Ten days later, Yan Fulang’s ribs and all his external injuries had completely healed.
The bandages wrapped around various parts of Yan Fulang’s body were entirely removed. The scratch on his cheek from the tree branch had also recovered beautifully, leaving behind not a single trace.
Ji Yunzhao, who was occasionally possessed by a perfectionist streak, did not really want to see any scars on Yan Fulang’s body.
After all, this was his retirement insurance and his pension plan. In the cultivation world, cultivators enjoyed long lifespans, and the lives of spiritual pets and spiritual beasts were also very long. Since he and Yan Fulang would be spending many, many years together day and night in the future, he did not want to stare at an ugly scar all the time.
On Yan Fulang’s body, the recovery progress of just the wound on his face alone had been inspected inside and out by Ji Yunzhao many times.
“Senior,”
Yan Fulang wore only his inner robes, forced to stand in the dead center of the room with his arms spread out, looking precisely like a proper puppet.
“Thanks to Senior, the wound healed very well. There really are no scars left on my body.”
Ji Yunzhao glanced at him, unconvinced.
He only believed that seeing was believing.
“Stop talking,” he said, crouching down before Yan Fulang with a swift whoosh and reaching out to pull at his trousers. “The lower half has not been checked yet.”
Yan Fulang took a sharp, forebearing breath, his well-defined fingers tightly gripping his waistband.
“Senior, there is no need to check the lower half.”
Ji Yunzhao’s expression was incredibly solemn as he gave a heavy shake of his head, his hands applying more force. “That will not do. No scars were left on the upper half, so none can be left on the lower half either.”
“I did not injure my lower half.”
The moment these words were spoken, a thin layer of crimson rapidly rushed up the side of Yan Fulang’s neck. He was furious.
Hearing this, Ji Yunzhao pondered for a moment.
He had looked when they were changing clothes. The front side, the back side, and the little dragon-ao-tian status were all perfectly fine, so it seemed he really was not injured there.
“Alright, let us leave it at that for now.”
Ji Yunzhao magnanimously let the embarrassed and indignant male lead off the hook. “Hurry up and put your clothes on, be careful not to catch a cold. Oh, right, do not forget that you still need to go soak in the cold spring today. Do not look at it as freezing to death, it is actually highly beneficial to you. Remember to soak for a full two hours.”
Speaking of serious business, the crimson that had spread across the majority of Yan Fulang’s face from the side of his neck to the tip of his ears quickly faded away.
He regained his usual calm and indifferent demeanor. “Yes, I know. I will go in a moment.”
“In a moment? Why in a moment? Go right now,” Ji Yunzhao said with some confusion. “Your clothes have already been mostly stripped by me anyway, so the timing is perfect.”
The hand Yan Fulang used to drape the clothes over himself paused subtly. He calmed his mind and said evenly, “Senior, the demonic beast meat you brought back the day before yesterday has not been processed yet, though I see the meat quality is poor and can be taken to feed the cat. There is also a basket completely full of leaves and fruits brought back yesterday that I do not know are edible or not, and the fish caught by Tongtong this morning.”
“Tongtong” was the system’s name in the cultivation world. Ji Yunzhao had told Yan Fulang that it was simply a gluttonous rice bucket, so the two characters “Tongtong” suited it perfectly.
The system begged to differ, feeling thoroughly outraged, and jumped onto the dining table to flip over Ji Yunzhao’s bowl.
The things Ji Yunzhao brought back from his daily strolls in the mountains were simply too numerous. Every single time, he would just throw them directly into the kitchen, to the point where he could barely remember what exact items he had brought back, leaving Yan Fulang to organize and take inventory.
Ji Yunzhao felt his old face burn from being called out. He randomly made up an excuse about needing to scoop poop for the system, not daring to urge Yan Fulang any further, and slipped away in a great hurry.
The system said,
Host,canyoupleasebereasonable?Idonotpoop!AllthemealsIeatareentirelyconvertedintoelectricity!
