Ji Yanzhi placed the lunchbox on the table and casually straightened Shen Fu's posture.
"I just arrived. Who was Master talking to? Is there someone in this room that I can't see?" Ji Yanzhi said, his gaze sweeping lightly across the entire room, yet finding no second person besides Shen Fu.
Shen Fu looked at Ji Yanzhi's eyes and felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet, shooting straight to his head.
"I-I was just talking to myself, hahaha. No one usually talks to me, so I do this." Shen Fu explained nervously, but his palms hidden beneath his sleeves were already slick with cold sweat.
He clearly remembered casting a sound-proofing spell when Ji Yanzhi left. Why could Ji Yanzhi still hear him talking? And… when exactly had Ji Yanzhi come in? Why hadn't he made a single sound?
Fortunately, Xiao Jinjin had reacted quickly and, the moment Ji Yanzhi spoke, had burrowed into his sleeve to hide. That was the only reason Ji Yanzhi hadn't discovered him.
And now, Xiao Jinjin was clinging to his arm, too terrified to move a muscle.
"Is that so?" Ji Yanzhi's eyes darkened, his gaze returning to Shen Fu's face, a docile smile naturally settling onto his features. "Why didn't Master wait for me to return? Whatever Master wishes to say, this disciple is willing to listen."
Shen Fu's skin crawled under that gaze, his body instinctively wanting to pull away, but unfortunately, he was practically half-embraced in Ji Yanzhi's arms at the moment. Any movement larger than a twitch would be noticed by Ji Yanzhi.
With no other choice, he decided to play the part of a wooden dummy.
Shen Fu cleared his throat and forced composure into his voice. "Next time for sure, next time, haha."
The atmosphere was so awkward it threatened to solidify, and it was Ji Yanzhi who finally broke the suffocating silence. "Didn't Master say he was hungry? Eat first."
With that, he released his hold on Shen Fu, opened the lunchbox on the table, and revealed a simple spread of three dishes and a soup: stir-fried pork with green peppers, braised pork ribs, garlic greens, and a bowl of tomato and egg drop soup.
Very home-style, but every single dish happened to be one Shen Fu loved.
"You sure know how to pick." Shen Fu couldn't muster any better compliment, so he squeezed out that dry remark.
Ji Yanzhi set out the bowl and chopsticks for him, then picked up a slice of meat and placed it in Shen Fu's bowl. "It's been a long time since I cooked. I hope it suits Master's taste."
"You made this?" Shen Fu was somewhat surprised. He hadn't known Ji Yanzhi could cook.
"Mm. Back when I was at Dongxu Sect, before I started bigu fasting, I helped out in the kitchen." Ji Yanzhi naturally picked out the green peppers from Shen Fu's bowl, leaving only the meat slices.
"Ah, hahaha, so that's how it is. I didn't expect your Dongxu Sect to cultivate culinary skills. Not bad, not bad." Shen Fu chewed the meat in his mouth, his cheeks puffing in and out.
"It wasn't cultivation," Ji Yanzhi said. "It was punishment for mistakes. In winter, when the water had frozen over, they made me wash hundreds of pounds of vegetables with my bare hands. My fingers turned purple from the cold, went numb, and I still had to keep washing. No one cared about me back then. I washed until my hands were raw, and no one paid any attention."
As Shen Fu listened, he chewed faster.
But then Ji Yanzhi plopped down across from him, propped his chin on his hand, and smiled at Shen Fu with narrowed eyes. "But that won't happen anymore."
"Huh?" Shen Fu swallowed what was in his mouth and looked up blankly. "Why?"
Ji Yanzhi laughed softly, that striking, flamboyant face suddenly coming alive. He looked at Shen Fu, his gaze deep, like an extremely dangerous black hole—one more glance and you'd fall right in. "Because Master definitely wouldn't treat me that way."
Shen Fu's hand trembled, and his rice bowl nearly smashed onto the ground. The corner of his mouth twitched, and the expression on his handsome face nearly collapsed. He couldn't help but retort, "How do you know I wouldn't?"
"Then would Master?" Ji Yanzhi seemed determined to play this pointless game of question-and-answer with him. Instead of answering Shen Fu's question, he tossed it right back.
Shen Fu couldn't answer, so he simply changed the subject. "Didn't I tell you not to call me Master?"
Ji Yanzhi let out an "oh." "Yes, Master."
Fine. It was like talking to a wall.
After that, Shen Fu ignored him, eating his meal bite by bite until it was finished. Ji Yanzhi then rose on his own to clear away the dishes.
