. You should be good for a few months. I am also giving you some seeds, then you will not need to worry about living.¡± Xia Yi was truly touched, ¡°Zhu. I will not say more, but from now on, if you need me, anytime, I¡¯ll be there!¡± Veins were popping out again on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s forehead. With tidying up finished, Gu Wen Zhu carried a table to the main house. He put two tables together, went to the bedroom, took a bedsheet with him and placed it on them. ¡°I¡¯ll sleep here, you can sleep in the bed inside.¡± While he was laying down the sheets, Gu Wen Zhu said with his back towards Xia Yi. Xia Yi did not understand, he asked, confused, ¡°Your bed is quite large and I am not too big, I don¡¯t need too much space. I don¡¯t move too much during sleep and I do not snore either. We can sleep together.¡± ¡°Host!¡± 179 shouted out loud suddenly. Xia Yi almost felt a hint of despair in that robot voice. At the same time, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s figure making the bed had frozen. He did not move a bit, as if he had become a statue. A moment later, he said with clenched jaws, ¡°Xia Yi, if you keep on behaving shamelessly like this, you will have to leave this house. You will leave me no choice but to let my father and your aunt down.¡± He then turned and walked straight towards Xia Yi without hesitation. He pushed Xia Yi out the door with a tense expression and closed the door with a heavy bang. Xia Yi, feet planted on the spot, dazed. As clueless as he was, now he came to the realization that something was wrong with this world. ¡°179! You better set this straight! Tell me what¡¯s going on. Or else I will report you!¡± ¡°179! Come out you!¡± ¡°179 you playing dead? Wait for me to complete the missions and give you minus points!¡± 179¡¯s robot voice tardily echoed a moment later, ¡°Host, this is a farming novel.¡± ¡°I know this is a farming novel.¡± ¡°This is also a pregnancy novel.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A pregnancy novel! There are men, women, and gers. 1Gers are a third gender. You can give birth to a child.¡± 179 explained with immense difficulty. Xia Yi was befuddled. After a while, he said, with a grim face, ¡°So¡­¡± It was inconceivable to hear it from 179, but he said with a gulp, ¡°¡­Yes, you are.¡± A moment of dreadful silence. Suddenly, Xia Yi started speaking at high speed, ¡°Go, let¡¯s go to the cultivation world. We go right now. I know you can take us there. We will cultivate. We will fly. You and I. I¡¯ll spread our sect, then marry a fellow apprentice girl and we will have a baby. I¡¯ll give you the highest rank. We go there, right now. Do I have to be unconscious to enter that world? Come. I am ready. Hit me.¡± ¡°Host, please remain calm! Host¡­host¡­keep calm¡­¡± 179 tried to placate him. ¡°Host, the world cannot be switched, so you can only farm here. But you can choose not to have a child, no one will force you to, as long as you finish your missions.¡± 179 said, persuading him to focus on the positive side. Standing in the yard, Xia Yi had gradually regained his calmness. He thought to himself, ¡°This sounds right. Why am I panicking? I only have to worry about my farmland and complete my missions.¡± I will farm and wait for returning home. Even if this world is a perverted one, if I don¡¯t budge nothing can happen to me. I am here anyways. Besides, no matter which world I am in, even as a ger, I, Xia Yi, will always be the one who impregnates. After standing in the yard for a while, thinking through about everything, Xia Yi took a long exhalation. He was no longer anxious, but he still cursed 179 in his mind, and 179 just played dead and did not say a word until he finished venting. Finally, Xia Yi went back into the room and fell into sleep CH 3 Xia Yi woke up hungry the next day. Perhaps this body had been starving too much in the past, he discovered that he would feel bad whenever his belly was empty. No matter how soundly he was sleeping, he would wake up right away. Not a sound could be heard in the yard. Xia Yi lied in bed, having recalled Gu Wen Zhu saying he was going out today, he immediately got up. He rubbed his stomach and went to the kitchen to find food. He lifted the lid of the pot, and found nothing inside. He opened the cupboard, the only thing left was half a bowl of noodles from the night before. He remembered Gu Wen Zhu told him to make something to eat by himself. He thus removed the lid of the rice container in the corner, glimpsed inside, and saw over half of the container was filled with rice noodles. Then he peeked into the stove, hunkered down besides and started to worry. ¡°179, do you think we can cook a meal together?¡± Xia Yi was born when his parents were older, he had been growing up pampered. He had a job as an artist at the time his parents passed away. He stayed in his workshop every day and ordered food whenever he needed to eat. After some time, black smoke filled the kitchen. Xia Yi, with his eyes all red, coughed heavily and ran out. ¡°179, you don¡¯t even know how to cook.¡± ¡°179, it appears to me that you are a completely useless system. Don¡¯t you guys in the system world need to check the quality of your performances?¡± System: Host, before teaching you to cook, you first need to start a fire. ¡­ The sun was setting. Smoke stacks were already curling up from the houses far away, adding a layer of smog to the mountain-surrounded village. Carrying a big basket on his back, Gu Wen Zhu was also bringing baggage with him in his hand. He jumped out of old Zhang¡¯s carriage. From here, he only had to make a turn in the mountain trail and he would see the village. Right after making the turn, he saw a slim and small figure, eagerly waiting, standing under the big old tree at the entrance of the village. Spotting him from a distance, the figure swiftly ran this way, the oversized clothes on him swaying with the wind. Looking thrilled, Xia Yi dashed towards Gu Wen Zhu, shouting on his way, ¡°Zhu, you¡¯re back! I missed you so much.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was stunned when he heard Xia Yi. He froze on the spot, petrified. He wanted to turn around and leave, but thought it would not be appropriate, and so he ended up squeezing the baggage in his hand. Xia Yi briskly came up to Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Are you tired? Have you eaten yet? You¡¯re hungry, right? Go go go! Let¡¯s go back home and eat!¡± Gu Wen Zhu opened his mouth but then decided not to say anything. He walked home with a stony face, followed by Xia Yi closely behind. After arriving home, Gu Wen Zhu put his baggage away and entered the kitchen. Upon seeing the stove fully stuffed with firewood not even leaving one seam, he began to frown. The firewood had been smoked on the outside, blackened, but had not been lit. ¡°What did you have today?¡± Gu Wen Zhu asked with uncertainty. ¡°Noodles.¡± ¡°That half bowl of leftover in the cupboard?¡± ¡°Ya.¡± Xia Yi lowered his head, embarrassed. Gu Wen Zhu remained silent. He went back to the main house and opened the cloth that wrapped his baggage. He took out an oilpaper pack and gave it to Xia Yi, ¡°You eat this first, then we¡¯ll have a meal.¡± Xia Yi opened the oilpaper pack, inside was two juicy meat pies, the savory aroma greeted his nose. Xia Yi, burst with joy, picked up one immediately and offered it to Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Zhu, let¡¯s eat together.¡± Gu Wen Zhu shook his head. He went straight to the kitchen, ¡°I¡¯ve eaten.¡± Xia Yi had only consumed half a bowl of noodles for the whole day. Having been ravenous for quite some time, he took a tasty bite into the appetizing meat pie. He nearly shed a tear. Although he had devoured two meat pies beforehand, Xia Yi still felt like he could eat more during dinner. ¡°Tomorrow I¡¯ll tidy up the old house. By then you can live there, but you can still come here to eat.¡± Gu Wen Zhu placed his bowl and chopsticks on the table, saying flatly, watching Xia Yi crammed down the remaining sauce with the rice. Xia Yi¡¯s mouth was still full of rice. He was not able to speak and could only nod hard. ¡°179, Zhu is truly a great guy. I must repay him handsomely someday.¡± Finishing dinner, Gu Wen Zhu searched his baggage and took two sets of new clothes out. He gave them to Xia Yi, ¡°I don¡¯t know what gers like, so I let the shopkeeper choose for me. You can go and change.¡± Recalling the shopkeeper saying something like the ger at his home was so lucky while he was in the boutique picking clothes, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face seemed awkward. Xia Yi rubbed his hands and took the clothes from Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°I can wear whatever. I¡¯m not picky. The clothes I am wearing are fine too.¡± He then merrily went into the inner house with the clothes in his hands. The linen clothes that reached his knees were well-made, the design and the crafts were impeccable. Xia Yi looked at himself in the mirror, dressed. ¡°179, is it good?¡± ¡°Good. Especially at the waist. The wasp-waist design looks good on you.¡± 179 grabbed the chance to improve the host¡¯s opinion on it. Xia Yi touched his chin, hesitating, ¡°No doubt it looks good, but the color¡­. Doesn¡¯t this purple seem queer to you?¡± He had been rather sensitive about these kinds of things lately. ¡°How will people in this world care about these? You are overthinking.¡± ¡°You¡¯re probably right.¡± With his new clothes on, Xia Yi happily went outside. He called Zhu along his way and stood at the door with a big smile. Gu Wen Zhu was adjusting the plow in the yard. He looked up when he heard Xia Yi calling him. When Xia Yi came into his sight, he was astounded. He stood there in the well-suited new clothes. He was thin, with a graceful curve at his waist. His features were clean and delicate but also with the charm of a man. The light from the setting sun gently landed on his body, surrounding him with a coating of marigold light. For the past few days, Xia Yi had been looking like a dirty beggar. He could only wear Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s clothes which were ill-fitting for him. Now, dressed up, he was a pretty ger. Xia Yi walked up to Gu Wen Zhu and asked with a smiley face, ¡°How do I look?¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not respond. He instantly looked away. Then he said, ¡°I am going to check on the land.¡± He quickly stepped out from the yard without looking back. At night, lightning stroke, heavy rain fell. The entire village was covered with a thick layer of rain. The outside was filled with the sound of pitter-patters. The tiles on the roof had been hit on and made chinking sounds. From time to time, there would be crashing noises made by collapsed stones from afar. It was so noisy that Xia Yi could not sleep. He just rolled in his bed. Half asleep, he thought he heard Gu Wen Zhu go out to the yard and come back after around an hour. The next morning, Xia Yi was awakened by a wave of birds tweeting. The rain had already stopped. A few drops of water were dripping down the eave. In the main house, Gu Wen Zhu was sitting in the middle of some bamboo. Bit by bit, he used his axe to trim the bamboo. Hearing footfalls, Gu Wen Zhu said without turning his head, ¡°The wall of the old house was soaked in water. Some stones were peeling off and it is not suitable for living. You can live here so I am making another bamboo bed. I will be sleeping in the new bed from now on.¡± He paused, ¡°Breakfast is in the pot. You can eat it.¡± Xia Yi made a sound to let him know he got the message. He went into the kitchen to fetch a bowl of porridge, used a chopstick to skewer three large steamed bread, walked back carefully and crouched down to watch Gu Wen Zhu craft the bamboo bed. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s had sharp joints on his hands. His fingers were slender, with callus developed on his palms. He had turned up his sleeves, revealing his tawny forearm; his muscles were strong and firm with a smooth outline. The slices of bamboo, manipulated by his hands with flexible movements, were being filled into the wooden frame one by one. Which man on Earth did not like watching handicrafts and excavators? Xia Yi was mesmerized. He moved himself forward, crouching across from Gu Wen Zhu. He nibbled the steamed bread, watching with eyes fixed. Gu Wen Zhu gradually slowed down. Then he adjusted his position sideways, turning his back on Xia Yi. Xia Yi moved again, this time besides Gu Wen Zhu, scooching down shoulder to shoulder with him. Under the intense gawking of Xia Yi, Gu Wen Zhu stopped his job in hand, turned his head to stare back at him. Xia Yi took a sip of porridge and, with a mouthful, raised his chin towards the direction of the bamboo slices, signaling Gu Wen Zhu to continue. Gu Wen Zhu exhaled deeply. As if he was trying to be patient, he eyed the corner without saying a word. Then he put down the bamboo slices in his hand, gathered them all in a heap behind the door. He stood upright, walked to the kitchen, packed a few steamed breads and a bottle of water into his cloth bag, then he also took his plow, ¡°I am going to the farmland.¡± Muffling, he sounded grumpy and uneasy. ¡°Host, should you not go with him to get yourself familiarized with the job?¡± 179¡¯s voice rang. ¡­ ¡°Zhu, wait!¡± Xia Yi ran up, catching his breath. Gu Wen Zhu was walking out of the village with his cow. ¡°Zhu, let me see you farm.¡± Xia Yi was panting with his face red after running. He was carrying a cloth bag packed with steamed bread and water as well. Gu Wen Zhu halted when he heard Xia Yi. He wanted to say something, but he closed his mouth eventually and kept moving forward with a stoic face. Xia Yi hurriedly followed. They passed by a stream outside the village; some people were washing clothes on its side. They turned their heads towards Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu together at once when the two of them passed through. Gu Wen Zhu speeded up, moving around twenty steps ahead of Xia Yi. ¡°Gu Wen Zhu, is this the nephew of Li XiuEr?¡± A woman stood up and shouted in this direction. Li XiuEr was the stepmother of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s, Xia Yi¡¯s aunt supposedly. Gu Wen Zhu coldly responded with a sound and kept accelerating as though something was chasing him. His cow, led by him, was forced to start running slightly. ¡°Dear oh dear, quite a handsome one.¡± The group of women began to chuckle. Xia Yi responded with a friendly smile, then he noticed a couple of skinny men among them who had red marks on their foreheads like they had makeup on. ¡°179, don¡¯t tell me that those are gers.¡± ¡°They are gers, same as you, host.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Xia Yi slowed down, examined the two gers without being seen. Those two even used their hands to cover their mouths habitually when they giggled. ¡­ ¡°System, do we really have no ways to go to the cultivating world?¡± ¡°Really, there is no way, host.¡± When he turned around, he found that Gu Wen Zhu was already out of sight. He hurriedly picked up his speed to follow and as soon as he made the turn, he saw Gu Wen Zhu, with his cow, waiting. Once he saw Xia Yi, Gu Wen Zhu began to keep his pace around twenty steps ahead of him again and walked to the land. ¡°179, let¡¯s be frank, I feel like I¡¯m a woman when he treats me like this.¡± ¡°Host you are being too sensitive. I think Gu Wen Zhu is totally normal.¡± 179 quickly talked back. It had to clear the host¡¯s doubts and got him to farm with peace of mind. ¡°I guess ever since I know how perverted this world is and I am a ger, my mentality has become a bit twisted.¡± Xia Yi took a long breath-out, feeling a little distressed. ¡°Host, you need to adjust your mindset. Please do not doubt everything.¡± 179 placated. ¡­ In the farmland, Gu Wen Zhu urged the cow to loosen the soil. The plow, under his control, cut through the black soil swiftly. Xia Yi sat beside the field, studying every step meticulously, learning every move. ¡°179, the plow has to be 45 degrees above horizontal.¡± ¡°179, we need to use leverage to press down the plow.¡± ¡°Host, you also need to whip the cow. I think the plow is not that easy to press down.¡± ¡°179, look, he is bare footed. He might touch some earthworm or something. I feel like I can¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°I can put mosaic on every earthworm.¡± ¡°But I can feel it.¡± ¡°Then I will block the feelings of your body.¡± The heated academic discussion went back and forth between the man and the system while they were watching Gu Wen Zhu farming. ¡­ Gu Wen Zhu felt like this was the hardest time farming in this small piece of land ever. There was always a pair of eyes staring at him on the left side of the land. They were piercing through him, making him forget urging the cow to move a few times and unable to fully control his movements. Why was this ger so shameless? Staring intently at men, not even glancing away for a second. If he turned his head and glared at Xia Yi, he even gave him an adorable smile. He knew that Xia Yi was into him, but they had just met each other for a couple of days and he was already trying all kinds of ways to seduce him. How on earth could a ger act like this? He was so shameless. CH 4 In the following days, Xia Yi went to the farmland with Gu Wen Zhu every day. Xia Yi, staying on the side of the field, would learn the techniques from Gu Wen Zhu whenever he was farming. He would chase after Gu Wen Zhu to see how he sowed the seeds, and how many seeds he had sowed. He also raised questions enthusiastically and analyzed the details with great attention. This greatly extended his knowledge about farming. It was a shame that he could not record it all in a booklet since he did not have paper and a pen. People might think he was extremely eager to learn. Nevertheless, in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s point of view, these few days felt unbearably long. Everytime he took his cow to the land to farm, he felt like he was walking towards a pot with hot oil, and he was about to jump in and be fried thoroughly. As the days went by, he had a feeling that Xia Yi was looking at him more and more glowingly. Gu Wen Zhu had been tripping himself several times as though there was a thorn on his side. This ger was crossing the line. With the progression of time, only staring could no longer satisfy him, he wanted more. He would pretend to be observing him sowing and followed closely. If he himself was not agile enough, Xia Yi would have intentionally fallen and clung onto his back. The ger also tried to make conversations even when there was nothing to say. I never knew peanuts grow underground, I thought they grow on trees. You have sowed 6 seeds in this hole, but just now you sowed at least ten or twenty in that one, does this matter? As this ger was talking, he also used his sparkling eyes to look at him. He moved close to him on purpose, with his scent wafted into his nose. This ger was so desperate as if he wanted to tell the whole world where his heart lied. Gu Wen Zhu was annoyed. This ger was one to be feared of. He needed to spend some time correcting him implicitly. He himself had been keeping to the straight and narrow all his life with a decent reputation and had never been included in gossip with any girls or gers. From now on, he had to pay more attention; his reputation could not be destroyed by this particular ger. Gu Wen Zhu was highly alert while he was thinking. He turned and looked at Xia Yi, who was beaming and patting the cow. The sunlight hit his face and his fair skin almost seemed transparent. A shallow dimple showed up on his cheek. Besides, everything happened too quickly, this wave of attack was too strong, not leaving him time to buffer and think things through. You have to give it some time to let us get along. Gu Wen Zhu continued his trail of thoughts. ¡­ Today, Xia Yi got up very early. Xia Yi was already sitting in front of the table waiting for breakfast when Gu Wen Zhu finished washing himself and went into the kitchen. After days of learning, Xia Yi thought that he had gotten hold of the basics of farming. He was ready to actually do it. Therefore, Gu Wen Zhu had had his land back a couple of days ago and personally picked the most fertile land for him to farm. Xia Yi speedily finished his breakfast and cheerily went for the cow and the hoe. Gu Wen Zhu raised his hand to stop him, then he took a hoe and went to Xia Yi¡¯s land, spending only an hour to turn up the soil. Xia Yi: ¡­ ¡°179, I discovered that we had wasted a few days on watching the cow farm.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a waste, host. These are important theories and knowledge. From now on, you can use them to farm three acres of land, ten acres of land, even one hundred acres of land¡­ ¡± ¡°Alright, alright, don¡¯t say no more.¡± Xia Yi decisively interrupted 179. Didn¡¯t want to listen. Xia Yi stood in the field, starting to bury the prepared potatoes. Next, he heedfully covered them with soil, as if those were baby children. Afterwards, it was time to fertilize. The fertilizer was a mixture of water and the ashes of grass and wood. He watered the land ladle by ladle in order to distribute it evenly. And so he had been busy for the entire day. His meal was delivered to the land to him by Gu Wen Zhu. The sun was setting among the mountains. Viewing the 25 points of land farmed with potatoes, Xia Yi, carrying an empty bucket, had his heart filled with gratefulness, and let out a long breath. ¡°179, if these 25 points lands of potatoes are harvested, is my first mission considered done? That cultivating and finding a master mission.¡± ¡°Yes, host. That will be considered as complete. On top of the reward, you will have a starter pack.¡± ¡°What¡¯s in the starter pack?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± It was that monotonous robot tone of 179 again. Xia Yi now knew, every time 179 sounded like that was a sign of things going not too pleasingly. Nevermind. If he could complete the mission, nothing else mattered. Xia Yi could only comfort himself this way. It was dusk and he still did not want to go home. He kept staring at the land, until Gu Wen Zhu, having cooked dinner, came and called him. Gu Wen Zhu did not simply shout his name from the main road like others did, instead, he detoured all the way through the twisted ridge and arrived at Xia Yi¡¯s side. Then he made a couple of coughing sounds. When Xia Yi noticed his arrival and greeted him warmly, he looked the other way and said with a flat tone, ¡°Dinner.¡± Then he left immediately without waiting for Xia Yi to reply. Xia Yi was tired on his way home, but his spirit was still high. Having finished dinner, Xia Yi volunteered keenly to wash the dishes, and went to have a bath, humming. ¡°179, I want to check up on my potatoes.¡± Xia Yi rubbed his back with a towel. A whole day of tiredness seemed to have disappeared. System: ¡°Host, you have just planted them two hours before.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯m too anxious about this. It¡¯s impossible for them to grow this fast. That was so stupid and ameteur.¡± Xia Yi laughed in a self-deprecating manner. He wringed out the towel and placed it on his head. He leaned into the barrel with two arms on the rim of the barrel, relaxed. ¡°Let¡¯s check them out tomorrow morning.¡± System: ¡­ At the time he began to come out of the bath, the moon had already been up at its top position. Xia Yi got up to get dressed, but, after a while of looking, found that he had not brought his upper underwear in. He looked outside, dang, it was still on the clothesline. Now what? Go fetch it. He put on his lower underwear, with his cloth shoes only loosely on, he pulled the door open and walked straight out half-naked. He used the towel to wipe off the water drops dripping from his hair along the way. It was mid-June, the night in the mountains was still chilly, the wind of the night brushed his upper body, wet with drops of water, with a breeze. Xia Yi quivered involuntarily. The ivory moonlight softly shined on his creamy body, his skin almost seemed to be glistening. ¡°Clang!¡± It was the blatant sound of the washbowl hitting the ground. He only saw Gu Wen Zhu standing at the door of the main house, mouth opened, eyeing him with a deeply shaken expression as if he was struck by thunderbolts and the world had collapsed on him. Xia Yi also froze at the spot, startled, his hand was still keeping his posture of rubbing his hair, and then his brain resumed functioning in an instant. ¡°179, I forgot that this is a perverted world!¡± Xia Yi cried out in his mind. ¡°Not only am I not covering up myself below the neck, I am also not covering my two points of mosaic!!! 179, this is just like when I was back at my home and a woman walked out to the corridor in the building half-naked. Holy cow. 179, I¡¯m dead I¡¯m dead I¡¯m dead.¡± ¡­ A few seconds had passed, seemingly calm, Xia Yi walked to the clothesline, pulled the underwear down, and slowly put it on. He tied the strips on his waist, turned to face Gu Wen Zhu and nodded. Xia Yi then smiled a bit and went back to his room. In the morning of the second day, due to his concerns about his 25 points land of potatoes, Xia Yi had woken up early and already sat at the table to wait for breakfast. Severely distracted, Gu Wen Zhu made breakfast with a pair of dark circles around his eyes. The scoop had been dropped onto the floor; the water boiled dry. When he was fetching the bowls, he nearly broke the stack of bowls with a series of clinking sounds. ¡°179, look at Zhu. If he came to the dorm of my previous school, could he survive three days?¡± Every summer, everyone was half-naked. ¡°Bang!¡± A large bowl of noodles had been placed heavily in front of him. Since he ate a lot, Gu Wen Zhu would use the only large bowl in the house to serve him noodles. Without even sitting at the dining table, Gu Wen Zhu did not glance Xia Yi once as if he had never met him before. He took his bowl of noodles, walked straight to the yard, crouched under the big tree, and started to eat. In view of his condition, Xia Yi looked worried and thought a little. He carried his big bowl with both of his hands, unsteadily travelled to Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s side and hunkered down. He looked around him, and used his foot to move a chair closer and placed the bowl on it. Too heavy. Gu Wen Zhu was eating the noodles with a stern face. Not saying one word, he slightly turned and faced sideways. Xia Yi moved a bit towards his side, dragging with him the chair in his front which he placed his noodles on. Gu Wen Zhu was monitoring with the side of his vision. Seeing Xia Yi moved, he began to leave the spot. Realizing Gu Wen Zhu was leaving, Xia Yi hurriedly shouted, ¡°Zhu, I can explain.¡± He was afraid of Gu Wen Zhu going away upon hearing his words, just like the soap operas. However, Gu Wen Zhu unexpectedly halted his motion and stood there. Judging from his still stern expression, it seemed like he was giving Xia Yi this one and only chance to set things straight. Xia Yi considered for a second with the end of the chopsticks between his teeth. He then turned and looked at Gu Wen Zhu seriously, ¡°Zhu, what if I told you at my home, the whole building, ah, no, the whole village of gers would run around the village half-naked. Would you believe me?¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face seemed shocked, but then it became even gloomier than before. Sensing things becoming worse, Xia Yi said at once, ¡°I¡¯m telling you, the gers in our village don¡¯t even care about all these. We¡¯re all guys, showing nipples is nothing¡­¡± The blue veins were popping out on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s forehead. He closed his eyes, took two deep breaths, and, unable to put up anymore, said finally, ¡°Shut up! Nonsense!¡± He turned and dashed towards the kitchen after saying so. He stopped halfway, only turning slightly and said in a low voice, ¡°Xia Yi, I know what you are thinking, but you cannot do it this way. This only annoys me.¡± After that, he entered the house, not even glanced back once. Xia Yi, befuddled, crouched there not moving an inch. A while later, he asked sluggishly, ¡°179, what did he mean by knowing what I¡¯m thinking? What am I thinking?¡± System: ¡°Just leave him be. It¡¯s ridiculous for him to assume what you¡¯re thinking. I¡¯d say, these men¡¯s minds are the hardest to understand. They are different from us gers.¡± Xia Yi spaced out for a while, then, cluelessly said, ¡°I give up. I don¡¯t get it.¡± Then he remembered something, ¡°179, I feel like you sound awkward recently. I¡¯m not sure how to put it. 179, have you been scanning those people washing clothes beside the stream?¡± System: ¡°Well, duh. Why would I veg out to scan those bitches?¡± ¡°Hiss¡­¡± CH 5 This time, Gu Wen Zhu had been giving Xia Yi attitude for days now. He did not say a word to him as if he could not see him. When he called him to eat, he only gruffly said, ¡°Meal.¡± When he was at home, he was just like a silent tower made of steel. Xia Yi was living his life timidly. He did not even dare to eat in his usual voracious manner. He would peek at Gu Wen Zhu every once in a while and would volunteer to tidy things up. He was afraid of accidentally agitating him, causing him to think he was a burden: Not only are you harboring evil intentions, you are also eating too much. You are going to use up all my money! Go away! Hence, Xia Yi was only half full every meal. At night, when he could not put up with the hunger anymore, he would discreetly go into the kitchen to find food. ¡°179, scan, is Gu Wen Zhu asleep?¡± System: ¡°He is asleep.¡± He tiptoed his way to the kitchen and began to search for food. He brushed past a pot, causing a clink sound, then he stopped his movement, petrified. ¡°179, has he woken up?¡± System: ¡°Yes, but he only raised his head and glanced at the kitchen, then he went back to sleep again.¡± ¡°I am being treated with soft domestic violence. It¡¯s so tragic.¡± System: ¡°Stop mumbling, eat first.¡± He had to look for food every night. Fortunately, there was always some food for him to find. At least, he could ingest something to deal with his empty stomach. ¡­ For all this time, Xia Yi had been monitoring his 25 points lands of potatoes every day. In addition to this, Gu Wen Zhu had been giving him silent treatment. The air at home became so tense as if it was going to ice up. Thus, except sleeping and eating, he would stay in the farmland as much as possible. Gradually, the whole village knew about the nephew of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s stepmother who had fled to this place. That poor thing had been starving too much in the past, now that he finally had 25 points land of potatoes, he had to stay at the side watching the soil every day. He was paying so much attention that his eyes almost beamed out green light and he nearly slept in the farmland. The villagers felt bad for him. Because of this, Xia Yi had quickly gotten along with all the villagers who had been greatly sympathizing with him. ¡°Yi, are you going to see the potatoes?¡± ¡°Yes, lady, have you eaten breakfast yet?¡± ¡°Yi, I¡¯ve had a look at your potatoes, they haven¡¯t sprouted yet.¡± ¡°Thank you, Uncle Wang.¡± ¡°Mor¡­nin¡­Po¡­Ta¡­Ta¡­mor¡­To¡± ¡°Mrs. Wang, the baby can talk now!¡± ¡­ Xia Yi crouched in the ridge of the field with a worried look. It had been many days now, the land still looked the same. There was not even one sprout. They wouldn¡¯t be all dead in the soil, right? At night, he rolled over and over in bed. Then he sat up suddenly, put his outer shirt and shoes on and went out. System: ¡°Host, where are you going?¡± Xia Yi: ¡°I need to see my potatoes, or else I can¡¯t sleep.¡± System: ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen them this morning?¡± Xia Yi: ¡°No wonder I miss them so much, I haven¡¯t seen them for the entire afternoon.¡± System: ¡°¡­¡± Xia Yi stepped into that familiar ridge, so familiar that he could walk through it with eyes closed. He then walked towards his land. Under the soft moonlight, from afar, he immediately spotted a hunched figure in his land. Xia Yi¡¯s heart skipped a beat, he said, alarmed, ¡°179, quick, scan, who is in my land? What¡¯s he doing?¡± His eyes started to search around him to see if there were any sticks or stones. ¡°Fuck it, if he harms my potatoes, I¡¯m going to kill him.¡± System: ¡°Host, don¡¯t panic. That¡¯s Gu Wen Zhu. He is loosening the soil for you.¡± Xia Yi, blanked, stopped his steps instantly and looked closely. He could see Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s figure hunkered down in a gully in the field, moving one bit by one bit, loosening the soil for every potato pit bit by bit. A warm feeling instantaneously filled Xia Yi¡¯s heart. The feelings of annoyance and being wronged that had been building up for these few days due to being left out by Gu Wen Zhu were somehow all gone. ¡°179, I think Gu Wen Zhu is really a good guy. I don¡¯t want us to keep not talking anymore.¡± Gu Wen Zhu went back home after handling the potatoes. Once he entered the yard, he gazed at Xia Yi¡¯s bedroom. The room was pitch dark. Through the window, Xia Yi was obviously asleep. Gu Wen Zhu was going to wash himself at the corner of the yard, but as soon as he turned, he saw the clothes dripping with water hanging on the clothesline, which he had taken off and hadn¡¯t washed yet. There was another underwear on the clothesline, wet and slightly swaying in the wind. Gu Wen Zhu stood there, stupefied. After some time, he resignedly let out a sigh, shook his head and walked towards the well. ¡­ Since the day Gu Wen Zhu had loosened the soil, in less than two days, the potatoes had germinated. The newly grew sprouts stretched themselves freely under the sunlight, delicate and fresh. Xia Yi stood in the ridge, looking at the dainty green sprouts, his heart had been filled with unspeakable joy. The villagers passing by with hoes on their shoulders also noticed the bits of greeneries. ¡°Yi, your potatoes finally sprouted.¡± ¡°Yes, Mr. Wang, you are early.¡± ¡°Oh my, this wasn¡¯t easy, Yi. They finally sprouted after the long wait.¡± ¡°Thank you. No hurry. They¡¯ll sprout anyways. Have you had breakfast yet? Lady Li.¡± Xia Yi unhurriedly greeted the villagers politely. With a dim smile on his face, Xia Yi acted appropriately. ¡°179,179, they sprouted, finally. Hahahahaha, sprouted, sprouted. Hahaha. Hahaha, sprouted, hahahahahaha. 179, I wanna roll on the ground. 179, I wanna run around among these ridges.¡± System: ¡­ Day by day, the weather became increasingly warm, and the sprouts grew more and greener in the squares of lands. Xia Yi needed to inspect the potatoes a few times a day. He caught bugs, watered the fields, then crouched in the ridge and chattered with 179, talking about how well the sprouts were growing. His spirit was very uplifting. Knowing that he would be able to harvest after two months, Xia Yi was vastly looking forward to that day. Once he completed his first mission, he would be one step closer to leaving this cursed world. During the afternoon, Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu were sitting under the tree in the yard, eating. Ever since the weather became hot again, they had moved the dining table from the kitchen to the yard. It was spacious and cool out here. A black cloud slowly approached and stopped on top of the yard. The sky darkened bit by bit. Followed by a few thunder and lightning, it started raining cats and dogs. Gu Wen Zhu moved the dining table to the corridor in a hurry. The world became growingly gloomy. Drops of hail as big as rice started falling between the rain, jumping in the yard with sounds of pitter-patters. Xia Yi knew this was far from good. When the potatoes came to his mind, he instinctively put down the bowl and the chopsticks, stood on the side of the corridor and looked at the sky, worried. ¡°179, I am beginning to worry about my potato sprouts, can you scan them?¡± ¡°Host, the potato sprouts are safe now. The hail is not a threat yet.¡± The hail droplets grew larger gradually, becoming as large as a pigeon egg, falling with overwhelmingly heavy rain. A thick layer of hail had quickly accumulated on the ground. He could hear cracking noises from the tiles above, lots of branches and leaves fell all over in the yard. ¡°179, scan the sprouts again.¡± Xia Yi rubbed his hand, circling under the roof, anxious. ¡°Host, the sprouts might be in danger. Although potatoes are resilient to hail, the hail is a little too severe.¡± ¡°Nope, I had to see my little sprouts.¡± Xia Yi halted his feet which were pacing, ¡±I need some basjoo leaves from the forest to cover them up.¡± ¡°Host, your safety is far more important than the mission.¡± 179 was much calmer than Xia Yi in key moments. ¡°I don¡¯t care anymore. If I screw this mission up, how am I supposed to go back home?¡± Xia Yi speedily fetched himself a large wooden bowl, he looked up to the gloomy sky, made up his mind and dashed out with the bowl above his head. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s voice was shouting from behind him. Still on his way, Xia Yi answered: ¡°I need to see my potato sprouts.¡± Gu Wen Zhu angrily growled: ¡°How are you still talking about the potato sprouts? You don¡¯t want to live anymore?¡± Xia Yi could not manage to respond, he only rushed towards the direction of the potato lands with the bowl above his head. The hail, hitting his wooden bowl, had made terrifying banging sounds. ¡°My precious little sprouts, please stay strong, papa is coming, papa is fetching you some basjoo leaves to cover you up. Ah!¡± Followed by a short gasp, Xia Yi stumbled and fell. The wooden bowl had slipped from his hand and had rolled over to the side. At once, hail hit his body like bullets. He immediately held his head with his arms, eyes searching around for the wooden bowl. His back and shoulders were unbearably painful from the hail striking, but it was no time for him to think about this, he only wanted to get to the lands as fast as possible. Just when he attempted to stand up, his ankle felt a sharp piercing pain, then he fell again. His ankle had been twisted. Xia Yi sat in the hail helplessly. With half-squinted eyes, he groped the wooden bowl and used it to cover his head, trying to get up. At this moment, a figure stopped in front of Xia Yi. Xia Yi¡¯s sight had been blocked. He was covered up by a thick straw rain cape. The hail which was falling onto him could no longer hurt him. Gu Wen Zhu came. Gu Wen Zhu held him in his arms and rushed back into the house. He bent his back a bit while he was running in order to shelter Xia Yi with his upper body. He kicked open the front door which was half-closed, moving Xia Yi into the house swiftly. After placing him on the bamboo bed, Gu Wen Zhu scooched down and asked: ¡°Are you okay?¡± Xia Yi, lying on the bamboo bed, felt pain all over his body. Even so, nothing could hurt him more than the fact that his land was going to be ruined. He turned his head not to face Gu Wen Zhu, sobbing: ¡°My sprouts.¡± Gu Wen Zhu stopped, then asked, puzzled: ¡°It¡¯s just potatoes, how could they be so valuable? Just let them be. If they were destroyed, I¡¯ll make it up to you.¡± With heavy nasal sounds, Xia Yi muttered: ¡°You don¡¯t understand, I only want my sprouts, they are important to me.¡± After saying so, he turned sideways. He did not want to talk, only felt sad. Thinking about him being transmigrated to this alien world with no reasons, oppressing his fear of being a ger, working hard to get back home, and when he was finally seeing hope, it only took a wave of hail to destroy his hope that had been built all these days. The sadness grew inside Xia Yi as he was thinking. He could no longer hold off the tears in his eyes. Secretly wiping them off, he did not want Gu Wen Zhu to see him cry. A short period of time later, Xia Yi heard some rustling sounds from behind. He turned to look. Gu Wen Zhu was wearing a bamboo hat, pulling out some bamboo mat from the storage. He rolled them up then carried them under his arm, intending to go out. ¡°Where are you going? It¡¯s raining hail heavily.¡± Xia Yi, half up with his upper body supported by his arms, looked at Gu Wen Zhu with teary eyes. ¡°I am going to save your sprouts.¡± Gu Wen Zhu glanced at him, turned and ran into the hail. ¡°No! Don¡¯t go!¡± Xia Yi, cried out nervously, trying to stop him. However, Gu Wen Zhu had already arrived at the front door. He opened the door and ran out. CH 6 Xia Yi turned and sat up in bed: ¡°179, quick, scan Zhu, quick. The hail is heavy. I am worried about him.¡± ¡°Host. Keep calm. Everything is normal with Gu Wen Zhu.¡± ¡°Gu Wen Zhu is in the field.¡± ¡°Gu Wen Zhu is covering the sprouts with bamboo mats.¡± ¡°Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand has been hit and bruised.¡± ¡°Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hat fell. He picked it up and put it back onto his head.¡± ¡°Gu Wen Zhu was tripped by the hail.¡± Xia Yi was listening to 179¡¯s reports. There were butterflies in his stomach, making his heart skip a beat. ¡°He has finished. He is coming home.¡± ¡°To the yard now.¡± 179 kept reporting. Xia Yi felt at ease and let out a long breath. Gu Wen Zhu entered the yard. He took off his bamboo hat and straw rain cape on the corridor, brushed off the rainwater on his outer shirt, then he stamped his feet and came inside. Once he entered, he immediately looked at Xia Yi who was sitting on the bamboo bed. Xia Yi was also staring at him. Xia Yi¡¯s eyes still seemed a little red, he softly said to Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Zhu, come here.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was not sure of his intentions, but he walked to him as told. Xia Yi then said, ¡°Give me your hand.¡± Gu Wen Zhu stretched out his arm, puzzled. His palm was dry and thick, with a thin layer of callus. Xia Yi sniffed, then said with heavy nasal sounds, ¡°The back of your hand.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was still confused, but he still turned his hand. Xia Yi extended a delicate finger to stroke the bruise on the back of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand, mumbling, ¡°Does it hurt?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was stunned. The half of his body that had been touched by Xia Yi instantly felt a prickly feeling on his skin as if it was electrified. He quickly pulled his hand back and walked outside. He halted at the doorway and said without looking back, ¡°It doesn¡¯t hurt.¡± Then he strode over the doorsill. He staggered when he was doing so and nearly tripped himself. ¡°179, Zhu must have been hit in some other places, he can¡¯t even walk properly.¡± Seeing Gu Wen Zhu acting like that, Xia Yi could not help but worry for him. Some time later, Gu Wen Zhu went into the room, with a bottle of essential oil in his hand. He walked to the bed, moved a small chair with him and sat in front of Xia Yi, ¡°Take off your shoes and socks, put your foot on the side of the bed.¡± It looked like he was going to massage Xia Yi¡¯s hurt ankle. Xia Yi had twisted his ankle before when he was still a student. At that time, he had tried massaging at the Chinese medicine practitioner¡¯s shop outside the building he was living. He fully understood the pain. Terrified, he was on tenterhooks when he saw that Gu Wen Zhu was going to do the same to his foot. ¡°Zhu, Zhu¡­Why don¡¯t we just leave it be? If we leave it, it will heal by itself after some time.¡± Xia Yi tried to beg him to change his mind, but Gu Wen Zhu seemed focused. He just looked at Xia Yi, without saying a word, he straightly opened the bottle of essential oil and waited with his eyes looking down. This was what they called ironhearted. Realizing his strategy was not working, Xia Yi unwillingly took off his shoes and socks and tardily placed his foot on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s thigh. Gu Wen Zhu, pouring the oil into his palm, stopped a second, then he kept pouring as if nothing had interrupted him. Xia Yi¡¯s foot, with round toes, was fair and dainty. The nails on his toes looked like some pretty seashells. Gu Wen Zhu gently pushed up the bottom of Xia Yi trousers and saw his ankle. His ankle was now swollen, purplish and dark red in color, contrasting with other parts of his leg which were still fine and fair, making the view look tragic. Gu Wen Zhu used his hand with the oil on to touch the purplish part. Followed by a quiver, Xia Yi frowned, the red mark between his brows looked even rosier. He bit his pink lower lip with his pearly teeth. His eyelashes were pointing down, fluttering like feathers. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand began to push up with a slight force along Xia Yi¡¯s ankle. On the side of his vision, he noticed Xia Yi looked terrified with a slightly pale face. Gu Wen Zhu could not help but feel bad for him. At the end he was just a helpless ger, although he acts over the top usually, he only wanted someone to rely on. ¡°Ah!¡± That face twisted as a scream pierced through the roof. His mouth was wide open with a distorted facial expression. Gu Wen Zhu could see his tongue, vibrating with the sound wave, at the top of his throat. ¡°Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch! Ah! Ouch ouch ouch! That bastard hail! Fuc*! Ouch!¡± With tears and snot all over his face, Xia Yi yelled in high pitch. ¡°Ah! I¡¯m dying! Stop it!¡± Gu Wen Zhu: ¡­ Among all the crying and cursing so loud that almost caused the roof to tip over, the massage finally ended. Gu Wen Zhu walked away at once in a stern face with his bottle of oil, not wanting to stay in this house for one more second. Xia Yi, extremely tired, lied in bed with sweat all over his body and tears still sparkling in his eyes. ¡°179, can it get any more painful than this?¡± ¡°Yes, host, if you give birth to a child.¡± After black clouds came the clear weather. The hail finally stopped. Sunlight leaked from the seam of the clouds; the rosy clouds were slowly rising above the whole village. The emerald-green mountains around had been washed by the rain and became even more verdant. Gu Wen Zhu carried a wooden ladder and set it to lean onto the eaves. He needed to fix the broken tiles. The hail had stormed all the tiles in the houses of the village, everyone had a fiercely damaged roof. If they did not cover up the holes, they would have to sleep with the moonlight shining on them. Gu Wen Zhu climbed up and down the ladder. He had to throw the broken tile fragments into the yard, then climbed back down onto the ground, and moved the new tiles from the corner of the yard into places. The sun was relentless. The hail on the ground had already melted and completely evaporated under the hot sun. Gu Wen Zhu was sweating immensely. Since there was a ger in the house, he did not take off his shirt. His clothes had turned all wet, sticking onto his body, showing the perfect outline of his athletic body. Xia Yi had found a bamboo stick under the bed, he used it to support him to limp into the yard. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu doing the labor, he felt that he could not keep doing nothing. The owner of the house was working hard. As someone who had no contributions, how could he stay in bed and do nothing? Therefore, when Gu Wen Zhu was on the roof, Xia Yi grabbed a chair and sat beside the ladder, waiting with herbal tea and towel in his hands. As soon as Gu Wen Zhu arrived at the ground, he speedily offered him herbal tea to quench his thirst, ¡°Quick, have a sip, don¡¯t get worn out.¡± He fanned him when Gu Wen Zhu was drinking tea, ¡°Is it okay if I fan like this?¡± Gu Wen Zhu finished his tea, Xia Yi quickly took the bowl from him. He used the towel to wipe off Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s sweat from his forehead. He said worriedly, ¡°Be careful when you are up there, don¡¯t slip.¡± Smiling, Gu Wen Zhu looked at him and said, ¡°That¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m watching out. You better stop hanging around here, it¡¯s hot. Go to the bed and rest, be careful of your foot.¡± ¡°I¡¯m okay, I¡¯ll go fetch you another pot of tea.¡± When he turned around and walked to the kitchen, Xia Yi thought he smelt something fishy. ¡°179, this set up, this conversation, I think the atmosphere is weird.¡± ¡°Host, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything weird. You should focus on farming. Don¡¯t think about those messy things.¡± The system responded. Ever since he twisted his ankle, Xia Yi rarely went to see his potato sprouts. The roads among the lands were too difficult to walk, he was afraid of tripping again and making his wound worse. The good thing was that 179 could scan the land for him every day as if there was a cctv installed at the field. ¡°Gu Wen Zhu has gone to fertilize the land.¡± ¡°Gu Wen Zhu is going to catch bugs.¡± ¡°The sprouts are growing splendidly.¡± Having been in the house for a few days, Xia Yi was very bored. He was longing for the moment when the sun set in the west every day. He would take a chair, sit there and stare at the door, waiting for Gu Wen Zhu to be back from the lands and make him something to eat. Knowing that Xia Yi was bored and depressed, Gu Wen Zhu planned not to go to the lands today but to bring Xia Yi out to take a breather. After having lunch, Gu Wen Zhu took a fish basket, and asked Xia Yi even if he already knew the answer, ¡°I am going to catch some fish, are you coming?¡± Xia Yi was tickled pink and vastly agreed. He then used a stick to support him to walk out of the yard. Gu Wen Zhu grabbed his arm and stopped him, he opened the front door to peek outside. Looking nervous, he suddenly withdrew his body and closed the front door. After a set of footfalls passed by and left, he again opened the door and stuck his head out to look. Xia Yi: ¡­ Gu Wen Zhu waited for a while once more, upon confirming no one was there, he quickly turned and scooched down in front of Xia Yi, ¡°Get up here.¡± Xia Yi did not even hesitate, he threw the stick away and climbed onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s back. Carrying Xia Yi on his back, Gu Wen Zhu hurried his way out from the village with the fish basket in his one hand. There was only one road outside of the village, slopes on the left, and streams on the right. Not long after they walked along the road, they started hearing happy chatter. That was the favorite place for the women and gers from the village to wash their clothes. Once he heard that laughter, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s steps slowed down. He stood at the spot hesitantly. Xia Yi asked, ¡°Zhu, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Gu Wen Zhu hung back for a second, when he decided to proceed, the loud voice of Lady Li echoed, ¡°That¡¯s why I have been saying, carpenter Wang must have slept with his elder brother¡¯s wife who is a widow. See, a ger and a man live under the same roof everyday¡­¡± The women and gers around her laughed, ¡°You are so mean.¡± Gu Wen Zhu: ¡­ Xia Yi asked again, ¡°Zhu, are we still going?¡± He was afraid of Gu Wen Zhu not going and carrying him back into the yard to lock themselves up. Gu Wen Zhu: ¡°Go.¡± Then he looked around, and said decisively, ¡°We climb the mountain!¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ The terrain was rugged. With Xia Yi on his back, Gu Wen Zhu climbed higher and higher, further and further¡­ The sound of the streaming water had disappeared a long time ago, only the sounds of the birds and the wind brushing through the trees were left. Xia Yi failed to put up anymore and reminded him, ¡°Zhu, we are going to catch fish.¡± Gu Wen Zhu, sweating significantly, said with heavy breathes, ¡°I¡­ I know, go¡­ go around, the only road down is¡­upfront.¡± The forest was quiet and freshening. There was not one person. Gu Wen Zhu, carrying Xia Yi, stepped onto the thick layer of leaves on the ground, creating rustling sounds. ¡°Zhu, how far are we?¡± ¡°Hah¡­hah¡­It¡¯s close¡­Hah¡­¡± At last, they were going downhill, they spent another two hours to arrive at the stream. Xia Yi looked at all the sweat on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s body, he couldn¡¯t restrain himself from pitying for him and suggested, ¡°Zhu, why don¡¯t you go and wash yourself behind that rock there.¡± In view of Gu Wen Zhu hesitating, Xia Yi added, ¡°You can rest assured I am not going there.¡± Gu Wen Zhu: ¡­ After having a bath, Gu Wen Zhu walked out from behind the rock half-naked, clothes in his hand. He walked up to Xia Yi with uneasiness, picked up the fish basket and swam upstream to catch fish. Xia Yi looked at him going along the stream further and further, further and further¡­ until his well-built figure became blurry. ¡°¡­179, Zhu is still wary of me.¡± CH 7 Xia Yi was idle anyway, so he washed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s outer shirt and laid it on the big stone on the side of the stream. Feeling the breeze of the wind, hearing the rippling sound of water, Xia Yi closed his eyes and lay on the big stone. He had not had the time to think about things before this. He was struggling to adapt to this farming world. He worked hard on the missions, trying not to think about the world he came from. Now, when he had peace of mind, various thoughts came to him. He remembered his deceased parents, those friends in the dorm, the cat he used to feed outside the building that he lived in. He could not help but feel the sadness and loneliness from being in an alien world by himself. A tear drop slid down from the corner of his eye. At some point, Gu Wen Zhu had arrived. He had his clothes on, sitting beside Xia Yi with his eyes looking straight at the stream. His husky voice rang, ¡°I have never asked about what happened to you before and why you fled here to find your aunt, but it must¡¯ve become impossible for you to live back there. Since you¡¯ve found your way to this place, I will meddle in anyways from now on.¡± Xia Yi sat up, sniffled a bit with red eyes, and said, ¡°I just miss my parents.¡± Seeing Gu Wen Zhu looking at him, he downheartedly added, ¡±They both passed away. When they were still alive, I didn¡¯t have to care about a thing, I don¡¯t even know how to cook because of this. Now I regret it. I am a good-for-nothing. ¡°I miss them so much. They didn¡¯t even have the chance to taste my potatoes. I was na?ve. I thought my parents would always be there to sort out my problems. They were still worrying about me, thinking about how I am going to live by myself before they passed away. I want them to know that now I am working hard to farm. They need not to worry about me. No matter where I am, I will live a good life.¡± Xia Yi wiped off tears from his face. He turned his head to face the other way, trying not to make a noise from his sobs. Gu Wen Zhu gazed at Xia Yi with sympathy, he gently said, ¡°You have been working hard, they will know.¡± A breeze of wind passed by, causing a strand of soft hair on Xia Yi¡¯s head to stand and became cowlick. All of a sudden, Gu Wen Zhu wanted to extend his hand to fix that for him. Then he pinched his fingers and turned his head. Gu Wen Zhu had caught plenty of fish upstream. There were bigger ones and smaller ones, including some groupers and some crucian carps, all together around twenty of them. He lifted the fish basket to let Xia Yi have a look. Forgetting quickly about the sadness moments before, Xia Yi beamed with his red nose. It was late. Xia Yi climbed onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s back, holding the fully loaded fish basket. They began to walk home. The sky had already darkened by the time they passed the stream with nobody by its side. Gu Wen Zhu casually walked home with Xia Yi on his back. Gu Wen Zhu had made a pot of fish stew, fresh and delicious. They picked up the fish with chopsticks for each other. Both of them finished up the whole pot together. Xia Yi even soaked the rice in the sauce and ate three bowls of them. When Gu Wen Zhu was washing dishes, Xia Yi laid himself on the chair. He watched Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s huge figure in the kitchen doing this and that and all kinds of chores systematically. He rubbed his stomach and came up with a question, then he wondered and asked, ¡°Zhu, you are a great guy, why haven¡¯t you gotten married yet?¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hands which were washing dishes halted their motion, he turned and glanced at Xia Yi, causing Xia Yi to look back innocently. Gu Wen Zhu thought for a while, answered, ¡°I have not yet met someone who is suitable for me.¡± Xia Yi nodded with understanding, ¡°I am sure a guy as great as you can find someone who suits you.¡± He added after thinking a bit, ¡°But even if you have found the one, you must let that person know just like I did before. Or else someone might beat you to it.¡± Xia Yi met a girl when he was buying milk tea back in his first year of university. He fell in love at first sight, then he hotly pursued the girl. By then, the girl agreed to go out with him to try it out. Although they broke up at the end after one month due to incompatibility, this proved that pursuing did work. Gu Wen Zhu did not reply, Xia Yi thought he heard him laugh faintly then shook his head resignedly. Some days passed, Xia Yi¡¯s foot had almost healed, the potatoes were approaching their maturation period. He went to the field more frequently these days, visiting several times a day. This morning, when he arrived at the ridge in the field, sounds of crackers and fireworks rang in his head, and at the same time 179¡¯s voice echoed with high spirits: Congratulations, Host, you have completed the first system mission. Mission description: Join the Qi Shan Sect and become the apprentice of the Sect Leader. Completion 1/1 Award 1 Starter Pack. Host, would you like to claim the reward now or later?¡± Xia Yi cluelessly listened, then he could not help but pondered, ¡°What¡¯s the reward?¡± System did not answer right away. The robot voice rang again flatly after a while, ¡°Are you sure you want to know now?¡± Once he heard this voice, Xia Yi knew there was something wrong, but he still wanted to know and replied, ¡°Just tell me. I want to know how rubbish your system world can be.¡± ¡°The mission reward is 10 bottles of foundation establishment drink, the starter pack which includes one spirit clearance core and ten low level spirit stones.¡± 179 said. Xia Yi: ¡­ ¡°Host, if you choose not to claim the reward now, I can put them into your system locker space. You can retrieve them at any time.¡± 179 suggested. Xia Yi asked, ¡°What¡¯s a system locker space?¡± ¡°System locker space is a sub-system space partitioned from the main system space that belongs to you. It can be used to store.¡± 179 explained. ¡°Then store them for me.¡± Xia Yi said. After claiming his prize, Xia Yi went to see his baby potatoes. He rubbed his hands, aiming at the side of a potato sprout, then raised the hoe high up and dug with force. When he pulled the hoe out, a big pile of soil was turned over. Inside were numerous potatoes. Roughly speaking, there were a few dozen of them under one sprout. Xia Yi¡¯s heart burst with joy. He directly threw the hoe away and ran back home, hurrying his way to tell Gu Wen Zhu. Gu Wen Zhu had pushed a plate trailer to the farmland. The two of them swung their arms and started to dig. There were a lot of potatoes and they were huge. Xia Yi¡¯s arms immediately became so sore that he could not swing the hoe anymore and, therefore, Gu Wen Zhu was left to continue digging by himself. Xia Yi took a bamboo basket and picked up the potatoes behind Gu Wen Zhu. By the time they had harvested all the potatoes, the sun had already set. They went back home a few times transporting the potatoes with the plate trailer, piling up a heap of potatoes in the yard. Under the moonlight, the two of them weighed the potatoes. There were a total of 1000 catties. Xia Yi looked at the hill of potatoes and laughed like an idiot. Gu Wen Zhu straightly cooked a pot of potatoes. After the potatoes were cooked soft, he sauteed them until the skin was golden and crispy. Then he sprinkled some salt and pepper on top of it. The potato was saffron and amber. Xia Yi can taste the fluffiness and sweetness when taking a bite. It was so good the two just kept eating. Gu Wen Zhu looked at the potatoes when he was eating. He said, ¡°We can keep 100 catty in the basement. I will take the rest to the city to sell. You can also come with me and visit the city.¡± Xia Yi merrily agreed. At night, when he was in bed, Xia Yi called the System. ¡°179, you remember me saying that I want a cheat? 25 points of land yield the production of 3 acres of land.¡± 179 did not say a word. In view of this attitude, Xia Yi thought, screw it, System is going to play dead. And so, he set up right away with a look full of anger, ¡°You want to break your word?¡± 179 said, ¡°Host, even if you have three acres of land with potatoes, you don¡¯t have the space for them. We are not even mentioning how you are going to explain to Gu Wen Zhu if you have so many potatoes popping out suddenly.¡± Xia Yi, after some thoughts, smirked, ¡°Don¡¯t I have a system space? You put them there for me.¡± 179 oppressed the rising annoyance and did what it was told to do. After some time, System¡¯s voice echoed in Xia Yi¡¯s mind, ¡°Host, your five tons of potatoes have been stored into the system space.¡± Xia Yi folded hands towards nothing, ¡°Thanks.¡± The voice of System rang again, ¡°Host, since you have completed the first mission distributed by the system, a.k.a. starter mission, and had claimed the reward. Now, cultivation system 179 will announce the second mission.¡± ¡°Mission description: Achieve Foundation Establishment Stage, and get a spirit animal. Completion 0/2 Award 1 Foundation Establishment Pack.¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ ¡°What is the corresponding farming mission this time?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°Farm ten acres of land of onions and fennel.¡± 179 said. ¡°I want a cheat.¡± Xia Yi said. System was about to turn him down, but Xia Yi continued, ¡°Compensation, complaints, rankings.¡± System, ¡°25 points of land.¡± Xia Yi, ¡°Deal.¡± At the first glimmer of dawn, Gu Wen Zhu was already in the kitchen cooking breakfast. When Xia Yi had finished washing up, there were one big bowl of porridge and a small basket of flapjacks on the table. Xia Yi, having crammed down a few flapjacks, sat himself in the carriage that Gu Wen Zhu had prepared. The carriage was borrowed from old Zhang from the village. It was stuffed with Xia Yi¡¯s potatoes. As Gu Wen Zhu started whipping, the carriage began to head towards the city. There was around twenty miles of land between the village and the city. By the time the sun had reached the top of the sky, the carriage had entered the city. Since Xia Yi arrived in this world, there were always mountains and farmlands. This was the first time he had come to such a crowded place. He eyed everything with curiosity, looking around. Although it was a city, to Xia Yi, it was just a little larger than a town in his homeland. Nevertheless, the street was bustling, all kinds of peddlers shouted with loud voices, making the scene very lively. The carriage came to a small tea booth, Gu Wen Zhu stopped the carriage and helped Xia Yi down. He said, ¡±You stay here and wait for me, I am moving the carriage to a nearby military camp. I know someone from their purchasing department. I sell food to him directly every time.¡± Knowing that Gu Wen Zhu was going to continue making remarks, Xia Yi promptly said, ¡°You can just go and do your thing. I¡¯ll wait here. I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said a few things to the owner of the tea booth, then left some coins and went away with the carriage. Xia Yi sat in the tea booth with a bowl of tea in front of him, observing his surroundings. ¡°179, there, that place called the House of the Golden Phoenix. Scan it. Is it the mythical brothel?¡± ¡°Host, that¡¯s a restaurant.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ That place there, named the Tipsy Resting House. That should be a restaurant as well.¡± ¡°Host, that¡¯s a bookstore.¡± ¡°¡­I see. 179, that one on the west, with the name Pine and Bamboo, the front door looked modest and elegant, that should be a school for students to study.¡± ¡°Host, that¡¯s a brothel.¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ What¡¯s going on with these people in ancient times? CH 8 There were numerous women and gers on the street; everyone was dressed to kill. Whenever Xia Yi spotted a good-looking one, he would look at that person for a few more seconds. As he was a ger, even if he stared at the women, they did not mind at all. On the contrary, the women only felt happy in their hearts for being appreciated by a person of the same sex. Therefore, Xia Yi upright looked at all the pretty ladies, and made a sound of admiration, ¡°179, I think this is the first time I feel good about being a ger.¡± Also, there were plenty of gers dressing up in all kinds of colors. Every time he saw the gers unintentionally, Xia Yi would quiver, then quickly look away. By this time, a guy who looked like a gentleman with some stance slowly passed the tea booth. Two servants were following behind him. The gentleman was wearing a silk outer shirt in ice blue with a pair of black silk boots. He had a jade crown around the bun on his head. By the looks of him, anyone could tell that he was from a rich family. ¡°179, if that¡¯s the son of a magistrate of a prefect, he should wear better clothes than that. In my case, when I went to Qi Shan Sect to find my master, my father would have given me more than two servants, maybe a maid as well.¡± System said nothing. That gentleman must have noticed Xia Yi¡¯s stares. He looked towards the tea booth in return. Xia Yi¡¯s eyes met his, making Xia Yi feel like he was being caught. He therefore smiled back at the gentleman. The gentleman was startled, with a surprised expression, but then smirked at Xia Yi. Xia Yi could only nod towards him and turned to look the other way. However, that man did not continue walking. He grinned. That man turned to tell his servants behind him something, then moved his foot towards the tea booth. He came before Xia Yi, made a bow with hands folded, ¡°I am Yu Cheng Zhi. It¡¯s a chance encounter for me to meet you here. May I have the pleasure to know your beautiful name?¡± Xia Yi was flabbergasted. Whether it is the term ¡®beautiful name¡¯ he had used, or the fact that this man came up to talk to him, Xia Yi could not respond to either. Yu ChengZi sized up Xia Yi and carried on with his speech, ¡°The tea here is rustic. Let¡¯s not make your delicate palates suffer. May I have the pleasure to invite you to the House of the Golden Phoenix for a humble meal to show my respects?¡± Is this¡­ is this guy hitting on him? Xia Yi was still in the shock of encountering this kind of situation for the first time and could not reply. Yu ChengZi grinned with confidence. He spread the folding fan in his hand to fan himself, ¡°Even though I don¡¯t have bejeweled nectar, I can still provide you with some wine. This place is too unsophisticated for a ger with a lovely face as pretty as a blooming flower like yours.¡± ¡°1¡­179, am I being hit on?¡± Several bombs exploded in Xia Yi¡¯s mind with approaching rumblings. Fuckfuckfuckfuck! ¡°Yes, Host.¡± 179 said with rage. ¡°Pah, how dare he think he can mess around with gers only because he has a few stinky coins? We gers are not so easy for these lechers.¡± 179 could not help but ran, carelessly revealing the fact that it had been scanning Lady Li and her friends again for the previous couple of days. With immense willpower, Xia Yi finally oppressed the shock in his mind. He only wanted to send this person away and hence said, ¡°No, I am waiting for someone here. Please help yourself somewhere.¡± Yu ChengZi was so sure that he would be able to pick up Xia Yi. He obviously did not expect this reply from him and staggered, but he did not seem to budge. He simply lifted up the lower hem of his clothes and sat down. He faced Xia Yi and said, ¡°You¡¯ve just nodded to acknowledge me. If I did not give an invitation, it would be a letdown to your kindness.¡± He even raised one of his eyebrows after saying so and smirked at Xia Yi, curling his lips. This instant reminded Xia Yi of some womanizer on the television. Inside his mind, Xia Yi was starting to have a wave of emotions, ¡®Hasn¡¯t he been punched before?¡¯ Yu ChengZi did not know of Xia Yi¡¯s agitation, thus said with one of his brows raised and a grin on his face, ¡°You mentioned that you are waiting for someone. May I ask who that someone is?¡± ¡°I said I am waiting for someone! I am waiting for my husband!¡± Xia Yi was annoyed; his mind as a straight man was irritated. Right after he finished talking, the breathing sounds of the horses of the carriage were heard nearby, followed by Gu Wen Zhu calling out, ¡°Yi, let¡¯s go.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was back with an empty carriage and slowly parked the carriage beside the tea booth. Upon spoting Yi ChengZi and Xia Yi, sensing the weird atmosphere among them, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face showed some visible confusion. Xia Yi saw the uncertain expression of Yu ChengZi¡¯s. At this point, he could only bite the bullet and said, ¡°My love, you came.¡± He did not even look at Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face, just walked up to him without any deviation. Yu ChengZi¡¯s smile faded away, sitting there unmoved with a scowl on his face. Xia Yi arrived at the side of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s. He was even considering whether he needed to hold Gu Wen Zhu¡®s arm and put his head onto his shoulder. ¡°Over the top, it¡¯s over the top. It¡¯s not good to act too much. It will only look rigid.¡± 179 immediately intervened. Gu Wen Zhu could guess part of the story in view of this situation. He stood beside the carriage, eyeing Yu ChengZi coldly. When he saw Xia Yi approaching, he reached out to help Xia Yi onto the carriage. Anger rose in Yu ChengZi instantly, he gave his two servants an eye gesture. The two servants nodded and walked towards the carriage. One of them cupped one hand in the other before his chest and said to Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Mister, the gentleman would like to invite this ger to have a meal.¡± After saying so, the other servant directly stretched out his arm to pull Xia Yi from the carriage. However, when he had only extended his arm for an inch, without even touching Xia Yi¡¯s sleeve, the servant had been kicked by Gu Wen Zhu and flew away. He fell and hit himself hard onto the wooden pillar on the street. Blood came out from the servant¡¯s mouth at once. Then he kept coughing and could not get up. Seeing this, the other servant gave a loud shout and hit Gu Wen Zhu in the face with his fist. Gu Wen Zhu did not dodge. He just straightly used his hand to hold the attacking fist in midair and twisted. Along with a shout of pain, a sound of cracking rang from the servant¡¯s shoulder. The servant¡¯s joint on the shoulder had already been displaced and his arm was hanging powerlessly. Yu ChengZi was furious. He heavily hit the table and stood up. Before he could walk up to Gu Wen Zhu, he saw his sharp glance. A chill creeped up on him at that moment, making him unable to move. Ignoring the two crying servants and Yu ChengZi, Gu Wen Zhu jumped onto the carriage and swung his whip. The carriage headed towards the west of the city. There were sounds of clip-clops with horseshoes hitting the stone road. Neither of the two of them made a sound. Xia Yi felt as if he had caused trouble for Gu Wen Zhu and did not even dare to make a breathing sound. After travelling for a while, Gu Wen Zhu suddenly started to mumble with a hint of anger in his voice at the time when Xia Yi was still thinking about what to say, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid when you encounter this kind of thing next time. I will protect you no matter what. I will not let others take advantage of you.¡± Xia Yi was stupefied for a second. He felt touched. He was planning to say something like he had nothing to let people take advantage of, but then he remembered he was now in a perverted world. In this world, am I not supposed to be the one who lets people take advantage of them? Xia Yi therefore just made a sound obediently. But a few moments later he said excitedly, ¡°Zhu, you are so good. Your moves just now were amazing.¡± Then he made a few gestures with his arms. Gu Wen Zhu did not reply. Xia Yi did not care either and began to look afar, zoning out. He shook his head after some time and said, ¡°It seems that I am quite attractive unexpectedly.¡± Gu Wen Zhu: ¡­ Gu Wen Zhu stopped the carriage at a clearing and handed the carriage over to a child to let him lead the horses to feed them. Then Gu Wen Zhu brought Xia Yi to eat. ¡°Zhu, where are we going to eat at? I saw the House of the Golden Phoenix when I was at the tea booth. That looked nice.¡± ¡°That is too expensive. Only rich people go there to hold feasts. We can go and have a few dishes at the House of Martial Arts.¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ The House of Martial Arts is not a martial club but a restaurant for real? The House of Martial Arts was a restaurant for real, and the business was booming. Xia Yi seated himself. Gu Wen Zhu ordered some pig¡¯s head meat, sauteed chicken, and diced lotus root. He looked at Xia Yi in front of him, then he further ordered some red braised pork belly and four Panini di Asino. The waiter speedily ran around and shouted to the kitchen. The dishes were being put on the table after some time. Xia Yi was astonished. The dishes were different from the delicate dishes in the real world nowadays. Here, they just served you a huge serving in a big bowl. Every bowl was full of food. So Xia Yi let go and started to eat. He ate happily, his lips glossed with oil from the food. The men and gers around peeped at him. Xia Yi¡¯s appetite startled the gers. Gu Wen Zhu finished first, then he pulled a weighty small cloth bag and threw it to Xia Yi, ¡°This is your share.¡± Xia Yi hurriedly swallowed the red pork belly in his mouth and declined, speaking unclearly, ¡°Zhu, you provide me food and shelter, how can I accept this?¡± Gu Wen Zhu waved, ¡°You keep this. Don¡¯t you have no money for makeup. We can talk about other things later.¡± Xia Yi: Makeup???!!! Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi¡¯s shocked expression, and said to him, ¡°There is a beauty store across the street. You can go buy some after a while. I heard that the gers and the women from our village bought theirs there.¡± Xia Yi shook his head like crazy, ¡°No no, I really don¡¯t need it.¡± He swallowed all the red pork belly in his mouth and said sincerely, ¡°Zhu you don¡¯t need to worry about this. I never wear makeup. Not before, not now, not ever.¡± Seeing him this determined, Gu Wen Zhu nodded and said no more. He felt even more pity for Xia Yi. Right, this ger had nearly been starved to death in the past. He was never well fed and only had food on his mind all the time. How would he be in the mood to dress up? If he does not need it then so be it. I think he looks quite decent this way. If he wants it in the future, I¡¯ll just bring him here by then. After finishing the meal, the two went to buy some necessities. On the way, Xia Yi also bought onion and fennel seeds. By the time they had bought all the things they needed, the sky was already all dark on their way home. The moonlight was shining in the quiet and beautiful night. The soft breeze brushed their faces. Step by step, the horses walked on the road which was leading them back to the village. In this rhythmic sound, Xia Yi¡¯s head inclined involuntarily, with half of an unfinished roasted pork in his hand, his head rested on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s shoulder and he fell asleep. Gu Wen Zhu tilted his head to look at Xia Yi. He carefully took the roasted pork from his hand and pulled out an outer shirt from the baggage aside to drape it over Xia Yi¡¯s shoulder. He then straightened the collar of the outer shirt for him. With a slight swing of the riding whip, they continued to go forward in the night. CH 9 Xia Yi began to loosen the soil, preparing to plant the fennel and onion seeds. This 25 points of land had just sprouted potatoes which had made the soil soft and loose. Xia Yi spent a morning finishing the job, with the heaps of soil lining up side by side. ¡°179, fennel and onion are not a main food. How am I gonna finish eating all these? It¡¯s not like they sell well either.¡± System, ¡°Host, the main system set the mission contents, I am just the one who announces them.¡± Xia Yi felt a little uneasy. Who knew if the main system would announce missions requesting some weird things after this? These systems were not to be trusted. They all seemed to have been infected by viruses. ¡°179, why don¡¯t you go and discuss with the main system and have some rice or wheat farming mission next time?¡± ¡°This is not possible. Host. The main system does not randomly assign the missions. They are all written according to the results of numerous data studies and analyses. But Host, you can rest assured. Every mission requires only normal plants to be farmed.¡± System added. Xia Yi could only nod and said, ¡°Alright. As long as you don¡¯t request me to farm some ganoderma or herbs that bring people back from the dead.¡± System did not make a sound. Xia Yi was alerted by the reaction of the system, ¡°Why are you not talking? You didn¡¯t answer my question. Do you have something to hide?¡± ¡°No, I lagged for a bit just now. The system nearly went down.¡± System replied with an unsteady voice. The weather was great for farming. There was no rain nor a hot sun. Gu Wen Zhu came to the farmland as well. The area he was going to farm was very large, he therefore did not plan to go home at noon. He was up before dawn and had made a few flapjacks. Despite the ones that had been eaten during breakfast, Gu Wen Zhu had taken a few from the remaining ones. Everything left was saved for Xia Yi¡¯s lunch. The flapjacks smelled appetizing and tasted exceptionally good when they were fresh and hot. However, they had become cold and rigid at noon. Thinking of Gu Wen Zhu having to eat cold flapjacks after working for the whole morning, Xia Yi felt bad for him. So, he planned to make a pot of hot porridge and fry some preserved meat with salted vegetables to send to him. ¡°179, how about we try this?¡± Xia Yi rolled up his sleeves and entered the kitchen, eager to try it out. ¡°It¡¯s possible. After the previous experience, I have already downloaded a few farmhouse food cookbooks. I¡¯ve even looked up some tricks for starting a stove fire. I am ready.¡± System did not mess around at key moments. After an hour, smoke came out from the chimney on top of the roof, a delicious fragrance wafted from the kitchen. At noon, Xia Yi happily put a dish of preserved meat with salted vegetables and a bowl of porridge into the lunch box. Thinking that the food did not look good, Xia Yi pulled a few chopped scallions and spread them on the meat. He walked in the ridges carrying the lunch box, seeing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s busy figure from afar. Gu Wen Zhu spotted Xia Yi. He threw away the hoe and walked towards this way. ¡°Quick, try it. Is it good?¡± Xia Yi opened the lunch box and passed the chopsticks to Gu Wen Zhu. He took Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s flapjacks and broke them into pieces to soak them in the porridge. ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± Gu Wen Zhu ate voraciously. While eating, he extended his hand to wipe away the dust on Xia Yi¡¯s nose, ¡°Yi, how did you learn to cook?¡± ¡°I saw it a few times and learned.¡± There was no chance for Xia Yi to tell that he was taught by 179. Gu Wen Zhu had gulped in the whole set of lunch, making Xia Yi feel very encouraged. He was beginning to have an interest for cooking that he had never had before. When he arrived home, he went directly into the kitchen to study all kinds of food. During night time, right after the last dish was out, the entrance had been pushed open. Gu Wen Zhu was back. He did not enter on arrival but stood in front of the kitchen door with a smile on his face, with his hands behind him. He stared at Xia Yi, not saying one word. Xia Yi felt awkward from the stare, and therefore eyed Gu Wen Zhu in confusion. He suddenly went around to look at Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s back, then his sight met a pair of dark little eyes. Gu Wen Zhu was holding a small bamboo basket with a petit fluffy puppy in it. Its fur was soft and black. An endearing tiny nose stood in the middle of its face. Those bright eyes were staring at Xia Yi unmistakably. Xia Yi screamed in surprise and quickly scooped the puppy out. He used his finger to touch the tip of its nose. The puppy reached out its small paws to hug the finger and lick it, making a couple of cute bark. Xia Yi¡¯s heart nearly melted. He asked in astonishment, ¡°Where¡¯s he from?¡± ¡°Old Zhang¡¯s dog gave birth a while ago. I told him to pick one and save it for me. Today the puppy is two months old, so I brought it back.¡± Gu Wen Zhu extended his hand to pat the dog too, his eyes, however, were looking at Xia Yi. Xia Yi hurriedly fetched a bowl of rice with potatoes. He smashed the potatoes, and added some meat sauce. He brought the bowl to the front of the puppy. The puppy sniffed it with its nose, then started taking big bites. ¡°Slowly, it¡¯s all yours.¡± Xia Yi crouched down to watch the puppy eat, his heart filled with joy. He had been wanting to keep a pet dog before the transmigration, but he was always afraid of not treating it well and made the dog suffer with him. This time getting to have it with Gu Wen Zhu was a form of wish fulfillment for him. ¡°Zhu, why don¡¯t you name the pup?¡± ¡°Little Black?¡± After a thoughtful moment, frowning, he pronounced a name with a serious look. ¡°It needs to be stronger.¡± ¡°Big Black?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was thinking hard again. ¡°We have a few dogs called Big Black in the village. If we have to call him back home to eat, all the Big Blacks won¡¯t be able to tell who¡¯s calling who.¡± ¡°Black Skin?¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at Xia Yi without confidence. ¡­Why do you have to put the word ¡°black¡± in it? What¡¯s your obsession with it? At the end, Xia Yi named the dog, Kirin. ¡°People in the village will make fun of a mutt called Kirin.¡± Gu Wen Zhu gazed at the happy eating mutt thinking, then he thought, ¡®Screw it, Yi likes it. Let¡¯s call it Kirin.¡¯ ¡°Kirin, Kirin, from now on your name is Kirin. You know that?¡± Xia Yi lifted the puppy and spoke. The puppy made a couple of cute sounds in response. Kirin had filled its belly and sniffed around in the house. It sniffed below the cupboard, intending to pee there with one of its hind legs up. Gu Wen Zhu straightly picked it up and took it outside. In the central room at night, the candles were lighting the room bright. Gu Wen Zhu sat on top of a pile of bamboo weaving a bamboo basket. His flexible fingers flipping the bamboo slices, the bamboo slowly took the formation of a round frame in his hands. Kirin went through the pile of bamboo slices merrily, barking, biting and digging. Xia Yi sat on the side watching Gu Wen Zhu weaving, sometimes using his hand to pet Kirin. Somehow, he began to pay attention to the side of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face and was dazed. Gu Wen Zhu had a sharp face structure, strong and profound, with a prominent nose. His straight eyebrows slanting upwards going into the hair on his temples, looking incredibly handsome. Xia Yi felt his heart leaping. He went to the kitchen to look for a few pieces of charcoal in the stove. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu had not noticed, he started to draw the side of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face on the ground. In the world that he came from, he was an artist with some fame. With a few strokes, a lively good-looking man in ancient clothes appeared. Let¡¯s add the eyes¡­ Zhu has a sharp outline around the eyes, the eyelashes are thick¡­those eyes are gentle¡­ Then let¡¯s draw the top of his eyebrows¡­ the brows that slanted upwards¡­ Followed by the lips¡­ Zhu has thin lips¡­ and the shape of his lips is sexy¡­ ¡°Host, I detected your heart racing.¡± 179 voiced out all of a sudden, Xia Yi nearly dropped the charcoal in his hand. ¡°That¡¯s because I haven¡¯t been drawing for a really long time. I have become so exciting that I could not help it.¡± Xia Yi calmly replied. ¡°Host. Why are you blushing?¡± ¡°I said I was too excited. Why are you system asking me all these useless things? If you have nothing to do, just go scan around the side of the stream. Don¡¯t interrupt me here.¡± Xia Yi was beginning to get angry out of embarrassment. ¡°There is no way I am going to scan those people. Do I look like such a boring system? I just focus and stay by your side.¡± When Xia Yi mentioned this, 179 became slightly too excited and could not control itself, the temperature of its processor was climbing. ¡°Right, it¡¯s night, there¡¯s nobody along the stream.¡± Xia Yi showed no respect and said coldly. Gu Wen Zhu noticed Xia Yi spending half a day drawing on the ground. Xia Yi would usually talk all the time. Yet, he did not make a sound tonight. In view of this, Gu Wen Zhu put aside the bamboo basket in his hands. He walked up then headed down to look. With a clearer view, Gu Wen Zhu now knew that Xia Yi was using the charcoal to draw. In the picture, there was a tall man weaving a bamboo basket. The man had been drawn in a delicate way with a face filled with life. Even the hair on the side of his face was drawn clearly one by one. There was a pile of bamboo slices on his side, an adorable small black puppy rolling among the bamboo. This was obviously he himself. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face started to heat up as if he was having a fever. His heart pounding loudly. His fingers on both sides uncontrollably bent and his Adam¡¯s apple contracted a few times. Gu Wen Zhu said, ¡°It¡¯s a nice drawing.¡± His voice sounded dry, then he cleared his throat and added, ¡°Yi, this is a nice drawing of yours.¡± Xia Yi heard Gu Wen Zhu. He could not figure out why he did not have the guts to look up at him. He just kept his head down and made a sound to acknowledge it, unconsciously scratching the charcoal in his hand. The two stayed in silence for a while. Gu Wen Zhu gently took Xia Yi¡¯s hand, straightened his fingers to open his palm. He took the charcoal, placing it onto the ground, then used one wet towel to repeatedly rub the dirt in his palm. Both of them did not speak. The air almost seemed like it had frozen. Xia Yi just watched Gu Wen Zhu rubbing his palm, with utterly confused emotions deep down. ¡°Ruf. Ruf.¡± Kirin¡¯s barf had broken the silence in the room, bringing Xia Yi ¡®s focus back. He immediately took back his hand, mumbled, ¡°I am going to bed.¡± Then swiftly went into the bedroom. In the dark, Xia Yi was lying in bed, dazing at the top of the bed, with a confused mind. ¡°Host, you are weird tonight.¡± 179 was trying to use its voice to test him. ¡°I am thinking about the picture just now. I haven¡¯t finished drawing Kirin yet.¡± Xia Yi answered straight away. It was weird. Or else why would he not tell 179 about the fact that he was troubled by the awkward feelings just now? Oh, Xia Yi, don¡¯t you start believing that you are a woman just because you are a ger in this perverted world. Remember this. You are a straight man with an unyielding will. Whatever. Don¡¯t think about it. Sleep. CH 10 The next day, Xia Yi started sowing the seeds. He divided the land into two sides, farming fennel on one side, farming onions on the other. He had finished farming that 25 points of land within an hour. Brushing off the soil on his hands, he planned to go back to make lunch and send it to Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s land. Right when he was turning around, he saw Mr. Wang from the village running towards him from afar, followed by a bunch of kids. Mr. Wang stopped nearby, said to Xia Yi breathlessly, ¡°Gu¡­ Gu Wen Zhu has been taken¡­ by the authorities.¡± Xia Yi felt a chill rising from the bottom of his foot. He shouted uncontrollably, ¡°Gu Wen Zhu was taken by the authorities? Why? Are you sure that¡¯s Gu Wen Zhu?¡± Mr. Wang was still panting, those kids around him started adding remarks into the discussion, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Zhu. The authorities chained him and took him.¡± They then made gestures of their hands being cuffed. ¡°Where have they taken him to?¡± Xia Yi¡¯s pitch had altered due to his anxiety. ¡°The officers brought him to the government office.¡± ¡°Do you know the charge?¡± ¡°No. The officers just said something like picking quarrels and beating people.¡± That¡¯s not too bad. It¡¯s not some big deal such as killing or robbery. Xia Yi collected himself and ran towards home. Once he entered the house, Kirin came up to him affectionately. Xia Yi did not have the mood for it though. He dashed into the room directly, pulled out a cloth for packing and began to stuff things in. ¡°We need to pack in the money bag. My money is not enough. Zhu has some money in the box. Take all of them. It may come in handy if we need to buy some officers over.¡± Xia Yi was packing and murmuring to remind himself not to panic. Gu Wen Zhu had never avoided being seen by Xia Yi whenever he put money into the little box using his keys. Therefore, Xia Yi knew where to fetch the money. There were some silver and plated copper inside, as well as a few whole silver ingots. Xia Yi simply threw them all into the baggage. Then he packed in a set of clothes for changing. He asked Mr. Wang, who had followed him back home, to look after Kirin, then carried the baggage and went out. ¡°Bring some food and water as well.¡± System gave him the reminder. Xia Yi brought with him several steamed bread and water, taking the wooden stick that was with him in his fleeing days. He closed the door and headed towards the city. ¡°Gu Wen Zhu has kidnapped girls and hid them in his basement. He has robbed a few boxes of gold from the rich and has killed two servants. He is wanted by the authorities!¡± As soon as he exited the village, 179¡¯s sharp voice rang in high pitch, with a hint of excitement. Xia Yi was flabbergasted, ¡°Who said that?¡± ¡°Those women washing clothes along the stream.¡± 179 answered. Xia Yi was irritated: ¡­Could you please not add to the chaos right now? After travelling for some time in anxiety, Xia Yi looked in front of him and began to think: There are still miles away from the city. As we don¡¯t have any means of transportation except a pair of feet, who knows how long it¡¯s going to take. If we don¡¯t get there in time to pay the officers, Gu Wen Zhu might get beaten. Xia Yi looked around, then he remembered the hill Gu Wen Zhu carried him through to go fish-catching. He decided to take a shortcut. Climbing up the mountain, the forest was all silent, only the tweeting of the birds and the rustling of the leaves could be heard. Xia Yi supported himself with the wooden stick, carrying the baggage with him, sweating and advancing the mountain trail. Even though it was called a mountain trail, it was just a side road opened up by the woodmen, only visible here and there, getting narrower and steeper on the way and extremely hard to climb. Xia Yi had never walked roads like this before and, not long after, could no longer move on. He leaned on a big tree, out of his breath. ¡°179, this body is too weak. It can¡¯t even withstand walking this much. Before this, I could run a few 800 meters without panting.¡± He rested for a while, having some strength restored. Looking at the tortuous road up the mountain top, Xia Yi let out a long breath and prepared to go all the way uphill. He was going to leave the tree that he was leaning on. At the moment when he was holding tight to the wooden stick to straighten himself, the rock under his foot became loose, then he tripped down all of a sudden. Xia Yi staggered, failing to hold his stance, he fell onto the slope and lost his wooden stick. He panicked and extended his hand to grasp something unsuccessfully, he slipped and rolled downhill along the slope with the rocks. ¡°Ahhhhhh¡­179¡­¡± ¡°Ahhhhhh¡­Host¡­¡± Xia Yi screamed. He rolled down with a few rocks for around twenty meters. Then the rolling finally stopped. When his feet reached the solid ground, Xia Yi, still in shock, immediately stood up to check around him. It was a deep gorge, one side was surrounded by the walls of the hill, which was more than ten feet tall. There was a cliff in front of the gorge. Although the walls of the hill were slopes, they were too slippery with wet moss growing on them and there were no other things attached to these walls. Xia Yi tried to mount the walls and gave up. The walls were slick and Xia Yi could not hold onto it. He could not even move up a bit. He started to shout out for help, ¡°Anyone? Help¡­¡± There was only his own echo among the empty valleys. Xia Yi cried out for some time. The sound he produced decayed. Then he sat down in frustration, ¡°179, what should I do? I can¡¯t get out. I am stuck here. What would happen to Zhu? Will he be beaten?¡± 179, do you have a way to help me out? I can do extra missions for it.¡± ¡°Host, I have no way to get you out.¡± 179 sounded depressed as well. Xia Yi held his knees with his hands, dazing into the sky. What should he do? ¡­ Time glided past. The sky darkened. The cawing crows were flying back home. Xia Yi buried his head between his legs, unmoved. He had been keeping this position for a really long time. ¡°Host, let¡¯s eat something.¡± 179 reminded him. Xia Yi slowly shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡± He had already tried multiple times. The moss covering his body and hands. If there were no one up there to save him, he could only keep being stuck down here. This damned farming world. I can¡¯t even use a phone to call 911. ¡­ Xia Yi had been woken up by a wave of thunder. He was somehow asleep, and he was not sure how long he had slept. When he opened his eyes, it¡¯s already pitch dark. Right after that, drops of rain swirled down. They touched the leaves and the grass and made rustling sounds, followed by even heavier rain. The valley was full of the tapping sounds of the rain. The temperature lowered drastically in the valley. Xia Yi had become all wet, his clothes sticking onto his body. A breeze of wind passed by, making Xia Yi¡¯s teeth chattered. He had only had breakfast today. Now his stomach was beginning to gurgle. He was so hungry that he felt as if his chest was going to touch his back. Xia Yi opened the baggage, trembling, he fumbled to find the steamed bread. The steamed bread was soaking in water and had become gooey. He then used his fingers to hold the gooey substances and ate it with the rain. ¡°179, if no one ever comes, will I starve and die trapped here?¡± Xia Yi leaned on the walls of the hill and murmured. ¡°Host, you have to hang on. Someone will come for us tomorrow.¡± 179¡¯s robot voice sounded a little concerned. ¡°Is that so? No one knows I fell here. They all think that I¡¯ve gone to the city to find Zhu.¡± Xia Yi closed his eyes, resting his head on the wall, ¡°I wonder what¡¯s going on with Zhu. When he¡¯s out and finds that I and the money is missing, how would he think of me? He might think that I am stealing all his money and ran away after he was arrested.¡± He slided down along the wall and sat on the ground. Then he held his knees. ¡°179, if I die, will I go back to my world?¡± Xia Yi stared at the dark sky afar with dull light in his eyes, ¡°If I die, I hope Zhu can find me quickly, then he will know I haven¡¯t run away.¡± Then he shook his head, ¡°Never mind, he will feel sad when he finds me dead, just let him think that I ran away.¡± ¡°Host, the woodmen and the hunters will pass by tomorrow. Don¡¯t give up.¡± 179 consolated Xia Yi. ¡°But Zhu will be punished tomorrow¡­ I don¡¯t even know how bad they will beat him.¡± Xia Yi closed his eyes in the rain. ¡­ ¡°Host! Host! Someone¡¯s here!¡± 179 suddenly shouted, ¡°Quick, quick, quick, quickly get up, someone¡¯s here.¡± Straightly after that, he heard someone calling from above, ¡°Yi¡­ Xia Yi¡­¡± Xia Yi looked up quickly. It¡¯s Zhu! It¡¯s Zhu¡¯s voice! Zhu has not been taken and came for him. ¡°I am here¡­ Zhu, I am here¡­¡± Xia Yi¡¯s voice was hoarse. It was so dry as if he had swallowed a handful of sand. He coughed, then responded loudly. Not long after, a rope dangled from the wall of the hill beside him. With a lantern hanging on his back, Gu Wen Zhu slid down slowly. As soon as he reached the bottom of the gorge, Gu Wen Zhu wiped off the rain from his face. He stared at the miserable looking Xia Yi. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s chest was moving slightly up and down as he breathed. He walked up and held Xia Yi in his arms. Xia Yi stretched out to hold Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s back, choking with sobs, ¡°I heard that they have taken you¡­ I went to find you¡­¡± ¡°I know I know, Mr. Wang said you came for me.¡± Gu Wen Zhu held Xia Yi tightly, with a hint of uneasiness after great shock, mumbled, ¡°I am fine.¡± Xia Yi had Gu Wen Zhu in his arms, feeling his warmth and strong arms, making him feel safe and downhearted at the same time. Sobs had been added to his voice while speaking, ¡°I am cold and hungry and worried about you. I didn¡¯t know when someone would pass through. I thought I was going to die down here.¡± ¡°You are not going to die. I¡¯ll find you no matter what.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said with his husky voice. What he did not tell Xia Yi is that when he was told that Xia Yi had come for him and no one had met Xia Yi on his way back from the city, he became extremely anxious. When he saw Xia Yi¡¯s lost wooden stick lying on the trail, he was down in the dumps, feeling cold and lost, until he heard Xia Yi¡¯s voice shouting back from the gorge. The rain stopped at some point. The two of them climbed back up from the gorge to go back home. Seeing Xia Yi¡¯s legs trembling, Gu Wen Zhu carried him on his back. ¡°I am starving.¡± Xia Yi lied on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s firm and warm back. He could not hold back his complaints anymore. ¡°Let¡¯s quickly get back home and make you something to eat.¡± Gu Wen Zhu gently comforted Xia Yi. ¡°My knees got rubbed by the walls of the hills. It hurts.¡± Being cared for by somebody felt so good. ¡°We will see if they are bleeding. If so, we will use some herbs on them.¡± Gu Wen Zhu accelerated his pace. ¡°My legs feel so tired.¡± Xia Yi stretched the nasal sounds in a slightly affectionate tone. ¡°I¡¯ll help massage them when we get back.¡± CH 11 Gu Wen Zhu began to explain it to him. Last time after they bumped into Yu ChengZi in the city, Yu ChengZi still could not let go of his anger when he got back. He was unable to stomach the insult. Therefore he held a feast with three officers invited. He told them to make up some reasons to take Gu Wen Zhu, hold him for a few days and beat him. Luckily, some officers in the government knew Gu Wen Zhu. They found out the plot and reported the incident to the county magistrate. With the permission of the county magistrate, they brought a few men to wait on the road. They collared those people who were keeping Gu Wen Zhu and released him after interrogation. Concerning the three officers, they had been brought back to see the county magistrate and would have to beg for relief of punishment. After arriving home, since Xia Yi had been scared, tired and exposed to the cold wilderness, he got sick and coughed for more than half a month. Gu Wen Zhu started a fire and cooked herbs in front of the stove for him daily. Whenever Gu Wen Zhu heard someone was killing a pig in the village, he would hurry his way to buy a few catties and stew it. He also caught fish and made soup for Xia Yi a few times. With Xia Yi falling ill, he had gained a few pounds under the care of Gu Wen Zhu. Kirin had been eating all kinds of pork or fish with rice. He had grown into half the size of an adult dog. His fur reflected the sunlight and glimmered. He followed Xia Yi around to urge him to play with him every day. Without even noticing, the fennel on the land matured. There were only half of the 25 points land of fennel, Gu Wen Zhu spent a morning harvesting all 300 catties. ¡°Host, the 9000 catties of fennels, which were equivalent to 3 acres of land of production, were stored in the system space as requested.¡± ¡°Congratulations host, you have accomplished half of the mission.¡± 179 said with excitement. The mission interface appeared in Xia Yi¡¯s mind. ¡°Mission description: Achieve Foundation Establishment Stage, and get a spirit animal. Completion 1/2 Award 1 Foundation Establishment Pack.¡± ¡°Could I claim the rewards with half of the mission accomplished?¡± Although the mission rewards were useless, having them was still better than receiving nothing. Those were still rewards in the end. ¡°Host, the rewards can only be released when 2/2 completion is achieved.¡± Xia Yi casually nodded. Alright. In the evening, Gu Wen Zhu was cooking dinner. Xia Yi was eating a pear in the yard and letting Kirin have a few bites, ¡°Kirin, I have given you the wrong name. You should be called the ferocious beast. Is there anything you don¡¯t eat?¡± Kirin, eating the pear, made a few sounds in discontent. The dinner was ready. A small table was put before Xia Yi. Next, that extra-large bowl appeared on the table. It was filled with noodles and two poached eggs on top of it. Gu Wen Zhu seated himself before Xia Yi. The two of them started to eat. Xia Yi held the noodles with chopsticks and slurped them in. While he was still chewing the noodles in his mouth, he picked up the poached egg to take a big bite. His mouth was stuffed with food. He had a few chews with the content in his mouth, then he used the chopsticks to hold the noodles again. Xia Yi was intending to put those noodles into his mouth, but then he halted his motion together with the pair of chopsticks. Gu Wen Zhu had already put down his bowl and chopsticks and was looking at him with a tender gaze. Xia Yi slowly came to his senses, realizing his voracious eating manner of stuffing food into his mouth was hideous. Ahhhhh. A sense of embarrassment rose inside him. He swallowed the poached egg and maintained his composure. The noodles between his chopsticks slide back into the bowl. He silently slurped the noodles bit by bit. Knowing that Gu Wen Zhu was staring, Xia Yi lowered his head, face blushing. He could not even keep slurping the noodles and he even forgot to open his mouth. Gu Wen Zhu just grinned. He stopped gazing at Xia Yi. He held the bowl and started to take mouthfuls of noodles in. He said while he was eating, ¡°I just love to watch you eat. You seem to enjoy it so much and that makes me happy.¡± ¡°Host, why is your heartbeat accelerating?¡± 179 was alert all the time. ¡°Can I not feel excited because the noodles are too good?¡± Some of his embarrassment became annoyance, Xia Yi was wondering what had gone wrong with this system. He felt like he was being monitored discreetly by a parent to see if he was falling in love at an early age. Xia Yi was eating the noodles sluggishly. He peeked at Gu Wen Zhu and found that he was going to look this way. Xia Yi hurriedly lowered his head. What is wrong with me? Why do I become so nervous when he looks at me? Back when I was still living in the dorm, I wouldn¡¯t even have bothered even when I had been stared at by the dudes. What is wrong with me? Have I become assimilated in this perverted world? Ahhh, I do not want to look up. He is watching me again. ¡­ After harvesting the onions, System announced the completion of the second mission as well as the third mission. ¡°Mission description: Knowing the whereabouts of the Sect Leader. Completion 0/1 Award 1 Rare Gift Pack¡± Xia Yi: Whatever. Not only can I farm the whereabouts of the Sect Leader, even if they need ten whereabouts of the Sect Leader, I can farm them all out. ¡°What is the farming mission this time?¡± Xia Yi asked, ¡°Just cut to the chase and tell me the final number. You do not need to tell me those original ten or twenty acres of requirement.¡± ¡°25 points land of white radishes.¡± 179 sounded deflated. ¡°Just normal white radishes?¡± Xia Yi had some suspicions. ¡°Just normal.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Radishes were good, radishes were easy to farm and good for selling. Gu Wen Zhu had to send the fennel and onions harvested before to the military camp and also a few shops in order to sell them all. Xia Yi spent a day planting all the radishes. At sunset, he carried the hoe and went home, humming. By the time he arrived at the front door, he heard a woman¡¯s high-pitched laughter from inside. ¡°That¡¯s one of those bitches along the stream.¡± 179 did not even wait for Xia Yi to ask and answered immediately. Xia Yi pushed open the front door with a breeze of wind coming out, followed by Lady Li¡¯s loud voice, ¡°Yi, you¡¯re back. I¡¯ve been waiting for you.¡± ¡°Lady Li, what¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Yi smiled, with uncertainty in his mind. ¡°Come here, I have some good news for you.¡± Lady Li pulled him to sit in the shadow under the tree chummily. She also moved a chair to seat herself. With a confused face, Xia Yi looked at Gu Wen Zhu who was crossing his arms in the corridor. Gu Wen Zhu did not look back. He leaned on the wooden pillar with his head down, not saying a word. Lady Li held Xia Yi¡¯s hand and said with a smile, ¡°Yi, you are not a child anymore. You¡¯ve passed seventeen right?¡± Xia Yi nodded. This familiar introduction¡­ was exactly like what his relatives said when they came to his house to introduce him to some girls in his previous life. ¡°This time, I am here to tell you something good.¡± Lady Li pulled her chair nearer, ¡°I have a sister who wants me to find a ger for her son. Her family is wealthy. They have farmlands and houses. A ger marrying into this family will be able to enjoy their wealth¡­¡± ¡°179, is this not matchmaking? And she is getting me to marry into a family?¡± Xia Yi was shocked. ¡°Yes, Host, if you want to.¡± ¡°Lady Li, don¡¯t say no more. I am not suitable. You can find someone else.¡± Xia Yi quickly interrupted Lady Li¡¯s introduction. ¡°Yi, don¡¯t be shy. They want a ger with a clean background, ideally with simple family relationships and not with a lot of relatives.¡± Lady Li tried to convince him. Xia Yi was horrified deep down. He suddenly stood up, making the chair fall behind him and startled Lady Li. ¡°Lady Li, this is not about matching requirements, and I am not shy either. I¡­I won¡¯t get married. I have made a vow to never get married for my whole life.¡± Xia Yi spoke sincerely, stammering. He was almost going to make a vow on the spot. Gu Wen Zhu who had been keeping his head down, not saying one word standing in the corridor, looked at him unbelievably when he heard his vow, with a hint of disappointment in his eyes for a second. Lady Li was flabbergasted with her mouth opened, ¡°How could you not get married? How can a ger not get married? How are you supposed to get yourself through your heat?¡± ¡°He¡­Heat? What heat?¡± Xia Yi asked without a clue. ¡°How does a ger like you not know about a heat?¡± Lady Li said loudly, then she glared at Gu Wen Zhu and lowered her voice, ¡°A ger will have heats after sixteen.