Ji Yunzhao replied,
Oh,whatever,itisallthesamewhetheryoupoopornot.
The system asked,
Howisthatevenremotelythesame?!
Ji Yunzhao ignored it. As they conversed, he quickened his pace until he was further away from Yan Fulang’s room. Only then did he clasp his hands behind his back and heave a very deep sigh.
“Ah-Tong, what is the current progress status?”
“According to calculations, the male lead needs to soak in the cold spring for at least another half a month before he can begin cultivating that secret manual you compiled.”
“Another half a month… that is so long,” Ji Yunzhao lamented. “Ah-Tong, do you think this counts as working overtime? The Main God would not withhold my overtime pay, right?”
The system comforted him, “Host, a discrepancy of about a month is completely normal. Our progress is already much faster than that of the rogue cultivator in the original book.”
That night, after Ji Yunzhao finished compiling the new secret manual, he happily switched to his alternate account to go sleep with Yan Fulang, waiting to charge up a bit upon waking so he could directly guide him through cultivation.
However, he had forgotten that the plot line they were currently taking differed significantly from the original book. Especially regarding the secret manual, the gap was massive. What Yan Fulang was cultivating was no longer the original secret manual, as the contents inside had been completely rewritten by Ji Yunzhao.
Although logically speaking, the content had been optimized and was far superior to the original tattered little booklet, this led to a very severe issue. As excellent as the manual he compiled was, it placed higher requirements on the spiritual root of the cultivator.
Yan Fulang possessed a heavenly spiritual root, which was the absolute best quality spiritual root in this cultivation world with no equal. Yet due to various reasons, he currently appeared to have a pseudo-spiritual root with mixed attributes, which was detrimental to cultivation.
In the character plot line Ji Yunzhao received, there was no detailed explanation regarding the setting of Yan Fulang’s spiritual root, so he did not know much about it.
In short, if one wished to cultivate, one must first fix Yan Fulang’s spiritual root.
The book stated that there were two methods to make Yan Fulang’s spiritual root look completely brand new. First, aside from the golden finger old man and the secret manual, there was another good item at the bottom of this cliff—the cold spring that could repair spiritual roots. Second, one must obtain the Clear Heart Stone from within the Heaven-grade secret realm. Both were absolutely indispensable.
Therefore, during this period of time, Ji Yunzhao urged Yan Fulang every single day to make sure he found the time to soak in the spring water for a full two hours.
“Forget it, it is just half a month, it will pass very quickly,” Ji Yunzhao said. “Once Yan Fulang steps across the threshold of a cultivator and reaches the Fengchu Stage, I will start preparing to take him to grind through the secret realms.”
The names of the cultivation realms in this world were somewhat different from other cultivation worlds. The Fengchu Stage merely corresponded to the Qi Condensation Stage.
The system asked, “Host, will that be a bit too rushed? What difference is there between what you are doing and asking a kindergarten child to solve advanced mathematics problems?”
Ji Yunzhao replied, “The difference is massive. Can matters concerning cultivators be considered the same as those of mortals?”
The person and the system walked into the main house while talking.
There were still many volumes left on the desk, some for sword cultivators, some for elixir cultivators, and some for medical cultivators. There were also a few maps of secret realms of various sizes and levels throughout the cultivation world, all of which Ji Yunzhao had found ways to obtain during this period of time.
Books like the secret manuals were not necessarily products of this book world. Some had been collected by Ji Yunzhao from other cultivation worlds when he was bored during past missions, while others had been purchased using points from the system mall.
If he had to make a comparison, he actually felt that the products from the system mall were more reliable, and they even came with instructional video attachments.
If it were not for the fact that playing a video for Yan Fulang to let him cultivate according to the video might cause the book plot to collapse, he really would have preferred to just let him free-range.
A moment later.
Having nothing to do, Ji Yunzhao climbed up from the bed.