Only after Shen Fu was full and satisfied did he remember that Ji Yanzhi hadn't eaten. Seeing him about to take the tray away, he couldn't help asking, "Aren't you going to eat?"
Ji Yanzhi's hand paused, and he looked up at Shen Fu. "May I? Before, they only ever let me eat leftovers…"
"Of course you can." Shen Fu said it instinctively, then realized—if Ji Yanzhi ate now, wouldn't it still be leftovers?
But before Shen Fu could say another word, Ji Yanzhi had already sat down with an expression of profound gratitude, picked up a bowl of rice, and was about to dig in.
Shen Fu was about to tell him to have the kitchen make something fresh, but seeing how eagerly Ji Yanzhi was eating, he held his tongue.
He watched Ji Yanzhi, unable to reconcile the person before him with the ruthless, decisive figure from the original novel—the one who would stop at nothing to become a god.
In the original novel, Ji Yanzhi, in order to become the supreme being of this world, acted with ruthless cruelty. In his eyes, familial bonds, friendship—all human emotions and morality—could not outweigh his Half-step Great Dao. To the world, he was like a god of slaughter descended upon the earth, and he would cast aside anyone useless to him without hesitation.
In his previous life, Shen Fu had only seen Ji Yanzhi a few times, and his eyes always carried a cold aloofness that kept others at a distance, along with an arrogance that looked down on everything, as if nothing in this world was worthy of standing beside him.
But the person before him now…
Apart from sharing the same name, Ji Yanzhi, Shen Fu really couldn't find any similarity between them.
It wasn't impossible that, after his rebirth, Ji Yanzhi was deliberately putting on an act to conceal some purpose. But if he could mask even the indifference and murderous intent in his eyes so flawlessly, he really ought to go claim an Oscar statuette.
Just as Shen Fu was thinking this, Ji Yanzhi suddenly looked up and met his gaze. "What is Master looking at?"
There was clearly a smile in Ji Yanzhi's eyes, yet Shen Fu couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
He furrowed his brow and asked tentatively, "Why are you willing to be my furnace cauldron? Given your cultivation base, you should be able to tell that I have no spiritual root in my body. I'm of no benefit to your cultivation. In fact, if I wanted to, I could absorb all your cultivation for my own use, and in the end, you'd only die from having your true qi drained dry."
Ji Yanzhi's eyes were fixed steadily on Shen Fu. After a long pause, he finally answered, "Because I think you're a good person."
Ding. A good-person card, delivered.
Shen Fu had expected him to say something else, but hearing this, he nearly saw stars. "Sect Leader Xie forced you into this. I could kill you with a flick of my finger right now. Where exactly did you get the idea that I'm a good person?"
Ji Yanzhi set down his bowl and chopsticks and said seriously, "Back at Dongxu Sect, if my master was standing, I had no right to sit. When eating, I could only crouch by the corner of the table and pick at the leftovers after my senior brothers had finished. This is the first time I've eaten at a proper dining table."
Shen Fu opened his mouth, then asked, "So?"
"Master is the first person who treated me like a human being—gave me clothes to wear and food to eat. Although Sect Leader Xie did threaten me, I…" Ji Yanzhi paused, glancing somewhat shyly at Shen Fu's handsome face, and his ears turned completely red in an instant. "I also admire Master from the bottom of my heart, which is why I agreed to stay."
Shen Fu was at a loss for words and quickly interrupted, "Wait, wait—what do you mean by 'admire'?"
"It means… it means I like Master."
"…You fell for me after just one meeting?"
Ji Yanzhi nodded and gave an extremely simple reason: "Because I've never seen anyone more handsome than Master. Even the immortals in the scripture pavilion probably aren't as good-looking as Master."
Caught off guard by the compliment, Shen Fu wasn't particularly pleased. He directly ignored Ji Yanzhi's blushing face and said flatly, "I'm going to ask you a few questions next. You must answer as quickly as possible, without overthinking. Understood?"
"Ah? Oh, Master, please go ahead."
"How did Dongxu Sect treat you?"
"Badly. Very badly."
"And how did Cheng Ping treat you?"
"No different from how one treats livestock."
"Why were they hunting you?"
"Your disciple does not know."
"They pushed you to the brink, so you had no choice but to fight back with everything you had, and that's why you killed Cheng Ping?"
"I…"
Ji Yanzhi hesitated.