¡± ¡°179, why do I feel like this is¡­ is menstruation?¡± Xia Yi asked the system with confusion. ¡°Host, it¡¯s not menstruation.¡± 179¡¯s voice was flat and slow, with every word hitting Xia Yi hard, ¡°It¡¯s estrus.¡± ¡°E¡­Estrus?¡± There was as if a lightning had struck Xia Yi¡¯s head. ¡°Yes, estrus.¡± 179 repeated. ¡°You tell me, how are you gonna make it through your heat? Hm?¡± Lady Li was still trying to convince Xia Yi, but Xia Yi could no longer heard a word. There was this word rewinding in his mind, ¡°Estrus.¡± He knew about this, a lot of novels have this kind of setting, for example in ABO novels. However, was this not a farming novel? It was still okay that a third gender, ger, appeared, at the end of the day if he did not want to get pregnant no one could force him to, but this ¡®heat¡¯ thing? Xia Yi froze at the spot as if he had become a statue, not a word entered his mind. He just mechanically murmured with his mouth, ¡°No¡­I¡­no¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. Lady Li. If Yi does not want to get married, I can pick him some Herba Aqua Effugio.¡± Gu Wen Zhu cut in all of a sudden. ¡°Herba Aqua Effugio, that herb is so hard to pick. You can pick Herba Aqua Effugio?¡± Lady Li¡¯s sharp voice echoed. ¡°Yes, I will sort a way out to do that. Lady Li, you need not to worry about Yi.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said coldly, then turned away without looking at anyone and went back to his room. Lady Li stood up and brushed off the nonexistent dust from her body, then walked out without saying a thing. In the yard, there stood Xia Yi blankly who had been stunned by the fact about the heat. Xia Yi, ¡°What is Herba Aqua Effugio?¡± System, ¡°Herba Aqua Effugio can avoid gers from having their heat.¡± Xia Yi, ¡°Am I really in the world of a farming novel instead of a fantasy novel?¡± Gu Wen Zhu sat in the house, fixing his plow. There was a suppressed aura around him. Xia Yi sat down beside him with words stuck in his throat. ¡°Zhu, can you pick Herba Aqua Effugio for me?¡± Xia Yi lowered his eyes, scratching his fingers. Gu Wen Zhu did not reply for a while, making Xia Yi uneasy. With a stern face, Gu Wen Zhu stopped the job at hand. He looked down slightly without showing any emotions. His lips pursed to become a straight line. Just when Xia Yi thought Gu Wen Zhu was not going to agree, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s voice rang faintly, ¡°Aren¡¯t you not going to marry? I will find Herba Aqua Effugio for you. You do not have to worry.¡± As soon as he finished his sentence, Gu Wen Zhu put down his plow, pushed open the door of the yard and went outside. CH 12 ¡°179, Zhu looks really upset.¡± Xia Yi finally realized that there was something wrong with Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Help me to scan what he is doing.¡± ¡°He is at the stream. He is sitting on the stone doing nothing.¡± System replied. Xia Yi, whose mind was in turmoil, waited for Gu Wen Zhu in the house anxiously. After over two hours, footfalls approached from outside the yard. Xia Yi rushed to the corridor and waited. The front door was pushed open. Gu Wen Zhu came back with dew on him. He raised his head and saw Xia Yi, he was dazed for a second, then looked away. He walked past Xia Yi and went straight into his bedroom. Xia Yi stretched out to stop him, ¡°Zhu, why are you upset? We are both dudes, if you have something to say just say it.¡± ¡°We are both dudes?¡± Gu Wen Zhu suddenly chuckled in an ironic way, ¡°So you just think that we are both dudes. You have never thought about getting married and I¡¯m just¡­¡± He halted and spoke no more. Gu Wen Zhu gritted his teeth in agony, pushing away Xia Yi¡¯s arm, he went inside the room and shut the door. Xia Yi looked at the closed door, stupefied. Mixed feelings were fighting inside him. Is that what Zhu means? I think so, that kind of meaning. He thought he should feel scared, maybe alongside some resistance and disgust. In the end, this was a world where homosexuality was normal. However, he had been a straight guy standing firm for over twenty years¡­ but why did he have none of those feelings except nervousness and he even felt some sweetness in his heart? What¡¯s going on???!!! It was as if all the feelings in Xia Yi¡¯s heart had been sieved. He tossed and turned for the whole night. Sometimes he sighed and sometimes he laughed like an idiot. He rolled in bed with the blanket in his arms. ¡°Host, you make me feel scared.¡± 179 said. ¡°Alright alright, I am sleeping.¡± The next day, Xia Yi got up with a pair of dark circles around his eyes. He checked out the kitchen and found that Gu Wen Zhu was not there. Normally he would be there at this time every day, busy. He searched around. He could not find Gu Wen Zhu in the yard but all the farming utensils and the cow in the barn were still there. ¡°179, where did Zhu go?¡± Xia Yi asked System. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He went out before dawn and exited the village.¡± Maybe he is going to the city? But he tells me every time he goes there. Xia Yi was absent-minded all day long. He could not calm down even after checking up his beloved white radishes. If he was not standing in the field with the hoe supporting himself dazedly, he would be sitting in the ridge scratching the handle of the hoe dazedly. I seem to be not functioning right. He went back home to see if Gu Wen Zhu was back every once in a while. He kept waiting until the sky was dark, and there left only him in the yard. Xia Yi panicked greatly. Maybe he had been taken by the officers just like before or something like that happened? This idea instantly came to Xia Yi¡¯s mind, making his nerve tightened abruptly, ¡°No, I have to find him.¡± Just when he intended to go out to find Gu Wen Zhu, the son of Mr. Wang passed by in front of the front door. ¡°Yi, where are you going? The sun is already down.¡± ¡°I am going to find Zhu. I haven¡¯t been seeing him for the entire day.¡± ¡°Gu Wen Zhu, DaZhu and someone else went into the mountains to find Herba Aqua Effugio. Did you not know?¡± Wang asked in disbelief. ¡°Oh¡­I forgot.¡± ¡°Why are they picking Herba Aqua Effugio? That can only be found on the ChongMing Mountain. Those herbs only grow on the cliffs. What¡¯s in it for them to pick those herbs?¡± Wang shook his head and walked away. Xia Yi was stunned, then he closed the front door and went back into the house. At night, Xia Yi stayed focused to listen to any noise outside. Whenever he heard footfalls from the other side of the yard¡¯s wall, he would stand up to hear every sound carefully. Nevertheless, those footsteps were always moving away from the house. ¡°It sounds dangerous to pick that herb. I shouldn¡¯t have requested for Herba Aqua Effugio.¡± Xia Yi laid his head on the bed, regretting and worrying. ¡°I don¡¯t want any herbs, I just want Zhu to come home safely.¡± The sun rose. The front door had not been opened by anyone. Gu Wen Zhu had not come back. Xia Yi, dejected, cooked himself something to eat. He sat on the chair in the yard, waiting for Gu Wen Zhu. Falling asleep involuntarily, he woke up and found that there was only him, and the door was still shut. When sunlight came from the west, he stood at the entrance of the village, looking afar. He stayed until it was dark, dew climbed up the bottom of his trouser legs silently, but Gu Wen Zhu was still not there. Zhu, please hurry and come back, I don¡¯t want that Herba Aqua Effugio anymore. Xia Yi regretted it very much. ¡­ Late at night, Gu Wen Zhu, DaZhu and another guy walked on the road back home. The three of them had picked four Herba Aqua Effugio. Gu Wen Zhu took one of them and let the other two sell the other ones. DaZhu¡¯s leg was hurt and limped on his way. Gu Wen Zhu was not too good either, he had scratches all over his back. However hard that was, he had successfully picked the herbs for Xia Yi. It was all worth it. The three of them chatted and stumbled their way to the entrance of the village. Everyone else in the village was asleep. The village was in complete silence. Only the bark of the dogs could be heard rarely. A figure rushed out from behind the large stone in front of them out of the blue and ran towards the guys. The three stopped their steps. Only when the figure was close enough for Gu Wen Zhu to see with the torch did they notice that person was Xia Yi. Xia Yi stopped in front of them and stared at Gu Wen Zhu directly. He eyed him all over and unexpectedly hugged him. Xia Yi¡¯s head lied on his chest, holding Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s waist tightly and started sobbing. Xia Yi¡¯s body was all cold. It seemed like he had been waiting at the entrance of the village for a long time. His clothes had already wet by the dew. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s heart was racing fiercely. He swallowed a few times along with the movement of his Adam¡¯s apple. Sluggishly, he also raised his arms to hold Xia Yi back, without being too forceful or too weak. DaZhu and the other guy made several faces to signal Gu Wen Zhu, then they left laughing and chatting. Xia Yi did not care if there were others around, he did not let go of Gu Wen Zhu, sobbing, ¡°I don¡¯t want Herba Aqua Effugio anymore, I only need you. Zhu, don¡¯t make me worried ever again. I don¡¯t need anything, I only need you.¡± Due to the wounds on his back, Gu Wen Zhu had a fever starting from that night. Xia Yi took care of him, not leaving him one step. He invited the doctor to see him, then he decocted the medicinal herbs for him. He also used a towel with cold water to scrub off the heat from his body bit by bit. When he saw the injuries deep and shallow on his back, Xia Yi¡¯s heart ached so much he felt like he was going to tremble. Gu Wen Zhu lied in bed, lips dried and chapped. His face was pale. He slightly opened his eyes to look at Xia Yi. Xia Yi leaned on the side of the bed with his head tilted. He gently picked up Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s huge hand and put it on his cheek. Gu Wen Zhu swallowed once, the lump on his throat moved up and down, and used his thumb to caress Xia Yi¡¯s face. ¡°179, I may have become gay.¡± ¡°Yes, I can tell. But you need to remember, gay or not, you still have to complete missions.¡± ¡­ Gu Wen Zhu was strong. His fever was gone before dawn. Within days, his wounds on his back were almost healed. During these days, the two of them had not talked, but they already knew what was on each other¡¯s mind. Whenever Xia Yi was busy in the house, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s would fix his eyes on him. It was so intense as if sparks would come out every time their eyes met. Even having a meal took forever between them, they would hold the food for each other with chopsticks, one would peel an egg for the other, and they would look at each other and laugh. The whole yard was surrounded by sweetness. This day, Gu Wen Zhu took a wooden box out and handed it to Xia Yi quietly, without saying one word. Xia Yi got hold of it in confusion. He opened it, ¡°Herba Aqua Effugio?¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded, pretending that he did not care, but discreetly checking out Xia Yi¡¯s expressions. Rather than herbs, this Herba Aqua Effugio looked more like Ganoderma, maybe it should be called the Fungus Aqua Effugio, soft and green. Xia Yi had it in his hand, looking at it thoroughly, then he put it back into the box and gave it to Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Sell it.¡± His face was blushing slightly. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes lightened when he heard him. He reached out to take the box. ¡°Host, are you ready to give birth to a child?¡± 179¡¯s voice rang suddenly. Xia Yi quivered and withdrew his extended arm. He stammered, ¡°I¡­I¡¯ll keep it meanwhile.¡± Seeing the light in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes dimmed, Xia Yi hurriedly added, ¡°No, no, that¡¯s not what I mean. I am¡­ I am just scared of #@$#&.¡± He said the last few syllables in a very low voice. ¡°Scared of what?¡± ¡°Scared of #@$#&.¡± Gu Wen Zhu: ¡­ He understood Xia Yi finally and cleared his throat, looking the other way, ¡°Actually, if you do not want to, we do not need to give birth to a child right away.¡± ¡°We can @#[email protected]%&.¡± Gu Wen Zhu lowered his voice and said, blushing faintly. ¡°We can what?¡± ¡°We can @#[email protected]%&.¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ At the end, Xia Yi kept that Herba Aqua Effugio. It was not that he did not believe Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s @#$&, he just needed to be prepared. Weren¡¯t all main character bottoms in those fantasy ABO novels with nobody around had to just grab someone who passed by during their estrus? In most of those novels, no, in all of those novels, that someone who passed by would become the main character. In this place, Xia Yi did not want anyone but Gu Wen Zhu to become that main character. What if Gu Wen Zhu was not around? Mr. Wang came to the yard every day. What if he had heat and grabbed Mr. Wang in his foggy mind? He had to be extra careful concerning these. He had to be prepared. After that period of time, he could then sell the Herba Aqua Effugio. ¡­ The white radishes had been growing bigger and bigger. Xia Yi had to remove some soil on the surface of a radish every day to check out how they had grown. 179 was extremely worried, ¡°You will kill them by removing the soil.¡± ¡°No, I just removed a little. I will cover them up right away.¡± ¡°Then you can¡¯t just do that to one radish. Every radish takes turns. I mean, how can you be so stupid? You are driving me nuts.¡± 179 was going crazy. ¡­ During the night, Xia Yi was sleeping deeply. All of a sudden, Kirin started to bark frantically. The sounds of people fighting came from the yard at the same time. Xia Yi had been awoken in a flash. He did not even have the time to wear shoes, grabbing the beggar stick from under the bed, and dashed out. CH 13 In the yard, there were three masked men in black and Gu Wen Zhu was fighting two of them in his underwear. The thigh of one of the men had been bitten and was being held by Kirin. It growled and pulled itself towards the corner. In view of the fact that Gu Wen Zhu was not losing even when he was fighting two men, Xia Yi felt much calmer. He discreetly moved to their back with his stick, then hit one of them hard in the joint of his leg. A crackling sound came out, and the man fell on his knees with a scream. Gu Wen Zhu hit the other man with a heavy punch right in his face at this instant. That man directly flew away and hit the wall of the yard. The man¡¯s body slid down the wall softly, unconscious. The one who had been bitten by Kirin was still yelling. Kirin was biting him with no intention of releasing him. Sometimes it even gritted its teeth. Every time Kirin gritted its teeth, that man would shout hoarsely. Even when he was only watching, Xia Yi could almost feel the pain. At this moment, the front door was knocked open. A lot of villagers rushed in with sticks in their hands, ¡°Thieves? Are there thieves?¡± The enthusiastic Mr. Wang rushed in the very front, raising a copper bed pan. Mr. Wang circled in front of the three men. He hit one of them with his bed pan, shouted, ¡°Tie them up, report them.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t don¡¯t don¡¯t, don¡¯t report us.¡± Begged the one who was hit to the ground by Xia Yi¡¯s stick. Upon hearing this voice, Gu Wen Zhu stepped forward to pull the mask off the man¡¯s face. ¡°I see these officers are coming to my house to steal in the middle of the night.¡± These guys were the officers who were bought by Yu Cheng Zhi to take Gu Wen Zhu. They were stopped in front of the city gate and were reported to the county magistrate. Those three wanted to earn some money from Yu Cheng Zhi. However, not only did that fail to happen, they had also been punished by the county magistrate. Their salaries of that month had been taken away from them. They had been turned out of the county office and could never be officers again. These made them become revengeful. After discussion, they decided to come to Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s house tonight to steal everything and kidnapped Xia Yi for some money. Nevertheless, they never expected that big black dog to be this ferocious. The dog did not make a sound while they were climbing the walls. He waited until they landed and pounced on them, barking frantically as well as worrying them. It was unfortunate. With their explanations heard, no matter how hard they begged, the villagers cooperated to tie them up on a carriage and sent them to see the county magistrate. He never would have thought that the tiny incident that happened before would trigger this wave of troubles. Xia Yi could not help but grumble for half a day in front of Gu Wen Zhu. In the end, he shook his head and said, ¡°I really am the Helen of Troy.¡± Gu Wen Zhu: ¡­ This day, fair weather came after rain. The wind brushed his face gently. It was full of life around with plants growing. Seeing Xia Yi hanging around those radishes all day long, Gu Wen Zhu said to him, ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to the mountain to pick some fungi today.¡± ¡°Okay okay okay, let¡¯s pick some to make stewed chicken.¡± When it came to making food, Xia Yi agreed with both arms raised. Gu Wen Zhu carried a basket on his back, Xia Yi took out his begging stick and the two of them were followed by Kirin. The two people and one dog thus went into the mountain. Kirin was playing around across the mountain; sometimes it chased rabbits, sometimes it ran after a bird. It always stayed in the front position, then stood and waited for Gu Wen Zhu and Xia Yi. There were plenty of new fungi popping under the tree and beside the stones. With Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s directions, Xia Yi picked the fungi one by one. As soon as Xia Yi bent down to pick an especially huge fungi and intended to show it to Gu Wen Zhu, he felt dizzy all of a sudden and everything in view started to alter. What is this? What is happening? Fuck fuck! The whole view became more and more deformed and began to spin. Xia Yi reached out to Gu Wen Zhu with his distorted view of him and found that he could not hold anything. ¡°179! 179! What¡¯s happening! 179 come out now! System, system, are you there?¡± No response could be heard from 179. The sky and the ground were all spinning like crazy, twisted, the whole world became strips of all colors and sparkling lights. And all these finally mixed together to become all black. Xia Yi felt light-headed. He closed his eyes, panicking severely in his mind. When he opened his eyes again, he found that instead of the mountain, he was in an entirely different scenery. A garden with parterre, bridges and some rockery. Checking out his surroundings, he found himself standing on a small wooden arch bridge in the backyard of a big house. He even had bait in his hand and the red koi fish were waiting eagerly in the water under his foot. ¡°Yi, quick, go and say farewell to your mother. Stop protesting.¡± A familiar voice rang behind him. As soon as Xia Yi heard this voice, he trembled. He promptly turned around and shouted, ¡°Dad.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t dad me. Go quickly. You still need to go to the Qi Shan Sect to find the master. Your dad is not going to stop you from fulfilling your noble ambition, but your mom doesn¡¯t want you to go. You can¡¯t break her heart like that.¡± A man looked just like Xia Yi¡¯s father in his home world came towards him, ¡°Go, say a proper goodbye to her.¡± Xia Yi stared at this middle-aged man in front of him without blinking. His heart was full of waves of feelings. His lips quivering. The tears in his eyes blurred his vision. This was exactly how his father looked when he was still healthy. Xia Yi¡¯s lips closed and opened. He murmured, ¡°Dad.¡± Then he moved forward to hug the man, burying his head on his shoulder. The tears from Xia Yi¡¯s eyes wet the man¡¯s clothes. CH 14 The man was touched as well as surprised, he failed to respond accordingly and simply stood there. He patted Xia Yi on his shoulder, ¡°My son, don¡¯t be sad. It¡¯s enough for us if you can come back to visit your parents once every year.¡± Xia Yi stayed in his position for a while, then he released the man and looked up, ¡°Where is mom? I am going to see her.¡± A servant came up from behind, ¡°Young master, this way please.¡± Following the servant walking along the complicated and twisted corridor for some time, they arrived at the front of a booth. Xia Yi tried to suppress his racing heartbeat. Can this be mom? Really mom? The curtain had been unveiled by a maid, Xia Yi slowly walked forward. In the bed with carvings, sat a woman with her back turned on Xia Yi. Only by looking at the back, Xia Yi already recognized, this, was his mother in his home world. Xia Yi approached the bed, sluggishly kneeled and placed his head on the woman¡¯s back. With tears sliding down his face, he called out, ¡°Mom, mother!¡± The woman started to quiver, obviously crying as well, ¡°Yi, don¡¯t blame your mother.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, I don¡¯t, it¡¯s all my fault. I am not a good son.¡± Xia Yi murmured with tears on his face. The woman turned around and held Xia Yi in her arms, ¡°Go, if you want to. Come back to visit your parents every once in a while.¡± Xia Yi shook his head hard, he wanted to shout and say he was not going anymore. I am not going anywhere anymore. I will be by your side. I don¡¯t care about Qi Shan or cultivation, I only want to be by your side. I now know how to farm, I am going to let you eat my radishes and potatoes. Those words were at his lips, but he could not speak. The air seemed to have been frozen, the surroundings, the mother in front of him, everything was shaking and twisting, starting to spin. Xia Yi tried desperately to open his mouth. He wanted to yell, wanted to voice out, wanted to call his mother. The spinning became more and more intense, quicker and quicker. Then the world became strips and spots of lights again. ¡­ When the spinning stopped, Xia Yi found himself back on the mountain again. Time did not seem to have advanced, his hand was holding that big fungus just like before, intending to give it to Gu Wen Zhu. Kirin was still running around in the bush next to him. Gu Wen Zhu was picking a fungus in pretty shape, turning around to show it to Xia Yi. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was shocked, he threw away the fungus in his hand and rushed forward to hold Xia Yi in his arms, ¡°Xia Yi, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Yi planted his foot at the spot with the fungus in his hand, flabbergasted, tears falling from his eyes with a mournful expression, ¡°I¡­ I saw my dad and mom.¡± Gu Wen Zhu halted, then he held Xia Yi tighter and dearly, ¡°Your dad and mom would not want you to get upset from thinking about them. Don¡¯t cry now. You still have me. I will treat you well.¡± Xia Yi did not explain. He kept his posture in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms quietly, Gu Wen Zhu used his hand to stroke Xia Yi¡¯s back. Xia Yi¡¯s mood had become better, then the two of them carried the fungi and walked home. The weather was cooler now, a breeze of wind passed by, making Xia Yi quiver. In view of this, Gu Wen Zhu said, ¡°Didn¡¯t we buy some fabrics from the city last time? Let me find Lady Li, tell her to find someone who does sewing and pay that person to make us two sets of thicker clothing.¡± At night, Gu Wen Zhu went out to find Lady Li. Two days later, a girl came for the job and entered their yard. The girl¡¯s name was Huai Yu and she lived in a neighboring village. This girl was somewhat a professional tailor and pretty much everyone in the village would find her to make clothes. Huai Yu was around seventeen years old; she had a slender figure and a pretty face. Before everything that happened, Xia Yi might have made a move on her, but now he was deeply in love and could not see anyone other than Gu Wen Zhu. Huai Yu used the measurement tape to measure Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s body. Xia Yi also helped at the side and recorded the numbers in a booklet. Zhu looks handsome when he is turning around¡­ He does not move one foot then the other, instead, he uses his right leg as the center point and turns with his left leg leading¡­ Why can he look better than others doing the same thing? Zhu keeps his arms in a horizontal position, ahhh, he looks so tall even when he is doing a scarecrow posture. Xia Yi, how can your taste be so good? Huai Yu had finished measuring Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s body, then she measured for Xia Yi. At the end, she left with the booklet which had their measurements and the fabric. Right before she left, she looked at Gu Wen Zhu with a shy expression. Xia Yi: ???!!! ¡°179, did you see her eyes? With the intuition of a ger, just by those eyes, I instantly knew her thoughts.¡± ¡°Host, you are too sensitive. As a ger like you, I felt nothing.¡± System had been calling himself a ger starting from some days before. Xia Yi felt that he was not blind guessing. Ever since the body measurement, Huai Yu had already visited their house six times within five days. Gu, I have lost the measurements, please allow me to do it one more time. Yi can help me to record it. I am making clothes for Liu Zhu¡¯s family, so I dropped by. These are some dates from the tree of my home, Gu, you can try them. They are really sweet¡­ Yi, please save two for Gu. Gu, my jade hairpin broke, can you see if you can fix it for me? ¡­ Yi, that really is jade, it is not cobblestone. Xia Yi was mad. His anger would come out whenever he saw Huai Yu¡¯s figure in front of their yard. Gu, Gu, Gu, how can she call that name in such a sweet voice? Where is she looking at? Didn¡¯t she say that there was no one at Liu Zhu¡¯s house so she waits here? Those eyes of hers are checking out Zhu from time to time, does she think I am blind? Also, can she not call me Yi? She can either call me Xia Yi or Xia. Don¡¯t call me as if we are sisters. CH 15 During this kind of crisis, as a loyal system, 179 was bound to be on the same side as Xia Yi and hate their enemy. ¡°Ptooey.¡± 179 spitted towards Huai Yu in Xia Yi¡¯s mind, ¡°Little bitch.¡± ¡°Right? Even a straight ger like you noticed there¡¯s something wrong with Huai Yu.¡± Xia Yi said to 179 in jealousy. On the other hand, the true straight guy Gu Wen Zhu had not noticed anything unusual about Huai Yu from the start. Xia Yi was secretly hoping Gu Wen Zhu would be mean to Huai Yu, but Gu Wen Zhu was very polite to her every time they conversed. Unhappy. Xia Yi found it embarrassing to tell Gu Wen Zhu about his thoughts, therefore he could only sulk by himself. Although his appetite was not affected, Xia Yi would become picky with Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s dishes. ¡°Too salty.¡± ¡°Too bland.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too hot! Did you want me to scald myself?¡± ¡°It had been fried for too long. It¡¯s too rubbery.¡± Gu Wen Zhu: ¡­I mean, I haven¡¯t put that on the plate yet. He just thought that Xia Yi was having a bad temper because of him recalling his parents during the fungi picking incident, causing him to be picky about everything. Didn¡¯t people say that one always vent to the ones who are closest to them? If he did not vent to him, who could he vent to? Just let him let it all out. It will get better afterwards. When Gu Wen Zhu recalled the sadness shown on Xia Yi¡¯s face on that day, he felt more protective towards him and treated him more gently. Xia Yi wanted to argue with him and took the opportunity to ask him about Huai Yu. However, Gu Wen Zhu did not act as expected. He only agreed with whatever Xia Yi said every day. Xia Yi felt as if he was punching a bunch of cotton, unable to let out his emotions, making him even more mad. He finally exploded when Huai Yu came for the ninth time. Both of their clothes were left with unmade sleeves, Huai Yu thought that she would not be able to approach Gu Wen Zhu after completing the clothes. She thus mustered the courage to tell Gu Wen Zhu how she felt when Xia Yi was not around and had left Gu Wen Zhu preparing dinner by himself in the yard. Xia Yi had agreed to meet up with a ger in the village called Liu Qing to pick chestnuts in the mountain today. Hence, he went to work in the farmland early in the morning and now he was preparing to go home to pack his things then find Liu Qing. As soon as he got to the front door, he had intended to push it open, but when he heard Huai Yu¡¯s voice, he immediately halted and listened closely. ¡°Gu. I haven¡¯t had a partner for all these times only because I want to find someone who suits me¡­¡± ¡°We were right! This minx wanted to seduce your man!!¡± 179 yelled in anger. ¡°I see you don¡¯t have anyone by your side, and you take care of your brother¡­¡± ¡°What brother? What brother? You are his fianc¨¦ ger! Let me rip her mouth out.¡± 179 was so angry that his voice was trembling. ¡°I wish to serve you for the rest of my life.¡± ¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t want to listen anymore.¡± Xia Yi suddenly turned and walked towards the outside of the village, ¡°It¡¯s annoying. 179, starting from this moment, don¡¯t say a thing. Let me have some alone time silently.¡± Xia Yi found a bush outside the village and let himself fall onto it facing the sky, emotions stirring in his heart. He could not go and make a scene with Gu Wen Zhu. He did not even have the courage to ask Gu Wen Zhu about it. I am a guy, not some jealous little girl. But it sucked to be unable to let it out. Xia Yi felt like there was fire burning in his heart, causing him to roll around in the bush, making the beggar-ticks stick all over him. ¡°179, I am running away.¡± Xia Yi abruptly sat up, saying in a firm tone. ¡°What? Then what about the farmland? Those radishes are still there! Moreover, how can you give Gu Wen Zhu away just like that?¡± 179 was shocked, ¡°You can¡¯t give up without a fight, you do not seem like the ger I know. Besides, even if you cannot beat that minx, you can try to become his second wife, you can stay and protect your farmland.¡± ¡°No no no, I am not really running away. I will leave him plenty of clues like those people did in the dramas.¡± Xia Yi analyzed for 179 calmly. ¡°He will try to figure out why I ran away and follow the clues to find me. According to the plot, he should explain to me, saying hey baby, you have misunderstood, I didn¡¯t have that kind of intention¡­¡± Alright. Xia Yi went back home and Gu Wen Zhu was not there. Xia Yi had written three words on the rough straw paper on the table, I am leaving. Then he wrapped his clothes and money bag with a piece of cloth. He also took a few flapjacks from the pot and a few pieces of charcoal from the stove, commencing his plan to run away. Kirin shook his tail, following behind, but Xia Yi would not allow it. He stroked its head and said softly, ¡°Good boy, I will be back soon. You go find Big Black and play with them.¡± Just like that, Kirin stopped tailing him and sat in front of the front door, watching Xia Yi going further away. He arrived at the entrance of the village, pulling out a piece of charcoal, Xia Yi drew a puppy on the big stone on the side. In order for Gu Wen Zhu to recognize, he had drawn Kirin. ¡°Pretending to be thinking about a lot and drawing randomly along the way. No matter how he looks at it, he should know that it is drawn by me.¡± Xia Yi explained, ¡°This looks like unintentional clues. At the end, I can¡¯t have some necklace or earrings falling off exactly like the TV shows. Not mentioning I don¡¯t have them, even if I have them I wouldn¡¯t want to. Those would be picked up by someone and I would cry.¡± After walking for a while, he came to a fork on the road. Xia Yi drew Kirin on a tree. More than one hour later, he reached a grove. He had already drawn a few Kirins at this point. He found a clean big stone and sat on it. Taking out some flapjacks, Xia Yi ate and slept. ¡°Let that man worry at home. Upon discovering that you are gone, he will cry his heart out and stamp his foot.¡± 179 laughed coldly with his anger vented. Xia Yi slept under the warm sun, and even had a dream. In his dream, Gu Wen Zhu read the message and dashed out, crying out in immense pain in the rain. The rain and the tears fell off his face together¡­ Xia Yi felt his emotions come out but it was painful at the same time. He wanted to tell him he was there, but he woke up when he was trying to voice out. Looking around, there was no trace of Gu Wen Zhu but the sounds of the birds chirping and the wind brushing through the leaves. Whatever, let¡¯s sleep again, maybe he will find him before he wakes up. ¡­ but I can¡¯t sleep¡­ how is he not coming? The sun is setting! Are the clues not obvious enough so he could not find him? And so Xia Yi got up, he walked back to one of the roads and added two more Kirins on trees on both sides. The sky had dimmed, the sun had almost set fully among the mountains. Gu Wen Zhu still could not be seen. Xia Yi was no longer waiting on the stone. He went to the middle of the road, looking around anxiously. ¡°Cut it out. He only needs to travel for an hour to get here. If he was trying to find you, he would be here already.¡± 179 said harshly. The villagers farming nearby passed by Xia Yi by twos and threes, going home. They greeted Xia Yi, ¡°Yi, what are you doing here not going home? The sky is getting dark.¡± Xia Yi stood on the side of the road. He was scratching a piece of tree bark sadly, eyes filling with tears, and sniffed from time to time. ¡°Don¡¯t be sad, go home.¡± 179 persuaded him in a soft tone, ¡°It¡¯s getting dark. He is not coming for you.¡± ¡°Then I will die out here. I am not going back.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s heart tightened and began to sob uncontrollably. ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous. Why would you risk your life for a stinky guy? Go back and act like nothing happened. Farm properly from now on and complete missions early.¡± 179 coaxed Xia Yi. Xia Yi could not think of a place for him to go. Therefore, he brought his belongings with his head down, and walked slowly towards home. He pushed the front door open without much force, standing there for a while thinking, then gathered up the courage to go in. The moment Kirin saw him, it merrily came up and licked his palm. ¡°You are back?¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s happy voice rang, ¡°How many chestnuts have you picked? Come here and have dinner. I have been warming them up waiting for you. I was even thinking of finding Liu Qing if you were still not back.¡± ¡°Wha, what chestnut?¡± Xia Yi looked up at Gu Wen Zhu sharply, his expression from confused to vexed, ¡°Right, I told you yesterday that I was going to pick chestnuts with Liu Qing.¡± ¡°Yes, didn¡¯t you leave me a message before you left?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was baffled, he asked in puzzlement, ¡°Have you not picked chestnuts?¡± Xia Yi remembered that message he left on the table: I am leaving. Xia Yi: ¡­ All those Kirins he had drawn were in vain. This guy did not even realize that he was running away. Xia Yi felt wronged. He had been suffering in the mountains for the whole afternoon, waiting for a regretful Gu Wen Zhu to come to him crying, but Gu Wen Zhu, in fact, did not know about this and had even made a full table of delicious food. Gu Wen Zhu began to eye Xia Yi all over, seeing Xia Yi¡¯s things wrapped by cloth in his hand, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face fell, ¡°Where did you go with your stuff packed?¡± Xia Yi scratched his arm with a few mosquito bites he got when he was in the mountain. He could not hold in anymore and shouted explosively, sobbing, ¡°You didn¡¯t even notice that I ran away? I have been waiting for the whole afternoon and you didn¡¯t come for me!¡± ¡°R, ran away? Why did you run away?¡± Gu Wen Zhu stammered. He opened his eyes wide in shock, stunned. ¡°I heard Huai Yu talk to you.¡± Xia Yi kept sobbing with red eyes. ¡°Babe, you have misunderstood. I didn¡¯t even have that kind of intention¡­¡± Gu Wen Zhu suddenly saw the light, without knowing whether it was better to cry or to laugh, he walked up and held Xia Yi in his arms, explaining. 179: ¡­ ¡°I haven¡¯t even noticed her before that, I didn¡¯t know she thought that way. After she told me about it, I declined her on the spot. I even told her to stop working on our clothes and got them back. I told her not to come to our house anymore.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said gently and stroked Xia Yi¡¯s head at the same time. ¡°Really?¡± Xia Yi had basically believed him, but he still showed doubt. ¡°Really. I can only see you, I can¡¯t see others in my eyes.¡± Gu Wen Zhu knew, at times like this, he should promptly confess his feelings. Hearing this, Xia Yi could not help but laugh out, making two dimples appear beside the corner of his mouth, ¡°What about those clothes? Let me see them.¡± Two thick coats, one in light purple, another in dark blue. Both of them, all parts were made except the sleeves. ¡°What should we do with them?¡± Xia Yi picked up two sleeves and swung them in the air, starting to worry. ¡°We have kicked the tailor out.¡± Gu Wen Zhu, with a persistent look, said, ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡± CH 16 The candlelight was flickering. Gu Wen Zhu frowned with lips tightly pressed, his eyes staring at the sleeve in his hand attentively. He breathed in deeply, picked up a thin needle and poked it through with his breath held. ¡°Haa¡­¡± Holding his cheek, Xia Yi watched Gu Wen Zhu silently by his side. Gu Wen Zhu had sharp features from the side. With the candlelight shining, his prominent nose created a shaded area on his face, making him look even better. People used to say men were most attractive when they were at work. This surely was true. Xia Yi could not help but enjoy the sight of his man. ¡°Scissors.¡± Gu Wen Zhu only stretched his hand to his right and did not look up. Xia Yi swiftly took the scissors from the basket and gave them to him. ¡°Thread.¡± Gu Wen Zhu ordered in short, continuing to sew the sleeves in his hand. Xia Yi hurriedly threaded another needle and handed it to Gu Wen Zhu. He used a handkerchief to brush off the sweat on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s forehead. Gu Wen Zhu slightly tilted his head with his eyes fixed on the needle and the thread in his hand. ¡°Last two stitches.¡± Gu Wen Zhu sounded calm and serious, ¡°The stitching is very successful.¡± Xia Yi: ¡­Why do I feel like we are doing an operation? After the last stitch had been made, Gu Wen Zhu cut the excessive thread. He gave a long exhalation in relief, ¡°It¡¯s done. Try it on.¡± He then shook the clothes and gave them to Xia Yi. Xia Yi took them and looked. The stitches were close to each other and were consistent. Although Gu Wen Zhu told him that he had never done it before, he did a magnificent job for the first time. ¡°Zhu, you are too good. Amazing. I am so impressed.¡± Xia Yi was very willing to compliment, causing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face to blush and heat up. Since these clothes were loose, Xia Yi could directly put them on. Xia Yi fastened the straps on his clothes and proudly turned himself around in front of Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°Is it good?¡± Xia Yi could see Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face lighted up. Still, he asked. ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded repeatedly. Xia Yi turned a couple of rounds, shaking his arms and putting his hands on his waist. He began to notice something weird. There was as if something stuck under his armpits. The shoulder parts were tight. Xia Yi took off the clothes and looked closely, finally he found the reason for that, ¡°Zhu, you have stitched the sleeves on in the wrong way. The shoulder part has gone down, the armpit part has gone up.¡± Gu Wen Zhu quickly walked up. They looked at each other after some time of inspection, ¡°We have to undo these and stitch it again.¡± ¡­ ¡°Scissors.¡± Gu Wen Zhu reached out his hand sternly, Xia Yi hurried and gave them to him. ¡°Thread.¡± Xia Yi speedily threaded a needle. ¡°Last two stitches.¡± This time, the sleeves were stitched in righteously, the armpit and the shoulder parts felt right. Xia Yi swung his arms, satisfied. Gu Wen Zhu also came up, observed and pulled the clothes here and there to ensure the directions were all right. Slowly, Xia Yi felt that there was something wrong. Why did he have an odd feeling? Gu Wen Zhu held his own chin, frowning and observing. He suddenly came to realizations and said, ¡°The two sleeves are not the same length.¡± ¡°After undoing the stitches, I saw the stitching holes left previously, I followed the trace and stitched the whole section in.¡± Gu Wen Zhu strongly regretted. ¡°What should we do?¡± Xia Yi, wearing the coat with one short sleeve, looked at Gu Wen Zhu with widened eyes, ¡°Undo the stitches again? I don¡¯t want to undo them anymore. More problems will be created every time we do it. Why don¡¯t we just find ourselves a piece of cloth and add it to the sleeve.¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s find a piece of cloth,¡± Gu Wen Zhu searched inside the basket and found a piece of cloth with the same thickness. He cut it with a snip and started to stitch it on for Xia Yi. ¡°Scissors.¡± ¡°Thread.¡± ¡°Last two stitches.¡± Done. At last, there were no problems found when he tried the clothes on this time. They suited him well. There were minor problems left such as the lower hem of the clothes was a little too long, reaching his calf, and the added part of the sleeve was also in another color. However, both of them were not bothered by these. Xia Yi¡¯s clothes were done, then they came to Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s. Xia Yi held the sleeves that were not yet stitched then put it on the table to compare them, ¡°Ah.¡± All of a sudden he shouted out, ¡°Zhu, did you cut from this to stitch my sleeve just now?¡± Staring at the shortened sleeve in Xia Yi¡¯s hand, Gu Wen Zhu dwelled on it. ¡°Since you cut a part from the hem of my clothes to make your sleeve, they are too long anyway.¡± Xia Yi suggested. That was the least they could do, therefore they cut from Xia Yi¡¯s clothes and stitched them onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s sleeve. Upon finishing the two sets of clothes, Gu Wen Zhu felt as if he had just farmed three acres of land. It was exhausting. The two wore their new clothes, smiling and looking at each other. Gu Wen Zhu was wearing blue, looking handsome and tall, a part of his sleeve was in dark purple. On Xia Yi¡¯s side, he was in dark purple with a part of his one sleeve in blue. F**k, these are matching outfits. The purple can be seen in the blue, the blue can be seen in the purple. The gay can be seen in you, and you can see me as gay. The next morning, the couple put their new clothes on. They went to see the old house with half of its walls collapsed after breakfast. After reconstructing the walls, they could also build a storage to store some unused farming utensils. They checked around the house. Shortly, a lot of people eating with bowls in their hands gathered around them. ¡°Yi, you have new clothes on. You look nice.¡± ¡°Yi, what happened to your clothes? The colors of the sleeves are not the same?¡± Li Zhu crouched on the side, using the chopsticks to sweep the rice into his mouth, asking. The two felt embarrassed to tell the truth, and so they answered ambiguously, ¡°We have damaged them somewhere, so we simply cut them off.¡± People surrounding them nodded in agreement except Mr. Wang, he stared afar thoughtfully and laughed coldly, ¡°You guys believe those were damaged somewhere?¡± Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu became nervous. ¡°It surely was done by those three thieves. They came back to take revenge and ripped them.¡± Mr. Wang gritted his teeth, ¡°Don¡¯t let me see them ever again.¡± ¡­ Xia Yi had never really dated in his past life. He, too, felt uneasy when he saw couples displaying affection publicly. Whenever he saw someone lighting candles to confess to someone, it was awkward! Someone took out a ring to propose? Ptooey! ¡°179, I am finally off the market, I need to give Zhu a ring, and I also have to use the candles to form a heart!¡± Xia Yi thought merrily, ¡°I have to do all those things that lovers do.¡± He then grabbed a booklet from the house and checked the line of ¡®wearing couple outfits together¡¯ on the list. Having candlelight dinner together! We do that every day, check check. Picnic together! Yes, last time he and I went to catch fish and climb the mountain and travel through the streams, check too. Look at the sunrise and sunset together! We farm together every day and come back together, check. Saving money together! Our money was in that little wooden box, check. Cook together! Whenever he cooks, I am by his side, check. Have a pet together! Kirin is biting a shoe beside him, check. Those ones which require us to watch movies together cannot be done, then only placing candles in a heart shape is left. Xia Yi closed his booklet, thinking deeply. Where should he place the candles? He could not place them outside the village because the strong wind at night would blow them out. He could not place them in the village because layers and layers of villagers would surround them. Their yard? No no no, Zhu would be back at night and discover him lighting the candles, he might even want to help him, that would not be a surprise if that happened. ¡°You can place them in that old house.¡± 179 planned for him. Right, that can be placed in that old house. In that case, the candlelight will not be blown out by the wind nor surrounded by the crowd, even if he tells a lie and goes out for a while, Zhu will not have a clue. ¡°179, after all, you can come up with a great idea, I see you are not a trash system.¡± Xia Yi was so impressed that he praised System. If he decided to do it, he would do it. He immediately went to old Zhang¡¯s house in the village. Old Zhang had a carriage. He went to the city frequently, therefore he figured he should open a store to sell some groceries such as needles and threads. Seeing Xia Yi buying all the candles, old Zhang was shocked. ¡°Zhu was learning sewing, the candlelight is too dim so we need more candles to avoid his eyes from hurting.¡± Xia Yi responded cleverly. They had eaten dinner. The sky was already all dark. Xia Yi pushed his bowl to the front, with the contents still in his mouth, he spoke in a muffled voice to Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°I am going to Liu Qing¡¯s house, I will be back very soon, don¡¯t go away.¡± At the instant when he was going out from the yard, he turned around and reminded him again, ¡°Don¡¯t go away. Wait for me, I will be back soon.¡± In the old house, Xia Yi lit up the candles one by one cautiously, with great expectations. ¡°179, will Zhu be moved when he sees this? I think this is so romantic¡­¡± ¡°But didn¡¯t you say this is too low when I suggest the ¡®ten things you have to do with your lover¡¯ to you?¡± ¡°It will be low if others do it, but it will be romantic if I am the one who does it. You don¡¯t understand the ceremonial aspect of this anyways, I am not talking to you about this.¡± The candles formed a heart slowly with Xia Yi putting them in place, Xia Yi then carefully lighted up every single one of them. The old house had been lightened up by all the candles, the room seemed warmer than usual. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go and fetch Zhu.¡± It was done, Xia Yi snapped his fingers and went to find Gu Wen Zhu. Gu Wen Zhu was refilling Kirin¡¯s bowl. Kirin was eating with big bites and making happy sounds. Xia Yi pushed the door open and went in. ¡°You are back. There are a few persimmons on the table from DaZhu. Quickly go and have some.¡± Gu Wen Zhu put down the bowl in a hurry and walked towards Xia Yi. Xia Yi did not speak, he only gazed at Gu Wen Zhu with sparkling eyes and a grin. ¡°What happened?¡± When Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi like this, he softened his voice and smiled. ¡°I am taking you to see something. It¡¯s a surprise.¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at him gently, making Xia Yi become a little shy. ¡°What kind of surprise?¡± Gu Wen Zhu sounded even softer. It was like silk brushing past his ears. ¡°Come, follow me, you will know when you see it.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s words showed a hint of joy, he went outside right after he finished his sentence. Gu Wen Zhu followed him immediately. ¡°Gong gong gong.¡± As soon as they exited, they heard sounds of the gong being knocked along with Mr. Wang¡¯s desperate high pitch yelling, ¡°Water, water, the house is on fire¡­¡± CH 17 A man carrying a big bowl with water passed by the two, then he halted his steps and shouted towards Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Your old house is on fire. Quick and go help extinguishing the fire.¡± After doing so, he ran forward without looking back. ¡°That¡¯s bad. I will go help.¡± In his nervous tone, Gu Wen Zhu told Xia Yi, who was stunned on the spot. He swiftly tucked in his shirt, went back into the house with a bucket in his hand, and ran towards the old house. ¡°You stay at home, don¡¯t go anywhere.¡± ¡°179, is that caused by my heart shaped candles?¡± Xia Yi asked System in shock. ¡°Host, it seems so.¡± When Xia Yi arrived at the old house with a wooden bowl in panic, the fire was already out, only some black smoke was left wafting out the roof and the windows slowly. After the black smoke was out, everyone gathered in the house to look closely. The walls were all black after being smoked. The floor was wet. Everyone stood in the empty house together. Without any clue, they enthusiastically discussed the cause of the fire. ¡°How did the fire start? There was nobody living inside and there was no furniture.¡± Confused, Li Zhu used his hand to fan the black smoke in front of his nose and asked. ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t figure it out either. It¡¯s not like there was any lightning or something striking the house and started the fire.¡± ¡°Is there some spirit of the mountain or something in the house?¡± Someone yelled in fear. ¡°What are you talking about? Spirit of the mountain? Has anyone ever seen one for real before? That¡¯s just a tale.¡± The person on his side quickly clarified, ¡°But, I have been to the neighboring village two days ago and heard that there was a demon fox around¡­¡± ¡°I was going out, then I saw the inside of the house was on fire. I saw the fire burning through the window. I hurried my way to Mr. Wang¡¯s place, and Mr. Wang took his gong out¡­¡± Li Zhu proudly told everybody about his contribution. Gu Wen Zhu put down the bucket in his hand. He used his sleeve to brush off the sweat on his face. Seeing Xia Yi¡¯s flabbergasted face after entering the house, Gu Wen Zhu tried to soothe him in a low voice, ¡±Don¡¯t be afraid, it¡¯s okay, the fire is out.¡± ¡°Is¡­ is there a huge loss? What¡¯s the damage?¡± Xia Yi¡¯s voice raised. ¡°There was very little in the old house in the first place. There were a few damaged furniture in the corner. They weren¡¯t worth much. Just forget about it.¡± Gu Wen Zhu immediately calmed Xia Yi down when he heard his voice change. ¡°Do you know how the fire started?¡± Xia Yi asked anxiously in a soft voice, his heart pounding fiercely. ¡°What else can be the reason? The culprit may have deceived all of you, but they cannot deceive me. Do you really think I can¡¯t see?¡± With a wooden bowl in one hand and a copper bed pan in the other, Mr. Wang narrowed his eyes, he looked so intense that beams almost came out from his eyes. Xia Yi¡¯s legs gave away, he opened his mouth, he was on the edge of confessing the truth directly, ¡°Mr. Wang, I¡­¡± Mr. Wang raised his hand to stop Xia Yi from talking further, he said relentlessly with a gloomy expression, ¡°Those three basters are really determined to ruin you. Ever since they were caught before, they wanted revenge. At first, they went to steal at your house. That didn¡¯t work, they damaged your new clothes in the yard. It was still not enough for them. Now, they came to set your old house on fire!¡± ¡°And they want revenge on the whole village. On the day before yesterday, Eggy¡¯s mom cooked him an egg, after she put the egg into the bowl and went into the room, guess what? The egg was gone just like that.¡± Mr. Wang smiled coldly, then stared afar, sighing sluggishly, ¡°There is no peace in our village ever since, it¡¯s chaos¡­If the arsener ever lets me catch him, I would skin him.¡± Mr. Wang forcefully put the silver bed pan on the floor, speaking with gritted teeth. ¡°179, I am scared.¡± Xia Yi hid behind Gu Wen Zhu. He and System trembled together. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Gu Wen Zhu felt that Xia Yi was weird. He gave him a pat on the shoulder when no one noticed. ¡°Zhu, I, I might be the one who lit the fire.¡± Dejected, Xia Yi was feeling anxious. ¡°I wanted to¨C¡± ¡°Yi, don¡¯t try to cover up for the bad guys, it¡¯s not worth it.¡± Mr. Wang heard it with his sharp ears, he cut Xia Yi off with his loud voice. When he saw Xia Yi intended to say something, he signaled him to stop with his hand, ¡°Don¡¯t say anything, Mr. Wang knows very well.¡± Xia Yi, 179: ¡­ When they were home, Gu Wen Zhu recalled that they were going out to see the surprise before everything happened, therefore he said to Xia Yi apologetically, ¡°You were talking about this surprise but we didn¡¯t go to see it because of the fire, can you bring me to see it now?¡± Xia Yi opened his mouth, but ended up murmuring, ¡°The surprise was destroyed in the fire, I will let you see it later.¡± ¡°Host, you want to set fire again?¡± 179 screamed in disbelief. ¡°I won¡¯t. I won¡¯t.¡± Xia Yi hurriedly denied and added, ¡°I am talking about other surprises.¡± The next day, Xia Yi went to the farmland to check up on his radishes. From the fresh green color of the outer leaves of the white radishes, they could tell that there would be plentiful harvest. They stayed by the side of the radishes for half a day. After dreaming for some time about the harvest, Xia Yi started to walk home slowly. As soon as he arrived at the east of the village, he saw an elderly stranger with long hair. The guy was standing beside the pigsty of Lady Li¡¯s house. Mr. Wang was crouching beneath a willow, pretending to be smoking, observing discreetly. That was a slender elderly in his fifties, his fine hair touching his shoulder. He looked exactly like those masters from the ancient Chinese costume TV shows. He was wearing a loose cyan-blue long gown with high quality fabric and his clothes were swaying with the wind. His belt was embroidered with patterns, showing a subtle kind of elegance. With one hand behind him, the other touching his beard, he looked refined and transcended. These kind of people would only appear at the top of the mountain or in thick fog, they would usually play the Chinese zither or chess, two apprentices behind him would serve him tea. Now, with the pigsty of Lady Li¡¯s on his side, two big fat one snorting in the pigsty, the scene did not seem too right. Mr. Wang saw Xia Yi and waved at him. When Xia Yi came to him, he put his hand beside his mouth and said mysteriously, ¡°He had been hanging out in the village since morning, selling some foundation extra-breeding dink. Judging from his look, he is either a con man or a pig breeder.¡± Foundation extra-breeding dink? What foundation extra-breeding dink? Xia Yi looked at the old man, his mouth whispering the words that Mr. Wang told him repeatedly, feeling familiar. Foundation extra-breeding dink, foundation extra-breeding dink, foundation establishment drink! The idea striked Xia Yi, was that person talking about foundation establishment drink??!! Xia Yi¡¯s heart began to pound, he could not let it be after thinking about it, and so he went towards the pigsty. The old man saw Xia Yi coming, thinking that he was a customer, he nodded slightly. Not waiting for Xia Yi to walk closer, he asked, ¡°Are you coming for the foundation establishment drink? Little fellow.¡± That¡¯s right! Foundation establishment drink! Not foundation extra-breeding dink! Xia Yi went to his side, observed him for a while, and lowered his voice to ask as if there were some secret signals among them, ¡°Cultivation? Are you not from this world? System? Transmigration?¡± The old man froze for a second and looked at Xia Yi with widened eyes. Then his face lit up, talked with a low voice as well just like Xia Yi, ¡°I don¡¯t understand the second half of your sentence, but I am a cultivator.¡± After saying so, he waited to see Xia Yi¡¯s reaction. Xia Yi was calm and did not seem to repel the idea, therefore, the old man continued, ¡°Yesterday morning I finished a chess game and was preparing to go and play the Chinese Zither by the lake. I did not know what happened, all of a sudden everything spinned, when I opened my eyes again, I was already here. I asked around and no one knows about cultivation. Could this be utopia? But I have been wandering for a day and I can¡¯t find any exits. When I asked people how to get out, they all told me to follow this road, and so I arrived at the city.¡± This guy seems different and he was either crazy or a cultivator. There was no way for a crazy guy to know foundation establishment drinks. Would he be from the cultivation world? In view of the confusion on Xia Yi¡¯s face, that guy said in his lowered voice, ¡°Although this sounds unbelievable, all I have just mentioned are true. I am the third elder Liu SiQian from the Qi Shan Sect. I have already reached the level of the Great Void, all except the ones who are in this utopia knows my name.¡± What the f**k!! Liu SiQian saw Xia Yi froze on the spot silently, thinking that Xia Yi did not believe him, he sighed and kept explaining, ¡°I could have used magic to prove my identity, but I don¡¯t even know why, I can use not one spell, and people think I am a con man¡­¡± Xia Yi ended his own thinking process and signaled the old man to stop talking with his hand gesture, ¡°You do not have to explain further, I believe you.¡± He even mentioned Qi Shan Sect and foundation establishment drinks, how could he possibly be a con man? He was obviously from the cultivation world. ¡°System, isn¡¯t the management too bad? How do you guys work? Apart from me, even people from the cultivation world are crossing over to this world.¡± Xia Yi was worrying about the entire system world. CH 18 179 was being snowed under. He was reporting the information to his superior and had no time for Xia Yi. Liu SiQian was expecting to give a long explanation, however, Xia Yi surprisingly believed him right away. He was thankful about it but also uneasy, he said to Xia Yi, ¡°But I haven¡¯t eaten anything since yesterday. I am starved. That¡¯s why I was selling foundation establishment drinks in exchange for something to eat. The drinks are very popular in the cultivation world, I didn¡¯t expect that they are worth nothing around here.¡± Xia Yi nodded understandingly. He thought of his own experience. He felt he could relate to the loneliness the old man was feeling and started to sympathize with him, ¡°My name is Xia Yi, I know a bit about your world. You can follow me, I will get you something to eat at my house. Elderlies can¡¯t be starved, especially in the cultivation world. Don¡¯t let yourself go off the deep end because of this.¡± Then Xia Yi brought him back home. Liu SiQian kept explaining when he was following Xia Yi, ¡°I have been practising inedia for many years now, I haven¡¯t had a bite for all these times. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a hotness burning my insides. I couldn¡¯t calm my breath and I kept sweating. I thought maybe I was being hit or going off the deep end, but I checked to see that everything was normal. Later I realised that I was so hungry that I felt my stomach burning.¡± ¡°Stop talking, save your strength to walk to my place, I don¡¯t want to carry you there.¡± Xia Yi had to teach him what he had learned from his experience, ¡°And, if you are too hungry, you need a staff, a bowl also, then people will know you want to eat, that helps a little.¡± Liu SiQian hurriedly agreed. When they were home, Xia Yi immediately started a fire in the stove, threw a handful into the pot, and took out the big bowl he usually used for holding the noodles. Liu SiQian had been standing and watching the food in the pot without blinking since the moment that Xia Yi was boiling the water. He swallowed hard and came closer. Sometimes he would touch the cupboard or move the firewood. Xia Yi quickly said, ¡°You can wait outside, don¡¯t feel embarrassed, I starved in the past as well.¡± The noodles were done. Xia Yi took the bowl of noodles out and placed it on the table. As soon as the bowl landed on the table, Liu SiQian eagerly grabbed the chopsticks and stuffed the noodles into his mouth without too much care about the heat. The noodles were so hot that he had to breathe in some air to cool them down while trying to swallow them. Xia Yi kept telling him to slow down on his side. Liu SiQian began to think that his sleeves were too loose that they were brushing the bowl, so he rolled them up directly. His hair was falling down from time to time, so he straightly made a bun with his hair and a small stick found from the firewood. Now the elegance of a cultivator was nowhere to be seen. After gulping in all the noodles and drinking the soup, with the bowl empty, Liu SiQian lied in the chair in satisfaction, ¡°When I first arrived, I was surrounded by cornfield. Later when I tried to find the exit of this utopia, I hung around for a day near the village, I was tempted to steal a corn or two but I managed to hold on.¡± He then eyed Xia Yi, ¡°If I find the exit, I can bring you with me. You can be an apprentice in Qi Shan Sect. By that time, you will be a being in the cultivation world and no longer mortal. Although your talent is only average, you should be able to form a core in a few years if you work hard and have a spirit clearance core. This would be my repayment to your favor.¡± Seeing Liu SiQian was attempting to continue speaking, Xia Yi reminded him, ¡°You cannot cultivate here.¡± ¡°This place is weird. There seems to be so much spiritual energy here, but the spiritual energy inside our body cannot be moved. Magic weapons do not work either.¡± Liu SiQian wondered, ¡°Is this place being sealed by an immortal?¡± Xia Yi could not hold it anymore, ¡°This is not utopia, and this is not your cultivation world. ¡°Do you know of parallel universes?¡± In view of the confused expression on Liu SiQian¡¯s face, Xia Yi began to explain about parallel universes. How did these people cultivate or reach the void with such low intelligence? He had been talking and showing him for a long while, then Liu SiQian finally understood the fact that he was in another world. Looking at the blank expression of the old man, Xia Yi did not disturb him and considerately gave him time to digest the information. Then, Kirin came back from outside. It affectionately rubbed against Xia Yi¡¯s feet after entering the yard. Xia Yi carrassed his head softly, ¡°Hungry?¡± And he went into the kitchen to put some leftovers into the pot of soup, preparing food for Kirin to eat. ¡°This! This is a kirin?¡± A scream rang behind Xia Yi. Li SiQian stood up from the chair, his eyes glowing, fingers trembling, pointing at Kirin. ¡°Yes, he is Kirin. You¡¯ve been here for a day and you already know him?¡± Xia Yi only thought that the old man was making a fuss. He poured the leftovers into Kirin¡¯s bowl. Kirin was shaking its tail happily and dove in to eat. ¡°This, this is a kirin. You, you just feed him leftovers?¡± Liu SiQian asked in shock. ¡°What else if not leftovers? We don¡¯t have dog food here.¡± Is this person being agitated? He did not seem sane. What¡¯s wrong with dogs eating leftovers? Do they have to put a bowl of noodles and a pair of chopsticks on the table, sit down and eat together with them? Kirin finished its meal, licking around its mouth in content, then he went to Xia Yi¡¯s feet, ¡°Go, bring me my whisk broom.¡± Xia Yi ordered. Kirin shook its tail, swiftly dashed to the corner, and it jogged back with a whisk broom in its mouth. Liu SiQian, with his hand on his chest, was watching painfully. ¡°179, 179 are you there? Is he sick? Come and look at him.¡± Xia Yi, alerted, began to summon the system. ¡°Host, I am busy over here. I am making patches for the bugs, take care of him.¡± After some time, 179¡¯s voice echoed through, but all fell into silence again. ¡°Don¡¯t act like you are hardworking. How long have I been here? And you are still making patches. I suggest all of you systems should raise your service quality. Don¡¯t just think about the performances.¡± Xia Yi was pissed when he heard about this. Li SiQian was following Kirin around, he extended his arms carefully in joy, ¡°Kirin, this is a kirin, I am looking at a kirin.¡± This made Kirin angry and started to grit its teeth towards him. Xia Yi: ¡­What the hell, has this person not seen a dog before or is his brain malfunctioning? Or maybe all cultivators are this quirky? When Liu SiQian seemed normal again, Xia Yi talked to him about his thoughts, ¡°What is your plan from now on? I am not sure if you can go back, but you have to think about how you are going to live in this world. Are you going to keep selling medicines or what?¡± ¡°No, I should not stay, I have to find our leader.¡± Liu SiQian declined with determination, he then explained to Xia Yi after some thoughts, ¡°The honorable immortal leader of the Qi Shan Sect, CangYi, has been wandering out there for over twenty years. The Sect has been managed by the leader before. Recently, when some of our apprentices went out to experience the world, they disappeared mysteriously without any trace. Therefore, the elder fellow apprentice of the leader has brought some elder apprentices in the Sect to find them.¡± He sighed when he was talking about the matter, ¡°Who knows all of them would vanish just like the others? Now the Sect is under my charge, if I disappear also, Qi Shan Sect will be in chaos.¡± Hm? Why does this sound so familiar? ¡°179, come out, have you been moving the Sect leader to other worlds?¡± Xia Yi was calling the system. ¡°No, they are in their world. I don¡¯t have any records of them travelling to other worlds. We have records about you and Liu SiQian.¡± System answered. ¡°Right, I think I have a mission about knowing the whereabouts of the sect leader, do you mean this sect leader?¡± Xia Yi suddenly remembered the mission he had accepted. ¡°Yes, Host.¡± ¡°Then we should not have to find him. We just wait til the radishes are ready for harvest.¡± Liu SiQian frowned worriedly, and he sighed slowly, ¡°I don¡¯t know what place this is. Everyone here is normal, but you have kirins as pets.¡± He paused and added, ¡°Kirins that are fed on leftovers.¡± ¡­What have leftovers ever done to you? As if you were not nearly being starved to death just now. Would you be so picky about leftovers at that time? ¡°But I still need to go back, the leader has disappeared and I have to find leads about his whereabouts.¡± ¡°No need to hurry. We will have leads about your people when the radishes are ready to be harvested.¡± Xia Yi sincerely said, ¡°There is still half a month to go.¡± ¡°We should hope so.¡± Liu SiQian spoke absent-mindedly. ¡°It¡¯s true. When my radishes are ready¡­¡± Xia Yi stopped talking abruptly. He saw Liu SiQian, with blank expressions in front of him, was no longer moving. The air around him started to spread in the shape of ripples. The old man was also fading away slowly. ¡°179, 179, is Liu SiQian going back to the cultivation world?¡± Xia Yi shouted for System anxiously. ¡°Correct. The bugs had been eliminated after applying patches to the system. Liu SiQian is now going back to his world through the crack of time.¡± 179 gave a long exhale and said in a light tone. The figure of Liu SiQian was becoming blurry. It further became a few spots of light, and those lights vanished at the end. CH 19 179 was being snowed under. He was reporting the information to his superior and had no time for Xia Yi. Liu SiQian was expecting to give a long explanation, however, Xia Yi surprisingly believed him right away. He was thankful about it but also uneasy, he said to Xia Yi, ¡°But I haven¡¯t eaten anything since yesterday. I am starved. That¡¯s why I was selling foundation establishment drinks in exchange for something to eat. The drinks are very popular in the cultivation world, I didn¡¯t expect that they are worth nothing around here.¡± Xia Yi nodded understandingly. He thought of his own experience. He felt he could relate to the loneliness the old man was feeling and started to sympathize with him, ¡°My name is Xia Yi, I know a bit about your world. You can follow me, I will get you something to eat at my house. Elderlies can¡¯t be starved, especially in the cultivation world. Don¡¯t let yourself go off the deep end because of this.¡± Then Xia Yi brought him back home. Liu SiQian kept explaining when he was following Xia Yi, ¡°I have been practising inedia for many years now, I haven¡¯t had a bite for all these times. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a hotness burning my insides. I couldn¡¯t calm my breath and I kept sweating. I thought maybe I was being hit or going off the deep end, but I checked to see that everything was normal. Later I realised that I was so hungry that I felt my stomach burning.¡± ¡°Stop talking, save your strength to walk to my place, I don¡¯t want to carry you there.¡± Xia Yi had to teach him what he had learned from his experience, ¡°And, if you are too hungry, you need a staff, a bowl also, then people will know you want to eat, that helps a little.¡± Liu SiQian hurriedly agreed. When they were home, Xia Yi immediately started a fire in the stove, threw a handful into the pot, and took out the big bowl he usually used for holding the noodles. Liu SiQian had been standing and watching the food in the pot without blinking since the moment that Xia Yi was boiling the water. He swallowed hard and came closer. Sometimes he would touch the cupboard or move the firewood. Xia Yi quickly said, ¡°You can wait outside, don¡¯t feel embarrassed, I starved in the past as well.¡± The noodles were done. Xia Yi took the bowl of noodles out and placed it on the table. As soon as the bowl landed on the table, Liu SiQian eagerly grabbed the chopsticks and stuffed the noodles into his mouth without too much care about the heat. The noodles were so hot that he had to breathe in some air to cool them down while trying to swallow them. Xia Yi kept telling him to slow down on his side. Liu SiQian began to think that his sleeves were too loose that they were brushing the bowl, so he rolled them up directly. His hair was falling down from time to time, so he straightly made a bun with his hair and a small stick found from the firewood. Now the elegance of a cultivator was nowhere to be seen. After gulping in all the noodles and drinking the soup, with the bowl empty, Liu SiQian lied in the chair in satisfaction, ¡°When I first arrived, I was surrounded by cornfield. Later when I tried to find the exit of this utopia, I hung around for a day near the village, I was tempted to steal a corn or two but I managed to hold on.¡± He then eyed Xia Yi, ¡°If I find the exit, I can bring you with me. You can be an apprentice in Qi Shan Sect. By that time, you will be a being in the cultivation world and no longer mortal. Although your talent is only average, you should be able to form a core in a few years if you work hard and have a spirit clearance core. This would be my repayment to your favor.¡± Seeing Liu SiQian was attempting to continue speaking, Xia Yi reminded him, ¡°You cannot cultivate here.¡± ¡°This place is weird. There seems to be so much spiritual energy here, but the spiritual energy inside our body cannot be moved. Magic weapons do not work either.¡± Liu SiQian wondered, ¡°Is this place being sealed by an immortal?¡± Xia Yi could not hold it anymore, ¡°This is not utopia, and this is not your cultivation world. ¡°Do you know of parallel universes?¡± In view of the confused expression on Liu SiQian¡¯s face, Xia Yi began to explain about parallel universes. How did these people cultivate or reach the void with such low intelligence? He had been talking and showing him for a long while, then Liu SiQian finally understood the fact that he was in another world. Looking at the blank expression of the old man, Xia Yi did not disturb him and considerately gave him time to digest the information. Then, Kirin came back from outside. It affectionately rubbed against Xia Yi¡¯s feet after entering the yard. Xia Yi carrassed his head softly, ¡°Hungry?¡± And he went into the kitchen to put some leftovers into the pot of soup, preparing food for Kirin to eat. ¡°This! This is a kirin?¡± A scream rang behind Xia Yi. Li SiQian stood up from the chair, his eyes glowing, fingers trembling, pointing at Kirin. ¡°Yes, he is Kirin. You¡¯ve been here for a day and you already know him?¡± Xia Yi only thought that the old man was making a fuss. He poured the leftovers into Kirin¡¯s bowl. Kirin was shaking its tail happily and dove in to eat. ¡°This, this is a kirin. You, you just feed him leftovers?¡± Liu SiQian asked in shock. ¡°What else if not leftovers? We don¡¯t have dog food here.¡± Is this person being agitated? He did not seem sane. What¡¯s wrong with dogs eating leftovers? Do they have to put a bowl of noodles and a pair of chopsticks on the table, sit down and eat together with them? Kirin finished its meal, licking around its mouth in content, then he went to Xia Yi¡¯s feet, ¡°Go, bring me my whisk broom.¡± Xia Yi ordered. Kirin shook its tail, swiftly dashed to the corner, and it jogged back with a whisk broom in its mouth. Liu SiQian, with his hand on his chest, was watching painfully. ¡°179, 179 are you there? Is he sick? Come and look at him.¡± Xia Yi, alerted, began to summon the system. ¡°Host, I am busy over here. I am making patches for the bugs, take care of him.¡± After some time, 179¡¯s voice echoed through, but all fell into silence again. ¡°Don¡¯t act like you are hardworking. How long have I been here? And you are still making patches. I suggest all of you systems should raise your service quality. Don¡¯t just think about the performances.¡± Xia Yi was pissed when he heard about this. Li SiQian was following Kirin around, he extended his arms carefully in joy, ¡°Kirin, this is a kirin, I am looking at a kirin.¡± This made Kirin angry and started to grit its teeth towards him. Xia Yi: ¡­What the hell, has this person not seen a dog before or is his brain malfunctioning? Or maybe all cultivators are this quirky? When Liu SiQian seemed normal again, Xia Yi talked to him about his thoughts, ¡°What is your plan from now on? I am not sure if you can go back, but you have to think about how you are going to live in this world. Are you going to keep selling medicines or what?¡± ¡°No, I should not stay, I have to find our leader.¡± Liu SiQian declined with determination, he then explained to Xia Yi after some thoughts, ¡°The honorable immortal leader of the Qi Shan Sect, CangYi, has been wandering out there for over twenty years. The Sect has been managed by the leader before. Recently, when some of our apprentices went out to experience the world, they disappeared mysteriously without any trace. Therefore, the elder fellow apprentice of the leader has brought some elder apprentices in the Sect to find them.¡± He sighed when he was talking about the matter, ¡°Who knows all of them would vanish just like the others? Now the Sect is under my charge, if I disappear also, Qi Shan Sect will be in chaos.¡± Hm? Why does this sound so familiar? ¡°179, come out, have you been moving the Sect leader to other worlds?¡± Xia Yi was calling the system. ¡°No, they are in their world. I don¡¯t have any records of them travelling to other worlds. We have records about you and Liu SiQian.¡± System answered. ¡°Right, I think I have a mission about knowing the whereabouts of the sect leader, do you mean this sect leader?¡± Xia Yi suddenly remembered the mission he had accepted. ¡°Yes, Host.¡± ¡°Then we should not have to find him. We just wait til the radishes are ready for harvest.¡± Liu SiQian frowned worriedly, and he sighed slowly, ¡°I don¡¯t know what place this is. Everyone here is normal, but you have kirins as pets.¡± He paused and added, ¡°Kirins that are fed on leftovers.¡± ¡­What have leftovers ever done to you? As if you were not nearly being starved to death just now. Would you be so picky about leftovers at that time? ¡°But I still need to go back, the leader has disappeared and I have to find leads about his whereabouts.¡± ¡°No need to hurry. We will have leads about your people when the radishes are ready to be harvested.¡± Xia Yi sincerely said, ¡°There is still half a month to go.¡± ¡°We should hope so.¡± Liu SiQian spoke absent-mindedly. ¡°It¡¯s true. When my radishes are ready¡­¡± Xia Yi stopped talking abruptly. He saw Liu SiQian, with blank expressions in front of him, was no longer moving. The air around him started to spread in the shape of ripples. The old man was also fading away slowly. ¡°179, 179, is Liu SiQian going back to the cultivation world?¡± Xia Yi shouted for System anxiously. ¡°Correct. The bugs had been eliminated after applying patches to the system. Liu SiQian is now going back to his world through the crack of time.¡± 179 gave a long exhale and said in a light tone. The figure of Liu SiQian was becoming blurry. It further became a few spots of light, and those lights vanished at the end. CH 20 Gu Wen Zhu arrived home when the sky was almost dark. As soon as he entered, with a piece of pork in his hand, he smiled at Xia Yi and said, ¡°Someone butchered a pig in the neighboring village, I got a few catty. I¡¯ll make dumplings for you tonight.¡± ¡°Yes, dumplings.¡± Xia Yi answered joyfully and hurried his way to wash his hands. The two then were busy chopping up the fillings and making dough. One hour later, a bowl of hot dumplings was served on the table. Both of them gave each other one and started to feed each other. While they were enjoying the meal, someone yelled nervously and banged on their front door, ¡°Xia Yi, Yi, are you here? Quickly to the farmland, someone is trying to ruin it!¡± The dumpling between his chopsticks dropped into the bowl when Xia Yi heard the news, blood rushed up to his head, his heart pounding fast. F**k! Who is ruining my farmland?! He responded to Liu Qing loudly as he was going to the door. Gu Wen Zhu followed behind him. In the farmland, the villagers, with torches in their hands, were chasing and surrounding three men in black. Those three men were anxiously trying to hide and run, however, villagers were all around them. ¡°Surround him, surround him, he wants to escape from this way.¡± ¡°He is in the ridge, he wants to run below the trees, surround them.¡± A shadow swiftly moved into the ridges, preparing to escape through the path under the trees. With a sound of ¡®gong,¡¯ his head had been hit. The figure fell and was being pinned down by the villagers that were chasing behind him. Holding a copper bed pan, Mr. Wang stood there proudly with his invincible aura, he said coldly, ¡°I knew someone will try to escape here, I was waiting for you.¡± The other two were trying to escape every way they could. At this moment, Xia Yi arrived. He pounced onto one of them and punched him hard on the side of his head. Xia Yi gritted his teeth and said, ¡°I fuck you and all your ancestors, you son of a bitch, you dare to damage my land, you must be tired of living.¡± Then he turned his head with a fierce expression and found that Gu Wen Zhu was looking at him, stupefied. Xia Yi hurriedly jumped down from the back of that person, he put his hand on his chest and sadly said, ¡°Eh.¡± Gu Wen Zhu walked up, picked up the guy and threw him on the floor, then the guy stopped moving. The villagers had tied up the three men in black by this time. Under the light of the torches, the three guys were tied up and had been thrown into the ridges. It was the three officers again. Mr. Wang circled them and gave them a cold laugh, then he turned to tell everyone, ¡°During these times, a series of strange events have happened in our village. Clothes were scratched. Empty house was burnt. The eggs in the bowl have gone missing. So, I have been looking for any related clues.¡± ¡°A pig breeder came to our village today. I bet you do not know, he has this costume on him. It¡¯s ridiculous! With my experience as the chief of security and my knowledge over the years, I instantly knew that he was questionable.¡± ¡°Then I asked him, how do you breed this kind of pig? Haha, he knew nothing, and he could only repeat the word foundation extra-breeding dink. I did not expose him at that moment, but I knew, this pig breeder, is a spy sent by these three guys.¡± Mr. Wang continued to circle the three men, he eyed them fiercely, talking about his process of solving the case calmly. ¡°I sensed that something was wrong, but I pretended to know nothing. I have been patrolling all night in the village, observing in the dark. And bingo!¡± Mr. Wang squinted his eyes for a bit, he crouched, saying word by word, ¡°You took action tonight.¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ Officers: ¡­ With their faces black and blue, the three ex-officers eagerly wanted to defend themselves, ¡°No, we didn¡¯t do those things, we know no pig breeder. I am telling you, we were just drinking one or two cups too much tonight, then we remembered how we were being sent to the magistrate office and being whipped ten times each, we had been in the cells until now, so we wanted to come and make trouble for your village, to damage the crops¡­¡± Before he could finish his sentence, his mouth had been stuffed with cloth, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him, we send them directly to the magistrate office and report them.¡± Then everybody together pushed the three into the carriage of old Zhang¡¯s and rushed their way to the magistrate office overnight. Looking at the carriage going away, the villagers all went back to their homes, Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu also walked on their way home. The night deepened, the milky way was shining right above them. A breeze of freshness from the grass passed by through the wind in the night, the sounds of the bugs ringing nonstop from the forests. Listening to the long and stable breaths of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s, Xia Yi silently extended his fingers. Those soft fingers reached the hem of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s clothes, then slowly moved up to hold Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand. Gu Wen Zhu was stunned, but he immediately held Xia Yi¡¯s hand in return. Xia Yi was delighted but tried not to show it, he then quickly locked his fingers with Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s. They kept walking like this for a while, neither of them spoke, both of their hearts pounding fast. ¡°You only hold hands?¡± 179¡¯s voice rang in an inappropriate moment. ¡°Can you not spoil the moment? How can this system be without any sense?¡± Xia Yi wanted to complain right now. ¡°Nope, I just want to give a friendly reminder, are you lovers not supposed to do some other stuff?¡± 179 felt wronged. Right! Do other stuff! Heehee! ¡°Then you should turn off your camera, I am prepared to do some stuff between lovers.¡± With improper intentions, Xia Yi was rubbing his hands in his mind. ¡°I am already watching movies with my headphones on.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Xia Yi screamed suddenly, he lowered his head and rubbed his eyes. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Gu Wen Zhu asked quickly. ¡°I have sand in the eye, I can¡¯t open my eye¡­¡± ¡°Host, I really think this is cliche, and you are acting badly.¡± 179¡¯s voice rang again. ¡°Are you not watching movies?¡± Xia Yi was furious. ¡°It is still playing the intro, so I take a look here. Alright alright, the movie is starting, I am off.¡± In view of Xia Yi¡¯s fury, 179 swiftly backed off. ¡°Don¡¯t rub! Let me blow it off for you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu quickly pulled away the hand of Xia Yi¡¯s that was intending to rub his own eye, then he took a couple of steps closer. With one hand supporting the back of Xia Yi¡¯s head, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s other hand was keeping Xia Yi¡¯s eye open. Gu Wen Zhu blew softly towards that eye, ¡°Try blinking, see if it is better now?¡± Xia Yi blinked though he was fine, ¡°It¡¯s still there.¡± ¡°Then let me blow again,¡± Gu Wen Zhu used his hand to open Xia Yi¡¯s eye again. This time, while Gu Wen Zhu was blowing Xia Yi¡¯s eye with all his focus, Xia Yi closed the distance between them and began to purse his lips¡­ ¡°Host you look terrible, your eyelid is up, only eyewhite can be seen, and your mouth is extending out, it feels like fangs are going to come out from it.¡± 179 could not hold up and told him the problems. Son of a gun! ¡°Alright alright, the movie is starting, I am focusing on the movie, don¡¯t disturb me.¡± 179 promptly smoothed things over. ¡­Who is disturbing who? Xia Yi pushed off Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand which was keeping his eye open, he said with a stern face, ¡°It¡¯s okay, I feel much better.¡± ¡°Really? Try blinking again.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was still worried. When he saw Xia Yi was fine, he finally released his hand behind Xia Yi¡¯s head, and continued to walk back home with their hands held. There was still a long way to go, Xia Yi peeked at Gu Wen Zhu on his side with indecent ideas on his mind: The stars are shining bright, the atmosphere is perfect, I will regret it if I don¡¯t do something¡­ Gu Wen Zhu sensed Xia Yi¡¯s stare and turned his head, he smiled and gazed at him softly, the outline of his handsome face looked even sharper under starlight. Xia Yi could not help but feel his heart tightened, I really can¡¯t hold it anymore, he looks so good, I want him to kiss me now, but he would not take the bait¡­ Um? Why does it have to be him kissing me? I am also a guy! If I want to kiss him, I can do so, what am I afraid of? He halted his steps all of a sudden when he realised this. There was a fire in his eyes, he slowly looked from Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face to those lips which were clearly outlined. Feeling Xia Yi stopping, Gu Wen Zhu stopped as well. He turned to look at Xia Yi in confusion, the corner of his eye had raised, his eyes were reflecting the lights of the stars. F**k, he is good looking! ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I am not doing anything, I am just going to kiss you, just kissing.¡± Xia Yi nervously talked at a quick pace, pouncing on Gu Wen Zhu. He held Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s neck and started biting around his lips headlessly. Gu Wen Zhu stepped back because of the momentum, he hence stepped into the farmland on the side of the road. He froze on the spot, leaving Xia Yi anxiously biting both his lips. Xia Yi sensed his stiffness, he tried to remind himself to not be a lecher. He kept his motion and whispered to him: ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, I will take responsibility¡­¡± F**k, why do I sound like a scum? Gu Wen Zhu began to respond, his hands tightly holding Xia Yi¡­ ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± A loud voice echoed from behind like a landmine exploding. Although they could not see the person¡¯s face clearly, the copper bed pan in his hand was undoubtedly eye catching while reflecting the starlight, sparkling. ¡­Mr. Wang do you not sleep? ¡°Run.¡± Xia Yi held Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand and began to run insanely, their figures disappeared at the end of the road quickly. Mr. Wang sluggishly moved forward, he came to the spot where Gu Wen Zhu and Xia Yi just stood, he looked at the footprints in the farmland carefully and laughed coldly, ¡°Accomplice.¡± CH 21 In the still of night, everything was as silent as the grave, Xia Yi was frowning in his sleep. In his dream, he came to a hospital full of the smell of sanitizer, he sat on the bench outside the operating room with his head wrapped in his arms. His parents had been in a car accident when they were traveling, both of them were lying inside. Surrounding him was the crying of a child at the end of the corridor, he could see feet with nurse shoes on walking back and forth in front of him. There were some blood stains from his mother on his jacket. When he arrived at the hospital after receiving the call, his father was already in the operating room while his mother was about to be transferred inside. At that time, she was still conscious, only that she looked a bit pale. She murmured, grabbing Xia Yi¡¯s hand tightly with her lips trembling, ¡°I am worried about you being alone by yourself¡­¡± Watching the bed being pushed into the operating room, Xia Yi froze at the spot, a sentence repeatedly echoed in his mind, ¡°Mom, don¡¯t leave me, mom¡­¡± ¡°Yi, Yi, wake up, Yi.¡± An anxious voice called him, pulling Xia Yi out from his dreams. It was the voice of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s. ¡°Zhu.¡± Xia Yi opened his eyes blurred by tears, weeping. ¡°I am here, I am here,¡± Gu Wen Zhu held him in his arms, he patted him in the back, and asked in a low voice, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you having a bad dream? I heard you crying in the next room.¡± Upon finishing his sentence, he moved his hand to wipe off the tears from Xia Yi¡¯s face, ¡°What have you dreamt? How are you crying so badly?¡± Xia Yi was still sobbing, he spoke with frequent pauses, ¡°I dreamt about my parents. They, they told me, they were worried about, worried about me being alone by myself¡­¡± Gu Wen Zhu stood up, went to the lavatory to fetch a towel and came back, he brushed Xia Yi¡¯s face with it and said softly, ¡°If you have that kind of dream again, remember to tell your parents that, you are not alone, there is someone taking care of you, and they don¡¯t need to worry about you. They had been pampering you for the previous years of your life, and I will take it from here and pamper you for the rest of your life.¡± ¡°Are you better now? Do you want some water?¡± Gu Wen Zhu patted Xia Yi lightly through the blanket. He could see Xia Yi slowly calming down, stopping sobbing. ¡°Not good, don¡¯t want it.¡± Xia Yi lied in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms, he stretched out two of his fingers to grab the hem of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s clothes, ¡°I am only better with you by my side.¡± ¡°Alright, lie down, I will be by your side, I will wait until you are asleep then I will leave.¡± Gu Wen Zhu whispered in a soft voice. ¡°Lie beside me.¡± Xia Yi moved inwards, making space for him. Gu Wen Zhu hesitated, he ended up sitting beside the bed, tilted his body to lean on the headboard of the bed. Xia Yi rolled over, facing him, lying sideways, then pulled Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand which had fallen onto the blanket to place it on his waist, and closed his eyes finally. Gu Wen Zhu did not dare to make a sound, he just kept his slanting sitting position with his hand on Xia Yi¡¯s waist. ¡°Touch my ear.¡± Xia Yi said suddenly. ??? What? Touch his ear? ¡°When I was little, every night, I would tell my mom, my mother to touch my ear to make me sleep. Didn¡¯t you just say you are going to take over and pamper me?¡± Xia Yi opened his eyes slightly with his voice still husky. Due to the fact that he had just cried, the corners of his eyes were still red, his eyes were moist, sparkling, the eyelashes remained in their places in clusters. Gu Wen Zhu extended one hand in difficulty to caress Xia Yi¡¯s ear gently. ¡°I want to hear you sing.¡± Having lied for a while, Xia Yi broke the silence, ¡°When I was little, my mother had to sing beside the bed while she was putting me to sleep.¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not respond for a long time, even his motion of caressing the ear had halted, Xia Yi opened his eyes to look up, he complained, ¡°So you are already breaking your words right after you have promised to pamper me like my mother did?¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t know how to sing.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was stunned. ¡°Think carefully, you must know one or two songs, I won¡¯t frown upon you, you just have to hum a few tunes.¡± Xia Yi lied down and closed his eyes, ¡°Think, sing when you come up with something, I will wait for it.¡± Xia Yi had a long yawn after saying so. After a long while, when Xia Yi thought Gu Wen Zhu was not going to sing, a trembling voice out of tone and rhythm started to rang¨C Edelweiss, Edelweiss, Every morning you greet me, Small and white clean and bright¡­ Xia Yi: ?????!!!!!!! Okay, don¡¯t be too picky, it was lucky enough that Zhu knew how to sing. Xia Yi curled up in the blanket, he silently listened to Gu Wen Zhu singing. Although the tone was far off, he could still figure out briefly what he was singing, and he felt quite familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before. Where? TV shows? No. Children¡¯s songs? No. But why does it sound so familiar? I feel like I can sing that song myself. Suddenly, in a quick moment, a scene popped up in his head: A teenager with white clothes, holding a bunch of orchids, was running around in the woods, sunlight leaked from between the trees and shined on his lively moving body. He was singing a merry tune. Edelweiss, Edelweiss, Every morning you greet me, Small and white clean and bright¡­ ¡°Zhu, where did you learn that tune?¡± Xia Yi turned and faced Gu Wen Zhu, asking directly. Gu Wen Zhu stopped singing and tried to remember, after some time, he showed confusion on his face: ¡°I don¡¯t remember, maybe my mother sang to me when I was a child?¡± ¡°Nevermind if you can¡¯t recall, let¡¯s sleep.¡± Xia Yi yawned again, and buried his head in the pillow. When Xia Yi was up, it was morning. Sunlight shining through the windows, the yard was in complete silence. Gu Wen Zhu should be in the farmland by this time of the day. He went back to his bed to take a longer nap, then got up at last to wash himself. After that, he went to the kitchen to look into the pot and see a pot of big buns was still steaming. Gu Wen Zhu had to place a layer of ashes on the fire every time he was preserving food for him, the remaining heat could keep his breakfast steaming with hot air though there was no fire. With one hand holding the porridge, Xia Yi was joyfully eating a bun which was in the other hand of his, but then he heard numerous footfalls from outside the yard along with Li Zhu¡¯s loud voice, ¡°Yi, Yi are you there? Yi.¡± ¡°I am here.¡± Xia Yi hurried and replied, he put the bowl of porridge on the table, trying to figure out what was going on. The entrance had been pushed open forcefully, then he saw Li Zhu backing his steps to enter, shouting, ¡°Easy, easy.¡± He went in even more. The wooden board he was holding could now be seen. There was obviously a person lying on it and a pair of feet entered Xia Yi¡¯s view. Xia Yi did not look closely, he felt like he heard a buzzing sound in his head, strength had been pulled away from his legs, the bun in his hand also fell onto the floor. He stumbled two steps forward, asked with his lips quivering, ¡°Zhu? Is that Zhu?¡± ¡°In, in, more.¡± Li Zhu was still giving directions to the other guy holding the board, he saw Xia Yi from the corner of his eyes and guessed that there was some confusion with him, thus he said quickly, ¡°It¡¯s not Wen Zhu, Yi, it¡¯s not Wen Zhu, this is your relative.¡± As soon as he heard that the man was not Gu Wen Zhu, Xia Yi exhaled in relief. As he had calmed down, strength also came back to his feet. Then he wondered and asked, ¡°What relative? How is there a relative of mine?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, come and see for yourself.¡± While they were talking, Li Zhu and some other villagers had already put the board on the ground in the yard. Xia Yi went closer to look, before he had even seen the face of the person, he understood the situation immediately upon seeing the cyan-blue long gown embroidered with patterns on the man. Liu SiQian has transmigrated here? When he saw the face of the person clearly, Xia Yi was stupefied. This was not Liu SiQian. This person was fatter, younger, probably in his forties. He had his eyes closed tightly, however, he was holding a bowl tightly in front of his chest, and he was grabbing onto a wooden stick in the other hand, not loosening his grip even when he was in a coma. ¡°Er Niu found him, he was running around in the mountain headlessly, he asked Er Niu if he knew Xia Yi when he saw him, Er Niu said yes, then he fainted.¡± While he was fanning himself with the hem of his clothes, Li Zhu spoke of what he knew, ¡°Seems like he fainted because of starvation.¡± ¡°He fled, right? Where did he get this costume from? Look at this poor guy without food, Oh, he is grabbing his begging stick and bowl even when he is unconscious, we could not pull those away from him.¡± Er Niu sighed, shaking his head, wiping the sweat from his face. Xia Yi was thinking fast, he even knew my name, it must be Liu SiQian who told him about me. Does he know the way to transmigrate? And he told him to come to me when he arrived? ¡°So, do you know him?¡± Li Zhu asked Xia Yi. Xia Yi hurriedly nodded, ¡°Yes yes, he is my fourth uncle, I guess he could not make a living, so he fled here to see me.¡± Some suggested finding a doctor, but then they heard a long moan. The man on the board moved slightly and began to wake sluggishly. He observed the surroundings as he was up, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something. Xia Yi was worried that he may say inappropriate things, therefore he yelled with emotions before the man could speak, ¡°Uncle! You have come, I am Xia Yi.¡± That man lying on the board stared at Xia Yi, he looked confused at first, but he seemed to have recalled something with bright eyes. In this process, a lot came across his mind and could somehow be seen in his expression, these included but were not limited to thoughts, doubts, surprises, affirmation, happiness, sadness, etc. His lips were quivering, he said sobbing, ¡°Yi, you have grown taller, you look like your mother even more now.¡± Damned, this one is an actor. CH 22 After Li Zhu and the others left, Xia Yi went to the kitchen and took out the pot of big buns, ¡°Eat, then we will sort things out. ¡±The man swiftly sat up on the board, he grabbed a bun with one hand and started to eat hungrily, almost choking himself to death. Xia Yi promptly fetched a bowl of porridge and gave it to him. Only when the whole pot of buns were out did the man restore his calm, sipping the porridge sluggishly, he spoke to Xia Yi, ¡°My name is Cheng Ming, I am the fourth elder of Qi Shan, I know that Liu and you know each other.¡± ¡°Some time ago, Liu vanished for two days suddenly. He appeared in the main hall out of the blue when we were anxiously searching for him. Following that, he brought a few of our fellow apprentices into the backroom, he told us that some spell had been cast on Qi Shan, and said that he had been transferred to a utopia while he was missing.¡± ¡°He was worried about us falling for it one by one, so he told us to prepare a bowl for each of us, and have a staff with us always, he warned us repeatedly to not lose those when we arrived at the utopia. And we ought to remember, we have to go to a nearby village to find a young man named Xia Yi, he said that you would help us out.¡± ¡°When did you arrive?¡± Xia Yi asked. Cheng Ming hesitated for a second, although he did not wish to answer, he still opened his mouth and said, ¡°Two days ago. I was making magical items, all of a sudden my vision wavered, the surroundings twisted and deformed. I sensed danger at that moment, I thought perhaps that was the spell that Liu had been talking about. And bingo, when I opened my eyes again I was already here.¡± ¡°You arrived two days ago, why didn¡¯t you come to me sooner?¡± Xia Yi was curious. Cheng Ming paused for a while, then he spoke slowly, ¡°My sense of direction was never that good, even when I was at Qi Shan, I could not tell the way once I walked out my own yard. When I arrived at this place, I saw a cornfield beside me, I was surrounded by corn, and more corn. They all looked the same.¡± Cheng Ming halted, emphasizing. ¡­ Can corn look not like corn? ¡°So I walked, and I walked, after a long time, I went into a mountain. I was lucky enough to find some fruits to fill my stomach, that¡¯s why I could make it until Er Niu found me.¡± ¡°You have totally no sense of direction.¡± Xia Yi could not suppress his sigh, this dude who called Cheng Ming was too pathetic, he starved for two days because of his weak sense of direction. Cheng Ming scrunched his face sadly, ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¨C¡± He stopped abruptly, staring straight at the direction of the kitchen. Xia Yi looked in the same direction and saw Kirin lying lazily in front of the door, it used its front claws to scratch its bowl, licking and wanting more. Cheng Ming looked stupefied, he mumbled, ¡°Liu did not lie, you have a kirin, a kirin that eats leftovers¡­¡± Okay, I understand now, people in the Qi Shan Sect are all dog persons. ¡°I am going to boil some water, you can wash yourself first, I will take out some old clothes of Zhu¡¯s for you to wear. No one knows when you will be able to go back, we have an empty old house near the entrance of the village, you can go there to tidy things up and live there for now.¡± After Cheng Ming finished washing, Xia Yi brought him to the yard of the old house at the entrance of the village, ¡°The wall is a little smoked, but everything else is fine. Zhu had repaired the wall some days ago, there is a bed in the storage next to us. You can start tidying up, I will bring you some blankets later.¡± Cheng Ming nodded repeatedly, feeling thankful, ¡°I could not take everything for free. How about this, I still have a few foundation establishment drinks on me¡­¡± Xia Yi interrupted him quickly, ¡°I have that too, you can live here without worrying, if you feel uneasy about it, just come to farm with me.¡± ¡°F¡­farm?¡± ¡°Haha, he thinks low of farming. If there was no bug to transmigrate you here, you would still be enjoying good food with servants around you serving you.¡± 179 said angrily, but stopped talking upon seeing Xia Yi¡¯s stern face. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you do not want to farm, you can still become a traveler doctor to sell foundation establishment drinks, you can even become a pig breeder. If things do not work out, don¡¯t you have a stick and a bowl with you?¡± Xia Yi said stony-faced. ¡°Farm farm farm, I will farm.¡± Cheng Ming replied straightly, ¡°I will start farming tomorrow.¡± Xia Yi nodded, ¡°Then you should tidy up, there is a wooden bowl in the corner of the yard, you can fetch water yourself, I will now go back. When it¡¯s time for dinner, you can come without me calling you.¡± ¡°Right right right.¡± Cheng Ming nodded, again and again. He was afraid that Xia Yi might change his mind and tell him to be a beggar. Xia Yi summoned the system when he was back in the yard. ¡°179, didn¡¯t you say that the bug had been fixed since last time Liu SiQian went back? Why do we have another one here?¡± ¡°I have no idea either, the technical system told me that the bug was fixed. I asked again when Cheng Ming came just now, the technical system was a little mad about it. He thought that I was questioning his professionalism. He said that he had learned in every world and was just back from your home world, he had learned there for three months.¡± ¡°Huh? He finished learning within three months? What had he learned?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, he always wants to gather all of us to lecture us since he was back. He will close the door once we enter, and tell us to find five more students for each of us, then he will try to sell us some chips.¡± Xia Yi: ¡­What had the technical system experienced in my home world? It won¡¯t work, he thought, they all transmigrate here and nearly starve to death. He could not help in other ways, but he could still give them food. Therefore, Xia Yi found and took out a wooden board, he drew on it, and pinned a long wooden stick below it. He came to the cornfield where he first arrived at this world, he stuck the sign into the ridge of the field. He looked closely to ensure there were no problems with it, then he brushed off the dust on his hands and went back home, satisfied. There was a map on the board, Xia Yi had drawn the directions to their home, with a big fat arrow pointing at it. Below it, he had even drawn Kirin and written¨Cbeware of the dog. ** In the evening, Cheng Ming had arrived early to wait for dinner. Xia Yi was washing and cutting the vegetables in the kitchen, waiting for Gu Wen Zhu to fry them once he got back. At this stage, Xia Yi could do some preparation jobs, but the actual cooking had to be left for Gu Wen Zhu to do it. Cheng Ming was playing with the dog in the yard. Playing with the dog was not a very precise way to describe it, it was more like the dog was playing with him. Kirin had discovered that this dog person was very submissive to it, this guy was following it around and doing whatever that made it happy, therefore it had accepted him as its underling. Now it was lying lazily on the flagstone pavement in the yard, using its front claws to play with a small sandbag. This sandbag was made by Gu Wen Zhu when he was practicing sewing. Ever since he had sewn up the sleeves for those two sets of clothes, Gu Wen Zhu had been feeling that he was starting to learn about a new profession, thus, he would make some little things whenever he had time. Kirin pretended to be playing with the sandbag, but it was actually monitoring his underling. When Cheng Ming was not watching, it would hold the sandbag with its mouth and swing it, the sandbag then formed a projectile in the air and fell onto the corner of the yard far away. Cheng Ming hurried and chased the sandbag to fetch it back. He put the sandbag in front of Kirin to please it, looking at Kirin closely. Then Kirin would lick his hand to praise him. Cheng Ming was delighted, Kirin was also enjoying playing. While the man and the dog were playing merrily, the front door had been pushed open, Gu Wen Zhu walked in with the hoe on his shoulder. He had only loosened the soil today, therefore he came back earlier than usual. As soon as he entered, he looked right at the kitchen. On the other hand, Xia Yi rushed out once he heard him, he said happily, ¡°You are back. Zhu.¡± And he walked up to him. Since Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi, he had been looking at him, not paying any attention to the extra guy in the yard who was crouching in front of Kirin staring at him with eyes wide open. Cheng Ming was stunned. Wasn¡¯t this handsome farmer carrying a hoe on his shoulder, with sleeves and the lower parts of his trousers rolled up, the honorable immortal leader CangYi who had been travelling out there for more than twenty years? Even though he had not been seeing the leader for all these years, he still remembered his face vividly. The honorable immortal leader told us he was going to travel around the world, but he had actually been missing for over twenty years, and he is, he is here farming?? Gu Wen Zhu had now realised the presence of Cheng Ming. This fat guy was crouching in his yard, staring at Gu Wen Zhu with an astonished expression. Hence, Gu Wen Zhu could not help but asked Xia Yi about him. ¡°This, this is my fourth uncle. He fled to find me.