A salted fish, though loving to lie down, still had many tasks left unfinished. He had to keep himself maintaining the vitality of a live fish at all times, otherwise he would slowly dry up and never be able to stand straight again.
Before finishing the plot points of the grand master account, his ability to lie flat was limited.
For instance, when it came to tasks like cooking, it did not matter how he slumped or slacked off, but other matters would not do. He had to get up and walk a couple of steps.
Thanks to the alternate account of the little fat bird, he slept together with Yan Fulang every single night, and the charging effect was quite excellent.
On the first day Ji Yunzhao switched to his alternate account to burrow into Yan Fulang’s quilt, he was not discovered by him. The second day, the third day up until now, he had never been caught red-handed by Yan Fulang either.
The exact timing for the appearance of the little fat bird character was actually not very important. Originally, Ji Yunzhao had already been planning to intentionally make some noise in the middle of the night or before the sun rose to let Yan Fulang catch him red-handed on the spot, so that he could use the alternate account to hold sway over his meal ticket first.
Unfortunately, the plan suddenly met an early demise on a certain morning.
A bright red tail feather that had dropped from his backside at some unknown point suddenly appeared within the palm of Yan Fulang’s hand.
Yan Fulang’s well-defined fingers pinched the tail feather, holding it up before his face, and said to him with a solemn expression:
“Senior, a bird has come into the house, perhaps looking for a place to build a nest.”
“I have never seen it, only that recently when I wake up in the morning, I occasionally pick up a few feathers from the bed.”
“I do not know where it is hiding, or if it will be caught and eaten by Tongtong.”
Yan Fulang’s concern was not without reason.
Families that raised cats generally did not raise birds.
However, he and the system were neither a normal cat nor a normal bird!
Perhaps because the expression on his face was too strange and he delayed answering for too long, Yan Fulang mistakenly believed the system truly possessed the potential to harm the mysterious little bird. That very night, he shut the windows tightly, thinking that by putting an end to the little bird’s nesting behavior, it would not come back in the future and would not be encountered by the system.
This resulted in him squeezing through the window crack for a long time when he went to find Yan Fulang to sleep after midnight. Not only did he almost squeeze the downy feathers on his head bald, but when he got up early in the morning to switch accounts, no matter how sleepy he was, he had to completely clean up all the feathers that accidentally fell during sleep to clear the crime scene.
The meal ticket plan for Ji Yunzhao’s alternate account was forced to be put on hold temporarily. During the day, he went to hook up with many ordinary little birds, letting the system put on a show with them for Yan Fulang to see.
Once they performed for another period of time, he would then use the alternate account to meet with Yan Fulang.
Noises came from the kitchen area from time to time. Ji Yunzhao estimated that Yan Fulang would still need some time to process the ingredients, so he simply dragged the system along and began to stealthily change the lightbulbs for the house.
There were many convenient items in the cultivation world that were just as useful as electric lights, only not a single magical treasure resembling a lightbulb had been installed in this bamboo house. He did not quite like the yellowish hue of ordinary candlelight, intending to completely replace all the candles inside the lamps with solar-powered lightbulbs.
It took a short half-hour of tossing the lightbulbs around to finally get it done. The facilities and furniture in other areas of the home also needed to be slowly replaced and added to. Just right, by the time Yan Fulang’s spiritual root issue was mostly sorted out, he could buy some when he took Yan Fulang out shopping.
He and Yan Fulang would likely live here for a few years, so it had to be arranged comfortably.
Ji Yunzhao had nothing to do again after finishing the lightbulb replacement. He strolled over to the kitchen once more, seeing that the ingredients requiring processing had already been neatly placed on the countertop, with Yan Fulang alone nowhere to be seen.
He was probably off soaking in the cold spring. Ji Yunzhao thought this, also feeling a bit like heading out for a stroll.
Conveniently, he could bring some new ingredients back for Yan Fulang.
In any case, the storage bags of the cultivation world and his system space could both store food without fear of spoiling, making them even more useful than a refrigerator.