"You what?" Shen Fu pressed relentlessly. "Did you have anything to do with what happened at Dongxu Sect?"
What he really wanted to ask was—do you remember anything from your previous life?—but the words died in his throat.
Ji Yanzhi lowered his eyelids without answering. Instead, he placed his hand over the back of Shen Fu's. "Master, since the two of us have already formed our bond, you can simply probe my mana directly and see whether your disciple even has the ability to kill Cheng Ping in retaliation."
Shen Fu stared at that hand, his brow furrowing involuntarily.
The Cauldron Mark glowed, meaning that as long as Shen Fu willed it, he could immediately investigate everything about Ji Yanzhi through the mark.
He hesitated for a moment. Just as he steeled himself to probe, a sudden cramping pain shot through both his forearm and lower abdomen at the same time. The Blood Trace seemed to sense something and suddenly erupted in agitation.
Shen Fu no longer had any mind to care about Ji Yanzhi's mana. The pain was so intense he nearly blacked out. To keep Ji Yanzhi from noticing, he could only force himself to pull his hand back.
"There's nothing worth looking at. Just tell me, and I'll believe you." Shen Fu gasped for breath, his body trembling violently. Seeing that he was about to lose control, he could only make up some excuse to send Ji Yanzhi away.
Ji Yanzhi narrowed his eyes, his deep gaze filled with unreadable emotions. He silently withdrew his hand, still carrying Shen Fu's warmth, and a faint curve lifted the corner of his mouth. "Then your disciple will take his leave. If Master needs anything, just call for me—I'll be waiting outside."
Shen Fu was in no state to pay attention to what he said and could only manage a wave of his hand.
Ji Yanzhi walked to the door, glancing back every few steps. As one foot crossed the threshold, he still couldn't resist stealing a sidelong look at Shen Fu. Only after seeing him drenched in sweat did Ji Yanzhi finally step out.
The moment he left, Shen Fu could no longer hold himself up and collapsed onto the bed.
Xiao Jinjin, hidden in his sleeve, was nearly flattened into gold leaf. After struggling free with great effort, he found Shen Fu with brows tightly furrowed, breathing erratically, his Spiritual Qi weak throughout his body—looking as if he didn't have long to live.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Xiao Jinjin bumped against Shen Fu's chest while channeling his own energy into him, protecting his heart meridian.
Shen Fu was having a nightmare—and it involved Ji Yanzhi.
In the dream, he and Ji Yanzhi lay on a small bed covered only with a straw mat. Space was limited, so he was pressed very close to Ji Yanzhi.
It seemed to be snowing outside; snow had piled up on the windowsill beside the bed. In the drafty room, only a thick, damp quilt covered them.
Shen Fu curled into a ball, shivering from the cold.
"Mmm, Ji, Ji Yanzhi, c-could you hold me? I think I'm, I'm freezing to death."
He reached out and gently tugged at the hem of the other's clothes. In the darkness, the man's back seemed to stiffen for a moment, but he didn't answer.
Perhaps unable to bear the cold any longer, Shen Fu cast caution aside and shifted closer, pressing himself against the man. When his nearly frozen face touched the other's back, he clearly felt the man startle.
"Ah, so warm. Ji Yanzhi, you smell so good, so warm." Shen Fu heard himself let out a series of low, ragged breaths—the tone… the more he heard it, the more wrong it sounded.
After who knows how long, seeing that Ji Yanzhi remained unresponsive, the person in the dream actually grew bold enough to wrap his arms and legs around the man, pulling him into an embrace for warmth.
Ji Yanzhi, meanwhile, stayed completely silent, not even daring to move, quietly serving as a human heating pack, leaving Shen Fu only a cold, indifferent back.
Shen Fu was just wondering why he was having such a bizarre dream when he suddenly felt the person beside him shift.
His heart clenched abruptly, and for a moment, Shen Fu nearly forgot to breathe.
Because he felt… his chin being lifted by someone.
Then, a warm breath hit the corner of his lips—a trembling, scorching heat that lingered on his face for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.
"Shen Fu." He heard Ji Yanzhi call his name softly, as if checking whether he was asleep.
The version of himself in the dream must have been asleep, because even though he wanted to do something right now, he couldn't control his body.
Just as he was wondering why Ji Yanzhi had leaned in so close, Ji Yanzhi suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse beyond belief, as if he was using every ounce of strength to hold something back.
"If you keep holding me like this, I really won't be able to control myself."
"?!!!!!"
Then, that scorching breath pressed down, about to close in on his lips.