¡± Xia Yi gathered the courage and lied. After that, he gave Cheng Ming an expression to signal him, ¡°Uncle, this is Zhu, Gu Wen Zhu. It was him who had accepted me when I first arrived.¡± ¡°Fourth uncle.¡± Knowing that the man was a relative of Xia Yi, Gu Wen Zhu passionately greeted him. It was as if Cheng Ming had not heard a word of their conversation, he was still crouching with mouth open, staring at Gu Wen Zhu unbelievably. When Gu Wen Zhu was starting to show confusion, Cheng Ming shouted loudly with tears welling in his eyes, his mouth trembling, ¡°The honorable immortal leader! I am Mingie.¡± After saying so, he stood and intended to hug him. Isn¡¯t he enjoying acting too much? Xia Yi was startled. Isn¡¯t this over the top? Mingie? Why don¡¯t you go and look into the mirror? Are you not ashamed to call yourself Mingie at such an age? Gu Wen Zhu was startled as well, then he turned to look at Xia Yi, puzzled. ¡°My uncle had starved and fainted, Li Zhu and Er Niu passed by and picked him up in the mountains, he had just woke up and he is still fuzzy.¡± Xia Yi was explaining to Gu Wen Zhu and signaling Cheng Ming at the same time. Mingie, do not overdo it, don¡¯t act too much. Cheng Ming did not even glance at Xia Yi, he only gazed at Gu Wen Zhu with eyes full of emotions and tears, he looked exactly like a child finally finding his mother who had been missing for many years, Xia Yi could not hold off his goose bumps. Full of deep feelings, Cheng Ming spoke with his mouth trembling, ¡°Honourable immortal leader, you really don¡¯t remember me? I am Mingie. Four hundred years ago, you found me at the Willow Village outside Qi Shan. I was only seven, my parents both passed away and I had nowhere to go. It was you who brushed off the tears from my face, it was you who held my weak and slim arm, you said that you would provide me with a warm home.¡± CH 23 Gu Wen Zhu had prepared lunch as usual, he placed the hot food on the table. Seeing Xia Yi go back into the yard by himself, he looked behind himself and asked, ¡°Where is Uncle?¡± ¡°He is staying with the radishes and won¡¯t go away.¡± Xia Yi said with a bowl of rice in his hand. ¡°Bring your uncle some food afterwards, his health must have worsened, he can¡¯t be starved anymore.¡± Gu Wen Zhu reminded Xia Yi. Haha, he had servants to serve him, he can eat whatever he wants and even be picky about it. Xia Yi only kept his thoughts to himself and replied obediently, ¡°Alright, I will deliver the food after lunch.¡± Xia Yi had finished eating, he walked lazily to his farmland with a lunch box. Just when he was nearly there, he stopped. Mr. Wang was sitting at a ridge not far away, he was smoking and looking at the sky, and he was paying glances to Cheng Ming discreetly from time to time. I knew that he would monitor him secretly. ¡°Yi, come here. Come here.¡± Mr. Wang waved towards Xia Yi as soon as he saw him. Xia Yi walked to him, ¡°Mr. Wang, what¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°That¡¯s your fourth uncle?¡± Xia Yi nodded. ¡°He fled here?¡± Xia Yi nodded again. ¡°I closed up a bit just now, hoping to ask him about himself. You didn¡¯t see it, he looked as if he was going to bite me before I could even touch him.¡± Mr. Wang said in a serious tone, ¡°According to my observation¨C¡± ¡°He has a brain disease, it¡¯s innate.¡± Xia Yi interrupted him quickly, don¡¯t observe anymore please Mr. Wang. Ever since Cheng Ming saw that field of radishes, he had not been back to the house. He ate there, drank there, he even had a little station there, and he now lived there. With their bowls in their hands, the villagers crouched beside the farmlands and looked at Cheng Ming guarding the land every night at dinner time. ¡°What a poor guy, such a poor guy.¡± ¡°His condition was more severe than Yi guarding his potatoes.¡± ¡°Of course, both of them were starved before they fled, they value those lands more than their own lives.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it, I heard that he had some brain disease¡­¡± This afternoon, Xia Yi went to deliver Cheng Ming¡¯s meal, just when he called Mingie, he heard the mixed sounds of firecrackers exploding and gongs ringing, 179¡¯s merry voice rang: Congratulations to the player who has completed the third mission. ¡°Mission description: Knowing the whereabouts of the Sect Leader. Completion 1/1 Award 1 Rare Gift Pack Host, would you like to claim the price now or later?¡± ¡°Put it in my storage space, I will ask you for it when I want it.¡± What¡¯s the f**king use of it? Even taking it out is a bother. Cheng Ming was crouching in the farmland to check the radishes, upon hearing Xia Yi¡¯s call, he looked up, ¡°Is that my food?¡± Xia Yi intended to open his mouth to speak, but his vision blurred, everything in his view was beginning to twist and shake, slowly, things started to swivel. This scene was familiar to him, Xia Yi¡¯s heart did a flip, ¡°I¡¯m over! It¡¯s the transmigration!¡± Then the spin speeded up, he could somehow hear Cheng Ming shouting his name in a panic, Xia Yi wanted to respond, but he could not make a sound. The speed of the spin increased, everything in his vision was starting to become lines and spots of light, he felt dizzy and closed his eyes immediately, counting the duration of time in his mind. A moment later, the dizziness went away, breezes of wind passed by his ears, he could even hear cranes calling. When Xia Yi sluggishly opened his eyes to look, he froze. There were fog and clouds surrounding him, white cranes flew above his head, calling, and went right into the clouds. An island floated in the air not far away, a huge waterfall hung from its side, a few grand buildings could be seen between the green trees. There were more small islands in various shapes here and there further away. The scene was magnificent as if it was an illusion. Xia Yi stared at this beautiful scene in front of him, stunned, the beauty made him want to step forward, thus he looked down to check the floor in front of his foot in advance. His soul was almost scared out of him when he looked. He was standing on a single-plank bridge between the two floating islands. Clouds billowed around his foot, he could not tell how thick the clouds were, a few cranes flew in the clouds with elegance. Xia Yi felt strength being pulled away from his legs, he abruptly laid prone with his arms hugging the bridge, unmoved. After his heart had calmed down a bit, he started to climb to the other side slowly holding his breath. He was on the other side at last, sweat had wet his back. He laid on the floor to rest, then he followed a stone stairway leading towards the buildings. As he had just walked a couple of steps, his eyes were caught by a glare beside the stairs. What was there? Driven by curiosity, Xia Yi approached the spot and picked up a turquoise jade pendant. The pendant looked expensive, it was about the size of his palm, the light hit it and reflected softly, a complicated pattern was carved on it. Seems like someone has dropped it here, I will pick it up and ask people about it. ¡°179, 179 are you there? Looks like I have transmigrated to the cultivation world. 179, 179 answer me if you can hear me.¡± Xia Yi was a little nervous, even though the system was trash, it would be better to be with him rather than being alone in an alien world. No response from the system. Are you not a fucking cultivation system? Now you disappear when I am in the cultivation world? Right when he was experiencing anxiety, a voice echoed from above him, ¡°I don¡¯t think we are expecting guests. May I ask who you are?¡± Surprised, Xia Yi looked up and saw something in a round shape floating above his head. That voice came from there. UFO! Damn damn damn, there are even aliens? Is he in a sci-fi novel this time? With no response from Xia Yi and him only staring at his magical tool blankly, this Qi Shan apprentice thought to himself, ¡°So we have a bumpkin here.¡± The UFO gradually moved away from above his head and landed. Xia Yi could then see a person standing on it. The wind blew through this person¡¯s long hair. He was wearing a blue long gown with loose sleeves and golden patterns were sewn on his clothes. Xia Yi let out a relieved sigh slowly, he was still in the cultivation world, this was Qi Shan Sect¡¯s uniform. That person raised his hand when he reached the ground, the UFO instantly became smaller, then turned into a jade disk and flew into his hand. This is too surreal¡­ Looking down to Xia Yi, he eyed him thoroughly, ¡°What is your name? What business do you have here at Qi Shan?¡± ¡°My name is Xia Yi.¡± Xia Yi only replied to the first question since he could not answer why he was here. Bro, there is no business I have here, I am from the farming world. I will just hang around and wait for being transferred back. ¡°Xia Yi? Xia Yi¡­¡± That man repeated laggardly, he seemed to have heard about this name. Suddenly he patted his forehead and said with an astonished expression, ¡°Are you not the one who had been accepted into the sect by the master, but have delayed your arrival for quite a bit, the son of Magistrate Xia?¡± ¡°Sure, sure I am.¡± Xia Yi knew that he was talking about him when he heard that. Isn¡¯t that the very first mission of the cultivation world? Join the Qi Shan Sect and become the apprentice of the sect leader. Most importantly, he had already completed the mission, therefore he was now an apprentice of the Qi Shan Sect. ¡°My fellow apprentice, how are you arriving this late?¡± That man hence changed from his alert face to an affectionate one with a warm smile, ¡°The master had already told us that we would be expecting a new apprentice to come and he had ordered us to pick you up.¡± ¡°Then, did the master say anything else?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°He said that he met you while he was wandering out there, he saw that you were a genius born with a cultivator talent which was one of a kind, your bone structure was special. That¡¯s why he approached Magistrate Xia to accept you as his apprentice.¡± When he finished his sentence, he patted Xia Yi¡¯s shoulder in a friendly manner, ¡°From now on you are one of us. My name is Qing Hui, I am an apprentice under Master TianShu. I am the seventh one among the apprentices that entered the sect of the same period, you can call me Qing Hui.¡± Qing Hui said. ¡°Qing Hui.¡± Xia Yi called out willingly. ¡°It¡¯s such a pity that the master is not back yet at this time. But I can still guide you to know more about our sect, you can see the master when he is back.¡± Qing Hui spoke enthusiastically. ¡°Thank you Qing Hui.¡± Xia Yi swiftly expressed his thanks. Qing Hui waved his hand, ¡°We are fellow apprentices, don¡¯t even mention it, we are a family from now on. You must be exhausted rushing all the way from the prefecture of Huang Zhong. I¡¯ll lead you to your resting place, we can see the Third Elder of Tian Ji after dinner.¡± ¡°Thank you Qing Hui.¡± Xia Yi thanked him again, then he remembered Liu SiQian had told him that he was the third elder of Qi Shan, so he asked, ¡°Qing Hui, is the Third Elder Liu¡­ Liu SiQian?¡± ¡°You should not call out the name of the third elder of Tian Ji.¡± Qing Hui stood still, teaching Xia Yi sternly, ¡°You need to remember, we should not call his real name, we should refer to him as the Elder of Tian Ji.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Yi immediately showed that he had learned. ¡°However, that was the name of the Elder of Tian Ji given by his parents.¡± Qing Hui added, then he led Xia Yi towards the entrance into the sect. So we are meeting someone I knew, that¡¯s much easier to deal with. Xia Yi instantly felt much better. CH 24 Qing Hui brought Xia Yi into the sect, fellow apprentices greeted him on his way and looked at Xia Yi with curious eyes. Qing Hui thus introduced, ¡°This is Xia.¡± ¡°Xia.¡± Those fellow apprentices rushed to greet Xia Yi. While he was greeting them, Xia Yi wondered if his cultivation had started. It won¡¯t work, however great the cultivation world is, he has to get back, Zhu is waiting for him. Thinking of Gu Wen Zhu, Xia Yi felt a pain in his heart. There was no way to know the situation over there, how would Cheng Ming explain his disappearance? Zhu would be so anxious and worried, he would definitely search for him everywhere when he discovered he was gone. Qing Hui led Xia Yi through a quiet and beautiful bamboo grove, then they entered an archway and arrived at a fancy small yard, ¡°You will live at the Wang Zhu Yard from now on. The fellow apprentices will bring some clothes and hot water here later, if there is any need, you can tell them.¡± He looked around after saying so, seeing that there should be sufficient provisions for Xia Yi at the moment, he left. Only Xia Yi was left in the yard, he began to look around. There were three rooms in the yard, all in ancient fashion, with red walls and green tiles and roofs high up. The ground of the yard was floored by bluestone, a few tall healthy green bamboos were planted in a small corner. Xia Yi crouched and grabbed some soil, he used his fingers to twist the soil. This land is fertile, the soil is dark and shiny, and the humidity is just right. I don¡¯t understand why they are planting bamboo. If they plant shallots and chilli peppers, and add a stand to plant some loofah, it would be splendid. What a waste. ¡°Xia Yi.¡± A voice in a tentative tone rang behind him while he was thinking about this and that. Xia Yi turned around sharply, words escaped from his mouth, ¡°Liu SiQian?¡± He could tell his level of cultivation was high by the elegant presence of this old man standing outside the archway with an aura and his sleeves swaying in the wind. This was Liu SiQian. ¡°When Qing Hui reported to me, he mentioned the name Xia Yi, then I asked him more about you, judging from his descriptions of your appearance, I thought that it was you. When I asked for more details, he told me that you have two colors in your sleeve, so I hurried and came.¡± Liu SiQian said with a smile. Xia Yi was surprised too, ¡°I knew you were the Elder of Tian Ji.¡± ¡°Xia, how did you come?¡± Liu SiQian stepped in and asked curiously, ¡°And you have become the son of Magistrate Xia and the apprentice of the master?¡± Xia Yi answered, ¡°I don¡¯t know, I just arrived and Qing Hui started to call me that.¡± Liu SiQian nodded understandingly, ¡°Then he must have mistaken, your names are the same by coincidence. But it¡¯s fine, as long as the real person is not here yet, you can borrow his identity for now.¡± He looked as if he had remembered something all of a sudden, then asked quickly, ¡°Is Cheng Ming at your place? He has been missing for some days now, he left a few pieces of treasure in his bedroom.¡± ¡°He came over, he is now farming every day.¡± He might even be lying in the station beside the land eating buns. ¡°Alright.¡± Liu SiQian gave a relieved sigh, then he said with appreciation, ¡°Cheng Ming is such a good fellow, he won¡¯t forget to cultivate wherever he goes. He can¡¯t consume the spiritual energy at your place, so he cultivates the hard way. Good good.¡± Liu SiQian glanced at the sky and invited Xia Yi with enthusiasm. ¡°It should be time for dinner. Come over to my place to have some, we can chat while eating, come come.¡± ¡°Are you not practicing inedia?¡± Xia Yi recalled that Liu SiQian had told him about his years of practicing inedia. ¡°Yes, I had practiced that. But after the experience in utopia, it didn¡¯t feel right to not eat since I was back.¡± Liu SiQian still felt some uneasiness when he was talking about what he had been through. Xia Yi fully understood, ¡°Go, let¡¯s eat.¡± Once they were out from the bamboo grove, Liu SiQian immediately showed a stern expression, he looked dignified and prestigious. The apprentices alongside politely greeted and called him the Elder of Tian Ji. Liu SiQian did not even look at them, he only nodded and made the faintest sound with his nose. Xia Yi was imagining how far could Liu SiQian¡¯s place be, then he saw him waving his hand in the air and a gigantic gourd appeared out of nowhere. The gourd was the size of half a room, there was even a tassel tied on the beak, the gourd was floating up and down slightly in the air. Liu SiQian lifted his leg to step onto the first half of the gourd, he stood firmly on it. Wind was making his sleeves sway, he said to Xia Yi, ¡°Come up here.¡± This is a magical flying item. It¡¯s very stimulating¡­ Xia Yi was excited, he climbed onto the gourd with his arms and legs. He wanted to stand steadily like Liu SiQian but he found that there was no place for him to plant his feet on this smooth gourd. While he was constantly switching his stance, the gourd ascended straight up without any signs. Xia Yi almost had his heart jumped out from his mouth, he quickly crouched down and straddled on the gourd. He was at the last half of the gourd, it was round and smooth, he could not find a way to hold on tightly to the gourd. He felt that he was going to fall when his body tilted, so he quickly moved himself forward to the waist of the gourd. You have to inform me before taking flight. This gourd is smooth and not easy to sit on, it does not even have a handle, let alone seat belts. Can you choose something like an Arabian flying carpet to make your magical item? Even Qing Hui¡¯s UFO is better than this. The gourd headed straight towards a floating small island. Through the thin clouds, the green color and the red roofs on the island could be seen vaguely. Xia Yi lied on the gourd with fear, he had no mood for the views. It was lucky that the distance they were traveling was not far, worthing only a few minutes, the gourd then halted above the small floating island and began to descend. Only when the gourd stopped at an exquisite small yard did Xia Yi feel that he lived again. Liu SiQian looked at him sliding off the gourd with a face as white as a sheet, he twirled his mustache and sighed, ¡°Xia, that¡¯s not good. You will have to ride your own magical item later for long trips, you need to train.¡± Xia Yi waved in exhaustion, ¡°What magical item? I have to get back quick, people at home are waiting for me.¡± Liu SiQian brought Xia Yi to the dining room, the apprentices had already set the table and the food was on it. There was a bowl full of buns apart from the whole table of fish and meat. ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡± After seating, Liu SiQian gave himself a piece of pork leg with his chopsticks, then he served Xia Yi, ¡°Tell me how you got here after eating.¡± Xia Yi was not hungry yet, so he just had some, the leftover food was cleared by Liu SiQian. After dinner, Xia Yi talked about how he transmigrated in detail. Liu SiQian was thoughtful when Xia Yi finished explaining, ¡°I have been looking on the island recently, I have been wanting to find the transportation magical circle if there is one. However, it was drawn by one with great power, I cannot even see any abnormalities. Cheng Ming was transferred there, and we don¡¯t know when he will be back.¡± Liu SiQian looked distressed, ¡°Even if he¡¯s back, we have no idea who would be transferred to or from the utopia next.¡± Liu SiQian used his finger to knock on the table thoughtfully, ¡°Who on earth would cast such a spell? What¡¯s the purpose of doing this? I can¡¯t figure this out. I feel like there is someone against Qi Shan Sect planning a fearsome conspiracy in the shadows.¡± He gazed at Xia Yi, the light in his eyes flickering. ¡°Even innocent people like you have been forced into this flow of the conspiracy.¡± ¡°Right?¡± Xia Yi sluggishly responded, he thought in his mind, the bug that was created by these trash systems was disastrous. There was some turbulence brewing in the cultivation world because of this. ¡°And there is still no trace of our master, there may be some connection between him and this spell, he might have been transferred to somewhere in the utopia.¡± ¡°No, he has not been transferred, he is still here.¡± Xia Yi recalled what 179 had told him, no others were transmigrated according to the system check. Xia Yi stared into Liu SiQian¡¯s eyes earnestly. ¡°Believe me.¡± Liu SiQian observed Xia Yi for a while, then he nodded, ¡°Alright, I believe you.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Xia Yi thought of something, he pulled out the pendant that he had picked up on his way, he gave it to Liu SiQian, ¡°I picked this up when I came, have you seen this before?¡± Liu SiQian took the pendant and looked closely, then he raised his voice in shock, ¡°This is a pendant of the fallen devils, where did you get it?¡± ¡°Beside the stone stairs of the single plank bridge.¡± Xia Yi gestured when he was speaking. ¡°How did this pendant of the fallen devils end up here? When did they come? We did not even sense it.¡± Liu SiQian stood up and paced back and forth in the house, thinking. Suddenly he clapped his hands loudly, and said in a terrified voice, ¡°It¡¯s bad, our master must have been taken by the fallen devils.¡± ¡°No wonder I couldn¡¯t find any trace of the master, he has been taken to the demonic world.¡± Liu SiQian said angrily. He murmured something and opened his palm. A petite paper crane appeared in his palm. Liu SiQian gave his orders to that crane, ¡°Call the other elders to the TengYun Hall to discuss the matter.¡± Then he swung his hand, that paper crane then turned into a crane and flew out, calling on its way. Xia Yi was stupefied, this surreal cultivation world. CH 25 Liu SiQian had sent a few paper cranes, then he turned to look at Xia Yi, ¡°Xia, thank you for providing this crucial clue, else we would still be searching blindly.¡± ¡°I am going to discuss this with the other elders. How about this, I will get you back to the Wang Zhu Yard.¡± Liu SiQian prepared to pull out his gourd after saying so. Xia Yi desperately asked, ¡°Do you have other magical items to take me back there? Just not this gourd.¡± ¡°A sword?¡± Liu SiQian said in a low voice. ¡°No no, too scary, too thin.¡± Xia Yi shook his head so hard that an afterimage could almost be seen. ¡°A shuttle?¡± ¡°Those with two sharp ends, thick and round in the middle? No no.¡± Xia Yi shook his head like crazy. Xia Yi said, ¡°It has to be flat, and wide.¡± ¡°Qing Liang, come to escort Xia back to the main island.¡± Liu SiQian ordered loudly, then he lowered his voice and told Xia Yi, ¡°Qing Liang¡¯s magical item is a sheet of bamboo slips.¡± This is good! Bamboo slips are flat and wide, it was similar to a Arabian flying carpet. A young man with a round face came from outside of the dining room upon hearing the call, he first greeted Liu SiQian, then he greeted Xia Yi with folded hands, ¡°Xia.¡± Xia Yi folded his hands to greet him, ¡°Qing Liang.¡± After greeting each other, Qing Liang pulled Xia Yi¡¯s arm affectionately to exit with him, ¡°Xia, we have been informed long ago that the master has accepted an apprentice, but we haven¡¯t been seeing you. We were all waiting for you. It is great to see you today finally, we have to communicate more from now on.¡± While he was speaking, he came to the yard, waved his hand, and an enormous sheet of bamboo slips floated in the air. The sheet of bamboo slips is undoubtedly wide and flat, it looked just like an Arabian flying carpet. But why is it sideways! Huh? Who can tell me that, why is it standing in the air, like a door? Qing Liang landed himself on the sheet of bamboo slips with a light jump, he extended his hand to grab Xia Yi, who was frozen on the spot and did not have the time to respond. F**k! The sheet of bamboo left the ground at high speed. The wind was howling beside his ears. Xia Yi¡¯s scream had been stuck in his throat. He felt as if his heart was falling and his soul had flown above the clouds to the outerworld. The side of those bamboo strips was thinner than the soles of his feet, he had half his foot standing on nothing. Xia Yi moved his foot slightly. He almost stopped breathing and fainted because of the sensation under his feet. Qing Liang was introducing everything with enthusiasm, ¡°A lot of our fellow apprentices love to ride my magical item, they say it was the best to ride it through the clouds and it was even more stimulating than riding a sword. It was extremely fast as well. That time a fellow apprentice fell from it, right at the moment when he almost touched the ground, I caught up to him, hahahaha¡­¡± Can you please shut up? ¡°Wah¡­hoo¡­¡± Qing Liang was shouting excitedly and showing off his skills at the same time. He sometimes climbed above the clouds or dove vertically towards the ground¡­ ¡°Is it exciting? Hahahahaha, it¡¯s fun right? We can jump off together next time and let the sheet of bamboo strips chase us¡­¡± Xia Yi sat on the sheet of bamboo strips, holding Qing Liang¡¯s calf as tight as he could, he could not even make a sound to ask for help. He felt that the few minutes of his trip back to the main island was equivalent to traveling with that gourd in the afternoon for ten times back and forth. His mind was blank. He did not know how the bamboo strips landed, how he stepped on the main island, and whether he and Qing Liang had said their goodbyes. He had been stunned for a long time even after he had arrived at his own yard like a walking dead. ¡°179, the cultivation world is scary, I want to go home.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to come to cultivate all along?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, I miss Zhu, I want to go home.¡± Xia Yi sat beside the bed blankly, he wanted to think through things that had happened today, then he heard the sound of a few firecrackers exploding in the air, and saw half the sky being lit up. At this time, the sky was already dark, the light from the sparks created flickering lights flashing on Xia Yi¡¯s face. ¡°Is there someone lighting firecrackers? Are we celebrating the new year? It is not yet time. Proposing? I don¡¯t think such romantic cultivators exist in Qi Shan Sect.¡± Xia Yi walked towards the windows to look at the sky out of curiosity. The sparks and smoke were still dissipating, forming a colorful pentagon in the sky, being exceptionally eye-catching hanging in the deep dark night. Countless apprentices of the Qi Shan Sect, wearing blue long gowns swaying in the wind, were riding all kinds of magical items, taking flight from around their own yards, main island, and other floating islands, flying towards where the sparks were. What is this? Is this Star Wars? Xia Yi quickly came out from his house, standing and looking up in his yard. A familiar silver UFO stopped above his head, Qing Hui could only hear Xia Yi but failed to see him, he shouted, ¡°Xia, the elders have made an announcement, our master is not traveling round, he has been kidnapped by people from the demonic world. We are now going to save the master. You stay here, don¡¯t go anywhere else.¡± Xia Yi swiftly nodded, suddenly he remembered that Qing Hui could not see his motion, hence, he shouted back, ¡°Understood, go ahead, stay safe, I will wait for you to come back with victory.¡± Right after he finished speaking, the UFO floated upwards and joined the other magical items to fly speedily towards somewhere afar, the wind that they created roared along. Xia Yi kept looking facing up, he was shocked, he only went back into the house when there were no more magical items to be seen. As soon as he crossed the threshold at the door, Xia Yi halted. He saw the furnishings starting to twist and deformed, also slowly spinning. It was moderate at first, but his vision distorted at exponentially increasing speed. This situation is familiar. Xia Yi exhaled deeply, ¡°I can go back at last.¡± He opened his eyes sluggishly when he heard the chirping of the insects. It was pitch black around him. With the aid of the moonlight, he saw himself standing in the ridge before he transmigrated. ¡°Host, you are back.¡± 179¡¯s shouted in relief in his mind. Xia Yi did not even have to ask, 179 immediately explained, ¡°It¡¯s fine, the bug is fixed, you won¡¯t transmigrate anymore. Plus, the main system has done some preparation. Even if you transmigrate again, I can follow you there.¡± In a hurry, Xia Yi walked towards home, he thought on his way, it¡¯s all dark now, how am I going to explain to Zhu about my disappearance for the whole day? When he just made a turn, he bumped into Liu Qing. Liu Qing cried out once he saw him, ¡°Yi, where have you been? The whole village went looking for you.¡± Xia Yi was shocked, it had not been a day since he vanished, and everybody in the village was searching for him? ¡°At noon, you brought lunch to your uncle, after a while he went back to the yard and found Gu Wen Zhu, and told him that you were transferred to Qi¡­Qi¡­¡± ¡°Qi Shan Sect.¡± Xia Yi helped him to finish. ¡°Right, Qi Shan Sect, you heard him mentioning that before right? He said that you had been transferred to Qi Shan Sect, and he called Gu Wen Zhu the on¡­on¡­¡± ¡°The honourable immortal leader.¡± ¡°Yes, that. Nuts. Gu Wen Zhu did not take it seriously at first, but then you were not back after a long period of time since you went to deliver the food, so he started looking for you. He could not find you in the farmland, so he searched through the village, he could not see you anywhere. When it was getting dark, he became immensely worried. Now all the villagers are searching for you on a large scale.¡± ¡°What should we do? We have to call them back, they should stop searching.¡± Xia Yi was terrified and anxious. ¡°Find Mr. Wang, he is at your old house.¡± Xia Yi hurriedly went to the old house, he asked Liu Qing, ¡°What is he doing in the old house?¡± ¡°Giving your mad uncle medicine.¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ At the moment he arrived at the outside of the old house, he heard Cheng Ming shouted in a threatening manner but with traces of fear, ¡°I am the Elder of TianQuan of the Qi Shan Sect, I am at the last stage of cultivating at the void level and am almost breaking through to the next stage. I have been slaying demons and saving lives all my life, I am admired by many. How dare you tie me up and force me to drink this bitter potion? Do you not wish to live?¡± In the house, Li Zhu and the doctor of the village looked at each other, ¡°He seems to be getting crazier.¡± Mr. Wang signaled them, ¡°Continue.¡± Cheng Ming was screaming and yelling, ¡°When I was at the gathering of the immortals, when I was killing demons, you did not even exist¡­¡± Li Zhu approached carefully with a bowl of mind clearance potion, ¡°God, the immortal, elder, can you drink this? This is sweet soup taken from the lake of the heavens, it¡¯s extraordinarily sweet.¡± Cheng Ming shockingly widened his eyes, ¡°Sweet soup? Lake of the heavens? Are you crazy?¡± Then he continued, alerted, ¡°Don¡¯t come near me, I will use my magical item.¡± ¡°Yes yes yes, we are crazy, so you should not be shallow like us lunatics, you do not have to pull out your magical item.¡± Li Zhu closed up to him steadily and slowly, ¡°Drink this sweet soup, then you will remember where Yi has gone.¡± ¡°How many times do I have to tell you? Yi disappeared out of the blues, he must have been transferred to cultivate.¡± Cheng Ming wanted to cry, why couldn¡¯t these people just listen? Mr. Wang¡¯s face fell, he decisively said, ¡°Switch to a bigger bowl!¡± CH 26 Looking at the bowl of mind clearance potion coming closer and closer, sadness hit Cheng Ming when he recalled the bitterness that he had tasted. As a cultivator, he was out of this world and had been adored by everyone. He had never experienced something like this, being pinned down on the bed by some mortal humans,trying to pour medicine into his mouth. Since he had been dumped in this crappy place, he had starved, he had farmed, he even lost his powers, even his beloved honourable immortal master had forgotten about him somehow. Desperation filled his heart at this instant, he stopped struggling. He lied on bed with his eyes staring at the ceiling blankly, two drops of tears slid down his face from his eyes. Seeing this, Li Zhu took the chance to go near to feed him the mind clearance potion. Xia Yi pushed the door open at this moment and entered the room, ¡°Li Zhu, stop feeding medicine to my uncle.¡± When Cheng Ming heard Xia Yi¡¯s voice, his eyes sparkled with hope. He turned and shouted, weeping, ¡°Help me Xia Yi!¡± ¡°Yi, you are back!¡± Mr. Wang was surprised, ¡°Where have you been? Everyone has been searching for you.¡± ¡°I just went to the nearby village, buying something for Zhu. Sorry sorry, I made you all worry.¡± Xia Yi was talking and bowing to apologize. He had been planning to ask the silversmith of the nearby village to make a pair of rings, this should serve as a good excuse for now. ¡°You have to tell someone before going to buy something, look at how worried everybody is. We wanted to make your uncle tell us your whereabouts, but he is just too crazy.¡± Mr. Wang was scolding Xia Yi and walking out to the yard with a gong. ¡°Gong gong gong¨Cwe have found him¨Cgong gong gong¨Ceverybody back, we have found him.¡± Searching everywhere in the mountains with a torch in his hand, Gu Wen Zhu was distressed, his lips chapped. The night was falling deeper, as well as his heart. Yi would never go into the mountains, however, he had already looked everywhere else, he might really be in the mountains. What if he had been dragged away by some animals¡­ His body was beginning to quiver, his face was turning pale. He had to keep those dangerous thoughts away from his mind on his way through the woods on both sides of the road, his voice had turned hoarse due to the fact that he had been calling out constantly, ¡°Xia Yi, Yi.¡± ¡°Stop! Stop! Silence.¡± A man suddenly shouted loudly, ¡°I think I heard the gong.¡± They all halted and listened close. The sounds of the gong came from somewhere far away at the bottom of the mountain. ¡°It¡¯s Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang is striking the gong. They have found Yi.¡± Somebody shouted in excitement. He wanted to tell Gu Wen Zhu about that but found that the man had swiftly dashed down the mountain. The road was uneven and hard to walk, therefore, he sat on it and slid himself down directly. Within a while, he vanished from their visions. Xia Yi helped Cheng Ming up. Cheng Ming was crying gratefully. And Xia Yi explained to Mr. Wang and the others, ¡°My uncle is not too bright, but I should be the one to be blamed. I was afraid that he insisted on following me to the nearby village, so I told him that I was going to cultivate.¡± ¡°But you DID go to the cultivation world.¡± Cheng Ming mumbled discontentedly. He was intending to say more but controlled himself not to when he saw Li Zhu was going to fetch the medicine. Then, a series of rapid footfalls echoed from outside the yard. Gu Wen Zhu barged in with big footsteps, calling anxiously, ¡°Yi.¡± He pushed the door so hard that it hit the wall, producing a loud sound, and the door swung back a little. He stood at the door, staring at Xia Yi, stupefied, his chest was moving up and down along with his heavy breath. Then he came closer, stopped in front of Xia Yi, and eyed him from head to toe. ¡°I am fine, Zhu, sorry, I just wanted to ask the silversmith to make me something¨C¡± Without even finishing his sentence, Gu Wen Zhu grabbed him into his arms, hugging him tightly. Gu Wen Zhu buried his face against Xia Yi¡¯s neck, he took a deep inhale, not moving a single bit. Mr. Wang and the others watched in shock. Only when Li Zhu pulled his arm, signaling him to exit with an expression, did Mr. Wang nodded quickly and went out together with the doctor. He looked back suddenly when they reached the door, and hauled Cheng Ming with them also. He spoke with the tone of lulling a child, ¡°Come come come, we are bringing you to see fairies, there are a lot of them out there, by the stream.¡± Cheng Ming sensed that he was going to be pulled outside, he immediately grabbed onto the door frame and reminded Xia Yi in a loud voice, ¡°The fruits of the Heavens are ready, remember to harvest them.¡± Mr. Wang and Li Zhu exchanged a look. Seems like he needs to continue treatment. Everyone silently went away, Li Zhu even closed the door behind him. Xia Yi listened to the rapid thumping of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s heart, perceiving the smell of his sweat blended with the scent of the grass and the trees. He lifted his arms to hug him back, landing his hands on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s huge back. ¡°I was afraid that something might happen to you, I am scared.¡± After a long period of time, Gu Wen Zhu spoke again, slightly shivering, reflecting the fear in his heart. ¡°No, Zhu, nothing will happen to me, you can be well assured.¡± Xia Yi thought for a while, then he left Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hug, he cupped his face with his hands, looking straight into his eyes, ¡°Zhu, there is something I need to tell you. I might disappear all of a sudden again, I can¡¯t tell when it is going to happen and when I am coming back. But, don¡¯t be afraid if that happens, don¡¯t spread out and search for me, I will try my best to come back as soon as possible.¡± ¡°What is going on, can¡¯t you just tell me?¡± There was confusion in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Zhu, it is not that I don¡¯t trust you, it is just that this is too surreal, I am afraid that you can¡¯t take it. I will tell you all about it later when it¡¯s time.¡± Xia Yi gazed into Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes sincerely. ¡°Something that I can¡¯t take? Do you have an engagement? You are already married?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was growing nervous, ¡°Maybe¡­you even have a child?¡± Xia Yi was flabbergasted, Zhu, what have you been thinking about? With Xia Yi not answering, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s nervousness increased, ¡°If you have married, you can divorce. Now that you had fled, that man must have been bad to you. I can take it even if you have a child, your child is my child, I will raise them up properly¡­¡± ¡°Zhu, stop guessing, I have never married and I have no child, I don¡¯t even have a girlfriend¨CI don¡¯t even have anyone that I am seeing.¡± Xia Yi gave Gu Wen Zhu a kiss on the cheek, ¡°I only have you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu exhaled in relief, his expression softened, ¡°Then tell me, I can take it no matter how ridiculous it is. Something like you were a mountain fairy who had transformed into a human to come to the village. Or you had been transferred to the cultivation world to cultivate, just like what your uncle had mentioned.¡± Thinking about Xia Yi¡¯s uncle¡¯s crazy talk, Gu Wen Zhu could not help but laugh. After chuckling for some time, he found that Xia Yi was not doing the same and was only looking at him emotionlessly. Hence, he slowly stopped smiling. In doubt, he started to have a bad feeling about this. As expected, Xia Yi said calmly, ¡°Yes, it is just like what my uncle had said, I had been transferred to the cultivation world.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was stunned and could not say a word. ¡°What? You do not believe me?¡± Xia Yi side-eyed Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°I do, I do.¡± Gu Wen Zhu shook his head, finding it not right, he then nodded repeatedly with sincerity. Xia Yi was then satisfied. He had started it anyway, so he became like a dam with a lifted gate and just poured everything out, ¡°That single-plank bridge¡­ those people all called me their fellow apprentice¡­ those magical gourds hahahaha¡­I have been fooled a lot for my whole life, but that sheet of magical bamboo stripes really got me¡­¡± Xia Yi gave lively descriptions about his experiences in Qi Shan, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s expression became increasingly frozen and shaken. And so Xia Yi promptly ended his talk and asked, alert, ¡°Do you think that I have gone crazy? You want to drug me as well?¡± ¡°No no, I just need some time to calm myself down.¡± Looking back at Xia Yi¡¯s fierce face, Gu Wen Zhu quickly shook his head. On their way home, Gu Wen Zhu was staggering and he almost fell a few times, but Xia Yi grabbed him immediately before he tripped himself, ¡°If that¡¯s so, your uncle is not mad. Both of you think that there was another world out there, and the people there were all gods?¡± ¡°Not gods, they are cultivators. But that¡¯s close enough, if they have cultivated to a high level they will become gods.¡± Xia Yi clarified. He had only told Gu Wen Zhu about Qi Shan, without mentioning about the system and his home world, he was worried about giving him too much information that he may not be able to comprehend and might go crazy. The weight grew heavier on Gu Wen Zhu, now that he knew that Cheng Ming was not Xia Yi¡¯s fourth uncle. He did not know what he had told Xia Yi that made Xia Yi believe in him, thinking that he was a god, as if he was jinxed. Jinxed? I remember there was this cult called the Fang Xian Dao some years ago, they told people that they were gods, deceiving those who believed in them in order to get money from them. Is this Cheng Ming from that Fang Xian Dao? CH 27 ¡°Host, you must not tell the others about me, normal people cannot know about the existence of the system.¡± 179 reminded him. ¡°I know, I won¡¯t.¡± ¡°You cannot mention it even if Gu Wen Zhu asks you during your pillow-talks. I need you to promise me. Men are totally vulnerable when they are sweet-talked by attractive people.¡± 179 was still worried. ¡°I will keep my promise, you can rest assured.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, you are not that kind of inexperienced guy. You are a dignified individual who has been through thick and thin just like me.¡± 179 recalled something, ¡°Host, you haven¡¯t accepted new missions since completing one yesterday. When are you going to accept the next one?¡± Xia Yi glared at Gu Wen Zhu, seeing that he was dozing out and was not in the mood to talk with him, he replied, ¡°Now.¡± As he finished saying the word, a huge interface appeared in his mind with the voice of 179 echoing along. ¡°Now, cultivation system 179 will announce the fourth mission for you.¡± ¡°Mission description: Awakening the Honourable Immortal Leader CangYi. Completion 0/1 Award 1: Huge Gift Pack.¡± The honourable immortal leader CangYi? This name of the target sounds familiar. Isn¡¯t that the one who Cheng Ming was always calling Zhu when he was acting crazy? This mission sounds about right. It sounds like I know something about it. ¡°What do I have to farm this time?¡± ¡°Winter gourd.¡± ¡°Winter gourd? According to my knowledge, although there is the word winter in its name, the seeds of winter gourds are not supposed to be sowed during autumn, right?¡± Xia Yi was a little startled, are you trying to make it difficult for me? ¡°Host you only have to farm, you do not have to care about the seasons.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°We will adjust the temperature, worry not, host.¡± ¡°Okay, understood, plant winter gourds.¡± Xia Yi was somehow absent-minded, ¡°Speaking of which, 179. Last time I completed a mission of finding clues about the disappearance of the sect master. Then I really found some clues when I was transmigrated to the cultivation world. Is that the effects caused by the mission?¡± ¡°I am not sure, host. We systems did not have any experience in giving out missions with transmigrations through worlds. This is the first time we encounter this, we are still learning.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was walking in silence, however, he was actually suffering from the heavy blow, he was so overwhelmed that his emotions were as if the overturned seas and rivers. He had heard that people who were deceived by that Fang Xian Dao believed deeply about what they were told as if they were bewitched, the victims would not hesitate even if they were being told to die. He must not force Yi to leave the Fang Xian Dao, Yi looked like a gentle person but he had a fierce personality. He had to take it slow for Yi. You are his only family. If you do not believe him, who can he turn to? As long as he believes in that, I have to go along with it no matter what. Right, that¡¯s the way. As long as he is safe and still knows the way home. Gu Wen Zhu was feeling even more sad, he said in a suppressed tone, ¡°If there is a next time, that you have to go and cultivate, remember to come back. I will wait for you no matter how long it takes.¡± ¡°I surely will come back.¡± Xia Yi felt bad for him, ¡°The cultivation world is good, but you are not there, so I will never stay there.¡± Both of them halted and gazed at each other with love in their eyes. Under the moonlight, Xia Yi¡¯s skin was veiled by a layer of delicate and transparent soft light. His lips were rosy, his almond eyes were with long and thin eyelashes. Gu Wen Zhu was moved by the view, he swallowed without even noticing, his Adam¡¯s apple moved along. ¡°179, go away, don¡¯t peek.¡± Xia Yi thought it was time, thus he urged 179 to not look, with Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face closing up, he slowly closed his eyes and pursed his lips. ¡°Yi! Wen Zhu!¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s calling reached them from afar, interrupting the two. I knew Mr. Wang would be here. I can¡¯t even. ¡°Yi!¡± Mr. Wang ran towards them, panting, catching his breath, ¡°Your, your uncle, your uncle he,¡± ¡°Talk slowly, Mr. Wang, has he been seeing something in someone¡¯s land and gone crazy?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°No, I thought that you two were back, I was bringing him back to the old house. We were talking, but when I turned to look at him, I turned to look at him,¡± Mr. Wang was so shocked that he stammered, ¡°I turned to look at him and he was gone.¡± ¡°Is Ming back? 179.¡± Xia Yi asked System immediately. ¡°Yes, his status was shown as transmigrating back to the cultivation world just now.¡± ¡°The fact is, Mr. Wang.¡± Xia Yi did a few coughs, his brain was processing at high speed, ¡°My uncle had been mentioning that he wanted to go home, so he must have gone back.¡± ¡°He disappeared just like that?¡± Mr. Wang was still in shock. ¡°He ran away and hid nearby when you were not watching, then he came out again when you were gone. That¡¯s how he did it.¡± Xia Yi used his fingers to point at his own head, ¡°There is something wrong here with him.¡± Mr. Wang nodded with his burden lifted, ¡°Then it¡¯s alright, it¡¯s alright.¡± After saying goodbye to Mr. Wang, Gu Wen Zhu asked Xia Yi, attempting to dig more about the matter, ¡°Did he say he wanted to go home? I haven¡¯t heard about that.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Xia Yi nodded firmly, ¡°He was from the cultivation world, he was transported here only because parts of the two worlds overlapped, the dimensions were mixed. So now he is back.¡± Gu Wen Zhu: ¡­ It was a good thing that that uncle had gone, Gu Wen Zhu took a long imaginary exhale in relief. Looking at Xia Yi beside him, he still could not help but feel anxious, he was afraid that he would disappear with just a blink. And so he held Xia Yi¡¯s hands tight, thinking that he must be careful from now on. Xia Yi sensed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s anxiety, he took the chance and leaned on his shoulder. The two of them walked home leaning on each other. The next morning, Xia Yi went to the farmland, wanting to harvest his radishes. 25 point land of radishes were harvested within two hours. Those which were planted in the soil were put into the trailer to be carried away, those extra three acres of harvested radishes were kept in the storage space by 179. After lunch, Xia Yi started to search the little wooden box of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s on his bedside. He remembered that there was a nice looking silver ingot with high purity. He was preparing to take it to the neighboring village to make it into a pair of rings. With witnessing Gu Wen Zhu being distressed during this period of time, Xia Yi felt that he should give the one he loved some comfort as a man and therefore had made this decision in his heart. He was going to propose to Gu Wen Zhu. Having the silver ingot in his hand, Xia Yi went to see Gu Wen Zhu who was washing dishes in the kitchen, he threw himself towards his back and said affectionately, ¡°I am going to the neighboring village to do something, I will be back soon.¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not stop his motion, ¡°Do you want me to go with you?¡± Of course not, it would not be a surprise if you come. ¡°There is no need. I am only buying some seeds of winter gourd.¡± Xia Yi wanted to buy some seeds on his way anyway. There were hawkers in the neighboring village. ¡°Then come back earlier, if you are not back at dinner time, I will go and fetch you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was a bit clingy these few days. That might have been caused by insecurity. ¡°Fine, you behave as well.¡± Xia Yi gave Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face a kiss, then he turned and left. Gu Wen Zhu turned and looked at him until his figure vanished behind the front door, then he continued to wash the dishes. The neighboring village was not far, only three or four miles away, he arrived without taking much time. This village was much bigger than theirs, ite was also more populated, and hence there existed a few more stores selling different things. Xia Yi found the silversmith very quickly, he had been telling the silversmith with the help of plenty of gestures for half a day about how he should carve ¡®XY¡¯ and ¡®GWZ¡¯ in the ring, but the silversmith did not seem to understand it. The silversmith blinked in confusion and said, troubled, ¡°I usually make some tags for the children in the village or some little things like that, I don¡¯t know how to carve what you have just told me to.¡± ¡°How about this, I will make it easy for you, only carve one letter, okay? Only carve a Y and a G.¡± After saying so, he started to draw on the ground with a stick. Xia Yi had no other choices, a silversmith in a village in the countryside would not know how to satisfy his request. ¡°Alright, I will try.¡± The silversmith took the piece of silver ingot, ¡°Go look around the village and come back a while later.¡± ¡°Right, then I will buy some winter gourd seeds.¡± Xia Yi raised his foot and stepped outside. This village was lively. It was like a town. Not only had Xia Yi bought some seeds, he had also bought some threads and needles for Gu Wen Zhu. He had bought a bell for collaring it on Kirin¡¯s neck. This bell was made of brass, with a leather string attached to it, making it look quite nice. ¡°Why do I have nothing?¡± 179¡¯s uncontented voice rang, ¡°I want that hair band for gers, the pink one.¡± ¡°How would a system need anything? Even if I buy you something, you cannot wear it.¡± Xia Yi said resignedly. ¡°You bought something for Gu Wen Zhu and Kirin but not me.¡± 179 began to take his gloves off, ¡°Even if I can¡¯t wear it, I will still feel happy when I see it every day.¡± Xia Yi could only compromise and used a few dollars to buy one pink hair band for gers. ¡°I want letters too, make Gu Wen Zhu sew three numbers on it, 179.¡± Okay okay okay. CH 28 After buying all the stuff, Xia Yi was looking for a tea house or some similar places to rest, then he heard Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s voice, ¡°Yi.¡± Xia Yi turned to look in shock, Gu Wen Zhu was smiling and standing in the shadow under a tree nearby. He had a few drops of sweat on his face due to his fast jogging pace. ¡°Why are you here?¡± Xia Yi was astonished. ¡°I came to pick you up.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were going to fetch me when it was dinner time and I was not back?¡± ¡°I feel like it was about time for dinner.¡± Gu Wen Zhu ignored the sun which was right above their heads and answered with confidence. Hm? It has just been a while since they have finished lunch. But seeing Gu Wen Zhu made Xia Yi delighted, he did not care whether it was noon or night and held Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand merrily. Gu Wen Zhu nervously looked around, his handsome face turned red instantly. Xia Yi knew what was on his mind, he side-eyed him in a threatening manner, meaning that there would be consequences if he let go of his hand. Gu Wen Zhu did not dare to let go, and he did not want to, but he could not raise his head if he did not let go. He thought for a while, then swiftly took off his outer to cover up their hands. And so they held hands and walked around in the village. The weather was becoming colder, Gu Wen Zhu had clothes underneath and did not seem awkward with his outer off. They walked together from one end of the village to the other. Gu Wen Zhu bought from a store a few catties of cotton, he turned to explain to Xia Yi, ¡°I am doing preparations, I will go to the city to buy some cloth. You should have a lined jacket.¡± ¡°179, this daughter-in-law is really, too virtuous, except for the fact that his bust is smaller. But that¡¯s nothing, I don¡¯t care.¡± Seeing that it was already evening, Xia Yi planned to pick up the rings at the silversmith¡¯s. He wanted it to be a surprise for Gu Wen Zhu, but now that he was here too, picking the rings up together might not be a bad idea. The two went into the silversmith¡¯s yard, ¡°Mister, are our rings ready?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°Yes yes, I have completed the carvings as well.¡± The silversmith went into the inner house with his head nodding, then he took out two sparkling silver rings. Xia Yi had him make a pair of plain rings, relatively simple. That was why they looked nice, the shapes were round and smooth. He picked one up carefully and looked at its inside, ¡°Hm? Why is it a 1? Didn¡¯t I say a Y?¡± Xia Yi asked in confusion. Seeing the blank face of the silversmith, he hurriedly gestured, ¡°I want a Y.¡± ¡°This little fork was not easy to make, I could not carve it, that¡¯s why I directly carved a 1.¡± The silversmith laughed earnestly, ¡°To me, it looked very similar, only with one branch less, Ho ho ho.¡± Xia Yi picked up the other one and looked, stunned, ¡°How come it is 0 for this one?¡± ¡°I want a G, not a 0. The circle does not close, see, there is a hole, the 0 you carved is a closed circle.¡± The silversmith observed without a clue for a second, ¡°So they are different, I thought you wanted a circle, I didn¡¯t notice that the circle was closed.¡± WTF, two rings, one with a 1 carved on it, the other with a 0 carved on it. Is this his fate in the gay world??? 1 Looking at Xia Yi¡¯s deflated expression, the silversmith began to feel uneasy, ¡°What happened? Are you not satisfied? What¡¯s wrong with the rings that I have made?¡± ¡°Nothing, you are good. It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s beautiful.¡± Xia Yi did not feel right to continue complaining, he quickly complimented the rings in his hand and gave the man his pay to put an end to the matter. Both of them walked out from the yard and came under an old willow tree at the entrance of the village, Xia Yi looked at Gu Wen Zhu with a smiley face under the golden setting sun, ¡°I have made us two rings, one for each of us.¡± After saying so, he pulled out the 0 and instructed, ¡°Give me your hand.¡± Gu Wen Zhu reached out as instructed. Xia Yi put the ring on his ring finger. Ah, it doesn¡¯t work, the ring is stuck in the middle. No no, the ring finger is too big, try the little finger. It is stuck as well. Is this a hand or a rake? What is going on? Seeing Xia Yi biting his lips and frowning, finding ways to put the ring on his fingers, he could not help but chuckle slightly. He took the 0 gently, held Xia Yi¡¯s hand and put the ring onto the delicate ring finger of his. It fit. Then he picked up the 1, aimed at the ring finger on his own left hand and pushed towards his finger. Perfect! Gu Wen Zhu raised his hand, looking at his 1 under the setting sun, then he looked at the 0 on Xia Yi¡¯s finger, and smiled. He knew that Xia Yi loved to match everything with him. Matching clothes, matching belts, he even checked to see if their socks matched. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wear the same socks with me today?¡± ¡°They are the same, aren¡¯t they all white?¡± ¡°Look at them, these are in crisp white, mine are in pure white, can they be the same? Our belts are different as well, yours is in sky blue, mine is in light blue¡­¡± Gu Wen Zhu had to distinguish between the colors with all his efforts every day to put on his clothes and socks according to Xia Yi¡¯s instructions. Those lookalike colors had been setting numerous traps for him. He felt as if his eyes were almost blind. Xia Yi raised his hand too, he moved his hand to the side of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s to look at their rings. His skin was fairer, Gu Wen Zhu was tanned, their bigger and smaller hands with the same rings on looked harmonized with sunlight shining on them. He narrowed his eyes, and eyed Gu Wen Zhu with his side vision. He was looking at the rings with all of his attention with a warm smile. His handsome face was layered with the sunset orange of the last light from the sun, making his features look more distinct. Xia Yi¡¯s heart started to race. He secretly cheered himself up, turned and faced Gu Wen Zhu, asked, ¡°Zhu, do you know the meaning of the rings?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Without knowing, Gu Wen Zhu raised his brows. Xia Yi abruptly kneeled with one knee, staring straightly in front of him, and said in a loud voice, ¡°Zhu, I want you to marry me.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was startled when he saw Xia Yi suddenly kneeled in front of him. He was suspecting that his legs were going numb and wanted to help him up, then he heard his words. At this very moment, he froze as if his acupuncture point had been attacked. He stood at the spot without moving. Without hearing any responses, Xia Yi was about to look up, then he heard a noise and saw Gu Wen Zhu kneeled with both of his knees in front of him. He shouted loudly in excitement with his face flushed, ¡°Yi, I want you to marry me.¡± ¡°Sorry Yi, I wanted to ask you to marry me after the new year. You said that you did not want to get married, so I was planning to let you have time to get used to things. I wanted to wait until spring when the flowers bloomed, with you liking me more, accepting me, then I would propose to you. I didn¡¯t realize that I was too careless for not telling you that, you even, kneeled, as a ger.¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked like he wanted to dig a hole and go inside. ¡°Yi, please marry me, I will be good to you, protecting you, for all my life. You are the luckiest thing that has happened to me, my biggest wish is to be by your side forever. I want nothing but you. I will do my best to make you live well.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said a series of vows excitedly with his eyes glittering. He moved forward a few steps with his knees, not caring that people might see them, and held Xia Yi in his arms tightly. ¡°Sorry Yi, I am late asking you this, I deserve to be punished, sorry, Yi.¡± Gu Wen Zhu pushed Xia Yi¡¯s head onto his own chest, mumbling. ¡°This scene seems different from what I had imagined, but it¡¯s no big deal.¡± Xia Yi had been trapped in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms, he thought in his blurry mind hearing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s heavy heartbeats. The sun was setting on the west, the two walked home shoulder to shoulder. It was autumn, the sweetness of the fruits feathered around in the air. Xia Yi¡¯s shoulder was touching Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s unintentionally sometimes, he felt the sweetness in his heart as well. He did not notice and was tripped by the stone at his feet. Gu Wen Zhu steadied him, then he crouched in front of Xia Yi, ¡°Let me carry you.¡± ¡°You are not afraid of people seeing us?¡± Looking around, Xia Yi saw a few villagers with hoes on their shoulders from afar. ¡°We are going to get married, why should I be afraid?¡± Gu Wen Zhu said it as loud as thunder, the sound of his voice echoed far, turning the heads of those villagers. ¡°You had travelled a good few miles, and you have been shopping for the whole evening, your legs must be sore.¡± In view of Xia Yi being uncertain and looking around, he urged, ¡°Quick.¡± Xia Yi no longer forced himself to walk any further, he leaned and jumped onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s wide back without any hesitation. ¡°I will talk to Mr. Wang when we are back and let him pick us a date two months from now. We will marry each other on that day.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said happily while walking with big steps and Xia Yi on his back. ¡°Then two days later, I will bring you to the city, to buy some cloth and new blankets.¡± ¡°And we need some new furniture from the woodsmith.¡± ¡°But I want to make our own furniture.¡± ¡°Right, we also have to buy some makeup products for you.¡± Xia Yi hurriedly stopped Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s train of thoughts at this point, ¡°Not this, Zhu. I don¡¯t like this, I don¡¯t like this very much.¡± ¡°Okay okay okay, we are not buying that, just as you wish.¡± CH 29 ¡°Host, you should plant some winter gourds.¡± The weather was particularly good today, seeing Xia Yi eating melon seeds doing nothing, 179 was worried. ¡°I don¡¯t want to move.¡± Xia Yi spit out some melon seed husk onto a small dish. He no longer wanted to leave this world. More precisely speaking, he did not want to leave Gu Wen Zhu, and so he did not have a whole lot of interest in the missions. His parents had died in his home world anyway, he had not been contacting his relatives a lot, all of his friends were settled. Did it matter if he went back or not? ¡°And although there are no computers in this world, I have you, 179.¡± Xia Yi was praising 179 for the first time. If this was under normal circumstances, 179 would be over the moon, however, he could not make himself feel great right now. ¡°It is never too late to start doing something, the important thing is to not stop after starting to do that.¡± ¡°You fail only when you stop trying.¡± ¡°No seeds sowed, no harvest; no hard work, no success; no hardship, no honour; no drab, no glam.¡± ¡°All rights reserved, please cite the source.¡± 179 began to read out some chicken soup for the soul content. With Xia Yi continuing to eat melon seeds and even holding the bowl in his arms, 179 began to play music in his mind. ¡°And I, I gotta be strong, just keep pushing on, ¡¯cause, there¡¯s always gonna be¡­¡± Xia Yi did not budge, he even started to tap along with the music. ¡°I should not have agreed with this marriage.¡± 179 felt painful when he saw how much of a slouch Xia Yi had become, ¡°The softness of hometown is the mound of a hero. I should have known, you did not stand a chance with a fox such as Gu Wen Zhu.¡± ¡°Host, you have to think ahead, the technical system has gone travelling, this bug is not likely to be fixed for a while. What if you transmigrate to the cultivation world again? Isn¡¯t it wiser to complete a few more missions in order to have a brighter future?¡± 179 kept persuading, trying to talk him into working with logic. Right, completing missions is still good for life in the cultivation world. For example, I only needed to plant some potatoes to complete the mission of finding the leader, if I had to find clues in the other world, I might find nothing at all. Xia Yi sluggishly stopped eating the melon seeds, thinking, ¡°These rubbish systems are not to be relied on, I can only depend on myself when I am transmigrated there. It is better for me to complete as many missions as I can, just to be safe.¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s listen to ninie and go plant some winter gourds.¡± Following his own train of thoughts, Xia Yi brushed off the husks on him and stood up. Xia Yi was now a great farmer, he sowed all the winter gourds seeds within a day. 179 finally stopped worrying and felt safe again. Two months went by, the winter gourds sprouted and began to climb onto the stand. Xia Yi was diffident and scared that people would doubt the growing of winter gourds in this weather, he never expected to see Zheng GouEr crouching with a bowl in his hand and said, ¡°Your radishes are growing really nicely.¡± It appeared that 179 was good at deceiving the eyes of the others. Gu Wen Zhu was not home today, he went out during midnight with Li Zhu and the others to hunt the boars, they claimed that they wanted to cure some ham so that they could have one more dish on the marriage day. Ever since the proposal, he had been busy putting things together for the marriage. The two painted the walls white together. All doors were painted. Gu Wen Zhu had sewn a new bed for Kirin. And Gu Wen Zhu had not been farming since the proposal, he had bought some wood and piled them in the yard. He had been making furniture every day as if he was a woodsmith. In view of the situation that Gu Wen Zhu was measuring this and that among the pile of wood, Xia Yi tried to talk him out of it, ¡°Let¡¯s find a woodsmith, it¡¯s so much work to do by yourself.¡± ¡°No, I have to make our own bed.¡± Gu Wen Zhu put a piece of wood in front of himself and narrowed his eyes to look at it, ¡°I have enough experiences anyways, I am making the bed for our child.¡± Child? Ho ho. He realised that words had slipped out, so he immediately tried saving it and said to Xia Yi who was with a cold expression, ¡°I am talking about Kirin having puppies.¡± Puppies do not sleep in bed. Kirin has his own bed. It is a male and cannot have a child anyways. Kirin was gnawing on bones and heard his name, he looked up without a clue. Whatever, he loves to make the furniture himself, having talents is a good thing. And he is already a tailor, having one more talent does not make much difference. Now that Gu Wen Zhu was away hunting and not home, Xia Yi was not picky with eating, he heated up a big bowl of leftovers, gulping down all quickly, and brought Kirin out to have a walk. Kirin was now a big and powerful dog, its fur was shiny and dark black, a bell was tied on his neck. All these made it stand out among all the dogs in the village. Just by its look, you could tell that he was from a rich family, handsome, and with taste. The she-dogs in the village, DaHua, XiaoBai, had been fighting for it every day. He followed the road from the village and walked slowly to the stream. Some women and gers were washing clothes along it. ¡°How do they have so much clothes to wash, why do they stay here every day not leaving?¡± Xia Yi was afraid of these people, every time he passed by in front of them, he would question if they were talking about him or joking about him. ¡°They are talking about Gu Wen Zhu.¡± 179 said. ¡°How many times have I told you? Don¡¯t listen. Don¡¯t. Everything they say can¡¯t be trusted, they make things up, your IQ will go down if you listen to them.¡± Xia Yi frowned and reproached 179, ¡°What are they saying about him?¡± ¡°They said that Gu Wen Zhu was sewing dowry for you every day and going blind because of this. Last time you went to old Zhang¡¯s store to buy all the candles was because he could not see. And they said that he was carrying a needle on his finger to sew from time to time in the farmland¨C¡± ¡°That¡¯s a ring, okay? That is not a needle.¡± Xia Yi was unhappy. ¡°Yeah, they are really chatty, they love to talk behind others, but they never introspect. There was once that Lady Li¡¯s husband was back from the city and came back riding old Zhang¡¯s carriage with the woman from Zheng GouEr¡¯s house. What a coincidence? They went to the city on the same day and they came back together in old Zhang¡¯s carriage?¡± 179 lowered his voice and said in a mysterious tone, ¡°And there was another time, the Chan¡¯s ger¡­¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ He started to go home after the walk, Xia Yi was planning to make dinner. Gu Wen Zhu must have been tired hunting all day long, so he planned to boil a pot of water for him to bathe when he was back. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Kirin. Your father is making dinner for your mother.¡± Kirin wanted to play and ruffed, but it still obediently went home with him together. Just when Xia Yi finished washing the rice and chopping the veggies, he heard some noise from the front door, someone was coming. Xia Yi stood in the kitchen and greeted that person merrily, ¡°Zhu, you are back.¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not respond, the yard fell silent. Xia Yi raised his voice and repeated, ¡°Zhu, you are back.¡± There was still no response, then he heard Kirin¡¯s hostile growling. Strangers? Xia Yi put the vegetables into a bowl and walked out. Once he was out, he saw a thin middle-aged man standing in the yard, his blue gown was embroidered with gold patterns, he had a wooden stick in his hand. He was staring at Kirin with sparkly eyes and a gaunt face. And there was a handsome fellow standing behind him, with the same clothes on him, his body was slender, with an aloof look on his face. A vivid red spot was between his brows, as eye-catching as the moon sign on Bao Gong¡¯s forehead. This familiar uniform and these cultivator qualities let Xia Yi know who they were just by looking at them. There are two of them? Kirin had lowered its body, showing his teeth, his back legs were ready to pounce, Xia Yi hurriedly shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t bite, Kirin, they are one of us.¡± Upon hearing that, Kirin halted, holding its jumping position, still growling towards that guy. Xia Yi stepped forward, patting its head, ¡°Son, it¡¯s alright, go play.¡± Then it walked back to its bed and lied down unwillingly, having its eye fixed on that guy. The older one was not bothered by Kirin¡¯s fierceness, contrarily, he complimented it with glittering eyes, ¡°It really is the mythical beast, how magnificent.¡± Xia Yi understood all these, Qi Shan Sect, dog persons. That handsome fellow was not impressed, he only observed the small yard of this farmer¡¯s house, looking at the dustpan and the baskets, the hoes in the corner, his expression showed a hint of disgust. The man withdrew the stick in his hand after talking, he brushed his dustless sleeves, then he turned to Xia Yi, ¡°Xia, my friend, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am the Elder of TianXuan of the Qi Shan Sect, Meng Wan Zi. I am also the elder fellow apprentice of Tian Ji and TianQuan.¡± He saw Xia Yi¡¯s confused look and added, ¡°Tian Ji Liu SiQian, TianQuan ChengMing.¡± He moved slightly to let Xia Yi see the young man beside him, ¡°This is my apprentice that I teach myself, Qi Zhou.¡± Qi Zhou nodded towards Xia Yi and folded his hands to greet him elegantly. ¡°Oh, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.¡± Xia Yi greeted them in return. It seems that this transmigration involved a master and his apprentice. As Meng Wan Zi had mentioned Cheng Ming, Xia Yi asked with concern, ¡°Is he back? Anything weird about him?¡± He was worried that his craziness would grow due to the frequent transmigrations and would get more sick, calling everyone the leader. ¡°Nothing wrong with him.¡± Meng Wan Zi smiled. ¡°It was very kind of you, my friend.¡± ¡°Fine then.¡± Maybe he became normal again when he transmigrated back due to the difference in the atmospheres of the two worlds. ¡°It¡¯s just that he gets mad whenever people give him a bowl of soup. No one knows why.¡± CH 30 ¡°Poor fellow, the medications scared him.¡± 179 was listening in silence but could not hold off his comment anymore. Xia Yi counted by heart, adding up all the people transmigrated from the Qi Shan Sect, including these two, there were already four of them, ¡°What¡¯s going on with you? Why are you here?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know either. I was teaching Qi Zhou, suddenly everything spinned, then we are here. Recently my fellow apprentices have been discreetly investigating to see if they can find the magic circle around Qi Shan, but nothing has been found.¡± Meng Wan Zi shook his head in shame, ¡°Of course, this is due to our incompetence, no others are to be blamed.¡± ¡°Master, it is the bad of the one who is making this circle. The source is unknown. How can you blame yourself?¡± Qi Zhou tried to ease his burden. ¡°179, you should be the one who feels ashamed. This is all because of your systems.¡± Xia Yi began to blame 179, ¡°You guys caused the cultivators not to do their thing and go search for some magic circle all day long.¡± System did not say a thing. ¡°Are you hungry?¡± Xia Yi remembered the most important thing. ¡°Thank you my friend, I am not hungry. With the demand of Tian Ji, everyone in the Qi Shan Sect has to eat three meals a day, without missing any of them.¡± ¡°Then did you have a hard time finding your way here?¡± ¡°I knew that there would be a large cornfield, and as soon as we arrived, we spotted the map you made.¡± Meng Wan Zi had planned ahead for the transmigration and looked confident. When they were talking, the front door was pushed open. Gu Wen Zhu came in with half a boar on his shoulder. ¡°Zhu, you are back.¡± Xia Yi happily walked towards him. Gu Wen Zhu looked at him, grinning. Their lines of sight mingled together, creating a spark in the yard in an instant. With Xia Yi getting closer, Gu Wen Zhu stepped back in a hurry, stopping him, ¡°I am dirty, don¡¯t come near.¡± Then he threw the boar onto the floor, making a huge slapping sound. Qi Zhou frowned and swiftly moved back a few steps, he pulled out a clean handkerchief, and leaned down to clean his shoes which were as clean as the white snow. Gu Wen Zhu finally noticed the two extra people in his yard. Judging by those familiar clothes and style, he could not help but look at Xia Yi with fear in his heart. ¡°This is Tian¡­ Tian¡­¡± Xia Yi quickly introduced Meng Wan Zi to him. ¡°Meng Wan Zi, the Elder of TianXuan of Qi Shan.¡± Meng Wan Zi had been observing Gu Wen Zhu with fear in his heart as soon as he saw him. ¡°Qi Zhou, the apprentice of the Elder of TianXuan.¡± Qi Zhou was checking his shoes, he added without even looking up. These believers of the Fang Xian Dao come one after the other. There are two of them this time around. When will they stop coming? Gu Wen Zhu was in turmoil and his expression was looking gloomier. ¡°They just transmigrated here.¡± Seeing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s stern face, Xia Yi explained quickly. Then, Qi Zhou put his handkerchief back and looked at Gu Wen Zhu. His expression changed abruptly. ¡°The honourable immortal leader.¡± Xia Yi helped him to say it out, ¡°Mengie said that too. I thought that was his problem, but now, I begin to think that Zhu looks like your honourable immortal leader. He is a local who was born and raised here. He is not that leader of yours.¡± ¡°They do look alike, but he is not the leader. He¡¯s different.¡± Meng Wan Zi murmured, ¡°Cheng Ming is bad at recognizing people and directions.¡± Qi Zhou nodded to acknowledge the fact, ¡°I only had the pleasure to see the leader from afar once. They look really similar.¡± ¡°Alright, as Zhu is back, let¡¯s start eating.¡± Xia Yi saw Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s gloomy face and hurried his way to the kitchen to take the dishes out. ¡°Tian¡­ Tian¡­¡± With Xia Yi leaving, Gu Wen Zhu wanted to say something to Meng Wan Zi and Qi Zhou but could not remember their names. ¡°Just call me old Meng.¡± Meng Wan Zi said. ¡°Yi is young and naive, he easily believes in others. But I am here. No one can deceive him anymore.¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s expression was cold, his eyes gave a chilly vibe with a fierceness among his brows. Qi Zhou felt a heavy pressure coming at him as if it was solid. He could not move his feet nor make a sound, he had been pinned on the spot. Gu Wen Zhu did not know he was giving him pressure. Seeing his speechless opponent¡¯s pale face, he sneered and went back to his house. With him leaving, the pressure went away. Qi Zhou exhaled in relief, with fear in his eyes. ¡°Master, is he the leader?¡± Qi Zhou asked with his voice lowered after a while. ¡°No.¡± Meng Wan Zi shook his head slowly, then fell into deep thoughts, ¡°He is not the leader, but they look alike, there might be some connections between them.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that there would be people like him in the utopia. Qi Zhou, I know you, you need to be careful about your words from now on. Don¡¯t anger them.¡± Qi Zhou had already stopped looking down at ordinary people. With his master¡¯s exhortation, he quickly nodded, ¡°Yes.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was thinking while changing. Yi now believes in these con men with all his heart. Even so, I cannot tell him the truth right away and break his heart. I have to slowly change his thoughts day by day. As long as these con men are not doing anything to harm Yi, I can let them stick around for now. Xia Yi was going back and forth to bring the dishes out. Qi Zhou followed and went into the kitchen with his master¡¯s signal, he carefully pulled up his sleeves and used his fingers to help take out the chopsticks. His long white hair ribbon caught on fire when it touched the stove fire near the wall while he was making a turn, ¡°Hm?¡± He took a breath in realization of the disaster, then he immediately blew air towards the stainless clean ribbon. ¡°Go outside, I am fine.¡± Xia Yi directly kicked him out. Meng Wan Zi was already sitting in front of the table with his back straight, Qi Zhou went to the seat next to him. Although the wooden stool in front of the dining table looked perfectly clean, he still pulled his handkerchief out to brush it repeatedly. Then he finally lifted up his gown to carefully seated himself on it. When Gu Wen Zhu came out, the dishes were all on the table. Xia Yi filled a bowl with rice and put it in front of Gu Wen Zhu, then he took Meng Wan Zi¡¯s to fill it with rice. ¡°Wait.¡± Qi Zhou raised his hand to stop him. And so he pulled out a package wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped the layers of cloth and showed a clean white sparkling porcelain bowl. ¡°Use this.¡± Qi Zhou took out two bowls, then his eyes started to search the table like radars. ¡°Xia, there is dust on the table leg. It needs to be wiped before dinner.¡± After saying so, he stared at Xia Yi without blinking. His face was full of stubborness, as if he could keep doing a stare down with him until he wiped the dust or the end of the world. ¡°Ah, 179, we have an OCD cleaner.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like him.¡± 179 responded. ¡°Hm? Is he a ger?¡± ¡°Yes, his red spot is obvious. Didn¡¯t you see it?¡± I see. ¡°Doesn¡¯t he know?¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t, heehee.¡± Just when he planned to take out the cloth to clean the dust, Gu Wen Zhu placed his bowl onto the table with force, saying word by word, ¡°If Mr. Qi is full, he can leave the table.¡± Qi Zhou had been stunned by that fierceness and could only pull out his handkerchief again to clean the table leg as if he had been wronged. Meng Wan Zi hurriedly put down his bowl and chopsticks to apologize, ¡°Sorry, sorry, he has been like this since he was little. He didn¡¯t mean it. He was like this back in the sect as well.¡± ¡°Understood. Understood.¡± Xia Yi quickly put an end to this when he saw Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s sombre face. He had heard about OCD cleaners with heavy symptoms. The OCD could not help themselves with it either. Qi Zhou carried a small portion of vegetables with chopsticks into his bowl, then he was not touching the dish anymore and ate the portion with small bites. Xia Yi used his chopsticks to carry a piece of fish carefully and placed it in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s bowl. Qi Zhou frowned when he saw the pair of chopsticks. This fish was bought from the villagers this evening. It was fresh and meaty. Xia Yi bought two, he stewed a full pot with one of the fish and some tofu, and put the other one in the tank to feed it. Gu Wen Zhu took the fish in his bowl and put it into his mouth, he nodded in appreciation, ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Hm, the soup is good.¡± Gu Wen Zhu fed Xia Yi a spoon of soup with his own spoon. Xia Yi made an acknowledged sound and swallowed. Qi Zhou¡¯s muscles between his brows could not stop twitching when that spoon came into his view. Xia Yi picked up a piece of fish and put it into his bowl. He ate the fish belly and gave Gu Wen Zhu the remaining piece, ¡°It is not tender here. I¡¯ll give you this.¡± Gu Wen Zhu carried the fish with his chopsticks and ate it. Blimey¡­ Qi Zhou nearly could not eat. ¡°By the way, have you rescued your leader that day with everyone going out?¡± Xia Yi suddenly recalled the scene with all the apprentices flying in the sky just before he transmigrated back. That scene had given Xia Yi a very great impact, all those swords and gourds flying in the sky blocking the light, it was magnificent to watch, better than all the movies with billions of budget for after effects. Gu Wen Zhu held his chopsticks in the air, sighed. He shook his head resignedly. Meng Wan Zi sighed. He lost his appetite with the topic being raised, he put down his bowl and chopsticks, ¡°Our fellow apprentice has indeed been kidnapped. Unfortunately, not only had we failed to rescue him, more than a hundred of our men had also been captured.¡± ¡°What? More than a hundred men captured?¡± Xia Yi raised his voice in disbelief. Meng Wan Zi nodded, then he hit the table heavily with his palm, making all the bowls jump as well. ¡°That is why we need to get back as soon as possible. I am worried that the fallen devils will approach Qi Shan again. They have kidnapped the leader, then all those apprentices. They are now full of themselves and may attack us once more during these times when we lack reinforcement and are low in morale.¡± He looked at Xia Yi after finishing the sentence, ¡°You are a Qi Shan Sect apprentice as well. We need you to check if there is a way to send us back quickly.¡± ¡°Yes, let¡¯s send you back immediately. Where do you live? I will escort you back tomorrow morning.¡± Gu Wen Zhu continued the conversation coldly, with an emotionless face. Meng Wan Zi swallowed whatever he was intending to say back down with fear. CH 31 ¡°There is nothing I could have done. I was transmigrated all of a sudden as well.¡± Xia Yi answered resignedly and urged the system to work, ¡°179, report this situation to the main system and urge them to fix the bug.¡± ¡°Understood, I have already reported.¡± 179 felt the frustration. After the meal, Xia Yi brought Meng Wan Zi and Qi Zhou to the old house. He told them seriously, ¡°This is Mingie, um, Tin¡­ Tin¡­¡± ¡°Tin Quan.¡± Meng Wan Zi reminded him. ¡°Right, this is the house where Tin Quan had lived. You will have to tolerate it and stay here.¡± Xia Yi said. There is no other place even if you cannot tolerate it. ¡°There is nothing to tolerate. Our men from the Qi Shan Sect have been helped by you all these times. I am grateful for everything you have done.¡± Meng Wan Zi immediately replied. Qi Zhou stood in the yard, eyeing the leaves on the ground and the vine on the walls. Then, in order not to stain his perfectly white shoes with dust, he moved a few steps. ¡°There is a well, you can fetch water from it to clean the house.¡± In view of the painful look of Qi Zhou, he suggested, ¡°But you will have to do it on your own, we do not have servants here.¡± Seeing Qi Zhou¡¯s sight fell on him in discontent, Xia Yi added, ¡°I was transported to Qi Shan by mistake, I am not really a man from your sect.¡± Qi Zhou only nodded with twitched lips, then he looked at Xia Yi¡¯s forehead, ¡°You have a red spot too? I have found that there was a red spot on my forehead and I am suspecting this is caused by some miasma.¡± Xia Yi halted for a short while. He replied after thinking, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you are healthy. There is no problem.¡± ¡°What does this red spot mean? Do I have it because I am a cultivator?¡± Qi Zhou questioned closely. ¡°This may mean that you are special.¡± Xia Yi took a look at Qi Zhou, this is true. Considering the fact that Qi Zhou would not stay here for long and would be transmigrated back shortly, Xia Yi did not feel like he had to explain too clearly which could stress him out. As if he understood but without feeling like it, Qi Zhou nodded. He could put these behind him as long as his life was not in danger. After settling the two down, Xia Yi left. At night, Gu Wen Zhu sat down at the side of the bed to sew some winter clothes. Firstly, he took out a roll of cloth which he bought from the city a few days ago, then he hung the tape measure around his neck, and started to cut according to Xia Yi¡¯s size. Xia Yi lay on the bed with his head on top of the blanket. As time went by, he again dozed off while staring at Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face. The candlelight veiled a layer of soft light for Gu Wen Zhu, softening his sharp features. He pulled his thin lips inwards a little, forming an elegant curve. His straight eyebrows slanted upwards towards his temples. His eyelashes pointing downwards twitched slightly, and so were Xia Yi¡¯s fingers, suppressing his urge to touch them. ¡°179, I have been wanting to do something bad. We have been in love for a long time, and we have been engaged, I think we can say that he is mine now. It is about time.¡± Xia Yi was ready to do something. ¡°I had been a virgin in my home world. I have had enough.¡± Xia Yi buried his head in the pillow and rolled in the bed, making Gu Wen Zhu glare at him a few times resignedly. ¡°What are you planning?¡± 179 was alerted, ¡°You don¡¯t even want to do your missions anymore. Do you want your life to be ruined by this fox?¡± ¡°There is no contradiction between doing missions and being a virgin, right? Do you have missions that require the pee of a virgin or something?¡± Xia Yi was annoyed, ¡°You are just a jealous system.¡± Gu Wen Zhu only saw Xia Yi rolled around with the pillow in his arms, making his hair a mess with a few strands of hair standing on his head. Then he laughed like an idiot when he thought of something, and he used the pillow to cover his face with legs kicking wildly. Then he abruptly looked angry a moment later. In those round almond eyes, there was sometimes annoyance and sometimes joy. Xia Yi was very expressive with his face. Gu Wen Zhu could not hold off his chuckle, he put down the needle and thread, patting Xia Yi¡¯s head, ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± His voice was husky like the sound of a cello. What am I thinking? I am figuring out how to devour you. ¡°179, if the number of petals turns out to be odd, I will do my missions straightly, not even resting on the day we married. If it turns out to be even, then tonight I will¡­ Heeheehee.¡± Xia Yi extended his hand to pick a golden zinnia out from the pottery vase on the cabinet at the side of the bed. He found these pretty flowers blooming when he passed the road near the farmland, so he picked a bunch. ¡°Odd, even, odd, even¡­¡± Counting intensely, 179 watched Xia Yi slowly ripping the petals. ¡°Ha!¡± 179 burst out a laughter in surprise. There was only one petal left on the stem, about to fall. ¡°It¡¯s odd. Hahaha, it¡¯s odd. Host, quickly go to sleep now, you have to get up early tomorrow morning to do the missions.¡± System was extremely happy. ¡°Even.¡± Xia Yi ripped the last petal with an emotionless face. ¡°I have to start acting. You need to block yourself off. If you dare to even take a peek, I will report you.¡± ¡°You, you cheated.¡± 179 yelled nervously, full of shock and anger. ¡°How about it?¡± Xia Yi raised his head with a cold expression. ¡°Aren¡¯t you systems doing that to me all the time?¡± 179 could not talk back and did not make a sound. He could only speak in rage after a while, ¡°I am going to watch a movie now, if you interrupt me, I will turn on the sound in your head.¡± After saying so, there was no more response. ¡°179, 179.¡± Xia Yi called repeatedly, he was afraid System would jump out suddenly just like last time when he was in the middle of kissing Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°179, I think I am transmigrating.¡± ¡°179, Lady Li is here.¡± He tried a few more times, then was finally fully sure that the system had blocked himself out, and so Xia Yi let his guard down. Then he began his move silently. First, he made Kirin, who was biting its sandbag by the bed, go back to its bed. He could not let it watch live all the way at the side of the bed. Kirin was merrily playing and got kicked out suddenly, so he looked at Xia Yi with round eyes appealingly. ¡°Good boy, if this goes well, papa is going to stew you a big piece of bone tomorrow.¡± Xia Yi talked to Kirin in a low voice and pulled it out at the same time. It was a good thing that Kirin was obedient. Although it did not want to go, it did not fight back either, and just went back to its bed. Next, close the door, close the windows, close the curtains. At last, sit beside Gu Wen Zhu, and discreetly undo one button. Looking down, not enough. Undoing two more, showing his sharp neckline and a big area of his fair skin. Then he moved to lean on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Are you cold?¡± Gu Wen Zhu sensed that Xia Yi was leaning closer, so he said gently. His voice sounded as gentle as silk brushing on one¡¯s ears. ¡°Not cold, but hot.¡± Xia Yi lowered his voice and responded, his breath touching Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s neck. Upon finishing his sentence, he leaned even nearer to him, closing up even more. His pair of hands hugging Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s waist. ¡°Hm? Zhu, now I see a birthmark behind your ear.¡± Xia Yi said in astonishment and touched it with his hands. That birthmark was in the shape of a teardrop with a slight blue color, landing right behind Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s ear. If the angle was not just, others could not have seen it. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s ear had been touched by Xia Yi¡¯s warm fingers, making him involuntarily quivered. His hand stopped sewing and held its position in midair. Then he turned his head to look at Xia Yi. As soon as he saw him, he instantly held his breath. A storm was roaring behind his seemingly calm eyes, deep and dark. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s expression had become hard to read. ¡°What? Keep going.¡± Xia Yi pretended to not know a thing, he looked at the cloth in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hands innocently, he even used a finger to poke it. His finger followed the silhouette up and sluggishly slid its way to the back of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand. His soft fingertip stopped and caressed, with light touch, the back of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s nervous fist which was squeezing hard. Gu Wen Zhu swallowed with difficulty, his Adam¡¯s apple moving along. The stillness filled the room, only the sparkling burning sounds of the candlelight and the heavy breath of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s could be heard. Xia Yi seemed calm, his eyes were as if a silent lake in autumn with innocence and naiveness, but he was actually experiencing a restless tempest inside. Ahhh, what do I do now? Push him down? Can he not stare at me like that, I can¡¯t hang on anymore. If he is not pushing me down I am pushing him down! Gu Wen Zhu opened his mouth to speak, with a certain hoarseness, ¡°Yi, button your shirt.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s hot¡­¡± Xia Yi murmured, then he touched Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s heated face with his hand. Trying to contain himself, Gu Wen Zhu closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. The blue veins on his forehead were shown. His fingers were pinching so hard that the knuckles were turning white. He squeezed out a few words with hardship between his teeth, ¡°Yi, we have not married yet, we can¡¯t.¡± You are sewing your dowry, the furniture is done, the date has been picked, the helpers for the wedding banquet have been gathered from the village, you are saying that we have not married yet? Seems like I have to force him. I am all out. If the hill does not come to me, I will raze the hill and turn it into farmland. Xia Yi was agitated and decided to go all out, ¡°Foo!¡± He blew out the candlelight and pounced towards Gu Wen Zhu¡­ In the dark, the clothes rubbed each other and made rustling noises. There were also crashing sounds created by the tea table being knocked off¡­ With a clattering sound, the flintstone had been tickled, and the room lit up. Gu Wen Zhu, disheveled, tried his best to light up the candle on the table. He repeated with an unsteady voice, ¡°Yi, calm down, I can¡¯t treat you like this¡­¡± ¡°Foo!¡± The rekindled candlelight had been blown out once again, Xia Yi¡¯s exasperated voice ringing at the same time, ¡°There is no escape to this.¡± ¡°Yi, Yi, don¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± In the middle of the night, the village fell in silence, only the sounds of the insects in autumn and the barks of the dogs could be heard. The clattering sound rang again with the flintstone being tickled, light as well as the quivering crying voice of Xia Yi came from a house in one of the yards in the village, ¡°Zhu, no more, no more.¡± ¡°Foo!¡± The light was extinguished, the manly husky voice of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s echoed, ¡°Again, again babe.¡± Kirin felt that this night was not easy to endure, there was always noise interrupting his sleep. There had been strange activities in the house, the candlelight had been on and off, really annoying. CH 32 The very next morning, the closely shut door had been opened, Gu Wen Zhu came out, rejuvenated. He seemed to be in a good mood, his face glowing. He was humming and went to cook breakfast. In the bed, Xia Yi curled up in the blanket, complaining tearfully to 179. ¡°Really, he is not humane, look at me, there is not one part of my body that is fine, even the back of my feet have been bitten.¡± Xia Yi said, sobbing. ¡°I told you not to make reckless decisions. What is so bad with being a virgin? Look at how great I am. You would not listen no matter how I put it, I don¡¯t even care anymore.¡± The jealous system gloated. 179 you really cannot tell that I am showing off? Heehee. Hearing the footfalls from outside, Xia Yi quickly closed his eyes to pretend that he was still sleeping. With a bowl of porridge in his one hand, a dish of buns in the other, Gu Wen Zhu came in. Seeing Xia Yi asleep, he placed everything onto the cabinet at the side of the bed. He leaned slightly to peek and saw Xia Yi¡¯s eyelashes were shaking a little though his eyes were closed, his eyes were rolling under his eyelids. He was clearly awake but pretending that he was not. Gu Wen Zhu chuckled and sat down at the side of the bed. He stretched his arms to hold Xia Yi in his arms together with the blanket. His kiss fell on the top of Xia Yi¡¯s head. He said affectionately, ¡°Piggie, get up and have breakfast.¡± Xia Yi was still keeping his eyes closed, not speaking a word. Then he felt that the aroma of the pork porridge was lingering around his nose. He opened a small gap between his eyelids and found that a spoonful of porridge was right in front of his mouth. The intense smell of the pork porridge wafted into his nose. He realised his hunger at this moment with his stomach growling. Xia Yi could not keep pretending and swallowed the spoonful of porridge down. The heated pork porridge went down his esophagus, making him feel warm and comfortable. Gu Wen Zhu fed Xia Yi one spoon after the other. The bowl of porridge he brought in had all been eaten in a short while. Xia Yi was eating merrily, not noticing Gu Wen Zhu staring at the tip of his tongue emotionally with his calm expression. When he had finished eating, Gu Wen Zhu tidied up the place. Xia Yi covered himself again with the blanket. He did not have enough sleep the night before and prepared to have a good sleep to compensate for that. Xia Yi heard the door being pushed open again but was too lazy to open his eyes, he only made a sound with his nose. The blanket was pulled away from him. Gu Wen Zhu held Xia Yi in his arms with his firm and warm chest leaning towards Xia Yi. Xia Yi sensed that something was wrong instantly and quivered. The alert in his mind was ringing, making him fully awake. ¡°No no, go away go away¡­¡± ¡°Help¡­¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª At noon, Qi Zhou stood in the yard with his hair combed meticulously. In front of him stood Meng Wan Zi with his hands clasped behind him. Looking around, the doors were shut as if there were nobody here. Kirin sluggishly looked up, and lied back into his bed to continue sleeping when he saw the two. Everyone in the family is sleeping, so I am sleeping too. ¡°Anyone? Are we eating?¡± Qi Zhou¡¯s voice rang in discontent after a while. He could not help it. He and his master were hungry. The door opened with a creaking sound. Gu Wen Zhu came out with a delighted face. Qi Zhou thought he saw a groom, only lacking a big red ribbon in front of him. ¡°Wait, I will cook.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was rarely good to these believers of the Fang Xian Dao. He said with a smile and walked to the kitchen. Meng Wan Zi looked behind him and did not see Xia Yi. Thus, he asked, ¡°Where is Xia? Why is he not here?¡± Gu Wen Zhu halted his footsteps with uneasiness on his face, ¡°He is sick.¡± ¡°Sick? Is it severe? Let me see him.¡± Meng Wan Zi stepped forward to move himself into the house, ¡°I have some medical knowledge, I can give him a prescription.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just a cold, he will be well after resting for a day.¡± Gu Wen Zhu quickly stopped him. ¡°I need to see him even if it¡¯s just a cold. He is mortal, unlike us, it will not be good to have a sickness for long.¡± Meng Wan Zi talked when he was walking to the house. His sight had been blocked suddenly, a figure moved swiftly in front of him, shutting off his way. Meng Wan Zi stopped walking and looked up in confusion. ¡°I said, he will be well with some rest, he cannot be exposed to the wind right now, he is sweating.¡± Gu Wen Zhu stood in front of him, his voice ringing coldly, his eyes containing hostility with the ends of his eyes raised. It was hard to tell what was on his mind. At that moment, Meng Wan Zi suddenly had a weird feeling. This normal farmer standing in his way was giving him pressure that was not visible to the eye. ¡°Okay okay okay, I am not seeing him, I am not seeing him.¡± Meng Wan Zi felt cold and was afraid to take any steps further. Qi Zhou twitched his lips, thinking in his arrogant mind that these mortal humans did not know chalk from cheese. Gu Wen Zhu was quick. He finished cooking lunch swiftly with a whole table of food. He pulled out an empty dish, taking a little from every plate, leaving the others on the table, and looked at Meng Wan Zi, ¡°Old Meng, go ahead.¡± ¡°Okay okay, don¡¯t mind me.¡± Meng Wan Zi replied immediately with his hands on his sides. He watched Gu Wen Zhu take the gathered food and walk away. Why am I afraid of this farmer? Those eyes were familiar. He had an appearance that looked like the leader, but his expressions just now reminded him of somebody else. Qi Zhou did not pull out his handkerchief to clean the seat until Gu Wen Zhu walked out and closed the door behind him. He took his own bowl out to fill it with rice and began to eat with small bites. In the room, Xia Yi was sitting in the corner of the bed with a fierce look and messy hair, ¡°I am not eating! I said it and I won¡¯t eat! Remove them!¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry Yi, it was all my fault, I was not able to control myself.¡± Gu Wen Zhu apologized submissively. Seeing the blanket slide down, showing some purple and blue, Gu Wen Zhu felt guilty and sorry. ¡°Only a few bites. Okay? Just have a few bites.¡± Gu Wen Zhu persuaded with gentle words. He held a spoonful of food in front of Xia Yi¡¯s mouth. ¡°Was it your bad? I am asking you, have you realised what you have done and introspect?¡± Xia Yi moved his sore body slightly with complaints. ¡°It was me, it was all my fault, I should not have done that when you were %@%%&*&*¡­&¡­&¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s mouth had been covered by Xia Yi, Xia Yi growled exasperatedly, ¡°They are still outside, lower your voice.¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at him innocently and nodded. Xia Yi released him and side-eyed him, ¡°Feed me.¡± When they had finished eating, the two in the yard had already left. Gu Wen Zhu then began to tidy up. Xia Yi was sore from head to toe and wanted to lie down. Even doing this made him grind his teeth in pain, he could only move slowly as if he had a fracture. When he was finally down, he stared at the ceiling blankly, ¡°179, really, he is not humane.¡± 179 did not want to answer and even wanted to spit on him. Just when he was falling asleep, Xia Yi suddenly felt a heat rising from his abdomen. Without the time for him to recover from the sudden feeling, that heat surged towards his limbs. Abruptly, he felt his blood boiling, his heart rate rising, and his limbs became strengthless. What is happening to me? Am I transmigrating again? It does not seem like it. Xia Yi looked around, the air was not moving, the furniture did not twist. Am I sick? Do I have a Heat stroke? Flu? Or some other emergency? ¡°179, 179 come, there is something wrong. I am not fooling you, my whole body does not feel right.¡± Xia Yi screamed for the system in panic, ¡°Am I having an emergency?¡± ¡°Host, do not panic, let me check it for you.¡± 179 was calm and professional, as if he was a sophisticated system. Xia Yi took in a deep breath with an effort to suppress the unknown heat in him, waiting for the check up results from the system. ¡°179, if I have some incurable disease, don¡¯t tell me, at least let me marry Zhu first. Nevermind, just tell me, I should not marry Zhu. It will just hinder him, he will have to marry again after I die.¡± 179 did not speak for quite a while, as if things were going bad. Xia Yi¡¯s anxiety was increasing as time went by. People searched information online and believed they had an incurable disease, but this was a whole other level for Xia Yi, he was even planning the place to build his graveyard. He started to imagine Gu Wen Zhu seeing him growing slimmer and slimmer day by day and Gu Wen Zhu would punch the wall when he was alone, but still pretend to be tough when he saw Xia Yi. Tears were welling in Xia Yi¡¯s eyes. My body is heating up, am I going to explode? ¡°179, any results yet?¡± ¡°Host, after thorough inspections, the results show that you are not sick, but rather, you are in heat.¡± 179¡¯s voice broke through the silence, ¡°It may be caused by the hormones produced last night.¡± ¡°H¡­Heat?¡± Xia Yi looked as if he had been struck by lightning. ¡°Yes, heehee.¡± 179¡¯s laughter rang along with his gloat. But I am not single anymore, I don¡¯t know what you are gloating about. Xia Yi calmed down after figuring it out, and sneered towards 179. Gu Wen Zhu was pushing the door to come in with a bowl in his hand, he called to him lovingly, ¡°Yi, come and drink this stock and rest.¡± Just when he finished saying so, Gu Wen Zhu froze and looked in front of him, stunned. Xia Yi had sat up, holding the blankets and staring at him. Blushing, his almond eyes looked drowsy and appealing¡­ ¡°Zhu, come, quick.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s voice was soft and appealing too¡­ CH 33 The sun was setting. Smoke created from cooking wafted from every house. Kirin had been playing outside with DaHua for the whole afternoon and came back home, satisfied, through the square-shaped hole designed for him at the yard¡¯s wall. No one is in the kitchen. Those two are still fighting in their room. It hurried its way to its bowl, it¡¯s empty? I don¡¯t mind them fighting, but now they don¡¯t even cook? Kirin felt wronged and lied in its own bed. Then, the front door was pushed open with Qi Zhou coming in, lifting up his sleeves on his way. He hesitantly asked, ¡°Anyone? Are we eating?¡± After a while, the door of the house opened. Gu Wen Zhu came out. He was awkwardly tidying his clothes while walking. When Qi Zhou saw Gu Wen Zhu, a feeling of fear arose in him. He lowered his voice and said, ¡°I will take the food back to eat in order not to disturb you.¡± ¡°I am cooking now. But I have to care for Yi for the next few days, so you will have to cook for yourselves. I will pack up some of everything for you. Take them back and cook at the old house. There is a stove, pots and everything.¡± Gu Wen Zhu rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the kitchen. ¡°I can¡¯t cook!¡± When Qi Zhou heard him, he screamed in fear. ¡°Oh¡­¡± Gu Wen Zhu mumbled, ¡°You can take Kirin and let it teach you. And you can also feed it.¡± ¡°This is¡­ this is¡­¡± Facing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s tease, Qi Zhou lost his words. Kirin looked at him and shook its tail innocently. Gu Wen Zhu cooked a huge pot of noodles in chicken stock, filled up two bowls with it and went back inside the room, leaving a big pot for Qi Zhou and Kirin. The door shut sharply when Qi Zhou was beginning to try peeking through the crack out of curiosity. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª The front door of the Gu¡¯s had not been opened for days. No one had seen Gu Wen Zhu and Xia Yi. There was no response when people knocked. Their dog had been eating at the houses in the village to barely survive. Those two must have gone to the city to buy for the wedding. Li Zhu and Er Niu stood in front of Gu¡¯s door, then lied down to peek in through the crack under the door. ¡°What are you doing?¡± An unfamiliar voice rang coldly behind them. ¡°We are just looking. We haven¡¯t seen them for days and we are worried¡­¡± Li Zhu was explaining and turning his head. When he turned, he was stunned. He became speechless with his opened mouth. Seeing Li Zhu like that, Er Niu turned to look as well. Then, similarly, he froze as if he was struck by lightning, unmoved like a statue. Qi Zhou was back from his walk outside the village and passed by Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s door. He noticed two young men, possibly villagers, peeking from the door. He frowned and asked them about it. However, the two were stupefied as if they had been thunderstruck when they saw him. The villager who was answering him looked okay. This one could be regarded as handsome. The other one who turned after the previous one only looked stupid and foolish with a rough look and dirt on his clothes. Li Zhu was smarter and looked the other way right away when he recovered from the surprise. Er Niu was still staring at Qi Zhou with a slightly opened mouth and fixed eyeballs. Seeing him fixing his eyes on him, Qi Zhou frowned out of disgust. I want to carve out these eyeballs from this rude villager. ¡°There is nothing going on with their house. Do not overthink.¡± Qi Zhou did not want to explain too much to these boors. He only said a few words and left. ¡°Er Niu. This ger is an immortal descended from heaven, right?