“Host.”
“Host!”
“Host! You really cannot walk any further forward!”
The mountain streams murmured, the birds sang, and several stones about two palms wide lay scattered across the small creek for people to walk on. Not far away was a small curtain of a waterfall, where crisp and sweet spring water plunged from a high place, splashing up clusters of water spray.
Ji Yunzhao, who was called to a halt by the system, turned his head upon hearing the sound. His ink-like long hair was blown up slightly by the gentle breeze, and his pale pink lips curled up very casually as he said carelessly, “Why can I not?”
With no one around, the system flapped its pitch-black little wings, flying to the center of the creek. After circling Ji Yunzhao a few times, it landed on the small stone next to him.
“We have already walked far enough. This round trip is no short distance. If the male lead finishes soaking in the cold spring before we get back and needs to find you, what will you do?”
“He has nothing better to do, why would he look for me? He is not a kindergarten child,” Ji Yunzhao snorted, not taking the system’s reminder to heart.
The system reminded him, “Every time you go out, you bring back a lot of messy items. According to my observations, the male lead does not quite like you recklessly catching chickens, ducks, fish, and wild geese.”
Ji Yunzhao was spoken to with a lack of confidence, his voice gradually growing softer. “What are you talking about? Are those not all quite delicious? How are they messy items?”
The system sighed, “But the wild boar meat from a week ago has not been finished yet.”
“That is because wild boar meat does not taste good!” Ji Yunzhao spoke at a flying speed. After completing his sophistry, before the system could react, he added, “I just saw a free-range chicken on the opposite bank that looks incredibly plump. Let us catch it and take it back to have our pension plan make roast chicken for us.”
“What? A free-range chicken! Host, why did you not say so earlier?”
The system was successfully diverted in its attention.
Thinking of Yan Fulang’s culinary skills, it sucked in its saliva. “Let me catch it! Leave it to me!”
With the system doing the labor, Ji Yunzhao was happy to enjoy his leisure.
He slowly and unhurriedly followed behind the system, stepping on the stones to cross the creek. He sought out a large tree to slump under its shade, his mouth still dangling a piece of foxtail grass plucked from who knows where, his white robes covered in shards of grass leaves as if he had rolled on the ground a few times.
Beside the large tree, fallen leaves and small pebbles were flung everywhere by the system and the chicken, crackling down like rain.
White clouds floated leisurely in the sky while chicken squawks resounded continuously on the ground. Ji Yunzhao leaned against the tree trunk. After waiting for a while and seeing that the battle had not yet ceased, he threw away the foxtail grass in his mouth and raised his voice to say, “Ah-Tong, you cannot let a mere free-range chicken predict your predictions! To the left! Oh, no, go squat on the right!”
A few minutes later.
Ji Yunzhao looked at the free-range chicken pressed to the ground by the system, proficiently rolling up his sleeves to knock it unconscious before picking it up.
“Let us go, back home to roast chicken!”
Upon their return, the inside and outside of the bamboo house were very quiet. Ji Yunzhao did not see Yan Fulang, knowing that he was still soaking in the cold spring and that they had returned early.
The knocked-out free-range chicken was dragged to the kitchen by the system and thrown into a cage.
Ji Yunzhao, attempting to cover up the evidence, grabbed a gunny sack to cover the chicken cage, then used spiritual energy to keep the free-range chicken in a comatose state.
“I will mention this free-range chicken to Yan Fulang tonight, saying it lost its way and crashed into our yard on its own, so it cannot be blamed on me. Ah-Tong, remember to give a ‘meow’ at that time to back me up.”
The system gave a serious nod of its head.
“There is one more thing,” Ji Yunzhao said. “Ah-Tong, quick, check my appearance.”
The system leapt up from the ground, its cat body widening and lengthening in mid-air. Very quickly, a full-length mirror emerged from its abdomen.