¡± Staring at Qi Zhou¡¯s figure going further away, Li Zhu elbowed Er Niu after a long while. Er Niu did not make a sound. He was still absent-mindedly looking at the direction that Qi Zhou left. ¡°Er Niu. Stop that. He¡¯s gone.¡± Li Zhu gave him a punch. Er Niu thus regained his consciousness. After that, Er Niu¡¯s mind wandered off and had been in a stupor. Li Zhu had been talking to him for a long time without receiving any response. Just when Li Zhu was about to get mad, Er Niu stopped his steps and spoke haltingly, ¡°I want to marry him.¡± ¡°Marry who?¡± Li Zhu was not able to make a connection. ¡°The ger we met just now. I saw him go to Wen Zhu¡¯s old house.¡± Er Niu¡¯s eyes lightened up as if he was still in his dreams, ¡°Hasn¡¯t my mother been urging me to get married? I have my eyes on him. I want him to be my bride.¡± ¡°Er Niu. Are you nuts? Judging from his looks, that ger is no average person. He must be some rich relative of Wen Zhu. He is only staying for a few days.¡± Li Zhu really wanted to shake his companion awake from his dreams. Er Niu opened his mouth, then his face changed from befuddled to determined, ¡°I have my eyes on him. I must marry him.¡± After saying so, he told Li Zhu with a serious expression, ¡°Don¡¯t call me Er Niu from now on. Call me by my formal name, Gu Bei Cheng.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Gu Wen Zhu looked down at Xia Yi who was lying on his back. Xia Yi¡¯s translucent skin on the neck was flushed with a few strands of hair sticking on it. Gu Wen Zhu used his hand to tuck the soft hair of Xia Yi¡¯s to the back of his ear. He leaned towards him and said in a hoarse voice, ¡°I will make you something to eat. Is that good?¡± Xia Yi did not say a thing, reluctant to part with his lover, he only used his finger to gesture at him to come closer, making sounds like a kitty cat, staring at Gu Wen Zhu with desire in his misty eyes. Gu Wen Zhu took a deep breath and forced himself to get up to finish cooking at his quickest speed. He also boiled a big pot of water to let Xia Yi bathe comfortably. Time went by. Two days had passed. In the morning, when the door of the bedroom had been opened, Gu Wen Zhu stepped out. His hair was messy, eye sockets sunken. He inhaled a breath of fresh air greedily. He let the fresh scent of the grass spread in his lungs, then exhaled slowly. ¡°Yi, I am cooking breakfast.¡± He briefly turned to speak towards the room, then moved to the kitchen swiftly as if he was running from something and would be snatched with any slower pace. The moon set. The sun rose. A day passed. The door was opened sluggishly, Gu Wen Zhu appeared there lifelessly. His legs were trembling. Dark circles surrounding his eyes. Clothes unbuttoned. He walked without strength and glided to the kitchen to cook as if he was a body floating in the sea. He could not even flip the wok, his hand holding the spatula was shaking. At last, he had to travel two times to transport the food into the room, then closed the door with a squeak. The sun rose again. On this day, the door of the room opened and Xia Yi walked out with a fulfilled expression. He felt like he was radiating with a large amount of energy, feeling unprecedentedly comfortable. He had a long stretch, then walked to the kitchen with light steps. He caught that fish they had been feeding from the fish bowl, cut it up, removed the scales, and started to make soup with it. Some time later, he took a bowl of fish soup with him and walked into the bedroom. When he entered the room, Gu Wen Zhu was still sleeping. Xia Yi put down the bowl of soup, discreetly lifted the blanket and pounced on him to give him a bite on his face, ¡°Get up and have breakfast.¡± Gu Wen Zhu rubbed his face and opened his eyes slowly. He was calm when he woke up. He looked slightly absent-minded and stupefied, with a shallow tooth mark on his face. Xia Yi felt attracted to him seeing him this way. He was about to get down to kiss him all over. ¡°How long have you been up?¡± Gu Wen Zhu tried to support himself to sit up, he trembled and half sat up, ¡°You must be hungry. Let me cook for you.¡± He still remembered his responsibility. For these few days, he had to satisfy a ger in heat and care for the ger at the same time. When gers had their first heat, they needed special attention in order to blossom like a perfectly beautiful flower. ¡°I am fine. Don¡¯t get up.¡± Xia Yi looked affectionately at Gu Wen Zhu who was hardly getting up with shivering arms. Zhu had been caring for a ger in his first heat in the past few days. He deserved sufficient attention so that he would be healthy like a lively little calf. ¡°Let me feed you.¡± Both Gu Wen Zhu and Xia Yi spoke and reached for the spoon at the same time. Gu Wen Zhu was faster. Strength had been drawn suddenly from his wrist when he grabbed the spoon, the spoon then dropped back into the soup. ¡°Let me do it.¡± Xia Yi took the spoon and scooped a spoonful. He blew some air at the soup to cool it down. ¡°I will do it myself.¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s spirit was steady though his body was impaired. He tried to protect his pride. Xia Yi ignored Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s request and fed the soup into his mouth. ¡°Have another bite of fish, one more bite. Baby, ahh.¡± ¡°Yi, I can¡¯t eat anymore¡­¡± ¡°One more bite. How can you have strength like a tiger if you don¡¯t eat well?¡± At night, the whole village fell asleep, except a conversation echoed from one of the yards in the village. ¡°Yi. Let me go get you some Herba Aqua Effugio. Why don¡¯t you try a bite¡­¡± ¡°Who needs Herba Aqua Effugio? Throw it away. Come over!¡± ¡°Let me rest a little longer. Just a little.¡± ¡°I see you still have the strength to hide. You do not need rest!¡± When the last wave of heat ended, Gu Wen Zhu was about to cry because of joy. He was like a cow which had been released from the plow after farming nonstop for days. He then fell into deep sleep with his head buried in the pillow. Xia Yi silently leaned onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s back. He closed his eyes and chuckled with lips pulled inwards, then he kissed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s earlobes, extended his arms to hold Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s firm waist and fell into sleep. CH 34 When Xia Yi woke up from his sleep, it was already daytime. Xia Yi lifted his hand to block the sunlight and looked towards his side with narrowed eyes. There was no one beside him. The clinking sounds rang from the kitchen. Was Zhu not tired as a dog last night? How did he wake up this early? Gu Wen Zhu had a strong body. He only required one night to restore his strength.. When Xia Yi walked into the kitchen, he saw a steaming pot on the stove. The delicious smell of chicken stock cooked with eucommia and codonopsis coming out from the pot. Seeing Xia Yi sniffing and lifting the cover of the pot, Gu Wen Zhu looked at him gently and said, ¡°I am making this for you as a nourishment.¡± Actually I think Zhu is the one who needs nourishment. Gu Wen Zhu filled a bowl of soup and placed it aside, ¡°It¡¯s for you. Let it cool down.¡± Then he carried two chicken legs using chopsticks to put them into another bowl and gave it to Xia Yi. The chicken legs were big and juicy with an alluring aroma. Xia Yi took one and stuffed it in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s mouth, then he started to eat the other one. ¡°Where is Kirin? Leave Kirin some of the soup to eat with the rice.¡± Xia Yi realized that he had not been seeing Kirin for days and had no idea what he had been eating. ¡°Kirin is at the old house, with old Meng and the other fellow.¡± Having one chicken leg in his mouth, Xia Yi was stupefied, ¡°Can the two of them cook?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t starve to death.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said emotionlessly. Can¡¯t starve to death? Do those two look like they know how to cook? Their dead bodies might have stiffened after all this time. ¡°I am going to see them.¡± Xia Yi finished off the chicken leg quickly with two to three bites and mumbled, ¡°Give me some more chicken soup to take it to them.¡± Gu Wen Zhu slightly frowned. I killed and cooked this chicken for Yi. I don¡¯t want to share with those Fang Xian Dao people. With hesitation, he still took a food box to fill it with chicken soup. Xia Yi hurried his way to the old house and pushed the door open. At that moment, Xia Yi was shocked and nearly dropped the box in his hands. He began to suspect if he had gone to the wrong house. The yard was clean with no dust to be found, the blue bricks on the floor were reflecting the sunlight. The pile of deteriorated baskets and stuff at the corner had already gone. Instead, there was a pot of plants. The widely opened well had been covered with a clean piece of wooden board. ¡°Move. Move.¡± An unfamiliar male voice echoed from behind him. It did not sound like Meng Wan Zi or Qi Zhou. Xia Yi looked back and saw a big piece of stone tablet in front of him. He quickly moved to the side of the road. The person carried the stone tablet on his back to the center of the yard and placed it on the ground carefully, revealing his honest face. Er Niu was brushing off the sweat on his face with his clothes and looked at Xia Yi with a broad smile. ¡°Er Niu?¡± Xia Yi asked in confusion, ¡°Why are you here? Where is old Meng and Qi Zhou?¡± Qi Zhou¡¯s voice rang from inside the house, ¡°I am putting the rockery together.¡± As he finished his sentence, Qi Zhou walked out sluggishly with his hands behind him. Xia Yi asked in shock, ¡°You are putting a rockery together in the yard?¡± ¡°Right. No matter where we are, how long we have to stay, we cannot lower our standards of living.¡± Qi Zhou used his hand to straighten the corner of his sleeve, ¡°Not only do I need a rockery, I am also planting flowers and grass, and keeping some birds and fish here.¡± After saying so, he nodded towards Er Niu with restrained approval, ¡°Gu Bei Cheng, good work. You may continue tomorrow.¡± Er Niu looked at Qi Zhou with glittering eyes, he smiled earnestly and said, ¡°Then I will come tomorrow to put the rockery together for you.¡± He thus turned and walked out. Kirin walked in with two little tablets tied onto its back after Er Niu left. Xia Yi saw the looks of Kirin and became furious. Very well, Qi Zhou. If you try to achieve your standard of living on your own, it¡¯s fine. But now you are doing nothing, idle. Not only have you been telling Er Niu to work for you, you are also enslaving Kirin. ¡°Son, come.¡± Xia Yi called out to Kirin with a gloomy expression. Kirin had not seen Xia Yi for days and was carrying the tablets on his back, suffering. Once it saw its owner, he happily rushed towards Xia Yi to lick him and rubbed at his legs, it even turned to show him its back. Xia Yi quickly removed the stones from it, and looked up at Qi Zhou with fury. Aren¡¯t people from the Qi Shan Sect dog persons? Why would you treat dogs this way? ¡°Worry not. Kirin is a mythical beast. They can move mountains, let alone these tablets.¡± Qi Zhou waved his hand without care. Mythical beast my ass. Xia Yi immediately checked Kirin all over, seeing nothing abnormal with it and it was lively as usual, he finally felt relieved. Looking at the chicken soup in the food box which he had placed on top of the wall of the yard, I won¡¯t give it to such a person, I will take it back later. ¡°Look, Xia is here.¡± With laughter, a villager looking person came in from the outside. This person was wearing a brown linen short outer, his long hair had been tied up into a bun on top of his head. He was carrying a bamboo basket on his back. This was Meng Wan Zi. Xia Yi felt confused all of a sudden. He would not dare to call the fellow¡¯s name if Qi Zhou did not call that guy his master. It had only been a few days and the dignified and elegant cultivator had already become grounded like this? Meng Wan Zi put down the basket on his back and took the tea from Qi Zhou. He had a couple of sips and told Xia Yi, ¡°Yes. Today Cai said that the radishes were almost ready to be harvested.¡± ¡°Who is Cai?¡± Xia Yi asked without a clue. ¡°You don¡¯t know Wang Cai? Isn¡¯t he the head of your block?¡± Meng Wan Zi looked at him weirdly, with a hint of condemnation, ¡°Cai cares about you. He visited your place everyday while you were sick. He thought that you went to the city.¡± ¡°We just called him Mr. Wang. How am I supposed to know his full name?¡± Xia Yi argued. How is Meng Wan Zi merging with the crowd so quickly? He is even brothers with Mr. Wang now. ¡°What is in your hand?¡± Meng Wan Zi¡¯s eyes glittered once he realised that there was a food box in Xia Yi¡¯s hand. ¡°Chicken soup for you.¡± Xia Yi did not want to let Qi Zhou have it, but he could let Meng Wan Zi eat it. He therefore lifted up the food box in front of him, ¡°Go and wash your hands. Take out your bowl, I will give you some.¡± ¡°We need not be too meticulous about it.¡± After saying so, Meng Wan Zi used his sleeve to brush off his sweat, rubbed his hands with his clothes, and went into the kitchen, taking the food box from Xia Yi. Some time later, he took two porcelain bowls out. He placed one in front of Kirin with a smiley face, ¡±Go ahead, Kirin.¡± And gave the other one to Qi Zhou. Then, he directly gulped in the content with the food box in his hand. Qi Zhou stood on the side with a terribly awful expression, he moved the bowl to his lips but could not make himself open his mouth. At last, he gathered the courage to swallow it with eyes closed. Meng Wan Zi finished the soup and brushed his mouth with his sleeves, asked, ¡°Have you been healed?¡± ¡°Yes. I am fine now.¡± Speaking of this, a hint of uneasiness appeared on his face. However, Meng Wan Zi did not notice it. ¡°I will go to check the farmland then.¡± Xia Yi waved his hand briefly and ran out towards the farmland, bringing Kirin with him, to avoid being further questioned by Meng Wan Zi. Right after he left the old house, 179¡¯s merry voice rang in his mind with crackers exploding, ¡°Congratulations. Host. The winter gourds are mature. You have fulfilled your fourth mission perfectly.¡± ¡°Mission description: Awakening the Honourable Immortal Leader CangYi. Completion 1/1 Award 1: Huge Gift Pack.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the use of this? I haven¡¯t claimed the mission awards of the first mission yet, something called the foundation establishment drink and spirit clearance core.¡± Xia Yi began to complain, ¡°And some huge gift pack that I don¡¯t want. Can I drink that foundation establishment drink? Give me that if I can drink it, I am thirsty. Let¡¯s drink two bottles of those.¡± ¡°You probably can?¡± 179 answered with uncertainty. ¡°Said so if I can or cannot. Why are you adding a ¡®probably¡¯ to the sentence?¡± ¡°You can.¡± 179 replied, certain this time. ¡°Then give me one of those. Let me try it.¡± A white pottery bottle the size of a bottle of Wahaha AD calcium milk appeared in Xia Yi¡¯s hand just when he finished talking. The design was ancient. One could tell it was pretending to be a container for some cores or poison just like those shown on television. 179 said that he could drink it, so Xia Yi removed the cover and poured it down his throat without holding back. Smacking his lips, he tasted a fresh sweetness in his mouth. It tasted a little like fruit beer. Nice. The bottle was not big. Xia Yi finished a bottle within a few gulps, ¡°179, give me two more bottles.¡± ¡°I have never had a drink in this world, not even the sweet ones once.¡± Xia Yi complained while he was opening the other two bottles, ¡°I have been drinking cola in my dreams. I salivated for cola.¡± ¡°Host. If you wish to give birth to a child, you should drink red sweet soup and even eat some eggs cooked in it.¡± ¡°179 you are so annoying.¡± Kirin was breathing heavily with its tongue out beside him, staring at him without blinking. Xia Yi hesitated slightly, then he opened one bottle and gave it to Kirin, ¡°Son, open your mouth. Papa is giving you a bottle.¡± Kirin opened his mouth widely. Xia Yi slowly fed him. Quickly, both of them finished up all the foundation establishment drinks and burped with satisfaction, ¡°Come. Let¡¯s see the winter gourds.¡± ¡°Wait, host. You have not received your new mission.¡± 179 reminded him. ¡°Say it. What do I have to plant this time?¡± Xia Yi said casually. 179 cleared his throat and said with his voice raised, ¡°Now, host. Please accept the new mission.¡± ¡°Mission description: Get a magical item and summon your mythical beast. Completion 0/1 Award 1: Rare Gift Pack.¡± ¡°What do I have to plant this time?¡± ¡°Lettuce.¡± He was not growing crops in the wrong season this time. It was alright. He could grow and sell them without covering it up. ¡°Okay, lettuce it is. Now I will go check up on my winter gourds.¡± Wao, these winter gourds are enormous. Xia Yi went and saw them in the farmland, stunned. ¡°My winter gourds are growing this well? This is so obvious and people still believe that these are radishes?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then I will sell them on the street. Will this be with the price of a winter gourd or a radish?¡± ¡°This is¡­¡± System puzzled. Whatever, whatever. Put everything into my storage space. ¡°If you store all of them. What should you tell Gu Wen Zhu about it?¡± ¡°Just tell him that all the radishes were rotten.¡± Xia Yi patted on the winter gourds, ¡°Store them all.¡± When he arrived at home, Xia Yi heard some strange sounds of furniture moving before even entering the room. He entered and found that Gu Wen Zhu was dismantling his bed. ¡°Zhu, why are you dismantling the bed?¡± Xia Yi asked, shocked. ¡°Our new bed is made anyways. Let¡¯s change it out. The old one is too small and squeaks.¡± Gu Wen Zhu recalled how they used the bed a few days ago, making him blush and his heart racing. At night, the two slept in their new bed. This bed was delicate and firm. Not even one splinter could be found on the bed legs. Gu Wen Zhu had been rubbing them with sand paper, and he had painted the bed layer on top of layer. He then moved the bed back in after letting the paint dry out in the yard for some days. Xia Yi leaned onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s strong chest, listening to his powerful and calming heartbeats, slowly fell into sleep. He felt weird in his dreams. The chest he leaned on felt empty. Xia Yi began to search in his bed with his eyes closed. Hm? Where is he? The touch of the blanket had changed from cloth to soft silk as well. Xia Yi was alert and was no longer in the mood of sleeping. He sat up immediately. With the moonlight shining from outside of the windows, the shadows of the furniture stretched tall. He was in a pterocarpus bed with lotus carvings. There was a carved black screen placed in front of his bed. Outside the half opened window, the bamboo was shaking in the wind. Isn¡¯t this the Wang Zhu Yard in the Qi Shan Sect? I have transmigrated again. CH 35 Xia Yi turned to sit up, wore his shoes which were on the side of his bed, put an outer on, and pushed the door open to walk out. The yard remained in silence. The delicate moonlight fell on the ground through the space between the bamboo. He did not stay long enough to fully explore around last time. Xia Yi was not sleepy at all right now. He thus walked through the archway to enter the yard. A forest of bamboo was outside of the yard. A few children were chatting and laughing nearby. They were surprised to see Xia Yi, then they recovered from that and bowed to greet him, ¡°Xia.¡± Seeing these children were not curious about him appearing out of nowhere, Xia Yi greeted them in return, thinking that they must have gotten used to people travelling around just like that. Xia Yi realized that these children were having a good time together but stiffened because they saw him, so he turned to walk back and said kindly, ¡°I will look around back there. You can continue.¡± Following the road in the bamboo forest, he proceeded and arrived at the foot of the soul mountain quickly. It was appropriate to call this a soul mountain. There were clouds surrounding the misty mountain. Although it was night time, the fresh beautiful trees and fruits could still be seen. Below the foot of the mountain, there was also a pool, so clear that the bottom of the pool could be seen, lotus floated on the water, and fish in gold color jumped out from the water from time to time. Those fish were not afraid of people. They must have been fed by people daily, making them rush in front of Xia Yi when they saw him. Xia Yi had nothing on him and felt sorry for them. He quickly left the pool because of this and followed a stone stairway at the foot of the mountain to go up the mountain. After walking for a while, taking in the scenery along the way, fully appreciating those special greeneries, Xia Yi suddenly stopped walking with a question popping up in his mind. This is night time. Night time! Why can I see clearly without using any torches or phones as if it was day time? Is this the innate buff of the cultivation world? A newbie ability? ¡°179, 179, are you here?¡± Xia Yi asked without expecting a response from the system. This rubbish system is a cultivation world system but he gets stuck on his way every time to get here. As expected, there was no response from 179. Xia Yi gained courage as he could see in the dark. He climbed up the mountain with the aid of the stairs. At a far distance, he could see a small pavilion, which seemed like it was built on clouds, at half way of the mountain. He then decided to go and rest there so that he could try out being a wise out-of-the-world hermit, sitting alone at the end of the clouds, or playing the Chinese Zither, playing the vertical bamboo flute, or maybe playing chess. The path was becoming blurry. Sometimes he was able to see it and sometimes he was not, as if he was looking through a phone with a low DPI lens. Alerted, Xia Yi halted. What is going on? Is he transmigrating? Looking around, nothing changed. What is all these about? When bumping into weird and unclear things, one should never be curious and should turn and leave immediately. In all those movies, one shall not die if one does not raise the death-flag. Xia Yi turned around to go back right away, however, at this moment, the road had vanished. The surroundings changed as well. The emerald green trees and lime colored mountain were disappearing. In front of him stood an exquisite and elegant yard in ancient style. What the f**k. Is this the lair of the fox spirits? I feel like I have read this from the Strange Stories From A Chinese Studio before. Next, I would knock on the door to tell them about me getting lost, an old man would welcome me warmly and let me stay for the night. After having a meal and talking with him, the old man insisted on marrying his youngest daughter to me. His daughter was pretty and lovable, but I would discover that she was actually a fox spirit after I got home with her. Hoho, I am not going in. I will stand outside overnight. Hence, Xia Yi looked around him, hoping to find a stone for him to sit on for the night. This was within the area of the Qi Shan Sect, no spirit or evil should dare to harm an apprentice of the Qi Shan Sect master. He had never seen his so-called master. Maybe he had been caught by those anti-social people from the demonic world and had not been released yet. Just when Xia Yi was finding a smooth piece of stone, he heard a squeak from the front door behind him and the door had been opened. F**k. What kind of demonic creature is coming out? You see that I am not walking into the trap so you can¡¯t keep sitting around and retreat in order to advance? Xia Yi turned around. He stared at the front door, heart racing. I don¡¯t care what kind of spirit or demonic creature you are, just don¡¯t show me a weird-looking creature. Gourd babies or cute ones like the ginseng babies would be most preferable. A blue sleeve with carvings came out from the door. Seeing the uniform of the Qi Shan Sect, Xia Yi exhaled in relief. I was nearly scared to death. It is not some mountain spirit or ghost at the end. It is someone from the sect. Followed by that, a person walked out from the yard and stood under the moonlight. The figure was tall and slim, with elegance. Along with the breeze of wind among the mountains, the ribbon on his head and his sleeves swayed in the wind. If you say that Liu SiQian and Meng Wan Zi looked like immortals, then this person was an immortal person. He walked towards Xia Yi sluggishly. Xia Yi met his eyes. When he saw his face, Xia Yi felt like being struck by lightning. He naturally said loudly, ¡°Zhu!¡± This immortal in front of him, this nose, those eyes, Xia Yi felt extremely familiar with them. He touched them a few times before he slept. Who can this be if this is not Zhu? While Xia Yi screamed out Zhu¡¯s name, Gu Wen Zhu was stunned. He looked at Xia Yi in shock, eyeing him all over, hesitated and asked, ¡°Wang Lan?¡± Xia Yi was stupefied, Wang Lan? Zhu called me Wang Lan? What does that mean? ¡°Zhu, why are you here? Who is Wang Lan?¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not answer but walked slowly to him, with a serious look, ¡°Wang Lan, why are you here? Where is Ze Yuan?¡± Xia Yi suddenly felt befuddled, what is going on? Who is Ze Yuan? He stared at Gu Wen Zhu who was approaching him, wanting to have a clearer look of his expression. Is Zhu messing with me? No, this is not Zhu. He was standing far away and could only see a black figure in the dark just now, causing him to think this was Zhu, but these were two different persons though two of them look alike. People who are close to him will recognise the difference. Zhu¡¯s features are sharper, the bridge of his nose is higher and the lines of his lips are clearer. Xia Yi judged in his mind. The end of this person¡¯s eye is rounder, but Zhu¡¯s is longer and points slightly upward. Although they both have eyes like the deep blue sea, this person had more coldness and bleakness, and this person also has more shallow wrinkles which are left as traces of age. Instantly, a name came up in his mind, the honourable immortal leader CangYi. Cheng Ming thought Zhu was the honourable immortal leader CangYi at first as well. Could this person be the leader? The mission I had just completed was about awakening the honourable immortal leader CangYi. Did I awaken him? This is the honourable immortal leader CangYi, right? Cheng Ming said that he had disappeared for years. The fact is that he has been cooping up at the back of the mountain. I feel bad for his apprentices going around the world searching for him, and he is right next to them all along. My Zhu is lying in bed sleeping tightly. This must be that legendary honourable immortal leader CangYi. Thinking of this, Xia Yi swiftly retreated a couple of steps and turned into a stern face. He bowed with folded hands, ¡°May I ask if this is the honourable immortal leader CangYi?¡± That person clearly froze for a moment, confusion growing in his eyes, ¡°Wang Lan, you don¡¯t remember me?¡± ¡°This must be a misunderstanding. I am not Wang Lan. Xia Yi from the Qi Shan Sect is here to greet you.¡± Xia Yi politely responded with eyes looking at the ground. ¡°Xia Yi.¡± He blinked and stared at Xia Yi who was in front of him, saying with uncertainty, ¡°You are saying that you are Xia Yi and not Wang Lan?¡± ¡°Correct. My father is the prefectural magistrate Xia from the prefecture Huang Zhong. I am not Wang Lan.¡± Xia Yi was nervous inside. CangYi observed Xia Yi all over, the confusion was clearing away from his eyes. Xia Yi only stood there unmoved. ¡°Right, you should remember nothing.¡± CangYi murmured, his expressions were complicated and hard to read, ¡°You even forget about Ze Yuan.¡± ¡°But honourable immortal leader, I really am not Wang Lan. Please look closer.¡± Xia Yi braved up and moved his face closer to CangYi, ¡°Look at this nose, these eyes, they are unique.¡± CangYi glanced at him and looked away emotionlessly. Xia Yi did not know if he was thinking too much, but he sensed as if CangYi felt pity for him. ¡°Wang Lan. Forgetting about the past is a good thing. You can focus on cultivating so that you can be an immortal earlier.¡± Ciang Yi mumbled. Out of the blue, he poked between Xia Yi¡¯s brows. Xia Yi did not have enough time to respond, then he felt that coldness of the touch disappearing. CangYi pulled back his arm and said calmly, ¡°You are at the middle level of the foundation phase. It is okay. Although your base is not too good, working hard should help you thrive.¡± What? Foundation phase? How am I not sensing a thing if I am already at the foundation phase? Do I have night vision because of the foundation phase? But I have no feelings in other aspects. Does being in the foundation phase mean that I become like an owl? I had not been cultivating at all and I know nothing about the breathing techniques or spirits and stuff. Is this a cheat granted by the system? Right, System. Previously, I took a few bottles of foundation establishment drinks from the system to drink. Is that the reason for this? ¡°Now I see that you are alright, I feel better.¡± CangYi kept talking to himself, ¡°I would guess that Ze Yuan is living well.¡± He then turned to look afar, his expression sad and painful, loneliness leaking from his figure. CH 36 Xia Yi had put on a serious expression, but there was actually some soap opera in his mind. Although CangYi had mistaken him for someone, this man with the name Ze Yuan must be very important to him. Judging from the limited wordings from him, he thought that this was a love triangle. Ze Yuan took his lover away from him. He went away with that Wang Lan to hide, or travel around the world, or disappear into the crowd. And his lover leaving him had given CangYi a huge blow. After all that, he left the mortal world and his sect to hide in the mountain by himself, cooping up for over twenty years. What kind of tragic bad ending is this? Xia Yi felt a little sorry for him. However, he did not know how to comfort others. So he had to search through his mind for the words for it. He could only recall some sentences he saw when he was reading those chicken soup for the soul. Hence, he gathered the courage, cleared his throat and said, ¡°The honourable immortal leader. Please listen to me.¡± ¡°You should never chase the shadows in the past but should hope for a bright future.¡± ¡°Cheer yourself up every morning when you awake.¡± ¡°There is nothing that cannot be dealt with. There are only emotions that you cannot let go.¡± CangYi glanced at Xia Yi. Seeing him thinking with his hands scratching his face, CangYi¡¯s expression softened, the end of his lips lifted slightly with a hint of laughter, then he turned to look afar. As the sadness faded away, CangYi¡¯s eyes became more gentle and clearer. As if he remembered something, he stopped his smiling which had stayed on his face for barely a second, and he looked this way with a stern face, ¡°How did you go beyond the boundaries that I have set and came here? No one except Ze Yuan and¡­¡± He halted slightly and continued, ¡°Everyone else should not be able to get in.¡± ¡°No, I kept walking and the road disappeared suddenly, and your place appeared out of nowhere in front of me. I was planning to sit in front of your place for the night, then you came out.¡± Under the cold stare of CangYi, Xia Yi explained. CangYi asked no more, but showed a thoughtful face, frowning. In view of this, Xia Yi did not dare to even breathe too hard. ¡°It must have been the spirits in my boundaries who know about how much I miss Ze Yuan, so they let you in.¡± Thinking of this, CangYi closed his eyes due to the pain in his heart. Seeing CangYi standing there dazed with a lonely expression, Xia Yi dared not to disturb him. He just stood on the spot. Dead silence spreaded in the air. ¡°Honourable immortal leader. Do you know that the whole Qi Shan Sect is out there looking for you?¡± After a long while, Xia Yi broke the silence with his lowered voice carefully since he saw CangYi was still dazed. Receiving no response, Xia Yi, after observing no unpleasance from CangYi, said cautiously, ¡°It is not so peaceful around Qi Shan recently, the head of TianXuan and a lot of other apprentices have been kidnapped by the fallen devils. The sect has been trying to get them back but the results have been unsuccessful.¡± After telling him everything, Xia Yi found that CangYi still looked distanced with his hands behind him, as if those apprentices of his had nothing to do with him. He was grumbling in his mind, your sect has been loyally searching for you for twenty years. But you are cooping up at the back of the mountain and do not even care about them. No wonder that Ze Yuan had to leave you. This old man is really bad. After a long while, CangYi opened his mouth and said casually, ¡°Has Yue been kidnapped by the fallen devils?¡± Yue? Where is this person from? It was Wang Lan, now it is Yue. Who knows who these people are. ¡°Yue is the head of TianXuan of Qi Shan Sect.¡± As if he could read Xia Yi¡¯s mind, CangYi gave him a glance, ¡°TianXuan¡¯s name is Zhu Yue.¡± His eyes were shivering cold. When those eyes looked at Xia Yi, he could not help but quiver due to the chill as if he had been touched by something chilly and solid. Cheng Ming, Meng Wan Zi and Liu SiQian are not young anymore, the head of TianXuan, as an elder apprentice, should be even older. These old men are mentioned by CangYi as Mingie or Yue. This man only seems as young as Zhu but must have lived for many years already. ¡°Yes, he has been kidnapped for a few days.¡± Xia Yi politely answered. CangYi nodded, ¡°Yue is at the mahayana phase and still has been kidnapped by the fallen devils. The fallen devils must have grown much of their strength discreetly while I was away.¡± ¡°Alright, you can go back now. Although you have mistakenly entered the boundaries set by me, this can mean that we are connected in some ways.¡± CangYi cut off Xia Yi¡¯s thinking, and said after considering shortly, ¡°I will go and rescue those apprentices of the sect who have been kidnapped.¡± ¡°Okay, okay, go back.¡± Xia Yi was still thinking about that sentence of CangYi mentioning them being connected in some ways, and answered absent-mindedly. He did not even pay attention to the ground and turned to step away. And so he stepped onto nothing, and fell off the cliff. ¡°Ah!¡± Having fallen for two to three seconds, Xia Yi finally realised what had happened with his screams bursted out. Xia Yi¡¯s mind was totally blank at this stage, both of his arms were swinging and grabbing at the air. I am dead I am dead! Mom! Zhu! He heard the wind howling beside his ears. Just when he thought hopelessly that he would keep falling until he smashed onto the ground and became several pieces, a shadow with long swaying sleeves appeared by his side standing on a flying sword. Xia Yi felt a pair of arms supporting his back firmly. He kept falling for two more seconds and stopped. My God! ¡°Do you not know how to use magical items?¡± CangYi carried him, flying upwards, and asked calmly at the same time, ¡°How do you fly normally?¡± Two drops of ice-cold tears slid their way down from the ends of Xia Yi¡¯s eyes slowly. His lips were trembling, his teeth were clattering. He could not speak a word. Witnessing him like this, CangYi asked no more. He directly speeded up to rise, then they reached his place after flying up and down. ¡°How did you get to this cliff if you do not know the way to fly?¡± CangYi tried to let go of Xia Yi, but Xia Yi¡¯s legs were wobbling like noodles. He tried to put him down a few times without success. At the end, the least that he could do was to place him beside one of the trees and let him lean onto the tree. Xia Yi took a few deep breaths and calmed his crazily racing heart down. However, his voice was still helplessly trembling, ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is a cliff, I was only trying to go to a pavilion at the halfway point of the mountain.¡± This god damned cultivation world. Is this some kind of murderous dimensional magical circle? I entered and everything was fine, but it turns into a steep deep cliff once I go out. ¡°I see you didn¡¯t even go near my boundaries and you entered anyway.¡± CangYi talked to himself. ¡°Right, I¡­¡± Xia Yi was intending to ask if there were some weird magical circle or something in the mountain, making people circling around headlessly as if they were charmed and arriving somewhere just by a few steps. Nevertheless, he was stunned and could not speak of anything. CangYi was tilting his head. Xia Yi was at the angle to clearly see behind his ear. It was the same as Gu Wen Zhu. They both have a light blue tear-shaped mark the size of a thumb! The location and the shape are exactly the same! Xia Yi¡¯s heart was cooling down. Blood rushed to his head. He felt as if his body was on fire and had fallen into an ice hole at the same time. If two persons looked the same, then it was due to the fact that there were two similar leaves in the world. But, if two leaves which were hundreds and thousands of miles away from each other looked the same and had been bitten by bugs at the same spot the same way, how should one interpret this? CangYi, is Gu Wen Zhu. He can use magic in the cultivation world, and therefore has changed some of his features. If this is not true, how can this blue tear-shaped mark be explained? Xia Yi had been shocked by this conclusion and felt chilly at the back of his head, he could not hear any sounds from the world and only heard a dizzling ringing in the ears. Is Gu Wen Zhu deceiving him all along? Liu SiQian said that the leader has been travelling around the world for over twenty years and in fact he has been in another world for all these years. But why would he pretend that he did not know me? With such good acting? Those eyes of a stranger, cold words, the best actor is nothing but this. And what are that Wang Lan and that Ze Yuan all about? Xia Yi felt a soreness in his nose. Am I the third person in a relationship without noticing? CangYi, no, Gu Wen Zhu, you love rat liar scum. Without knowing the chaos that was continuing in Xia Yi¡¯s mind, CangYi had been turned from the honourable immortal leader to Gu Wen Zhu the scum. He turned to stare at Xia Yi and asked with hesitation, ¡°Have you not seen Ze Yuan ever since?¡± Go on! Keep pretending! You think that I don¡¯t know your two-faced trick? You are pretending to be a travelling honourable immortal leader, but actually have been living in the other world, and you even deceive an innocent young man like me. ¡°You really have not been receiving news from Ze Yuan?¡± CangYi did not see the weirdness on Xia Yi¡¯s face. His voice rang with a coldness, trying to confirm if Xia Yi really did not know the guy. Yuan my ass! ¡°Gu Wen Zhu, I f**k all your ancestors!¡± Xia Yi yelled with red eyes and a punch following. He swung his fist with all his strength and hit that shocking face in front of him. Xia Yi wanted to add a kick but found that the air surrounding him thickened as if it was solid, and everything began to float and spin. Screw this. I am transmigrating again at key moments. Looking at the clueless Ciang Yi trying to say something, he could not hear a thing, and that face was becoming blurry and hard to see. With everything spinning around him, Xia Yi flipped the bird half way with all his efforts towards CangYi and closed his eyes. CH 37 A while later, the sound of the wind blowing on the cliff had stopped howling beside his ears. In replacement, only calm breathing and slight snoring could be heard. Nice, Gu Wen Zhu, you are back with me. Your acting skills are profound, you still know to pretend to be sleeping and snore, you are really careful about it to not expose your true self. If we are in my home world, you can be the best male actor. Xia Yi opened his eyes and looked at the man beside him with a serious expression. From the window, a thin layer of moonlight fell on top of one side of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s nose was straight, creating an area of shadow on his own face. His clearly separated eyelashes were gently lying beneath his eyelids with his eyes closed. At this instant, Xia Yi suddenly recalled a lot of things in his mind. When he first arrived in this world, he was careful and tried to get used to all the things around him. At that time, Gu Wen Zhu had been cold to him but was actually taking care of him discreetly. He carried him to climb the mountain to catch fish. He wiped away his tears with his gentle hand. His shoulder was wide and firm. His eyes were focused and pure¡­ So all these were his acting? He looked as if he was having a dream with a calm expression, he had one hand on Xia Yi¡¯s waist and his head was leaning on Xia Yi¡¯s neck. Since his hair ribbon had been loosened, a few strands of hair slid down Xia Yi¡¯s neck and intertwined with Xia Yi¡¯s hair. His tall body slightly curled, as if he wanted to be with Xia Yi in his dreams. Xia Yi closed his eyes shortly, remembering him mentioning Wang Lan and Ze Yuan, making his heart painful and breathing rapidly. Liar. This is a lie. This is a big lie. He grinded his teeth and kicked heavily towards the person on his side, shouting fiercely, ¡°Gu Wen Zhu! Stop pretending! Get up!¡± The slight snoring had stopped. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes opened. He was stupefied. He looked at himself to find that he was already at the edge of the bed and nearly fell. Still drowsy, he massaged his leg which was in pain due to the kick. He looked at Xia Yi in confusion, ¡°Yi. What¡¯s happening?¡± His voice was still sleepy and husky. Seeing Xia Yi staring at him without a word, he stretched to pull him into his arms, ¡°Did you have a bad dream? Afraid not. We will hug and sleep.¡± ¡°Cut it out.¡± Veins were popping out from Xia Yi¡¯s forehead. He slapped off his approaching hand, lowered his voice and said angrily, ¡°Spill. Who is Ze Yuan? Who is Wang Lan?¡± Gu Wen Zhu sat up with a stupefied face, ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Stop doing this. You are still trying to fool me.¡± A bitter feeling rose inside him, jealousy ran red-hot through him, Xua Yu thus pounced onto Gu Wen Zhu to push his head back onto the pillow and grabbed the collar of his inner clothing. ¡°Host, what¡¯s going on?¡± 179¡¯s nervous voice rang, ¡°I was almost transmigrating with you. But at the end something went wrong with a small program and I got blocked at this side. But I should be able to go with you next time.¡± ¡°Gu Wen Zhu, he, he is Ciang Yi. He had been lying to me.¡± Upon hearing System¡¯s voice, Xia Yi felt as if he saw his BFF and almost cried, ¡°He has a lover in the past at the other side named Ze Yuan, or someone called Wang Lan. That Ze Yuan has some conflicts with him, it could be because he is such a womanizer, he had a lot of lovers outside, and so he left him.¡± In a short period of time, Xia Yi had already figured out a whole storyline with realistic and specific details. ¡°I only know that just now, I am his mistress. No, I might be his third mistress or fourth mistress.¡± Xia Yi was feeling sad. 179 was stunned, he said again after a moment of silence, ¡°This sounds far more cliche than the soap operas. Host, are you sure that Gu Wen Zhu is Ciang Yi?¡± ¡°I am sure of it. Not only do they look alike, they have the same birthmark behind their ears. Aren¡¯t the cultivators able to change their appearances?¡± ¡°Em¡­¡± 179 could not say a word. Gu Wen Zhu was now fully awake. Looking at Xia Yi¡¯s hand grabbing his collar, he looked up at him with a confused expression, ¡°Yi. What¡¯s going on? Let go of me first and let me sit up.¡± Xia Yi stared at Gu Wen Zhu fiercely for a while, then he let go. Gu Wen Zhu got out of the bed and lit the oil lamp, then he went to the cabinet to fetch Xia Yi an outer. He tried to put it on Xia Yi but Xia Yi pulled it off and threw it away. Gu Wen Zhu sighed. He picked up the outer to put it on Xia Yi again, ¡°It¡¯s cold in the night. Be careful and don¡¯t get sick. No matter what happens, do not make your health pay for it.¡± Xia Yi stopped pulling off the clothes and he turned his head stubbornly, not looking at Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°Alright, tell me what really happened.¡± Gu Wen Zhu pulled a chair and sat before the bed, focusing on Xia Yi, his eyes dark and deep. ¡°Do you still need me to go through it with you? Don¡¯t you know it better than me? Now you still want to deceive me.¡± The moment Xia Yi began to talk, tears welled up, making his eyes felt hot and his nose felt soar. He immediately stopped talking and looked outside of the window with reddened eyes. It was pitch black outside. A piece of red paper cut in the shape of a Chinese word to celebrate their wedding had been stuck on the window and glittered slightly under the light. The night before, Gu Wen Zhu was with him. Two of them cut paper for around two hours. After practising and producing plenty of rubbish, they finally had some more presentable outcome. Xia Yi felt pain in his chest again, then he turned to look at his right. There was a small cabinet on the right side of the room. It was made by Gu Wen Zhu, just like the bed he was in. He said that this cabinet was for Xia Yi to store his underwear, like a small closet. Although the design of the cabinet looked simple, every corner of the cabinet had been polished with great care. The glossed surface of the cabinet was reflecting a layer of soft and clean light. Xia Yi felt bad again. Is this the situation where the bridal chamber was newly ready and the couple got all the papers from the bureau of civil administration on the first day, then the couple went to wait outside the office on the next day to divorce? A lump came into his throat. He wanted to cry badly and his vision was blurred. He could not show his weakness at this point. Xia Yi hurriedly lowered his head to look at his fingers, not looking at anything that would recall his memories with Gu Wen Zhu. He was confused deep down. Suddenly, he thought, did he really know Gu Wen Zhu? And did Gu Wen Zhu really¡­ love him? ¡°Yi, you have to tell me no matter what happened, or else I can¡¯t understand.¡± Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi¡¯s look, realising the severity of the problem, he frowned and pulled his lips inwards. It was dead silent in the room. Xia Yi was not talking. Only the sound of the candle on the table flickering could be heard. Gu Wen Zhu did not force him to talk, he just waited in silence with a serious expression. ¡°I transmigrated to the cultivation world just now.¡± Xia Yi said softly, then he watched the candlelight, the ends of his lips pointing downwards. The muscles between Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s brows quiver slightly. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s tight fist had relaxed a little. ¡°You were there too. And you pretended to not know me.¡± He sounded like he had been wronged. The muscles on the side of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s forehead began to contract, he used his fingers to press on the spot and started massaging. ¡°I knew it was you. I saw your birthmark behind your ear when you rescued me riding a sword from the cliff.¡± Xia Yi tightened his fist with the sounds of his knuckles cracking. Gu Wen Zhu took a few deep breaths, telling himself to stay calm. After a while, Xia Yi made a decision, ¡°I will let you explain, but your explanations better be believable.¡± ¡°Yi. That dream was not real.¡± Gu Wen Zhu sighed. He stretched out to pat Xia Yi¡¯s head and was rejected by him. ¡°How about this? Let¡¯s visit the doctor tomorrow, not because of sickness, just to let him give you some medicine to keep calm. Alright? I heard that people could get stressed before marrying.¡± ¡°That was not a dream. I am not stressed. Those are all real.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°You are trying to deny the cultivation world in order to cover up the fact that you are cheating on me.¡± ¡°Yi. I was sleeping. Dream or not. That person you met was not me.¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s look became stern, ¡°Do you not believe me?¡± His eyes were in the darkest black. When a person looked into them, they showed pureness and honesty. He looked truthful. Xia Yi opened his mouth but failed to speak. ¡°Why do you think that was me?¡± Gu Wen Zhu gently picked up Xia Yi¡¯s hand to hold it, ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°You look alike. Even the birthmarks are the same.¡± Xia Yi tried to swing off his hand, but the hold was tight. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s warm hand enveloped his hand, making him quiver deep down thus stopping struggling. ¡°Then bring me with you next time when you transmigrate. Okay? Then you will know it was not me.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said after a while of thinking with his head tilted, his voice soft and gentle. I still need to find the doctor for some good stress relieving medicine. ¡°Really? Is that really not you?¡± Xia Yi looked at Gu Wen Zhu and said in hesitation. His eyes started to show a light of hope that he did not even realise he had. Gu Wen Zhu felt pain in his chest. ¡°Really. It wasn¡¯t me.¡± Gu Wen Zhu stood up and sat on the bed, with his hand patting Xia Yi¡¯s head. Xia Yi said nothing, meeting Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes. He began to feel that he lacked evidence under his honest stare. Finally, he looked away, saying in panic, ¡°I will believe you for now.¡± ¡°Host. Didn¡¯t you say that you were sure that he was Ciang Yi? Gu Wen Zhu only said a few vague words with no proof at all. You choose to forgive him just for that?¡± 179 questioned. ¡°I know him better than you. I was too angry at first, so I didn¡¯t think it through. Come to think about it, I might have been too rushed. Zhu is not that kind of guy.¡± Xia Yi explained to 179. ¡°Understood. You are that type of person that went crying and told your BFF about your husband cheating, your BFF was on the same side with you and came up with solutions with you, then you just got fooled again by your husband after everything and blamed your BFF in return.¡± 179 said in anger. Xia Yi lowered his head to scratch his fingers. ¡°179. I was too rushed concerning this, but something like transmigration happened to me, and I even have you in my head, so maybe that two persons having the same birthmark could be possible as well. Am I right?¡± Xia Yi gently soothe System, as if he was soothing himself. ¡°Next time when I transmigrate, I will try to confirm this. Also, did you not say that you could come with me next time?¡± ¡°Correct. There was a slight problem with a tiny little program, or else I would have been there with you.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s have this sort out together when we transmigrate next time. Okay?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± 179 answered unwillingly. CH 38 After the episode, the two of them were closer than ever. Gu Wen Zhu treasured Xia Yi even more because he thought he was too nervous for the wedding, making him unable to distinguish between dreams and reality. He thought it could be due to the insecurity in his heart, therefore Gu Wen Zhu was more gentle, meticulous and considerate towards Xia Yi. Xia Yi self-reflected after the episode, he realised that he still believed that Zhu would not do something like that. Hence, he put everything behind and started to prepare for the wedding wholeheartedly. The two seemed like they were having an early honeymoon. Gu Wen Zhu was now a well trained woodsmith and tailor. Not only had he made a set of furniture in less than a month, he used the spare time at night to also make a set of coats for him and Xia Yi for the wedding. They did not have much money. Therefore they planned to wear some plain clothes instead of wearing all red. Although Gu Wen Zhu thought that Xia Yi looked good with purple on him, Xia Yi insisted on objecting to the idea and to pick the fabric for the clothes, one in navy blue and one in sea blue. Counting down, there were only a few days left before the wedding. The weather was nice these days. With a basket of melon seeds, dry fruits and sweets, Gu Wen Zhu brought Xia Yi to every door to invite people to their wedding. Gu Wen Zhu grabbed a handful for every house, after explaining why they came, the two would go to another house with the blessings of the owner of the house. They arrived at the old house without noticing. Seeing the old house, Gu Wen Zhu felt rage. Last time Xia Yi¡¯s episode in the middle of the night must have been caused by these Fang Xian Dao people, Meng Wan Zi and Qi Zhou. He did not know what these two had been telling Xia Yi to make him have a growing belief in lies such as the cultivation world. During this period of time, Xia Yi was under Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s close watch. Every time he saw him going to the old house, Gu Wen Zhu would follow him closely. Whenever Xia Yi was having a conversation with Meng Wan Zi and Qi Zhou, Gu Wen Zhu would stand behind with a gloomy face with eyes so cold as if beams were coming out to freeze them into two ice rods. Those two sensed the hostility from Gu Wen Zhu but had a hard time figuring out what was wrong. The only thing they could do was to reduce their presence, not to take the initiative to see Xia Yi, not to run around in front of Gu Wen Zhu. They would say the least to quickly make Xia Yi go back when he came to find them. Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi stopped in front of the old house, causing him to look displeased. It would not be possible to avoid having the two Fang Xian Dao believers, Meng Wan Zi and Qi Zhou, on his wedding day, bad luck. ¡°Go go go, let¡¯s invite old Meng.¡± Xia Yi merrily went to knock on the door. He got married in this world, without one of his family and friends by his side. Meng Wan Zi could be considered as an elder in the sect, so he had to invite him and Qi Zhou. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± A low voice echoed from behind the door. It did not sound like Meng Wan Zi or Qi Zhou, but it did sound like Er Niu in the village. Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu looked at each other, then knocked again, ¡°Is old Meng here? I am Xia Yi.¡± ¡°Oh, Yi.¡± With footfalls approaching, the front door had been pulled open. A tall and huge young man stood at the door. It was Er Niu. Er Niu held the door knob, smiling at them earnestly, showing his white teeth, ¡°Wen Zhu, Yi, come in and have a seat. Old Meng was out to pick up cow feces. He is not home.¡± Xia Yi was stunned. He said in hesitation after a while, ¡°Old Meng went to pick up cow feces?¡± ¡°Yeah. Mr. Wang came here to fetch him everyday. The two of them then go to pick up cow feces together to fertilize the farmland.¡± Gu Wen Zhu listened to them with a long face, not saying one word. This Fang Xian Dao aZ getting more and more aggressive these days, not only have they set up a branch at the old house, they have even involved Er Niu and Mr. Wang with them. Er Niu suddenly came to realize that he was blocking the entrance, so he hurriedly stepped back to make room. He enthusiastically greeted them, ¡°Come in. Come in to have a seat.¡± He looked as if he was half an owner of the house. Having been decorated by him, this yard had become quite a place. The bamboo on the fence had been cleaned thoroughly, let alone the flagstones on the floor, they were so clean and polished that they could be used as a mirror. There was a nice-looking rockery at the corner of the yard. A big tank was beside it, with a few green and sweet lotus on top of the water. ¡°Come. Drink some tea.¡± Er Niu took out two bowls of water warmly to give them to Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu. Xia Yi took it and looked. There were some unknown plants floating in the water. ¡°It¡¯s Gan Huang.¡± Er Niu explained, ¡°Zhou said that the tea in the village did not taste good. He will not even drink the tea I bought from the city. So I picked some Gan Huang to dry them under the sun, making them into tea leaves. He said it tasted refreshing.¡± Refined. ¡°Gu Bei Cheng. Who¡¯s here?¡± With a sluggish voice, Qi Zhou walked out from the room. He was yawning with his hand covering his mouth on his way. He must have just awakened. ¡°It¡¯s Yi and Wen Zhu. They are getting married. They came to invite you and old Meng to the wedding.¡± Er Niu quickly explained to Qi Zhou with a smiley face. ¡°The two of you? Getting married?¡± Qi Zhou slowly widened his eyes with disbelief. ¡°Aren¡¯t the two of you mal, male?¡± ¡°What about it? Are you saying a man cannot marry another man?¡± Xia Yi¡¯s expression became gloomy due to his annoyance with his response. Qi Zhou froze on the spot and could not say a word, obviously shocked from his body to soul. ¡°Gu Bei Cheng. Do two guys marry each other around here?¡± After Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu left, Qi Zhou turned to Er Niu with an emotionless face. ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± ErNou smiled earnestly. ¡°Oh, then it¡¯s fine.¡± Qi Zhou turned to go to the bathroom, ¡°But the men in your village are weird. They have makeup on though they are men.¡± Morals are declining these days. When he arrived at the door of the bathroom, he turned to order Er Niu, ¡°Come in to serve me in bath.¡± ¡°Yes, I am coming.¡± In the following days, a few women from the village had come to help with two gers among them. They cooked meat, steamed buns and killed chicken with Xia Yi, busy. On the other hand, Gu Wen Zhu followed old Zhang on his carriage to the city everyday to buy necessities for the wedding. After a long day being busy, Xia Yi remembered the lettuce he had not been caring for for a few days and he decided to go see them. Just when he exited the entrance of the village, he saw Meng Wan Zi and Mr. Wang. One of them had a bowl in his hand, with a smoking pipe in his other hand, crouching in the ridge, chatting, laughing. Seeing Xia Yi, Meng Wan Zi knocked the sole of his shoe with the pipe and inserted it in the linen belt. He put both hands inside his big cotton sleeves and greeted Xia Yi with a broad smile, ¡°Xia, how are you doing?¡± Xia Yi: ¡­ In the twinkling of an eye, it was the day of the wedding. Xia Yi had been awakened by Gu Wen Zhu before dawn. He closed his eyes and waved away the annoying hand which was softly pinching his face. He buried himself in the blanket, only leaving a few strands of hair on the pillow. The blanket had been slowly lifted, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s voice, with a hint of laughter, rang beside his ears, ¡°Time to get up. Husband.¡± Hearing the word ¡®husband,¡¯ half of the sleepiness of Xia Yi vanished, he chuckled in the blanket with his eyes closed and his lips pulled inwards. ¡°Husband. This is the day of our wedding. It¡¯s time for you to get up to marry me.¡± Gu Wen Zhu extended a finger to scratch that pink fat earlobe of Xia Yi. Xia Yi could not hold off anymore, he opened his eyes and turned. Gu Wen Zhu was standing beside the bed happily with his navy blue long gown, wearing a brooch made of schlumbergera and asparagus setaceus leaf on the right of his chest. His black hair had been tied up neatly. He was tall and elegant, handsome and extraordinary. Xia Yi abruptly lost all his sleepiness. He laughed goofily towards Gu Wen Zhu and stretched out his arm, demanding a hug, ¡°My wife, you look great today.¡± Gu Wen Zhu lifted the end of his lips. He used his arms to hold Xia Yi and took him out from the blanket. A coolness from the morning wind came with that hug, making Xia Yi quiver uncontrollably. In view of this, Gu Wen Zhu hurriedly put the new clothes which were placed beside the bed on Xia Yi, ¡°Get up. Lady Li and the others are already here.¡± ¡°Okay. Then I will go help.¡± Xia Yi slid his arms into the sleeves while he was talking, and he started to wear his clothes under the blanket. Gu Wen Zhu was about to say that this was not appropriate. On the day a ger or a girl get married, they should stay in the bridal chamber. But since Xia Yi looked excited, Gu Wen Zhu closed his mouth right before he spoke. Yi did not want to marry in the first place. Let¡¯s not bind him with all these restrictions. Just let him be. To match with Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s navy blue clothes, Xia Yi wore sea blue clothes and had a brooch just like Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s. He picked the two schlumbergeras (also known as Christmas Cacti) which were about to blossom from Qi Zhou¡¯s yard last night, making Qi Zhou¡¯s face twitch with reluctance. After a night in a bowl of water, the crimson red petals of the flowers opened up with a few sparkling water drops on it. The flower made Xia Yi¡¯s skin look as fair as the snow and his face as beautiful as one would find in a painting. The two of them looked at each other and laughed. With the atmosphere in the room becoming lovey dovey again, Gu Wen Zhu gave Xia Yi a kiss on the forehead, ¡°Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s time.¡± The sun had risen to its highest point. More and more guests gathered in the yard with time proceeding. Whenever there was a wedding in the village, no one went to farm on that day. Everyone from the village squeezed themselves into the small yard of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s, eating melon seeds and chatting happily. When it was about time, the ceremony began. During the ceremony, due to the fact that the grooms¡¯ parents were not alive, Meng Wan Zi and Mr. Wang sat at the corresponding places as elders of the family. The wedding couple bowed before them and served them tea. Once the ceremony was over, the sounds of crackers rang from the yard. Gu Wen Zhu quickly covered Xia Yi¡¯s ears. 179 also played the wedding march at the right time in his mind, yelling blessings out such as ¡°Happy wedding,¡± and, ¡°Have a child soon,¡± in excitement. Xia Yi laid his hand on the back of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand. He narrowed his eyes to look outside. The confetti was falling in the air as if it was raining flowers. While no one noticed, Xia Yi used his sleeve to wipe his eyes. Dad, mom, I am married. I have someone by my side. You do not have to worry about me anymore. All of a sudden, a warm breath reached his ear. Gu Wen Zhu leaned closer to talk to him quickly. The crackers were too loud. He could not hear it clearly. He turned to look at Gu Wen Zhu in confusion. Gu Wen Zhu looked at him with sparkling eyes and repeated. Xia Yi could see the shape of his lips clearly this time, he was saying, ¡°I love you.¡± CH 39 As the exploding sounds of the crackers ended and the smoke faded away, Mr. Wang gave the couple one red pocket for each with a smiley face. In a manly manner, Meng Wan Zi pulled out two shriveled onions and gave them. ¡°Here.¡± Under these kinds of circumstances, with everyone watching, this guy pulled out two shriveled onions which had been dried out for an immense period of time with no moisture left in them. He gave those to them with confidence, as if he was being generous like a millionaire, giving them a few seaside villas. The view of this scene was shocking. However, presents from the elders should not be rejected. Xia Yi was stunned for an instant, but he and Gu Wen Zhu still accepted the two onions with proper manners. They were afraid that people may see the items and move quickly. When they turned around and looked at all the tables of guests, Xia Yi saw Qi Zhou straightly staring at his hand which was holding the onion tightly with a little bit of onion skin revealed. What is that? He looks so envious of them. Tut tut tut, do you want it? I can give you both. You can take them and fry them with some meat. The food was served one after another with eight tables. All sorts of food were being served. Mr. Wang and Meng Wan Zi were sitting at the top table. With a long face, Qi Zhou, seeing all the villagers sitting around, looked disgusted and sat next to Meng Wan Zi. Behind him was Er Niu. He pulled out a clean towel to scrub the table back and forth, then he pulled out a package wrapped with cloth. After layers of cloth were lifted, he put a white and shiny porcelain bowl in front of Qi Zhou. He had become skillful at doing this. Qi Zhou only had a few bites and quickly put down the bowl and the chopsticks. In view of this, Er Niu gulped down the rice in his bowl as fast as he could. He took the empty bowl from Qi Zhou and washed it carefully in the kitchen alone. After that, he took a handkerchief to rub the bowl three times, then used the cloth to pack it to carry it with immense care. When he was outside the kitchen, he saw Qi Zhou had already stood under a tree in the corner of the yard. Therefore, he approached him and stood beside him. He slightly turned sideways to help block the villagers from nearing Qi Zhou. Qi Zhou used his hand to cover his mouth and said beside Er Niu¡¯s ear with lowered voice discreetly, ¡°I see people around here are used to two men getting married.¡± A thought hit him, making him glanced at Er Niu and said, alert, ¡°Gu BeiCheng. You would not want to marry a man, would you?¡± There is something weird with Gu BeiCheng. Especially after he discovered that men can marry each other in this place. Qi Zhou somehow felt that there was something wrong with this guy. He always stared straight at him and dozed off with glowing eyes. Just like a starved wolf. Terrifying. He also acted awkwardly on the day he told him to serve him in the bath. He panted constantly and had run outside three times in a short period of time. In one of those times when he came back, he had cloth stuffed in his nose. He asked him about it then he told him he was nosebleeding because of the dry weather. Qi Zhou¡¯s warm breath touched Er Niu¡¯s neck, with those cold peach eyes side eyeing him, Er Niu felt numb with half of his body and as if his soul had flown to the heavens far away. ¡°I am asking you a question. Why are you dazed?¡± Qi Zhou frowned with discontent. Er Niu thus came back to his senses and answered hurriedly, ¡°No no no, I don¡¯t marry men.¡± I only marry gers. After saying so, he smiled at Qi Zhou earnestly, showing his clean and white teeth, looking trustworthy. Qi Zhou was satisfied with Er Niu¡¯s answer. He nodded and stepped back. Then he suddenly thought of something and observed ErNou from head to toe. Er Niu became stiff when he noticed Qi Zhou observing him. I haven¡¯t said something wrong, right? Did he notice something? He nervously straightened his clothes. He used his hands to rub his face and looked at the back of his hand. No dust was found. Qi Zhou turned away, not looking at him, thinking that this Gu BeiCheng was quite good-looking when he looked at him carefully. Any feast in the village would take one whole day. After putting down their bowls in the afternoon, everyone seated themselves around the tables again right after sunset. Li Zhu and the other young men surrounded Gu Wen Zhu to get him down with liquor. Gu Wen Zhu was not declining anyone on this day. He happily downed all the liquor, making Xia Yi worried. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face turning red and him dazed but still drinking bowl after bowl of liquor, Xia Yi could not hold off any longer. He went up to take the bowl from his hand and spoke to all the villagers, ¡°Chen, let me have this one in place of Wen Zhu. You know that he is not so well recently. I am afraid that he would drink too much and hurt his health.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was a little drunk, his face was red and his eyes looked dizzy. He showed an unhappy face when Xia Yi mentioned that he was not well. He opened his mouth to talk in a manner unlike his usual calming and staid self, ¡°How am I unwell? Do you not know how well I am at night?¡± Xia Yi panicked and covered his mouth forcefully with his hands, not letting him speak, and downed the bowl of liquor with his other hand. After drinking the liquor, he immediately explained to Chen. He has drunk too much. Too much. Chen chuckled with a meaningful look, ¡°No problem, no problem. Understood, understood.¡± It was lucky that the alcohol by volume was not that high. It was like rice wine in his home world. With Xia Yi¡¯s capacity of a few cans of beer, drinking this one bowl would not cause a problem. Gu Wen Zhu made some noise with his mouth being covered. He still wanted to talk, but closed his mouth unwillingly after being stared at by Xia Yi¡¯s fierce eyes. Then he licked the hand that was covering his mouth. Xia Yi was talking to Chen, feeling warmth and wetness in his palm, his body stiffened and turned his head slowly with disbelief. Gu WenZhu turned to look at him and showed him a dizzy and dazzling smile. Due to the fact that his mouth had been covered, only his misty sparkling dark eyes could be seen. ¡°I fucking hate these drunkards messing around like this.¡± 179 sneered. ¡°He didn¡¯t mess around with you. There is nothing for you to hate.¡± Xia Yi talked back in an instant. After the feast, the villagers making the couples went into the bridal chamber, Xia Yi sent the drunk guests back, and went back into the chamber. Gu Wen Zhu was already back in the room with people supporting him. He silently lied in the bed with the new red brocade blanket covering him. Xia Yi took a bowl of hangover soup and steadily sat on the side of the bed. He saw Gu Wen Zhu sleeping deep with heavy breaths, and carefully put the bowl on top of the table at bedside. Then he leaned down, shadowing Gu Wen Zhu from above. With the pair of candlelights jumping and shining on them, he started to draw his silhouette bit by bit. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s cold and stern figure softened under the warm red light. The aroma of the alcohol was still lingering in his warm breath which was pouncing onto Xia Yi¡¯s neck. His eyelashes were long and pointing downwards, his eyelids were blocking those deep black eyes behind them. Xia Yi could not help but extend his fingers to touch those eyelashes. As soon as his fingers touched him, those closed eyes opened and stared at him merrily. Those eyes were clear as water, without looking a bit drunk. Xia Yi did not expect him to open his eyes and screamed out slightly because of the shock. Immediately after, his extended fingers had been held by Gu Wen Zhu. With his view flipping, Xia Yi had been pushed down face up with his head on the pillow. ¡°Good. You pretend to be sleeping.¡± Xia Yi laughed. ¡°Yes. I want to see what you would do.¡± Gu Wen Zhu smiled. He leaned to give Xia Yi a kiss on his dimple. Xia Yi was about to speak, but Kirin¡¯s paws scratched on their door, with its poor whining, interrupted them. They were busy preparing for the wedding these days and did not have the time to care for Kirin. It must have figured that their business was done and came to seek attention from its owners. Xia Yi pushed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s shoulder quickly, ¡°Go, let our son in. If we don¡¯t see him any longer, we are going to become strangers.¡± Gu Wen Zhu kept his leaning position with his hands beside both sides of Xia Yi¡¯s head to support him. He buried his face against Xia Yi¡¯s neck to sniff in, pretending not to hear his words. Kirin¡¯s scratching was becoming screeching sounds. Xia Yi tilted his head to bite Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s ear. He intentionally said fiercely, ¡°Go.¡± Gu Wen Zhu sighed. He turned to let himself fall on top of Xia Yi, closed his eyes to say resignedly, ¡°I am going to stew it someday.¡± Then he stood up, put his shoes on and opened the door. As the door opened, a figure swiftly pounced at him. Kirin licked his hand and whined, looking sad. Xia Yi sat up as well. He hugged Kirin and patted it regretfully, ¡°Sorry son. Your papa has to marry your mama, so we did not have time for you for these few days, making you wait in the cold.¡± Kirin¡¯s mom began to tidy up the clothes which had been placed messily on the chair. Upon hearing these words, the end of his lips curled up. Kirin was making some happy noise affectionately and used its head to rub Xia Yi¡¯s leg. Xia Yi then scratched its chin, making Kirin lie down comfortably with narrowed eyes. Gu Wen Zhu put the tidied clothes into the cabinet. He watched Xia Yi smiling, the warmth in his eyes almost overflew. Under the candlelight, Xia Yi¡¯s eyes were full of passion as if they contained all the feelings. Gu Wen Zhu stepped up to hold his face carefully. That face was small. He could easily hold it with his hands. He softly rubbed that delicate and smooth skin, making Xia Yi quivered. Kirin on the floor stopped his motion, raising its head to observe the two. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hands had been caught by Xia Yi with his head down. Xia Yi left him a couple of kisses in his palm. As if he had been touched by two little fish, and the fish tinkled him in his heart with their tails afterwards. Xia Yi looked up at Gu Wen Zhu, who was stupefied, making him smile with his dimple shown. He opened his mouth, intending to speak, but he suddenly felt that something was out of place. The air began to float and slowly formed a distorted waveform. F**k. Damn it! ¡­Could I not transmigrate on my wedding night? Could I not look like a man running away from his wedding, with his bride looking at him, and vanish just like that? He looked at Gu Wen Zhu, eyes wide open with fear in them, he tried to grab him, but was grabbing nothing expectedly. Kirin was barking with his life as well on the side. Xia Yi knew that he must look like some dispersing spots of light in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes at this moment. He used all his strength to shake his head towards Gu Wen Zhu. Xia Yi moved his lips without making a sound, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t panic.¡± Instantly, the world spinned. He had again been pulled into the swirl of time. CH 40 After the feeling of fainting had faded away, Xia Yi opened his eyes. The very first thing he did was to look at his feet. Good. He was not on some suspension bridge attached to a cliff. Looking around him, it looked real. It should not be some alternate dimensional killing magic circle. All around him were green forests, he was in the middle of everything, standing on a curly path on the mountain. Halfway up the mountain, there was a delicate ancient pavilion, which was quite far away. Hm? Isn¡¯t this place the enchanted area where he bumped into when he met Ciang Yi last time? Seemed like this system placed the character at the entrance of the dungeon when he logged back in after logging him out due to downloading dungeon data. Xia Yi walked a few steps according to his memories to this place to see if he could bumped into Ciang Yi¡¯s enchanted area again. He observed carefully. Nothing changed. The trees, the path, the pavilion, everything was still there. Nevermind. Just go back. This place is extremely peculiar. Xia Yi thought and turned around. As soon as he turned, he looked into a pair of golden eyes which looked like two pretty lanterns. In the middle of these lanterns, a pair of irises were staring at him without blinking. It was frightening. Goose bumps popped up on Xia Yi¡¯s body. He screamed and backed up immediately. When he saw the thing in front of him clearly, he gasped. Some kind of unknown monster was standing in front of him without noticing him in advance, and that monster was looking at him with a tilted head. That monster looked like a lion, but with a horn grown on its forehead. Its body was in the shape of a deer, but black hard shiny scales covered its body. Its feet were glowing slightly as if they were wearing four glowing shoes. Alien! This word popped up in Xia Yi¡¯s mind. Don¡¯t panic. Don¡¯t run. Don¡¯t show fear. Xia Yi held his breath. He pinched his thigh hard, freezing on the same spot. Do not meet its eyes to make it feel that you are provoking it. Xia Yi looked away calmly, as if he was looking at the grass on the side of the road. Now. It¡¯s time. Walk slowly. Right. Leave slowly. That monster was standing on the side downhill, hence, Xia Yi sluggishly followed the path up and walked towards the pavilion. It¡¯s over! That monster is following me! And it is keeping the same pace as his! Don¡¯t panic. Take a deep breath. Do not show fear. Xia Yi kept walking with a pace not too fast, not too slow. His palms had become all sweaty. All his senses were focusing on his ears. His ears were like two radars now, alerted, trying to figure out what was happening behind him. There were rustling sounds from the bushes on the left. That monster was scratching the bushes. There were some sharp creaking sounds from the right side. A glowing stone was there. That monster must be biting it, using it to grind its teeth. ¡°Crack.¡± It! Cracked! Xia Yi¡¯s heart trembled with this. His head was definitely not harder than that rock. He walked about a hundred meters in that way. That monster had been following him from all the way, sometimes moved to his left side and sometimes to his right. At the moment when Xia Yi exhaled in relief with some distance between them, it walked its bumpy way to catch up as soon as he saw him ahead. Suddenly, a rabbit with big round eyes jumped out from the bushes in front of them and looked at Xia Yi with curiosity. ¡°Go, go.¡± Xia Yi made soft sounds and tried to drive it away without being noticed. That rabbit obviously did not understand Xia Yi¡¯s hints. It must not have experienced being driven away by people before, thus it had no fear and even jumped this way for a couple of steps. The monster behind him obviously noticed the rabbit as well. It ran around for a bit with interest and growled like thunder all of a sudden. Xia Yi was already stiffened and highly tense. He could not hold off anymore after hearing that growl, he screamed and dashed forward. He had not run this fast for his whole life before, plus he was at his foundation phase, so he jumped over whenever there was a pit, and crossed whenever there was a stream. The wind was blowing beside his ears. He had unbelievably arrived at the pavilion at the halfway point of the mountain with a few breaths. Just when he stopped to evaluate the situation and see if that monster was still following, he heard the sound of four paws dashing. So it had been keeping a distance of a few meters from him from the start. I am dead! Xia Yi gathered his strength again to move his trembling legs and prepared to run to the top of the mountain. Out of the blue, a breeze of cold wind reached him from behind. Xia Yi screamed in fear and was instantly pinned down by that monster onto the grassland. After pouncing onto Xia Yi, despite Xia Yi¡¯s struggle, that monster used its paws to turn him over and pinned him down. Those straight irises in those golden eyes had become round in shape with a hint of excitement from nowhere and an opened big mouth. Xia Yi could not catch his breath. There were buzzing sounds ringing in his ears. He only had one thought. I am dying I am dying. I am going to be eaten by aliens. Seeing those white sharp teeth closing in, Xia Yi could not move an inch on the ground under its paws. He had given up. He stopped struggling directly and turned to face one side, ¡°Zhu, I will see you in the next life.¡± The expected pain never hit him. He was licked by something wet instead. Xia Yi quivered due to the shock. Then, it licked again. And it licked his face like crazy. Xia Yi was both scared and shocked. He opened his eyes slightly to see that monster licking him and wiggling its heavy tail, making affectionate sounds. Although those growls were low like thunder, Xia Yi could hear the affectionate nature of it somehow. It was like Kirin from home. It saw Xia Yi open his eyes to look at it, therefore it stopped licking, stepped back and sat down, panting. Are you sure this is not a dog? ¡°Ding ding.¡± That monster shook its head and made a light sound. He thought he heard that too while he was running just now, but Xia Yi did not have the time to think about it. Now when he looked towards the source of the sound, he saw a copper bell on the monster¡¯s neck. Looked closely, right, it was a copper bell. Copper, black leather rope. Isn¡¯t this the one he bought for Kirin when he was making the rings in the nearby village? Viewing the monster chasing a rabbit along the road, a guessed statement slowly came up in Xia Yi¡¯s mind. So he opened his mouth to speak, with hesitation, ¡°Kirin?¡± As soon as his words were out, he saw that running monster halted its steps and turned to look at him. Then it walked towards him and rubbed his body with its head affectionately. It was just that the horn on its forehead had pushed Xia Yi over. Xia Yi watched the monster panicking, then he pointed at the broom in the pavilion nearby, ¡°Fetch me that broom.¡± It swiftly moved that way just like a black lightning, then it picked up the broom with its mouth and walked back slightly running. Right. This is my son. ¡°My dear Kirin. How do you become like this?!¡± Xia Yi hugged Kirin, kissing and patting it. He still felt bad for it, ¡°Son. How did you become an alien? It is all 179 and the other useless systems¡¯ fault. They made you become like this.¡± Xia Yi kissed Kirin¡¯s curled horn, ¡°But papa will always love you.¡± ¡°Why are you blaming me? I am not the technical system. I am only the mission announcing system of yours.¡± 179¡¯s discontented voice rang. ¡°179! You are here too!¡± Xia Yi was astonished. ¡°I have been here all along.¡± Xia Yi thought for a while and his expression turned gloomy, ¡°So you have been here all along, you watched me being frightened by Kirin like that, and you were not voicing out?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to know that you were scared by it? I thought you were playing with it.¡± 179 felt wronged, ¡°Are you not able to tell that it is Kirin?¡± ¡°It looked like a totally different type of creature now. How am I supposed to recognise it?¡± Xia Yi felt the blame was invalid, ¡°Look at it. Did it look a bit like before?¡± ¡°Is there any difference? Didn¡¯t it look the same?¡± 179 spoke with confidence. CH 41 ¡°Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s get off the mountain.¡± Xia Yi had 179 and Kirin with him this time around, making him feel relaxed as well as his steps grew lighter and faster. But something got onto his mind right away. ¡°179, Zhu watched me and Kirin vanished. Would he freak out?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t notice. I was transmigrating with you.¡± ¡°I hope he will not be too worried and just wait for me to be back. It is just that I don¡¯t know how long I will stay here.¡± As soon as he arrived at the Wang Zhu Yard, the knocking sounds on the front door rang, ¡°Xia, Xia, are you there?¡± Xia Yi quickly called Kirin who was scratching the bamboo in the yard, ¡°Son, I am going to open the door. You should hide behind the bamboo and not come out to avoid being seen as a monster by others. ¡± Kirin blinked innocently. It walked behind the bamboo as instructed and crouched, unmoved. From the viewpoint of Xia Yi, only a horn could be seen sticking out. This kid was so obedient that it made its dad feel bad for it. When he saw Kirin was hidden, Xia Yi replied loudly, ¡°I am here. I am coming.¡± Then he went to open the door. There was a gigantic Qi Shan apprentice with an earnest look standing outside. He grinned towards Xia Yi, showing his white front teeth. ¡°Greetings, Xia. I am Qing Xiu under the Elder of Tian Ji. I am living in the Fu Hua Yard not far away. My master told me to inform you to meet him at the Island of Flying Feathers when you are back to Qi Shan.¡± ¡°Thank you. My fellow apprentice. I will go right away.¡± Xia Yi said immediately. At this moment, Kirin was doing something behind the bamboo, producing some rustling sound, making Qing Xiu look at that way out of curiosity. ¡°My fellow apprentice. What is that?¡± He could see the bamboo shaking all together and Kirin¡¯s horn sticking out. ¡°That is a servant of mine who is tidying up the bamboo leaves for me. That is a broom.¡± Xia Yi explained quickly, then he shouted in Kirin¡¯s direction, ¡°Be more serious. Don¡¯t let me see you playing around with the broom again.¡± After saying so, that horn went back into the bamboo. Just when one of the crises had been solved, Xia Yi saw two sparkling hoofs which seemed like wearing neon shoes glittered in the night. Before Qing Xiu could ask anything again, Xia Yi said in a hurry, ¡°Thank you Qing Xiu. I am going to the Island of Flying Feathers right now.¡± The front door closed firmly with a sound. ¡°Good boy, come out now.¡± Xia Yi went behind the bamboo and saw Kirin huddled up with its front legs hugging itself. In order to hide the horn, it had changed into an awkward position. It was looking up to the sky to let the horn face the sky. Xia Yi felt bad but wanted to laugh at the same time. He told it to get out immediately. ¡°Host. Let¡¯s go to the Island of Flying Feathers to see what Liu Si Qian wants.¡± 179 reminded him. Xia Yi nodded. He suddenly thought of something, ¡°How do we get there? That island was floating in the air. We don¡¯t have cable cars here. Last time I was brought there by somebody with his magical item.¡± Thinking about Qing Liang¡¯s bamboo slips, Xia Yi still felt the thrill. ¡°Host. According to my test, you are already at the Foundation phase. You are better than a lot of apprentices in Qi Shan who are at the Core-forming phase and the Virtuoso phase. It is totally fine for you to use your own magical item by now.¡± 179 said. ¡°I can use my own magical item? By myself?¡± Xia Yi was surprised. ¡°Sure.¡± 179 confirmed. Xia Yi was hyped. Before all the transmigrations, he failed the same subject twice in his home world. On the contrary, he did not even need to have an exam or go to driving schools to have a flying permit. Suddenly he recalled something and the happiness was drained from his face. He seemed disappointed, ¡°But I don¡¯t have a magical item.¡± Although I have a permit, I do not have a car. ¡°Host. In the cultivation world, every cultivator¡¯s magical items are made of their favourite item refining.¡± 179 explained to him patiently. ¡°Refine? How to refine? I do not know the way.¡± Xia Yi was stupefied. ¡°There was some refining medicine in the awarded package from the second mission.¡± 179 was like an angel now, ¡°Those medicines do not require you to spend time and spiritual energy to refine items slowly.¡± Magical Item Making Medicine. ¡°What kind of magical item would you like to refine?¡± 179 asked. Xia Yi¡¯s mind was blank. ¡°Some people might love wine, then he would pick a gourd to be his magical item. Some people might love eating, then he would pick a dish to be his magical item. There are also spoons, chopsticks¡­¡± 179 guided him slowly. Do you mean everyone in the cultivation world is foodie? ¡°I am not picking about my magical item. I don¡¯t care what it is. The most important thing is, it could not be slim, it has to be round.¡± Xia Yi was about to say that he wanted it wide and fat, then he thought of the bamboo slips, so he changed his wordings. ¡°It better be like a car, able to contain me in a confined space, making me feel safe, comfortable to ride, soft and stable.¡± Xia Yi spoke his terms while thinking about it. Looking at the yard, nothing suited him. There was plenty of bamboo, but the shape of it was not in consideration. There were a few simple pieces of furniture in the house, but one could not ride a bed with carvings to fly around in the sky, right? It looked offending to public decency. ¡°179. Is there something suitable that you can lend me?¡± Xia Yi could only get help from System. ¡°I don¡¯t. Host. Everything I have here was your things in the system storage space.¡± 179 replied. Xia Yi went silent. Then 179 and him screamed together, ¡°Winter gourd!¡± On the square table in the room, there placed a delicately oval winter gourd. This was picked by 179 meticulously with the best look, roundest shape and the greenest color. Xia Yi circled this lucky winter gourd. ¡°We need to empty it and make a door.¡± Xia Yi rubbed his hands happily. Just do it. Observing around him, Xia Yi took a decorative sword from the wall. He began to carefully open a small door on the winter gourd and clear the insides of the winter gourd. When the inside of the winter gourd was clean, he took the door to carefully put it back on. After that, he picked up the bottle of magical item making medicine, taken out from the storage space by 179, on the table. This medicine was just like the foundation establishment drink. It was contained in a transparent jade bottle. However, for a bottle of foundation establishment drink as large as a bottle of AD milk, this one was only as large as a Taitai Jingxin Zhumian Oral Liquid. ¡°179. How do I use it? Let the winter gourd drink it?¡± Xia Yi asked with the bottle of medicine in his hand, feeling confused. ¡°Take one drop of your blood to mix it into the medicine. Then coat the winter gourd with it carefully. After the first layer dried, coated it once more. When you finish with the third layer, the winter gourd will become your magical item.¡± 179 explained. Then he emphasized, ¡°Remember, three layers. And you should cover the whole winter gourd.¡± Xia Yi looked at the small bottle in his hand and looked at the big winter gourd, feeling stupid, ¡°With the size of this bottle, it is hard enough to cover every part with it for one layer. How am I supposed to paint three layers?¡± ¡°179. Do we still have this medicine? Take more out.¡± ¡°Nope. There is only this one bottle.¡± ¡°What if I only apply one layer?¡± Xia Yi walked around the winter gourd, thinking. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± 179 answered honestly, ¡°Why don¡¯t you walk outside to cut a part from the bamboo and apply three layers onto it?¡± Xia Yi imagined himself stepping on a slim bamboo flying in the sky, he shook his head vigorously, ¡°Nevermind. I will apply it on the winter gourd. Let¡¯s try it with one layer first. If it is not possible to make a magical item with one layer, I will just keep doing missions and make more medicine to complete the process.¡± Then, he carefully pulled out the cork from the bottle. He lightly cut his middle finger with the sword and squeezed out a drop of blood to mix it into the bottle. The drop of blood hit the content in the bottle. A cloud of white smoke came out. The blood mixed with the medicine in an instant and vanished. Xia Yi slightly shook the bottle, poured a few drops on his palm, and began to coat the winter gourd evenly. The whole winter gourd had been coated. The bottle of medicine also emptied. As the medicine slowly infiltrated into the winter gourd, the peel changed, the green color of the winter gourd glowed with a soft light. The light was weakly glowing, from soft to strong, becoming more and more bright, making the room so bright that as if there was a laser in it. Xia Yi could not help but close his eyes. After a while, the blinding light was deemed. Only a light as soft as the candle light could be felt, Xia Yi thus opened his eyes. The winter gourd on the table changed completely. It was transparent as if it was carved from one piece of jade. ¡°Is it done?¡± Xia Yi asked 179 excitedly. ¡°Yes.¡± 179¡¯s voice sounded happy as well. ¡°Then teach me. How do I ride this winter gourd plane? Do I have to say some spells?¡± Xia Yi rubbed his hands, eager to try it out. ¡°There is no need. Your blood is already in the magical item. Now it knows you, you only need to think about it.¡± 179 answered. ¡°Go go go. Let¡¯s try it in the yard.¡± Xia Yi swiftly carried the winter gourd away from the table. ¡°Host. Don¡¯t bother. You only have to think about making it small, then it will turn into the shape you imagined.¡± ¡°Like this? Let me try.¡± Xia Yi hurried and thought in his mind, ¡°Smaller, smaller.¡± With a winter gourd of a peanut size in his mind. The winter gourd on the table vanished instantly, only a green jade peanut-sized decoration was left in the middle of the table. Xia Yi almost jumped. He quickly grabbed the jade item as if it was his treasure and went outside. ¡°Now imagine it big.¡± Xia Yi placed the jade item in the yard and stepped back. He thought with his mind, ¡°Bigger, bigger.¡± With an image of the winter gourd as big as a small house. The winter gourd expanded in a second in the yard. It looked as if there was an oval little house with green paint in the yard. There was even a door on the side of it. ¡°179. Hahahahaha. Gorgeous, gorgeous.¡± Xia Yi was extremely happy, ¡°This is my RV.¡± Xia Yi stroked the winter gourd as if it was his beloved car, then he said to Kirin who was following him, ¡°Son. Papa is going to try flying around. Don¡¯t go anywhere. Wait at home. When Papa is done, Papa will bring you with me. Okay?¡± Kirin blinked, then it went back to lie down under the roof obediently. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s go. 179. Test ride.¡± Xia Yi opened the door of the winter gourd and went in. CH 42 It was warm and silent inside the winter gourd with the sweetness of vegetables. Just when Xia Yi stood himself up, the door of the winter gourd closed seamlessly, not letting any light through. In the dark, Xia Yi asked System, ¡°179. What do we do now? Is there any control system?¡± ¡°You need to use your mind to control it. Try. Let it fly.¡± 179 said. Xia Yi forced himself not to be too excited. After calming down, he thought, ¡°Fly.¡± He felt that he was floating. The bottom of his feet shook a little. It must have been the winter gourd cart flying. ¡°I am so cool. 179.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s heart was pounding. A person who had never passed a subject in his high school was now directly driving a plane. His excited mood kept climbing for around twenty meters until Xia Yi realised a huge problem. It was pitch black around here. How do I drive without looking outside? Drive blindly? And arrived at somewhere that it leads? ¡°179. How can I fly without knowing what¡¯s happening outside?¡± Xia Yi panicked, so the winter gourd cart started to vibrate, shaking left and right as well. Xia Yi¡¯s balance inclined on one side, panicking even more, wanting to grab onto something as a support to stand steadily. With him moving inside, the winter gourd cart flew up and down in the air uncontrollably and rushed towards the ground on the left leaning sideways. ¡°Ahhh. Host. Make it turn right. It is crashing onto the hill.¡± With the ability to sense the outside, 179 screamed. ¡°Go up, go up. There is a tree branch in front of you!¡± 179¡¯s robot voice went out of tone. ¡°Stop going up. You are entering the clouds. Down. Down. Don¡¯t fall. Stop stop stop stop.¡± 179 witnessed the winter gourd magical item performing a stunt show with all kinds of techniques, his soul was already drained, ¡°Host. Don¡¯t panic. Stop first. Float steadily in the air. Steady.¡± Xia Yi had already fallen onto the ground in the winter gourd cart, rolling left and right. Not only did this winter gourd look like jade, it also felt like it. Xia Yi was dizzy and his whole body was in pain from all the bumping. He heard 179 shouting. He tried to calm down and stop panicking. Soothing himself, he murmured, ¡°Don¡¯t panic, I am not panicking. The couch is sitting beside me with his foot on the break.¡± At last, the winter gourd stopped flying everywhere and floated in midair with a little up-and-down movement. Xia Yi and 179 both exhaled in relief. ¡°What do we do now? I can¡¯t see outside.¡± Xia Yi kept calm and asked 179 with a lowered voice. As if he was afraid that the winter gourd would be disturbed by louder sounds, making it mad. ¡°Host. That¡¯s why I was telling you using bamboo is better. This is what happens when you contain yourself inside.¡± 179 wanted to cry, ¡°You can see everything clearly around you 360 degrees on top of a bamboo.¡± ¡°Bamboo is not possible. I prefer to crash into a mountain and die in the winter gourd cart instead of stepping on a sleek bamboo flying.¡± Xia Yi rubbed off the sweat on his forehead, ¡°You don¡¯t even know about the pain of acrophobia.¡± ¡°Host. You can use your mind to open a window on the magical item.¡± 179 suddenly recalled, ¡°I told you so. The magical item knows what you are thinking. You can open a window anywhere.¡± ¡°Like this? Let me try.¡± Xia Yi focused in the dark. Some light broke into the darkness of the inside of the winter gourd from sideways. And now he could see the blurry figures of the mountains from the peel. Bit by bit, half of the winter gourd had become transparent glass. ¡°I can open a window.¡± Xia Yi exhaled, ¡°Now I can see outside.¡± The only problem was that the window was slightly too big. This was French window. With a slight acrophobia problem, XIa Yi peeked outside, then he quickly made the window smaller. He had even made a bay window. To increase the feeling of security in his heart, he added a few guardrail bars to it. Hm. Not bad. I am satisfied. It is high tech. ¡°It is quite nice. It is just like the pumpkin ride in Cinderella. No, this is better.¡± Xia Yi laid his upper body on the windowsill and looked outside, satisfied. Due to the fact that he was now in the middle level of the foundation phase, although it was nighttime, he could still see clearly. He saw Kirin crouching on the stairs looking at him in his Wang Zhu Yard, then he smiled and waved at it, ¡°Good boy. Papa will fly with you next time.¡± Kirin shook its tail as if it could see him. This must be the telepathy between father and son. ¡°Host. When are you going to see Liu Si Qian?¡± 179 reminded Xia Yi. ¡°Don¡¯t rush. Let¡¯s go after flying a few more rounds.¡± Then, Xia Yi controlled the winter gourd to fly upwards, ¡°I need to get familiar with my flying equipment. I am going to master all the flying techniques.¡± ¡°Up, up, up.¡± Xia Yi controlled the winter gourd plane with his mind. The oval green winter gourd went through the clouds among the mountains and halted above layers of clouds. The gentle sky was silent above him with the stars so close as if he could take them with his hands. With a flash of light, a shooting star slid down beside him like a silver little fish swimming into the sea. The beautiful floating island afar seemed as if it was born in the starry sky. Xia Yi lied on the windowsill dazed, thinking, it would be splendid if Zhu was here. I would fly with him into the sky and watch the night sky together. I want to share all the pretty things that I have seen with him. Then he watched silently for a moment. Xia Yi then said to System, ¡°Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s go to find Liu Si Qian after flying a few more rounds.¡± After saying so, he controlled the winter gourd flying cart to travel freely above the clouds. ¡°179. This feels too good.¡± Xia Yi flew in the highest speed, through the clouds, passing the mountains, ¡°I finally understand why superman loves to fly around the earth when he has nothing to do.¡± Quick. Quicker. Fly towards the floating island forward. Hahahahaha. Yes. This is it. Then stop instantly. Perfect! Step by step, Xia Yi had learned the skills to fly a car. He could now control it with ease. ¡°Dash to the cloud in the front, then stop inside, and dashed downwards, U-turn.¡± The winter gourd received Xia Yi¡¯s commands and dashed towards the cloud in front of it. Xia Yi lay on the bay window to send commands to the winter gourd cozily. Suddenly, he felt a few shakes of the body of the cart. It glowed with a soft layer of light at the same time. What is happening? Is there a strong wind? Xia Yi could not ask 179 in time. Then he felt nothing under his feet. He was not stepping on anything. The walls around him vanished in thin air as well. He was beginning to breathe in breezes of cold wind. There were the howling sounds of the wind beside his ear as well. Then he saw the clouds quickly passing in front of him. ¡°Ah.¡± With a frightening scream from his heart, Xia Yi¡¯s spirit had been defeated, ¡°179. What is going on?¡± The huge winter gourd cart disappeared all of a sudden and turned back into its original form. It had become a normal winter gourd again. And Xia Yi was riding on that round green winter gourd. ¡°Host. You have only coated it with one layer of medicine. It is not enough!¡± 179 screamed with him. ¡°When it reached the time limit, the winter gourd would turn back to its original form.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s tears were coming out. As he intended to scream with his opened mouth, a breeze of freezing wind went right in. With the winter gourd turned back into its original form, it was still doing according to Xia Yi¡¯s order just now. It flew quickly into the clouds and halted suddenly. ¡°Host. Hold on with your thighs!¡± 179 saw Xia Yi shake and nearly fell, he shouted uncontrollably, ¡°It only changed its form. It can still fly. Don¡¯t panic!¡± ¡°I, I am holding on.¡± Xia Yi focused all his strength to his thighs to make himself stick onto the winter gourd. After the winter gourd had finished halting, it began to run its next command, diving. ¡°I am dying. I am really dying. I am dying in the hands of this crazy winter gourd. Zhu. I will see you in my next life.¡± Xia Yi closed his eyes. He felt hopeless with the feeling of dropping hit him. ¡°Host. Hold on.¡± 179 was still screaming. He wished that he could dash out from Xia Yi¡¯s mind to help him to hold those two thighs. ¡°All my strength is in the lower part of my body. How do I push even harder?¡± Xia Yi¡¯s tears were floating in the air. He was riding on the winter gourd and diving towards the ground just like an atomic bomb. Seeing himself growing closer to the ground, he felt as if his soul had flown to the heavens. His mind was completely blank. When he closed his eyes and prepared to crash into the ground, the winter gourd stopped. Feeling everything halted and the expected crash did not hit him, Xia Yi opened his eyes slightly. Looking around him, he found himself hanging ten feet above the ground. Surrounding him was a bamboo forest. He was obviously back at the Wang Zhu Yard. ¡°Host. You are alive.¡± 179 sobbed, with the joy of surviving after a disaster. Xia Yi¡¯s face was as pale as a sheet of paper right now. His eyes were without a soul. Only a drop of tear slid down from the end of his eye. He moved his legs which he was not feeling. Xia Yi intended to jump onto the ground. At that instant, the winter gourd moved. It moved again! It was speeding up without any delay, turning right, following the road to quickly flying just above the ground. ¡°Host. There was still a command of turning right in your orders¡­¡± 179 wanted to cry again. ¡°Hold on¡­¡± Xia Yi could not make a screaming sound by now, he closed his lips tight and rode the winter gourd with a pale face. The winter gourd travelled around at high speed among the mountains in Qi Shan. Through the bamboo forest, through the sea of flowers, passing the clear lake of water and the koi fish. A few servants were cleaning in the yard. They felt that something passed in front of them at lightning speed without a sound, making all the tidied leaves everywhere again. ¡°Did somebody fly past just now?¡± A servant stopped his movements with the broom in his hands, looking at the other servant in confusion. ¡°I thought that I saw it wrong. So you saw it too.¡± The other servant followed the direction and looked, ¡°I think he was riding a ball.¡± The other servants added comments to the pot, ¡°These apprentices are very inventive. Their magical items were such eye-openers.¡± They agreed in their heart, nodding. After this crazy winter gourd had calmed down finally, Xia Yi did not even know how he got back to the Wang Zhu Yard. The apprentices of Qi Shan greeted him on the way, he could only nod mechanically and walked back as if his spirit had been lost. When he was back in the yard, Kirin merrily came up. Xia Yi only extended his arm to pat its head, then he went into the room and fell onto the bed. ¡°Is Xia here?¡± Someone shouted in the yard. ¡°Yes.¡± Would Liu Si Qian know that he is here and send someone to fetch him? Xia Yi gathered the strength to reply with a hoarse voice, ¡°Come in.¡± After knocking on the door twice, Qing Xiu, who was huge, walked in. He was holding a tray, ¡°Xia. I see that you did not go to have dinner. I have brought it here to you.¡± While he was talking, he put the tray onto the table, ¡°There is a new rule in the sect recently. All of us have to have three meals a day.¡± Xia Yi knew about this, so he nodded and thanked Qing Xiu. Qing Xiu waved and told him it was nothing. He turned to go away. Xia Yi forced his shaking legs to move to walk him out the door. Seeing the figure of Qing Ziu disappear in the bamboo forest, Xia Yi turned to close the door. Then, something came to his mind, ¡°179. He didn¡¯t see Kirin, right?¡± ¡°No. Kirin is very good. It hid itself before Qing Xiu came in.¡± System said. ¡°Such a considerate good boy.¡± Xia Yi sighed, then he called Kirin, ¡°Come. Son. Time to eat.¡± Kirin jumped out from nowhere and stood in front of Xia Yi, scaring him. ¡°Don¡¯t pop up like this without a sound again. Alright? Papa cannot be stimulated anymore.¡± Xia Yi scouted. Kirin licked Xia Yi¡¯s hand. When they were back in the room, Xia Yi looked at the dishes in the tray and his stomach turned in an instant. Braised Pork Ribs with winter gourd. Winter gourd braised in soy sauce. Winter gourd pie. I don¡¯t want to eat these. Even seeing these makes me feel sick. Let¡¯s give these all to Kirin. ¡°Host. After the winter gourd has restored its magical powers, we will go and see Liu Si Qian.¡± In view of Xia Yi¡¯s lazy look, 179 reminded him. ¡°I am not riding it. I am not riding it.¡± Xia Yi shook his head like crazy, ¡°I am not riding it even if there is a power bank attached to it.¡± ¡°But you can¡¯t be like this. Look outside. You can¡¯t move an inch without a magical item.¡± 179 reminded Xia Yi of his existence on a floating island. ¡°I will just stay in the house, not going anywhere.¡± Xia Yi lied right back into the bed, ¡®I am going to stay in the house until I transmigrated back.¡° ¡°Xia. Xia.¡± At this moment, a few callings echoed from the yard, sounded like Liu Si Qian. Xia Yi hurried outside. ¡°Aiya, Xia. Why didn¡¯t you find me after you arrived?¡± Liu Si Qian just put back his gourd into his clothes and saw Xia Yi, so he said with a warm smile, ¡°I heard my apprentices tell me about you, so I decided to come and see. It is really you.¡± ¡°I was making a magical item.¡± Xia Yi pointed at the winter gourd on the table. ¡°I had a test drive. I am still familiarizing myself with it.¡± Liu Si Qian glanced at the winter gourd, just when he was about to speak, his eyes fixed on the corner of the yard. Following his stare, Xia Yi saw Kirin standing there and licking its glowing hoofs without minding a bit. Crap. Xia Yi was in shock. Kirin looking like this had been seen. Would they want to eliminate it as some mountain spirits or monsters? Didn¡¯t these cultivators do these killing evil spirits business for a living? He was thinking of ideas in his mind, but Liu Si Qian pointed at Kirin and said merrily, ¡°You brought Kirin over? Good. Good. Hahahahaha, now we have a kirin in Qi Shan Sect too.¡± Then he walked towards Kirin, he circled it to observe it carefully, and said in astonishment, ¡°Mythical creatures are spectacular. Even if it has been fed by leftovers, it still grows handsomely.¡± He turned to face Xia Yi, ¡°We heard that the Evil leader Jie Shang had a kirin, but we have no luck seeing it.¡± After thinking for a while, he sighed, ¡°But we have also heard that his kirin had been fed by miraculous fruits and cultivation cores. It had not been fed with any food from the mortal world before.¡± Xia Yi was stupefied, what did that mean? Wait. Is the kirin he is mentioning not the same as my Kirin? It is not a name but a species? ¡°Wait. Did you see it like this when you were at my place?¡± Xia Yi asked Liu Si Qian. ¡°Yes. It was just like this.¡± ¡°With a horn and four glowing hoofs?¡± Xia Yi was finding it hard to believe. ¡°What would it look like if not so? Would it look like a dog?¡± Liu Si Qian asked in confusion. A moment later, he felt that his answer was funny and laughed. Xia Yi was stunned, ¡°179. What did Kirin look like in the farming world from your point of view?¡± ¡°A dog.¡± 179 answered without hesitation. With a long exhale, Xia Yi thought, ¡°So it seems that these cultivators did not think Kirin was just a dog.¡± ¡°A dog looking like this is absolutely normal. Kirin grew better than the other dogs. It has four glowing hoofs and a horn on its forehead. Even when all the dogs in the village run together, I can spot him out.¡± 179 sounded proud and honored. Xia Yi: ¡­ ¡°Right. I came here to ask you something.¡± Liu Si Qian stopped Xia Yi¡¯s thoughts. He turned into a stern look and continued, ¡°It¡¯s Tian Quan, Cheng Ming. After he came back from the utopia, he told us that he met the immortal honourable leader at your place. Is that true?¡± Xia Yi immediately waved, ¡°It was a misunderstanding. Zhu just looked like your leader. They are not the same person. Mingie, Cheng Ming has mistaken.¡± ¡°I see. I thought so. After all these years, Tian Quan could not tell the difference between me and Tian Xian.¡± Liu Si Qian nodded understandingly, ¡°Come to think about it, it has already been over twenty years since the leader had been missing. Therefore, when I heard Tian Quan mentioning this, although I felt there was something off, I had to confirm it.¡± ¡°However, an apprentice reported seeing the house of Ciang Yi the leader on the main island Mount Yu Shu. We did not know the exact situation, but according to the apprentice¡¯s description, we were ninety percent sure of it. We just don¡¯t know if the area was enchanted by the leader or if it was just an illusion left by the leader when he went travelling.¡± Liu Si Qian sounded hopeless and exhausted. ¡°Now that our leader and some apprentices had been kidnapped by the fallen devils, we had attacked the demonic world a few times with some other cultivating sects, but we still were unable to rescue them. It was only an act of undermining ourselves, deteriorating our strength. I am afraid that we might need some time to recover from that. Now we could only hope that the leader could be found to lead us.¡± Xia Yi thought for a while, then he told him about the incident of him bumping into Ciang Yi. Your leader knew about you. However, judging by his egoistic look, I am not sure if he would rescue his apprentices. Just don¡¯t be too hopeful. Liu Si Qian was shocked upon hearing the news, ¡°So the information from that apprentice is true. You met the leader that night. But why didn¡¯t he show up after all these days?¡± Xia Yi shook his head, ¡°That, I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Right. Is Meng well at that side?¡± Liu Si Qian recalled about Meng Wan Zi, he could not help but frowned, ¡°I would not worry as much if it was another person, but him and his apprentice had always been seeing themselves above everyone, they may not be able to get familiar with the mortal life in the utopia. They may seem left out.¡± ¡°They are doing quite well. Old Meng tidied a house up himself. The decorations were quite nice. And he had blended in well.¡± Xia Yi answered. It was a pity that he did not have a camera to take photos of Meng Wan Zi wearing a big cotton coat, hiding his hands in the coat and crouching with Mr. Wang in the ridges to talk about the harvest. He was good at picking up the cow feces with a bamboo basket on his back. ¡°Then I am relieved.¡± Liu Si Qian sighed in relief. Then he greeted Xia Yi thankfully, ¡°Speaking of this, we survived in the utopia all because of you. As long as this magical circle had not been demolished, our apprentices could be sent there. They lose their powers in the utopia. And we cannot bring anything valuable with us. Last time Tian Quan had prepared well, but he was sent there with one stick and one bowl only, leaving a lot of jewels on the ground. Ai¡­¡± Xia Yi quickly replied, ¡°It was nothing. I am half an apprentice of Qi Shan too. I was just doing what I could.¡± ¡°Then you should live here in Qi Shan in ease. This Wang Zhu Yard belongs to you. You can do whatever you want to. I will tell a few more servants to come here to serve you.¡± Liu Si Qian said. ¡°There is no need. I only need them to clean the yard from time to time. I don¡¯t need people to serve me.¡± Xia Yi waved his hand quickly, not accepting the offer. Lying around eating melon seeds, ordering those teens who were around eleven to twelve made him uncomfortable. It was late at night. Liu Si Qian did not stay any longer. He said his goodbye to Xia Yi and went away riding his gourd. Xia Yi again fell into the bed heavily, sighing. How is Zhu now? Is he panicking and calling everyone in the village to search for him? Maybe he won¡¯t? He had told him about this before. And he watched him disappear. It is just that he may have worried and searched all over anyways. We were having a great wedding night. But the groom just vanished like that, leaving my wife behind. Xia Yi rolled around in bed with a lot on his mind. Kirin was lying in a dog house made of mattress beside the bed, looking at him obediently with a pair of half-opened golden eyes. ¡°Sleep. Stop thinking about it. It is useless to think about it. We don¡¯t know when we are going back.¡± Xia Yi stretched out to pat Kirin¡¯s head and cover himself with the blanket. When he was up, it was daytime. Xia Yi looked around him the moment he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was that creature with a horn on his bedside. ¡°Ai. We are not back.¡± Xia Yi felt sad and closed his eyes. ¡°Host. You are free anyway. Let¡¯s figure out how to use that magical item.¡± 179 was planning something. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna move.¡± Xia Yi kept lying in bed. ¡°You can¡¯t see the rainbow if there is no rain. No one succeeds casually.¡± ¡°Do you not have to attend the morning meeting? Don¡¯t be late.¡± Xia Yi only wanted System to shut up. ¡°We haven¡¯t been meeting in the morning for a few days.¡± After some time, 179¡¯s voice rang slowly, ¡°The technical system went somewhere to learn again. Then we lost contact.¡± ¡°How long has it been?¡± ¡°Right after Cheng Ming transmigrated.¡± Xia Yi rolled over absentmindedly, ¡°Don¡¯t rush. After a few of those MLM points had been demolished, the technical system would come back.¡± ¡°This is not MLM. We really lost connection.¡± 179 explained, ¡°We can find the technical system anywhere with a network, electrical appliances or electricity, but we can¡¯t catch his signal.¡± ¡°Stop worrying. He has been through a lot. It¡¯s alright.¡± ¡°Hope so.¡± 179 sounded gloomy. Sensing that the system was depressed, Xia Yi sat up in bed, ¡°Go. Let¡¯s look into the magical item.¡± ¡°I am turning it big. Record the time. See how long it can keep its shape.¡± Xia Yi took the winter gourd and placed it in the middle of the yard, thinking of the commands in his mind. The winter gourd glowed with green light and grew huge instantly, looking like a green-painted house in the middle of the yard. Xia Yi touched his chin, ¡°179. Record the time for me. Let¡¯s see how long it begins to change back into its original form.¡± After saying so, he went to the lavatory to clean himself up. When he came out from the lavatory, he glanced at the yard and found that the gigantic winter gourd was still standing there. ¡°179. Keep staring at it. I am going to have breakfast.¡± Then, he went to the dining room and removed the yarn cover on top of the table. Nice. There were seven or eight dishes of dimsum and a bowl of steaming porridge. These were sent by a servant in the morning. They must have used some magic to keep it from turning cold. Xia Yi sluggishly enjoyed the sumptuous breakfast. Then he took a handkerchief to clean his mouth and came to the yard. ¡°179. What is going on with this winter gourd? It is not turning back.¡± Xia Yi was shocked. You are fine when I place you in the middle of the yard. And you just go crazy when you are in the sky? ¡°I think it is similar to a smartphone. Placing it there would be in its standby mode, not much power is drained. However, when it is in the air, it is like a phone with all these programmes running and the power consumption grows dramatically.¡± 179 explained after analysing. ¡°Host. Do you want to try in the sky?¡± Try? How would he dare to try? He would only use this winter gourd as a tent from now on. Xia Yi thought in his mind. He transformed the winter gourd into a peanut-sized jade item and put it into his sleeve. ¡°Then, host. As we are in the cultivation world now, let¡¯s begin to cultivate.¡± This was truly a system that loved his job. He did not seem to be able to live a day in his life without working. ¡°What should I do to cultivate? You do not expect me to stay here forever, do you? I am not cultivating. I am going home.¡± Xia Yi hugged Kirin on his side, using his hands to pat its big head. Sadness hit him, ¡°I am going back to my wedding night.¡± ¡°I am not going anywhere. I am not doing anything. I am waiting to get back home.¡± System did not speak for a while, ¡°If that is so, host, why don¡¯t we walk around to see some beautiful sceneries and some special mountains and waters? Just like taking a walk. Locking yourself in the yard is not good for you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna see those.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go and feed the cranes and play with the koi fish.¡± ¡°Not interesting.¡± ¡°How about watching the little apprentices cultivating? Right. There are a lot of female apprentices. They are all on Mount Teng Xiu. They grow more beautiful as they cultivate. Their figures were curvy as well.¡± 179 spoke in a way intending to tempt Xia Yi. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Xia Yi sounded alarmed and condemned System, ¡°Now that Zhu is not here, you are trying to get me to see the girls?¡± 179 felt ashamed instantly. Upon hearing his condemnation, he felt as if he was really those wicked friends who like to tell people to mess around. ¡°But because you have already suggested that, I will unwillingly go and have a look.¡± Then Xia Yi swiftly went to the front door. ¡°Yi!¡± Just when he reached the door, a person coming this way shouted with a surprised tone, ¡°Hahahaha. It¡¯s really you.¡± It was Cheng Ming. ¡°Mingie.¡± Xia Yi felt excited when he saw someone he knew in this world. ¡°I missed you so much. I had no idea that you would be transferred here. I am so excited about this.¡± Cheng Ming walked up happily, ¡°I came as soon as I knew you were here last night.¡± ¡°You were here last night? I must have been sleeping and didn¡¯t hear you.¡± Xia Yi imagined the scene of Cheng Ming visiting but could not get in, feeling bad about it. A hint of embarrassment arose on Cheng Ming¡¯s face, ¡°It¡¯s not like that. I had been walking around to search for the road to the Wang Zhu Yard. Then I somehow went back. I had a servant leading me here this morning to get here.¡± He almost forgot that he was bad at recognising paths. Cheng Ming then enthusiastically hugged him, ¡°It must not be easy for you to get here. Let me show you around to see the stunning views of Qi Shan. Right. Where do you intend to go just now?¡± Xia Yi was too embarrassed to tell him about going to see the female apprentices on Mount Teng Xiu, and so he said, ¡°I was just going to wander around casually.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t just wander around. Let me take you to a great place.¡± He looked to the left and to the right, then lowered his voice to talk to Xia Yi, ¡°Mount Teng Xiu has great views. You will know when you are there.¡± Then he waved his hand to summon his magical item, but recalled something, ¡°I heard that Kirin is here too?¡± Then he looked around. Kirin was sneaking in the yard, peeking with half of its head sticking out. As it saw it was its apprentice, it growled. ¡°So Kirin is really here.¡± In excitement, Cheng Ming yelled, ¡°Kirin. Come. Let¡¯s play.¡± Xia Yi was worried about people seeing Kirin as a monster, but seeing Liu Si Qian and Cheng Ming react, he could finally feel relieved. He also called out, ¡°Son. Come. Let¡¯s go together.¡± Kirin went out jogging a little, it excitedly shook its tail which had been pointing down, creating a few deep indentations on the stone pavement with a few sparks. With a few cracking sounds, the stone pavement started to break apart. ¡°Right right. Don¡¯t shake your tail. You are damaging public properties.¡± Xia Yi immediately stopped it. Cheng Ming opened his arms. There was a piece of square metal in his palm with a metal spoon on it. He swung his hand and it instantly grew bigger in the air. It was like a Simmons mattress. ¡°This is your magical item?¡± Xia Yi stared at that mattress with glowing light in his eyes. ¡°Yes, this is a compass.¡± Cheng Ming did a light jump, his slightly bigger body seemed light, and he stood right on it. ¡°This magical item is good.¡± Xia Yi used his hand to touch it, then he thought of something and asked in doubt, ¡°It is not flying vertically, right?¡± ¡°No. Only the young ones like to travel with vertical magical items. I am old. I can¡¯t take those simulations.¡± Fine then fine then. Xia Yi happily climbed up the Simmons mattress, ¡°Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s look around here. I can remember the paths well no matter where you are bringing me. I have a good sense of direction.¡± Then he called upon Kirin after climbing up the mattress, ¡°Son. Son. Come.¡± ¡°Kirin would follow us itself.¡± Cheng Ming said. Right after saying so, the mattress flew steadily. ¡°You are not expecting it to run underneath¨C¡± Xia Yi swallowed his unsaid words back in. Those neon hoofs of Kirin suddenly glowed with a stronger light, as if a few clouds of silver cold fire, and it just flew after that and silently followed the mattress. ¡°179. Am I seeing it wrong? Kirin can fly. It is flying.¡± Xia Yi murmured. ¡°Host. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen a flying dog as well.¡± 179 sounded as shocked as he was. It is not fucking dog okay? You could see it is different from Dai Hua and the other dogs and you still think that it is a dog? My Kirin is a kirin. It is a shame that we don¡¯t have Baidu here. If I could, I would search about my son¡¯s noble identity. ¡°The ones that could eat a lot are not kirins, right?¡± ¡°Gluttonous.¡± ¡°Those which we blew up with crackers during new year¨C Those are not. It was New Year¡¯s Eve.¡± Xia Yi breathed out in relief. He felt proud somehow after thinking about it. He was only feeding a dog and it turned into a mythical creature. How special am I? Hoho. This magical item of Cheng Ming is good. It is far better than those other weird flying items. And with Cheng Ming¡¯s direction changing, the big spoon in the middle also turned slightly. ¡°This compass pointed South always, right?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°Correct.¡± Cheng Ming stood steadily in the very front with his hands behind him, his sleeves swaying in the wind, his eyes were wise and focusing on the front. No one should be able to tell that he was bad at recognizing paths. ¡°Then why do you still get lost?¡± ¡°That is because I did not know which way to go from the very beginning.¡± Cheng Ming answered straightforwardly. Xia Yi was about to say something, then he saw Cheng Ming said to him in a hurry, ¡°Lower your head.¡± He sounded nervous. ¡°Not good. Are we bumping into enemies? The fallen devils?¡± A fear hit Xia Yi, and so he obediently lowered his head. Then Cheng Ming¡¯s voice rang again, ¡°Take two steps back and raise your head again.¡± Xia Yi immediately moved back two steps and raised his head, swiftly looking around. There was nothing weird. Up, around, down, nothing. There were only clouds. ¡°I was taking a turn just now. The base spinned and I was afraid that the spoon would hit your head. Hoho.¡± Right after Cheng Ming finished his sentence, he shouted again, ¡°Lower your head.¡± The metal board spinned at high speed. A shadow passed through and it was that gigantic spoon handle. Xia Yi instantly leaned down with the spoon handle just passed on top of his head. I knew it. How is Cheng Ming standing on the side with the mattress this big? ¡°Hm? Where am I?¡± Cheng Ming asked in confusion, ¡°Yi, do you remember the way back?¡± I am lying on this board and cannot look up. How am I supposed to recognise the path? Xia Yi tried to raise his head, ¡°Don¡¯t turn. Let me stand up first.¡± Then, he slowly stood up, unsteadily. ¡°Right. You can stand. When the spoon handle comes at you, you can jump to avoid that. But you must look clearly at the road, or else we will not be able to get back.¡± Xia Yi looked at the area outside of the metal board and felt light-headed. It is already very good for me to stand. Now you want me to jump back and forth ten thousand meters above ground? ¡°Kirin. Son. Come and let Papa hold onto you.¡± Kirin flew towards Xia Yi obediently and stood on the board to let him hold onto its neck. ¡°Attention. I am turning.¡± Cheng Ming alerted them loudly. You are bad at recognising paths, why are you still turning as if you know the way? Can you not just walk straight? ¡°One, two, three. Son. Jump.¡± ¡°And jump.¡± Kirin jumped with Xia Yi. It was lucky to see a green and beautiful mountain in front of them after a little while. The mountain was so tall that it reached into the clouds. Cheng Ming merrily said, ¡°We have arrived at Mount Teng Xiu.¡± The metal board slowly descended and stopped at the foot of the mountain. ¡°I can¡¯t remember other places but I remember how to get here well.¡± After he finished his sentence, Cheng Ming realized that he was not speaking appropriately. He peeked at Xia Yi to see that he did not look awkward, then he explained, ¡°The scenery is so nice around here, so I come over often.¡± Hoho, you do not need to explain, I understand. Following a small path, Cheng Ming introduced in detail to Xia Yi, telling him what kind of tree this was, what kind of fruit that was. Then he stopped and said disappointedly, ¡°It is such a pity that I did not have the opportunity to taste the fruit of the heavens and was sent back here before I could do so.¡± Xia Yi felt pity about it. He saw Cheng Ming looking after those radishes carefully with all his attention. He could say that he looked as if he was taking care of a woman after giving birth to a child instead of taking care of the farmland. At the end, right when the radishes could be harvested, he was transmigrated. ¡°Right. 179. Didn¡¯t I tell you to put those radishes into the system storage space? Let¡¯s see if we can take it out.¡± ¡°Affirmative. Host. I am a cultivation system in the first place.¡± 179 said. ¡°Then take a few out and make Mingie happy for now. We can let him take those to braise pork ribs.¡± Xia Yi said. ¡°Alright.¡± After 179 spoke, Xia Yi felt a weight in his hands. A few items appeared in his hands. Is this my radish? Xia Yi looked down to observe. That thing looked like a radish, but it was much smaller, it looked more like ginseng. The outside of it was red in color, it was sleek and transparent, and glowed under the sunlight just like a gem. Cheng Ming looked this way at this moment. His eyes fixed on the radishes and screamed excitedly, ¡°The fruit of the heavens! Yi, you have brought them here!¡± This is truly magical. In their eyes, Kirin is not a dog, and it turned into a real kirin. This radish has changed as well and has become the fruit of the heavens according to Cheng Ming. Xia Yi wanted to ask 179 about it, but he figured that he would not be satisfied with the answer. As expected, after hearing his question, 179 asked him in return, confused, ¡°Do radishes not look like this? Red with glowing light. Although the other radishes did not look the same, our radishes were growing great.¡± Cheng Ming took the fruits of the heavens from Xia Yi and held them as if those were his treasure. He smiled so hard that his eyes were narrowed into two lines. He praised repeatedly, ¡°My baby, my baby.¡± Seeing him this way, he would not make braised pork ribs with those, so Xia Yi asked, ¡°How do you plan to eat these fruits of the heavens?¡± ¡°How? Of course I am going to slide a thin layer, keep it in my mouth and eat it. I will put the others in a jade box and use magic to store them.¡± Cheng Ming waved his hand and the fruits disappeared from his hands. They must have been kept in some space of some ring or something. There were a lot of those in cultivation novels. Didn¡¯t every normal-looking ring either have a space or an old man contained in them? ¡°Mingie. If you all of a sudden have a few hundred catties of fruits of the heavens, how would you plan to eat them?¡± Xia Yi asked. Cheng Ming eyed him with condemnation, ¡°These are fruits of the heavens and not just radishes, how can we count them in catties?¡± After thinking for a moment, he sadly said, ¡°However, in your farmland in the utopia, you must have around a hundred of them, then there should be catties of it.¡± A hundred of them? You just did not see my 3 acres land of harvest. ¡°Mingie. From now on, you can eat as much as you like. You can eat the fruits of the heavens every meal. You can make soup or roast them if you like.¡± Xia Yi waved just like the others in this world, and told 179 to talk the fruits out at the same time. Instantly, a pile of fruits of the heavens appeared in front of Cheng Ming. They glowed with red light, almost blinding his round widened eyes. ¡°You had put a lot of effort in planting these fruits of the heavens as well. These are your share.¡± Xia Yi said loudly with pride, as if he was a rich guy asking if others could see the yacht that he was in. He had that type of good feeling he had when he was spending a lot of money. Then, he took one and gave it to Kirin, ¡°Son, you eat too.¡± Kirin made a happy howl and started to chew it in its mouth. A few swallowing sounds could be heard from Cheng Ming¡¯s throat, then he fell with rolled eyes. CH 43 The view on Mount Teng Xiu was truly amazing; there were layers of peaks and knolls, the water was as clear as a mirror. The top of the mountain slit through the clouds as if it was a bunch of small islands and the milky white clouds hung on the mountain top and connected each other to form a line. Xia Yi swiftly walked on top of the stone stairs, appreciating the peculiar trees and grass on his way. Cheng Ming was following behind him with a stupefied expression. He could not quite restore his consciousness from the shock those fruits of the heavens had given him. All of a sudden, the sound of girls screaming echoed from the front. Then, a large group of colorful butterflies in the bushes in the front exploded and covered the sky with vivid colors. There were a few girls wearing long yarn dresses flying gracefully in between. Xia Yi touched Cheng Ming who was on his side, ¡°Mingie. Is this what you are bringing me to see?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Cheng Ming recovered from the shock because of the touch and looked at the scene that Xia Yi was referring to absentmindedly. He nodded casually and responded with a few sounds. Staring at the stones on the side of the road, dazed, he was clearly still in the world of the fruits of the heavens. ¡°179. Are these my fellow female apprentices?¡± Seeing an absent-minded Cheng Ming, Xia Yi could only talk to System. ¡°Correct. Host. Do you feel better now? Look at the blue sky, the colorful butterflies, the clouds, the beauties. This is just like utopia. No, this is utopia.¡± 179¡¯s robot voice sounded excited. It¡¯s alright. I would prefer looking at Zhu farming. Thinking of Gu Wen Zhu, Xia Yi fell down again and started to scratch the skin of the tree with his fingers. ¡°However beautiful these female apprentices are, they can¡¯t even compare to 1/10000 of Zhu when he was farming. I miss him. Go and urge your main system to send me back.¡± The two had attracted the attention of those female apprentices, making the girls stop practising and begin to chatter. ¡°The Elder of Tian Quan has come to see us practice again. He has brought a male apprentice with him this time.¡± ¡°This senior apprentice is handsome.¡± ¡°Have you forgotten how old you are? Senior? It¡¯s more like junior.¡± ¡°These male apprentices love to watch us practice. Let¡¯s show our good side today and stun this young handsome boy.¡± ¡°Alright alright alright.¡± All the female apprentices covered their mouths and chuckled with eyes glancing at Xia Yi who was scratching the skin of the tree with lowered head. ¡°He is being shy. How adorable.¡± Therefore, those female apprentices started a wonderful stage performance at Mount Teng Xiu. They put some six-part mirror and sky mirror in place to reflect a dazzling light of seven colors. They also called upon a few mountain fairies to play the music. And, despite they hated to practice with organzas on and wanted to cultivate without them, these apprentices wore them, the longer the better. Ready. Go! Remember to blow off the thousands of colorful butterflies at the same time. Faster, fly faster, and fly across each other. Sisters. Elegance. Right. The whole valley was full of vibrant eye-catching colors with the beautiful music playing and organzas flowing around in the air. On top of a stone aside sat Cheng Ming and Xia Yi who were dazed. One of them was staring at the sky and the other one was scratching the skin of a tree, their souls totally wandering in a different world. ¡°179. What if I can¡¯t get back?¡± ¡°Host. Worry not. Do you not trust the superb professional techniques of our system? The bugs will surely be fixed as soon as possible and we will get you home.¡± ¡°Right. I should believe in you. You guys must not be able to fix the bug in such a short period of time and I may be able to get back home just a moment later.¡± After hearing 179¡¯s words, Xia Yi had his spirit lifted a little and his faith in going home restored a bit. After the performance of the female apprentices with their best efforts, they found that the audience was not paying attention. So they stopped in rage, rolled their eyes at them and spreaded out in anger. Are those two blind? Piss off! ¡°Mingie. Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Yi, bored, stood up and told Cheng Ming. They could dance all they want, but why did they have to put mirrors around? The jumping light reflected from them made people unable to see from time to time. The songs were too loud. It was not letting me think of Zhu in silence and drowning myself in my own emotions. These female apprentices were doing aerobic dances in such an annoying way. Not fun. Upon hearing Xia Yi¡¯s calling, Cheng Ming recovered from his absent-minded stage and looked around in confusion. ¡°There should be a lot of apprentices practicing around here normally. Why isn¡¯t there a single person?¡± Xia Yi gave him a strange look, ¡°Have you not noticed what happened just now? It was such a fuss. What kind of look is that?¡± ¡°Yes yes yes.¡± Cheng Ming just nodded anyway, ¡°I didn¡¯t pay attention. I was thinking about the fruits of the heavens.¡± After saying so, he did not make a sound and began to look afar with a stupid smile on his face. Xia Yi waved his hand in front of him and yelled resignedly, ¡°Mingie. Let¡¯s go. We are going back.¡± Cheng Ming¡¯s consciousness came back to reality after being called upon by Xia Yi, he quickly went back to his normal expression and summoned his compass to float steadily. Xia Yi felt timid when he saw the item. He really did not want to experience bungee jumping at high altitude anymore, he asked, ¡°Do you have other items that can also fly? I am not picky. No matter what shape that is, just let me sit stably.¡± He added after thinking for a while, ¡°It¡¯s fine if I can just stand and not move.¡± ¡°No. Is this not good enough?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t get used to this.¡± Xia Yi gathered the courage and prepared to climb up the compass, ¡°Then I will have to try my best, or else I won¡¯t be able to get back.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t you ride the mythical beast?¡± Cheng Ming showed a face with incomprehension, ¡°Didn¡¯t you ride my magical compass instead of your kirin because you like it so much?¡± Who likes it? Who would want to ride a spoon monster? Wait. What does that mean? I can ride Kirin? ¡°Of course you can ride the mythical beast.¡± Cheng Ming said with jealousy, ¡°Who doesn¡¯t want a mythical beast? For all these years, I have only heard of the kirin owned by the leader of the fallen devils Jie Shang. But I don¡¯t know if we compare it with yours, which one would be the better one.¡± He said, confused, after thinking, ¡°Would your kirin be Jie Shang¡¯s kirin?¡± ¡°This is my kirin, alright? We had him when he was still a pup, a small kirin. I raised it.¡± Xia Yi raised his voice, alarmed. Next, he turned to call Kirin, who had been wandering around somewhere, ¡°Son. Son. Let¡¯s go back.¡± Not long after, he saw Kirin come quickly with its tail splashing the rocks apart. ¡°Good boy. Let me ride you back. Alright?¡± When it came forward to him, Xia Yi patted its horn and asked carefully. After hearing Xia Yi¡¯s request, Kirin kneeled down on the ground with its front legs bending first. It opened its bright yellow round eyes to look at Xia Yi obediently. Xia Yi looked at it again to see that it was not such a big animal, he confirmed with Cheng Ming again, ¡°Can I really ride it? Will I crush it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. You are small. If its back can fit, a kirin can carry not only one, but ten, a hundred or even a thousand of you without using much effort.¡± Xia Yi was excited. He rubbed his hands. He had watched videos about people riding pigs in his home world, but he had never seen one about people riding dogs. Then I shall try it without hesitation. When Xia Yi had sat on it and held its neck, Kirin¡¯s neon hoofs began to glow, then they started to fly steadily. The speed changed from slow to fast, making the passenger feel comfortable. Xia Yi had a few flying experiences. Now he finally knew the fun of flying. Kirin flew very steadily. It even adjusted the angle according to Xia Yi¡¯s sitting position to make sure he did not drift away from its back. Xia Yi slowly changed from holding Kirin¡¯s neck tightly to a completely relaxed stage, so relaxed that he was appreciating the scenery around him. Hahaha, hahahahaha, he was above the clouds, leaving his manly laughs behind on the way. Cheng Ming looked at Kirin flying towards the main island without anyone controlling, his eyes almost rained out blood due to jealousy. A short period of time later, Kirin slowed down and descended to the ground. When it did so, it made some sound to inform Xia Yi about it. ¡°Son. Fly to the Island of the Flying Feathers first. We have to escort Mingie home.¡± Seeing Kirin aiming at landing on the main island¡¯s front door, Xia Yi patted Kirin and ordered. Kirin made some noise, as if it was replying. Then it flew towards the Island of the Flying Feathers. Cheng Ming followed behind, almost crying. With Cheng Ming, who was bad at remembering his ways, sent back to his yard, Xia Yi rode Kirin to fly to the main island. Right after they landed outside the front door, he heard a voice calling from above, ¡°Xia.¡± Xia Yi looked up and saw a UFO. Therefore he replied warmly, ¡°Qing Hui.¡± Although he could not see him, but Xia Yi sensed that Qing Hui was in a hurry, ¡°Xia. Have you seen the third Elder?¡± Liu Si Qian? Xia Yi answered loudly, ¡°No. What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Someone is damaging the third Elder¡¯s medicine garden in the Valley of Ju Xia, right at the foot of the mountain ahead of us.¡± Qing Hui sounded frustrated. ¡°Oh? Is that done by people from the demonic world?¡± Xia Yi asked, alerted. The people in the demonic world were insane in the novels. It may seem like they have ruined some flowers in Qi Shan, but actually those flowers might be poisonous to them. It was never easy to tell if there was no reason behind their actions, they might just be annoyed by the existence of the flowers. Or else how would these people be worthy of being named demonic? He did not hear an answer from Qing Hui. His best guest was that he was shaking or nodding his head. Then, his voice echoed from above, ¡°We are not sure if that¡¯s from the demonic world. When I saw him, he was ruining the fields with a magical item of a hoe. This person has great powers. He did not move an inch even when I pulled him. I tried to make him fight me. Although he did not fight back, my magic went dead and did not have an effect on him.¡± When it came to this part, Qing Hui sounded angry, ¡°I know that I am not good enough. But when I used magic, he even made fun of me and asked me if I was having a cramp.¡± ¡°That was outrageous.¡± Xia Yi felt angry for him as well, ¡°Ask his name and find the Elders to take revenge for you.¡± ¡°I asked. He said that his name was Gu Wen Zhu.¡± ??? ¡°What name again?¡± Xia Yi¡¯s heart was racing, he doubted his ears. ¡°Gu Wen Zhu. This name did not ring any bells. Seems like our sect has not been having quarrels with this person.¡± Before Qing Hui could finish his sentence, some animal in black passed in front of him just like an arrow shooting at the sky with four glowing lights around its legs. Xia Yi was riding on top of it. ¡°What¡¯s going on with Xia? He was in such a hurry. What was he riding?¡± Qing Hui looked at Xia Yi¡¯s vanished figure, searching for that animal¡¯s information in his brain. Four glowing hoofs, a horn on its forehead, the body of a horse, dragon scales¡­ Is that a kirin?! CH 44 Xia Yi went to the foot of the mountain riding on Kirin, his heart racing. He pulled in his lips tightly, his face growing red because of his excitement. His fists were on the sides of Kirin, he was squeezing so much that his knuckles were turning white. Could Zhu have transmigrated here too? Or maybe that¡¯s just another person with the same name? He had hope in his heart. He just wished Kirin could fly faster to let him see the guy earlier. But then he was afraid of the reality failing his hope, making him anxious, wanting Kirin to slow down. His breath and his heart beat speeded up, so fast that he had to take a few deep breaths to calm down. Don¡¯t have too much hope. That might just be another person carrying the same name. He recalled the moment when he transmigrated and Zhu was panicking seeing him vanished. Xia Yi felt sad and sobbed. Kirin seemed to be feeling the anxiety of Xia Yi, it was flying faster and faster. Not long after, a beautiful sea of vivid color flowers appeared in front of them. This must be the medicine garden mentioned by Qing Hui. Kirin flew low on top of the garden and brushed through the purple plants. It created a wave when it passed by, causing the purple straws to float up and down just like a swirl in the water spreading itself. Xia Yi popped his head out to search the lands beneath him. Suddenly, from afar, a familiar figure appeared in a corner. That figure was placing his hand on a shelter and staring at him and Kirin. That tall and strong build, that familiar blue shirt, that purple end on his sleeve on the right with his hand on the shelter. Who could this be if this was not Gu Wen Zhu? A happy sobbing slipped out from Xia Yi¡¯s throat. It was as if his heart was exploding. Kirin saw Gu Wen Zhu as well and made an excited growl, heightening its speed to fly towards him. Gu Wen Zhu was hoeing the land and standing straight to brush off the sweat on his face, then he saw a black spot coming nearer from the sky. That thing traveled extremely fast in the sky. It came close in just a while. He looked closer to discover that it was a hideous looking monster in black flying in the sky. He could see a figure sitting on it vaguely. Seeing that monster flying his way, Gu Wen Zhu showed an alarmed face with his hoe tightly held in his hands. Whatever that was. If that attacked him, he would not let it escape unscathed. He saw that thing came closer and closer. Gu Wen Zhu was staring at the creature¡¯s eyes wholeheartedly. He was preparing to hit it with his hoe when it bumped into him. Just when he was ready to go, a familiar voice came from the back of that creature out of the blue, ¡°Zhu!¡± It was Yi. Gu Wen Zhu froze on the spot. That monster stopped in front of him, panting with an open mouth, sticking its tongue out. A fluffy head popped up from its back. Those sparkly round eyes were filled with joy, his pretty nose was covered with drops of sweat, a pink color was glowing under his skin as fair as porcelain due to his excitement. He had the sun behind him, so there was as if an orange aura around him, making Gu Wen Zhu feel slightly dizzy. This was Xia Yi who he had been searching for these two days. Xia Yi saw Gu Wen Zhu standing blankly on the spot. Gu Wen Zhu closed his eyes first, then he opened his eyes again to look at Xia Yi unbelievably. Xia Yi could not help but call Zhu once again. ¡°Yi.¡± Gu Wen Zhu recovered from the shock, he hurried his way forward and extended his arms towards Xia Yi. Once he had his arms extended, Xia Yi immediately jumped into his arms just like a baby birdie flying back into its nest in the forest. ¡°Zhu, Zhu.¡± Xia Yi held Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s neck tightly, his eyes turned red. Although it had only been a short period of time, he had been dwelling in anxiety. He was afraid that he may not be able to get back this time, or he might get back after a long period of time. He had already lost his parents. He had no other families except Gu Wen Zhu. If he lost this connection again with him left alone in this cultivation world, he did not know if he could hang on any longer. Gu Wen Zhu held Xia Yi tightly, murmuring his name, kissing the top of his head. It was as if he had found his lost jewels and never wanted to let go again. Xia Yi buried his face against Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s neck, sniffing that familiar scent of grass and trees, listening to that husky voice, feeling that hug which was squeezing him so tightly that he almost could not breathe. His anxiety was then going away because of these. ¡°Zhu. How did you get here?¡± After a long time, Xia Yi asked softly in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms, his voice affectionate and loving. 179 made a sound as if he had a toothache. ¡°I am a hard core guy, but I can be gentle and cute in front of my wife.¡± Xia Yi felt embarrassed and howled in his mind, ¡°Go away now!¡± Then he switched to another voice without any difficulties, and spoke in his affectionate way, ¡°Zhu.¡± His voice sounded as sweet as honey. 179 could no more put up with it and disappeared in an instant. ¡°That night you just became blurry. And you did not respond even when I cried out to you. I wanted to use my hands to grab you but I was just grabbing air. I saw you vanishing, a circle of light surrounding you. So I just jump in without thinking too much.¡± Gu Wen Zhu recalled the panicking and the hopelessness of losing Xia Yi. He was still recovering from the shock. He held Xia Yi¡¯s face in his palms carefully to kiss him repeatedly, then he hugged him tight to feel the softness in his arms, to feel that he was real. ¡°I was looking for you in that light, but everything mixed up in front of me, I could not see clearly. I found that the surroundings turned back to normal when I was panicking, and I was standing here. I didn¡¯t dare to move at first, thinking that it might be some illusions, then I thought about the transmigration that you have been telling me about.¡± Gu Wen Zhu told his story. ¡°I didn¡¯t believe it before this. I thought that you had been deceived by Fang Xian Dao. Now I know that it is real.¡± ¡°I met Qing Hui just now. He said that he saw you in the medicine garden. I did not believe it when I heard your name.¡± In view of Gu Wen Zhu carrying an uneasy expression and pinching him from time to time to ensure that Xia Yi was real, Xia Yi felt sorry for him and ease his nerves by kissing on his face. Gu Wen Zhu said, ¡°I figured that maybe you are here too. Then I came to find you. However, I have looked around for miles and could not find anybody. There was no way for me to seek help. I did not know how long I would have to stay here, so I thought I might as well start farming a few acres of land. Then I will bring the crops with me to feed myself and I will be able to find you around the world.¡± That¡¯s why you are destroying Liu Si Qian¡¯s medicine garden? ¡°Then what have you been eating for the past couple of days?¡± Feeling sorry for him, Xia Yi was worried. ¡°You do not have to worry. I didn¡¯t starve. There are a lot of animals around here. They are not afraid of people nor do they hide from people. So I hunted a few rabbits to eat. I could not find anyone around. Then I returned here. I saw that the field had not been farmed before, only some grass was growing, and there was a hoe, so I thought there must be someone if there is farmlands. I decided to start farming a piece of land for food, then I will pay the owner of the land when I meet him.¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked around, with some uneasiness. ¡°Are you saying that these are not grass but herbs?¡± ¡°Then why are you fighting with Qing Hui?¡± Xia Yi did not answer his question. He did not wish to make him feel more anxious. This medicine garden belonged to Liu Si Qian, he would pay him back for Gu Wen Zhu if there were any consequences. ¡°That person just now was Qing Hui? I did not fight him.¡± Gu Wen Zhu explained. ¡°I was farming. I just opened up 25 points of land, then he came. He asked my name, then he grabbed my hoe from me straightly, and so I held the hoe from him. I saw that he was wearing the same clothes as Cheng Ming when we first saw him, so I wanted to ask him about you. He circled me and moved around with a plate in his hands. I thought that he might be having a cramp, but when I asked him about it he became angrier. I waited for him to finish his dance, but I did not have the time to ask him of your whereabouts, his plate became bigger, then he stepped on it to fly away. We really didn¡¯t fight.¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s black eyes looked innocent. ¡°I know.¡± Xia Yi gave him a kiss, then he ruffled his hair. His face was full of love and resignedness. Joy filled his heart, ¡°It was just a misunderstanding of Qing Hui. I will explain to him.¡± ¡°This grass, this herb. What do we do about it?¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at the roots of the grass that had been dug out all over the place hesitatingly, ¡°I need to compensate the owner.¡± Before the last word of his sentence could finish, he heard a strong angry voice rang from far away, ¡°Who is this? Why destroy my medicine garden?¡± With that yell, the both of them had been surrounded by a shadow. A huge sleek gourd descended from above and floated before the two of them in an instant. Behind the gourd were an army of Qi Shan Sect apprentices on various magical items. Qing Hui¡¯s UFO was closely following the gourd, he peeked down to look and said in anger, ¡°Master. This is that lad.¡± ¡°Go away, Yi. This man¡¯s power is not weak. Let me handle him.¡± Liu Si Qian stood at the front of the gourd steadily with a sword in his hand pointing at Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°You¨C¡± However, when he saw Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face, he halted his provocative words and swallowed them back. Liu Si Qian stared at Gu Wen Zhu, stunned, with a shock expression and his sword lowered. He asked to check, ¡°Leader?¡± Liu Si Qian raised his sword again to aim at Gu Wen Zhu once again with a serious face. ¡°No. You are not the leader. Who are you?¡± He was not like Cheng Ming who could hardly recognise people¡¯s faces, he knew that Gu Wen Zhu and Ciang Yi were different persons. These two only looked alike. Those apprentices could not wait anymore, ¡°It¡¯s useless talking to him. Elder. He disguised himself as our leader and destroyed your medicine garden. He must be from the demonic world. Please let us take him down.¡± Then, a few impatient apprentices flew towards Gu Wen Zhu with weapons in their hands. Seeing this scene, Xia Yi¡¯s mind went numb. What¡¯s happening? How could you draw your weapons just like that? With the apprentices attacking Gu Wen Zhu, Xia Yi moved up instantly and opened his arms to block in front of Gu Wen Zhu. He panicked and shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s talk. Don¡¯t fight!¡± After drawing their weapons, those apprentices were already moving with their swords and could not hold it off. The sharp end of the sword was right in front of the chest of Xia Yi. That sharp end of the sword was in front of Xia Yi at that moment with a few frightened faces showing on everyone¡¯s face. The screams of Liu Si Qian and Qing Hui rang beside Xia Yi¡¯s ears. He knew that he could not dodge it, so he directly closed his eyes for it. I hope that it only stabs into my shoulder. Please do not stab my organs and my arteries! However, that expected pain did not come. Two or three seconds later, he heard a few screams and the sound of things falling onto the ground. Xia Yi opened a gap with his eyes to look. He saw the people of the Qi Shan Sect were stunned and staring at his direction with terrified faces. Those apprentices who attacked were lying on the ground around twenty meters away, moaning painfully, unarmed. Xia Yi followed the direction which everyone was staring at to look behind him, he saw that Gu Wen Zhu was throwing those swords onto the ground with clanging sounds. He did not speak a word, only standing there, with a gloomy and ready-to-kill expression. With his head lowered slightly, the ends of his inward-pulling lips were pointing downwards. He stared at the bunch in front of him coldly. There was a monstrous blood-thirstiness exerting from him. CH 45 Liu Si Qian stared at him, stunned. This person in front of him reminded him of another person in his memories. In that fight he did not wish to remember, that person also stood in the hall of Yu Lu Men with his head slightly pointing down. Wu Qian Yuan, the head of Yu Lu Men, was decapitated. That person was carrying his head. Those eyes of the head were still opening lifelessly. Blood dripped from that person¡¯s sleeve and formed a red puddle on the ground. He was looking around him with monstrous eyes. Liu Si Qian met his eyes. That feeling of coldness and blood-thirstiness made him feel his heart tensing. He was so scared that it was as if he had been stared by a huge beast. Xia Yi recovered from the shock at this moment. Seeing that everyone was looking behind him with terrified faces, he quickly waved and said, ¡°We are friends. We are all friends. Don¡¯t panic. He is not a bad guy. He is my wife.¡± ¡°Wife?¡± Liu Si Qian suddenly came back to his senses. He looked at Gu Wen Zhu and then looked at Xia Yi. He was confused and could not respond. ¡°Right. Wife. This is also the person who had been mistaken by Cheng Ming as the immortal honourable leader Ciang Yi.¡± Xia Yi hurriedly explained. ¡°Then how did he get his powers? He had just defeated a few of my apprentices and had them blown away. Even I myself did not have the time to see it clearly.¡± Liu Si Qian was still a bit absent-minded, having a hard time to believe what had just happened. I don¡¯t know either. My dog has turned into a mythical beast. Radishes have turned into fruits from the heavens. Then I guess my man turning into ultraman is perfectly fine. These are all because of the fact that I am the chosen one. Xia Yi thus turned back to look at Gu Wen Zhu. He was tense and staring at the people around him fiercely. Xia Yi immediately soothed him with a soft voice, ¡°Zhu. Zhu. It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s safe now. It was a misunderstanding just now. Please don¡¯t be mad.¡± ¡°Misunderstanding? They almost killed you. You called that a misunderstanding?¡± Gu Wen Zhu spoke word by word in anger. His eyes were turning red again. His whole body was shaking slightly due to his fear of losing Xia Yi. With Gu Wen Zhu intending to fight again, Xia Yi knew that this did not look good. With everyone watching, Xia Yi hugged Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s waist tightly and said quickly, ¡°Babe. We are all friends. They are all my fellow apprentices. They didn¡¯t mean it.¡± Those apprentices who had been blown away had stood up with support and stumbled to them. They anxiously bowed and apologized to Xia Yi, ¡°Xia. It is all because of our ruthless approach. We didn¡¯t ask if you are really from the demonic world and drew our swords too quickly. We almost hurt you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fortunate that this man had blocked us, or else we couldn¡¯t absolve ourselves from the blame of what could have happened.¡± After saying so, they bowed deeply with folded hands. They grind their teeth while doing so due to the pain caused by some hurted parts, but they did not dare to make a noise. Gu Wen Zhu looked at Xia Yi who was hugging him tight. He saw his eyes were filled with anxiety. Gu Wen Zhu thus had his anger slowly die down and himself calming down. Although his expression was still stern, he did not seem ready to fight anymore. Xia Yi sighed in relief. ¡°Xia. Is this a he? He is your wife? Do you mean his name was wife?¡± Qing Hui observed Gu Wen Zhu over and over again without blinking, making sure that this man in front of him was indeed a man, asking those questions that were troubling him. Xia Yi was too lazy to explain, so he simply said, ¡°Male. His name is Gu Wen Zhu. My wife.¡± Liu Si Qian jumped down from the gourd, walked to Xia Yi, and talked in a lowered voice beside Xia Yi, ¡°Is, is this really your wife? He had been transported here as well?¡± He looked at that huge and tall figure of Gu Wen Zhu, who was with a stone-cold face, and spoke out that word ¡®wife¡¯ with difficulty. ¡°Right. He came here with me. He was located here as soon as he arrived. He didn¡¯t know your herbs and thought that those were only wild grass, so he thought to grow some food for 25 points of land.¡± Xia Yi explained, his voice becoming lower and lower. Liu Si Qian hence turned to look at the ground. Looking at the soil which had been turned up by Gu Wen Zhu, looking at those herb roots that had been destroyed into pieces, his face began to twitch, his mouth started to tremble. He hurried and ran to a ridge, stumbling on his way. He picked up those left pieces of herbs and held them in his palm, trying to put them back together. Finally he put them down hopelessly and covered his face with his hands. He said, sobbing, ¡°These are my Mu Ge. My Mu Ge. I had been stuck with my cultivation for long and hoped to break through with these Mu Ge. I had been waiting for them to bud for a few decades. They are all gone. They are all gone.¡± ¡°Elder. I am sorry to have destroyed your herbs. I don¡¯t know how I can compensate for this. You can grow them again. Zhu and I would look after them for you for a few decades to grow them back.¡± Xia Yi was full of guilt. He froze at the spot, without knowing what to do. In view of him like this, Gu Wen Zhu held his fingers and said to him softly, ¡°It¡¯s okay. If you have to stay here, we will do it together, no matter how many years we have to stay.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be deceived by Liu Si Qian.¡± 179, who had been silent all along, spoke, ¡°What kind of herbs is this? A few decades? Pooh. The bunch you grew and sold to the military camp last time cost only a few copper coins for a catty.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t grow any Mu Ge. What is with that few copper coins for a catty? Don¡¯t speak of this nonsense at this time. I am thinking of a way to compensate for Liu Si Qian.¡± Xia Yi was not happy about 179 sticking his head out right now. Why is he not even considering the current situation he is in. ¡°It¡¯s not nonsense. How can these onions change their name and turn into some magical herbs? Are you really not seeing this or have you become crazy?¡± 179 said as if he had been wronged, ¡°We had grown so many of them and Gu Wen Zhu had sold them to the military camp in the city.¡± ¡°Onions? These are our onions?¡± Xia Yi swiftly asked. ¡°Yes. These look exactly like those leaves of the onions that we had grown before.¡± 179 said discontentedly, ¡°I was in the farmland with you everyday. We served those onions together. I remember it vividly.¡± Xia Yi was confused. The leaves of the onions were not like these as he could recall. Those were more like scallions instead of these herbs that looked like some grass. Then he thought, is 179 seeing Kirin and the fruits of the heavens differently? ¡°Right. I have stored a lot of onions in the system storage space. Give me one.¡± Xia Yi told System. Just when he finished his sentence, he had a purple fruit as big as an egg in his hand. It was dark in color with some scales on it. Some light was glittering under the scales. ¡°Hey. See. Onions.¡± 179 spoke with annoyance, ¡°This Liu Si Qian just wanted to deceive you guys. He wanted you two to look after his lands for a few decades.¡± 179, you are good. The figure of Liu Si Qian here was about to collapse. He wanted to turn against Gu Wen Zhu, but he could not scold him seeing him standing fiercely with his face looking like Ciang Yi. And then he recalled that his husband was Xia Yi, who had been helping so much in the utopia. Xia Yi was almost killed by the apprentices of the sect. He was then further restrained from blaming them. But when he looked at those damaged herbs all over the place, he felt that his heart was as if burnt by hot fire. There was something stuck in his throat, making his face change between purple and white. He breathed rapidly like a blowing machine. ¡°Elder Liu. Please see what this is?¡± Xia Yi said suddenly. Liu Si Qian looked at Xia Yi with all the emotions, then he was drawn to stare at the purple fruit in his hand. ¡°Mu Ge? This is Mu Ge?¡± He screamed unbelievably. He walked towards Xia Yi at high speed and took that onion from Xia Yi¡¯s hands to put the fruit in front of him, observing closely. After identifying it for a while, Liu Si Qian was astonished, ¡°It really is Mu Ge.¡± He looked at the destroyed land and asked Gu Wen Zhu immediately, ¡°Have you dug this out from my land? It¡¯s not possible. My Mu Ge had only been budding and still needed a few decades to blossom. Until they grow fruits, we still need a few hundred years of time.¡± There was immense confusion in Liu Si Qian¡¯s words. Liu Si Qian then turned to Xia Yi, saying in a fast pace, ¡°Xia. Where is this fruit of Mu Ge from?¡± Onions, onions. You have saved the lives of me and Zhu. Xia Yi discreetly exhaled in relief. Now the two did not have to stay for a few decades, protecting the herbs of Liu Si Qian for the rest of their lives. Relieved, a smile appeared on his face, ¡°This? I grew it.¡± ¡°You grew it?¡± Liu Si Qian was shocked, then he began to doubt it, ¡°How old are you? How can you farm Mu Ges which require a few hundred years to grow?¡± ¡°If you do not believe it. I still have a lot.¡± Xia Yi said casually. ¡°How many do you have?¡± ¡°Approximately¡­ more than thirty catties.¡± Xia Yi replied, unsure. ¡°More¡­ more than thirty catties?¡± I didn¡¯t hear it wrong. Did I? He used catty? Liu Si Qian¡¯s face became serious again, ¡°Xia. No joke. I am asking you.¡± ¡°I am answering you. Okay. Then I will think about this.¡± Xia Yi frowned and tried to remember. ¡°I was wrong. It¡¯s not more than thirty catties.¡± Liu Si Qian sighed slightly, that¡¯s right. ¡°We have sold those catties. I have three acres land of production in my storage. That should be a few hundred catties?¡± Xia Yi calculated, frowning. He was not good at Mathematics his entire life. Gu Wen Zhu was clueless, but he did not show any signs about it. Then, Kirin silently walked towards him and lied down beside him without anybody noticing. It tilted its horn to one side and rubbed against Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s leg with the other side of its face. Gu Wen Zhu thought that it was his dog at home, so he used his hand to pat it. Kirin closed its eyes comfortably and licked his palm. With a few pats, Gu Wen Zhu found that the feeling of the touch was not quite right. He looked down to it and was startled. He remembered that Xia Yi rode this thing and arrived at this place. He was too excited just now and did not look closely. But when he did so, isn¡¯t this weird creature some monster from the mountains? Kirin had been stunned by Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s reaction as well. It saw Gu Wen Zhu looking at it with a strange look and a hoe tightly held in his hand, making it whine affectionately. That whining sounded like the sound of a thunder exploding. Gu Wen Zhu became nervous. He slowly walked closer to Xia Yi with his hoe and stood between Xia Yi and Kirin. After hearing Xia Yi talking about the hundreds catties of Mu Ge, Liu Si Qian was in shock and had lost interest in them. He only waved his hand resignedly and did not want to ask any more questions. Xia Yi saw him looking at that onion lovingly, reminding him of the present received from Meng Wan Zi when he got married. No wonder Qi Zhou fixed his eyes on them at that time. ¡°Elder Liu. Please count how much loss you had because of Zhu. You can keep this one for now. I will compensate the others for you.¡± Ten times. CH 46 Liu Si Qian held that onion in his hand, his eyes narrowed into a thin line, ¡°This land of mine, only half of those Mu Ges could grow and blossom. After blossoming, only half of those could produce fruits. The fruit had a strange aroma to it at its first stage, attracting a lot of Mu-Ge-eating monsters. Even if I protect them every day and night, only three or four of them could grow to its harvesting stage. Moreover, it¡¯s even harder to have such great quality.¡± ¡°I heard that Meng had two Mu Ges from his ancestors. They look okay. But he would not let me have them. He only said something like he would give those to me if I get married.¡± ¡°Xia. If you can sell this one to me, I am okay with the destruction. I can even fetch you a few cores to help you cultivate. How about this?¡± He was afraid that Xia Yi might underestimate his cores. Liu Si Qian immediately explained, ¡°Those cores made by me, every one of them needed me to refine them for days with all my heart. Everyone in the cultivation world would love to have one.¡± Xia Yi grinned and said to Liu Si Qian, ¡°Don¡¯t even mention it. You can keep this onion.¡± ¡°Onion?¡± ¡°I call it onion. Mu Ge is too hard to pronounce.¡± ¡°You are really an interesting person. Yi. Ho ho.¡± After saying so, Xia Yi told 179 to take a bunch of those out and had them in his arms. The pile was too high. The topmost one thus rolled down beside his feet. Xia Yi then kicked it away with his foot. That made Liu Si Qian frown. He quickly picked it up and carefully blew off the dust from its surface. ¡°This is compensation for your mental loss.¡± Xia Yi stuffed all the onions in his arms into Liu Si Qian¡¯s arms. Liu Si Qian swiftly held all of those, he replied quickly, ¡°Slowly. Slowly. Don¡¯t break the skin of the fruits.¡± Don¡¯t they have skin beneath their skin? Xia Yi thought about it. Then he ordered 179 to talk out a few radishes to give to Liu Si Qian, ¡°I have been here for a few times now. I haven¡¯t given you anything for your hospitality. I should give you these fruits of the heavens as a thank you gift.¡± Looking at all the Mu Ges and fruits of the heavens, Liu Si Qian¡¯s face became all red. In shock, he hardly produced any sounds with his throat. When Xia Yi watched him with a concerned look and suspected if he would faint just like Cheng Ming, he exhaled heavily, withstanding the shock. Then Xia Yi began to give every apprentice around him gifts. Everyone had a radish and an onion. ¡°Come come come. This is a little token to show my respect. Please have it.¡± Who would choose to not have it? Who could say no to the fruit of the heavens and Mu Ge? All these apprentices of the Qi Shan Sect had heard of the names of the fruits. They might not even have the chance to look at one, let alone having one for themselves. If they had the chance to look at one of those, they could tell stories about it for a good few years. Now that not only could they touch it, they could also have it. They could look at it all they want whenever they wish to. They could even have a bite of it. A feeling of disbelief rose from their heart. ¡°My fellow apprentice. Is this the real thing?¡± asked one of the apprentices, observing the onion and the radish in his hands carefully. The elder apprentice was also lost, ¡°How am I supposed to know? You think that I have seen this before? But if the Elder said that it is the real thing, it is the real thing.¡± Some apprentices were already rubbing off the tears due to their excitement, ¡°I have to go back and put it on the offering table. I am bringing it home during the new year holidays to let my parents see it.¡± Liu Si Qian had already recovered from the shock of seeing and having all those Mu Ges and fruits of the heavens. He put away all the onions and radishes. Then he tidied his clothes. Xia Yi saw him opening his mouth and about to tell him something, he quickly stopped him with his hand, ¡°Don¡¯t ask. Don¡¯t ask anything. I didn¡¯t do bad things to earn these. You can just keep them.¡± Liu Si Qian thus closed his opened mouth. It¡¯s fine not to ask. Those fruits are real, that¡¯s what matters. A gift from the gods. Thank you, my leader. Standing before Gu Wen Zhu, he smiled and nodded, ¡°Gu and our leader Ciang Yi do look alike. It is not Ming¡¯s fault to have mistaken you. However, despite the similarities, the difference between you is huge.¡± Our leader Ciang Yi was elegant, out of this world. No mortals could compare with him. Xia Yi stood in front of Gu Wen Zhu, nodding and touching his own chin, ¡°Yes. They only look alike. There is a huge difference between them.¡± My Zhu is handsome and dignified. How could Ciang Yi catch up to his youth? ¡°Let¡¯s go. You two should return to the sect.¡± Liu Si Qian jumped onto his gourd, he turned to talk to Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°I still have something to do. You can go. Thank you for Xia¡¯s gifts to me and our apprentices. I should give you something in return if I have the chance.¡± Then, he rode the gourd under his feet, ascended to the sky and flew away. The other apprentices thanked the two sincerely and finally rode their magical items to go back. Concerning Gu Wen Zhu, he was still having an issue with Kirin. Kirin had been wanting to walk up to him and rub him, but Gu Wen Zhu had been shouting at it and pushing it back with his hoe. Kirin did not understand. It only swung its tail more vigorously, making the soil that Gu Wen Zhu had turned up splashing everywhere. ¡°Yi. What is this thing that you have just rode?¡± Gu Wen Zhu could only ask Xia Yi and blocked it with his hoe. Xia Yi rolled his eyes and walked towards Kirin. Seeing this, Gu Wen Zhu quickly tried to pull him away, but instead, Xia Yi smiled and called that monster, ¡°Kirin. Son. Come to Papa.¡± That monster then came to Xia Yi. It licked his hands and rubbed him affectionately. Such a familiar scene. An idea came to Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s mind. He suddenly remembered seeing a dark figure coming with him when he jumped into that light swirl seeing Xia Yi get transmigrated. Would that dark figure be our dog? It came here too and became like this? Thinking of this, Gu Wen Zhu asked Xia Yi, hesitating, ¡°Kirin? Is this our Kirin?¡± ¡°Right. That¡¯s it.¡± Xia Yi scratched Kirin¡¯s chin. Kirin was tilting its head to make him more comfortable, ¡°You didn¡¯t like it in the first place. It only has one horn more and you did not recognise it.¡± He then side-eyed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hoe, ¡°And you wanted to hit it.¡± Gu Wen Zhu immediately put down the hoe in his hand. He surrounded Kirin to look at it, ¡°¡­I think there is not just one horn more.¡± ¡°You are talking as if you recognised it right away. Who got scared and ran around in the mountains?¡± 179 scoffed, ¡°I can¡¯t understand you guys. Kirin hasn¡¯t changed at all. It¡¯s just another world, then everyone becomes blind.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been an eye-opener for me. The things that I have seen these days are all mentioned by the elderlies and the old books. How could I know that everything was real?¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at those figures that were disappearing at the edge of the sky, feeling shocked. Xia Yi curled his lips, he wanted to tell him that those were nothing, he had his magical item as well. But when he thought about the stability of his winter gourd, he thought things would be better left not mentioned. ¡°Zhu. How did you get their swords just now? I didn¡¯t see it.¡± Xia Yi recalled what Gu Wen Zhu had just done and asked with curiosity. Gu Wen Zhu heard him mentioning it, his face turning gloomy again with a hint of anger. However, with Xia Yi waiting for his reply curiously, he tried to suppress that anger and began to think, ¡°I can¡¯t describe it. I only wanted to stop those swords so badly that their motions began to slow down in my eyes.¡± Gu Wen Zhu closed his mouth after answering calmly, clearly did not want to talk about it anymore. Seeing him like this, Xia Yi stopped asking. He only used his head to bump his forehead softly, making Gu Wen Zhu relaxed and started to show his gentle expression. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Bring me to your house in Qi Shan.¡± Saying softly, Gu Wen Zhu used his hand to tidy Xia Yi¡¯s hair on his face. Xia Yi pulled in his lips, then he took Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand, ¡°Then let¡¯s not ride Kirin. We will walk there.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Gu Wen Zhu had always been obedient to him. They followed the sidepath beside the medicine garden. Xia Yi introduced everything to Gu Wen Zhu on their way. Kirin dashed to the very front to try catching some rabbits or little animals, jumping left and right. The site of this cultivation world had been surprising Gu Wen Zhu. Everything was shocking to him. Xia Yi knew that the view was beautiful, but he had been thinking of ways to get back, being anxious all day, hence he did not have the mood to appreciate the surroundings. Now that his darling Gu Wen Zhu was right beside him, he could finally relax and look around. Looking up, they could see strange mountains that blocked the sky. There was water floating beside them with odd-looking stones in between. The island floating in the air had a thin white layer of clouds around it. They could vaguely see it but it was hard to tell if it was close or far away. The cranes were flying above them, looking like some drawings done with ink, creating brushes on the blue sky. Some weird sound echoed from behind them, breaking the silence. That sounded like someone hitting the ground with a stick rhythmically. Xia Yi halted and turned, thinking, haven¡¯t all the apprentices of the Qi Shan Sect flown away? I didn¡¯t see anyone just now. Where did this person come from? When he looked, there was nothing behind him on the road. The lands on both sides were empty. Only two birds with their name unknown and colorful tails flew through on top of them, tweeting. ¡°What?¡± Gu Wen Zhu saw him stopping and looking around, so he turned to look back as well. ¡°Nothing. I thought I heard something and someone was behind us. I must have made a mistake.¡± Xia Yi turned and walked forward, holding Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand. A breeze of wind softly touched their faces, bringing with it the scent of the grass. Xia Yi was in a great mood. He swung their arms while he was walking. Smiling towards the person beside him, showing his canine teeth, his clear eyes were filled with shards of sunlight. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s sharp outline had softened, he rubbed his head, ¡°Are you this happy seeing me?¡± Xia Yi nodded heavily, then he took his hand, rubbing his own face on the back of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s, saying gently, ¡°I am just happy.¡± Gu Wen Zhu halted his breath, he felt he could not walk anymore. He pulled Xia Yi into his arms softly and kissed him on his fluffy head, ¡°I am happy too.¡± When the two of them continued to walk forth, that strange noise rang again. This time around, Gu Wen Zhu heard it as well. He turned in confusion, but he saw nothing again. He carefully turned back to walk for some distance, looking around with his eyes on the way. However, he could only see the wind brushing on the herbs. It was just like a wave hitting on the wheat. He could not see anything more than that. ¡°179. What was following us just now?¡± Xia Yi asked System without knowing what more he could do. After a while, the voice of the system rang, sobbing, ¡°I didn¡¯t notice.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± This was the first time that he heard 179 so emotional, Xia Yi hurried and asked, ¡°Did something happen?¡± It must be huge to make 179 cry. ¡°Are you out of electricity over there in the room?¡± Xia Yi asked with a serious expression. ¡°No. It¡¯s the technical system. We have found him at last.¡± 179 sobbed. He was so excited that he could hardly control himself. Xia Yi knew that the technical system had been missing for a long time and 179 had been worrying about him. Upon hearing this news, Xia Yi was excited as well, ¡°Really? Where did they find him?¡± ¡°Our colleagues saw him on TV.¡± ¡°On TV? Has he become an actor?¡± Xia Yi spoke, stunned, ¡°Your technical system is alright. He can even become a star after doing MLM.¡± ¡°No. Not an actor. It was a news reporting program. The most updated episode was about how a few departments in that place had demolished an illegal mine, saving a lot of people.¡± 179 had not fully calmed down yet, ¡°Our colleagues saw him, among those who had been rescued.¡± ¡°He was sitting on a bench of the police station, eating mouthfuls of noodles.¡± 179 was about to cry, ¡°There were two empty food boxes next to him.¡± CH 47 Whoa¡­what? For all this time that we couldn¡¯t contact the technical system, he had been deceived to work in the mine? No wonder there was no signal in the system world despite how hard they had been searching. The coal mine was some hundred meters underground, with no electricity. People needed to use oil lamps to light their way. It would be odd to have found him. ¡°Your colleague has been rescued. Congratulations.¡± Although the technical system was not very reliable, he had been treated poorly. Seeing 179 this happy, Xia Yi felt happy for him too. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Speaking of which, can systems turn into human form?¡± Xia Yi asked out of curiosity. ¡°Of course. We can transform into human form, have the same physiological characteristics and formation as humans have.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t you show me yourself as a human?¡± Xia Yi asked, curiously. ¡°Do you need some authorization? Or are you not able to do it yet?¡± ¡°No.¡± 179 answered with a stern voice, ¡°I just don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I only want to stay where I am.¡± After saying so, 179 said, ¡°Host. I would like to apply for an hour leave to escort the technical system back home.¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± Xia Yi could understand 179¡¯s pressing feelings. No reply from 179. He must have left. This speed. Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu went back hand in hand. But that weird sound behind them, not too far and not too close, vanished whenever they stopped. They could not see a thing whenever they turned around. So when that sound happened again, Gu Wen Zhu and Xia Yi exchanged a look. The two walked as if nothing had happened, then they turned quickly without any signs. ¡°In the field on the side.¡± Xia Yi shouted, pointing at the medicine garden on the right. He saw a wooden rod the moment he turned, and that swiftly ducked. ¡°Someone was lying in the field with weapons. Catch him.¡± Gu Wen Zhu had already dashed out with lightning speed. He grabbed that small portion of wooden rod that was peeking out, and he shouted at the same time, ¡°Get out now.¡± He pulled with both hands. The wooden rod had been pulled out with his shouts. But then it was empty around him. They did not see the ambush they were expecting. ¡°Where is the guy?¡± Xia Yi ran up as well, searching with Gu Wen Zhu in the field. Nothing. How strange? Is that person invisible? Both of them look at the wooden rod in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hands. By then they realized that there was the knife section of the hoe beneath it. It was a hoe. Who had been following them discreetly with this hoe? Does someone want to harm them? Gu Wen Zhu pulled Xia Yi to make him stand behind him. He, alerted, looked around, and shouted loudly, ¡°Who is following us. Please show yourself and explain.¡± No one came out. There was only one rabbit jumping around, playing. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Yi pulled Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s sleeve, ¡°Let¡¯s get back quickly. It¡¯s strange around here.¡± Looking around him, Gu Wen Zhu nodded, and he threw the hoe away casually. However, that hoe did not fall onto the ground when he released it, it still stuck to his palm. Gu Wen Zhu hurriedly swung his arm, but that hoe was consistently swinging with his movements wildly and did not fall. Xia Yi quickly held onto the hoe and pulled, but that hoe was as if a part of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s palm. It would not bulge however hard he pulled. ¡°Zhu. What do we do?¡± Xia Yi panicked, he pulled that hoe with more strength, with all his strength. It would not depart from him even with Xia Yi¡¯s veins popping on his forehead. Xia Yi moved away his hands and began to shout around him towards the air. ¡°Who are you? What do you want? Come out. What good is to stick a hoe in someone¡¯s hand? Come out if you have the guts.¡± Silence. Xia Yi, panting, hands removed, said angrily and anxiously, ¡°I will go back and find the elders. They know magic. They will find a way to take the hoe away.¡± All of a sudden, Gu Wen Zhu had something come to his mind, he felt as if he could know what that hoe was thinking. It was as if it knew that it would be thrown away so it felt scared and nervous. This feeling was extraordinary, he could not put it in words. But he just knew the feeling of the hoe, as if they were one. ¡°Zhu, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Yi, seeing Gu Wen Zhu frozen on the spot with a weird expression, asked worriedly. Gu Wen Zhu frowned and thought for a while, he told Xia Yi unsurely, ¡°Yi. I think there is no one.¡± ¡°What do you mean by no one?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like the hoe wanted to follow me. It was delighted to see me.¡± It wanted to follow you by itself? Xia Yi was stunned, he could not comprehend. ¡°I feel like I could understand its feelings. This is what it was thinking. There is no one.¡± Gu Wen Zhu explained with hardship. ¡°You are saying that this is one hoe fairy?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was lost, ¡°I had used it to turn up the soil at first and I didn¡¯t feel anything wrong with it.¡± In shock, Xia Yi looked closely at that hoe. It looked normal. A normal wooden rod with a black iron knife. There was still some soil on it due to it having been used to turn up the soil. ¡°Hi. Are you a hoe fairy?¡± Xia Yi asked, ¡°If you are, please move to let me know.¡± That hoe was not moving. It just stuck in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand. ¡°Hoe fairy¡­ hoe fairy¡­¡± This did not seem like it. It was more like a magical item. Xia Yi murmured. An idea came to his mind, Xia Yi looked at Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Zhu. Please tell me how you discovered this hoe.¡± ¡°When I was sent here to that piece of land, there was this hoe on the side. I thought that maybe someone left this here, so I borrowed it and used it.¡± ¡°Did anything happen in between? Think harder.¡± Gu Wen Zhu thought, frowning, and asked with hesitation, ¡°My hand had been cut. Some of my blood stuck to the handle of the hoe. Is that strange to you?¡± Yes. That is. Don¡¯t we need the blood of the owner to make a magical item? In order to make us understand the item. Gu Wen Zhu thought a little more, ¡°Then your fellow apprentice arrived. He danced in front of me. He was about to touch me but I used the hoe to block him. Right. And there is another strange thing. Whenever I use my strength, I feel warm with my body, as if there was a warm current flowing in my body to the hoe.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s half-finished winter gourd magical item had been produced with the use of medicine, so he was not familiar with the way to make one. He could still check it out though he did not know how to make it. Xia Yi began to teach Gu Wen Zhu the method system had taught him. After listening to Xia Yi¡¯s talk, Gu Wen Zhu concentrated instantly and saw that hoe shrinking, turning into the size of a brooch in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s palm. It really was a magical item. Xia Yi was astonished. He almost jumped. The next second, Gu Wen Zhu grabbed the air, and that hoe returned to its original size and appeared in his palm. However, there was silver light glittering on its wooden rod, sparkling with cold light. That hoe had turned into a sharper shape. The light flew with it, as if there was electricity on it or there was some magic hidden in it. This hoe had already transformed from its old and blunt shape. It was sharp and shiny. It looked like a spear that had been put away for long but finally had the chance to be used again. Gu Wen Zhu was connected with the magical item. He felt a warmth flowing in his body instantly. Without anyone teaching him, he swung that magical item around and pointed it upward in a tilted angle. That silver light shot up like an arrow. In that instant, strong wind swirled around him like a storm in the sea, making leaves go flying in the wind. There was a red light lingering in the sky with colors surrounding it. Xia Yi opened his mouth, standing there, stunned. He looked at Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hoe, no, spear, and felt like he was looking at the god of war. He was standing tall like a pine tree. His imposing manner was as strong as the sun. His eyes were sharp, making people have a pressing feeling. He pulled his lips inwards and formed a cool silhouette. Xia Yi felt that Gu Wen Zhu, standing in front of him, was both familiar and unfamiliar to him. He felt like he was someone that he knew, but he could not think of anything about that person even if he thought about it. In that split second, some scenes appeared in his mind. There was the back of a man wearing a black robe, holding in his hand a spear dripping in blood and standing in a hall. A lot of bodies were lying around. The sleeves of that man danced in the wind. It was like the god of death had descended. The scene changed. He was in a pool of water. The water level was deep and light was glittering with the waves. He was floating along the wave and someone was mumbling beside his ears, Nan, Nan¡­ That voice was soft and gentle. Stop thinking immediately! Stop thinking! Xia Yi came back to his senses, alerted. How do you have the time to think about another man right f**king now? What kind of soap opera is this? Continuing looking at Gu Wen Zhu with the spear in his hand, Xia Yi felt a scared emotion. He could not figure out what he was afraid of, still, he could not help but call out softly, ¡°Zhu.¡± His voice echoed beside Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s ears, he glanced at Xia Yi and put away his spear quickly. The wind halted and the trees fell silent. After that spear had been put away, the sharp blinding light vanished, the hoe turned back into a black hoe. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s strong and sharp manner had disappeared as well, he had returned to his gentle self just like before. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Yi.¡± He asked softly. ¡°Zhu. I almost did not recognise you just now.¡± Xia Yi was still dazed, he felt complicated in his heart. ¡°Listen to yourself.¡± Gu Wen Zhu smiled with all the love in his eyes. Xia Yi recalled the scene just now and began to feel excited again, ¡°Zhu. You were so cool just now. Try and ride it to fly in the sky. Quick.¡± His half-finished winter gourd magical item was not good enough and could not be used. Maybe he will need to sit in the passenger seat from now on. ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s have a try.¡± Gu Wen Zhu answered. The hoe in his hand shined with strong light and it turned back into a silvery white spear again with a subtle elegance. It floated low in the air. Some complicated patterns were shown on the handle of the spear. The patterns were almost floating and circling. Gu Wen Zhu jumped lightly and stepped on the spear handle steadily. Under the light, he bent to extend his hand towards Xia Yi. Xia Yi grabbed onto that big and thick hand without hesitation. With Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s pull, he fell into his arms. The spear flew steadily, with the sounds of breaking through the air, it flew towards the sunsetting sky. When they flew past the ground, the sunsetting light fell on that calm water and spreaded out as red light. Floating vaguely, the clouds merged with the evening mist around the green mountains. They seemed to have been covered with a layer of powder. Within a while, the spear flew higher and higher and entered the clouds. After a few seconds, it exited the clouds carrying Gu Wen Zhu and Xia Yi. Xia Yi laid his head on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s chest. Surrounded by his arms securely, although he was only stepping on the rod of a spear, he still felt safe. Kirin was flying around them in circles. It would dash forward from time to time and dive into the thick layers of clouds. Then it would peek merrily to see both of them with its opened mouth and tongue sticking out. The sun was going down. The sun slowly approached above the clouds. Layers of light and colors were touching each other. The two held each other in silence, appreciating the beautiful view in front of them. CH 48 ¡°Ah¨C¡± Xia Yi trembled because of the scream of 179 inside his head. Gu Wen Zhu tightened his arms immediately, asking, ¡°Are you feeling cold?¡± Xia Yi hurried and shook his head, ¡°I am not cold.¡± ¡°Host. Didn¡¯t you have acrophobia? Why am I in the sky when I get back?¡± 179 spoke in an excited manner, ¡°And the rod is this thin! I didn¡¯t have enough mental preparation for this.¡± Xia Yi snorted, ¡°I don¡¯t always have acrophobia. It won¡¯t show its symptoms when Zhu is around. Didn¡¯t you go and escort the technical system? How are you back in such a short period of time?¡± ¡°Yes. When he was not in human form anymore, he came back in an instant.¡± 179 sounded happy again. This technical system did not sound too bright. He went mining if he was not doing MLM. Xia Yi reminded 179, ¡°Don¡¯t let him back out after this. Or else you might lose him again.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Although Xia Yi said that he was not feeling cold, Gu Wen Zhu insisted on going back after touching his cold forehead. Kirin saw the spear descending, so it hurried to fly in front of it to lead the way, leading Gu Wen Zhu back to Wang Zhu Yard. Upon entering the yard, Xia Yi brought Gu Wen Zhu to look around, ¡°How is it? This house.¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded, ¡°It¡¯s nice, but the land in the corner is too fertile for planting bamboo. If we can plant some chili peppers, spring onions and add a stand for planting some loofah, then it would be nice.¡± Such a good wife. Thinking exactly like your husband. Then he looked around the house and said in a picky manner, ¡°They did not prepare a cabinet for you to store your underwear. I will find some wood to make one for you if I am not transported back in a couple of days.¡± Then he picked up to check the underwear which was hanging on the back of a chair, ¡°This uses wooden buttons. What if it hurted you during your sleep at night? I have to take this away and put some cloth ones on.¡± The aroma of food wafted into his nose, making Xia Yi realise that there was a yarn cover on the table. He opened it to look and found that the servants had already sent food. The food had been placed on the table steaming hot. ¡°Let¡¯s eat. Let¡¯s eat.¡± Xia Yi was about to put rice into the bowl, but stopped by Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°These dishes are too light. They are not to your taste. I spotted the kitchen on the side just now. Let me make a couple of dishes which you like.¡± After saying so, he rolled up his sleeves to walk towards the kitchen. Xia Yi was about to say something to the system, but he heard 179¡¯s irritated voice before he could do so, ¡°I know I know, you are happy now. Don¡¯t say a thing.¡± After dinner, Gu Wen Zhu started to look into that area of bamboo. This pile of bamboo growing in the yard was tall and elegant. With the green tiles, gray walls, red doors, and those roofs of the house, the scene was just like a picture on paper. So very beautiful. So very elegant. Gu Wen Zhu walked to the bamboo and crouched. He used his hand to pick up some soil, twisting it with his fingers. Good soil. Good for planting chili peppers. Then he stood to knock onto those bamboo with his knuckles. Good bamboo. Can be used to make a bed in the yard. The leftovers can also be used to make a few baskets. He crossed his arms, thinking, I will cut these all down tomorrow morning. Xia Yi was full. Brushing his stomach with his hand, he approached Gu Wen Zhu from the back, eyes starting to look at improper places. Since Gu Wen Zhu was standing with his arms crossed, the outline of his back was shown through the clothes, the silhouette smooth and beautiful. The muscles on his arms slightly popped, showing his strength. Xia Yi had drawn a lot of human bodies for practicing before, but he had never encountered a body as perfect as Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s. Then he recalled that wedding night which had not ended properly, he began to consider his next move anxiously. Gu Wen Zhu was thinking if he needed to make a cage for Xia Yi, then he felt a warm chest pressing onto his back. At the same time, Xia Yi¡¯s intentionally hoarse and sweet voice rang beside his ears, ¡°Zhu. Let¡¯s play in the room.¡± ¡°What do you want to play under broad daylight?¡± Alerted, 179¡¯s voice rang, ¡°Host. Can you mind the situation? I am still here.¡± ¡°Right. You are so silent I almost forget about you. 179. Go and have a leave, find the technical system and hang out with him.¡± After hearing that, 179 did not speak anymore and vanished without a trace. Gu Wen Zhu felt the hot breath of Xia Yi on his neck, a slight aroma wafted into his nose. His face turned red immediately. He stared at the front straightly, looking nervous. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu this way, Xia Yi felt that it was hilarious. Gu Wen Zhu was a serious person. He must have thought that this kind of thing should be done only at night except for the heat. He even suspected that Gu Wen Zhu was born a stern baby. He must have stared at the midwife frowning seriously when he was first born. Xia Yi¡¯s hand was like a flexible snake, it followed the silhouette and dived right into Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s clothes from the gap. Gu Wen Zhu swallowed. His Adam¡¯s apple rolled up and down. He looked around him with a struggling expression, words slipped out from his mouth weakly, ¡°Yi. It¡¯s still early. Let¡¯s wait for the night to come.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s face turned cold. He retrieved his hands and looked at Gu Wen Zhu with a stone-cold face. Just when Gu Wen Zhu was panicking and prepared to sooth Xia Yi with words, Xia Yi grasped Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s collar and dragged him into the room. Fucking get in here! Xia Yi immersed himself in a warm big wooden bucket of water with closed eyes, satisfied. The steam came up from the water and lingered around, making not only his face red but also his exposed skin pink. Gu Wen Zhu was busy in the kitchen, staring at the stove to cook a pot of pigeon soup. He went out not far just now and met a servant, asking him what he needed. When that servant heard that he was looking for a chicken or a pigeon for cooking, that servant left, and the newly killed small pigeon was sent to them after a while. Now that the soup is ready, an alluring scent came out from it. Gu Wen Zhu tasted it, then he carefully filled a bowl with it and transported it to Xia Yi on a tray. ¡°Don¡¯t bathe for too long. You will catch a cold.¡± Pushing the door open, he saw Xia Yi still in the water and reminded him, worried. Xia Yi just lazily made a sound to reply to him, then he suddenly moved his nose and opened his glittering eyes, ¡°What smells so good?¡± Then he saw the bowl in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hands. He quickly stretched out his hands, ¡°Gimme that. Gimme that.¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s too hot. Give it a rest to cool down. You will drink it after getting out.¡± Gu Wen Zhu then put the pigeon soup on the stand beside the door, and he went to the closet to find some clean clothes for Xia Yi. Smelling that scent, Xia Yi swallowed hard, he hit the table beside the wooden bucket in a hurry, ¡°Put it beside me. I will drink it when it¡¯s cooler.¡± There was a plate of grapes on that small table as well for him to eat during the bath. Gu Wen Zhu could not help but listen to him, he shook his head resignedly and turned to hold that tray. When he arrived at the table, Xia Yi stood up immediately in a hurry, trying to catch that. However, he slipped just when he stood, and he fell towards the side of the bucket. With his hands holding the tray, Gu Wen Zhu had no free hand to help, and so he could only shout to tell him to be careful. Xia Yi was about to fall, his hands grabbing in panic and swinging towards the tray. Seeing that the tray was inclining in an instant, that hot steaming pigeon soup poured towards Xia Yi naked shoulder. ¡°Host!¡± 179 screamed in fright, his robot voice cracking, some rustling noise rang along with it. Xia Yi¡¯s eyes opened widely in horror at that moment. He had just put his hand on the edge of the bucket to support himself, but then the oil and the soup spilled and fell onto him, and there seemed to be no way for him to avoid it. At this moment, that bowl of soup stopped in the air. It was as if the pause button had been pressed on to stop the scene, and the soup held its position of falling from the bowl in the air. It would not be precise to describe it as the pause button being pressed, because the steam still slowly wafted from it though the soup was not falling anymore. And a few drops of oil which were the closest to Xia Yi¡¯s skin in the air, stopped at only a few mili-meters away from his fair skin. With an open mouth, Xia Yi kept his stance, supporting himself with the edge of the bucket. ¡°Come out quick.¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s calm voice rang urgently. Xia Yi recovered from the shock, responded with a sound quickly and went out of the bucket naked. ¡°Is that you? Did you stop the soup in the air?¡± Xia Yi did not have the time to care for his naked body, he dashed to Gu Wen Zhu and asked, astonished. Gu Wen Zhu hesitated and nodded, ¡°Perhaps.¡± He was staring at the view in front of him with full focus, the soup in the air began to float in the reversed direction, from the lower point to the higher point, and went back into the bowl. ¡°Wait.¡± Xia Yi said quickly. Gu Wen Zhu let the soup stop, and he looked at Xia Yi nervously. Xia Yi stretched out his hand to pick up half of a pigeon in the air. He blew at the pigeon and put it into his mouth, then he said to Gu Wen Zhu casually, ¡°It¡¯s alright now. Fill up the bowl.¡± Then the soup went back into the bowl without spilling one drop. Xia Yi glanced at that bowl of soup on the table, then he jumped to the front of Gu Wen Zhu and looked at him with sparkling eyes, ¡°Zhu. You can control water.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was confused, with anxiety. But when he saw Xia Yi happy like that, that anxiety had gone from his mind. He shook his head resignedly, hurried to take some clean clothes and put them onto him. ¡°Host. You are really an eyesore.¡± 179 could not watch anymore. Gu Wen Zhu helped him put his clothes on, then he took a clean towel to cover his head and his face, intending to rub his head with it. ¡°Wait.¡± Xia Yi was not good at this. He had short hair in his home world and could shake his head just like a dog to make it dry. But it was different here. He had long hair and he needed to do a lot every time he washed his hair. After washing it, he even needed to rub it for a long time, then let it dry for a long time, which was really troublesome. ¡°Zhu. Let¡¯s try something. Can you take away the water from my hair.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s eyes were sparkling, eager to try. Gu Wen Zhu halted slightly, ¡°I will try.¡± Just when the last word of his sentence had finished, plenty of water drops popped up on Xia Yi¡¯s head. Those water drops were going up and confined into one, floating with small waves. ¡°Wow!¡± Xia Yi exclaimed loudly, his eyes were round and widened, then he stretched to touch his head. Seeing him like this, Gu Wen Zhu chuckled, and had the idea of messing with him. When Xia Yi extended his finger, wanting to poke that water floating in the air out of curiosity, he found that it was transforming. Slowly four hoofs and a pair of antlers grew from it, turning into a deer eating grass. That deer was like a transparent crystal artwork. It was just like the real thing. And it blinked towards Xia Yi with its tilted head and its big eyes. ¡°Wow wow!¡± Xia Yi could only add one more wow to express his surprise and shock. The deer lifted its legs and began to run in the air. Sunlight shone through its body. It created a small rainbow when it passed through, making it looked like a colorful shooting star. It was running, then it began to transform again. The legs and the antiers disappeared and turned into a tail. It was a fish now. ¡°Wow wow wow!¡± 179 could not keep it down anymore and shouted with Xia Yi. That fish was just like the deer. It was transparent all over it, as if it was made of crystal. In the air, the fish swam towards the front in agile motions, it moved with its flexible fins, little bubbles popped out from its mouth from time to time. There was a rainbow behind it after sunlight reflection as well. With its tail swaying left and right, the rainbow appeared in wave form in the air. Then, Gu Wen Zhu made a rabbit, a tiger, and a chick with it. Everyone looked lively. He even made a transparent Kirin, causing Kirin to look at it, stupefied, then it flew over, followed it and tried to grab it with its claws. Xia Yi¡¯s eyes were brightened, he enjoyed it fully and felt like he had entered a world he had been imagining when he was small. In those bed stories told by his mother, in those colorful dreams of his when he was small. And, in this house. CH 49 Until the water in the bucket had been all cooled up, Gu Wen Zhu then led the water into the drainage ditch in the yard. Xia Yi jumped into his arms and looked up at him, admiring, ¡°Zhu. You are good!¡± Gu Wen Zhu grinned, ¡°I just want to make you feel happy.¡± ¡°How is it only about making me happy? I am telling you, not only can this ability be used to do magical tricks, this can only be used to perform tasks. It is very very useful.¡± At night, the water is as chill as the water. A curled moon hung in the sky, radiating its light warmly. Xia Yi lay on a bed in the yard face-up, a layer of water covering his face. This is the cucumber juice Gu Wen Zhu had made for him. Then it had been congealed to become a water mask, sticking tightly onto his skin. Jumping, running, even laughing and crying would not make it fall. That water mask would follow Xia Yi¡¯s face to change itself, adjusting its formation. A small plate of dried grapes, dried mangos and beef jerky in his hand. He threw the food into his mouth and chewed sluggishly. These were made by Gu Wen Zhu extracting the water from the food. Xia Yi crossed his legs. He swung his fair legs casually and told Gu Wen Zhu who was beside him, proud, ¡°Zhu. I have been telling you, this ability of yours is not just a trick for showing people some cats and dogs, it is also very practical.¡± Gu Wen Zhu, smiling, patted his head. He got up and said, ¡°I will go get some apples and make you a bowl of freshly squeezed apple juice.¡± Xia Yi taught him the term ¡®freshly squeezed.¡¯ Gu Wen Zhu thought it was spot on. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s tall figure go into the kitchen, Xia Yi replaced his focus elsewhere. Humming, he stuffed dried grapes into his mouth. The sound of 179 sobbing rang in his mind. ¡°Stop sobbing. Technical system will be alright. You cannot eat these dried grapes.¡± Xia Yi did not even bother to ask. It must have been these couple of things. 179 sobbed again, sounding like he was crying. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Yi put down the dried grapes in his hands, ¡°Just tell me about it. Don¡¯t just cry.¡± ¡°This place is haunted.¡± 179¡¯s voice was trembling. ¡°Haunted?¡± Xia Yi quickly sat up, looking around, ¡°Where? Where is the ghost?¡± There was no sight of a shadow, let alone a ghost in the yard. ¡°It is outside in the bamboo forest.¡± 179 said in a small voice, whispering, as if the ghost would hear him with a louder registration. There was a large area of bamboo outside the yard. The bamboo swayed slightly in the gentle wind. The shadows of the bamboo fell all over the ground silently. Xia Yi followed 179¡¯s instructions to go towards the bamboo forest. He froze when he looked. A person was standing on top of the bamboo forest. He was tall, with his hands folded behind him and his back facing this yard. That person was wearing a large and loose gown. He seemed to be weightless and swayed together with the bamboo, floating up and down. It is really haunted. Sob. Xia Yi instantly felt cold and numb at the back of his head. All the hair on his body stood. He was about to call out to Gu Wen Zhu, but then the clouds moved away and the moon reappeared, a ray of light fell onto the bamboo forest. That person slowly turned around, showing himself from the shadow. Looking closely, this person¡¯s Qi Shan uniform was swaying in the wind. That face similar to Gu Wen Zhu was not showing any emotions. His eyes staring at the direction of the yard. This was Ciang Yi. Oh my. What is going on with this leader? He is already at the Qi Shan Sect to see his apprentices. Why is he peeking in people¡¯s yards in the middle of the night? Xia Yi was thinking if he needed to wave and greet him, then he recalled meeting him inside the enchanted area last time. He fell from the cliff and had been rescued by him. Not only had he not repaid him, he even punched him in the face when he was being transmigrated back to the farming world, with his middle finger showing. Oh no oh no. Quickly hide. How can you greet him after that? Xia Yi hurried and turned, heart pounding fast. He did not recognize me, right? The light is not sufficient during night. But even me, at the middle stage of the foundation phase, can have vision like an owl. Ciang Yi was the immortal leader, how could he not see me clearly? What if he comes to ask me about that? I hit him without a reason. He is innocent. If he comes, I will apologize sincerely. It is okay for him to hit me back. And I will give him a few catties of radishes and onions to apologize. Thinking of this, Xia Yi gritted his teeth. Then he turned to face Ciang Yi. He bowed with his face reddened, he shouted loudly when he stood straight again, ¡°Leader. Would you like to come over?¡± However, Ciang Yi did not answer. He only looked at him coldly, then he looked away to stare at the curvy moon. Xia Yi could only touch his head embarrassingly. He did not dare to sit either. He just faced Ciang Yi from afar, standing in the yard not moving. ¡°179. He is not a ghost. He is the Ciang Yi I have been telling you about. The leader I had mistaken for Zhu. See? I didn¡¯t lie. They are not the same person.¡± Xia Yi explained to System. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say it for sure. Now you don¡¯t have Gu Wen Zhu with you, how are you supposed to know that he didn¡¯t pretend to have entered the kitchen, changed his clothes and climbed the bamboo instead?¡± 179 was now very good at arguing. ¡°How have you become so unreasonable?¡± Xia Yi felt painful, ¡°You are such a stranger to me now. You were a cute and single system but now you are a sarcastic and single system.¡± 179 had been criticized in his painful spot, he started howling frantically, ¡°That is Gu Wen Zhu anyway. You can go and prove that he is not.¡± ¡°Zhu. Zhu.¡± Xia Yi called towards the kitchen with a voice that could only be heard from the yard, ¡°Come out.¡± After calling, he looked back at Ciang Yi, he was still standing there without moving an inch. But then no response from Gu Wen Zhu who had been heard from the kitchen. 179 sneered. ¡°Zhu. Zhu.¡± Xia Yi called out with a raised voice, ¡°Answer me if you can hear me.¡± It was all silent in the yard. No response could be heard whatsoever. 179 began to giggle. Xia Yi started to feel confused. Wasn¡¯t Gu Wen Zhu making apple juice for him in the kitchen? Why didn¡¯t he respond? Where did he go? He did not think that Gu Wen Zhu was Ciang Yi, but was worried about him getting into trouble because of the fight with the people in the sect during daytime, that someone may want to get revenge. It was not right. And so he sat up to find his shoes under the bed, preparing to have a look at the kitchen. ¡°So it¡¯s true. Men are not to be trusted. You thought Gu Wen Zhu was good to you? He only want to have sex with you.¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer to believe that there are ghosts rather than believing in those men.¡± ¡°We were happy when there were only the two of us. But you have to find that heartless man to hurt you.¡± It was too much for Xia Yi, he shouted angrily, ¡°179. Enough. If you say more bad things about him, we would not be friends anymore.¡± ¡°Who is your friend? Who wants to be your friend?¡± 179 yelled angrily as well, ¡°I don¡¯t care anymore. I¡¯ll shut it down.¡± Although he said that, 179 was playing music in his head, a quick rhythm in Hokkien. ¡°And so it¡¯s all sweet talking You have been wanting to dump me And so it¡¯s all honeyed words You have been giving untruthful promises Ah¡­ I am asking you Ah¡­ I am asking you Where did your conscience go¡± Xia Yi frowned. Just after he had pulled up the heels of the shoes, he saw Gu Wen Zhu walk out from the kitchen with a bowl carefully held in his hand, ¡°Yi. Come and have some apple juice.¡± ¡°I just called you. Why didn¡¯t you answer?¡± Xia Yi asked loudly, his face stern, with a hint of his wrath underneath. No words. Nothing went wrong. Making me look bad in front of 179. And that song was still looping in his brain. F**k. And I can¡¯t block that. It¡¯s so irritating. ¡°I went to the backyard from the kitchen just now. I saw this pear tree in the yard during the daytime. The pears on the tree have matured fully, so I wanted to make some pear juice for you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu explained. ¡°What happened? Why are you so grumpy after just a moment no seeing you?¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at Xia Yi¡¯s face, laughing, ¡°I have been failing to feed you to grow some fat, but your temper is surely bigger now.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t respond. I am worried about you.¡± Xia Yi talked back with rage, ¡°Who¡¯s got a big temper? I am a husband who loves his wife and will obey anything his wife orders.¡± After saying so, he walked back to the bed and sat down heavily. He kicked strongly so that his shoes flew meters away one by one. ¡°Right. Right. You are right. Your temper is not big. You are a sweetie.¡± Gu Wen Zhu put the bowl on the small table, then he picked up the shoes, and comforted him gently, ¡°Do you not want some juice? Let me help you¨C¡± ¡°I am not drinking. You give it to whoever wants it.¡± Xia Yi interrupted him with an irritated face. Then he picked up the bowl on the table, and splashed the content onto the bamboo on his side. The song was still playing in his mind. Anger rose in Xia Yi¡¯s heart. He smashed the empty bowl onto the stone pavement fiercely. The bowl broke into pieces with a loud smash. The song playing stopped as well. Gu Wen Zhu was stunned for a moment. He raised his head to look at him. Without a word, he bent over to pick up his shoes. Blowing away the dust on the shoes, he came back to Xia Yi and crouched before him, taking his foot to help him into his shoes. Sitting there, Xia Yi¡¯s chest, which was moving up and down due to heavy breathing, slowed down its movement. He looked down to see Gu Wen Zhu putting his foot into the shoes with a serious expression, he suddenly had an anxious feeling. 179 irritated him, so he became angry with him. What kind of husband who loved his wife was that? He had made up his mind to be a great husband before marriage, and this was how he treat his wife after marrying him? Gu Wen Zhu, speechless with his head down, had a strand of hair sliding down his neck and sticking to his face due to his movement of putting the shoes onto Xia Yi¡¯s feet. His eyelashes were pointing down. His expression was calm, soft, gentle and focused. Xia could not help but stretch out his hand, helping him to lift that strand of hair which was blocking the sight back up. The shoes were already on his feet, Gu Wen Zhu kept his crouching position, slowly raising his head to look at Xia Yi. His eyes were deep like obsidian. They were full of the softness that could make anyone fall for them. Those eyes were sparkling with the shimmering light from the moon. Xia Yi was stricken by those eyes. He became soft again. F**k why am I such a scum? His hand held its position beside Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s ear. Then it moved to the back of his head along the way. With little force, he pushed Gu Wen Zhu into his arms. Gu Wen Zhu also held his waist and let his head be buried against Xia Yi¡¯s chest. Xia Yi bent. He gave him kisses on the top of his head, onto his ebony black hair. He murmured affectionately, ¡°Baby. Sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to come at you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded in his arms. Xia Yi then said, ¡°I was angry with something else. It¡¯s not about you. I am always your sweetie.¡± It seemed like Gu Wen Zhu was chuckling, because Xia Yi felt a couple of vibrations of his shoulder. 