Ji Yunzhao washed his hands clean and approached the system-branded mirror, pulling off the hair ribbon on his head. He let his hair fall loose and jumped up and down in front of the mirror for a bit, shaking clean the weeds and chicken feathers on his body before giving his face a wipe.
When he lowered his hands again, he had already changed to a completely different demeanor. His moist almond eyes were full of clear, cold, and detached colors, looking so dignified that even if he went directly to cosplay an immortal lord of a great sect, there would not be any sense of violation.
When he was doing missions at the Transmigration Bureau, he had used countless identities and changed many faces, yet not a single face could compare to his own original one. Every time he returned from a stroll outside, regardless of whether there were weeds needing to be cleaned on his body, he would stare into the mirror for a good while.
“Very good, perfect, no flaws. Never mind the male lead, even if the male lead’s father came, he would not be able to tell that you, Host, just sneaked out and carried a half-dead free-range chicken all the way back!”
“Yan Fulang’s father is already dead, the grass on his grave is already five meters high.”
Ji Yunzhao turned around in front of the mirror once more, even pulling out the Mingque sword to strike a pose.
“But it does not matter, I can reluctantly act as his father.”
In a valley near the bamboo house.
Flying birds, falling flowers, clear spring.
The youth faced away from the bank, sitting within the deep and clear spring water.
When Ji Yunzhao came over to pick up Yan Fulang, he had just soaked for the sufficient amount of time.
The youth stood up from the water, large sheets of bright water droplets rolling down his shoulders and back, tracing down the beautiful muscle lines, sliding past his narrow waist, and disappearing between his tight and well-defined abdominal muscles.
Ji Yunzhao’s gaze inevitably fell upon this youthful physique that possessed immense power.
Yan Fulang did not wear clothes on his upper body, though he did on his lower body, yet once soaked by the spring water, wearing them was practically no different from not wearing them.
This was not the first day he had Yan Fulang soak in the spring water, but it was indeed the first time he had run into Yan Fulang coming out of the water.
Ji Yunzhao kept a straight face, but in his heart he nodded secretly: As expected of the male lead, his physique is truly excellent, unlike him, whose abdominal muscles had been trained for many years only to remain a thin layer.
Not until a pair of eyes that were darker and deeper than those of ordinary people looked over did Ji Yunzhao realize his gaze had lingered for slightly too long.
The youth in white stood holding his sword, the blade reflecting the glistening water surface with a sway, provoking a snow-bright sword light.
Those who did not know better might think he had come seeking vengeance under the cover of this secluded spot.
Yan Fulang’s movement toward the bank paused slightly.
“Senior?”
Beauty leads people astray.
Ji Yunzhao felt his cheeks warm slightly at the sound of “Senior.”
As if startled awake, he immediately let out a whistle and raised his hands to clap. “Nice physique, keep it up.”
Yan Fulang: “…”
Through their interactions over this period of time, they had already seen through each other’s fondness for acting, and they interacted with increasing sincerity. The innocence Yan Fulang had previously deliberately fabricated had long since faded, and now within those clear peach blossom eyes lay another kind of noble presence that did not match his age.
Only at this very moment, that bit of nobility, because of Ji Yunzhao, was almost not maintained.
Ji Yunzhao cleared his throat, feeling a bit awkward. He turned his head away, his almond eyes slightly cast down, telling Yan Fulang to put on his clothes before beginning to inquire about the situation regarding the soaking in the cold spring.
The repair status of Yan Fulang’s spiritual root was a matter of utmost priority, and Ji Yunzhao worried over it endlessly. A perfectly fine salted fish was almost forced to straighten out into a live fish, which simply moved the cultivation world to tears.
Yan Fulang answered Ji Yunzhao’s questions while following behind him toward the bamboo house.
His soaking wet long hair hung behind his back, creating a slightly deep damp patch on his back in just a brief moment.
In early spring, the temperature had not completely warmed up, so having wet hair was not comfortable.
Ji Yunzhao did not notice, and Yan Fulang did not speak either, allowing the ends of his hair to drip water.