179¡¯s shaking sobbing voice echoed again. What are you sobbing about? Laugh. Continue to laugh. Until you are satisfied. It almost made them argue. Xia Yi did not give any response to System. ¡°Host. Sorry.¡± 179 saw that Xia Yi was not replying to him, he thus carefully said, ¡°You apologized to Gu Wen Zhu. He has forgiven you. Now I am apologizing to you. Can you forgive me also? I admit that I am jealous. I am a jealous system. Ciang Yi and Gu Wen Zhu are not the same person.¡± Seeing Xia Yi focused solely on hugging Gu Wen Zhu, 179 could not help but begin to feel sad, ¡°If you hadn¡¯t been saying that I am single, I wouldn¡¯t have laughed at you like that. I will not be like that again. I was wrong. Sorry.¡± 179 was about to cry, Xia Yi, in view of that, started to admit his fault. ¡°Fine. I should apologize to you as well. I shouldn¡¯t have called you a single system.¡± ¡°Then we are good again. We are still BFFs from now on.¡± 179 smiled through tears, he hurried and said merrily, with the intention to make up with Xia Yi. Upon hearing 179¡¯s words, he remembered about Ciang Yi. He immediately pushed Gu Wen Zhu away and stood up, ¡°Zhu. Ciang Yi, the immortal leader, was outside in the bamboo forest.¡± Then he turned to look towards the bamboo forest. The shadows of the bamboo were swaying. There was no one on top of the bamboo. Only a curvy moon was hanging in the sky in silence. There was no Ciang Yi. CH 50 The very next day, Xia Yi woke up with Kirin licking him enthusiastically. He woke up in a dazz, pushing the enormous dog aside, he looked beside him with half-opened eyes, no one was there. Looking outside the window, the sun had already risen to the very top. It was nearly noon when he woke up. After getting up and washing himself, he walked around in the yard and found that no one was there. However, he found the breakfast left by Gu Wen Zhu on the table. He lifted the cover to see three buns and porridge, steaming, with a crunch dish of salted duck egg on the side of those. He could tell these were made by Gu Wen Zhu just by looking at them. One bun weighed a full 4 ozs, looking like a small ball. Right after he had put the bowl down, Gu Wen Zhu walked in from the yard. One of his hands carried a hoe on his shoulder, and he had a tray in his other hand. Some tidily folded clothes were on it. From those familiar colors and patterns, Xia Yi could tell that those were one of those uniforms of Qi Shan. Small drops of sweat were spreaded over Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s forehead, the clothes were soaking in sweat on his back. He must have been returning from the farmland. ¡°Zhu. Have you been farming Liu Si Qian¡¯s medicine garden?¡± A mouthful of bun stuck in Xia Yi¡¯s throat. Bad wife. No matter how much our house has, how many onions we have, we cannot afford you going farming everyday. We will need to compensate and lose everything. Gu Wen Zhu was taken aback for a moment, then he immediately explained, ¡°No. I walked around in the morning and met a few fellows. They were in the crowd yesterday with your fellow apprentices and they knew me right away. Then they told me about a piece of land at the foot of the mountain and said that I can farm there. So I spent the whole morning opening up 25 points of land, so that I can prepare food for you.¡± After that, he put the tray on the table and took the Qi Shan uniform, ¡°And I met Liu Si Qian. He gave me some clothes to change.¡± He said after thinking, ¡°I will make him a set of clothes when he comes over to our world.¡± Next, he went into the lavatory to wash himself. Xia Yi exhaled in relief and continued to eat. It was fortunate that he was not farming at the medicine garden. When Gu Wen Zhu walked out from the lavatory with the Qi Shan uniform on him, Xia Yi was stunned. He was chewing a bun in his mouth, with his hand holding a bowl of porridge, staring at the man in front of him, stupefied. The clothes that Zhu had been wearing usually were the kind of clothes that everyone in the village loved wearing, with simple cutting and fabric, dark blue if not navy blue. But he was tall, slender, and handsome. He looked good even with the normal farmer clothes on. He did not expect that, with different clothes on, he could look even more distinct and good-looking. As if he had changed from his school uniform, blue with white strips, loose, to a suit. That simple and sleek line of cutting and outline was showing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s perfect body. A belt with patterns was tightened on his waist to show his strong and slim figure. Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi staring, beginning to feel uneasy. He was suspecting if he was wearing it wrongly, so he pulled his sleeve discreetly. Xia Yi put down the bowl of porridge in his hand. He swallowed the bun in his mouth. Then he picked up the cloth on the table to clean his mouth at moderate speed, and had a sip of tea. He looked calm and unruffled. It was just that he was staring at Gu Wen Zhu in the whole process. The eyes were becoming brighter and brighter. Those eyes were full of light. This familiar expression¡­ Seeing Xia Yi¡¯s eyes switch to look at that bed with carvings, Gu Wen Zhu thought that things were not right. Then he saw him smiling warmly at him. That smile was full of sweet alluring scent. Gu Wen Zhu could not help but glanced at the sun outside the window, he became nervous. Without waiting for that honey-coated voice saying ¡®Zhu, Let¡¯s play in bed,¡¯ Gu Wen swiftly stepped up, holding Xia Yi¡¯s shoulder, he said seriously, ¡°Yi. Let¡¯s do something meaningful. Let¡¯s go and farm.¡± Fa, farm? Xia Yi could not give a response with all the improper content in his brain. There was a large area of wasted land at the foot of the mountain at its back, one small piece of land had been opened up by Gu Wen Zhu. With a slight hint of pity on his face, he said towards Xia Yi who was standing beside him, ¡°It was a pity that the fellow I was asking told me that there was no cow or plow in their sect. Or else I could open up even more. I have already turned up the soil. I have also fertilized it with grass and wood. You can now rest under the tree on the side. I am bringing water over. This land had been unused and needed to be fertilized. Do you not love boiled corn? We will plant some corn when the land is fertilized enough.¡± After saying so, Gu Wen Zhu pulled the sleeve towards his waist, then he went to a well not far away to fetch water. ¡°Why are you fetching the water? Can¡¯t you control water just like the king of the dragons under the sea? Why don¡¯t you just pull the water over here?¡± Xia Yi stopped him immediately and said. Gu Wen Zhu thus stood there and concentrated. In the next moment, some sounds rang from the well on the side of the road, a silver waterspout shot straight into the sky. That waterspout stood steadily in the air, then it turned towards the two. Next, it stopped on top of the land, slowly spreading itself to become a layer of water that covered the whole area. At the end, it became countless drops of water, raining over the land. Zhu is amazing. Xia Yi was surprised to witness it, feeling both happy and shocked. Gu Wen Zhu turned as well, he stared at him deeply with his eyes, ¡°Look. We should do something meaningful under broad daylight, say, farming. There are things that should be done at night, so that everything could be more meaningful.¡± Xia Yi was still watching the artificial rain and he just nodded casually when he heard Gu Wen Zhu. After a while of digesting the information, he finally came back to his senses. What does he mean? What do we do at night to make it more meaningful? He turned sluggishly in doubt, then he eyed Gu Wen Zhu thoroughly. With the side of his vision seeing Xia Yi¡¯s stare, Gu Wen Zhu pretended to be calm. He stared at the front with an expression as if nothing had happened, but his hands were in fact holding tightly to form a fist. Xia Yi smirked coldly, making Gu Wen Zhu feeling nervous. His eyes were fixed to look at the front, Gu Wen Zhu subconsciously asked, ¡°Yi. Why are you looking at me?¡± ¡°Looking at you made me want to do something meaningful.¡± Xia Yi said expressionlessly. Gu Wen Zhu, with stuttering lips, was showing his struggles against temptation on his face, ¡°Yi, I, I¡­¡± Xia Yi extended his fair finger to pull Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s belt lightly. He narrowed his eyes, his long eyelashes lying on them, half covering his misty eyes, making him look even more alluring. He blew a breath beside Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s ear and looked satisfactorily at him, who was having goosebumps on his neck in an instant. Then he asked with a hoarse voice, ¡°So are you doing it or not?¡± Gu Wen Zhu exhaled deeply, his teeth gritted, ¡°I am.¡± Then he turned to walk towards their house. After a couple of steps, he saw Xia Yi standing on the spot and laughing, so he went back to carry him on his shoulder. He embarrassingly patted Xia Yi¡¯s tight bottom, and said fiercely, ¡°We are going back.¡± The rain had stopped and the sky had unclouded. Xia Yi lazily lay in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms, playing with the strand of hair which hung in front of his chest. Xia Yi rolled over with his back facing upwards, he looked at Gu Wen Zhu curiously, ¡°Zhu. Were you a particularly serious kid when you were little?¡± Gu Wen Zhu frowned to remember, ¡°I guess I was alright. I just did not like playing with the boys the same age as me in the village.¡± ¡°Then what did you usually play?¡± ¡°I got up everyday before dawn, went to the school in the neighboring village to learn. After school, I would farm with my dad, or feed some chickens and goose for my mom.¡± That mom Gu Wen Zhu was talking about, a.k.a. his stepmother, was Xia Yi¡¯s aunt. ¡°Such a good kid.¡± Xia Yi sighed, ¡°I was naughty when I was small and always made my mom and dad angry.¡± When it came to this, Xia Yi felt a slight pain in his heart. The scenes in his past passed through his mind involuntarily. Due to his misbehaving, his teacher needed to see his parents. So he lowered his head when he arrived at home but his father only patted his shoulder. He thought that he was lucky enough to escape being scouted, but then he was hit by the feather duster. After being punished, his father brought him a bowl of noodles with two sunny eggs side up while he was still crying. That in the morning of Chinese New Year every year he could find a big red pocket under his pillow. His mother¡¯s eyes were not good, but she still knit him a gray sweater under the desk light. They had a family photo on the wall of their dining room. There was also his award for the Teenage Drawing Competition. He never thought that all these little things everyday would come to a halt mercilessly and suddenly one day. Xia Yi turned, covering his face with his hands, but tears stormed out from his eyes and sobs that he could no longer suppress rang from his throat. Gu Wen Zhu sat up, nervously moved away Xia Yi¡¯s hands which were blocking his face, saying anxiously, ¡°Yi. Yi. What¡¯s wrong? Are you feeling sick?¡± Xia Yi closed his eyes and shook his head, tears rushing out continuously. Gu Wen Zhu stared at him, unable to hide the nervousness in his eyes, ¡°Yi. What¡¯s going on? Can you tell me? Don¡¯t make me worry.¡± Xia Yi said with scattered words, ¡°I¡¯m just, just, missing, missing my parents.¡± ¡°You are really just missing your parents? Is there anything wrong apart from that?¡± Gu Wen Zhu confirmed with him. ¡°No.¡± Xia Yi nodded. Gu Wen Zhu lifted his upper body and used the blanket to cover him. He held him horizontally like a baby in his arms, and he used his hand to pat him, ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you before? For twenty years, you had your parents to spoil you, but I will take it the next eighty years.¡± ¡°But I, but I just miss them.¡± Xia Yi said in his sobbing tone. Then he buried his head against Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s chest and began to cry loudly. He cried loudly like a child. His cramping fingers locked onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms with all his force, his back and his shoulders were trembling fiercely. Tears wet the clothes which his face was burying in it in an instant. That year, he experienced the heaviest loss in his life. Since the death of his parents and up until the end of the funeral, he never shed a tear. He contacted the montary, bought the land for the grave, informed the relatives, went through the burial¡­ Everything happened accordingly. The pain, loneliness, and sadness were pushed deep down in his heart. Although the funeral ended and he was on his own arriving home, he did not let himself remember it. This was the only way for him to carry on. On this day, in the arms of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s, he finally put down that layer of armor. Let that person who was standing in front of the grave, head lowered, looking at the box containing the ashes of his parents covered by shovel after shovel of soil, failing to shed one tear, finally be able to cry out loud in front of his lover. Gu Wen Zhu held Xia Yi tightly, hearing him crying, making him feel like there was a wound in his heart so painful that it made him shiver. The only thing he could do was to kiss Xia Yi¡¯s head over and over again. He patted him on his back, said word by word, with red eyes, ¡°You can cry today, but cry no more from now on. You have me. I will always be with you.¡± Kirin opened the door with his head, walking in without a sound. It obediently lied beside the bed and put its chin on Xia Yi¡¯s thigh. Then it used its head to slightly push Xia Yi who was inside the cocoon formed by the blanket. It looked at him gently, worried. In his mind, 179 was sobbing. Xia Yi was slowly calming down. He sobbed. After a while, he raised his head again. Seeing a large area of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s chest was wet, he could not help but feel a little embarrassed. ¡°Zhu. I have my dad and mom in this world too. They are just like my parents. I want to go see them.¡± Xia Yi said hoarsely, with heavy nostril sounds. ¡°You have a dad and mom here too? What do you mean?¡± Gu Wen Zhu could not figure out what he was talking about. Xia Yi¡¯s eyes and nose were still all red, his eyelashes froze on his lids. ¡°Do you remember that time we picked mushrooms on the mountain? I said I saw my mom and dad. Actually, I had been transmigrated for a short while at that time, and I met two people who looked like my mom and dad. They called out to me. On this side, I am their son. And my name is also Xia Yi. Ever since I came here, that Xia Yi who belonged to this world, could not be found anymore. I felt that I am him and he is me.¡± ¡°So this is how it is.¡± Gu Wen Zhu murmured, ¡°Okay. Then let us meet them. Let us meet your parents.¡± Then he straightened the chaotic hair on Xia Yi¡¯s head affectionately, ¡°Get changed. Let¡¯s go now.¡± CH 51 In the yard, the hoe had turned into a long spear sparkling with silver light. It steadily floated in the air. Gu Wen Zhu, holding Xia Yi, had stood on it. Kirin was flying as well. It wanted to come. Xia Yi hesitated for a moment. He was afraid that its sudden appearance might scare people. So he patted Kirin¡¯s head, ¡°Son. We will bring you to see your grandfather and grandmother next time. How about you stay at home this time?¡± Kirin was not at all satisfied, but it still went back to the door obediently and lied on the blue stone pavement. Seeing this, Xia Yi had a guilty feeling. Not only was he not a good husband, he was also a bad father. After asking the servants about the directions, the hoe flew into the sky, dashed out from the clouds, and headed towards the east. They flew past floating islands of different sizes and mountains of different shapes. They were out of the area of Qi Shan in a short while. Some villages and houses appeared under their feet. Some farmlands with roads crossing in between could also be seen. The farmers were farming. With people standing on a hoe flying past above them, they did not seem stunned at all, only looking like they had gotten used to it already. Some people with their hoes supporting them moved their hand to the pergola to lean and watch, some just glanced and continued their work. It was as if the thing that was flying above them was only two birds instead of two persons on a hoe. Sometimes they flew a little bit too low, some of the fellows would even greet them loudly, ¡°Cultivator. Have you eaten yet? Are you going to kill some demons?¡± This was the direction where people exit Qi Shan. This must have been like a standard route with people flying around every day. Xia Yi was afraid that they might frighten people at the beginning, so he made Gu Wen Zhu fly high above the clouds. Then he saw people¡¯s reactions and discovered that he was overreacting, therefore they were flying lower now. The air at higher grounds was thinner and their vision could be blocked by clouds at times. They had lowered a bit more somewhere and were being stopped by someone waving his hands. When they descended to ask about it, that person held out a can with a small opening, ¡°Please, cultivators, my farmland is too wide, could you fly around and help to spread some fertilizers?¡± Xia Yi looked at him, thinking that this fellow was really good at doing this, he must have been stopping a lot of cultivators to fertilize his land for him, he even had this can with a hole with him. Thus, the two had the can in their hands, flying around on top of the farmland for a lap. They were just like a plane for farming without actually consuming any fuel. They asked about the directions on their way and had exited the mountain area not long after, a large plain appeared in front of their eyes. Huang Zhong Prefecture must be near. When they saw a big city on the ground, they controlled the hoe to fly beneath the clouds and slowly halted outside the city¡¯s gate. Following the flow of people passing through the inspection conducted by the lieutenant at the city¡¯s gate, the two walked on the street of the Huang Zhong Prefecture. A lot of people were on the lively street with all their shoulders touching. Xia Yi saw plenty of cultivators carrying their swords and dusters coming and going on the main street. No wonder this was the cultivation world. There were some others selling some medicines and cores on the side of the street. They just placed a piece of blue cloth onto the ground and put the cans and bottles on top of it, shouting and selling. ¡°There was a surprise during the night. The client¡¯s grandmother was dead for three days, then he gave me this core, and she climbed out from the coffin and ran five rounds around the yard. Wang Er is making some reviving cores. I wish all the elderlies could live long and prosper.¡± ¡°Good news, good news. The sect was down. The sect leader brought the female apprentices with him to flee, making the male cultivators have to sell all the cores for money to travel back home. From now on, the cores will be selling at a discounted price. We only want the cost back.¡± Both of them asked people about the directions on their way, and they had arrived at the street where the house was. A servant who was dazed sat in front of the front door. He saw Xia Yi, stupefied, then he rubbed his eyes and shouted loudly merrily, ¡°Young master is back.¡± Then he turned to dash into the yard to tell everyone. They had not even reached the door yet but could already hear that servant yelling on his way, ¡°Master and madam, young master is back, young master is back.¡± Xia Yi was feeling excited as well, thinking that he will be seeing his parents immediately, his heart pounded quickly. He grabbed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arm instinctively. With this grab, he found that Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s muscles on his arm were incredibly tense and he was standing very straight. Then he looked at his face and saw his stern face with lips pulling inwards, apparently dwelling in nervous feelings. Right. This is the first time he is seeing his father-in-law and mother-in-law. Being nervous is unavoidable. As a considerate good husband, Xia Yi suppressed his uneasy emotion and showed a calm face. He comforted Gu Wen Zhu by patting the back of his hand, saying in a light tone, ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. You are such a good man. They are going to love you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu responded with a low sound. He breathed deeply discreetly. Just when they had entered the yard, they saw Xia¡¯s parents came out from the living room in a hurry. Father Xia walked towards that servant and said, ¡°If this is a false alarm, I am going to kick you out.¡± Just when he finished his words, Mother Xia halted her steps suddenly and shouted out happily towards the front door, calling Yi. Upon seeing his mother¡¯s face again, hearing that familiar calling again, Xia Yi felt excited firstly, then a sharp pain in his chest. Is this mom? No, this is my mother. He walked up a few steps with red eyes, holding his mother tightly, he called out with a shaken voice, ¡°Mother.¡± Mother Xia had her eyes reddened as well. She patted Xia Yi¡¯s back, and said in a blaming tone, ¡°You are a big boy now. You have to stop clinging to your mother someday. Look at you. You have only been away from home for a short period of time.¡± ¡°He has been going through a lot out there. He just missed you.¡± Father Xia wanted to act more sternly but could not help smiling. ¡°Father.¡± Xia Yi then turned to hug his father, burying his face against his shoulder, sobbing, ¡°I missed home and I missed father and mother.¡± Father Xia panicked, he felt delighted as well as embarrassed, making him faking coughing at the end, ¡°Boy. Alright, alright. You are a man now. It¡¯s not good to cry. And we even have a guest here.¡± Despite the content of his words, his tone was full of unmistakable love. Hugging his father in silence, Xia Yi felt as if he had travelled through infinite time. The younger him was walking in the front with an impatient expression, his father following him with his bag in his hands. His father wanted to walk beside him a few times, but he fastened his pace to keep the distance. Then, when he was lying on the sofa alone, staring at the black and white photo on the cabinet, he would always think, if he had the chance to walk with his father side by side again, he would hold his father¡¯s hand and never let go, and also give him a tight hug. Mother Xia was beginning to chuckle beside them, Xia Yi thus then let go of his father and stood straight. ¡°Is this cultivator in the same sect as Yi?¡± Xia Yi turned to face Gu Wen Zhu with an enthusiastic smile. With his handsome look, elegant aura, and the uniform of Qi Shan Sect on him, Gu Wen Zhu looked like out of this world. Father Xia naturally paid him respect, then he wanted to greet him with folded hands. ¡°No no.¡± Gu Wen Zhu quickly stepped forward to hold Father Xia¡¯s hands to stop them. By then, Xia Yi finally realized that he had not introduced them yet, and he therefore lowered his voice to say shyly, ¡°Father, mother. Allow me to introduce you to my wife, your daughter-in-law, Gu Wen Zhu.¡± ¡°What?¡± Xia¡¯s parents could not believe their ears and threw each other a suspicious look, asking together at the same moment. ¡°I didn¡¯t have time to mail you first. I got married at Qi Shan. This is my wife. His name is Gu Wen Zhu.¡± Xia Yi raised his voice a little, ¡°I am returning home this time to see you as well as to introduce him to you.¡± He said it clearly so that his parents had heard it sound and clear. Although they had heard this clearly, they were still wondering why they could not comprehend this. Married? Wife? With this man? Gu Wen Zhu took a step forward, bowing deeply with folded hands, saying with a loud voice, ¡°Gu Wen Zhu, your son-in-law, is here to see you. My greetings.¡± ¡°Bu, but you are a man.¡± Words slipped from Mother Xia¡¯s mouth. Xia Yi saw his parents¡¯ face changing drastically and thought this was bad. He had spent too much time in the farming world and had already got used to homosexuality. Therefore, when he came to this cultivation world, he just brought Gu Wen Zhu back home as if it was normal, without realizing that it was different. Mother Xia was stunned. She looked at Gu Wen Zhu, looked at Xia Yi and could not recover from the shock. Is this a man-like woman? But he really does not look like one. He even has a thin layer of stubble on his face. Father Xia had been a magistrate for years and had heard a great deal about love affairs among men and women from his colleagues. He knew that it was a trend for some rich people to have affairs with some men. However, those were not serious relationships and could hardly be. Those people were only doing that secretly to have fun, they would not get married to those men. It was never heard of to have a man bringing another man back home under broad daylight and claiming that they had married each other like Xia Yi did. ¡°The leader of the Qi Shan Sect found that you are talented and wanted to have you as his apprentice. I did not intend to let you go in the first place, but you said that you have to go. And so you went. You are a grown-up, your mother can no longer control you. I don¡¯t want to stop you from developing your career either. But you, you have only been learning for some days, and you are bringing a man back home telling me that you have already gotten married?¡± Mother Xia had her tears falling from her eyes, scolding Xia Yi, crying uncontrollably. Xia Yi could not give an explanation. He could not tell them that he was not their real son and might be a fake. Your son evaporated right when I transmigrated. I just missed my parents too much, and thought that you are my actual parents. And I cannot say that I transmigrated from the farming world, that I and Zhu actually already have a marriage certificate there. Our marriage is protected by the law there. Xia Yi noticed his father¡¯s face looking pale, and his father¡¯s breath was rough with his chest moving heavily up and down. The eyes of his father were searching around the yard. Xia Yi instantly felt bad. This familiar look must be looking for a rod or a broom. This was just like the look every time his teacher called to tell on him in his home world. Xia Yi was nervous and desperately hid behind Gu Wen Zhu. He grabbed his clothes tightly and shouted, ¡°Zhu. Help. My father is going to hit me.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was anxious and he also treasured Xia Yi, he hurried and told Father Xia, ¡°Father. It¡¯s us who are naive and got married without informing you first. But we had an explanation. Please forgive us for this.¡± Forgive you? You still want me to forgive you? Right, after Xia Yi divorces you foxy man. Also, who is your father? In view of Father Xia¡¯s lips trembling with his finger pointing at him speechlessly, Gu Wen Zhu bowed deeply with folded hands. When he straightened himself again, he said sincerely, ¡°Father. Please calm down. Do not let your rage affect your health. Although the two of us got married without telling you, I promise you to treat Yi well for the rest of our lives. You can depend on me to take good care of Yi. You can be rest assured of this. Please stay healthy and wait for your grandson from me and Yi in a couple of years.¡± ¡°Dear!¡± Followed by the scream of Mother Xia, Father Xia¡¯s body fell backwards. He had passed out. CH 52 At night, Gu Wen Zhu sat in the room alone, dazed, waiting for Xia Yi silently. During the evening, the whole house was in chaos. He immediately stretched out his hand to support Father Xia when he fainted, but Mother Xia quickly pushed him away and went into the room with Xia Yi¡¯s help. And he only stood there in the yard, stunned. Seeing all the servants hurried and passed him, bumping him in his shoulder from time to time, telling him to excuse them. Finally, he retreated to a corner with no traffic and stood there cluelessly, not knowing what was wrong. Xia Yi ordered the servant to send him to his room when he was living here, then he left in a hurry to stay by his unconscious father¡¯s side. When Gu Wen Zhu suggested going with him, Xia Yi did not clearly reject him, but showed a troubled expression. Gu Wen Zhu immediately said understandingly, ¡°Then you should go alone. Do not make the two angry again.¡± Xia Yi saw the confusion in his black eyes, his heart went soft. He wished to stay and comfort him, but he recalled about his father who was lying in bed, and so he only gave him a kiss on his face, saying gently, ¡±It¡¯s alright. Don¡¯t worry. I will be back in a minute. Wait here.¡± Gu Wen Zhu quickly nodded, ¡°Go. I will wait for you here.¡± The moment Xia Yi closed the door, he could see Gu Wen Zhu standing in the room looking at him. With the light shining from behind him, his facial features were distinctly showing, his brow ridges pointed upwards with his eyes deep in his eye sockets. Those eyes were extremely dark in color, just like a pool of water, dark and deep. Although he was not saying anything, Xia Yi knew that he was nervous and anxious. He was hurt. Thinking of this, Xia Yi felt a pain in his chest, as if a needle had stabbed his heart, making him feel trembling pain. He hesitated. He looked as if he had made a decision, then he pushed the door open, ¡°Do you want to go with me? We will talk to my father together.¡± When he finished his sentence, Gu Wen Zhu, who was standing stupefied in the room, had his eyes lit up. Xia Yi walked in, hugging his strong and thin waist, placing his head on his shoulder, ¡°Zhu. This is not your fault. Do you know that? Men are not allowed to be with each other in this world.¡± ¡°Men? But you are not a man. You are a ger.¡± Gu Wen Zhu murmured with confusion in his voice. Xia Yi raised his head, looking into his eyes, ¡°In this world, there are no gers. There are only men and women. That¡¯s why my parents got angry when they heard that we got married. Zhu. That¡¯s not about you. It¡¯s not that you are not good or something. Do you get it?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was baffled, ¡°So your father was unhappy not because of me doing anything wrong or me being not good enough?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± Xia Yi nodded affirmatively. ¡°And there are no gers in this world. You are a man in this world. So they forbid us from getting married?¡± ¡°Right.¡± Xia Yi affectionately held his face in his hands, nodding again. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s expression relaxed slowly, the end of his lips lifted upwards, showing a relieved smile, looking clear and pure, ¡°Then let¡¯s see your parents together. I will try to make them accept me.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go together.¡± Xia Yi held his hand. That palm was warm and dry, making him feel steady and calm. Then they pushed the door open and walked out. Mother Xia sat beside the bed. She was massaging Father Xia¡¯s side of the head, speaking randomly. Father Xia lied in bed with closed eyes, listening without a word. When Xia Yi pushed the door open, Father Xia opened his eyes immediately to look upon hearing the sound. Xia Yi walked to the side of his bed, slowly picking up his father¡¯s hand which was on the blanket to hold it in his hand tightly. ¡°Father. I know you want the best for me. That¡¯s why you are so mad. Although father and mother have never mentioned this, I know deep down that your greatest hope is that I could live this life with someone who loves me and treasures me by my side. I have already met that person. And it¡¯s Zhu. I am not a good son and I always make you angry, making you worried for me. I wish I could be a good son from now on, not breaking your hearts. But, father, mother, not this time. Because if I leave Zhu, I will be sad for my whole life, and I cannot be happy again.¡± Gu Wen Zhu stepped up as well, he lifted his sleeves, landing his knees on the ground heavily, ¡°Father. My feelings towards Yi are real. No matter what happens, for my whole life, I will love him, protect him and make him happy. I will never depart with him. Even death could not take us apart. Please let me take care of Yi.¡± Father Xia was still not talking, lying there with closed eyes. But his breath was becoming rough. The corner of his eyes was wet. His lips were slightly trembling. Mother Xia was already sobbing, she used a handkerchief to cover his mouth. After a while, she spoke again, with a resigned and bitter tone, ¡°My dear. Just let them be. You know that Xia Yi has been stubborn ever since he was a child. If he thinks something should be in some ways, he would never accept them in other ways. Stop getting mad so that you won¡¯t harm your own health and your relationships with him.¡± Seeing Father Xia not saying a thing, Mother Xia waved at Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Go back to your room. Let your father rest.¡± In the room, Gu Wen Zhu laid on the bed with carvings with his body tilted. He saw Xia Yi touching and seeing things curiously in the room. ¡°Zhu. Look at this shelf in the room. They didn¡¯t put porcelain cans and bottles on it. Instead, they have placed some baskets, statues and stuff here. It¡¯s interesting.¡± Xia Yi picked up an exquisite basket, he laughed and said, ¡°I think this disappeared Xia Yi had similar characteristics with me, no wonder father and mother did not feel anything wrong.¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded absentmindedly, he spoke hesitantly, ¡°So, if father and mother are not kicking me out and let me stay with you, does it mean that they are okay with us?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Elderlies cared for their pride. They have already accepted you in their hearts though they haven¡¯t yet with what they are saying.¡± Xia Yi happily grinned. Then he felt pain in his heart after smiling. How deeply have his parents been loving him to make them agree with this? This kind of marriage at these times was such a shocking thing. His father was a magistrate. It was like the secretary of the municipal party nowadays. How much pressure was he going to get from his colleagues after this? He made his mom and dad worried in his home world, and now he has made his father and mother worried for him since he got here. He was really making people take care of him. He was thinking and pacing in the room, then he randomly pulled open a drawer of a cabinet beside him. The drawer was opened, Xia Yi was stupefied, and he saw a small doll wearing a red long outer robe. That doll was about an inch tall. Its head was hidden deep in the drawer and could not be seen, but the fabric and the cutting of the clothes were well made and exquisite. Xia Yi thought it was interesting, so he pulled the doll out. When he looked at the doll in his hand, he quivered, his eyes widened, and he froze. F**k f**k f**k¡­ Xia Yi could only think of this word in his mind. The doll in his hand was a plastic ultraman with clothes on. Xia Yi had an unbelievable feeling about this. He quickly undressed that layer of clothes and revealed that red and white ultraman in front of him. This ultraman toy, the type which costs a few ten dollar bills, that he loved to play with when he was a boy. It even had its arms crossed in front of it, showing its signature post. This ultraman could be seen in different toy stores. Xia Yi had had a few of them when he was small. But wasn¡¯t this from his home world? Why would it appear in the cultivation world in the very room of Xia Yi¡¯s? His thinking had turned into a mess. He only stood there, dazed, with that ultraman in his hand. What is going on? Gu Wen Zhu had discovered the abnormality of Xia Yi and had straightened himself to sit up from his tilting position, ¡°What happened?¡± Xia Yi did not answer, standing there, stupefied, looking like he had been struck by lightning. Gu Wen Zhu stood up and walked towards him in confusion. He extended his hand to take the ultraman from him. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was checking out the ultraman, pinching, ¡°A monstrous head with a human body, and naked.¡± Frowning, he saw the petite clothes in Xia Yi¡¯s other hand, and he hurriedly took them to put onto Ultraman¡¯s body, ¡°Let him wear something. Or else it would be indecent. What kind of strange toys are children in the cultivation world playing?¡± Xia Yi was confused and did not notice what Gu Wen Zhu was saying. He had a few ultramen when he was little. They were all of different poses. The one he loved most was exactly like the one in front of him. But somehow he had lost it. He searched for it and he asked his parents. His parents told him there had been a break-in and it had been stolen. Sad, he made a scene out of it, he rolled on the ground and cried, making his father so angry that he pulled him up to hit him. Before that ultraman disappeared, that was his favorite toy, he would hold it always and placed it beside his pillow when he slept. That winter, when he sat beside the coal stove eating chestnuts roasted by his father, he made Ultraman¡¯s head touch the chimney without noticing. It was his father who noticed it smoking green, so he grabbed the ultraman away from him. Although he did that in time, the back of the plastic toy had already been burnt. Thinking of this, Xia Yi suddenly took that properly dressed ultraman from Gu Wen Zhu, then he undressed it in a minute again and flipped it to its back. Under the candlelight, the back of that ultraman had a black burnt spot as big as a copper dollar. What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s going on? Xia Yi murmured. Confusion and fear in his eyes. Why does my toy appear here? What if¡­ what if¡­ Xia Yi had a guess. ¡°179, 179.¡± Xia Yi called out to the system urgently, ¡°Tell me. When did you begin to have a glitch?¡± ¡°The moment when you first transmigrated to the farming world.¡± 179 answered. ¡°No. You are lying to me.¡± Xia Yi spoke coldly. ¡°Host. I didn¡¯t lie to you. According to my information here, we discovered that glitch since you arrived in the farming world.¡± 179 pleaded himself not guilty. ¡°If that is a recent glitch, then you tell me about this, how did my toy when I was a child ended up here? Don¡¯t tell me that the toy transmigrated with me. My ultraman had disappeared for years. Plus, do you think that I would make ancient Chinese clothes for the ultraman to put on?¡± 179 did not reply, as if he was processing. After a while, he responded affirmatively, ¡°Of course it won¡¯t. Because they totally don¡¯t match. If you have to make clothes for it, you should give him some armor.¡± The focus of the System was not ordinary, but all the paths lead to Rome, they all came up with the conclusion that this ultraman did not arrive at this place recently, it had been here for a long long time. CH 53 Xia Yi tried to remember, to remember when the ultraman was last seen. Some fragments of memories passed through his mind. However, despite how hard he tried to grab those fragments, those memories just slipped away from him. Suddenly, he remembered something that happened a long time ago. That was so long ago, making him unable to judge if it had really happened or if it was only a dream. But at this precise moment, connected with all the things around him, he thought that it might have actually happened before. When he was a child, one night, he awoke because he wanted to go to the potty. With an unclear mind, he held the ultraman beside his bed and went to the loo with eyes half-closed. When he pushed the door open to walk from his bedroom to the dining room, stretching his hand to search for the light switch on the wall, he couldn¡¯t find anything. He only felt as if a slightest breeze of wind brush passed him, and he heard the rustling of the trees and the sounds of the bugs in the night which should not be there. His sleepiness was blown away at once. He opened his eyes abruptly, only to find that he was not in the dining room of his house, but in a silent garden. There were trees and bushes half a man tall around him. A rockery with rough outline laid on the ground not far from him, looking horrific under the moonlight. Xia Yi stood there wearing his teddy bear pajamas, his ultraman in his arms. He widened his pair of round eyes, observing his surroundings in shock. The shadows of the trees were all over the place, shaking under the pale white moonlight, looking like monsters ready to pound onto someone, waving their claws and showing their fangs. The sound of the cat meowing echoed from a corner. A black cat jumped onto the top of the rockery gracefully. Its eyes were sparkling. Those eyes were fixed on Xia Yi. Xia Yi took a few steps back, then he screamed uncontrollably. He was crying for his mother while running frantically in the garden in fear, searching for an exit. He ran past a long corridor with a wooden floor. He could hear his flippers hitting onto the wood, making tapping sounds. At the end of the road, there was a pool with an arch bridge on it. He cried out loud in the garden and ran on the curvy road. And he did not notice his ultraman, which had been in his arms all along, had already been lost somewhere. Some footfalls rang behind him. Someone was chasing him in a hurry. He could not recognize any of these people. They were all in gowns that he had seen in dramas. Firstly, they looked at him in shock. Then, they pulled and checked his teddy bear pajamas. They kept calling him ¡°young master¡± and picked him up to walk backwards even though he was resisting, kicking and hitting. A sense of panic rose in him. Where were these people taking him to? He began to struggle desperately. He kicked and hit the person around him with closed eyes, calling his mom with a screeching voice. Not until the sound of the switch clicking and the room lit up, did he hear his mother¡¯s voice rang at the same moment anxiously, ¡°Yi. What¡¯s going on? Yi.¡± And he had been pulled into a warm hug. He felt the blinding light, and he heard the familiar voice of his mother. He stopped crying immediately and grabbed his mother¡¯s arm tightly, opening his eyes again. It was as if a curse had been lifted. There were no more garden, rockery, corridors and people around him. He was standing in the middle of the lit dining room. His father walked out as well. He asked tensely as he was wearing his clothes, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Yi.¡± ¡°I, I wanted to go to the bathroom. And then I couldn¡¯t turn on the light. I was standing in an unknown place. You weren¡¯t there. Some bad people in long dresses wanted to take me away and sell me.¡± Xia Yi was crying and telling his story. ¡°Bad people in long dresses?¡± His father asked him, confused, stretching his arm to feel the temperature of his forehead. ¡°They were wearing those dresses that the people in the drama mommy watched, and they called me young master.¡± Xia Yi sobbed. His parents had a quick glance at each other. Then, they held him up, ¡°That was just a nightmare. Yi. You are at home now. Yi is such a good boy, no one would want to sell you.¡± His mother patted him on the back while she was walking, ¡°Come and sleep with mommy tonight. Alright?¡± Xia Yi nodded and laid his head on his mother¡¯s chest. So that was a dream. There was no black cat nor bad people, and there was certainly no terrifying long corridor. When his mind was running through his memories, Xia Yi suddenly realized that the very first time he transmigrated here when he was picking mushrooms with Zhu, he was standing on an arch bridge feeding fish. That arch bridge looked just like the one he saw when he was running in the long corridor. There was, too, a wooden-floored corridor painted red beside the pool. What he had seen when he was little, was the yard of the magistrate¡¯s house. So, the ultraman was lost on that night when he was running. It was then picked up by the Xia Yi on this side and served as his toy ever since. They had even made clothes for it. Why would his parents lie to him and tell him that his ultraman had been stolen? What really did they know to make them hide the truth from him? His parents on either side looked exactly the same. Is this because of the fact they were parallel worlds, or¡­ are they really his parents? But it was not right. If they were his parents, why did they pretend to not know him? Also, they did not seem like they were faking it. With the ultraman in his hand, he stood on the spot, flabbergasted. Questions came up one by one in his mind. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand waved in front of him all of a sudden, ¡°Yi. What are you thinking about? You have been dazed for a long time.¡± ¡°Zhu. I think I have discovered something huge.¡± Xia Yi said, stupefied, his hands grabbing that ultraman tightly. ¡°What thing? Can you tell me?¡± Seeing Xia Yi¡¯s stunned expression turned into a terrified one, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face also became stern. After some thoughts, Xia Yi pulled Gu Wen Zhu to sit on the bed together. He said, wearing a serious expression on his face, ¡°Zhu. I just found that, I feel like, I had transmigrated to this place before when I was little. This toy is proof. And maybe, I am saying maybe, that my parents on this side are the same as my actual parents. And the Xia Yi on this side, is me myself. If the Xia Yi on this side is me myself, what happens if I transmigrate here from the farming world?¡± ¡°What happens?¡± Gu Wen Zhu, looking confused, having understood none of the content that Xia Yi was speaking of. ¡°I know what will happen.¡± 179¡¯s sharp voice rang, with a hint of excitement, ¡°Gu Wen Zhu will have two wives.¡± ¡°If this was a parallel world, there would be two Xia Yis. But ever since I arrived here, it was as if the other Xia Yi had evaporated. As for me, I just live his life in replacement of him. Say, maybe I and that Xia Yi were the same person. And when I came over, he just vanished? Or, he may have merged with me.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was still looking at Xia Yi with a confused expression. On the contrary, Xia Yi was not paying attention to him at all. He was immersed in his hypothesis. His eyes lit. He looked sure and excited. ¡°I am now going to ask my mother about this toy.¡± After saying so, Xia Yi took the ultraman, opened the door, and dashed towards his parents¡¯ house. ¡°Young master is here. Madam is still resting.¡± His mother was about to go to the lavatory when a loud greeting echoed from outside the door. Then the door was pushed open. Xia Yi walked in, panting. His father was very upset, but as soon as he saw Xia Yi this way, he could no longer be mad with him, ¡°Do you have no manners now? You just barge into your parents¡¯ house without informing us? I see you have been acting without manners. No wonder why you have yourself married to a man.¡± When he mentioned this, he felt a pain in his heart. Xia Yi did not do much thinking, he showed that ultraman and looked at his mother with his eyes shining, ¡°Mother. Look at this. Do you know this? Do you remember how we get it?¡± His mother took the ultraman and observed it in confusion, ¡°Isn¡¯t this what you picked up in the yard when you were small? I wanted to throw this weird thing away, but the servants said that it was yours. So I kept it and made clothes for it.¡± ¡°Then¡­ mother, do you remember how I was as a kid?¡± Xia Yi continued to ask. ¡°How you were as a kid? Just like that, naughty, not listening to your parents. Every time your father got so angry that he intended to beat you up, before that broom could hit you, you would cry like no tomorrow and hide in the closet. Especially there was this once you failed your exam, your teachers called your father¡­¡± Speaking of this, his mother stopped talking. She stood there with her open mouth, puzzled. ¡°Mother. Keep going, keep talking.¡± Xia Yi said with trembling lips. His voice was extremely soft, as if he was afraid his voice would interrupt his mother¡¯s remembrance, as if he was scared that he would wake up from this beautiful dream. Mother Xia stood blankly, with a confused and puzzled expression, ¡°Why can¡¯t I remember? Why can¡¯t I remember about your childhood?¡± Father Xia was mad, but he could not help but turned his head to ask in an unfriendly manner, ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Father. Think, think about my childhood.¡± Xia Yi saw that his mother was still looking half-awaken, and he hurriedly asked his father. ¡°You still dare to ask about your childhood. You could drive people mad. Like, like¡­¡± Father Xia¡¯s words got stuck as well, just like Mother Xia¡¯s did. He froze. ¡°Why am I not able to recall my son¡¯s childhood?¡± After a while, Father Xia turned to his wife, asking blankly, ¡°Do I have hysteria?¡± Gu Wen Zhu sat in the room and waited for a long time. Then he heard footfalls coming from under the roof. As the door had been pushed open, Xia Yi went in with a soulless expression. He looked straight in front of him with that ultraman in his hand. ¡°Yi. What happened?¡± Gu Wen Zhu waved his hand in front of him. Xia Yi grabbed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand, looking at him with a blank expression, ¡°Zhu. I cannot see through this world.¡± Gu Wen Zhu pulled his arm and walked towards the bed, ¡°Didn¡¯t you go to ask your parents? What did they say?¡± Xia Yi just let Gu Wen Zhu push him down to sit on the bed like a puppet. He murmured, ¡°Zhu. I think my parents haven¡¯t died. No, they did die, I buried them. But, their souls came over here? And their memories have been erased? This makes no sense. Who would do such a thing?¡± ¡°179. You heard the whole thing. Can you analyze it for me?¡± Xia Yi seeked help from the system. ¡°This¡­ Um¡­ um¡­¡± 179 could not answer. Xia Yi lied onto the bed heavily facing up, he said loudly with closed eyes, ¡°Zhu. Are my parents on this side my real parents?¡± Gu Wen Zhu took the ultraman from his hand and put the petite gowns on it, ¡°Real parents or not, they are still your parents.¡± Upon hearing this, Xia Yi was flabbergasted. He then stared at the head board of the bed. After some time, he looked like he had something figured out. He opened his eyes to look at Gu Wen Zhu, satisfied, ¡°Zhu. You are right. I don¡¯t want to think about this anymore. No matter if they are real or not, I have parents again.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Gu Wen Zhu patted his face affectionately, ¡°You have parents again.¡± Taking the ultraman with clothes on, Xia Yi put it beside the pillow, just like the old times. Then he turned, burying his face into Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms, hearing his heart pounding steadily and powerfully, falling asleep in peace. CH 54 On the next day, they were missing Kirin so much that the couple were on their way back to Qi Shan right after dinner. Mother Xia was standing in the yard, holding Xia Yi¡¯s hand. Her eyes reddened. Xia Yi hurried and comforted her, ¡°Mother. I will be back very soon. Don¡¯t be upset.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s upset? I never want you making all the fuss in front of me.¡± Although she was saying so, she still held Xia Yi¡¯s hand tightly, not wanting to let go. Seeing Xia Yi¡¯s eyes peeking at the house every now and then, she sighed, ¡°Just go. Your father will be alright shortly. Just don¡¯t find him now. That will make him think too much.¡± Xia Yi nodded and said gloomily, ¡°Okay.¡± Seeing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s spear was already in the air, Xia Yi thus released his mother¡¯s hands and prepared to ride the magical item. ¡°Wait.¡± His mother cried. Then, she pulled out a square wooden box about the size of the palm and tucked it into Xia Yi¡¯s hands. She gave a meaningful look towards Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Give him this.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± The style of the box was ancient. It was heavy. He wanted to open the box out of curiosity but was stopped by his mother. ¡°This is for him. Let him open it. Don¡¯t you do it before he does.¡± Xia Yi put the box in his clothes, then he bent over to hug his mother, landing his head on her shoulder and swaying with her the same way when he was a child, ¡°Mother, I am going. Please talk to father for me. Don¡¯t let him get mad. We will be back to see you very soon.¡± ¡°Go, just go. Don¡¯t waste your time here.¡± Mother Xia urged impatiently, but turned to wipe her eyes with her sleeve discreetly. ¡°Mother. We will leave now. After some days, I, your son-in-law, shall bring Yi to meet you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu pulled Xia Yi onto the spear, saying loudly to his mother. Mother Xia¡¯s face went stony. In view of Mother Xia not paying him attention, Gu Wen Zhu smiled bitterly. With his will, the magical item began to float upwards. ¡°You are the daughter-in-law. Alright? Not son-in-law.¡± Seeing the magical item flying higher, Mother Xia talked loudly upwards, ¡°I handed the token meant for our family¡¯s daughter-in-law to Yi. He will give it to you.¡± Upon hearing her words, Gu Wen Zhu froze, then he grinned happily, answering in a loud voice, ¡°Yes. I know. Mother.¡± His voice was loud and clear. As the magical item was elevating in the air, Xia Yi recalled that box while he was waving to his mother. He swiftly took it out from his clothes. Carefully, he opened the cover of the box to see a piece of magenta flannel cloth. He lifted the cloth carefully and saw a phoenix jade hairpin designed for women. He could tell its good quality just by looking at it. It shined warmly. It was transparent and flawless. Under the sunlight, it was as if there was light floating inside it. Inside the beak of the complicatedly designed phoenix was a shiny white pearl as large as a longan. ¡°Wow¡­ My mother is really generous. This must be our family treasure.¡± Xia Yi was admiring the hairpin and wanting to pick it up to look at it closely, but Gu Wen Zhu grabbed the box from him. Gu Wen Zhu carefully placed the flannel cloth back on and closed the box. After ensuring the box was safely in his clothes, he felt the box with his hand to make sure again that it was there and it would not fall out, ¡°This is a gift from your mother. I must bring it back and keep it safe.¡± Xia Yi could not help but laugh, ¡°This is a gift from the mother-in-law to her daughter-in-law. Why don¡¯t you take it out and put it on your head?¡± Gu Wen Zhu laughed as well, ¡°How can I put it on so casually? This is your mother¡¯s love. She had been placing this in the house, waiting for her son to get married, and let you give it to your wife in person.¡± Xia Yi immediately looked at the ground with a gloomy face. Meanwhile, the two had risen to a high level in the sky. The houses underneath became smaller and smaller. Since Xia Yi¡¯s eyesight had become so much better now, he could instantly see the couple of figures looking up into the sky longingly in the yard of the magistrate¡¯s house. It was father. Xia Yi felt his nose getting sore and his eyes were starting to swell. Although he knew that people from the ground could only vaguely see a spot when they saw him, he still tried to wave his hands and shouted loudly, ¡°Father. Mother. I will come back to see you after a while.¡± Gu Wen Zhu pulled him into his arms and patted his back to comfort him. The magical item rose into the clouds. They could no longer see the House of Wang Zhong. The spear speeded up and flew towards Qi Shan Sect. They were not in a hurry on their way back. They halted from time to time to see if there were some places with spectacular views, and they just descended to go sightseeing. Bit by bit, they left the plains. Now there were mountains everywhere underneath them. The gigantic mountains were rough, unique and in layers. Everywhere was dense emerald green. There had been rain in some places. The water drops on the leaves reflected the sunlight. When the two passed the mountain tops, their views would be blinded by the colorful light. If it happened, they would directly land to walk hand in hand. They sightsaw and they walked. The sky had darkened shortly, but they still had not met halfway. And so they just picked a dry and open place, prepared to rest for the night and continued their journey the next day. Gu Wen Zhu let Xia Yi sit and wait for a while, and he himself went into the woods. Not long after, he was back with two chickens and a rabbit. There was a stream nearby, clean and clear. Gu Wen Zhu took the chickens and the rabbit to the streamside, defurring, cutting and cleaning up. Then he turned that hoe into a spear. He used it to carve a circle on a big rock with the slightest effort. After taking out the part in the middle, the rock had become a clean stone pot. He got back to the open land to start a fire. Placing the stone pot on a shelf, Gu Wen Zhu began to boil the chicken meat and cooked them efficiently. The rabbit had been pierced through with the spear and placed on the shelf to roast it with fire. He then pulled out, from his clothes, a porcelain bottle which was likely to have cores inside it. He removed the bottle stopper and began to pour wine into the stone pot. ¡°Zhu. What is that?¡± Xia Yi asked curiously. ¡°I was afraid of you not getting used to the bland taste of food when we were out in the wild. When I came out, I filled up the bottle with some sauces.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was turning the rabbit and answering at the same time. ¡°I will go and look around again, see if there are any fungi or vegetables and stew them with the chicken. That would smell really good.¡± Gu Wen Zhu thus stood up to find mushrooms after saying so, Xia Yi hurriedly called out to stop him. ¡°179. Take two fruits of the heavens and Muge out. I am stewing some chickens.¡± Xia Yi told the system. ¡°Hm?¡± Stupefied for a second, the system then realised he was referring to radishes and onions. The chicken was boiling in the stone pot with an alluring aroma of meat. Xia Yi gave Gu Wen Zhu the radishes and the onions, ¡°Zhu. Don¡¯t go. Use this.¡± Gu Wen Zhu took the items and observed them repeatedly. He asked with hesitation, ¡°This round thing, isn¡¯t this the Muge that Elder Liu was talking about? It seems so special.¡± ¡°Go on and eat it.¡± Xia Yi turned the rabbit to roast the other side on top of the fire, ¡°We have a lot of these at home. You sold a cart of these to the military camp last time.¡± ¡°A cart of these to the military camp?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was puzzled. He looked at the onion in his hands carefully, ¡°But I don¡¯t recall selling such things, I have never seen them before.¡± He saw Xia Yi not answering but gave him a mysterious smile in return, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes brightened up instantly, ¡°This is the vegetables from our lands. Their appearances have changed since we transmigrated here, just like Kirin?¡± ¡°Good thinking.¡± Xia Yi praised, ¡°This is our onions.¡± After saying so, Xia Yi laughed out loud merrily. ¡°Our onions have become Muge on this side.¡± ¡°Where have you been storing those?¡± Gu Wen Zhu asked curiously, eyeing Xia Yi all over. Xia Yi knocked his head straightly, ¡°Stop thinking about it. Don¡¯t you know better if I can store it on me? However, this is a secret. Don¡¯t you ask about it.¡± ¡°Alright. I am not asking anymore.¡± Gu Wen Zhu smiled, and he really stopped asking. 179 sighed in relief in Xia Yi¡¯s mind. Gu Wen Zhu used his finger as a knife to initiate a light cut on the radish. The radishes were cut into small pieces by the wind created by his finger. He then put them into the pot and stew them with the chickens. He also cut the onions and stuffed them into the roasted rabbit. Not long after, the rabbit and the chickens were ready. The couple sat beside the stone pot and began to eat the rabbit meat and drink the chicken soup. The chicken soup was very tasty with the freshness of the radishes. The rabbit, its skin roasted to a golden color, was crusty on the outside and tender on the inside. In no time, all the meat and soup, including those radishes and onions, had been devoured by the two. After finishing the meal, the last light had disappeared between the mountains. The sky was all dark. Drops of rain began to fall from the sky some time later. Seeing the scale of the rain becoming larger, Xia Yi¡¯s hair and shoulder becoming all wet, Gu Wen Zhu was about to find some bigger leaves in the woods to roof them. Xia Yi pulled him back, ¡°You do not have to go. I have a house.¡± He looked around and took out his half-finished winter gourd magical item. When he saw a green winter gourd house appearing out of nowhere, Gu Wen Zhu, astonished, asked Xia Yi, ¡°Yi. What¡¯s this? Your magical item?¡± Xia Yi felt that his magical item was nothing when compared with Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s. It was difficult for him to say it out loud. So he answered vaguely, ¡°This is not even close to a magical item. It¡¯s a, um, a tent, a house that can be moved from place to place.¡± But the rain stopped as soon as the winter gourd house was out. The moon had risen above the branches of the trees. The autumn bugs began to chirp. Xia Yi leaned onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s chest. The two hugged each other and sat on a huge stone on the cliff. He closed his eyes, feeling the soft wind brushing onto his face, listening to the sounds in the night. It was as if his sense had been sharpened to an extreme. Apart from the sound of wind, water, the trees rustling and all kinds of animals and insects, he could also hear the sound of the flowers and the grass. The root and the stem of the plants, lively and full of energy, were growing and pushing outwards from under the ground. There were as if different frequencies around him, strange sounds from the sky, from beneath the ground, from nature, from space. Xia Yi was thunderstruck. He thus sluggishly opened his eyes. He was about to tell Gu Wen Zhu about his weirdest feelings, but the scene in front of him shocked him so much that he could not say a word. He saw countless spots of light surrounding him and Gu Wen Zhu, floating slightly in the air. They were as if surrounded by millions of stardust, or countless numbers of fireflies. He did not know how long those lights had been there. Those lights had become a strip of light, floating and surrounding the two slowly. Everything in his view, including the cliff, the ground, the trees, the flowers and the grass, even the mountains and the streams, were all having these spots of light rising up from them and moving their way towards the two of them. Xia Yi stared at the strange view speechlessly. He wanted to call Zhu but felt that something was not quite right. Normally, Gu Wen Zhu would have known already if there was something strange. Instead, he was not saying a thing and he kept sitting there holding him. Xia Yi immediately turned to see Gu Wen Zhu sitting there with closed eyes. Then he exhaled in relief. His chest was moving up and down. His breath was calm. He seemed like having a small break but also seemed like meditating. Then he realized what was wrong. The stripe of light formed by the spots of light floated and twisted towards Gu Wen Zhu and went into his body, as if there was some magnetic force. The sleeves of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s were also swaying vigorously even though there was no wind. The sleeves were flying as if blown by strong wind. ¡°179. 179. What¡¯s going on with Zhu?¡± Xia Yi called out to the system in panic, ¡°Take a look at him quickly.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t panic. Host. Gu Wen Zhu is only entering the cultivating meditation mode without noticing. He is absorbing the spiritual energy from the heavens and the earth and synthesizing them into his.¡± 179 swiftly replied, ¡°Don¡¯t bother him. Just protect him.¡± Cultivation. Cultivation. This is cultivation. Xia Yi was puzzled and excited at the same time. As soon as he heard that Gu Wen Zhu should not be interrupted, even his voice conversing with 179 in his mind had been lowered and turned into whispers, ¡°179. These spots of light are spiritual energy and these are becoming Zhu¡¯s energy?¡± ¡°Ah. Nope. These have no effects on his sexual ability.¡± ¡°I am panicking. I want him to have more, but I also want him to finish earlier.¡± ¡°It is impossible to make him ejaculate early.¡± 179 answered seriously, whispering. Xia Yi was shocked. What had this system been thinking all day long? With more and more light rising from the mountains, and there were even spots of light coming a long way from the other end of the sky, Xia Yi began to become more anxious. Gu Wen Zhu was like a huge air exhauster right now, all the light strips had been absorbed into him without limitation, and the process was speeding up. Xia Yi stared at Gu Wen Zhu without blinking, wanting to see the change on his face. If something was wrong with Gu Wen Zhu, if he showed a painful expression, he would shake him and wake him up right away with no hesitation. Going off the deep end might even be better than this, being blown up by this spiritual energy and becoming human fireworks. But the look on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face was calm with a vague soft glow. It was like a layer of photoshopped effect. His nose was straight under a layer of blurriness. His hair was dark and black, making his outline more distinguished. Waiting anxiously, Xia Yi was not in the state of mind to appreciate the beautiful scene in front of him. He waited eagerly for Gu Wen Zhu to awake from his meditation state. An unknown amount of time had passed. He only knew that the sky had become brighter with whiteness appearing at the far end of the sky. Xia Yi was sitting opposite Gu Wen Zhu. He had been looking at him all night. He did not go to the toilet nor change his position once. Just when he wanted to ask 179 about how much time was further needed, he heard Gu Wen Zhu exhale a breath of uncleanness and slowly opened his eyes. At the moment he opened his eyes, there was light in his eyes, shadows moved around in his eyes and hid away. Xia Yi was stunned, then he shouted loudly, ¡°Zhu. You are awake.¡± He pounced on him with a surprised expression. He did not know he would feel stiff in his bones and sore in his muscles. He could not tell if his legs were cold or numb because they almost lost sensation. Therefore, his pouncing did not land on Gu Wen Zhu but made him fall onto the ground instead. Xia Yi expected himself to hit the ground but, instead, he fell into a warm hug. He did not even see Gu Wen Zhu move, and he had already been there beside him to hold him in a split second. Gu Wen Zhu had Xia Yi in his arms. He could feel that his clothes had been wet by dew, cold and damp. He hurried and used his spiritual energy to evaporate the moisture around him. The temperature in the mountains varied largely from day and night. Even though Xia Yi had been nervous all night long and had not noticed the coldness, when he was finally relaxed now, he felt the cool temperature abruptly and began to shiver. Trembling, he buried his head against Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s chest, asking, ¡°Zhu. How does it feel? Nothing abnormal?¡± Gu Wen Zhu hugged him affectionately, with a self-condemned expression. Looking around, he carried Xia Yi in his arms and went inside the winter gourd house on the side. There was a tapestry on the floor inside the winter gourd. It was warm and dry inside, with a sweetness of vegetables and fruits lingering in the air. Gu Wen Zhu kneeled on the ground and placed him onto the tapestry. He removed his shoes and socks, then placed his cold bare feet on his chest, rubbing them with his hands. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Gu Wen Zhu, with a stern face, was angry and sorry, ¡°You could have come inside and sit here. Look at how cold you are. Your feet are like ice cubes. You can look at me here. It¡¯s the same. You have to be careful not to catch a cold.¡± Although his face was stern, his movements were gentle. In a short period of time, Xia Yi could feel his legs again, feeling like his blood circulation had been restored. ¡°Zhu. Feel it. Is there anything different with your body?¡± With the urge to know, Xia Yi was both excited and looking forward to Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s response. Frowning, Gu Wen Zhu was thinking. Then Xia Yi felt a flow of warmth had been poured into his legs which were held by Gu Wen Zhu. It was like two fires burning just warmly under his feet. The warmth swirled for a couple of rounds. After the palm of his feet had become warmer, they thus traveled all the way up through the calves to his body. With his whole body warmed up, Xia Yi felt very comfortable. He moved a little and leaned onto Gu Wen Zhu lazily just like a cat. His voice was lazy as well, ¡°Zhu. You are good. Now you can both control water and temperature. You can make it warm when it is winter and make it cold when it is summer.¡± Then he looked up slightly with a comfortable expression, his half opened eyes sparkling, ¡°Feel it. Quick. See if you can have some sort of breakthrough, open up some circulation of energy, achieve some state and stuff.¡± The cultivation world is like this. Xia Yi had not cultivated before, but he had read a lot of those novels. The stories were all like that. He waited for Gu Wen Zhu to feel the change in his body, but, instead, he felt a pair of hands moving around on his body. There were calluses on his fingertips, making the skin he touched shiver. F**k, I am telling you to feel yourself, not telling you to feel me. Xia Yi intended to speak, but his mouth had been blocked. After a while, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s slightly panting voice rang beside his ears, ¡°I cannot feel. I need you to feel it for me.¡± In a daze, Xia Yi felt like he was floating in a wave of heat. That heat wave was brought by Gu Wen Zhu. It flowed from his abdomen to his limbs. His whole body had been washed by it. He felt that his body had been cleansed from inside out and became brand new again. After the surge of energy going through his body, it had been transported back to Gu Wen Zhu through XX, then he accepted another new wave of heat rushing against him. The process kept repeating. An idea suddenly came to Xia Yi¡¯s mind. He felt that this fitted the description in a certain kind of novel, making him feel more conscious. Words in bloodred appeared in his mind: Converse sexually to absorb the opposite energy and enhance their powers. Ah, no. Nope. Converse mentally to absorb the opposite energy and enhance their powers! CH 55 The winter gourd house stood there in silence just like the mountain. It looked like a shiny big piece of jade. Not until noon did the door of the winter gourd open. Gu Wen Zhu walked out with a satisfied expression. He turned to look back at Xia Yi who was still fast asleep. He closed the door carefully, preparing to hunt for lunch. When the two rabbits had been roasted golden wafting with the meaty aroma, Xia Yi walked out with his nose wiggling. Xia Yi¡¯s hair was messy with a few strands still standing. His voice was lazy with prolonged pronunciations which indicated that he just woke up, ¡°It smells so good.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hot. Don¡¯t touch it. Go and wash up. I have boiled some water for you in the stone pot. Come back and eat after washing up.¡± Seeing him trying to grab some meat, Gu Wen Zhu swiftly moved the rabbit meat away. Xia Yi held that pot of hot water and walked towards the woods. Right after he had cleaned his face, he heard a rustling sound above him. He looked up and, to his surprise, he saw two colorful Chinese copper pheasants. He wanted to creep away and called Gu Wen Zhu, but, because of this, the Chinese copper pheasants saw him as well and sensed danger, thus they flapped their wings to fly. With this in his mind, Xia Yi became nervous and stretched out directly to catch those two pheasants. He did not expect himself to lift up in the air when he was reaching out, feet away from the ground, his body floating as his wish. He blocked the way of those pheasants, grabbing them in their wings at lightning speed, then slowly landed on the ground. When he was standing steadily, he was stunned and froze on the spot. His heart was pounding fast. His mind could not figure out what had just happened. ¡°179. Didi you see that? I think I just flew.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s expression was filled with unbelief, ¡°Did I really fly?¡± ¡°Congratulations. Host. According to my confirmation, your cultivation level had already passed the golden core stage and had entered the spiritual baby phase.¡± 179¡¯s voice sounded excited too. ¡°Is that so? This is okay. It¡¯s like people good at studying got promoted for their good grades from third grade to fourth grade. Right?¡± Xia Yi replied in a light tone. ¡°It is not a small accomplishment. Host. Do you know how many people there are who forever got themselves stuck at the golden core stage?¡± As a knowledgeable cultivation system, 179 felt shocked. ¡°If you haven¡¯t eaten that much carrots and onions, and Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s cum, you can¡¯t even skip levels. You would be lucky enough to not need to repeat your third grade.¡± ¡°Yi. What are you up to? The meat is ready.¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s voice rang from behind. He walked this way, with a stick of rabbit meat in his hand. ¡°Zhu. I can fly. I can fly.¡± Xia Yi turned to tell him merrily. He just let go of those pheasants carelessly. ¡°Host. That is not flying. You are only floating. And there is a time restriction. If your spiritual power is used up, you will fall. It¡¯s exactly the same with that winter gourd.¡± 179 was afraid that Xia Yi might take him to walk in space somehow and hurriedly reminded him. Gu Wen Zhu looked around, seeing a big old tall tree. He could not see its topmost part which went straight into the clouds. After some thoughts, he grabbed the meat with one hand and Xia Yi¡¯s hand with the other. He then jumped slightly towards the top of that tree. Xia Yi felt that his body was light and he was already in the air, taken by Gu Wen Zhu. The wind howled beside his ears. The leaves and the branches passed through in front of him. In a few seconds, he was on top of the tree¡¯s highest point. He looked right and left in astonishment, then he looked at Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Zhu. You know how to fly too?¡± Gu Wen Zhu found a thick branch to sit down with him, lifting the meat to beside Xia Yi¡¯s mouth, he smiled, ¡°Right. I have known this for some time. But I was afraid you might be scared and didn¡¯t tell you.¡± Seeing Xia Yi¡¯s sparkling eyes with his legs swinging in the air back and forth, Gu Wen Zhu chuckled with a low voice, ripped a rabbit leg to stuff it into Xia Yi¡¯s mouth. The clouds passed by them. The birds circled them. The two sat on top of the tree and shared the meat. Gu Wen Zhu summoned his magical hoe when Xia Yi had put away his winter gourd house. They did not have to wait for long, only for an hour. By that time, the magical item dashed out from the thick layers of clouds and they saw the floating islands of Qi Shan. Just when they had arrived at the Wang Zhu House, a shadow pounced on them. Kirin bumped itself into Xia Yi¡¯s arms, making him fall with its head pushing, then he began licking him carefree. Xia Yi rolled around with Kirin hugging its neck, but then he heard Gu Wen Zhu asking him in puzzlement, ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°What?¡± Xia Yi looked up in confusion. He looked at the direction Gu Wen Zhu was looking at and stood up with widened eyes in shock.There was a black line in the sky. It was as if a thin ink pen had drawn on it. With the black line growing thickening, there was as if a black drape covering the sky. That drape was moving in the air, towards Qi Shan. With the distance between them closing, Xia Yi found that the outline of that drape was growing and shrinking as if an infinite number of wings were there. He looked closely and found that it was not some drapes. It was hundreds of birds gathering, flapping their black wings together to create a drape-like effect. ¡°What is that?¡± Xia Yi was flabbergasted, saying the same thing as Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°Xia.¡± Qing Zhou, who was very tall, walked into the yard with a serious face and panted voice. He exhaled in relief when he saw Xia Yi in the yard. ¡°Qing Zhou. What is that in the sky?¡± Xia Yi pointed at the birds in the sky and asked. Qing Zhou glanced at the sky, then answered sternly, ¡°Xia. The evil people from the demonic world are coming. All of us in this sect have to fight them. No matter what happens next, stay here with Mr. Gu. in this yard. Don¡¯t go anywhere. But you need not worry. The area of Qi Shan has been enchanted by our immortal honourable leader. The elders are going to activate the magical circle so that the enchanted area can be separated from the outside. Men with low levels of power cannot break into this enchanted area.¡± Xia Yi was stunned upon hearing this, he pointed towards that drape of black in the sky, ¡°Those are the evil people from the demonic world?¡± Qing Zhou nodded. He wanted to say something but a sharp noise from the sky interrupted him. With a few banging sounds, colorful fireworks blew off in the air and transformed into a huge pentagon. Xia Yi had seen this pentagon firework before on the night he arrived here. After the explosion, countless Qi Shan Sect apprentices gathered in the sky. This must be the signal for them to fight. Qing Zhou saw that sign in the sky and showed a stern face. He did not have the time to say anything more. He only told Xia Yi not to run around and went out from their door and dashed towards the houses in front of him. At this very moment, those birds were already pressing against the gate of Qi Shan. The huge wings blocked the sunlight, flapping near the ground, swapping and causing strong breezes of wind, making the trees at the gate bent themselves. Apprentices flew from everywhere of the Qi Shan main island and the supplementary islands. They were all in long blue gowns and wearing jade crown accessories on their heads. All of them flying in the wind. All the magical items flew around in the sky at the same time from left and right, making Xia Yi¡¯s eyes too busy to capture all the movements in the sky. It was normal to see whisks and swords. Something like what Qing Hui had was not usual. But it was peculiar to see someone riding on a feather duster, or a heavy water tank, or those kinds of windmill which kids play with. There were all kinds of weird items. ¡°179. Looking at these, my winter gourd looks pretty ordinary.¡± Xia Yi sighed. ¡°Host. I think it is not ordinary at all. With all these kinds of magical items, which one of these has the rider inside it?¡± Gu Wen Zhu turned and pulled Xia Yi into the house. Can¡¯t he see this in their yard even if he can¡¯t see it in the front row? It was such a big fuss. Xia Yi begged immediately, ¡°Zhu. Let me look at this for longer. Just a little bit longer. Wait until they fight. Okay?¡± Gu Wen Zhu hesitated. Xia Yi quickly swung Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arm, making him say resignedly, ¡°If there is anything wrong, you have to come back in right away.¡± Xia Yi hurried and nodded. Then he began to make more requests, ¡°Let¡¯s watch this at the front door. The view is not clear here.¡± Then, he pulled Gu Wen Zhu, who did not have the time to incline, to go out from the arch door and hid behind a bunch of bamboo. Kirin was following them discreetly, hiding itself behind some bamboo and lying down. ¡°179. If they really fight, there would be some dangerous attacks flying around. In order not to be harmed, would you happen to have some sort of protection that I and Zhu could hide inside?¡± ¡°Yes. I can give it to you.¡± 179 answered directly. How is this system not rejecting him? Xia Yi was expecting to have the need to persuade, scold, and even black mail him. However, he just gave it to him. ¡°Does your protection work?¡± Xia Yi doubted. ¡°Of course. Our protective layer was made of carbon fiber and had passed the 3C test. It can stand against plenty of rocks and branches.¡± Whatever. He should not expect this system to function normally. All the people flying in the sky above Qi Shan. It seemed like they were flying blindly in the air but they were actually doing it in a pattern. Although they flew in all directions, the colors were clearly separated and they never met each other. When they had finally stopped moving and were floating steadily, Xia Yi discovered that they were separated into a few dozens a pack and spreaded in nine directions, trapping the people of the Qi Shan Sect tightly. There were a lot of Qi Shan apprentices at the gate which was facing the birds. Among them, Liu Si Qian and Cheng Meng on their gourd and compass were at the very front. The apprentices had set at their position and the two raised the swords in their hands to point them at the sky. With the swords being lifted in midair, two white strands of Qi went right into the sky above them. A few other strands at other spots appeared as well. All of them gathered at one point in the air. As the different Qis blended together, a transparent layer grew from the ground and closed up at the topmost part, creating a large area inside. It was with a radius of a few dozens of miles, including all the Qi Shan apprentices and the buildings inside. ¡°This is what Qing Zhou was talking about. That enchanted area made by the immortal honourable leader Ciang Yi, right?¡± Xia Yi was excited with wide opened eyes. Tut. Tut. This looks so much more promising than that 3C test proof thing of 179¡¯s. Liu Si Qian, with the gourd under his feet, moved a few meters forward and shouted with a low voice, ¡°Who is here to invade Qi Shan? What for?¡± The black birds began to spread in front of the gate, leaving a three head eagle in the middle. As the eagle flapped its wings and descended, Xia Yi finally saw clearly to find a man in red on top of it. The fabric of the red clothes seemed so soft that it almost looked like an organza dress swaying in the wind. If it were the other guys who were dressing this way, Xia Yi would have felt that it was an eyesore. However, the skin of this man, who was on top of that bird, was so fair, and his hair was so black, with his peach eyes which were hard to tell if they were opened or closed and had their ends pointing slightly upwards, that made him look soft and beautiful. That person, with a lazy vibe, could be a man or woman. This person was working those strong red clothes perfectly. The whole Qi Shan Sect was deeply shocked once that person showed up. Everyone took out their weapon and prepared themselves for battle. One of the younger apprentices shouted out uncontrollably, ¡°Red clothes? Is this not the demonic leader Jie Shang?¡± All the other apprentices covered his mouth when Jie Shang glanced this way, ¡°Quiet. Don¡¯t let that devil hear this.¡± Those words were spoken in a trembling voice, showing how scared they were. Liu Si Qian was stupefied to see Jie Shang as well. He exchanged looks with Cheng Ming, then his face became gloomier and serious, ¡°What business does the demonic leader have at Qi Shan? Although our immortal honourable leader was not here, we still have hundreds of apprentices, countless of them are at the foundation construction stage. There are also plenty of them who are in the spiritual baby phase. And we are not even talking about the elders yet, who were in high levels. No demonic leader should hang around casually.¡± Jie Shang heard and smiled. This smile was alluring, making the flowers ashamed of themselves. Some of the apprentices with less determination dozed off, open-mouthed, when they saw this. Those apprentices of higher levels who were shaken mentally still managed to said discreetly, ¡°Evil.¡± Behind the bamboo, Xia Yi was shocked because of that person¡¯s beauty, ¡°Zhu. This person is the demonic leader. He seems so young. But we can¡¯t tell the ages of a lot of cultivators just like that Ciang Yi. Is this demonic leader pretty?¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not make a sound, so Xia Yi elbowed him, ¡°Zhu. I am asking you. Is he pretty?¡± Still no answer. Xia Yi tilted his body slightly to look at him. Gu Wen Zhu was staring at that man in red with a confused expression. CH 56 ¡°Zhu. What¡¯s wrong? Do you know him?¡± Xia Yi saw Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face and asked in confusion. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu dazed, not hearing his words, Xia Yi felt jealous. He pinched him hard in the arm, eyes staring fiercely, ¡°What are you looking at? Can¡¯t move your eyes from a beautiful man?¡± Gu Wen Zhu felt the pain in his arm and recovered from his previous state. He turned to look at Xia Yi, asking in a weird tone, ¡°Yi. I feel like I know him.¡± ¡°Know who?¡± Flabbergasted, Xia Yi realised he was talking about that man in red, ¡°You know that guy named Jie Shang who they called the demonic leader?¡± ¡°Is he the demonic leader Jie Shang?¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not answer but asked in return, his voice sounding heavily confused. ¡°Once I saw him. Some scenes flash through my mind. Scenes of him talking to me gently, and laughing. I feel¡­ I feel close to him¡­¡± Gu Wen Zhu stared at the air in front of him blankly, murmuring. You are now f**king, f**king imagining that? You have a flashback now? Will there be dramas as well? Xia Yi was angry. He pinched and twisted a soft area of skin on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arm fiercely. He said behind his grinted teeth, ¡°Gently¡­ laugh at you¡­ very close¡­¡± Gu Wen Zhu caught his hand which was attacking him and held it tight, ¡°Yi. Have you ever had flashbacks in your mind? And in these flashbacks, you were like another person as if you were not yourself.¡± Xia Yi froze. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s words reminded him of his experience. That pool of water. And sometimes that voice calling him ¡®Lan.¡¯ Somehow, Xia Yi felt guilty instantly, weakening his anger. But he still said fiercely, ¡°You can look. But do not think about it. Even if that¡¯s other people¡¯s business.¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded immediately to show that he understood. Xia Yi thus released him and shuted his mouth, to look towards the direction of the gate. After his smile, Jie Shang walked down sluggishly from that descended eagle with three heads. Although he was slim, he was very tall and handsome. He followed the stone steps forward, walking gracefully with ease as if he was in his own yard. Ciang Yi¡¯s enchanted area was right in front of him, standing like a crystal wall. It looked transparent with light glimmering. He was only a few steps away from the enchanted area. Everyone stopped their breath for him though Jie Shang was not halting his steps. A big hole was created as he passed through. It was as if it had been cut by sharp blades. After Jie Shang had entered the area, that hole closed itself again, as good as before. In view of that fact that the immortal honourable leader Ciang Yi¡¯s enchanted area was not working at all for Jie Shang, everybody took a cold breath in. Fright spreaded among them. ¡°This is the area of Qi Shan. Those from the demonic world are not welcomed. Please leave this place.¡± Liu Si Qian shouted to stop Jie Shang upon seeing him entering the gate as if there were no one around him. Jie Shang chuckled. He stopped to look at Liu Si Qian, ¡°Who are you? Is there nobody else here at Qi Shan? Tell Ciang Yi to come out to have a chat with me.¡± He was not speaking loudly and his voice was clear and soft, however, his voice sounded as if he was talking beside one¡¯s ear. Everyone could hear him clearly. Ignored by him, Liu Si Qian¡¯s face became gloomier, hence he shouted, ¡°Positive and negative nine square cultivation circle of the Great Xu Mi. Activate.¡± At that same moment, all the apprentices behind him started to move. Strong spiritual energy from the swords appeared from nine different directions. With all their weapons drawn, countless swords flew up in the air and floated, all pointing their ends at Jie Shang. Seeing this, Xia Yi felt nervous naturally and his hand began to squeeze Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arm. Kirin growled in excitement in a low tone beside them, but Xia Yi shhed to stop him. Jie Shang was pointed by all those swords. Nevertheless, he was not panicking at all. He continued walking with his hands behind him. Then he opened his mouth, ¡°Please do not become too nervous. I come here alone, not looking for trouble. I just heard that the immortal honourable leader Ciang Yi had come out so I want to meet him. Please inform him now that an old friend has come to congratulate him upon hearing his good news.¡± ¡°You must have made a mistake. Our leader had not yet been out.¡± When he heard that he was not here for troubles, Liu Si Qian¡¯s face became less stern, but then his expression restored its fierceness, ¡°But it¡¯s a coincidence that we are looking for you as well. Now that you are here, we do not need to go fetch you.¡± ¡°Oh? You are looking for me?¡± Jie Shang stopped walking, raising one of his eyebrows slightly, ¡°What for?¡± Liu Si Qian said with grinted teeth, ¡°Tian Xuan and over a hundred of our apprentices were kidnapped by you previously. Please hand them over.¡± After hearing his words, Jie Shang frowned with a slightly tilted head for a while, and said, ¡°I have been thinking hard, but I can¡¯t recall kidnapping your people and Tian Xuan.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t Tian Xuan your head? He has been kidnapped?¡± Jie Shang asked in a shocked tone. Then he stood there and laughed out loud as if it was a funny thing to him. ¡°I am telling you. You guys in Qi Shan are really getting worse and worse. You even got yourselves in this mess. The head of a Sect has been kidnapped. And you don¡¯t even know who did it. You are even asking me to give him back now.¡± ¡°It is so funny. Hahahaha.¡± He curled up laughing at the same spot. But then he stopped suddenly in the middle of doing so and turned his face into a gloomy one, ¡°I am telling you again. Tell Ciang Yi to come out.¡± Cheng Ming could not keep his cool anymore. He drew his sword to point it at Jie Shang, ¡°We have told you that the immortal honourable leader hasn¡¯t been out yet. We are finding him ourselves. How are we supposed to fetch him for you?¡± ¡°Right? Even if I can sense his presence?¡± Jie Shang tilted his head, looking as if he was thinking hard. Suddenly, he smiled creepily, ¡°So he is not letting you know after he is out. Is he afraid of me looking for vengeance when I know about it? But I am, indeed, here for vengeance.¡± Jie Shang showed a weird expression. He spoke word by word and with a cunning face, ¡°Vengeance for my son.¡± As soon as those four words were out, everyone around had their heart skipped a beat. Liu Si Qian was shaken when he heard those words. The slaughtering which had caused so much blood at Yu Lu Men years ago came back to his mind. When Qi Shan Sect received the signal for help from Yu Lu Men, they went there right away. They had traveled for hundreds of miles in only half a day but they were still too late. After they entered the gate, there were already apprentices of Yu Lu Men lying all around the place outside of the hall. They were still alive, but their limbs had already been broken. They had been tossed on the ground. All of them were rolling, crying and mourning. When they entered the hall, the scene was even worse. The head of the Yu Lu Men, Wu Qian Yuen¡¯s body was lying on the floor. A man in black had his back facing them, casually cutting off Wu Qian Yuen¡¯s head from its body with his silver spear. And the few closer apprentices of Wu Qian Yuen were already lying on the floor like bleeding gourds with their eyes and tongues removed. There was still a last breath in them. Their chest moved up and down, cramping. Some other cultivators arrived at the place upon receiving the urgent summon. The ones who arrived first were covering their chest with their hands and lying on the ground with pale faces. They were obviously badly injured and could not move. Blood was everywhere. The whole hall dwelled in terrible mourning. This truly looked like hell. Liu Si Qian and his bunch, upon seeing these, felt the terror deeply. The cultivation world had been peaceful all this time, untouched by the mortals. Normally, there would only be people harmed by some monsters or fairies, causing them having to go and suppress the chaos. During the whole process, they would just be having a small fight. There was no way for them to see everyone bleeding out like this around them. Then, that man in black with his back facing them lifted Wu Qian Yuen¡¯s head in his hand and slowly turned. The silhouette of his face was sharp with blood all over. His face could not be clearly seen. With that silver spear in his hand, blood dripping from his sleeve towards the ground, there was a heavy aura around him. He looked just like a god of war. ¡°It¡¯s the son of the devils.¡± After seeing that strelitzia on his clothes located on the chest part, someone screamed in terror, ¡°He is Ze Yuan, the young master of the demonic world.¡± Right at that moment, some apprentices had already been helping out those injured apprentices of Yu Lu Men, giving them cultivation cores to extend their lives, stopping them from bleeding and healing them. Liu Si Qian and the others heard that scream, feeling shock, they slowly drew their weapons to prepare for battle. They all knew this Ze Yuan, the son of the devils. He was the son of the demonic leader Jie Shang. Although it had been many years since the last time the cultivation world and the demonic world contacted each other and they had been keeping away from each other, they still had heard about him more or less. This Ze Yuan was born by Jie Shang and another woman of unknown identity. Ever since Ze Yuan was born, that woman had vanished. Rumor had it that she was killed right away by Jie Shang because of an careless incident not much of a big deal which made Jie Shang angry. The evil people from the demonic world were fierce and hard to cope with and this was one good example. That Ze Yuan had been a good fighter since he was little. The whole demonic world worshiped him. There had been rumors that he had killed two strong snakes from the Pool of the Twin Dragons with bare hands. And he had ripped off the skin of the snakes to make a few pairs of shoes for his father. When he was sixteen, the demonic world was in chaos. Ze Yuan helped Jie Shang to maintain his position as the leader. He defeated the head of the traitors, the elder of the demonic world, Cheng Yu Wan, and trapped him in the underground water dungeon. Jie Shang the demonic leader favoured and protected his son. Not until this day were the cultivators able to see the face of this demonic world young master. As he was used to his spear and he had a strelitzia on the chest part of his clothes, even without meeting this famous son of the devils Ze Yuan beforehand, they could still tell who he was. Ze Yuan saw them, without hiding, he just glanced at them with a gloomy look with Wu Qian Yuan¡¯s head in his hand. ¡°Why do you, why do you have to kill Wu and harm all these apprentices of the Yu Lu Men?¡± One of the apprentices of Qi Shan shouted with a stern face, having gathered his courage. ¡°Because he deserved it.¡± After a while, when there were no response expected from Ze Yuan, a hoarse voice echoed. It was so hoarse as if it had been roughed by sand and stones, ¡°And these apprentices helped him.¡± Ze Yuan stared at them coldly. That face covered in blood could no longer be clearly seen. It looked monstrous. His eyes glinted with the urge to kill, ¡°Go away now. Or I will kill you too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not good. This person is going mad.¡± An apprentice shouted beside Liu Si Qian in terror, his hands shaking with his sword in it. Everyone knew that Ze Yuan was fierce. They all stepped back. Using their weapons to block in front of them, they readied their positions. Except those who were badly injured lying on the floor, among the ones who were still standing there, Liu Si Qian was the best. Therefore, he aimed at Ze Yuan with his sword, and he said with his voice raised, ¡°Ze Yuan. We all cultivators are on the same side. You have killed many people of the Yu Lu Men today. Even though we know we can¡¯t beat you, we still need to fight you.¡± ¡°Good for you to fight me. Then I shall fulfill your wish.¡± Ze Yuan finished his sentence coldly. A silver light glowed on his spear. A floating pattern appeared around the rod of the spear. In an instant, wind roared in the hall, swiping the broken desks and chairs into midair. After that, the sounds of the waves approached from afar. ¡°This son of the devils is summoning the water from the sea.¡± Some cultivators on the ground shouted with fear. ¡°We heard that Ze Yuan could summon wind and rain and move water from the sea and the streams. But we never expected this to be real.¡± ¡°Ze Yuan. What do you want?¡± Liu Si Qian was scared and angry, he shouted, ¡°Do you not know that if you move the water here from the sea, not only will Yu Lu Mountain be drowned, thousands of miles around this place will also be under water and turned into a sea. Thousands and thousands of people will be killed. No one can survive this.¡± Ze Yuan did not move an inch upon hearing this. He only chuckled. It was more like crying than laughing. It sounded cold and painful. ¡°Yu Lu Men kidnapped the one that I loved. They removed his eyes and his tongue, then wrapped him on the stone table to let him bleed out. He died after being tortured for ten days. They did this to him only because he was the son of a blossom fairy. He was full of spiritual power. If they drink his blood, their cultivation levels will rise. You all claim that you are righteous and have been paying no respect to the demonic world. But it¡¯s you cultivators who are doing these vacious things, killing Wan Lan. Today, I am going to let those people in the Yu Lu Men taste the feeling of being de-tongue and de-eyed. And I am going to have all your corpse placed alongside his grave.¡± Ze Yuan said with gritted teeth. His eyes were all red. A hysterical madness and a deep hatred exerted from him. ¡°I can¡¯t have Wan Lan back even if I kill everyone. I shall avenge him, and I will join him next.¡± He shouted just when he finished his sentence. Then, the grunting of the water became louder. It sounded like a low tone of a thunderstruck passing through. A silver line of water had already appeared from the horizon. ¡°It¡¯s bad.¡± Liu Si Qian panicked. He wanted to interrupt Ze Yuan with his power, but that intimidating aura was pressing his way, as heavy as the mountains. Only standing straight took him a large amount of effort. There was no way for him to step up. The others hurried and hugged the pillars to steady themselves. With hardship, saying, ¡°We can¡¯t do anything. Just go. There is no time.¡± Some apprentices of lower levels had already been blown away. They rolled over and were unconscious. What to do? Seeing Ze Yuan focusing on moving the sea and his black robe swaying without the wind, the water from the horizon was coming closer and closer. He could already see the wave coming. Liu Si Qian felt immensely desperate. ¡°Ze Yuan. Stop.¡± At that moment, a voice shouted from outside the hall. That clear voice rang beside everybody¡¯s ears. Alongside that voice, a silver light flew straight from outside the hall towards Ze Yuan. That light was sharp and fierce, breaking through the aura of Ze Yuan, which he had been releasing, traveling straight towards his face. Ze Yuan had to stop moving the sea temporarily. He swung his spear to block the attack. With a heavy clang sound, Ze Yuan took a few steps back. He used the end of his spear to stop himself from falling further. A loud sharp sound was created with a white scratch marked by the weapon onto the floor. Half kneeling, he finally steadied himself. A figure descended in the hall. He was wearing a blue gown with a patterned belt, standing tall and elegant. ¡°The immortal honourable leader.¡± Someone screamed in surprise. This, indeed, was Ciang Yi. CH 57 Ciang Yi stood steadily at the door of the hall. He glanced around the hall, seeing all the people whining on the floor, he frowned. Then he saw the head of the Wu Qian Yuan in the hand of Ze Yuan. His expression intensified with shock and anger, ¡°Ze Yuan. Did you do this?¡± Ze Yuan, still holding the spear in his hand and half kneeling, looked up upon hearing his words, stared at Ciang Yi coldly and said in a voice that gave people chills, ¡°I did it.¡± Ciang Yi blinked. His body seemed to have swayed slightly. A moment later, he asked in a hoarse voice, ¡°Why did you do this? What¡¯s done is done. It¡¯s none of your business. If you want to avenge them, come at me.¡± Seeing Ciang Yi¡¯s painful expression, Ze Yuan scoffed, ¡°There is no need to pretend to be sad. No one will care.¡± ¡°Do you know how many innocent people are dead and would be dead because of this?¡± Ciang Yi, focusing on Ze Yuan, his always expressionless face was in rage, ¡°Have you ever thought about what you will do after this? What¡­ what are you going to do with your father?¡± Ze Yuan seemed to be touched by the term ¡®father¡¯ and lowered his head with a slightly changed expression. After a while, he spoke with a faint voice, full of hatred and despair, ¡°My love is dead because of them.¡± Next, he suddenly raised his head, his voice shaking, and spoke word by word, ¡°Wang Lan is dead because of them. They tortured him for days. He could not even have his eyes closed. It was painful to look at his body. I had been searching. But I never expected him to be taken to Mount Yu Lu¡¯s dungeon. It was me who wronged him. I failed to protect him. Now that he is gone, I am going to get the whole cultivation world to pay for it.¡± Ze Yuan¡¯s eyes were all red, his voice sounded painful as if a wolf which had lost its partner was howling in pain. ¡°I will ask you one more time. What are you going to do with your father?¡± Ciang Yi shouted at him as well. His hands on both sides were slightly twitching. All of a sudden, Ze Yuan interrupted his words, roaring, ¡°I don¡¯t care. The only thing I know is that Wang Lan is no longer here. Wang Lan was killed because of them. You ask me about my father now. But have you asked him that for all these years? Have you ask me about that? We are nothing to you! What¡¯s the point of pretending to care now! Are you guys not on the same line? Aren¡¯t everyone in the cultivation world in the same body? If you want to fight, just go ahead and stop those bullshits!¡± The face of Ciang Yi had turned pale white upon hearing this. He trembled and closed his eyes in pain. Seeing this, Liu Si Qian yelled at Ze Yuan immediately, alerted, ¡°What are you talking about? You evil creatures from the demonic world are good at mesmerizing people. What have you done to our immortal honourable leader?¡± Ciang Yi abruptly opened his eyes and raised his hand, signaling him to stop, making Liu Si Qian swallow his remaining words and closed his mouth. ¡°Where is his body? Where did you move Wang Lan¡¯s body to?¡± Ciang Yi seemed much calmer, asked, out of the blue. ¡°I will take care of his body. The matter is not yours to concern!¡± Ze Yuan heard Wang Lan¡¯s name and quickly looked back at him sharply as if he was an alerted animal. Ciang Yi was paying no attention to his unfriendliness and just continued, ¡°You know better. I never meant harm to you.¡± Ze Yuan kept staring at him like he was being cautious and being observant. Their eyes fixed on each other, Ciang Yi¡¯s eyes were dark and deep. ¡°He followed me to Qi Shan once. There was a medicine garden at the foot of the mountain. He said that the flowers of the herbs were beautiful.¡± After a long moment, Ze Yuan began to murmur. ¡°What were you doing in Qi Shan?¡± Ciang Yi looked at him in a strange way, voice lowered with a hint of unnoticeable shivering. ¡°I told him, I wanted him to meet my family. Even if I could not do that, I would like to see the place he was living in.¡± Ze Yuan pronounced a small laugh as if he was mocking himself. Then he looked up at a distance outside the door of the hall blankly, ¡°And I promised him, I would live beside that medicine garden with him and look at all the herbs and flowers with him. That¡¯s why I have put him in a jade coffin and let him sleep beside that medicine garden. He is not lonely though, those flower fairies who were his parents are by his side now. And Black is there too. After my revenge, I will go and stay with him.¡± ¡°Quick and bring me there. That jade coffin has trapped his spirit that has not vanished yet. We can still make it.¡± Ciang Yi cut his self-murmuring off, saying in a fuss. It seemed like Ze Yuan had not heard him and was still in his own head, looking blank, not even noticing Ciang Yi walking right to his face. Ciang Yi pulled him up from the floor grabbing his collar, scolding, ¡°I am telling you to bring me to Wang Lan. We can still make it.¡± ¡°Still, still make it?¡± Ze Yuan shivered, as if he was finally awake. He looked at Ciang Yi, frozen, asking with a trembling voice. He did not resist even with his collar being grabbed by Ciang Yi. Having a hard time believing, his eyes were lightened up in surprise but also with a desperate beg and hope. ¡°We will get there and see.¡± Ciang Yi released him. He swiftly walked outside, waved his hand, and stepped onto a sword floating at low level. Looking at that silver line dashing from the skyline, he turned back to shout fiercely, ¡°You should take your seawater back.¡± Ze Yuan did not look confused anymore. Without hesitation, he dashed out swinging his spear and the silver line at the other end of the sky slowly retreated. Just when the two were preparing to fly towards Qi Shan, a hoarse voice echoed from the ground, ¡°Leader. This son of the demons killed our head, destroyed our sect, harmed our man. Please avenge us.¡± Those words were toxic. It was from a man of the Yu Lu Men, whose arm had been cut off. With some efforts to heal him, he had woken up from the coma caused by the lack of blood. He was leaning on a pillar, lying on the stone steps, staring fixedly at Ze Yuan. Ciang Yi halted, then he turned slightly to respond coldly, ¡°I will investigate. If it was a bad deed, someone must pay no matter who that was.¡± After saying so, he activated the sword underneath his feet to fly towards the sky. Ze Yuan also stepped on his spear in a hurry and followed. After that, for the ones who were left at Mount Yu Lu, the hurted ones were healed, the exhausted ones had their rests, and the body of the Yu Lu Men, Wu Qian Yuan, had also been put into a coffin. He saw that Yu Lu Men was okay and Ze Yuan had followed Ciang Yi to Qi Shan. Although that was their immortal honourable leader Ciang Yi, Liu Si Qian still felt a little uneasy, so he brought with him some apprentices and went back to their sect. They waited anxiously till late at night, then they finally saw Ciang Yi coming back. They all surrounded him, asking about what he had been through. On the other hand, Ciang Yi just waved his hand, exhausted, ¡°Ze Yuan¡¯s spirit has gone. Do not mention any of this from now on.