All the way until they walked into the courtyard gate, his stride grew a bit larger, and those endless water droplets, due to inertia, flicked onto the back of Ji Yunzhao’s hand.
Ji Yunzhao was startled by the coldness and asked in puzzlement, “Why did you not wipe your hair dry?”
Yan Fulang did not answer. Ji Yunzhao was accustomed to his occasional silence and took a piece of cotton cloth cloth out from his storage bag.
He originally intended to hand it over to Yan Fulang to let him wipe his hair himself, but with his hand extended halfway, Ji Yunzhao thought about how he would still need to order him to roast the chicken in a bit, so he simply walked in front of him and raised his hand.
“Have you grown taller again?”
“Mm?”
“Forget it, lower your head.”
Ji Yunzhao curled his finger in annoyance, tapping it against his chest muscle.
For a youth of Yan Fulang’s age, his height shot up too quickly, looking different literally every day.
Originally Ji Yunzhao was already a bit shorter than him, needing to stand on his tiptoes to hold his head, and now, standing on tiptoes was not enough, he had to stand even higher.
The wet hair was very cold, forming a sharp contrast with Ji Yunzhao’s warm and slender hands.
The fair fingertips pinched the cloth, slowly delving into the hair.
Yan Fulang’s brow furrowed, as if scalded, and at an angle where Ji Yunzhao could not see, he took an imperceptible step backward.
Ji Yunzhao had finally found his conscience to help his cheap disciple wipe his hair, yet before he had even wiped half of it dry, the long hair in his hand suddenly began to slide backward, and he subconsciously followed it.
One retreated and one advanced. By the time the system heard the noise and came over to find them, it discovered that its own host had almost squeezed the male lead against the wall.
The system: “?”
What were they doing? It could not understand this plot.
His spine was forced to rest against the bamboo house wall. With Ji Yunzhao’s approach, the youth’s body stiffened inch by inch, and the calm and wariness he had always maintained seemed to have a small opening broken into them by the warm hands.
It was only a very thin, very small opening.
This opening might have already been there long ago.
The youth’s discomfort did not escape Ji Yunzhao’s eyes.
Ji Yunzhao felt it was amusing while wiping, increasing his speed. After wiping Yan Fulang’s hair until it was half-dry, he decided to go all the way and began using spiritual energy to dry his hair.
As he dried it, Ji Yunzhao, as if teasing a small dog, used his fingertip to tap the youth’s slightly red earlobe.
In the next instant, the prank-like movement was intercepted by Yan Fulang.
Perhaps due to a subconscious reaction, Yan Fulang did not restrain his strength, and the hands of the two collided together. His own was fine, but it actually knocked Ji Yunzhao’s wrist a bit red.
Ji Yunzhao creased his brow.
This brat, how could his strength be this immense?!
He had kindly helped dry his hair, yet the cheap disciple not only showed no gratitude, but even turned around to assault his master. Ji Yunzhao was initially a bit angry, but on second thought.
Having immense strength had its advantages! If it were back when he had just fallen off the cliff, Yan Fulang definitely would not have been able to squeeze him to the point of pain!
What did this indicate? It indicated that by just raising him casually, he could raise the male lead well.
He was truly amazing.
“Senior, I…”
Yan Fulang’s thin lips were held very tight, as if he had suddenly realized he had done something wrong, opening his mouth in a low voice to apologize. Yet the moment he raised his eyes, the Ji Yunzhao before him did not seem to care what he was about to say, and the cotton cloth was once again draped over his head.
“?” Yan Fulang said, “You…”
Ji Yunzhao interrupted, “Alright, there is no need to say anything further. Tonight I want to eat another plate of osmanthus cake.”
Believing himself to be amazing and Yan Fulang daring to commit an offense against a superior were two different matters. Truly, he possessed an endless amount of stubborn strength every single day, and looking at his tall and large build was annoying, so he might as well go make some small snacks for him.