¡± Then, with a fierce look, he said more seriously, ¡°It¡¯s Yu Lu Men¡¯s head Wu Qian yuan who had been acting wrongly. Instead of cultivating earnestly, he did it the evil way, harming innocent lives, causing the young master of the demonic world to seek revenge here. Although he had harmed Yu Lu Men¡¯s people, they deserved it. And Ze Yuan had his punishment as well. From now on, no one should go to the demonic world and cause trouble. If I know of anyone acting their own way, thinking that this is unjust, I will not make it easy for him.¡± Seeing everyone staying silent and unwilling to act differently, Ciang Yi¡¯s look softened. He only said that he needed to cultivate alone in the mountains and let Tian Xuan temporarily take care of everything concerning the sect. While he was talking about it, his voice was low with a few coughs, and he looked tired. The others were shocked when they heard of Ciang Yi cultivating by himself since there were no signs of this beforehand. However, seeing how Ciang Yi was like now, apparently it was due to that fight between him and the son of the demons, Ze Yuan. He had beaten Ze Yuan in the end, but that evil person had great powers, he must have hurted the immortal honourable leader badly as well, causing him needing to cultivate alone to recover. Therefore, no one ever asked questions about it again. After telling them about the news, he let the others go back, leaving Tian Xuan with him. He told him something, should be about the things concerning when he was not at the sect. On the same night, Ciang Yi, the immortal honourable leader, had vanished. He should be cultivating on his own. That disaster had been covered up by Ciang Yi just like that. The seawater which had been coming at them had already been back. And no one had ever heard of Ze Yuan, the son of the demons, again in the cultivation world. During this period, Jie Shang must have been paying attention to Ciang Yi¡¯s whereabouts. Once he heard that the immortal honourable leader was out, he came for revenge. After Jie Shang mentioned his revenge on his son, everyone fell silent. Due to the attitude of Ciang Yi at the time of the incident, no one in Qi Shan dared to mention what had happened in Mount Yu Lu. Nevertheless, all the apprentices of the sect still know about it and would talk about it in their free time, after a meal, before sleeping, discreetly. When they heard that Jie Shang was coming for revenge, they were shivering and scared. ¡°Years ago, Ciang Yi begged me not to harm any of you before he came back out and I promised him soft-heartedly. But how would I expect him to hide himself after coming out. Is he too scared of me knowing about it and come to destroy your Qi Shan Sect?¡± Jie Shang looked around him, smirking. ¡°You are full of bullshit.¡± After hearing him saying bad things about Ciang Yi, Cheng Ming became angry. That sparkling sword which had been holding its position above his head now suddenly exploded with a silver light and went straight towards Jie Shang. ¡°No. Tian Quan.¡± Liu Si Qian stopped him immediately, but that sword was already on its way. Just when that was about to step into Jie Shang, it halted a few feet before him, quivering and could not advance any further. Jie Shang did not even look at it. He said suddenly towards the air in front of him, ¡°Ciang Yi, I know you are out. I am coming here as I had promised years ago. You killed my son and we shall see blood. If you do not come out, I will kill ten people of your sect every hour until you come out.¡± There seemed to be no response. What he had just said echoed around in the air of the whole Qi Shan Sect. Xia Yi heard that as well. He became nervous and grabbed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arm with one hand and Kirin¡¯s neck with the other. Is this Jie Shang still having puberty problems or is he an anti-sociopath? He looks pretty and all with that smile, but he is talking about killing people, ten in an hour? ¡°Shut up!¡± Liu Si Qian could no longer held back his anger, he raised his sword to point at Jie Shang, ¡°We had been respecting you because of the fact that you are the demonic leader, but you have been kidnapping our apprentices when our leader was not here, you also kidnapped our leader, and now you are talking foully about our immortal honourable leader.¡± ¡°Do you think that we will let you take Qi Shan doing nothing? Demonic leader or not, the whole Qi Shan Sect shall fight you today.¡± ¡°All apprentices. Swords out.¡± Right after those words were out, hundreds and thousands of swords floating in the sky began to shoot. The swords were vibrating with buzzing sounds. It was as if the whole sky was filled with shooting stars. All the attacks were shooting towards Jie Shang. ¡°Ah.¡± Xia Yi breathed out a short scream and closed his eyes. Even though Jie Shang was an anti-sociopath, as a normal citizen who obeyed the law in modern society, Xia Yi did not wish to see someone being stabbed alive into a sword cactus. The expected scream never echoed. There was the sound of a world-shakening explosion, followed by the clanging sounds of swords. Xia Yi opened his eyes and looked in puzzlement. The swords were all over the ground. Somewhere stuck between rocks, vibrating. That Jie Shang was standing there, fine, in his red clothes swaying in the wind. His fair skin made his eyes and brows look darker in color, as if they were the color of a deep pool of water. Xia Yi could not help but look at Gu Wen Zhu who was right beside him. Gu Wen Zhu felt Xia Yi looking at him, so he turned and raised one of his brows to show a questioning face. Those eyes were also as dark as a deep pool of water. Xia Yi shook his head immediately, then he pointed in front of him to make him continue to watch. Gu Wen Zhu looked again and said, ¡°Oh no.¡± Xia Yi was about to ask what¡¯s wrong, then he saw there was an apprentice of the Qi Shan Sect in the hands of Jie Shang, who had been standing there and not making a move. That apprentice was tall and strong. Still, had been grabbed by Jie Shang who was far slimmer than him. In his hands, he was like a small chick unable to fight for itself. After Jie Shang turned him around, Xia Yi almost screamed. It¡¯s Qing Xiu. One of Jie Shang¡¯s hands was grabbing onto Qing Xiu¡¯s back of the neck, the other one of his hands was right above the top of his head, radiating with a black aura from the palm. ¡°Ciang Yi. I will count to ten. If you don¡¯t show up, don¡¯t blame me for killing people. One, two, three,¡± Tears appeared at the bottom of Qing Xiu¡¯s eyes, could not bear to part with the world, he threw a look at the direction of the apprentices of the sect and closed his eyes with gritted teeth. ¡°Four,¡° Jie Shang counted at moderate speed. He seemed not to care, but there were hidden waves inside his eyes. ¡°Stop.¡± A clear shout rang just when Jie Shang had counted to five. CH 58 Upon hearing that voice, he shivered and closed his eyes involuntarily. Joy and sadness both appeared on his face. When he opened his eyes again, he had removed that expression, leaving coldness on his serious face. Everyone followed the sound to look. They all screamed excitedly, ¡°Our immortal and honourable leader.¡± ¡°It¡¯s our leader. Leader has come to save us.¡± Some of the apprentices almost cried. Cheng Ming was over the moon. He threw his sword away, shouting ¡°Leader. Look at me. Look at Mingie.¡± And he just ran right ahead of him. If Liu Si Qian did not swiftly catch him, he would have fallen from his compass. Xia Yi looked at it as that figure descended slowly from above. He grabbed Gu Wen Zhu tightly, ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that Ciang Yi still had a heart, didn¡¯t give up on his apprentices and appeared in time.¡± Ciang Yi, elegant and handsome, standing straight and tall, floated and descended in front of Jie Shang. All the people at the scene were nervous. They were all prepared for a great war. However, out of everyone¡¯s expectation, the two did not fight right away. They just stood there and stared at each other. CIang Yi¡¯s eyes fixed on Jie Shang¡¯s face. His expression unchanged. Waves swirled inside his eyes. Then he walked up a couple of steps. One of his hands on his side moved slightly and turned into a fist slowly. At that moment, Xia Yi thought his hand was almost going to touch Jie Shang¡¯s face. But he had recovered to his calm state, looking all bland and without the slightest concern. It was as if just now he was some other guy and was not acting properly. At the same time, Xia Yi found that he seemed to have something to tell Jie Shang but hesitated with a complex expression. Thanks to this eyesight from this whatever phase? Immorality phase. Now he could see like through a pair of binoculars and found out this soap opera shit. ¡°179. Are you seeing this? I think their relationship is not simply one between enemies.¡± Xia Yi called out to the system excitedly. ¡°I saw. That jade pendant on their waist is the same. I do not know about these guys but, do we need to feel your opponent before beating them?¡± Hmm? This is what you have found out? What about your bitchy radar? You have been with Lady Li for so long and the only thing you have learned from her was his accent? But that¡¯s right. They had the same pendant. There is clearly something between them. Had the apprentices of Ciang Yi never found out about this? Maybe in their minds, their leader had already gotten rid of all the emotions in this world. These things between men and women, no, these things between men would be an insult if it happened to their leader. ¡°Are you not seeking revenge? I am here. Release my apprentice.¡± Ciang Yi stared straight at Jie Shang and said plainly. Jie Shang smiled, tilting the end of his red lips. He pushed lightly. Qing Xiu then flew towards the people of the Qi Shan Sect, making him scream until he had been caught by QIng Hui jumping in the air. ¡°Great. Thne, today, you shall die for my son.¡± Jie Shang cleared away the smile on his face, his eyes becoming cold as ice. After saying so, a silver light appeared in his hand. It moved swiftly and pointing at Ciang Yi¡¯s chest. That was one glittering short sword. CIang Yi was tall, but surprisingly, as the two were standing near each other, Jie Shang was half a head taller than Ciang Yi though it did not seem like it. ¡°I am going to cut out your heart to see what color it is. But well, you might not have one at all.¡± Jie Shang said behind gritted teeth with a painful and angry expression. ¡°Leader.¡± The people of the Qi Shan Sect were nervous when they saw this. All of them pulled out their weapons to come forward. ¡°No one moves.¡± Ciang Yi spoke with a moderate voice and a moderate tone, but he still managed to get people unable to disobey him. ¡°It¡¯s me who is in debt with him and I shall give what belongs to him back.¡± Then, he closed his eyes calmly. Seeing him like this, Jie Shang halted. His other hand grabbed Ciang Yi¡¯s clothes, intense hatred lingered in his eyes, he screamed, ¡°Are you so sure that I won¡¯t hurt you?¡± Hearing this, Ciang Yi opened his eyes, ¡°It was me who was not treating you and your son rightfully. Do it.¡± Those eyes were light in color and looked like ambers filled with light under the sunlight. It was as if Jie Shang had been mesmerized. He was holding Ciang Yi¡¯s collar with the sword on his other hand pointing at his chest. And he just froze there angrily, not knowing what to do. ¡°Leader.¡± Cheng Ming growled angrily and shockingly. He suddenly started an attack towards Jie Shang. Jie Shang was not in his right mind. He stared at Ciang Yi blankly. That attack was cutting through air coming at him but he did not use his arm to block it, letting Cheng Ming¡¯s attack hit him. That attack hit Jie Shang. He was blown away and the sword fell onto the ground with clanging sounds. No one expected any of this. Everyone was stunned. Cheng Ming did not expect this either. He looked at his hands with an open mouth in shock. Ciang Yi opened his eyes right when Jie Shang was hit. He wanted to grab onto him but missed because Jie Shang dodged out of the way in the air. Jie Shang turned and landed on the ground steadily. He only breathed heavily for a little while, then he became calm again. ¡°That¡¯s alright.¡± He looked towards Cheng Ming and smiled. But that smile was deep. At this time, a roar like a thunderstruck exploded beside everyone¡¯s ears. All the people there had their chi roughed and chest in pain. Some of the apprentices who were not too advanced in cultivation went pale and quickly meditated to push that chi in their bodies back down. Xia Yi felt slightly nauseous as well. He brushed his chest. From Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s palm, a warm flow came through and circulate in his body, making that sick feeling go away. With that growl, a black figure went down from those black birds flying in the air. It¡¯s head was like a lion¡¯s, with one horn on it. It¡¯s body was like a deer, but with scales. It¡¯s hooves were glowing like four silver fires. Xia Yi looked at Kirin on his side, then he looked at that one in the air, his mouth opened. That was a kirin as well, just like his baby boy. It was only much bigger and fiercer. The big kirin in the air jumped quickly to the side of Jie Shang. It lowered the front of his body, bending its back legs, showing a fierce look and its sharp teeth to everyone of the Qi Shang Sect. Xia Yi found that Kirin was becoming uneasy as well. It used its front paws to dig the ground, splashing rocks everywhere. He thought that it was not looking good, then a black figure shot out from beside him like an arrow and ran towards the center of attention. ¡°Kirin.¡± Xia Yi screamed, staring at Kirin¡¯s figure. He became anxious and ran behind it. Gu Wen Zhu realized how bad it was when he saw Xia Yi dashed out, he quickly jumped forward to chase Kirin with him. Kirin ran and howled towards that big kirin. Although it sounded like a thunderstruck as well, compared with the previous one, it was much more childish with a little babbling. The big kirin was ready to attack. A red ball of flame appeared in its mouth. It looked fierce. Its back legs charged. It was about to pounce to the front and release that fire ball towards the people. From afar, Kirin¡¯s voice rang. It was like a call or an echo. That big kirin froze with its right paw in the air. Then, a shadow flashed through. Kirin was like a breeze of wind, passing in front of everyone, pouncing onto that big kirin. Xia Yi, who was chasing Kirin and arrived, was terrified seeing this. Just when he was about to run forth, Gu Wen Zhu pulled him back, ¡°Don¡¯t panic. Look.¡± Xia Yi calmed himself down and saw an unbelievable sight. After Kirin pouncing onto the other kirin, they did not attack each other, instead, Kirin was jumping around and pushing the big one affectionately. It was being adorable, rubbing its head against that kirin with tail wiggling. As for the big kirin, it slowly put its sharp paw down and sniffed around Kirin¡¯s body. After all that, it seemed to have some facts confirmed and rubbed Kirin with its head in return, licking its head with its tongue. The fierceness had been drawn away. Only gentleness and love was left. Jie Shang saw Kirin and showed an unbelieving face, ¡°Big black, is this your Little Black? Is this Little Black?¡± Big Black looked at Kirin softly. Those yellowish orange eyes were watery. It heard Jie Shang. It lifted its head to hmm towards him as if he was saying yes to his question. Sadness and happiness replaced each other on Jie Shang¡¯s face. Jie Shang was puzzled, ¡°It¡¯s Little Black. It¡¯s Little Black.¡± He turned sluggishly to face Ciang Yi. His peach eyes filled with confusion, ¡°Ciang Yi, Ciang Yi. Is he, is he¡­¡± That voice was so small that it sounded like it was afraid he would wake up from a dream like this. Ciang Yi stared at him, looking calm and cold, emotionless. But his fists were actually curling up tightly and he was squeezing so hard that his knuckles turned pale. Seeing that Jie Shang was not paying attention, Xia Yi stepped up a little and called, ¡°Son, son.¡± Kirin, hearing this, turned to look at him, showing a merry face. As it was about to move forward, it looked behind to see the big kirin was hesitating. Jie Shang heard Xia Yi¡¯s calling and turned his head abruptly to look at him. Seeing him and Kirin this way, he knew that he had been feeding this Little Black. With a stern face, a red light flashed through the air, then Xia Yi was already in his hand. He grabbed onto Xia Yi¡¯s thin neck and asked fiercely, ¡°Talk. Where did you get Little Black?¡± Xia Yi felt his throat tighten and it was hard to breathe. He stretched out to grab the hand which was holding him. However, those fingers grabbing him were like steel and could not be moved an inch with his full force pulling them. ¡°You jerk. Let him go. Ahhh. Host. Don¡¯t give up.¡± 179 screamed in terror. Kirin growled as well. It curled its body, ready to pounce onto Jie Shang, but was caught by Big Black on the back of its neck by its mouth. Kirin was struggling in the air with its four hooves. ¡°Let him go.¡± Then, with a shocked and angry voice, Gu Wen Zhu attacked with a spear in his hand as if no one could stop him. Immense spiritual power had been put into this attack and swept towards Jie Shang. The air around had been pulled and twisted because of this. Jie Shang was feeling confused in the first place and focusing on Xia Yi. He did not even look at Gu Wen Zhu and continued to interrogate Xia Yi with reddened eyes, ¡°Say it. How did you get Little Black?¡± He did not care about that attack which was approaching him. That spear was going straight towards Jie Shang, about to stab into his vest. In the matter of seconds, with a loud clang, a silver light interrupted with spiritual energy to block that fierce attack. Two powerful energies collided, roughing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s chi. He fell back for a few steps, sticking his spear on the ground, half-kneeling to stabilize himself. He looked up at Ciang Yi, who was surrounded with a frightening killing vibe. Ciang Yi put down his sword and stared at him in silence. Mixed emotions appeared on his face. He opened his mouth to speak but, at the end, did not. He just blocked that for Jie Shang. Gu Wen Zhu saw that Jie Shang was still squeezing Xia Yi¡¯s neck, and that Xia Yi¡¯s face was turning blue with tears sliding down, rolling his eyes to look at him. Gu Wen Zhu was so anxious. Under these circumstances, he had no time to think about anything else and shouted angrily at Ciang Yi fiercely, ¡°If you try to stop me again, I will kill you too!¡± He pointed his spear at the sky at the same time, intending to use the energy from the heavens and the earth. Cheng Ming was nervous and yelled towards Ciang Yi, ¡°Leader. Leader. Yi is one of us.¡± Then he swung his sword wanting to move forward but was stopped by Liu Si Qian. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. The leader is here. Yi is going to be alright.¡± ¡°Jie Shang. Let him go.¡± Ciang Yi¡¯s voice rang, ¡°He knows nothing. Don¡¯t kill innocent lives. He is that Wang Lan that you have never met.¡± Upon hearing his words, Jie Shang shivered. He observed Xia Yi in shock, then slowly released his hand which was grabbing onto his neck. Xia Yi quickly struggled himself out of the grip. He covered his neck to breath heavily and stumbled towards Gu Wen Zhu. Gu Wen Zhu swiftly took his spear back, walking a few steps forward, he took Xia Yi into his arms. He hugged and squeezed, then he loosened his hug. He used his hand to lift the hair on his neck to see clearly. A few purple finger marks were on his fair skin, making him angry and distressed. He grabbed his spear tightly, breathing heavily. Xia Yi intended to complain a little, but when he saw his expression, he was scared that he might fight Jie Shang because of this. What if they fight and something happens? And so he caught Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arm tightly, his eyes begging and scared, and said in repeating words, ¡°I am fine. I am fine.¡± With a slightly hoarse voice though. Xia Yi was holding onto him like an octopus. Gu Wen Zhu made a few moves, unable to free himself, and was afraid that he might hurt him if he used too much force, making him stand at the same spot staring at Jie Shang. Jie Shang then recovered from his confused state. He turned to look and met Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s fierce eyes. At that moment, Jie Shang froze. He stared at Gu Wen Zhu unblinkingly, looking pale and weird. Suddenly, he turned to face Ciang Yi and pointed at Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°He, he¡­¡± Ciang Yi looked at Jie Shang, then slowly nodded and closed his eyes. He seemed calm, but his breath was rough, clearly very excited as well. Xia Yi witnessed the rapid change of emotions on Jie Shang¡¯s face between sad and happy, and becoming weird, thus began to feel alert and grabbed onto Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arm tightly. ¡°179. I think the way this person looked at Zhu was terrifying.¡± Xia Yi called out to the system, ¡°Why am I having such bad feelings?¡± ¡°Host. Don¡¯t be scared. According to normal cultivation world logics, it could be Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s blood could cure some kind of disease by letting people drink it. Or, he was some sort of great power supply and everybody wants him.¡± Shut up. Big Black released the struggling Kirin at this time. Kirin made a small sound and ran towards Xia Yi. Then it comforted him with its head rubbing against his leg. Big Black silently walked towards Jie Shang¡¯s side. It lied down and looked gently at Kirin. Liu Si Qian and the others were stupefied and totally did not understand what had just happened. Those apprentices at the back were deeply confused, holding onto their weapons, frozen. ¡°Ze Yuan.¡± Jie Shang suddenly called Gu Wen Zhu that name. He sounded soft and light, shivering. Gu Wen Zhu had been grabbed by Xia Yi dead tight. He looked at Jie Shang groomily with a spear in his hand. Seeing him like this, he was flabbergasted and became confused. Jie Shang walked slowly towards Gu Wen Zhu, staring unblinkingly at him on his way. Gu Wen Zhu saw him approaching and wanted to guard against him. But somehow when he saw him like this, he could not bear to resist him. There was even this familiar feeling rising in him about this man. Jie Shang stood steadily in front of Gu Wen Zhu. He raised his hand to the side of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face, ¡°Come. Let me see whether your spirit protection mark is still there.¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at Jie Shang¡¯s eyes which were so familiar to him. He began to doze off and his legs moved forward, bringing Xia Yi with him as well. Jie Shang suppressed his breath. He brushed off the hair beside his ear to see that blue water drop shape mark. ¡°Right. Right. Spirit protection mark. I have given that to you and him.¡± Jie Shang gazed at that blue mark, eyes sparkling. ¡°At first, your spirit was unstable. This is a mark which can protect your spirit. Everytime your spirit went away, that mark would pull your spirit back into your body.¡± Xia Yi stood on the side, flabbergasted. Based on all those dramas he had been through with his mother, he had a brief guess in his mind. Is there going to be a family reunion? No. It can¡¯t be. How can there be such a coincidence? Zhu is not from the cultivation world. He is from the farming world. ¡°You are my son. Your name is Ze Yuan.¡± Bingo. Jie Shang took a few deep breaths, staring at Gu Wen Zhu to say it word by word. This is not just some family reunion! He is his son! ¡°Host. Is this your mother-in-law? Father-in-law? They don¡¯t have a red mark. I can¡¯t tell.¡± 179¡¯s terrified voice rang. ¡°Don¡¯t say things like that. This is not the farming world, we don¡¯t have gers.¡± Jie Shang¡¯s voice was not loud, but everyone heard it. It was as if Gu Wen Zhu had been struck by lightning. He was stunned. Liu Si Qian and Cheng Ming both opened their mouths unbelievingly from a distance. ¡°I had always thought that I had lost you. But now I see that you are well.¡± Jie Shang, looking at Gu Wen Zhu, tears running in his peach eyes, said, ¡°You are still alive. Great. Great.¡± ¡°You must have made a mistake. I have a father and a mother. It¡¯s just that my mother died long ago. My father died some years before followed by that.¡± Gu Wen Zhu said, slightly panicking. ¡°You are my son. I am your father.¡± Jie Shang sounded dead sure. CH 59 Actually, deep down inside, Gu Wen Zhu already believed Jie Shang a little. This was because of the flashbacks he had been having since he met this guy. In these flashbacks, Jie Shang was staring at him gently and he could feel himself feeling calm and pleasant. Leave alone the fact that Jie Shang, without any hesitation, pointed out that mark behind his ear and said that it was a soul protection mark. Father Gu panicked. He could only give him the medicine from the doctor of the village and used a handkerchief to clean his body time after time. When his mind was wandering between reality and a coma, he felt his body becoming lighter as if it had no mass, and it floated upwards along the flow of the air. He could even float and look at his own body, looking at himself lying in bed with closed eyes in silence. Father Gu was dipping the handkerchief in water with a concerned face, and he used it to rub his back. When he was about to float outside the window with the wind, he looked at his body to see that blue birthmark behind his ear slightly glowing and showing an unfamiliar pattern. Then he felt a strong sucking force and he was in his own body again. Perhaps, this was the power of that soul protection mark that Jie Shang was mentioning, and it was protecting his soul which was about to leave? Gu Wen Zhu was deeply puzzled and confused. He could not tell what kind of feelings he was having at the moment. He had been told by a stranger, out of the blue, that the parents who had been loving him were not his biological parents, and this stranger guy here was his father. Anyone could feel hard to accept. Xia Yi was shocked as well but did not show that on his face. He stared at Jie Shang in front of him calmly, holding Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand tightly, and felt Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand cold and wet. In his mind, the system was screaming, ¡°Host. So Gu Wen Zhu is not from the farming world. He has his biological parents on this side. Then what is with his parents on the other side? Host. You are the wife of the son of the demonic world. Host. I am having a terrible hunch that Ciang Yi¨C¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Xia Yi interrupted 179 fiercely, ¡°You say anything again then I will file a complaint about you.¡± Jie Shang was staring at Gu Wen Zhu intently, he was eager to prove that he was Ze Yuan, ¡°Years ago, I was hurt by the Elders of the demonic world and went to cultivate alone. When I received the information of you going to Mount Yu Lu, I forcefully left the cultivation space but it was all too late¡­¡± ¡°Ze Yuan, you are indeed Jie Shang¡¯s son.¡± Ciang Yi¡¯s voice rang beside him. He breathed in deeply as if he had made some kind of decision, ¡°And I am your biological father.¡± With this, everyone around went dead silent. One of the apprentices had his sword slip out from his grip and the sword hit the ground with clanging sounds. That sound was so piercing in that space. No one could recover from the shock quickly enough. All of them still had their jaws dropped. Only 179 was screaming inside Xia Yi¡¯s head excitedly, ¡°I called that, right? You see I was right, yes? And you told me to shut up.¡± Xia Yi was holding Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand. It was shakening to him but his face was still calm. ¡°The cultivation world and the demonic world had been opposite to each other. I was bound by the rules and had been following them too strictly, making me ignore you two for all these years.¡± Ciang Yi¡¯s voice was slightly hoarse. Everyone in the open space could hear him, loud and clear. ¡°As for myself, there is not one moment that I was not thinking of you. There was not one moment that I was not tortured by guilt. I never had a day where I could live freely. For all these years my cultivation space, I finally had figured some of these out¨C¡± Xia Yi found that although Ciang Yi¡¯s lips were moving, his expression was calm. And there was no sound transmitted into his ears. It was as if he was seeing a pantomime. What had you figured out? Huh? Just say it. Don¡¯t just go silent. No, it doesn¡¯t feel right. It¡¯s not that he did not speak. They were transmigrating! Xia Yi immediately looked around him. He was right. The air was moving and the surroundings started to ripple just like a pool of water. ¡°179. I think we are transmigrating again!¡± ¡°Correct. Host. Quick. Wave at your mother-in-law and father-in-law. Say goodbye.¡± Gu Wen Zhu sensed the weirdness as well, but he could not say a thing and his body could not move. He could only watch Jie Shang and Ciang Yi grow more terrified and tried to grab him with extended arms but failed. The other kirin, Big Black, who was lying on the ground, stood up immediately and growled this way with a hint of anxiety. Gu Wen Zhu tried to be calm and grabbed Xia Yi¡¯s hand. After a whole lot of the world turning upside down, they were already in the swirl of time. When things calmed down, Xia Yi heard a few dog barks and opened his eyes. Seeing that big red Chinese word ¡°Xi¡± sticking onto the window and the candles which had burnt off, and the other few pieces of furniture made by Gu Wen Zhu, he exhaled in relief. So they were home. Kirin had turned back into a dog and was searching anxiously around. It was as if thinking why the surroundings had changed and did not know why Big Black, its father, was gone. Gu Wen Zhu was standing, stupefied, still holding onto Xia Yi¡¯s hand, his face frozen. Obviously, he had not recovered from the situation that happened just now. Xia Yi called, ¡°Zhu.¡± Then his mind suddenly came back to reality. He looked around, then he faced Xia Yi to show a flabbergasted face, ¡°We are back?¡± Xia Yi nodded. Scanning around the scene, it was still the way it was on their wedding night. The only thing that was different was that there was a layer of dust. ¡°Yi. I, and them.¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at Xia Yi, wanting to speak but not what to say first. ¡°It should be dark in no time. I shall prepare you dinner.¡± After dazed for a while, Gu Wen Zhu recovered and went outside quickly and headed towards the kitchen. Xia Yi knew that he needed to be alone to clear up things in his mind, and so he did not follow. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s figure entering the kitchen, he crouched and rubbed Kirin¡¯s head. He said gently, ¡°My good son. We will live past this. And we will see your dog father again. I am actually only your adoptive father. The other one just now was your real father. Right?¡± Kirin did not respond. It only licked Xia Yi¡¯s hand, then fell silent, and became less irritated. After some time, dinner was ready. The two sat down, facing each other, and said nothing. Xia Yi always peeked at Gu Wen Zhu to see his face calm as if nothing happened. It might be because of the fact that he had been peeking for too many times, Gu Wen Zhu used the chopsticks to clang his bowl, ¡°Eat.¡± Xia Yi could not hold up anymore and put down his bowl and chopsticks, ¡°Zhu. What is on your mind?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was eating the rice in his bowl in big mouthfuls, not saying anything. Just when Xia Yi thought he was not answering him, Gu Wen Zhu swallowed the content in his mouth and said suddenly, ¡°I did not know them. My parents are Gu Da Shi and Li Xiu Er.¡± Then he carried a piece of tofu with his chopsticks and placed it into Xia Yi¡¯s bowl, ¡°Eat. Don¡¯t think.¡± Xia Yi nodded and picked up his bowl and chopsticks once again, eating mouthfuls of food. At this moment, there was a squeak from the front door. Someone pushed the door open and peeked in. In view of the two of them having dinner, Qi Zhou went in and said in relief, ¡°It¡¯s good that you are back. Where have you been vanishing all these days? Were you at Qi Shan?¡± ¡°Mr. Wang has been asking me about you everyday. So I just told him that you two were at Xia¡¯s home. He was making me so nervous. If you come back any later, I don¡¯t know what to tell the villagers.¡± Qi Zhou complained. ¡°Old Meng went back?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°Yes. He just turned into light spots then he was gone.¡± Qi Zhou stood in the yard, looking clueless of what to do. ¡°I saw him vanish. So I thought you might be back and come here to check it out. It¡¯s good that you are back.¡± Xia Yi saw him looking lost so he comforted him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You will be transferred back in no time.¡± Xia Yi asked, ¡°Have you eaten?¡± Meng Wan Zi was back. Qi Zhou, a cultivator who never cooked, could easily starve to death. Let¡¯s let him eat here from now on. ¡°I have eaten.¡± Qi Zhou answered absentmindedly, ¡°Gu Bei Cheng made a meal for me.¡± Xia Yi nodded. It was fine as soon as he did not starve to death. At night, Xia Yi lay silently beside Gu Wen Zhu, his face leaning on his chest, listening to that heart pounding strongly. No one spoke. After a while, Gu Wen Zhu started talking. His voice was low, sounding like it was from his chest, ¡°When I was small, we were poor. I could only watch the kids in the village eating malt syrup. And I did not dare to ask my father for it. My stepmother was not well in health either. We used all the money to buy food and medicines for her. So one day I went home, and my father pulled out a piece of candy and gave it to me. I can still remember what it tasted like. It was especially sweet. I let my father taste it, he wouldn¡¯t have it. Then I gave it to my stepmother, she shook her head.¡± He stopped all of a sudden. Then he breathed in deeply for a few times. He turned his head to face the other side and stared through the windows into the darkness. All those beautiful things that happened in the past, when coming out from his mouth, it sounded like a bad story. A moment later, he soothed himself and spoke calmly, ¡°They would never have left me, except when death departed us. Gu Da Shi and Li Siu Er are my actual parents. I don¡¯t have other parents.¡± Xia Yi, eyes closed, leaned on his chest without moving. He waited, then he stretched out his arm to touch Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face. His fingers were soft and warm. He used them to rub lightly around that deep and sharp outline, carefully and affectionately. Gu Wen Zhu tilted his head and let his face touch that soft palm closely. He felt a little confused, a little bitter, or maybe he was afraid of something else. On the next day, when Xia Yi woke up, he found that it was already noon. Gu Wen Zhu had already gone to the farmlands, leaving him some steaming meat porridge and buns. ¡°179. How come you didn¡¯t wake me up? I had been sleeping for so long.¡± Xia Yi was troubled. 179 quickly defended himself, ¡°I have called you many times. I played symphonies in your mind but there was no response from you. Host. You can really sleep.¡± ¡°Oh right? Then sorry, I may not be well lately and need some more training.¡± Xia Yi, porridge in one hand and bun in the other, took in mouthfuls of food and listened to 179¡¯s new missions. ¡°Host. Those lettuce matured on your wedding day and your mission is complete. After all these days, you should take on new missions and farm.¡± Xia Yi sipped some porridge, ¡°Quickly announce it. Don¡¯t interrupt my meal. I need to collect the lettuce after this.¡± ¡°Please accept the mission. Host. Mission: Rescuing Qi Shan Sect¡¯s leader and all the apprentices. Completion 0/1 Award¨C¡± While the system was announcing the award, the sound suddenly stopped as if the computer was tripping. ¡°179?¡± Waiting for some time, seeing that the system was not responding, Xia Yi began to have doubts, ¡°179. Are you here or not?¡± A moment later, the robot voice of the system echoed, ¡°I am here.¡± ¡°What just happened? Your voice got cut off?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°Nothing.¡± 179 faltered out the word. ¡°What really happened?¡± With System sounding like that, Xia Yi became alerted, ¡°No. Is there something wrong with that award?¡± 179¡¯s voice was unsteady, ¡°Nothing of that sort. Host. You are thinking too much.¡± ¡°Then tell me about it. What¡¯s that award?¡± ¡°So, award. It would be a normal big gift pack, with some cores inside, nothing special, everything¡¯s the same.¡± 179¡¯s voice became normal again. ¡°Is that so?¡± Xia Yi¡¯s voice sounded doubtful. ¡°Yes.¡± 179¡¯s voice sounded serious. Alright. This system is rubbish, but he never lies. With Xia Yi not asking anymore, 179 sighed in relief. ¡°Then tell me what¡¯s with the new mission.¡± ¡°Whatever. You can plant whatever you like.¡± 179 was absent minded. ¡°What ever I like?¡± Xia Yi was shocked. It was the very first time 179 was irresponsible about his job and did not even give instructions for it. ¡°179. Then I want marshmallows?¡± Xia Yi tested him. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°179. I want to plant some ice cream? Plant some sun?¡± Xia Yi continued to ask. ¡°You can.¡± ¡°Have you been listening to me?¡± Xia Yi could not help but yell at the system to wake him up. You are not instructing me to do the mission and just let me plant whatever. However, ¡®whatever¡¯ is a thing too hard to plant. ¡°Okay. Carrots.¡± After the meal, Xia Yi picked up the hoe and walked towards the land. He greeted the villagers on his way. ¡°Yi. You are back from your home.¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t been seeing you and Gu Wen Zhu and we knew that you left at midnight. We were worried that you might have been taken by the monsters and fairies from the mountains. Ha ha.¡± ¡­Home. Alright. Home it is. When he arrived at the land, Xia Yi breathed in the fresh air deeply. This smell of wet soil and fresh vegetables was so familiar. He simply wanted to dig the soil for three days straight. It feels good. CH 60 The lettuce was big and thick, very pleasant to the eye. Xia Yi carefully dug them out one by one and placed them aside, waiting for him to use a cart to put them on. With difficulties, he had dug out every single one of the lettuces, he rubbed the sweat off his forehead and went home in satisfaction. Outside the village, on the road, Gu Wen Zhu was walking home with a boar leg, going home to make dinner. Yi did not look too good for these few days. He wanted to ask if there were anyone killing their pigs in the neighboring village and to bring back home some meat. At the end, when he went out of the door in the morning, he bumped into the hunters who were going downhill back home with a boar on his shoulder. Yi loved his stewed boar, so Gu Wen Zhu bought a boar back leg, prepared to go back home to stew it. There was no one at home so he thought that Xia Yi must be at the farmlands. Gu Wen Zhu began to pull the fur off it and roasted the skin, then cut the meat into pieces and added them into boiling water to improve the flavor. At last, he put the processed boar into the pot to stew with other food. Not long after, a scent of the meat came out of it. Xia Yi was going back home and talking to 179 about the harvesting of the lettuce. Then he came to their front door. Just when he pushed open the front door, Gu Wen Zhu peeked out from the kitchen and greeted him with a smile on his face, ¡°Now you are back, go and wash your hands to prepare for the meal.¡± Xia Yi has always been enthusiastic about eating. He cleaned himself up in no time and sat around the table to wait for dinner. Gu Wen Zhu had prepared the bowls and chopsticks. Then he took out a steaming pot of boar meat, placed it onto the table, said, smiling, ¡°Taste it now. See if it¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Wow. I love boar meat.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s eyes glowed and he held the chopsticks in his hand steadily. He did not have the time to care about how hot it was, and swiftly stuffed one piece into his mouth, making his face all puffed up, and he began to chew. Gu Wen Zhu stood in front of the desk, looking at Xia Yi, smiling, with hope in his voice, ¡°How is it? Is it good?¡± Xia Yi was chewing the mouthful and wanted to give a strong nod, but he suddenly felt a bad smell rush up towards his nose. He felt his stomach churning and began to vomit but nothing came out. However, he still did not want to throw up that pork. So it stayed in his mouth with his eyes all red. Gu Wen Zhu was worried about seeing him this way. He hurriedly leaned down after taking a few steps forward, then he stretched his hand towards Xia Yi¡¯s mouth and said, ¡°Get it out.¡± Xia Yi breathed a couple of times to wait for that feeling to pass. Then he insisted on chewing a little, then he vomited but, again, with nothing coming out. Seeing his eyes all teary and that he did not want to give up on that piece of pork, Gu Wen Zhu felt bad for him and funny at the same time. He urged, ¡°Stop eating. Get it out.¡± Xia Yi, unwillingly, vomited out that piece of pork into Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s palm. Gu Wen Zhu entered the kitchen to throw that piece away. He cleaned his hand and took out a bowl of clean water. He let him drink the water and rub Xia Yi on his back. He blamed himself, ¡°You love boar meat. I must have processed it badly to make you throw it up.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s nose and eyes were still red. He heard him and shook his head, ¡°You have processed it well. That¡¯s the way I like it as always. But I don¡¯t know why, today I feel bad smelling that.¡± ¡°Do you have a cold and your stomach hurts?¡± Gu Wen Zhu spoke, worried, then he extended his hand to test the temperature of his forehead. ¡°No. I must have been eating this too many times and it was too heavy. Let¡¯s just have some veggies with the rice.¡± Xia Yi, seeing that he was still worried, started to laugh, ¡°How serious could it be? Let¡¯s eat.¡± That full pot of boar meat was placed on the table, and only Gu Wen Zhu ate it. Xia Yi was eating the vegetables bitterly. A few times, he wanted to use his chopsticks to steal one piece, but as soon as he recalled the foul smell, he lost his appetite. At this moment, his nose followed the soft wind and smelled the scent of the meat wafted into his nostrils. Xia Yi felt a rough churning in his chest again. He immediately put down the bowl and the chopsticks and dashed to the front door, then he began to vomit everything out. Gu Wen Zhu quickly put down his as well and followed. Although he was throwing up nothing, Xia Yi still felt as if he was going to die and was weak all over his body. He leaned into Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms with his mouth open, feeling drained. Gu Wen Zhu saw his pale face, and that the hair on his temples was wet with sweat. He quickly carried him to the bed and placed him down then he covered him using a blanket. He made sure that he was all covered up with no air coming to the inside of the blanket. Looking at Gu Wen Zhu who was worrying about him, Xia Yi spoke weakiy, ¡°I think, I have really caught a cold.¡± ¡°Lie down first. I will go fetch you the doctor.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was worried and could not hide his emotions. After saying so, he immediately pushed the door open and went out to the yard then towards north where the doctor¡¯s home was. Xia Yi saw that he was out and felt that his discomfort was easing. He was then feeling more relaxed. He felt sleepy. He yawned and, before going to bed, did not forget to tell the system, ¡°179. Wake me up later. I want to eat meat after waking up. Zhu¡¯s cooking was so nice. I love it.¡± ¡°I know. Host. Rest.¡± 179 could not understand how much this host loved food. He had to eat and vomit, and after vomiting, he still wanted to eat. There was this doctor, Li, in the village. He could not do anything to some serious sickness, but he could do enough for smaller things like this. Gu Wen Zhu went to the back of his house. The doctor was having dinner at the time. When he heard what Gu Wen Zhu was here for, he swiftly put down his bowl and chopsticks, taking his medical box with him, and went away with him. ¡°He must have caught a cold and hurt his stomach. Let me see him, give you a formula, and all will be good.¡± Doctor Li comforted the worried Gu Wen Zhu while walking alongside with him. When they reached home, Gu Wen Zhu pushed the door open to see that Xia Yi was asleep. He was in the blankets silently and sleeping deeply, mouth slightly opened. Due to doctor Li waiting at the dining room, Gu Wen Zhu woke him up, ¡°Yi. Yi. Stop sleeping for a second. The doctor is here. Let¡¯s let him see you.¡± Xia Yi made a humming noise and waved his hand off him. He turned to continue sleeping and snorted a little. With doctor Li standing up and pacing in the dining room, Gu Wen Zhu started to pat on Xia Yi¡¯s face, ¡°Yi, Yi. Wake up. The doctor is here. You can sleep afterwards.¡± Xia Yi was more awake this time. He opened his eyes semi consciously and could tell that this was Gu Wen Zhu, so he asked, murmuring, ¡°Is it day now?¡± ¡°Sleepy head. I have just left for a while. I invited Mr. Li here to have a look at you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu began to straighten him up, giving him an outer on, ¡°Let¡¯s wear some clothes first.¡± Xia Yi closed his eyes, laying his head on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s shoulder heavily and let him lifted his shoulder to wear clothes. After finishing with two sleeves, Gu Wen Zhu heard snoring again. When the outer was finally on Xia Yi, he fell asleep again. Gu Wen Zhu resignedly sighed then tugged him back into bed. After covering him up with the blanket nicely, he directly invited doctor Li in, and spoke to doctor Li while snoring around embarrassingly, ¡°Mr. Li. I can¡¯t wake him up. He was too tired. Why don¡¯t you just see him here?¡± Doctor Li laughed and shook his head, ¡°Let¡¯s just do it here. I will sense his pulse now.¡± Gu Wen Zhu sat on the side of the bed and pulled Xia Yi¡¯s arm out from the blanket, placing it on his lap to let doctor Li sense his pulse. It was silent in the room. Only the breath of Xia Yi could be heard. Gu Wen Zhu was watching beside them and could barely breathe. After some time, the doctor opened his eyes to show a hesitating face. ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Gu Wen Zhu became nervous. Doctor Li shook his head, ¡°Nothing. I will do it again.¡± Then, he put his fingers on Xia Yi¡¯s wrist again. Gu Wen Zhu suppressed his breath and stared at doctor Li¡¯s face unblinkingly, wishing to guess what was going on. He squeezed his fists on both sides of him, his back tightened. After a long while, doctor Li let out a breath and put down Xia Yi¡¯s hand slowly. He turned to face Gu Wen Zhu, with a smile on his face, ¡°Go buy some paper money to burn and tell Gu Da Shi and Li Xiu Er about the good news.¡± ¡°Good news? What good news?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was confused, clueless. But then the reaction came, he was first looking disbelieving, then he showed a surprised face, ¡°Mr. Li. Is, is this what I think it is?¡± Doctor Li laughed and nodded, ¡°Go tell them. Tell them they have a grandson.¡± Gu Wen Zhu dozed off and froze. His face sometimes looked happy, sometimes looked worried. He seemed not knowing what to do. Thinking of the fact that Xia Yi was not a strong guy, Gu Wen Zhu began to feel worried, ¡°But Mr. Li. Yi, will the child be in danger?¡± Mr. Li was packing things into his medicine, and he said, ¡°Giving birth. Who can say for sure that the child will be safe for the rest of his life? There are always risks. But, everyone gets over this. Or else, people will stop giving birth to children, right?¡± Gu Wen Zhu heard him, feeling shakened, the outline of his face tightened up immediately. He said nothing more and stood aside in silence. Mr. Li, seeing that he did not look good, patted him on the shoulder happily, ¡°I have seen a lot of fathers like you in my whole life. Don¡¯t panic. Just let Yi rest for the following months and wait to have the baby.¡± 179 began to scream in Xia Yi¡¯s mind, ¡°Host. Wake up. You are going to be a father. No. You are going to be a mother.¡± Xia Yi slept till noon the other day. He had not even opened his eyes and he already smelled the fish porridge, making him salivating. Opening his eyes, it was Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s enlarged face in front of him. He was dazed, lying on the side of the bed, staring at him without a word. ¡°You are scaring me. What¡¯s up?¡± Xia Yi prolonged his nostril sound, with an adorable feeling that he himself did not even notice. He pushed Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s face with his hand, squeezing those handsome parts into a mess. Gu Wen Zhu grabbed that hand and put it near his mouth to kiss it, ¡°It¡¯s already noon. You must be starving. Get up and have some porridge. I went to catch fish before dusk today.¡± Xia Yi did not have enough the night before and fell asleep in bed until now. When he smelled that scent of the fish, he felt hungry like a wolf and immediately clawed up from bed. He went to the lavatory in a hurry, running a little. Gu Wen Zhu was telling him to go slower, and he spread his arms behind him just like a chicken protecting him, ¡°The floor of the lavatory was slippery. Be careful.¡± Xia Yi gargled with halite and stared at Gu Wen Zhu, all armed up behind him, weirdly. He asked him, murmuring, ¡°What? I am not having a baby or something.¡± Gu Wen Zhu opened his mouth, not saying a word. Xia Yi began to use the back of his head to bump Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s nose repeatedly. Gu Wen Zhu resignedly used his hand to protect the back of Xia Yi¡¯s head, ¡°Stay focused.¡± After washing himself, Xia Yi quickly went for the porridge, then he moved his nose dramatically, ¡°It smelled so good. I can have ten bowls of it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t move. Let me feed you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu picked up the bowl of porridge before Xia Yi did. He took a spoonful to blow it, then he carefully put it to the side of Xia Yi¡¯s mouth. Hmm, he swallowed so hard that he almost swallowed the spoon with the porridge. Shortly, the porridge was almost out, Xia Yi stretched to hold the bowl, ¡°I want some more. Let me go fetch some more.¡± Gu Wen Zhu suddenly grabbed the bowl tight and got up quickly, and he said nervously, ¡°You stay there. I will go fetch some more.¡± Then he hurried his way into the kitchen. Xia Yi, looking at his figure, began to have questions, ¡°179. Did the doctor come by when I was asleep last night?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± 179 answered merrily. ¡°Then did he diagnose me of something? Why is Zhu taking care of me like I am heavily sick?¡± Xia Yi became anxious. ¡°Guess. Heehee.¡± ¡°179. Are you still my brother? Tell me. I can take it no matter what.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not something that I should tell you. You should ask Gu Wen Zhu about it.¡± Between the words, Gu Wen Zhu walked out with a bowl of porridge and blowing off the steam from it, using a spoon to stir. Then he fed a spoonful to Xia Yi. Xia Yi speechlessly finished that bowl of porridge, with a lot of different guesses in his mind. After Gu Wen Zhu tidied up, he nervously sat beside Xia Yi, and Xia Yi could not help but ask, ¡°Zhu. Are you not going to farm today?¡± ¡°No. I am here for you all day long for today.¡± ¡°But didn¡¯t you say that you are going to water the winter wheat?¡± ¡°I am not going. They won¡¯t die without watering for a couple of days.¡± ¡°But if they died?¡± ¡°Then let them.¡± After saying that, he began to squeeze Xia Yi¡¯s shoulder lightly. Xia Yi¡¯s expression turned more and more serious. He held the hand on his shoulder, and asked with a low voice, ¡°Zhu. The doctor came here last night to see me. What did he say?¡± The color of his eyes were completely different from Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s, very light in color. When they looked at somebody in silence, it would give a soft and gentle vibe and also some simple insistence in them. When Gu Wen Zhu heard him, his face became weird, as if he was suppressing his excitement, and as if he was worrying. At last, he thought for a little, and he told Xia Yi softly, ¡°Yi. We are expecting a new member in our house.¡± CH 61 What? New family member? What does this have to do with my sickness? Xia Yi could not respond immediately. He looked a little stupefied. Then, he quickly realized what that meant. He widened his eyes, with disbelief and shock. He felt like he had been struck by the lightning and he just froze there. He could not mean that. Right? Are we only expecting some relatives of Zhu¡¯s coming over? Xia Yi¡¯s expression was stiff, but he still had hopes, ¡°Zhu. Please be more specific. What do you mean by us having new family members?¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at him in silence at first, then, looking focused, as if he was observing his expression. Following that, he carefully said, ¡°Yi. You are carrying a child.¡± Yi. You are carrying a child. A child. Xia Yi stood where he was, stunned. His ears were hearing those buzzing sounds after a thunderstruck. ¡°You, you are joking. I think you must have made a mistake.¡± Xia Yi tried hard to suppress his emotions and stayed calm. However, his voice was trembling, with a hint of fear which he could not hide. Gu Wen Zhu looked at him silently with his dark black eyes. Then, he touched the back of his head and brought him into his arms. Xia Yi let his head be buried against that strong chest. He felt as if his heart was sinking down. Right from the start when 179 mentioned the third gender to him, he was frightened. But after so much time, he had already forgotten that this was a pregnancy novel world. When he had already thrown all these behind him, someone barged in and told him this. You are pregnant. He repeated and thought about these words, still having difficulties to realize that he was the person being referred to in the sentence. He just felt that the whole thing was quirky. But he was really pregnant. There was one more living entity inside of him now. This living entity was still growing inside him. One day, would be given birth to by him, a man. Xia Yi finally had a sense of reality hitting him. He only felt that blood was flooding up his head. For one second, he felt hot all over his body, then the next, he felt so cold as if he was in an ice cave. There were so many emotions inside him. He felt hurted, nervous, confused, scared. Suddenly, he felt a feeling of being wronged rushing up to his heart. Tears began to well up in his eyes. Feeling an area of clothes on his chest beginning to be wet, Gu Wen Zhu swallowed. He lowered his head, held Xia Yi¡¯s back of the head and moved Xia Yi¡¯s head away from his hug a little bit. He touched his forehead with his, and used the tip of his nose to slightly lean onto the tip of his nose. Xia Yi tilted his head, his eyes red, his small chin round and his thin neck as fair and fragile as porcelain. He looked at his side for a while, then he suddenly turned to look at Gu Wen Zhu with anger in his eyes. His eyes were fierce but his voice was hoarse, shivering with suppressing his sobs, ¡°Why am I the one who is giving birth but not you? Huh? What makes me the one?¡± Gu Wen Zhu could not come up with an answer. He saw Xia Yi¡¯s chest moving up and down rapidly and Xia Yi breathing roughly, so he apologized hurriedly in a gentle voice, ¡°Sorry. That¡¯s my bad. I am not able to get pregnant. Sorry.¡± ¡°It is your fault anyway.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s face turned purple. He shook that hand which was rubbing his back away forcefully and yelled, ¡°This is all your fault.¡± ¡°Yes. Yes. Yes. It¡¯s all on me. It¡¯s all my fault.¡± Gu Wen Zhu was afraid that Xia Yi might hurt himself and so he hurried and apologized. Xia Yi was furious. He wanted to punch someone. He wanted to destroy everything in sight, to clean everything up with violence. He angrily pushed Gu Wen Zhu aside and started to search the room with his eyes. He grabbed the teapot on the table and threw it onto the ground. The teapot crashed loudly and became a thousand pieces. That little vase with a flower in it, smashed. That red cut paper that had been sticking onto the window was a fat baby hugging a fish. It looked so disturbing, so too red, that smile on that baby looking so not pleasant. Rip it off. All of it. Xia Yi breathed heavily. He ran around in the room with reddened eyes as if he was a firing cracker. Gu Wen Zhu followed behind him in silence, letting him destroy everything in the room. And he was quickly kicking away anything sharp out of Xia Yi¡¯s way. When Xia Yi could no longer find something to throw, he stopped. He stood in the middle of the mess resignedly, looking sad. Gu Wen Zhu walked forward, carefully carrying him, reaching him from the back, ¡°Are you tired? You can hit me if you are not.¡± Xia Yi tiredly closed his eyes and buried his head against those warm arms. Then, he did not mention any of this anymore. It was like nothing of this never happened and he was not pregnant. He just went to the farmland to farm everyday. Gu Wen Zhu was nervous and worried but could not stop him. He could only follow him everyday. Whenever he saw him swinging a hoe, he would swiftly catch the hoe to loosen the soil for him. The days of pregnancy were not easy at all. Every morning once he was awake, the first thing he would do was to go to the lavatory to throw everything up, but with nothing coming out from his throat. At times like these, Gu Wen Zhu could only hug him from behind, caress him on his back, and fed him a bowl of sour plum juice. Once he found that plum was effectively helping Xia Yi not to vomit, there was always a bowl of plum juice on the table. And he would replace the cooled ones with new boiled ones. Xia Yi began to get picky about food. He did not eat meat, he did not eat vegetables, he did not eat fish. Gu Wen Zhu could only mince the meat and vegetables and made those into a bowl of porridge with seasoning to let him eat. During the night, when he was bathing, Xia Yi stood naked in front of the copper mirror, staring coldly at the reflection of himself with his belly growing slightly each day. It was like he was looking at a stranger. His eyes were without any warmth. Until Gu Wen Zhu knocked onto the door anxiously to ask him when he would come out, then he wore clothes and walked outside. With time moving forward, Xia Yi finally accepted the truth of himself being pregnant. He calmed down. It was the first time that 179 was acting smart. He found that although Xia Yi was looking calm, there were swirls underneath and he could explode at any moment. Therefore, he did not nag during these times. He acted like he was dead in his mind. At night, on this day, Xia Yi was rolling around. He could not sleep. Because of this, he directly stared at the head board of the bed, staring at the light blue colored drapes and dozed off. Beside him, Gu Wen Zhu was fast asleep. He was slightly snoring with long breaths. Xia Yi felt a sudden anger rising in him. He pushed him and said in an intentionally calm voice, ¡°Zhu. I want to eat dates.¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s snoring halted. He rolled over and continued sleeping. Xia Yi used his leg to kick his calf. He raised his voice, ¡°Zhu. I want to eat dates.¡± Gu Wen Zhu heard Xia Yi this time. He opened his eyes semi consciously, and turned to ask in a hoarse voice, ¡°Yi. Are you not asleep yet?¡± After saying so, he stretched out his arm to hug him. Xia Yi pushed Gu Wen Zhu away, staring at him seriously, said, word by word, ¡°I said, I, want, to, eat, dates.¡± His eyes were showing stubbornness. Gu Wen Zhu looked outside with his sleepy eyes, ¡°Look at the time. And that we don¡¯t have dates during winter. Let me ask if there are any dates in the stores next morning. Alright?¡± Then, he brought Xia Yi into his arms. He patted his back, ¡°Sleep. It¡¯s late.¡± Gu Wen Zhu carrassed Xia Yi¡¯s back and closed his eyes. In a blur, he could feel something slightly shaking beside him and could hear some sobbing sounds. Now he was no longer sleepy. He quickly sat up, stretched out to light the light, ¡°Yi. Are you alright?¡± The oil lamp had been lightened up. He saw Xia Yi lying in bed, his chest going up and down, the ends of his eye had tears leaking out and passing his hair on the temples to reach the pillow. Gu Wen Zhu panicked. He patted Xia Yi¡¯s face gently, ¡°Yi. Yi. Have you been having a bad dream?¡± ¡°Bad dream. Bad dream. You only know to ask me if I was having a bad dream.¡± Xia Yi suddenly opened his eyes. He angrily sat up and screamed hysterically, ¡°I have been telling you. I want to eat dates! I want to eat dates! I am going to find the doctor tomorrow to have an abortion! Abortion! I never wanted a baby. I hate him, I hate him!¡± After all the yelling, he buried his face into the blanket. Then he cried and cried. His shoulders were shaking. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s hand landed on his shoulder gently, but Xia Yi shook it off, ¡°Go away! Don¡¯t touch me! Leave me alone!¡± He felt that Gu Wen Zhu had been standing beside him all along, staring at him. So he kept burying his face in the blanket, letting himself drowning in anxiety and anger, crying. He had been tense for these few days, and all the fear deep inside him, all the anxiety and anger, had finally turned into tears and rained down his face. After a while, out of the blue, he heard the door being opened. Next, a cold howling wind swiped in, hitting onto the paper of the window. With the sound of the door closing, that wind stopped as well. Xia Yi looked up in confusion, seeing no one in the room, hearing nothing. Gu Wen Zhu was already out. He just went out like that. Xia Yi could not help but feel confused. He stopped crying. With swollen eyes, he stared at that closed door. Gu Wen Zhu might take a hot bowl of sour juice in the next second, and he would smile and let him drink it. But after a long while, that door did not open. As time passed by, Xia Yi just sat in bed with a blank face, listening to the cold wind making a fuss outside. The wind swiped passed the leaves. He could hear the branches falling off a tree. Zhu was gone just like that? He was having too much of me. Would he be back once he was feeling better? He would not just leave me like this. Right? Xia Yi began to panic with regrets. He sobbed. Looking around, there was one outer of Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s less on the chair, but the cotton coat was still there. The wind was so wild. The temperature was so low at night. Would he not get sick getting out? ¡°179. Is Zhu okay? He has been out for a long time now.¡± Xia Yi was trying to calm down, but his voice still sounded anxious. System did not make a sound. He knew that Xia Yi was in a bad mood lately. In order not to touch his nerves, System pretended to be dead. Outside, the branches of the old tree created cracking sounds, making Xia Yi shiver. No, I have to go and find him. He suddenly pulled the blanket off him, stood up, and bent to wear his shoes. Then, footfalls came from the yard. The door was pushed open and closed when the wind could just begin to howl, blocking that coldness out from the room. Under the candlelight, a tall figure, Gu Wen Zhu, walked this way, with light behind him. Seeing Xia Yi staring at him, he said excitedly, ¡°I found it. I found some dates for you. It¡¯s lucky that Mrs.Wang¨C¡± Not waiting for him to finish, he saw Xia Yi rushing towards him. Xia Yi bumped into him and tightly grabbed his waist. He quickly said, ¡°Zhu. Don¡¯t go. Don¡¯t go.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± In view of him like this, Gu Wen Zhu began to feel anxious, ¡°What happened?¡± Xia Yi shook his head frantically, ¡°I was too willful. Don¡¯t go.¡± After this, as if it was not close enough, he extended his arms to hold Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s neck. ¡°When did I say that I am going away?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was flabbergasted, then he smiled, ¡°You and the child are here. Where could I possibly go?¡± Then he kissed Xia Yi¡¯s head, ¡°What were you thinking? Something stupid? Hmm?¡± Some place of his had been touched and he made a painful inhaled sound between his teeth. Xia Yi quickly looked up at him, asking nervously in confusion, ¡®What? Where?¡° He took two steps back and observed all over Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s just that it was dark and I fell. It¡¯s nothing.¡± Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi panicking and hurried to ease his nerves. Xia Yi insisted on checking it out. He extended his arms to unbuckle his buttons. Gu Wen Zhu resignedly stretched out his right arm, ¡°I am really okay. I only scratched the skin.¡± Lifting up his sleeves, Xia Yi held his breath. A few bloody scratches carved up his elbow from the wrist. There were two which were hurting the deepest still bleeding. ¡°Does it hurt?¡± Xia Yi felt so painful for him that his voice was shaking. He wanted to touch those scratches with his fingers, but he was afraid that he might hurt him by doing so, so he stopped. Those fingers of his just froze in the air like that. ¡°I am okay. It¡¯s nothing. Don¡¯t be sad.¡± Gu Wen Zhu stared at him gently. Xia Yi touched his face and felt coldness. He quickly grabbed the cotton coat on the chair back to put it on him. Something came to his mind, Gu Wen Zhu pulled out a little package wrapped by cloth and placed it on the table. He opened the cloth, showing about a dozen big red shiny dates inside. ¡°I asked everywhere, knocking on every door. At last, I found these at Mr. Wang¡¯s. Mrs. Wang gave birth to a baby. These were left after the recovery period after she had given birth to the child.¡± Gu Wen Zhu happily looked at the dates, his black eyes sparkling. Then he carefully picked one up and put it near Xia Yi¡¯s mouth, ¡°Have one. See if it¡¯s sweet.¡± He was so looking forward to this. Xia Yi had a small bit, his eyes reddened, feeling a sweetness of the date between his teeth and his lips. ¡°It¡¯s sweet.¡± He laughed with eyes smiling. CH 62 After the incident, Xia Yi no longer thought about it. He was pregnant anyway. What could he do about it? Let alone the fact that everytime he made a fuss about something, Gu Wen Zhu got to suffer at the end, making him feel bad for him. He had stopped vomiting recently and was getting a better appetite. He was having fish balls and eggs, and he was even searching for snacks. He was blown up just like a balloon. On the other hand, Gu Wen Zhu was getting slimmer as if he was the one who was pregnant. Although he had not talked about it, he still showed his care and happiness through every little thing, showing his love for the child everywhere. Xia Yi did not ever think about abortion anymore. He did not know if this was caused by pregnancy, but whenever he saw those kids jumping around, he would feel soft and touched his lower belly with his hand. With the first fetal movement, with the first time he felt those little hands and feet, he felt more and more excited about the new life that was going to come to this world in his belly. Plus, those cute girls in his home world were all giving birth bravely. Why should a man like me be afraid? It¡¯s only giving birth to a child. Nothing big. Gu Wen Zhu came to the farmland these days and sensed changes in the house. Looking closely, there was a new teapot on the table. There was a bunch of flowers with water drops on it in the new vase beside the bed. At the place where Xia Yi had torn off the paper on the window with the fat baby pattern, there were two more little guys with hands holding. One of them clearly had an unusually large arm. Zooming in, there was another layer on that arm, cutting into a shape of a baby wrapping cloth. That was cut very badly. One of the guys legs were different lengths. The other guy¡¯s body was curved just like having a hunched back. Gu Wen Zhu looked carefully and walked into the house. When he came back, there was a bowl of paste in his hand. He carefully stuck that part that was not properly placed back in place. He walked back two steps to look, touching his chin, the ends of his lips lifted up. 179 was talking a lot lately. Everyday, when he was free, he would play some soothing light music in his mind, or read him some pregnant woman guides. One day, when he was asleep, he was woken by Peppa Pig¡¯s dialogue. 179 explained that he was playing that for the baby. At night, Xia Yi half-leaned on the head board, looking at Gu Wen Zhu who was caressing and kissing his slightly curved up belly. Xia Yi began to dream about the look of his child. He (She), whether a boy or a girl, must have eyes like Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s. The ends of his peachy eyes slightly lifted, his eyes as dark and black as a deep pool of water¡­ Right, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes looked like Jie Shang¡¯s. He only knew that he looked like Ciang Yi before. But viewing him now, he was the mix of the two. His nose was straight, shadowing the side of his face under the candlelight. The outline of his face was sharp. His face looked cool when he was not smiling. Gu Wen Zhu was murmuring something to Xia Yi¡¯s belly. He suddenly raised his head, finding Xia Yi staring at him and thinking about something with his eyes sparkling. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Gu Wen Zhu found this a little funny. ¡°I am thinking about your fathers.¡± Xia Yi spoke without thinking. Then he regretted it. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s smile froze on his face. Then, he turned as if nothing happened and continued to talk to the belly. However, Xia Yi could feel that his mind was wandering. ¡°Sorry. I just did not think about it and spoke.¡± Xia Yi explained anxiously, ¡°I think that you look like both of them. I was thinking that our baby would be better looking if they looked more like you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I am okay.¡± Gu Wen Zhu laughed, stretching his hand to caress his head, ¡°As for the baby, if it looks like you, it will be prettier. With round and big eyes, small nose, pointy¡­¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s finger, following his words, sliding on different parts of Xia Yi¡¯s face. Then, his voice became lower, until no sounds could be heard. His eyes looked more dangerous, with a familiar kind of meaning to Xia Yi. ¡°Don¡¯t. The baby is still little.¡± Xia Yi, alert, stretched out a finger to stop his lips which were closing in. Gu Wen Zhu was moving forward, said in a hoarse and lowered voice, ¡°I asked Mr. Li. It¡¯s okay after three months.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Xia Yi¡¯s mouth had already been blocked, but he still struggled to make a few noises to ask with the last bit of logical thinking. Gu Wen Zhu did not stop with his hands, but his movements were gentle, ¡°Really. I will be careful. Leave everything to me.¡± With the weather warming up, Xia Yi¡¯s body became heavier and heavier and his belly grew bigger and bigger. Seeing that he was going to give birth in no time, Xia Yi began to prepare little clothes and shoes, and the wrapping cloth for the baby. Of course, these were all sewed by Gu Wen Zhu. Gu Wen Zhu did not have a lot of time farming nowadays. He went early and came back early. He would cook for Xia Yi after getting home, or sit in the yard to make clothes for the baby. Those little trousers and clothes were cute, making Xia Yi want to give birth quickly to let it try them on. They heard it from the ladies in the village and made some soft old bed sheets into stripes, cleaned them with boiled water, put those under the bright big sun for a few days, and prepared to have those as the baby¡¯s diapers. Apart from these, Gu Wen Zhu had found some good wood from somewhere to make a little bed for the baby. ¡°Didn¡¯t we use up all the wood for furniture last time? Where are these from?¡± Xia Yi kicked the few strands of round wood in the yard. Gu Wen Zhu smiled, ¡°I have saved us some wood for the child¡¯s bed in the first place. The left ones were used to make furniture.¡± He had been telling Xia Yi that he was making a small dog bed for Kirin when he was practicing. I knew it. You are a dirty liar. 179 quited urging Xia Yi to do farming missions. His focus was completely taken away by the baby. He was studying all the pregnant woman guides, urging Xia Yi to do maternity exercises. ¡°Host. You have to move more. You only lie in the yard everyday, sleeping after eating, eating after sleeping. If Gu Wen Zhu begins feeding food into your mouth directly, it would be even worse. You are going to have a hard time giving birth if you keep on like this.¡± ¡°Host. Would you like to massage your chest, or do some chest exercises. The baby will get stronger if it was fed by breast milk. But look at you. You don¡¯t look fit to provide milk for a baby.¡± 179 was worried and very anxious. I am a f**king man. Giving birth to a child is already weird for me. You are now telling me to feed breast milk? However, during the night, Xia Yi could not suppress his curiosity and asked, haltingly, ¡°Zhu. What do the kids of the gers eat after they are born?¡± ¡°Milk.¡± Gu Wen Zhu answered without hesitation, rubbing Xia Yi¡¯s calf without looking up. It might be caused by the lack of calcium, Xia Yi¡¯s calf had been cramping a lot lately. He could not buy calcium supplements in this world, so Xia Yi could only follow 179¡¯s instructions to ask Gu Wen Zhu to cook him more calcium-rich food. But his calves were still getting sore, so every night, Gu Wen Zhu would massage his legs for him, easing the soreness of the muscles. Xia Yi was not satisfied with Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s answer. He thought a little, then asked, ¡°Then what kind of milk would that be?¡± ¡°Whatever milk we can get.¡± Gu Wen Zhu continued to massage his calf wholeheartedly. Xia Yi could not hold off anymore. He made a few kicks to step onto his hand, ¡°I am asking you, in my case, what kind of milk do I give the baby?¡± Seeing Gu Wen Zhu looking up at him, Xia Yi even used his hands to signal in front of his own chest. Gu Wen Zhu suddenly came to a realization, ¡°So you are asking about this. Of course the baby can have milk. Although you don¡¯t seem to have it now, after giving birth, you will have it.¡± After saying so, he peeked at Xia Yi¡¯s chest, ¡°I think from now, I can suck them every night.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s face became gloomy. Gu Wen Zhu immediately said, ¡°You can choose not to feed on breast milk if you don¡¯t want to. I will go to the neighboring village tomorrow to see if there are any goats which have given birth lately. We can let the baby have goat milk. Gers tend not to have enough milk in the first place¨C¡± Not even waiting for him to finish, Xia Yi¡¯s eyes cut him like cold knives, making Gu Wen Zhu close his mouth. The very next morning, Gu Wen Zhu made breakfast and warmed them in the pot for Xia Yi, then he went out to search for goat milk. Before noon, he was back with two fat and strong goats. There were three other soft little goats in his arms. ¡°I haven¡¯t bought the goats. But the people in the village lend me two. Let us feed them for some days at our place. We will send the little ones back when they don¡¯t need the milk anymore. We will let the baby have some goat milk then we will return the goats.¡± Gu Wen zhu took the goats to the barn in the yard, saying, ¡°I will go and buy some at that time. Don¡¯t worry.¡± If you haven¡¯t prepared this goat well for providing nutrients for the baby, I will really worry. Kirin had been good for all these times, as if it knew that Xia Yi was having a baby, and it did not dash around headlessly and bumped into Xia Yi¡¯s arms like before anymore. It carefully followed him around. And the most he did was rub against his leg. Since those goats had been brought home, the baby had been moving more rapidly in his belly. Xia Yi¡¯s body was growing heavier. He did not want to move, but he still managed to walk around the village everyday. There were no surgeries in this world, let alone surgeries for difficult births. The ones who were giving birth were on their own. Xia Yi thought of this and felt tense. He felt nervous even without 179¡¯s urging. If Gu Wen Zhu would let him, he would have been swinging the hoe around to farm three acres of land everyday. He could only feel better if he was strong like that. Therefore, he would take Kirin and the three little goats to walk around in the village every night after dinner. Sometimes Qi Zhou would go with him. Due to the fact that they were never having good conversations, both of them had chosen not to talk. They would just walk slowly along the path and it was quite nice. It was just that because of some reasons, Qi Zhou had not been coming for him for a few days. Xia Yi even went to look for him at the old house and saw that the door was tightly closed. He called a few times, no one answered, Er Niu was not here either. Since Qi Zhou had been talking about going to the city to play for a few days, Xia Yi was wondering if the two had gone to the city. Qi Zhou had been here for long enough. He knew about gers by now. After some hard times of learning all the basic biology again, he could now calmly face it. It was just that whenever Qi Zhou saw Xia Yi¡¯s belly, he would adjust his eyes to look elsewhere. Xia Yi gave him the Herba Aqua Effugio which he had never used before. When Qi Zhou began to have questions about it, taking the herbs, Xia Yi could not tell him directly, so he just said vaguely, ¡°You just keep it. Speaking of the effects, you will know when the time comes. When you feel heat all over you and that it was strange, you quickly eat this.¡± Qi Zhou did not fully understand, but one thing he knew about this world was that it was weird. So he did not ask further, he just placed it carefully in his clothes after taking it from Xia Yi. The weather was fine. After a nap, Xia Yi brought Kirin out. He was embarrassed to go out when his belly started to show at first. If he had to go out, he would hold his breath to make himself look slimmer. Although he knew that pregnancies were normal in this world, he was still not used to it. Then his figure became larger and larger, and could not be hidden anymore. There were a few times he got caught and surrounded by a few women in the village. After those women guessing the gender of the baby, Xia Yi had freed his mind not to be embarrassed by this. With his enlarged belly, he passed by the entrance of the village, greeting everyone. Then he passed by the stream, he caught a cucumber being thrown to him by one of the women washing clothes, and he kept walking, eating the cucumber. He looked at the front casually, humming sounds which could not form a song. Suddenly, two tall figures entered his vision. They were walking this way from afar along the path and there was a big black dog with them. Seeing that big black dog, Kirin dashed forward like an arrow. Xia Yi could not stop him in time. ¡°179. These villagers look quite nice. Apart from me and Zhu, those two in front look good too. That one looks like Ciang Yi and the other one looks like Jie Shang.¡± 179 was wholeheartedly reading a pregnant women remote-learning science module and did not notice what Xia Yi had just said. He only made a few noises to respond. With the two getting closer, Xia Yi slowly halted his steps. A mouthful of cucumber stayed in his mouth and he forgot to swallow. One of the guys, that Qi Shan uniform, that elegant quality, this could only be Ciang Yi. And the other guy beside him, sharp red clothes, fair skin, peachy eyes tilting upwards and those dark black eyes, it was Jie Shang. 179 finally made his way out from the sea of knowledge. He screamed, ¡°Host. Your father-in-law and mother-in-law are here.¡± Xia Yi was stunned. Transmigrating here was alright, they were from the Qi Shan Sect after all. They transmigrated here all the time. But how were Ciang Yi and Jie Shang coming here as well? Together? Didn¡¯t they fight each other to death before? Before he left, wasn¡¯t Jie Shang¡¯s sword pointing in front of Ciang Yi¡¯s chest? Are we having a happy ending this early? They were closing in. CIang Yi and Jie Shang recognised Xia Yi as well. ¡°Wang Lan?¡± Jie Shang still remembered this handsome big belly person in farmer¡¯s clothes. This was the person that his son was crazy about, Wang Lan. Seeing him goofily having his jaw dropped and some cucumber not swallowed in his mouth, Jie Shang could not hold off his disgust which was showing on his face. They slowed down. Not even waiting for Xia Yi to open his mouth, two pairs of eyes stared at his curved up belly. ¡°Oh. My, my name is Xia Yi.¡± Xia Yi did not know why one of them called him Wang Lan, but they were his father and mother-in-law, so it was fine. It was like the son-in-law seeing the father and mother-in-law for the first time, making him nervous and uneasy, and beginning to stagger with his words. ¡°This, this is?¡± Jie Shang¡¯s eyes fixed on his belly, he began to stammer, ¡°Are, are you having a baby?¡± Xia Yi felt embarrassed, but he still nodded. I don¡¯t care. Didn¡¯t you give birth to Zhu? We are both the same. Jie Shang looked astonished, he grabbed Ciang Yi who was beside him, but asked Xia Yi, ¡°Is this Ze Yuan¡¯s?¡± Ciang Yi did not speak a word from the get go, but his eyes were glowing, with some hope on his face. Hesitating, Xia Yi continued to nod. Yes. You are going to be a grandmother. Ah, no. No. No. ¡°179. Am I seeing this wrong? Why does Ciang Yi have a red spot on his forehead, whereas Jie Shang does not?¡± 179 seemed to be in shock as well. He murmured after a long while, ¡°Host. So it seems that Ciang Yi is your mother-in-law and Jie Shang is your father-in-law.¡± F**k f**k f**k. I feel so bad. Ahhh. The CP in my mind has been violated. Ahhhhhh. Oh my. CH 63 Kirin was surrounding that big black dog merrily, and that dog just gently let it pounce around it. It even licked Kirin¡¯s nose. Do we have to even ask? That must be Kirin¡¯s real father whose name was Big Black. Due to the fact that his father-in-law and mother-in-law were both here, Xia Yi stopped wandering and led the two back to their house. He walked in the front swiftly, introducing everything on their way and searching for topics to discuss enthusiastically. With his directions, Jie Shang looked around him and nodded from time to time. Ciang Yi stared at the front without saying one word. He did not even bother to glance elsewhere. As for Xia Yi, he could not help but have his eyes fall on that red mark on his forehead. Whenever Ciang Yi turned to look, confused, Xia Yi would look away smoothly. Finally, finding that the only one who had been talking was him and he was like a real estate agent with his clients, Xia Yi shut himself up. A deadly silence spread in the air. The pressure was so so huge. His father-in-law and mother-in-law were looking very young and beautiful. Since he was too nervous, he slipped, making Jie Shang want to help him with his hand stretched out. Jie Shang wanted to say something but did not say it. He only followed closely. They came to a split road. Jie Shang slowly halted. Following the road, his eyes looked far away. ¡°Does this road end at the other side of the mountain? Is there another valley there?¡± Jie Shang asked out of the blue. Xia Yi looked, then nodded. ¡°Correct. But I haven¡¯t tried that road before. It¡¯s too far away. I just heard that from Zhu. He said that this road leads to the other side of the mountain.¡± ¡°Yes. I didn¡¯t remember it wrong.¡± Jie Shang murmured. Then, a meaningful smile appeared on his face. He looked towards Ciang Yi, ¡°Do you remember that valley? There were purple flowers all over the place. We were fighting, and suddenly everything spinned and the next thing we know was that we were in an unfamiliar place¨C¡± ¡°Are we arriving soon?¡± Ciang Yi spoke up suddenly to cut off Jie Shang¡¯s topic abruptly. He sped up afterwards to pull the distance between him and the other two behind him. It was just that his steps were a little unsteady, causing him to almost get tripped by a small stone. Jie Shang dashed forward, trying to support him, but Ciang Yi swung his arm away effortlessly. Shockingly, Xia Yi found that Ciang Yi¡¯s ears and neck were flushing so red that it looked as if blood would drip out from him. Something¡¯s going on with them. Analyzing closely would give him a lot of information. There were no third gender people in the cultivation world. However, Zhu was their son. This was no mistake. From what Jie Shang had said, both of them had transmigrated here before. What if, Ciang Yi was here and¡­ ¡°Host. You are even gossiping about your father-in-law and mother-in-law.¡± 179¡¯s voice suddenly rang, making Xia Yi jump. Suck ass. I didn¡¯t notice and let System know about it when I was thinking about something. 179 talked quickly and hurriedly just like popcorn popping. He also smirked excitedly, ¡°But, you are right. I have just been searching for information about this. Your mother-in-law experienced his heat after a couple of days he arrived here. He looked cold and stern all the time but hey, it¡¯s a pity that you can¡¯t see how strong that heat was. Heehee. In that valley, your father-in-law¨C¡± ¡°You stop talking.¡± Xia Yi quickly stopped him. He did not want to know the details about how his wife had been made by his father-in-law and mother-in-law. But after some afterthoughts, he did not feel right, ¡°179. I remember that I had asked you when I found that ultraman if this bug existed long ago. What did you say at that time?¡± Xia Yi¡¯s tone was becoming cooler, ¡°You said that according to your record, that bug has existed since I transmigrated to this farming world. But now you are describing with details to me that Jie Shang and Ciang Yi had transmigrated here once before?¡± 179 abruptly stopped talking with guilt. For real. Now I know how unreliable this system is. At this moment, Gu Wen Zhu was in the yard. He was making that little bed, using sandpaper to smoothen it to make sure that no burr could be found on the bars. Upon hearing the sound created by the front door, he said without looking up, ¡°You are back. Are you tired? I have made some hot plump juice in the kitchen. It is still warm. You get some rest and I will bring it to you after processing this thing.¡± He finished his sentence but no response had been heard, Xia Yi did not come to him either. Gu Wen Zhu thus put down his job at hand and looked to check. Then he froze. He grabbed that sandpaper in his hand tightly with himself becoming a statue. Jie Shang and Ciang Yi did not say a thing. They stared at him with all the swirling emotions in their eyes. Xia Yi waited a bit longer, looking at this and that. Seeing that no one among the three was talking, he swiftly took a couple of steps forward, ¡°Zhu. Your fathers came to visit you.¡± Hence, Jie Shang took two steps further and called softly, ¡°Ze Yuan. It¡¯s daddy.¡± Gu Wen Zhu shortly halted his breath. He silently tilted his head to one side to look at that ginkgo tree in the yard. ¡°Your father told me about what happened years before. Now I know everything. This time, we¡ª¡± Jie Shang did not even finish, Gu Wen Zhu turned all of a sudden and walked into the bedroom, followed by slamming the door behind him. ¡°H, hi. Why don¡¯t you take a seat, have some rest? It must be hard for Zhu to respond in such a short period of time. Let me go and talk to him.¡± In view of the situation, Xia Yi immediately said something to stop the awkwardness. Seeing Jie Shang standing at the same spot with his disappointed face, Ciang Yi became sad as well, and he moved two chairs this way. Jie Shang just turned and saw Xia Yi moving the chairs around without caring about his large belly. So Jie Shang hurried and stepped up to take those from him. ¡°Wang Lan. Don¡¯t you know to do less of these things when your body¡¯s like this now?¡± Ciang Yi gave Xia Yi a disapproving look as well. Xia Yi rubbed his hands embarrassingly, ¡°I will go see Zhu. You can help yourselves.¡± Then, he quickly walked into the room. When he reached the door, he turned, ¡°You must have made a mistake. I am not Wang Lan. My name is Xia Yi.¡± With Xia Yi finishing his sentence and walking into the room, Jie Shang looked at Ciang Yi, puzzled, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that he is that son of the flower fairies?¡± Ciang Yi halted and sighed slightly, ¡°His spirit had been smashed and died before, so he could not remember.¡± ¡°What about Ze Yuan?¡± Jie Shang asked hesitantly. ¡°Ze Yuan¡¯s spirit is almost healed. Both of their spirits are one. When one of them remembers, the other one will also remember.¡± Xia Yi pushed the door open to see Gu Wen Zhu sitting beside the desk. He was playing with an old cloth-made tiger toy with his hands. Xia Yi knew this cloth tiger. They found it before their wedding when they were tidying the room. At that time, Gu Wen Zhu looked at it closely, telling Xia Yi about it nostalgically, telling him that this was a toy of his when he was little. It was made by his daddy, Gu Da Shi, before he married his second wife, when he was doing both jobs as a father and as a mother. Tears welled up in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s eyes at that time, but he was smiling warmly. Xia Yi sat beside him and took that cloth tiger. He poked the belly of it with his finger. Suddenly, he stopped his motion, frowning, and pronounced a hissing sound. Gu Wen Zhu finally showed some emotions on his face, he asked him with his hoarse voice, ¡°What happened? Are you not feeling well?¡± Xia Yi shook his head, pulling Gu¡¯s hand to place it onto his belly, ¡°He is moving around again. He is kicking vigorously. Feel it.¡± Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s huge hand silently touched his belly. His face became less gloomy and he frowned less, with the slightest smile showing. ¡°How¡¯s that? Is it moving?¡± Xia Yi asked, laughing. ¡°Yes.¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded. Xia Yi put his hand on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s to feel it together. Then he turned to look at him seriously, ¡°I know both of us love this baby. It will have two fathers who love it very much. However, if our baby had to leave us one day,¡± Xia Yi, seeing that Gu Wen Zhu was not looking good upon hearing this, quickly stated it again, ¡°I am saying if, but this will never happen of course. Our baby is going to be with us forever. I am just saying what if. If our baby left us and was raised by a goodhearted couple, although he was not with us, it would not mean that we did not miss him. We would be grateful to the couple who raised him. At the same time, we would miss him very much. We would not force him to choose. It¡¯s just that he would be receiving more love from more people.¡± Gu Wen Zhu put away his hand in silence. Seeing this, Xia Yi moved his head to look at him, staring into his black eyes, saying seriously, ¡°Accepting your parents does not mean you are betraying your parents who raised you. Because all of them loved you.¡± Standing in the yard, Ciang Yi¡¯s eyes did not move away from that shut door. He seemed emotionless, but his fingers were holding onto a corner of his clothes, showing how nervous he was. Suddenly, that hand was held by someone, opening his palm, finger by finger. Jie Shang gave a few pats on his slightly roughed clothes, then he held him in his arms. Ciang Yi struggled a little but failed. Jie Shang lowered his voice and said beside his ears, ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Then, he pushed Ciang Yi¡¯s head against his shoulder. Ciang Yi, leaning onto Jie Shang¡¯s shoulder, stopped struggling. But his body was still tense because of how nervous he was. Jie Shang carrassed his back, feeling that his muscles were relaxing, he turned his face sideways to kiss on his hair, ¡°Do not worry. He will understand. And, you have me. No matter what we encounter from now on, I will never leave you again.¡± With a squeaking sound, the door opened and Xia Yi came out. Ciang Yi immediately stood straight from Jie Shang¡¯s arms and moved two steps away, looking nervous. Jie Shang was smiling, looking calm with things under his control. Xia Yi pretended not to see what just happened. He only moved slightly sideways to let them see Gu Wen Zhu behind him. Gu Wen Zhu slowly walked towards the two and stopped in front of them. Jie Shang stopped smiling. Together with Ciang Yi, he looked at his son with a hopeful look. ¡°Dad.¡± Gu Wen Zhu finally spoke with difficulties. He called Jie Shang once. Then he turned to Ciang Yi, ¡°Father.¡± ¡°Ze Yuan. It¡¯s because of losing half of your spirit in the past, so your memories were lost as well. But your spirit is growing again. When it heals completely, your memories will come back to you. Wang Lan will remember by that time too.¡± Ciang Yi sat beside the table and told Gu Wen Zhu. Jie Shang, on the other hand, was playing with that cloth tiger, thinking about something with a lowered head. A moment later, he looked up and said, ¡°Would you bring me to see the grave of your parents who raised you sometime?¡± After saying so, everyone fell into silence. After a while, Gu Wen Zhu nodded and answered, ¡°Okay.¡± Then, a squeaking sound echoed from the yard, and Mr. Wang¡¯s loud voice rang at the same time. ¡°Wen Zhu. Wen Zhu. Yi. Is Yi here?¡± ¡°We are here. Mr. Wang.¡± Yi was about to go outside to see him. At this moment, Mr. Wang had already entered. When he saw Jie Shang and Ciang Yi, he was flabbergasted, ¡°You have guests?¡± Then he saw the handsome faces and the manner of the two, knowing that they must not be ordinary people and seemed like some relatives of the king mentioned by the story-tellers. Mr. Wang halted his steps and stood there silently. He then asked carefully, ¡°Wen Zhu. These two are?¡± Gu Wen Zhu was preparing to introduce them as some relatives, then he heard Jie Shang smiling and saying, ¡°Mr. Wang. You do not have to be too polite to us. Wen Zhu is our son. This is my wife beside me. He is the father of Wen Zhu as well.¡± ¡°Fa, father?¡± Mr. Wang was stunned, but he quickly responded and looked towards Gu Wen Zhu with a calm expression, ¡°You¡¯ve found your biological fathers?¡± Xia Yi heard this and looked directly towards Gu Wen Zhu. Hearing Mr. Wang¡¯s words and tone, he was guessing that everyone in the village knew that Gu Wen Zhu was not the biological son of Gu Da Shi and his wife? Gu Wen Zhu, stupefied, nodded. Then he asked, ¡°Mr. Wang. Can you tell me more about what happened years ago?¡± CH 64 At Gu Da Shi and Li Xiu Er¡¯s graves, Jie Shang and Ciang Yi had the incense in their hands. They bowed three times in silence, then placed the incense at the incense burner in front of the cushion. Gu Wen Zhu flew the yellow paper into the bowl to burn one by one, recalling Mr. Wang¡¯s words when he was doing so. ¡°Your dad found you when he was out to find wood. He said you were a gift from the Gods. He said there was a cloud of light in front of him. He waited until the light faded, then there was this baby on the ground. Naked, around two or three. We told him not to have it. It¡¯s not good to raise some unknown baby. Your dad was about to place you back in the woods, but he was like people who had been enchanted at that time. He dashed into the mountains in the middle of the night with rain pouring and brought you back. Then he said he would never abandon you again, and that he was going to raise you. All the older people in the village know this, but no one dared to talk about it in front of you. If I didn¡¯t see your biological fathers here today, I would have brought this with me to the grave.¡± Xia Yi had too many questions on his mind. He saw Ciang Yi standing on one side, so he moved away a little. He hesitated whether to call him dad, or mom. But then he chose the safest one at last, ¡°Leader. I still have one question. And I wish to ask you about it.¡± Ciang Yi looked up and did not make a sound. But Xia Yi knew that he was allowing him to ask. ¡°Leader. I have my parents in my home world as well. But when I passed through the dimensional path and travelled to the cultivation world, I saw them at that side as well. And I found my toy in my home world in a room in that world.¡± Xia Yi expressed this with careful thoughts, with this sounding unbelievable though. He did not expect Ciang Yi to make any shocked expressions, as if nothing weird happened, ¡°It¡¯s because the parents in different places you were seeing are the same flower fairies. They were the origin of you, your biological parents.¡± Oh, it sounded so logical, but I totally don¡¯t understand. Ciang Yi turned to stare him in the eyes with his amber eyes, ¡°Your name originally was Wang Lan. You were raised by flower fairies. After your spirit and your soul vanished, I took your spirit and let the rest heal in another dimension. Those flower fairies were there as well, begging to go there together.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s mouth opened and closed, closed and opened, I am really that Wang Lan they were talking about? My parents were flower fairies? It¡¯s because my soul needed healing so they came with me to my home world? And, Ciang Yi can open a portal between dimensions? Ciang Yi looked at him emotionlessly. He took in every response of his and continued, ¡°Your spirit and your soul needs to be placed in different dimensions to trigger healing. Therefore I made an illusion to place your spirit inside, letting that part of you to be raised as the magistrate¡¯s son. And those parents in your home world protected your soul, the Xia Yi you have been speaking of.¡± Upon hearing this, Xia Yi felt like his brain had been frozen. He just stood stupefied. Gu Wen Zhu already stood up by his side, hugging his waist. ¡°Your spirit and your soul are always attracted to each other. According to my estimation, they would be fully healed after twenty something years. But we don¡¯t know exactly what would happen at that time. Most possibly, the soul and the spirit will pull apart and break. From that time onwards, Wang Lan would no longer be.¡± ¡°Then, my, my parents. Did they really die in my home world?¡± Xia Yi murmured. Ciang Yi shook his head, ¡°That was only a chant I did. When it reached eighteen years, before your soul and spirits tear apart, they were transported back here and had their memories erased. They turned into a happy, normal couple who had never lost their son before. Who knew that after they went back, although their memories were erased, they still have this unmoving belief in them to find the illusion I built for your spirit, and they brought your spirit with them to live their lives. ¡°Wang Lan¡¯s spirit and soul were about to be healed, but I could not exit the mountain due to my body being hurted when I was trying to forcefully open a portal. I could only let Tian Xuan take charge, letting him have you as his apprentice to bring your spirit back to Qi Shan. In the end, your spirit and soul did not break. During your transmigration some time before, they had fused together. After some days, when you remember, you will know everything.¡± ¡°So this is how it is¡­¡± Xia Yi looked at Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°My parents didn¡¯t really die. They are the ones in the cultivation world.¡± ¡°It¡¯s like this. They are always around.¡± Gu Wen Zhu saw his pale face and tightened his arms around his waist. ¡°And that your soul and spirit were attracting each other and had tried fusing once with failure.¡± Ciang Yi continued, ¡°That portal I opened before did not really close up. Around twenty years ago, I could sense that there were souls passing through and going into that illusion I made for your spirit.¡± ¡°Yes. That was me.¡± Xia Yi hurriedly said, ¡°I lost my toy there.¡± With a new realization, 179¡¯s voice rang in his mind, ¡°No wonder we can¡¯t fix that bug. So that portal Ciang Yi opened years ago never completely shut. As soon as there are waves in the dimension, it will open up again. This is no bug, this is a trojan planted by Ciang Yi.¡± Then he lowered his voice, ¡°The last time they came here, the technical system was on duty. We were playing some games of stealing veggies and we didn¡¯t notice. Problems came up afterwards, but were quickly fixed by the technical system, so we did not report it. We only secretly saved the files.¡± The technical system? Your technical system must be the most powerful trojan in your system world! ¡°Then, leader, what¡¯s the time you first open up a portal?¡± Xia Yi asked. ¡°It surely is the time that he came with me.¡± Jie Shang quickly said, with a proud face, ¡°We were fighting each other, and he did not want to fight any more and opened up a portal to go away. He did not know that I would make a move at the same time. With both of our powers, we opened up a portal to nowhere and fell into it. We stayed for some days here.¡± Seeing Jie Shang becoming more excited, Ciang Yi felt not right and gave him a cold glance. Jie Shang was stunned. He closed his mouth embarrassingly, ¡°Those days, I¨C¡± Ciang Yi saw that no one was paying attention to him so his expression recovered to its natural state, he continued, ¡°However, I had been harmed heavily because of this chant. My soul was unstable. I had Ze Yuan in me before fully recovering. So, he was weak when he was born, with an unstable soul.¡± When it came to this, he looked at Gu Wen Zhu with guilt, ¡°And so, Jie Shang used his magic to plant two spirit protection marks. I was trying to manage my own health at that time, let alone you. So although I hated that, I just let him take you back to the demonic world to raise you.¡± Jie Shang heard this and smiled bitterly, ¡°Your mother¨C¡± As his words came out, he saw Ciang Yi¡¯s eyes looked this way sharply like a cutting knife. He immediately said, ¡°Your father was resting at Qi Shan. So we had our time together for more than a dozen years.¡± The yellow papers were burning in the bowl with crackling sounds. Gu Wen Zhu stared in silence, letting those fire dance in his eyes. Ciang Yi continued, ¡°Because of the fragility of your soul, I lost half of my spirit and soul. So, your spirit, like Wang Lang¡¯s, needed to be healed.¡± Then, Ciang Yi¡¯s face turned a little red, ¡°I was thinking, if I put you into a place where you were created, you would heal better. So I placed you here. Opening two portals made me lose almost all of my powers. When I was back to the sect, I made some arrangements and began cultivation in the mountain.¡± ¡°Father.¡± Gu Wen Zhu raised his head to face Ciang Yi, ¡°How come I don¡¯t remember a thing? Is Yi really Wang Lan? What¡¯s my relationship with Wang Lan? And why did his spirit and soul fall apart in the first place?¡± Xia Yi heard this and stood up from the stone chair, looking at Ciang Yi nervously. Ciang Yi turned to look, nodded, he confirmed, ¡°Yes. He is Wang Lan. And concerning what had happened between you, I will let you remember on your own. Half of your spirit and soul are with Wang Lan. When you remember, he will remember.¡± On their way back to the village, Xia Yi walked with a blank face with uneven pace. He almost tripped himself a few times. Gu Wen Zhu was alert and managed to hold him, making Ciang Yi and Jie Shang sweat. When they arrived at home, he straightly went to bed and went into the blankets. After burying his head, he made Gu Wen Zhu go away with his mumbling voice, ¡°Zhu. Don¡¯t talk to me right now. Let me think.¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not talk for a moment. Looking at him cocooning himself, he said gently, ¡°You sleep first. I will leave you alone. I am making dinner and will inform you afterwards.¡± He did not receive any response from Xia Yi and could only retreat from the room and closed the door carefully behind him. So I am really that Wang Lan. And that my spirit and my soul has been destroyed. I must have died horribly. That flower fairy couple came with Wang Lan¡¯s soul to that dimension. No wonder when he was small, when he transmigrated to the cultivation world, his parents did not ask questions and just let him be. That¡¯s because they knew it deep down. My parents transmigrated for me. After that car crash, they did not leave me. Instead, they were by my side. So I was never alone. Xia Yi could not tell if he was happy or sad. He felt bitterness. And a warm current rushed up to his eyes. At this moment, the baby in his belly sensed his emotion and moved with uneasiness. Xia Yi laughed caressing his belly, ¡°Baby. You know that? Grandpa and grandma are with your father.¡° Then he bit the pillow cloth to cry with his shoulder shivering. ¡°Host. Are you feeling better?¡± Xia Yi had been lying in bed for a long time. He laughed and cried. System did not have the guts to speak to him. When it was about the time for dinner, he finally reminded him about it in a careful tone. 179 was afraid of the baby being malnutritioned, ¡°Gu Wen Zhu had come a couple of times, but he did not dare to come in. He was afraid he might interrupt you. Host. Go outside to eat. Even if you are not hungry, your baby is hungry.¡± Xia Yi was now calm. He sat up, ¡°Yes. Eat. I am going to give birth to a healthy baby and let it see my father and mother.¡± Outside, Gu Wen Zhu had already prepared the table, the bowls and the chopsticks. He was sitting with Ciang Yi and Jie Shang beside the table. Kirin and its dog dad were lying in the dog house in the corner of the yard, with different food bowls in front of them. Kirin was eating ferociously. His dog dad was looking at it lovingly, and it licked it from time to time. Although Ciang Yi and Jie Shang did not say anything, seeing Xia Yi come out, they sighed in relief. They picked up the chopsticks, ¡°Eat.¡± After dinner, it was time for his daily walk. Xia Yi did not let Gu Wen Zhu walk with him considerately. He intended to let the three of them have a chance to talk. So he only brought Kirin and its dog dad with him. Just when he arrived at the door, he saw two individuals walking in a line. The one in front who was angry was Qi Zhou. The tall one who was following closely was Er Niu, trying hard to explain. What¡¯s this? Xia Yi stopped out of curiosity. Qi Zhou spotted him. He quickened his steps to walk this way. He pushed Er Niu and yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t follow me.¡± After that, he walked to Xia Yi¡¯s side in anger, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with that? You are being mean. Er Niu is a good guy. He is honest and let you command him around. But you are treating him like this.¡± Xia Yi looked back to see Er Niu standing there, looking sad. That tall figure looked pathetic. Out of expectations, that triggered Qi Zhou, he almost jumped, ¡°He is honest? Honest my ass.¡± Without even noticing, he swore. When Xia Yi heard someone like Qi Zhou begin to swear, that someone must be really angry. So he could not help but ask, ¡°What happened? What made you so mad?¡± Unexpectedly, Qi Zhou began to equivocate with his eyes looking to his side. Seeing him this way, Xia Yi had a guess. He had not been seeing Qi Zhou and Er Niu for days. What if¡­ the two of them were locked in the same room going through the heat? But didn¡¯t he hand the herbs to Qi Zhou some days before? Aiya. Does he not know how to take it? Oh no. Oh no. A breeze of wind swept this way, blowing Qi Zhou¡¯s hair up. Xia Yi tilted his head unconsciously and saw the side of his neck. Oh my. There were spots of purple and blue here and there. They did not look like bruises, but they did look like marks created by people sucking on his skin. As someone who had experienced this before, Xia Yi immediately understood. This Er Niu seemed quiet usually, but he had already devoured Qi Zhou whole. You really could not judge a book by its cover. Yo dawg. Qi Zhou realized that Xia Yi was looking at the side of his neck and immediately responded. He quickly put his hair back down with a weird facial expression. ¡°Are you eh¡­ are you¡­¡± Xia Yi testingly asked. Knowing that he could no longer hide it, Qi Zhou nodded and raised his head. He spoke behind his teeth with his reddened face, ¡°I am going to slice him into a million pieces and feed the dog.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I give you the Herba Aqua Effugio? Why didn¡¯t you use it?¡± Xia Yi could not resist a glance at Qi Zhou¡¯s neck. He could not help but wonder, isn¡¯t this a little too intense? And after using him, you are now going to slice him into pieces and feed him to the dog? Speaking of Herba Aqua Effugio, Qi Zhou¡¯s face became more fierce, ¡°I let him see this at first and I asked him if it was a rare item. He said it was, and it would be helpful for the heat.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t tell it wrongly and he didn¡¯t hide the truth from you. Why are you gritting your teeth?¡± Xia Yi did not understand. Maybe you are the one who was taking advantage of Er Niu. Qi Zhou stopped walking furiously and turned to face Xia Yi, talking in a lowered voice as if those words were squeezing through the gaps among his teeth, ¡°He said that this kind of rare herb had to be kept in a good condition in order to help me through my heat. But the village had not been peaceful recently, three police officers had become thieves and they constantly tried to steal from the villagers. If they found out about this, they would try to steal it too. To safeguard the herbs, he found this wooden box. A larger box enveloped the smaller box. There was a lock on every box. He even pulled me up in the middle of the night to sneak into the mountains, letting me see how he hid it in a pit behind a big stone. But, but when heat hit me, how was I supposed to walk all the way up to the mountain to dig it up? Let alone all those boxes were locked, one after one¡­¡± Qi Zhou almost sobbed when he came to this part. He kicked a big willow on the side of the road, eyes red, one kick after the other, as if that tree was Gu Bei Cheng. CH 65 Qi Zhou kicked the tree beside him fiercely and cursed Er Niu behind his gritted teeth at the same time. After he finished with his nignags, Xia Yi asked him testingly, ¡°So what are you gonna do next?¡± ¡°I am going to kill Gu Bei Cheng. That piece of shit.¡± Qi Zhou answered with red eyes. Tat tat. If you want to, he would already be dead. Didn¡¯t you two just walk side by side? Wasn¡¯t that a great time to do that? Seeing that he was still furious, Xia Yi said after some thoughts, ¡°There is no need for you to kill him. Why would you kill for him? It¡¯s better for your hands to stay clean. You will transmigrate back anyways. By that time, you will never see him again. Then you can pretend that nothing has happened.¡± Upon hearing his suggestion, Qi Zhou froze. He did not make a sound with his lips sealed and his eyes looking blank. ¡°What? Do you not want to go back?¡± Xia Yi saw his face and asked, casting a sidelong glance. ¡°No way. I wish I could never see him again.¡± Although he answered like this, Qi Zhou¡¯s voice became distinctly lower. The two silently continued walking. ¡°Congratulations. Host. Your carrots are ready for harvest. Mission accomplished.¡± In this silence, 179¡¯s voice rang with sounds of firecrackers and reward ceremony music. ¡°Mission: Rescuing Qi Shan Sect¡¯s leader and all the apprentices. Completion 1/1 Award: Safe and painless labor.¡± Xia Yi was used to giving mean comments about the awards, but words seemed to be stuck in his throat this time. Wh, what? Did I hear what I heard? Safe and painless labor? ¡°Correct. Host. When I saw this mission for the first time, I did not want to speak about the award out loud and I thought that this mission was totally crazy. But now I know, this is such a wonderful award.¡± 179 giggled happily. Xia Yi felt thunderstruck. The sound of the thunder rang in his mind. When he calmed down, he thought about it a lot. Eh, this award is good, really good. At first, he felt uncomfortable about the idea of giving birth and was resistant to it. However, after he had accepted all these, there was only this fear of labor left in him. There were so many horrible, painful stories about obstructed labor, making Xia Yi not dare to imagine the day he gave birth to his baby. And this was the farming world. They lacked everything here. If he had difficulties during labor, he might be waiting for his own death. This award was good, especially good, as good as a friend of the women. But then, Xia Yi was alert. ¡°179. Every time I finished my mission, maybe on that day, maybe two days later, I¡¯d be transmigrated to the cultivation world. Will it be the case this time? I am expecting to go into labor. What if I have to give birth right after I get transmigrated? Without Zhu, I can do this. I will try not to let the baby out no matter what. Can you afford to lose two lives at the same time? If Zhu commits suicide because of this, that will be my whole family dead.¡± System was clearly stunned and did not make a sound. After a while, he said slowly, ¡°Host. To be honest, I don¡¯t know when you will be transmigrated. But I will try my best to bring Gu Wen Zhu along when it happens.¡± After thinking for a moment, he said, ¡°Do I have to get Doctor Li as well?¡± No. Doctor Li was only capable of giving out prescriptions for a cold or something. He could not handle labor. When they arrived at the entrance of the village, Xia Yi departed with Qi Zhou who was absentminded, and went back to his house. Just when he made a turn, he was flabbergasted and halted. He saw some villagers crowded in front of his front door. They were whispering, giggling and looking inside, with bowls of rice in their hands. There were even kids climbing on the walls. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Yi hurried forward, splitting the crowd. ¡°Yi. You are back.¡± Ms. Wang was at the front with her baby in her arms. She whispered to him, ¡°Those two are Wen Zhu¡¯s biological parents? They look so good, just like the gods.¡± ¡­So, you all crowd in front of my house to see my father-in-law and mother-in-law? After squeezing through the crowd, Xia Yi found that, not only outside the house, there were people in the yard too. Mr Wang, with a pipe in his hand, sat under the ginkgo tree, drinking tea. Li Zhu was crouching beside him, massaging his leg. Beside the small table sat Ciang Yi and Jie Shang with curious expressions. Both of them listening to Mr. Wang, ¡°So, in that fight, Wen Zhu won. My piece of sugar cookie was given to him, and the peanuts were given to Li Zhu. Then, he was about thirteen. No, fourteen.¡± ¡°No. Mr. Wang. He fought that fight when he was ten.¡± Li Zhu immediately corrected him. So they were asking about Zhu¡¯s childhood. I have been out there all evening and they are still at ten years old. At this moment, a voice echoed from the top of the walls, ¡°Mister. You missed one thing. When he was nine, Wen Zhu and I went into the mountains to pick persimmons and we ended up lost. Tell them about it too.¡± That was the voice of Zheng Er Gou¡¯s. Having a bowl in his hand, he was leaning on the walls with a bunch of kids. Jie Shang and Ciang Yi were listening merrily. They would not let one detail miss their ears. Even when they heard about things like Gu Wen Zhu being chased by a dog and falling into the water, they seemed nervous at first and began to laugh out loud happily. Gu Wen Zhu was sitting emotionlessly in the corner, listening to everyone in the village talking about his embarrassing stories when he was little. Xia Yi knew that he was struggling hugely mentallly right now, making him feel hilarious. He then took a stool to sit beside him. Realizing someone had just sat down beside him, Gu Wen Zhu looked up to see Xia Yi. Then he immediately stood up to help him sit. This conversation was likely to continue until late night when the moon had risen, until every adult brought their children back home and the left ones who wished to hear more went home too. Gu Wen Zhu tidied up the guest room. And he used the blanket which had been recently dried under the sun to change for the old one for the king sized bed. This was made when they got married. He made one more bed when he was making furniture. At that time, Xia Yi asked him why he was making one more, he cleverly said that it was meant for the guests, replacing that sentence of giving it to the kid. But it was fortunate that he had made this bed, or else the two of them would have to be out of their room and sleep on the floor. After everyone left the yard, it was all silent. Xia Yi, with two pillows in his arms, looked out from the window in curiosity. He saw Ciang Yi stood up and sluggishly walked towards that ginkgo tree, then he looked up at that round moon in the sky. Jie Shang followed him. He walked to his side and looked up at the moon with him. When no one noticed, his left arm was around Ciang Yi¡¯s thin waist. Ciang Yi seemed to have struggled a little, but Jie Shang¡¯s arms tightened, and Ciang Yi was in his arms in the end. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi, unlike his usual self, not saying one word and leaning on the window dazed, so he asked with his hands shaking the dust off the blanket. ¡°I was thinking, your son might grow up playing with your brother.¡± Xia Yi lowered his voice to speak in a mysterious manner. ¡°What?¡± Gu Wen Zhu did not understand, he asked in astonishment, ¡°What brother?¡± Gu Wen Zhu put down the blanket and walked this way blankly, then he looked following where Xia Yi¡¯s finger was pointing at. Jie Shang lowered his head to kiss Ciang Yi¡¯s forehead. Under the moonlight, the two slender figures merged. Gu Wen Zhu retreated with a purple face, he pulled Xia Yi away too, ¡°Let¡¯s get back inside. Don¡¯t look.¡± Back at the bedroom, Gu Wen Zhu took out needles and baskets to make the baby a pair of tiger shoes. Xia Yi took out some clean clothes to the lavatory to bathe. Seeing his larger figure walking past the sill of the lavatory¡¯s door, Gu Wen Zhu carefully said, ¡°Watch out. It¡¯s slippery.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Xia Yi answered while closing the door. After unclothing himself, Xia Yi stood in front of the copper mirror to observe himself, and he began to nag, ¡°179. My eight packs have become a winter gourd.¡± ¡°Host. You didn¡¯t have packs in the first place.¡± ¡°I doubt that was caused by some hormones or something. My skin looks paler than ever. My tanned skin has gone.¡± ¡°Host. Your skin has always been this color.¡± ¡°179. My eyesight has become worse now. My figure in the mirror has been disfigured.¡± ¡°Host. Your figure is ¨C¡± The voice of the system suddenly halted, then he and Xia Yi screamed frantically at the same time, ¡°We are transmigrating.¡± The view surrounding him was twisting slowly. This was the sign of transmigration every time. Xia Yi looked down to his belly, ¡°No. I have to bring Zhu. I don¡¯t want to give birth to the child by myself.¡± Seeing that everything was swirling around slowly, Xia Yi had no time to care if he was wearing clothes, he made the swiftest move ever since he got pregnant to kick open the twisted door and dashed out. Things in his sight had all turned into weird lines. He could not tell where Gu Wen Zhu was. He could not make a sound even if he opened his mouth. Xia Yi could only stretch out his arm towards that frantically spinning view and closed his eyes. Until he heard the sound of the wind beside his ears, which he should not be hearing, Xia Yi opened his eyes. A tall door in the mountain appeared in his view when his eyes opened. Although it was already night, his vision was abnormally clear. He could see three words on that big rock clearly, ¡®Qi Shan Sect.¡¯ He had really transmigrated. Plus, he was standing in the square in front of the gate, where he got transmigrated last time, the place where he and Jie Shang had a confrontation. A breeze of wind in the night swiped pass, with a hint of coolness, making him have goose bumps. Xia Yi naturally held his arms, but that touch of bare skin made him feel not right. Right after that, he heard two short screams. He looked towards the sound to see two children, seven or eight, having brooms in their hands and their mouths opened, staring at him in disbelief. His heart skipped a beat, thinking that he would have to swear. Looking down, what the f**k, sure, he was standing naked, with nothing on. He was standing under the moonlight. Everything could clearly be seen. What the hell?! His brain was spinning at lightning speed. Xia Yi was thinking whether to hide somewhere to let these children find clothes for him or to hold himself and quickly dashed back to Wang Zhu Yard. If I ran fast enough, other¡¯s vision would not be able to catch up with me. Let alone no one would recognize me if I hid my face. Xia was a handsome fellow. How would he got this big belly? Even if they were guessing according to the figure, they would have thought that this was Mingie! CH 66 Just when Xia Yi was preparing to run off, a wide coat with human warmth fell upon his shoulders. Then he had been wrapped thoroughly. He turned to see Gu Wen Zhu standing before him with a gloomy expression. He was only wearing white underwear. ¡°Em, I¨C¡± Xia Yi wanted to explain, but then everything spinned and next, he was carried by Gu Wen Zhu in his arms. Okay, Xia Yi thus closed his mouth. Looking towards the Wang Zhu Yard, Xia Yi curled himself in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms. Only his pale calves were swinging along with every step rhythmically. ¡°Zhu. How did you follow me here this time?¡± Xia Yi extended two of his fingers from the coat to scratch a button on Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s chest. ¡°I saw you dashing out, not saying one word, stretching out your arms to me, with that swirling light around you. Then I understood.¡± Gu Wen Zhu looked at Xia Yi while talking. He saw the coat sliding off Xia Yi¡¯s arm with the movement of his fingers, exposing a fair arm in the air, so he quickly caught that hand which was causing all these, then stuffed it back inside the coat. ¡°So you ran in as well?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Gu Wen Zhu replied in a low tone. That voice sounded as if it was from his chest, making Xia Yi¡¯s ear which was on his chest shivered. On their way, they met a few apprentices of the Qi Shan Sect. The moment they saw Gu Wen Zhu, they were shocked at first, then their expressions became complicated. Without asking, Xia Yi knew. After their transmigration back to the farming world, the whole sect knew that Zhu was the son of Jie Shang, the young master of the demonic world, Ze Yuan. There were not many apprentices who had endured that incident of him killing the people of Mount Yu Lu. Most of them only heard humors about Ze Yuan but had never met him in person. As soon as they knew that he was Gu Wen Zhu, not a lot of them showed fear towards him. On the contrary, most of these people looked curious. Let alone Ciang Yi confessing that he was his father. Normally, whenever the elder apprentices looked at the fairy ladies for a few more seconds, they could talk about it for countless restless nights with long and detailed analysis, mentioning how lively those eyes of the fairies were and how their fingers moved slightly. Since this incident of Ciang Yi, which should be enough for them to talk about for a good ten or nine years, all the apprentices had been oddly silent about this. Too shocking. Not knowing where to start. They needed half a year to digest this information. When they were back at Wang Zhu Yard, it was late. The two took a bath and got into bed. Xia Yi buried his head against Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s firm chest, feeling his large hand caressing his belly. He yawned, feeling sleepy. Just before he fell asleep and lost consciousness, he heard Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s sigh, ¡°How will my parents think about it when they find out that we are gone?¡± ¡°Relax. They know we are back here.¡± Xia Yi murmured a sentence, then he fell deep asleep. ¡°Xia. Xia.¡± Xia Yi was awoken by someone calling. Tired, he rolled to bury himself more deeply into the blanket. However, that voice was still insistently ringing in the yard. That voice sounded like Qing Xiu. ¡°Bang bang bang.¡± Receiving no response from Xia Yi, Qing Xiu started knocking. Xia Yi resignedly opened his eyes, answering, ¡°Wait.¡± He turned sideways with effort, then used his two hands to support his heavy body to sit up, and pulled that coat on the chair to him and wore it, emotionlessly sitting on the bedside. The sky had been lit up thoroughly. There was no one beside him, Gu Wen Zhu got up some time ago. ¡°What?¡± Xia Yi sounded like he had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, ¡°Come in.¡± Upon hearing Xia Yi¡¯s invitation to go in, Qing Xiu pushed open the door, ¡°Xia. I heard that you are here. The Elder of Tian Ji told me to escort you.¡± Liu Si Qian? What¡¯s his business with me? ¡°Where is Tian Ji taking me to?¡± Xia Yi supported his belly with his hand and asked. Then he saw Qing Xiu looking at his round belly with widely opened eyes and his mouth turning into the shape of an ¡®O.¡¯ ¡°179. If I tell them I have a belly because I drank too much beer, will they believe me? Right. You don¡¯t have beer here. Then just some middle age crisis?¡± ¡°Hoho. Why don¡¯t you tell them you are too sick and there is water in your belly.¡± Look how thoughtful Qing Xiu was, he just gave the answers, ¡°Xia. Are you having a middle age crisis? Or, or, are you having some sort of sickness?¡± ¡°Not those. I am pregnant.¡± Xia Yi said without caring too much, then he picked up the cup of tea on the table to take a sip. It was still warm. It was clearly made by Gu Wen Zhu before he left. It was made for him to drink when he was awake. Qing Ziu giggled, ¡°Xia. You are so funny.¡± He giggled and giggled but found that Xia Yi kept looking at him with that emotionless face, then his smile slowly froze on his face. Xia Yi restated, ¡°For real. I am pregnant.¡± For all these months of pregnancy, Xia Yi had already turned from embarrassing and resistant to getting used and open to the whole world. He even felt slightly proud? Next, Qing Xiu¡¯s face looked like his beliefs had crashed inside of him. He just stood there, dazed, with his expression changing around. After a while, he asked, ¡°You really¡­ are not a female apprentice?¡± ¡°No.¡± Xia Yi used his most hoarse and low voice to answer, ¡°Do you know where my Zhu went?¡± ¡°I met him just now on my way. He went to the kitchen to catch chicken for you. He said he was making soup for you.¡± Xia Yi nodded approvingly, ¡°Then what is the Elder of Tian Ji fetching me for?¡± ¡°The Elder of Tian Ji had planted a new batch of Muge and he wanted you to see if he had planted them right.¡± Qing Xiu might have had too much shock, he tilted his head to think for a while, and remembered why he was here. Xia Yi thought for a moment, he thought it would not cost him too much time to take a look there. After his trip there, when he got back, Zhu¡¯s chicken soup would be ready. So he stepped forward outside, ¡°Let¡¯s have a look.¡± Before he went out of the front door, Qing Xiu was still looking flabbergasted. His eyes fell onto Xia Yi¡¯s belly quite a few times. When Xia Yi looked back at him, his eyes would swifted to look at the other ways. Hoho, the people in the cultivation world were so naive and had never seen the world before. Xia Yi only remembered that Kirin was not here with him this time around when he saw Qing Xiu summoning his magical item. Then how was he supposed to get to the medicine garden? Looking at Qing Xiu¡¯s magical item, it was alright, it was a smooth folding fan. It was wide and flat. There were no suspicious things like a spoon or something attached to it. He was a pregnant man. He could no longer jump around ten thousand meters above the ground. On the folding fan, Qing Xiu started the magical item to fly towards the gate slowly. This was the first time he had a pregnant man on his magical item. He must feel stressed, so he was flying low and slow, and he was making turns gradually. He flew close to the ground towards the gate with a speed of 20 yards per hour. They met a lot of people of the sect on their way. Some of them accepted Xia Yi¡¯s radishes and onions before. When they saw Xia Yi, they greeted him enthusiastically. However, their eyes would fall onto his big belly. Then their eyes would open widely and their jaws would drop. Although it did not seem like some weird sickness, that proud expression on Xia¡¯s face, that hand supporting his waist, really made people think too much. ¡°179. When we are back, give everyone in the sect a carrot and an onion. They are my mother-in-law¡¯s apprentices after all. Then they will be counted as family as well.¡± ¡°Alright. Host. Your mother-in-law is my mother-in-law.¡± With the steering of Qing Xiu who was very nervous, the magical item slowly flew away from the gate and flew towards the medicine garden at the foot of the mountain along the stone pavement. There were around a dozen miles between the medicine garden and the gate. It normally took a few minutes to fly there. But with this speed of Qing Xiu, they could not reach their destination in less than twenty minutes. The fan flew past a few rocks. Due to its close distance with the ground, the fan made a few bumps along the curve of the rocks. Qing Ziu immediately turned to see if there was something wrong with Xia Yi. Seeing that he looked normal, he then turned back his head in relief to continue moving forward. But when he turned, out of nowhere, the sky became all dark. Xia Yi subconsciously looked up, then he saw something like a big fishing net falling from the sky upon the two of them on the fan. Then, a strange kind of aroma swifted into his nose. Xia Yi thought it was not good. Then he felt dizzy, his eyelids become heavy, and everything he saw doubled and overlapped before him. Before he lost consciousness, he used his hands to protect his belly. He heard 179 screaming in panic in his brain, then he lost consciousness and knew nothing. Half consciously, he saw that emerald colored pool of water. In the waves of that pool, a soft and low voice rang beside his ears, ¡°Lan. Lan.¡± The scene changed. He felt that he was a teenage boy, pushing open the wooden door to run outside with a bunch of nice smelling strelitzia in his hand. ¡°Lan. Where are you going?¡± Someone called from behind, Xia Yi turned to look and found that it was his mother. ¡°I am going to find Ze Yuan. He promised to take me to see the ocean today.¡± Xia Yi heard himself answering. He sounded younger. ¡°Wang Lan. Ze Yuan needs to cultivate too. Don¡¯t stick to him all the time.¡± That voice got further and further from him. This teen with the name of Lan had already ran a long distance away. ¡°I know¨C¡± Xia Yi saw his hands beside his mouth, shouting towards a figure in front of that wooden house far away at the col of the mountains. ¡°Ze Yuan will not think that I am too much. He wants me to be with him every day.¡± Wang Lan. So this teenager¡¯s name is Wang Lan. Xia Yi thought in his dreamy state. Wang Lan merrily ran among trees, letting the sunlight fall onto him, as if he was a deer jumping around in the woods. He was even humming that song Ze Yuan had been singing to him: Edelweiss, Edelweiss. Every morning you greet me. Small and white clean and bright. You look happy to meet me. Quickly, He came to a pool. Wang Lan looked around, searching. Seeing no one, he began to shout, ¡°Ze Yuan. Ze Yuan. I am here.¡± His voice echoed in the forest, scaring a crowd of birds to fly into the blue sky. With no response, Wang Lan pursed his lips. He sat on a rock beside that pool of water with the bunch of strelitzia. He swung his legs and waited in boredom. The pool was clear and shiny. He could not resist taking off his shoes and socks, and dipped his fair white feet and ankles into the water. Suddenly everything spinned. Someone took him up from behind. Wang Lan wanted to scream but he recognized the smell of grass and woods of that person behind him. His fear was no more, only surprise and excitement were left with him. His little earlobe had been enveloped by that person¡¯s mouth. The person¡¯s breath hitting him on his neck. At the same time, a low voice rang, ¡°How long have you been waiting?¡± Hearing this voice, Xia Yi¡¯s lips moved semi consciously to speak slightly. In his mind, the sound rang with Wang Lan¡¯s surprised voice, ¡°Zhu.¡± ¡°Yuan.¡± All the scenes were becoming clearer and clearer, Xia Yi felt as if he was going through all the stories between Wang Lan and Ze Yuan. When he was a child, the two knew each other in the woods. Ze Yuan sneaked out from the demonic world to play and met Wang Lan who got lost. Ze Yuan looked at this white dumpling boy coolly. He was crying his lungs out and holding his hand tightly, calling him Yuan, ¡°I can¡¯t find my mother. My mother brought me here to see flowers. I was chasing the butterflies and mother was gone.¡± Ze Yuan¡¯s face was serious. He tried to move away those little fingers which were holding onto him tightly one by one. Right when he intended to turn and walk away, his waist was held onto tightly. That white dumpling boy cried so hard that he could not open his eyes, ¡°Don¡¯t go. Don¡¯t go.¡± Ze Yuan struggled a little but failed to set himself free. That desperate cry was ringing beside his ears. He could not help but sigh, and said resignedly, ¡°Do you know that you are noisy? You are giving me a headache. If you continue crying, I will dump you here.¡± Upon hearing this, that dumpling suddenly stopped crying. Because he was trying hard to hold his breath, that face with all the tears on it was all red, and he was sobbing. Ze Yuan looked around, frowning like an adult, ¡°What¡¯s your name? Where do you live? Let me escort you back.¡± ¡°My name is Wang Lan. I live at home.¡± Dumpling was talking in a baby¡¯s voice. There were still tears sticking and holding their places on those eyelashes of those big, round eyes. ¡°Since you can¡¯t tell where your home is, you should stay here until your mother comes and finds you.¡± Ze Yuan wanted to dump this child so much and went to play with the monkeys in the woods. ¡°No. I am following you.¡± Wang Lan was like a lost little birdie, following the very first person he met. He then realized that he had been out for quite some time, if he did not go and catch some monkeys quickly, the guards of the demonic world would have found that he was out and he would be scouted by his father. And so Ze Yuan could only hold Wang Lan¡¯s hand and said fiercely, ¡°Then don¡¯t cry, stay quiet. Walk on your own.¡± Wang Lan was not afraid of his fierce face at all, on the contrary, he smiled with his eyes turning into lines. He used the other hand to cover his mouth, and whispered, ¡°I will be quiet.¡± The two played for an evening in the woods. Ze Yuan went to chase the monkeys. Wang Lan sat on a rock to look at him happily. Ze Yuan ran, sweating. Wang Lan pulled out his small handkerchief, standing on his tiptoes to brush off the sweat for him, and said, ¡°Lower your head. Lower your head.¡± Ze Yuan stared at him, halted, then he lowered his body. Wang Lan mimicked how his mother had been brushing off the sweat off him, and he rubbed around Ze Yuan¡¯s face seriously, his mouth was saying, ¡°Don¡¯t run too fast. Be careful not to fall.¡± The ends of Ze Yuan¡¯s lips lifted with the slightest motion, showing a smile for a short moment. The two played until a voice called Wang Lan from afar. That was his mother. Seeing that the time was late, Ze Yuan needed to go back to the demonic world. Before he was gone, his sleeve had been caught. Poor Wang Lan looked at him, he blinked, and asked in a low voice, ¡°Will you be here tomorrow?¡± Ze Yuan wanted to reject him, but seeing the hope in the eyes of the person before him, he could not speak that out. Somehow, he nodded, ¡°I will.¡± A smile quickly emerged from Wang Lan¡¯s face, ¡°Then I will be here to wait for you tomorrow.¡± Since that, whenever the guards did not notice, Ze Yuan would lose them to leave the demonic world and ran to the Valley of the Bright moon to see Wang Lan. From afar, he would always see a small figure sitting on that stone waiting for him silently. Every time he saw Ze Yuan, those round eyes were lit like two brightly shining stars. He would call his name in surprise and pounce onto him. Ze Yuan caught that figure with his arms, although he was not saying anything about it, his lips would curve to show a warm smile. With Wang Lan growing older and able to express himself more fluently, Ze Yuan began to know more about him. His parents were flower fairies. They turned into human forms from stellizia. They had been living in this Valley of the Bright Moon full of spiritual energy for over two hundred years. The couple wanted a place far from the outer world to concentrate and cultivate. They did not expect to have a spiritual baby and gave birth to Wang Lan. And so, the two flower fairies thus were no longer in the right mind for cultivation. They cared for their son all day long, paying all their attention to Wang Lan. Witnessing Wang Lan knowing a man from the demonic world out of nowhere and hanging out with that guy every day, running everywhere in the mountain, the couple was worrying about him. Deep down, they knew, a spiritual baby like Wang Lan, in both the cultivation world or the demonic world, those who used his flesh would gain a lot of power. But no matter how much they tried to stop him, Wang Lan would sneak out. Hit him? They could not hit such a fair and cute boy. Scout him? He would stare at you with those big watery eyes. As time passed, Wang Lan was still safe, the two flower fairies had no other choices but to sigh and shook their heads, no longer continuing their interference for him to find Ze Yuan. With Ze Yuan growing older, his power became stronger. The name of Ze Yuan, the son of the demons had been spreaded around. This day, Wang Lang was waiting on that rock as usual, with a strand of grass in his hand, staring at the direction where Ze Yuan was supposed to come. In view of the fact that much time had passed since the time they should have met, and that the sun was setting, Ze Yuan still did not show up. Is he not coming today? He was caught up by something? Wang Lan pursed his lips, tears welling up in his eyes. The sun had already fallen behind the mountains far away, a dark mist crowded the woods. That small figure was still waiting with lowered head, unmoved. That drop of tear was hanging on his lashes. At this moment, a voice echoed from his side, ¡°Wang Lan.¡± Ze Yuan was standing there all wet, breathing roughly. His face was starting to look like a man. The sweat slid off his handsome face towards his chin. Just when he finished his words, that figure looked up abruptly, then, like a birdie, dashed this way directly to pounce into his arms, burying his head against his chest. ¡°Why are you so late today? Where have you been?¡± The muffling sounds came from his chest area, with some bitter nasally sounds. Ze Yuan stood there in panic, staring at that black and soft head in his arms. The teenager was still entirely wet with water dripping off him. He wanted to push him away but could not bear to lose that softness and warmth, and so his arm held its position in the air just like that. As the bitterness was gone, Wang Lan began to furiously ask him, ¡°Say it. Where have you been? Making me wait for this long.¡± He was no longer that soft dumpling in front of Ze Yuan. He now would show his fangs once a while fiercely. ¡°I heard from the guards that the snakes from the Pool of the Two Dragons have been coming out causing chaos a lot lately, so I went there to kill both of them today. I made a few boots for my father using their skins. And I have brought you the core of the snake. This snake core is also called the dragon core. It will glow at night. I am giving you both of them. If you put them in the tent at night, you won¡¯t need candles.¡± Ze Yuan looked proud though he seemed tired. After saying so, he stretched out to search in his clothes and pulled out two clear and shiny balls. He pulled out Wang Lan¡¯s hand gently, and put one in his palm, ¡°You may have it.¡± Wang Lan looked at the snake core in his palm, then looked at Ze Yuan. There were cuts on his clothes, enabling him to see the cuts on his skin inside. There was one very long and deep cut on his back, and he could somehow see some skin curling up. His eyes then started to redden, his lips trembling, ¡°Who would want your cores? I don¡¯t want them.¡± Seeing him like this, Ze Yuan panicked, he hurriedly said, ¡°If you don¡¯t want it then don¡¯t have it. We will not have these snake cores. The eye of my Big Black is hatching. Let me catch you a little kirin when he has one. Okay? You can feed it and play with it.¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t want that either.¡± Wang Lan¡¯s tears began to fall down drop by drop, ¡°Look at you. Just a day not seeing you, you manage to torture yourself and make you look like this.¡± Ze Yuan was busy rubbing off the tears from his face. But then he saw his fair and soft skin reddened by his hand rubbing on it, making him panic even more, not knowing what to do. Wang Lan was crying, but could not resist checking out that cut on Ze Yuan¡¯s back. He asked with a sobbing tone, ¡°Is that painful?¡± ¡°No. Not at all. Really.¡± Ze Yuan hurried and said. Looking at Wang Lan¡¯s falling tears, Ze Yuan only had one thought, to stop him from crying. Then, he used his hands to envelop that face. Wang Lan¡¯s face was small and fair, with the tears washing it, it looked like a shiny piece of jade with drops of water on it. Somehow, he leaned forward to catch that drop of tear from his lips. Wang Lan obediently closed his eyes, his eyelashes shaking, more tears sliding down his face. Ze Yuan was kissing those tears, here and there, then his lips fell onto those pink lips. ¡­ When Ze Yuan looked up, Wang Lan¡¯s eyes were still closed. He had already stopped crying for some time. His lips were swelling a little with some sparkly light shining on them. The whole face was in a misty pink color. He saw that thin eyelid which was vaguely showing some blue veins opening, showing those shiny eyes. Ze Yuan panicked to release Wang Lan from his grip. He took two steps back and said staggeringly, ¡°It¡¯s late now, I, I¡¯ll just go back.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Wang Lan did not make him stay, unlike what he was doing usually. He only lowered his head to make a slightest sound that anyone could hardly hear. From the view of Ze Yuan, that fair and slender neck was painted with a layer of pink. After walking away for a couple of steps, Ze Yuan stood still to look back, and said loudly, ¡°Wait for me tomorrow. I will be on time.¡± Then, he ran and pulled out his spear to throw it into the air, and jumped onto it. Just after he took flight, he heard Wang Lan shouting loudly behind him, ¡°I know. Remember to heal yourself.¡± Ze Yuan rode the spear back to the demonic world. He used his fingers to touch his lips, smiling. Not long after, Ze Yuan brought a small kirin which had just stopped drinking milk. It was all black. Those yellowish orange eyes looked like two amber stones. Wang Lan just loved it right away. ¡°Big Black was very fierce. I am bringing Little Black to play with you discreetly. And I have to bring it back after sunset.¡± Ze Yuan was playing with that horn of the small kirin and talking to Wang Lan who was holding Little Black. ¡°I know. I will just play with Little Black from time to time.¡± Wang Lan kissed the forehead of Little Black. Little Black comfortably closed its eyes and affectionately rubbed against his chest. Ze Yuan came to the Valley of the Bright Moon every day with Little Black. The two began to explore places beyond the valley to play and reach out to further places. This day, Ze Yuan was riding his spear with Wang Lan leaning on his chest, Little Black in his arms. The two flew low above the sea. The sea was silent, blue and clean. Sometimes there were dolphins jumping out of the water, causing some splashes, making Little Black howled at them. The end of the sea was the mountains. Those mountains were so tall that they speared through the clouds. The skyline could be vaguely seen there with some floating islands. ¡°Wah. What is that? Floating islands.¡± Wang Lan pulled Ze Yuan¡¯s sleeve excitedly, pointing at the front, ¡°Let¡¯s play there and look at the islands.¡± However, strangely, there was no response from behind him. Wang Lan turned back in curiosity, seeing that Ze Yuan did not talk with a gloomy expression, and he was not even looking at those islands, he was just looking down at his feet. Wang Lan saw him this way, so he lowered his voice to ask carefully, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why are you unhappy?¡± After some time, Ze Yuan raised his head to look at those floating islands, ¡°Lan. I have never told you about this. I have a family member on that floating island.¡± This was the first time Wang Lan heard this from him. He quickly shook his head. ¡°Although I know he lives there, I haven¡¯t visited there once. And that I have only heard this from my father for once when he was drunk and slipped his tongue.¡± Ze Yuan was feeling down. ¡°My father never talks about this person. But I know he missed this person very much deep down. At night, I always see him standing at the top of the palace, drinking, looking in this direction. On a night with a bright moon and stars, the floating islands here will appear vaguely in the sky.¡± Wang Lan was not expecting him to continue, but then Ze Yuan said in a low voice, with a hint of disappointment in his voice, ¡°That¡¯s my mother.¡± After that, Ze Yuan looked at Wang Lan, wanting to see his expression. But there was nothing strange with Wang Lan¡¯s expression, as if just now he had heard something from a neighbor. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s go and look at places near where your mother lives.¡± Wang Lan looked towards him and said softly. Ze Yuan¡¯s heart was pounding rapidly. Due to the negativity or some other reasons, he had never reached out nearby the floating islands, and he never asked his father about Ciang Yi. But with Wang Lan talking about it like this, a strong emotion rose in him. He said to himself, ¡°Go and take a look. Just one look. It¡¯s not that I wanted to go, it¡¯s just that Wang Lan wanted to go.¡± The spear flew towards the floating island, passing through all the lakes and mountains on the way. Ze Yuan looked at that gate of the Qi Shan Sect in the mist, his heart racing. That person lives inside. His magical item landed on a medicine garden. The purple herbs swayed in the wind, extending a wave in vivid color towards the sky. Wang Lan ran in the field, laughing and screaming. His eyes were full of excitement, ¡°It¡¯s pretty here. Let¡¯s not go back. Let¡¯s live here.¡± Ze Yuan saw his sparkly eyes, those porcelain like skin was glowing pink. He smiled and nodded, ¡°Then we will live around here later.¡± ¡°Yes. We can build a wooden house and live here.¡± Wang Lan nodded hugely, as if he was afraid his statement was not loud enough. The sky was turning darking, so the two had to leave. Just after they got onto the magical item, a man flew from far away and stopped before them when he saw the two. ¡°Are you friends of the Qi Shan Sect? I am Chen Qian from Mount Yu Lu. I am here because of the invitation of the Elder of Tian Xuan. I am coming with our leader Wu to Qi Shan.¡± Another man wearing frayed clothes came up and greeted them. Wang Lan and Ze Yuan looked at each other and said, smiling, ¡°We are not from Qi Shan. We are just playing around here.¡± The people heard them. Then they observed the two. The one who spoke first turned to speak towards the person behind him, ¡°Leader. Let¡¯s go then.¡± The others behind him nodded slightly. However, he squeezed his eyes a little when he saw Wang Lan, with a meaningful smile, ¡°A spiritual baby! A few years longer for him to mature.¡± That smile was like a vicious snake with a coldness lingering around him. Xia Yi suddenly felt fear and pain from his heart and the scene before him dampened. He heard his rough breath and a lot of people laughing frantically around him. His body felt as if he had been tied onto a cold stone tablet. He felt pain all over his body. He was terrified. He wanted to scream. He wanted to call for Yuan, his parents, but he could only hear some weird airy sounds from his throat. Painful. It was painful all over his body. He felt so bitter. Where is Yuan? Where are his parents? Where are you? Lan is painful¡­ Xia Yi felt his throat being grabbed onto tightly. He began to struggle vigorously and breathing heavily. ¡°Xia. Xia. Wake up.¡± Someone was calling him anxiously, pulling Xia Yi out from that dark abyss. Qing Xiu saw Xia Yi, who was painfully shivering in a coma, opened his eyes abruptly. Xia Yi was staring at the top of his head with heavy breaths. Qing Xiu thus asked carefully, ¡°Xia. What happened?¡± Xia Yi was panting and looked away slowly. Everything around him were huge rocks and mountains. There were a few strangers staring at him anxiously. And among the people who were looking at him, one of them was Qing Xiu. CH 67 Seeing that he was awake, everyone exhaled in relief and sat around him. ¡°Xia. You scared the shit out of us. Just now, you cried and shed tears, you even struggled, kicked and swung your fists around. Now that you are pregnant, all of us are afraid of something happening to you. How are we supposed to tell our leader about that by then?¡± While supporting him to stand up, Qing Xiu said, still recovering from the shock. Xia Yi had already calmed down by now. His pale face had regained some of its pink color on it. Upon hearing Qing Xiu¡¯s words, he immediately used his hands to touch his own belly. It was still there. Then he patted it with some force. In response, an area of his belly popped out a little. It was his baby kicking in discontent. Alright alright. Xia Yi finally felt better. With this scene, everyone around him showed complicated expressions with mixed feelings. Xia Yi began to observe around him, making Qing Xiu hurried and introduced an elegant cultivator with a long beard beside him, ¡°Xia. This is the Elder that you had never met, Tian Xuan.¡± So this was his so-called master. He had to greet him then. Tian Xuan saw Xia Yi struggling to move a bit, then he hurriedly raised his hand to stop him from doing so, ¡°There is no need for you to do that. Just rest.¡± As it was not convenient for him to move with his large belly, he did not insist on being polite and only greeted Tian Xuan with words. With Qing Xiu¡¯s help, he sat down, still looking around. Surrounding him was a naturally formed cave about the size of half a basketball court. Light shed from the very top of the cave, making the area very bright. There were around a hundred people in the cave, all standing or sitting chaotically. Seeing Xia Yi looking at them, they all nodded and greeted him tiredly. All of them were wearing Qi Shan Sect¡¯s uniform, all looking blank and yellowish. These must be the missing apprentices and leader of Qi Shan Sect. Qing Xiu saw the scene and smiled bitterly towards Xia Yi, ¡°Right. Our missing apprentices are all here. Now that we are too.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this place?¡± Xia Yi asked, but his voice was so hoarse that he felt as if his voice did not belong to him. Qing Xiu quickly used a gourd bowl to fetch him some water. Feeding him water, Qing Xiu answered him, ¡°I was awake a little earlier than you did. When I woke up, I was already here.¡± ¡°We are inside Mount Shi Hu. The area is enchanted and we cannot get out.¡± One of the apprentices sitting on the side for a long time replied. Xia Yi looked at him, and so Tian Xuan sighed, ¡°We had been fed poison by Cheng Yu Wan of the demonic world. Our power thus cannot be moved inside us and we are not able to break the enchanted area to get out. We all tried every kind of medicine that we had, but we still failed to heal ourselves.¡± Cheng Yu Wan? How does this name sound so familiar? In an instant, some scenes flashed in Xia Yi¡¯s mind: Wang Lan turned to leave in anger, but Ze Yuan laughed and pulled him into his arms, ¡°I was not trying to avoid you. It¡¯s just that the elder of the demonic world had been rebelling with some troops and wanted to eliminate my father.¡± Wang Lan immediately stopped being furious, he turned to ask with concern, ¡°How did that end? Did he succeed?¡± Ze Yuan¡¯s hands went under Wang Lan¡¯s clothes, and he mumbled with Wang Lan¡¯s earlobe in his mouth, ¡°He is not capable of doing so. And I wouldn¡¯t be here if he succeeded.¡± ¡°Then are you hurt?¡± Wang Lan took that hand in his clothes out and asked with a serious expression. ¡°No. He has already been locked up in the cell of the demonic world prison.¡± After saying so, Ze Yuan carried Wang Lan up and walked towards a small cottage beside them, ¡°Without seeing you for days, I seriously need some reward from you.¡± ¡­¡­ Cheng Yu Wan. Right. The Elder of the demonic world. The one who Ze Yuan locked up. ¡°Isn¡¯t Cheng Yu Wan being locked up? When did he come out? How is he taking so many of us?¡± Xia Yi asked. Tian Xuan laughed bitterly, ¡°Who knows? After being forced to take the power-draining pills, we have been locked up here all along. We don¡¯t know what he¡¯s up to.¡± ¡°179. Check it out for me, see if there is anyone other than us around.¡± A moment later, 179¡¯s voice rang, ¡°Host. This is a distant mountain. There is no one except you.¡± Xia Yi then became frustrated, ¡°Then what are we gonna do? Zhu must have found out that I was not there. He must be searching for me frantically. The baby and the mother of the baby are missing. How can he be calm? And we don¡¯t know when we are going to get out.¡± ¡°Master. What do you eat for all the time you are here?¡± Xia Yi knew that except Tian Xuan who had been practising inedia, all the other apprentices still needed to eat. One of the apprentices lying beside them answered tiredly, ¡°Xia. Saying less helps to retain your energy. You can have some moss from here. Don¡¯t waste your energy.¡± Then he looked at his belly, ¡°Let alone you need to use it to give birth to your child.¡± When he finished, all the apprentices around him turned to look at his belly. These people had experienced the state of being shocked, then Qing Xiu¡¯s messy explanation about the baby being a grandson of Ciang Yi, and now everybody had accepted the fact that he was pregnant with correct mindsets. Xia Yi suddenly felt embarrassed, he faked coughing for a couple of times, and he used his hands to hold his belly which was as big as a winter gourd. Winter gourd, right, system space. ¡°179. I remember that I have stored tons of potatoes in the system space. Go and see if they are still there.¡± Xia Yi summoned the system merrily. ¡°Host. They are. All of your harvest is stored in space.¡± 179 answered. ¡°Quick. Quick. Quick. Take the potatoes out.¡± Xia Yi sat up straight. ¡°Host. Are you sure you want to take them all out? I doubt that they will fill up the whole cave.¡± 179 replied with suspicion. ¡°Then take piles. One pile.¡± Xia Yi almost burst out and laughed at this point. If there was food, there was no problem. They could figure their way out slowly after filling their stomachs. Some elite apprentices who were lying on the ground in extreme hunger heard someone screaming in disbelief, ¡°Potato! It¡¯s a potato!¡± ¡°He must have gone mad due to starvation. We have nearly scratched up all the moss in the cave. How will there be any potatoes?¡± The apprentices thought, but they still looked towards where they heard the screams. By now, all of them were stunned. They saw a small hill of round and brown things appear on the ground in the middle of the cave. With that shape, what could it be if it¡¯s not a potato? Already some of the apprentices had climbed up and staggered towards that small hill. The others did not even have the time to stop him and he had picked one up. He looked at the item from both sides, then he used his fingertips to scratch off some skin of it. He then yelled in surprise, ¡°It is really a potato. Really.¡± All the apprentices had gathered some spirits to stand up. Some of them lit fires, searching for wood inside the enchanted area in the cave, producing a lot of cooked potatoes immediately. They shoved the potatoes down their throats, and kept burying potatoes into the burning ashes. Qing Xiu picked up two potatoes in his hands as well. He patted and blew at them, then gave Xia Yi the potatoes, ¡°Xia. Go ahead.¡± Seeing that Xia Yi was not taking the potatoes, he then said, ¡°Screw it. These fell from the sky. I don¡¯t care if they are poisoned or not, at least we do not have to starve to death. And now you need energy to give birth to a child.¡± All the apprentices who were chewing the potatoes agreed, ¡°Yes. Yes. You still need to labor.¡± In the end, this was the cultivation world. Everyone was fine with movable spaces. However, it was still amazing for Xia Yi to carry this many potatoes with him on his way. With everyone stuffed, Xia Yi took out carrots and onions, ¡°Hi all. These are some gifts from me. Please have them. Thank you. Thank you.¡± Then people began to scream in shock. Some of them even cried in joy. Even Tian Xuan took that onion to appreciate it repetitively, not wanting to let it go. Xia Yi looked at them with a smiling face, then suddenly there was something in his palm. He looked down to see a purple little fruit as big as a pea. ¡°179. What¡¯s this?¡± Xia Yi looked at the small fruit, asking the system. ¡°Oh. That¡¯s wrong. I wanted to take out two onions, but I accidentally took the fennel seeds out which were put together with the onions.¡± System explained swiftly. ¡°Fennel seed? This is a fennel seed?¡± Xia Yi raised that purple fruit in front of his eyes, observing it with narrowed eyes. ¡°Yes. Fennel seed. Have you forgotten? You planted onions for half of that 25 points of land, the other half with fennels. Then I put them together when we harvested them.¡± 179 answered. Xia Yi laughed coldly, ¡°Good. Fennel seeds.¡± Then he placed that purple fruit on his palm and let Tian Xuan see it, ¡°Master. Take a look at this. I have some on me too but I don¡¯t know them.¡± Tian Xuan put the onions and carrots carefully away, then looked at Xia Yi¡¯s palm. He took one to look, shaking his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± He was preparing to give it back to Xia Yi, then he hesitated, ¡°Wait. I recalled seeing it in one of our books. Let me think.¡± Tian Xuan put that fruit under the light to observe it carefully, frowning, thinking hard. Xia Yi saw that he did not recognize it and he prepared to retrieve the left fennel seeds to let Ciang Yi check them out later. At this moment, Tian Xuan burst out an astonished scream, ¡°I remember. This is the fruit of Life and Death.¡± Everyone looked up at him. Tian Xuan excitedly explained, ¡°Life and death. The exact opposites. This fruit is called the fruit of Life and Death because of its effect of enabling a person to become lively again when he was in his gravest state.¡± ¡°This is a very rare anti-poison item. I have never seen one before. I have only read about it from a picture book in the library. So I did not recall immediately.¡± Tian Xuan circled in the cave in excitement, then he came to Xia Yi to ask, ¡°Yi. Where did you get this?¡± Just after saying this, he did not wait for Xia Yi to answer but thought of something himself, he laughed at himself, ¡°Even if you know where it¡¯s from, what for? There wouldn¡¯t be enough of these to heal everyone from the poison.¡± ¡°Even if you and I eat this fruit of Life and Death, I cannot break the enchanted area by myself.¡± Seeing Tian Xuan¡¯s disappointed face, Xia Yi became serious, ¡°How many of these are needed to heal one person? A handful? Two handfuls?¡± Half of the 25 points land of fennel seeds were not that many, half of those three acres land were onions. If everyone needed a handful and a hundred something people needed to be fed, there was no way to meet the need. ¡°A handful? Two handfuls?¡± Tian Xuan smiled bitterly, ¡°Do you think that planting these fruits of Life and Death is that simple?¡± ¡°Is that hard?¡± Xia Yi asked curiously. ¡°How is it not? If it¡¯s simple, why does it only appear in books?¡± Tian Xuan stared at that fennel seed in his palm and answered absentmindedly, ¡°For healing everyone, only one for each of us is needed.¡± Xia Yi heard the answer and sighed in relief. His voice sounded delighted, ¡°Master. Then we are good. What a coincidence. I happen to have farmed a pile of fruits of Life and Death.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- After every last one of the apprentices had taken the fennel seeds with respect and sat down with crossed legs to circulate their chi, Tian Xuan was still finding it hard to recover from the shock. He had too many questions. He opened his mouth, wanting to ask Xia Yi, he wanted to know how he got these fruits of Life and Death, Mu Ges and fruits from the Heavens. But he closed his mouth after all. This was their leader, Ciang Yi¡¯s daughter-in-law, the wife of the prince of the demonic world. He was an unknown entity to them in the first place. This person was no ordinary young master of some magistrate¡¯s house. With all these in mind, wasn¡¯t it normal for him to have some magical fruits and herbs? And that he must have taken some unknown medicine to get pregnant as a man. Thinking of this, Tian Xuan took the fennel seed without hesitation, then he sat down to circulate his chi. After a couple of hours or so, everyone from the sect opened their eyes one by one. They looked merry, showing that they were no longer poisoned. Under the order of Tian Xuan, they all used their spiritual power to form a bundle pointing outside the cave. With a buzzing sound of something like being electrified by an electricity net, the enchanted blockage which was floating like a sheet of waterfall out of the cave broke a hole. Everybody rushed to walk out from the cave and out from the enchanted area. There were clouds and mist out of the enchanted area. The original entrance of the cave was located on a cliff. All of them summoned their magical items, preparing to return to Qi Shan Sect, then planned for later actions. Then, the sky grew darker. Black clouds gathered on top of them. A strange wind suddenly came up. All the birds and animals made alerted sounds and ran away frantically. ¡°Master. What now?¡± Xia Yi looked towards Tian Xuan with his hand supporting his belly. Tian Xuan, seeing this, had his gloomy expression on. He loudly urged everyone, ¡°All apprentices onto the magical items. Quickly get away.¡± Then, he summoned his own magical item and he wanted to grab Xia Yi onto it as well. A laugh from nowhere rang and echoed in the cave, ¡°Hahahaha. Want to run away? But can you?¡± An apprentice said in fear, ¡°Oh no. Cheng Yu Wan is here.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pay attention to him. Let¡¯s go.¡± Tian Xuan commanded loudly. The apprentices stepped on their magical items with eyes half closed, trying to push against that strong wind which was blinding them. The magical items were nearly falling in the wind. Some of them wanted to stumble their way out the wind, but they struggled to move for a meter. ¡°It was useful to keep you around, letting Ciang Yi and I work together to kill Jie Shang. But now you are running away.¡± Along with his voice, in that black and heavy swirl of wind, a person stepped out. This person was big with a black aura around him and a dark expression. And he had an eagle on his shoulder. He stopped in mid air in front of everybody, his eyes fell on Xia Yi. His eyes were cold and vacious and made Xia Yi shiver as if a solid thing touched him. He naturally tried to protect his belly. Cheng Yu Wan stared at Xia Yi fixatedly, with a frightening smile, ¡°However, you are no longer of use. After all, I have better bargain now. Strelitzia spiritual baby. So I see that you are fine. At first when Wu Qian Yuan knew about you because of me. He must not be able to catch you. Then Jie Shang and CIang Yi had that little bastard and he messed around with you everyday. They thought that no one knew. Hahahaha.¡± Cheng Yu Wan burst out laughing, facing the sky all of a sudden, then he abruptly halted, staring at Xia Yi with excited sparkling eyes, ¡°Now it¡¯s even better. You now have an even purer spiritual baby in you with mixed spiritual energy from the gods and the demons.¡± ¡°Host. This pervert is planning to get the baby.¡± 179 yelled in anger. He was so angry that his voice was shaking, ¡°I am going to scratch his face and pull off all his hair¡­¡± Tian Xuan pulled Xia Yi to behind him, and he pointed at Cheng Yu Wan with his sword, scolding him loudly, ¡°You are such a lunatic demonic person. Your mind is ill. Do you want to start a war against both the cultivation world and the demonic world?¡± Cheng Yu Wan did not respond to the question, he kept staring at Xia Yi with hatred glittering in his eyes, ¡°Spiritual baby. Do you know what I experienced when I was in the cell? Ze Yuan and Jie Shang did that to me. I was in that water cell with no daylights. There was not one moment that I did not want revenge. Fate has its way to let me back out now. It¡¯s such a nice gift from the gods. After taking the baby out from you, I will use all the tricks they used on me to pay back, double, to your baby.¡± ¡°Hit him. Let Tian Xuan hit him. This son of a bitch.¡± 179 quickly jumped in his mind. His voice sounded so angry that Xia Yi could hear sounds of electricity. Cheng Yu Wan slowly approached everyone with a thick black aura. Tian Xuan shot out his sword like a strand of light, cutting through the air towards his front. All the apprentices used their spiritual power to shoot swords towards Cheng Yu Wan. In a second, all the shiny light of swords broke through the dark clouds, lightening half of the sky. ¡°Yes. Kick his ass.¡± 179 said with a winning smile. He also quickly started playing Piggy Pepper, ¡°The baby must have been scared. Let him relax.¡± However, when those chi of the swords dashed their way and reached near Cheng Yu Wan, with some clanging sounds, he used a iron staff with a snake head to block all of them. Xia Yi saw him putting back his iron staff and showing him that vicious smile as cunning as a snake, ¡°Spiritual baby. You cannot run away from me.¡± ¡°Peppa, get dressed. Pretend that these are your father and mother.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Xia Yi asked loudly. ¡°I will torture you slowly. I will make you live but you will suffer.¡± ¡°Papa piggy does not have his glasses so he can¡¯t see, making him very agitated.¡± ¡°Can you speak up?¡± Xia Yi yelled towards him. Cheng Yu Wan¡¯s face became blue, then Xia Yi finally recalled, ¡°179. Turn off Peppa the Pig. I can¡¯t hear him.¡± After 179 turning off the cartoon, Xia Yi then told Cheng Yu Wan, ¡°Alright. What do you have to say? Say it now.¡± Cheng Yu Wan did not speak a word with his mouth shut. He raised the snake-head iron staff and a heavy dark demonic cloud of chi attacked his way. Are they not fucking negotiating before the fight? How can he just start the fight? Tian Xuan used his sword to block it off. A loud sound rang. Although the demonic chi had been blocked, Tian Xuan still stepped back due to the attack and he was not looking too well. ¡°Your hand.¡± Xia Yi saw a black aura with the shape of a snake climbing up Tian Xuan¡¯s arm, and he screamed. ¡°It¡¯s bad. I am poisoned. There is poison in his chi.¡± Cheng Yu Wan extended his other arm to touch his poisoned arm in a few places, then he decisively sat down with crossed legs, intending to circulate his spiritual energy to force the poison out. ¡°Hahaha. This is my secret recipe. I used a thousand year old snake and a golden toad¨C¡± Cheng Yu Wan did not finish his sentence, and he closed his mouth in shock. He saw Xia Yi stuffed something inside TIan Xuan¡¯s mouth, then Tian Xuan¡¯s darkened skin on his face restored its normal color in just a moment. Tian Xuan¡¯s mouth had been stuffed by a whole lot of fennel seeds by Xia Yi, he was still chewing with difficulties and could not say a word. He was in shock and felt bad. These fruits are a treasure. I only needed one. Why would you stuff them all into my mouth? Xia Yi had already gone to the apprentices, giving out fennel seeds. ¡°Let them put the fennel seeds under their tongues. Just like taking a vaccine, boasting their immunity. They can take two more after being poisoned to strengthen the effects of the medicine.¡± 179 exhorted. In view of this, Cheng Yu Wan¡¯s face grew more fierce. He said behind gritted teeth, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then you shall all go to die.¡± After that, he raised his iron staff, a black tornado dashed out from the head of the staff and shot far towards the sky and connected with the dark clouds at the lower levels. In an instant, the wind swept and the black clouds swirled. There were electrical lights being seen faintly floating in the shape of branches. ¡°No good. He is making a magic circle to summon electricity.¡± Tian Xuan swiftly stood up, swinging the sword in his hand to attack Cheng Yu Wan. The sword was right before him but Cheng Yu Wan did not hide nor move away. He kept working on that magical circle. Two figures appeared beside him with snake head iron staff to block the attack from Tian Xuan. In a matter of seconds, they fought together. ¡°Elder.¡± The apprentices saw a splitted self of Cheng Yu Wan himself, and they could not help but scream. Just when the apprentices were about to help him out, Tian Xuan shouted at them, ¡°Stop. You have no chance against him.¡± Tian Xuan, facing two Cheng Yu Wan, slowly became tired and backed off. Then one of them hit him in the back with his iron staff, making him fly and fall onto the round. Blood bursted out from his mouth. The lightning was sparkling in the sky and the dark clouds were descending from above, Tian Xuan shouted towards everyone, ¡°Go.¡± ¡°Go? Where to?¡± Cheng Yu Wan smirked coldly and said, ¡°Let me send you off to a better place. After all of you have departed, I will go to Qi Shan Sect to let all of you gather up in hell.¡± ¡°Host. Go.¡± 179 saw that the lightning was striking down, and so he urged Xia Yi to go. ¡°Look at me. Where can I go? Kirin is not with me. How am I going to escape with that winter gourd?¡± Xia Yi desperately said with his hand supporting his belly. Yes, winter gourd. Although it is not easy to fly, it is hard enough to endure the lightning and it seemed to be a nice insulation. It is a magical item that can be closed. Some of the apprentices had already summoned their magical items, not yet stepped onto them, and the magical items had already been swept onto the ground by the strong wind. Some thinner ones had been blown to the end of the cliff. They were lucky enough to have someone holding onto them to stop them from falling. Right at this time, a loud sound rang, and a green round house stood on the ground in an instant. It held still in the chaotic wind, not moving an inch. ¡°Come in.¡± Xia Yi stood in front of the winter gourd house door to shout at everyone outside. All of them began to support one another to walk towards the winter gourd house against the wind. Around a dozen of the apprentices entered the winter gourd and quickly filled it full. There was no longer room for others. Xia Yi thought with his mind, then the winter gourd house grew bigger. It grew bigger and bigger, becoming a green building with a firm arch roof. It was thick, heavy and firm. It looked like a steel castle. When everyone was in, the winter gourd closed its door seamlessly. Then, a strike of lightning struck down. They could see how bright outside was through the window. It was so bright that they could not open their eyes. And there were buzzing electricity sounds above their heads. Some of the apprentices had closed their eyes and nervously grabbed onto their clothes. When that light faded away and the electrical sounds stopped, and everyone was still standing, all of them breathed in relief. Quickly after that, another stronger lightning came. In between all the lightning which made it sounded like the end was crumbling upon them, this winter gourd castle looked like a huge glowing ball surrounded by electricity, lighting up half of the sky. Some apprentices asked Tian Xuan with sobbing voices, trembling, ¡°Elder. Can this hold?¡± Tian Xuan was helped by someone to sit aside. He could only sigh, ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± The thunder stopped. The bright world turned back into a dark space. Everyone had their heart settled slowly, thinking that they might have endured a disaster. The winter gourd castle was standing on the top of the mountain in silence. There was not one crack on its sleek surface. Then another blow of attack, followed by another blow of attack¡­ The faces of everyone slowly calmed down instead of being afraid. By the time the third wave ended, and the fourth wave was coming, all of them were sitting in front of the window to look at the view and roasting potatoes. ¡°In the past, when that elevated cultivator was cultivating, I was lucky enough to see him at the foot of the mountain. That sky at that time was just like this one now.¡± Tian Xuan was sluggishly chewing the potatoes handed to him by the apprentices and telling stories to the people around. Xia Yi loved listening to stories. He swiftly moved forward to listen. Outside, Cheng Yu Wan was pulling all the lightning he could to smash from every direction. The sky was dark and gloomy like the apocalypse. Inside, everyone was listening to Tian Xuan happily. When Xia Yi heard something funny, he laughed out loud holding his belly, then he felt a wave of pain in his belly. ¡°Xia. What¡¯s wrong?¡± An apprentice noticed his face looking weird, and he asked hurriedly. Xia Yi waved his hand, ¡°Nothing. I might have eaten too many potatoes.¡± As if to testify his words, the pain was gone. That apprentice saw Xia Yi looking relieved and so turned to look the other way. Xia Yi wanted to check out what it was like outside through the window, but then his belly felt pain again, and his baby started to move. Xia Yi frowned, ¡°179. I think I am having a stomachache.¡± ¡°Host. I think you are going to give birth.¡± 179 screamed, panicking. Xia Yi panicked, ¡°How am I giving birth now? Don¡¯t you say that? I must have had too many potatoes.¡± This system had been calling it whenever something was happening with his belly starting from four months after his pregnancy. He is so easily scared. Nevertheless, Xia Yi still felt nervous. It was about time for him to give birth, so he calmed down to feel carefully about that pain. But this time around, the pain dissipated after just one or two minutes. When he was confused, an even stronger pain struck him. And at the same time, there was a feeling of falling off and swelling at his back right at the level of his belly. The baby was moving so hard and the whole belly was dancing along with his movements. F**k, I can¡¯t say that it¡¯s not anymore, this is labor pain! I am really! Giving! Birth! CH 68 That apprentice who was sitting beside Xia Yi turned his head again. Seeing him breathing heavily, he asked with concern, ¡°Xia. Are you still feeling unwell after eating the potatoes?¡± Xia Yi had just experienced a wave of labor pain, he smiled and said towards him, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just that the baby is coming.¡± That apprentice nodded and turned, saying, ¡°Oh.¡± Then he turned his head slowly with a shocked expression. After a while, a scream from that apprentice echoed in the winter gourd house. That scream was so loud that it covered up the thunder from outside, ¡°Xia is going into labor!¡± In this chaos, Xia Yi created a barrier in the winter gourd house, separating himself. Through the barrier, he could see everyone panicking outside. ¡°Who has given birth before? Who? Say so if you have done it before.¡± Someone was screaming. ¡°Liu. Look at all of us. Who would have given birth before?¡± ¡°Then who has delivered a baby before? Who? Say so if you have done it before.¡± Liu continued to shout. ¡°Who in our sect could have delivered a baby before? We don¡¯t even have a cow.¡± ¡°How about those female apprentices? They are female.¡± ¡°What are you thinking? We are lucky enough to be able to peek when they are practicing on Mount TengXu.¡± Xia Yi shouted towards the outside behind gritted teeth, ¡°Do not come in. All of you. I am fine by myself.¡± ¡°Host. Don¡¯t panic. Didn¡¯t we earn painless labor as the award last time? You can go ahead and give birth to the baby. I will use the award a while later, letting you give birth without pain and without scars.¡± 179 comforted Xia Yi who was lying on a long fur. ¡°But, why do I have to wait for a while?¡± Xia Yi inhaled and asked. 179 smirked cunningly, ¡°It¡¯s because Gu WenZhu is on his way. He is fighting with Cheng YuWan. We have to let him see how much difficulties you are going through to give birth to the child after they have finished fighting. In that way, he will treasure you even more. We will wait for him to come in, then we will use the reward.¡± ¡°What? Zhu has come?¡± Xia Yi did not have the mind to scout 179. The news of Gu WenZhu arriving already shocked him, making him forget about some of the labor pain. ¡°Correct. Host. All of his powers had come back to him. He is fighting outside.¡± 179 sounded excited, ¡°Haven¡¯t you noticed that the thunder has stopped?¡± Xia Yi hurriedly lifted himself up, creating a hole in his barrier, then he shouted towards the outside, ¡°Master. My Zhu is here. He is fighting outside. Please go and help him out.¡± Seeing that Tian Xuan hurried his way out, Xia Yi fell down heavily once again. ¡°Host. Worry not. Gu WenZhu is totally winning over that electricity generator. You can focus on giving birth.¡± 179 saw that Xia Yi was intending to look outside, so he quickly stopped him. ¡°Go on. Let¡¯s give birth to the child. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Follow me.¡± ¡°Use that reward on me now. Do you want me to die from the pain?¡± A wave of pain struck Xia Yi, a lot of sweat was rolling down his face. ¡°Right. Right. Right. I only want the best for you. Now you can¡¯t even endure such little pain.¡± 179 became slightly panicky when he saw him like that. Is this just a little pain? Try this yourself. Quickly after, Xia Yi felt that all the pain had flown away just like that. There was no more feelings of swelling and heaviness in his back and his waist; there was no longer any pain all over him. He instantly felt much better. Lying on the mat powerlessly, he breathed heavily, thinking about how painful it had been. ¡°Giving birth is too hard, too difficult.¡± ¡°Host. Although you no longer experience the pain, you still need to give birth to the child.¡± 179 reminded him, ¡°You can¡¯t be lying like that not moving a muscle.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s do it by the windowside. I will give birth while watching Zhu fight.¡± Outside, Gu WenZhu, with that silver spear in his hand, was fighting Cheng Yu Wan. Cheng Yu Wan used his iron staff to immediately build a barrier, barely withstanding Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s attack. But his chest had been hit by the after wave, making him fall back a distance. ¡°Ze Yuan. It has been a long time. Now I see that I do not have to find you myself. You come on your own. I guess it is also a good time for us to settle everything once and for all.¡± Cheng Yu Wan rubbed off the blood beside his mouth and put on a cunning smile. Gu WenZhu was floating in midair, wearing the long gown of Qi Shan Sect. His face was stern, his eyes cut like a knife. Not even the tornado could move him. He looked as fierce as the god of war. ¡°You told Wu Qian Yuan about Wang Lan¡¯s whereabouts and killed him. Today you are kidnapping him and want to harm him again. Cheng Yu Wan, let¡¯s settle everything as you wish.¡± Gu Wen Zhu fiercely stared at Cheng Yu Wan. Every word squeezed out from behind his teeth. In front of the winter gourd window, Xia Yi was lying on a cushion with spread legs, stunned to see this scene. Outside the barrier, Qing Xiu wanted to see the fight, but he was worried about Xia Yi as well, so he walked back and forth rubbing his hands. Once in a while, he would shout towards the barrier, ¡°Xia. How¡¯s it going? Do you need me to come in?¡± Xia Yi recovered from the shock and answered immediately, ¡°No. I am fine.¡± Then he looked towards the outside. The man in front of him was both familiar and unfamiliar to him, as time went by, his figure overlapped with another person, and the two of them mixed together. In a blur, countless scenes appeared in his mind in an instant. All the information, from the past until now, was swarming towards Xia Yi all at once. ¡°Ze Yuan.¡± Xia Yi was hit by the emotion. He grabbed onto the windowsill, murmuring with tears. ¡°Host. You still need to push. Don¡¯t forget that you are giving birth because it is painless.¡± 179 quickly reminded him. Outside, Gu WenZhu attacked wave after wave. His powerful attacks were making Cheng Yu Wan having difficulties to handle. His two other splitted figures were fighting a few apprentices as well. Gu WenZhu did not seem like it but he was anxious. Although he knew that Xia Yi was in that tall and hard winter gourd house, he did not know if he had been harmed before he arrived. His worries made his movements even quicker, spiritual energy came with each attack, raining endlessly towards Cheng Yu Wan. Tian Xuan glanced and saw that Gu Wen Zhu was too impatient, therefore after forcing one of the splitted selves of Cheng Yu Wan to retreat, he shouted towards Gu Wen Zhu, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Be patient. Yi is not hurt. He is giving birth to your child right now. He¡¯s doing fine.¡± Giving birth? Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s pupils contracted and he gritted his teeth hard. After Tian Xuan said those words, Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s movements did not slow down a bit but accelerated. Gu WenZhu¡¯s spear attacked with the tornado. Every move was a killing move. Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s spiritual energy was rushing out even more endlessly. Gu Wen Zhu pushed and pushed. All the scenes went by in his mind. He and Ciang Yi flew to the medicine garden at the foot of Qi Shan. They saw that jade coffin with a bundle of purple flowers from afar. His Wang Lan. That teen who was like a deer was in that jade coffin. Ze Yuan felt a pain pulling him apart. He looked absentminded even his spear nearly fell. He suppressed that taste of iron which was rushing up his throat and speeded up to fly forward. After rolling off onto the ground from his spear, he stumbled forward. Little Black pounced on him, pulling the corner of his clothes to pull him towards the jade coffin. The pair of flower fairies were supporting each other, looking up at him with teary eyes. Ze Yuan stopped a few steps from the jade coffin, staring at the inside of the coffin. Wang Lan was lying inside in silence. He could no longer find his black amber eyes. Only two empty holes were left instead. His once red lips were already sheet white; they would not talk like honey and called him sweetly anymore. Under those clean clothes, Ze Yuan knew, the fair skin was already scarred all over, making others not dare to look. Little Black was crying, lying on the coffin. It looked at the person inside, and it looked upward to him. Although he was the one who brought back Wang Lan, cleaned the blood and carefully placed him in the coffin, when he saw him lifelessly lying there, he still felt so much pain that he almost blacked out and could not breathe. It was like someone reached into his chest to squeeze his heart. Ciang Yi had already reached the coffin. Seeing the dreadful look of the teenager inside, he could not help but show a painful look on his face, blinking. Then he stretched out his right arm to put his hand on Wang Lan¡¯s head. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± In view of Ciang Yi¡¯s move, the flower fairies who were supposed to stop him only looked at him in confusion with reddened and swollen eyes for he came with Ze Yuan. ¡°He is my father.¡± Ze Yuan did not tell them about the fact that Ciang Yi might have a way. He was afraid of bringing hope to them and having that hope vanished. He would take responsibility for any bad outcome. Ciang Yi¡¯s hand which was covering Wang Lan¡¯s head had a soft light glowing in his palm. He frowned and thought hard. The flower fairies, seeing this, had a guess. And so they stopped crying and held their breath, staring unblinkingly. ¡°His spirit and his soul has been destroyed. Only a few strands of them are left. There is no rooting for them if we want to let it grow.¡± A long while after, Ciang Yi shook his head. Upon hearing that, the couple desperately cried out. Ze Yuan just stood there, feeling as if he had been pushed into hell, his heart feeling as cold as ice. Strength had been drained from his legs. He kneeled down on the ground. Emptiness filled his reddened eyes. He murmured, ¡°Fine. Then I shall follow his footsteps. He was such a cry baby, he must be crying in hell because he can¡¯t see a thing. He might also get bullied¡­¡± ¡°What are you planning?¡± Ciang Yi heard him, and he scouted him with a serious face, ¡°You think its wise to commit suicide for love?¡± Ze Yuan covered his face with both of his trembling hands. Tears came out from between his fingers. He suddenly howled, sounding as if blood would drip off from him, with intense despair and coldness. ¡°Ze Yuan. Come to your senses. Pull yourself together.¡± Ciang Yi scouted loudly with veins popping up on his forehead. Ze Yuan seemed not to have heard any of his words, he howled and howled like a wolf losing its partner. Then he lay on the ground heavily, all ten of his fingers scratched deep into the dirt. All of a sudden, he looked up, craziness and stubbornness lingered in his blood red eyes, ¡°Lan is scared of everything. He couldn¡¯t sleep without candlelights at night; he would cry and try to find me now that he could not see. How am I supposed to leave him there all by himself? I must find him quickly. I must protect him¡­¡± Ciang Yi looked downwards at Ze Yuan. His expression changed, struggling. When he saw Ze Yuan reach out to grab his spear, he sighed resignedly. As if he had made an important decision, he gritted his teeth, ¡°Ze Yuan. There is still a way. I can save Wang Lan.¡± Ze Yuan sat in front of the jade coffin, with the flower fairy couple looking at him nervously. Ciang Yi stood in front of them, looking at his son with complicated looks. Then asked again, ¡°Are you sure?¡± Ze Yuan looked as if he had been reborn and looked lively again. He looked at Ciang Yi firmly and nodded, ¡°I am sure.¡± ¡°Good. Then I will take half of your spirit and soul as the container and put Wang Lan¡¯s few strands of spirit and soul in it to grow.¡± Ciang Yi closed his eyes and opened them, then he continued, ¡°From now on, you will be just like Wang Lan. Your spirit and soul will grow back in over twenty years.¡± Ciang Yi¡¯s voice was a little shaky. Ze Yuan looked at him for a long moment, ¡°Father. I am sure.¡± Ciang Yi heard him calling him father, making his body shake slightly, and he looked moved. Then, Ze Yuan¡¯s memories became vague. In a blur, he felt like floating. A twisted swirl of light appeared in front of him. There was as if endless power in it, attracting him to float that way. After he had entered that light swirl, a black figure passed by briefly. It was like Little Black had come crying as well. Right before he lost his consciousness, he was speaking a name, Wang Lan. ¡ª Gu WenZhu used immense spiritual energy to attack. Cheng Yu Wan saw that things were going south, so he immediately took a few quick steps back to avoid the attack. He saw that Gu WenZhu was attacking like crazy. His eyes were red. His face seemed both sad and insane. All these were making Cheng Yu Wan feel a coldness creep up from beneath him into his heart. Looking around, one of his split-self had been stabbed by Tian Xuan, the other was surrounded by all the other apprentices and had been hit in a few places. That split-self of his was nearly losing. Gu WenZhu remembered everything. Now his heart was as if being roasted by a hot fire. Cheng YuWan had been kicked and rolled aside, he rolled a couple of times and wanted to use his snake head staff to escape. Gu WenZhu jumped up high, raising his silver spear, looking like the god of war, the sparkle of the spear blinding Cheng YuWan. In Cheng YuWan¡¯s heart, he was so afraid that his breath was almost coming to a halt. With that figure in the air approaching him and becoming bigger, Cheng YuWan¡¯s pupils contracted to an extreme. The spear almost reached his chest. So he rolled on the ground again and stood up to dash away. Not even waiting for him to run for a step or two, a white light passed by and Gu WenZhu was already in front of him like a ghost. He waved his spear to create a line of blood on his neck. Cheng YuWan opened his eyes to stare angrily and unbelievingly, he covered his neck, making breathing sounds. The blood was bursting out from between his fingers and dripping down, painting the floor with his blood. He unwillingly reached out to grab Gu WenZhu. However, he was kicked by Gu WenZhu and had no choice but to fall down. The clouds cleared. The wind stopped. Gu WenZhu sluggishly turned. Seeing that winter gourd house standing firmly under the sunlight, two streams of tears ran down his face. He talked in a low voice, ¡°Lan.¡± Xia Yi waited until that wave of information had been received in his mind. He forced himself to calm down and not to care about what was happening outside. He grabbed the windowsill to push hard. ¡°Host. Just like that. Great. I can see the head of the baby.¡± 179 screamed in surprise. Xia Yi breathed in deeply, and pushed again. But those scenes in his mind did not stop showing up. ¡°Lan. I have told my father about us. He wants me to bring you to the demonic world to see him.¡± Ze Yuan hugged Wang Lan from behind, smelling the scent of the strelitzia from his neck. ¡°I know. But I am still afraid.¡± Wang Lan pulled his lips in. Ze Yuan laughed. His hot breath hit behind Wang Lan¡¯s neck, ¡°Are you still afraid? Right. You are only fierce in front of me. Your attitude is stronger towards me. I will pick you up tomorrow afernoon. Okay? Let¡¯s meet at that rock in the Valley of the Rising Moon.¡± Wang Lan nodded, then he started to laugh with his lips pulling inwards. Xia Yi was pushing, and tears were coming out from his eyes. Ze Yuan never thought that he could not see him anymore. ¡°Host. You are good. The head is already out.¡± 179¡¯s voice was almost out of tune due to the screaming. Ze Yuan, Ze Yuan, Zhu¡­ With the clear crying sound of the baby, the barrier in the winter gourd house had been unveiled forcefully. Then a tall figure came in. Gu Wen Zhu stared at Xia Yi unblinkingly. He was breathing heavily and his expression was emotional. With the crying sound of the baby, Xia Yi looked at him with sweat on his face, and he smiled with tears, ¡°The baby was born. It¡¯s a boy just like you.¡± ¡ª ¡°So, do you remember too?¡± Inside Wang Zhu Yard, Xia Yi sat beside the bed to look at the quietly sleeping baby, asking with a lowered voice. Gu Wen Zhu leaned behind him, his fingers rubbing his hair which had fallen behind him, ¡°Yes. I remember.¡± ¡°Then tell me. When my spirit was lost and had been sent to the other dimension by the leader, why did you lose half of your spirit? Why were you sent away to rest?¡± Xia Yi leaned backwards and fell into Gu WenZhu¡¯s arms. Gu WenZhu faced down to kiss the top of his head but spoke no words. ¡°Zhu. Ze Yuan¡­¡± Xia began to speak to him affectionately, ¡°Quickly tell me. If there is a question in my heart, I can never forget about it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I was hurt at that time as well. My father had to send me to rest.¡± Gu Wen Zhu used his finger to lightly touch the face of the baby, answering with a smiling face. Regarding the truth, Yi did not have to know. Xia Yi did not ask anymore. He just leaned in Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s arms to look at the baby in silence. The baby was sleeping well. Two of his fists were raising on both sides as if he was surrendering. His face was red and was moving his fat lips. The little clothes and little blanket on him were made by the softest and most expensive silk brought by Cheng Ming who had been searching everywhere. It was from some special silkworm used by some special women living in some special mountains. But Xia Yi still felt slightly regretful. They had left all the clothes and shoes and diapers made by Gu Wen Zhu personally on the other side this time they transmigrated here. Compared with this expensive silk, Xia Yi would want the baby to wear what his father had made for him. The most annoying problem for Xia Yi was the baby¡¯s food. As Gu Wen Zhu had said before, gers only produced very little milk, but how could that be enough? Everything was in such a rush and they did not prepare well. Xia Yi had already made up his heart to lift up his clothes for the baby, sacrificing his breasts. However, the baby still was sucking with a reddened face, not satisfied and was not full. At the end, he swung his little hands and legs and started to cry with closed eyes. ¡°Host. Host. Please drink one more bowl of crucian carp soup.¡± 179 urged. ¡°I just had one ten minutes ago. Drinking this kind of soup everyday makes me have to run to the lavatory four times an hour.¡± Speaking of drinking soup, Xia Yi began to feel nauseous. Hearing the baby¡¯s cry, Xia Yi started to be annoyed. ¡°My container was only this big. I can¡¯t become a goat even if I drink this much soup.¡± How I missed the two goats at our house. A few apprentices had gone with their magical items to find goats. Gu Wen Zhu was stewing some soup with soy beans and pig¡¯s feet. Xia Yi patted the baby to comfort him, ¡°Good baby. Your uncles are going out to find you something to eat. Please do not cry.¡± The baby looked at Xia Yi with wide eyes. His pink little mouth was moving, wanting more. His eyes were like Xia Yi¡¯s, big and round but the color of his eyes was like Gu Wen Zhu¡¯s, as dark as the obsidian stones. Looking at those dark eyes glittering, Xia Yi felt painful. He picked up a bowl of soup on the table to drink it with his head up. Crucian carp soup. Oh Crucian carp soup. With my love towards my son, can you please turn bad quickly? ¡°Baa.¡± At this moment, a sound of the goat rang from the yard. Xia Yi was astonished. He held the baby to go out, ¡°Son. Your uncles have brought you your food.¡± Pushing the door open, two white goats in his yard entered his vision. However, he did not see the apprentices of the sect. He only saw Jie Shang taking the leash of a goat and holding three little goats in his arms. Two larger goats struggled to walk towards the chilli peppers to eat them. Three little goats were hustling in his arms. Jie Shang had to keep his stance and his image; it was hard to do so. Ciang Yi was standing beside him with a big pack. That pack was wrapped in a piece of blue colored cloth with white flowers on it. Xia Yi could tell that it was from his home. A leg of a pair of baby trousers was out from the pack. Xia Yi could tell that it was the one sewn by Gu Wen Zhu. ¡°Fathers. You are back?¡± Seeing them, Xia Yi was surprised. Gu Wen Zhu walked out from the kitchen when he heard noises. He swiftly went to take the pack and the goats, saving Ciang Yi and Jie Shang from them. ¡°Baby. Baby. Your grandfather¡¯s baby.¡± Jie Shang could not wait and dashed forward, he took the baby from Xia Yi carefully. He and Ciang Yi happily looked at the baby. ¡°Look at these little hands and feet. How tough. It¡¯s just like when Ze Yuan was small.¡± ¡°Look at how fair he is. He¡¯s like Lan.¡± The baby was in Jie Shang¡¯s arms and he did not cry. He only looked at them with round and curious eyes snd saliva bubbles came out from his mouth. Jie Sheng held the baby skillfully. He supported his soft neck with one hand, looking like a very experienced nanny. Ciang Yi felt bad and looked at Jie Shang gently. Jie Sheng felt that Ciang Yi was staring at him and he thought he wanted to play with the baby, so he offered him the baby, ¡°Do you want to hold him?¡± ¡°Can I?¡± Ciang Yi turned to look at the baby. He was looking enthusiastic and nervous at the same time. Jie Shang found that hilarious, ¡°Why can¡¯t you? You are his grandmother.¡± Right after his words, he saw the awkwardness on Ciang Yi¡¯s face. Ciang Yi¡¯s face was red instantly, making that cold face more lively. Jie Shang could not help but feel his heart pounding fast, he leaned closer to Ciang Yi and asked, ¡°Or, do you want to have another one?¡± Troubled, Ciang Yi glanced at him, ¡°It¡¯s not long after Yi¡¯s labor. Now you want one more from him?¡± Seeing Jie Shang smiling without saying a thing, Ciang Yi instantly knew what was going on with Jie Shang¡¯s peach eyes mocking him. His face became more red. He stared at him fiercely but did not say anything to object him. Jie Shang knew Ciang Yi well, so he did not push any further. He only placed the baby into his arms and kissed that little cheek, ¡°You can play with your little uncle and little aunt when you are growing up. You know that?¡± When Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu were out after tying the goats and putting the things in various places, they saw Ciang Yi¡¯s nervous face and holding the baby stiffly as if he was facing a strong enemy. Jie Shang stood in front of him, not far away. A ginko tree was behind him, his arms crossed and staring with smiling eyes. ¡°Yi. Come and take the baby.¡± Seeing the two, Ciang Yi called for help, ¡°Jie Shang won¡¯t.¡± Gu WenZhu resignedly looked at his dad who was enjoying the scene, and he picked up the soft baby from Ciang Yi. Ciang Yi swung his stiff arms, stared at Jie Shang both embarrassingly and angrily, and walked towards Xia Yi. Xia Yi saw that Ciang Yi was standing in front of him wanting to say something but did not, so he asked, confused, ¡°Leader?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I say it before? That your parents had their memories erased by my powers?¡± Ciang Yi responded. Xia Yi¡¯s heart pounced faster when he heard the topic. Ciang Yi continued, ¡°That was because we were worried that your spirit would vanish, but now that you are well, I can restore their memories.¡± ¡°Can, can you?¡± Xia Yi stuttered. Ciang Yi smiled without anyone noticing, lifting the end of his lips a little bit, his eyes seemed softer, ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Wen Zhu came with the baby in his arms, and he smiled encouragingly, ¡°Tomorrow I shall go and pick up my father and mother-in-law and let my father undo the spell.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Xia Yi felt something in his throat. He replied with a strong nod. At this moment, the front door was pushed open, Cheng Ming peeked inside. He saw that everyone was inside and quickly smiled, ¡°Tian Ji prepared food in the dining room. All the apprentices are waiting. Leader. Demonic leader. Let me lead the way.¡± There was a feast in the sect for celebrating Ciang Yi coming out from the enchanted zone and the baby being one month old. Therefore, everyone was excited with Cheng Ming. Gu Wen Zhu was at the end of the line, holding the baby. ¡°Mingie. Where are we going?¡± Xia Yi did not feel right. They were going to the back of the mountain. Cheng Ming replied loudly, ¡°We are going to the dining room beside the square.¡± Is this the way to the square? Cheng Ming was too wrong for Xia Yi to correct. In the end, Ciang Yi led the way and everyone was on the right path again. Xia Yi was walking and he felt his hand being held by a larger one, both warm and dry. Gu Wen Zhu, holding the baby, holding his hand, was smiling. A breeze of wind passed by, bringing a waft of bamboo scent with it. Xia Yi grabbed the hand back tightly, listening to the baby mumbling, everything was silent in his heart. CH 69 ¡°Kirin, Number Two is crying.¡± Xia Yi stood in the Wang Zhu Yard to pick chilli peppers and he heard Gu Xing in the basket begin to cry behind him. Kirin was using its paws to play with a butterfly and pretended that it had heard nothing. It held the specially made handle of the basket with its mouth, then it floated in midair, and started to circle the yard. Gu Xing immediately stopped crying. Happy bubbles popped out from his mouth. The baby was giggling in the slightly moving basket. He waved its fat little hands merrily. By now, Kirin was already a qualified babysitter. One to two years after it had babysat Number One, it quickly had to take over the job of taking care of Number Two, Gu Xing. Kirin had been really helpful. Gu Xing was now just eight months old. A red mark appeared on his forehead the first time he was being carried to the farming world. He was a ger. He was different from Gu Cheng. Except the shape of the eyes, Gu Cheng had everything on his face similar to Gu WenZhu. As for Gu Xing, except those eyes which were slightly tilting upwards, he had every face feature looking like those of Xia Yi¡¯s, including that little nose with a slight curve and that small heart-shaped face. A couple of years before, 179 had finished his mission and returned to the system world. However, he did come by to check out how everybody was doing from time to time. He would pop up out of nowhere inside Xia Yi¡¯s mind. ¡°Host. Ah, sorry. Ex-host. Do you know this? All of your missions have been changed. The original ones are not like those and the rewards are not the same as well.¡± 179 returned all of a sudden and spoke up, ¡°Of course. I know that.¡± ¡°They are changed from the first place. That¡¯s because you entered the wrong world so they had to change the missions to the cultivation world missions.¡± Xia Yi replied absentmindedly while eating a tomato. ¡°It¡¯s the cultivation world missions that have been changed. The rewards and the missions are both different.¡± 179 said in a gossipping manner. Oh right. Seems that everything, every mission, and every mission are connected. Let alone those rewards. They even had painless labor. With Xia Yi not responding, 179 suppressed his voice to say, ¡°Those were all done by the technical system.¡± ¡°Why would the technical system do that?¡± Xia Yi stopped chewing to ask. ¡°I asked him. I asked him a lot of times then he finally decided to tell me. He said that he turned into a wolf in the wild in the cultivation world for his job and got himself stuck in a tree cave. He did not want to ask for help from the system and got stuck for a few days. When he was dizzy, Wang Lan, who was passing by, rescued him.¡± That¡¯s why? Xia Yi began to think hard. Right. Something like that happened. One day, he just split with Ze Yuan and was going home. When he went past a thousand year old tree, he found an animal stuck in the cave with its butt out. The animal was clearly stuck there. So he pulled it out like he was pulling a carrot and found that it was a dog. He could confirm that it was a dog, and that was one of the breeds in his home world. It was ridiculous. So that was the technical system? ¡°How did he get there?¡± Xia Yi was shocked. ¡°He said that he did not realize that he was actually fat instead of just fluffy.¡± 179 sounded sarcastic and happy, ¡°But, the point is, he had been helping you out discreetly since then.¡± Xia Yi put down the tomato in his hand and said seriously, ¡°Please tell the technical system this. It was just a coincidence to rescue him there, but Wang Lan is grateful for his help all along. Where is the technical system now? If I have a chance, I would like to say thank you to him directly.¡± ¡°He is on vacation. We are not able to contact him again.¡± That bug had never been fixed since then. The technical system had entirely wiped away the data to let the bug stay between the two worlds. And, he even set the doorway from a random position to a fixed altitude, i.e. this Wang Zhu Yard and the yard of their house in the farming world. Now, Xia Yi could go to either world freely anytime. He saw that the time was late and prepared to call out to Gu Cheng, telling him to come back for lunch. After letting Kirin take care of Number Two, Xia Yi went to the backyard and into the slowly swirling transmigration tunnel at the corner. The exit was a small space separated out from his yard at home. After coming out, Xia Yi went to put away the washed diapers which were drying on the shelf, then he went to the entrance of the village. Gu Xing wet countless diapers everyday. The number of diapers had exceeded the capacity of the Wang Zhu Yard, so they hung the rest on this side. Passing by the farmlands, he saw a man in Qi Shan uniform crouching there with Mr. Wang. The two both had a smoking pipe in their hands. It was clearly Meng Wan Zhi. He came here everyday after cultivation to smoke with Mr. Wang. Seeing Xia Yi, Meng Wan Zhu took a sip of tea and said with a smiley face, ¡°The Kid is at the village entrance.¡± Even his accent changed¡­ Gu Cheng, who was six, was wrestling with the other kids in the village. He threw the other kids into the bushes at the village entrance, then he put his hands on his waist to look at them proudly, ¡°Now who has a problem?¡± The defeated kids admitted their defeat, ¡°Oh hail the king. Please forgive us.¡± The kid from Er Niu¡¯s house, Gu Tian was five this year and was as fair as Qi Zhou. She followed the others to say, ¡°The king is great. Please forgive us.¡± Gu Cheng could not help but laugh. He grabbed Gu Tian¡¯s hand and said patiently, ¡°Let¡¯s go. I am taking you home.¡± With a huge belly, Qi Zhou had a bowl of green plum in his hand, eating. He saw the two from afar and smiled, ¡°Cheng. I see you are taking her home. You are such a good kid.¡± Gu Cheng politely greeted him. Qi Zhou took Gu Tian¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Uncle Bei Cheng is going to cultivate at Qi Shan later today. Do you want to go with him?¡± Er Niu was now an apprentice of Liu Si Qian. He would go to Qi Shan to cultivate whenever he was not farming. He was now both Qi Zhou¡¯s husband and his fellow apprentice. Gu Cheng waved his hand, ¡°No. I am going to play with the other kids this afternoon.¡± After he had finished his words, he heard Xia Yi calling from the village entrance, ¡°Gu Cheng. Come home to eat.¡± ¡°Oh. I can¡¯t play now. My mother is here.¡± Gu Cheng looked down disappointedly, making Qi Zhou and Gu Tian giggle. ¡°Go now. You can play tomorrow. Return to Qi Shan first. Today your grandfather and grandmother are coming. Your dad went to pick them up thi morning. It¡¯s almost time for them to arrive.¡± When Gu Cheng weng closer, Xia Yi stretched out to take the grass sticking onto his hair away. Gu Cheng looked at Xia Yi with a troubled face, ¡°Are grandpa and grandma not living in that valley in the mountains? I went there this morning and picked a lot of flowers with Auntie. Grandpa did not say that he is going to eat at Qi Shan.¡± The grandpa and grandma he was talking about was Jie Shang and Ciang Yi. Auntie was Ciang Yi¡¯s daughter who was just three years old. Although Ciang Yi only allowed him to call them Big Grandpa and Second Grandpa, when Ciang Yi was not around, Gu Cheng was allowed to call them grandpa and grandma. Jie Shang had been saying that the valley at the foot of the mountain was the most memorable place for him, so he built a wooden house there and would bring his partner and daughter to live there for a while. Xia Yi heard Gu Cheng¡¯s question and his expression froze for a bit, then he equivocated, ¡°I am talking about your grandpa and grandma (both on the father¡¯s side) at the Wang Zhong House.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t they grandpa and grandma (both on the mother¡¯s side)?¡± Gu Cheng looked at his mother, ¡°Mom. Are you confused?¡± ¡°You are calling me mom again. Didn¡¯t I tell you to call me dad?¡± Whenever no one was around, Xia Yi would try to tell his son to call him father. ¡°Dad.¡± Gu Cheng obeyed and called, but he was thinking in his mind, ¡®If you are happy.¡¯ Not long after Xia Yi brought Gu Cheng back to the Wang Zhu Yard, Qi Shan¡¯s chief had prepared food and sent them here. Just when the food was on the table, he heard the voice of his parents from the front door. ¡°Cheng. Xing. My dear.¡± ¡°Grandpa, Grandma! (On mother¡¯s side)¡± Gu Cheng was playing with his little brother, making faces beside his basket. Gu Xing was giggling nonstop. When he heard Xia¡¯s parents, he immediately turned and called out loudly and happily. ¡°It¡¯s grandpa and grandma. (both on the father¡¯s side)¡± Xia¡¯s father quickly showed his stern face. ¡°Grandpa and grandma.¡± Gu Cheng laughed and said. Xia¡¯s father smiled back and patted his head, then he went to check out Gu Xing who was in the basket. Xia¡¯s mother took hold of Gu Cheng, lifting his arm to measure how tall he was and nodded, satisfied, ¡°Have you been drinking milk and doing the morning exercises that granny had taught you everyday?¡± Gu Cheng swiftly nodded, ¡°Yes. Grandma.¡± Ciang Yi had already restored Xia¡¯s parents memories, so they kept a lot of habits from the home world. For example, everyday after their meals, the two would hum and dance in the yard. They would go out from the Wang Zhong House to fish and cook, and they would let Gu Wen Zhu bring them along to travel on his magical item. Gu Xing had already been picked up by Xia¡¯s father and held in his arms. He was teaching him pronunciations of alphabets. a, o, e¡­ Gu Xing saw the funny exaggerated movements of Xia¡¯s father¡¯s mouth, he then laughed, showing his little white teeth. Then, Gu WenZhu discreetly went into the kitchen with a pack in his hand, avoiding Gu Cheng¡¯s eyes. ¡°What are you doing? Why are you so low profile?¡± Xia Yi was putting down the bowls and chopsticks. He asked curiously when he found he like this. Gu WenZhu put that pack into the cupboard, and said, smiling, ¡°Mother-in-law had prepared some cake. I am afraid they may find that out now. I will show them after the meal.¡± Xia¡¯s mother always wanted to eat food in their home world when she had nothing else to do in her house, so she tried some of this and that, and managed to produce something like cake and biscuits. Then she would send some to Gu Cheng. Gu Cheng loved to eat. No matter how much they sent, he would finish them all. But then he would be so full that he could not eat his meals, causing Gu Wen Zhu a lot of headaches. ¡°Right. Hide it, hide it.¡± Xia Yi immediately echoed with him. Gu WenZhu helped to set up the bowls and chopsticks. He went out to call the guests back in for the meal and found no one there. ¡°Mom must have gone to the farmlands to pick some fresh cucumbers for you to make her a mask.¡± Xia Yi resignedly shook his head, ¡°Let me go fetch them.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go together.¡± Gu Wen Zhu stepped up to hold his hand. When they were at the farmland, Xia¡¯s mother was really picking cucumbers. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu, she said in excitement, ¡°Wen Zhu. Make me a mask later.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Gu Wen Zhu quickly answered, then he picked some chilli peppers and eggplants, ¡°Mom, take some back. I know you love our veggies.¡± Xia¡¯s father was holding Gu Xing to look at the ants on the ground together, he said happily when he heard them, ¡°You mother loves your veggies. They were fresh and juicy. We can make salads.¡± They chatted and laughed on their way home. When they arrived at the front door, Xia Yi asked, ¡°Where is Gu Cheng?¡± Everyone looked at each other, and all of them said they had not seen him. Only Gu Xing giggled and said a word, ¡°Cake.¡± Xia Yi¡¯s face turned pale, ¡°Oh no.¡± Then they really saw Gu Cheng walking out from the kitchen burping, with some cake crumbs on his face, ¡°Grandpa grandma, dad, mom. I am going out to play. Eat without me.¡± ¡°Gu! Cheng!¡± Seeing Xia Yi gritting his teeth, Gu Cheng moved slowly towards the front door then ran away quickly. His voice rang from afar, ¡°I am going to find Uncle Tian Ji to cultivate.¡± Kirin discreetly followed behind him and dashed out. Yay, no babysitting today. After the meal, Xia¡¯s parents held Gu Xing to walk around at the back of the mountain to help digestion. Gu WenZhu washed the dishes and crouched beside Xia Yi who was lying on the bench. Xia Yi was enjoying the sun with closed eyes, he felt a shadow blocking above him and a hot breath on his neck. He laughed with his eyes closed, turned and pouted his lips, receiving a gentle kiss as expected. ¡°Go. Let me show you something.¡± Gu WenZhu¡¯s low voice rang. Xia Yi opened his eyes to ask lazily, ¡°What?¡± ¡°You will see.¡± Gu Wen Zhu wiped off the wetness from his lips. Xia Yi¡¯s eyes rolled around when he was thinking. He sat up and stretched, ¡°Let¡¯s go and have a look.¡± ¡ª At the foot of the mountain, the purple medicine field extended to the horizon. The color was as vivid as a painting. Xia Yi saw a house from afar. It was in the middle of that purple. They stepped down from the magical item. He pushed the door open to enter. In that delicate yard, there were flowers and plants on the walls around. One of the sides had some land planting some young chilli peppers. There were four rooms in a row, the sunlight shone into them thoroughly. Xia Yi picked a room which looked like a bedroom and went inside. The placement of the furniture was exactly like that of their home in the farming world. He could imagine that Gu Wen Zhu did all these. The paper of four persons, holding hands, was decorated on the window. Two of the persons were taller and two of them were tinier, looking like them. A vase with a flower in it was placed on the table, surrounded by a light aroma. The familiar handmade wooden bed already had blankets on it. On top of the blanket, there was a clothed Ultraman. Xia Yi looked around, amazed, and his eyes got caught by a writing hanging on the wall. That was a light yellow rice paper, with words on it. Looking closer, it wrote something like Bai Sha City The Third Teenage Drawing Competition First Awardee Xia Yi. Seeing Xia Yi turning back to look at him in surprise, Gu Wen Zhu explained embarrassingly, ¡°You told me about all the words on your wall at your old house.¡± ¡°Awards.¡± Xia Yi corrected him. ¡°Right. Awards.¡± Gu Wen Zhu nodded, ¡°Then I asked your mother. Then she taught me to write that down.¡± ¡°I see your eyes shining every time you talk about your past. So I think, I will return that glory to you.¡± Gu Wen Zhu gently looked at Xia Yi, his words filled with love. Xia Yi was flabbergasted. His waist had already been held by a pair of arms. A low and hoarse voice rang beside his ears, ¡°Do you like it? Lan.¡± He nodded. His eyes became a little teary. He opened his mouth and said, ¡°I like it.¡±