Gu Shi’s days settled into a steady routine: he spent his mornings meditating and cultivating at the cave entrance, and his afternoons heading out to the secret realm to spar with spirit beasts as a form of trial.
Three days later, upon returning from outside, Gu Shi saw Feng Yingbai lounging idly by the edge of the pond, parting the lotus leaves to peer into the water. Realizing that the little goldfish must have delivered more visitors and that Feng Yingbai seemed to quite enjoy them, Gu Shi asked, “Senior, are there any other small animals you like? I can ask my father to send some more.”
Hearing his voice, Feng Yingbai turned his head to glance at him sideways and said lazily, “No need.”
A big boss was a big boss; when there was no expression on his face, it always made one’s heart flutter with nervousness. Not daring to dwell on the topic, Gu Shi simply said, “Senior, I want to eat.”
All the food was in Feng Yingbai’s hands, and what Gu Shi ate each day depended entirely on Feng Yingbai’s mood. That evening, he received a small plate of braised pork belly, which made him very happy as he ate two large bowls of rice.
Just as Gu Shi finished dinner and prepared to go meditate and cultivate, Feng Yingbai called out to him. “Help me change clothes.”
The outfit Feng Yingbai was currently wearing was still the one Gu Shi had first given him. He liked it very much, but after wearing it for several days, he had probably grown tired of it. Gu Shi acknowledged the request and obediently followed instructions, dressing Feng Yingbai in a lake-blue Dharma robe.
Once dressed, Feng Yingbai went to pick out a book from the cabinet. Seeing that there was nothing else for him to do, Gu Shi headed to the cave entrance to cultivate.
Cultivating until the middle of the night, Gu Shi opened his eyes to see Feng Yingbai lying prone on the bed, holding a book and reading it with utmost concentration. He thought to himself that since Feng Yingbai had not called for him, they probably would not need to sleep together tonight, so he casually found a spot to lie down by the cave entrance and prepared to sleep.
Just as he lay down and drifted off, Gu Shi was woken up by Feng Yingbai. “Gu Shi.”
The big boss held absolute authority with Gu Shi, so upon hearing the voice, he woke up instantly. “Senior, what are your orders?”
Feng Yingbai summoned him. “Come here.”
Gu Shi got up and walked over to the bedside, only to see that what Feng Yingbai was holding in his hand was a comic book. Pointing at the words on the page, Feng Yingbai said, “Read this to me.”
Gu Shi was somewhat surprised. Feng Yingbai actually did not know how to read characters? Surprised as he was, he did not show it at all on the surface. Sitting down by the edge of the bed, Feng Yingbai told him, “Sit on the bed.”
After spending days together, physical contact had become more frequent, and Gu Shi was no longer as reserved as he initially was. Obediently, he sat onto the bed, and Feng Yingbai naturally slumped across his chest. Gu Shi’s face flushed slightly, and trying his best to ignore the unusual sensation coming from his chest, he picked up the book and began to read aloud.
The comic book told the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and the entire text was written in classical Chinese. As a modern person, Gu Shi found it a bit strenuous to read, but it was more than enough for Feng Yingbai to listen to.
Feng Yingbai listened with intense focus. Once the story finished, he raised his head and said to Gu Shi, “Teach me how to read characters.”
Gu Shi thought about it; this story was not very suitable for learning characters. “I will go look for a primer.”
Feng Yingbai agreed, and Gu Shi found a copy of the Thousand Character Classic in the chest, remembering he had read online that ancient people used it for basic literacy.
Gu Shi handed the book to Feng Yingbai for him to look at. “Senior, let us start learning from this one.”
Feng Yingbai stared at the book in his hands for a moment, seemingly recalling something. “I have seen this. It is what children read.”
Gu Shi quickly said, “I will find another one.”
Feng Yingbai stopped him. “No need. This one will do.”
Gu Shi climbed onto the bed, leaning against the headboard while Feng Yingbai nestled against his shoulder. The two of them looked at the book together, and Gu Shi pointed at the words on the page with his finger, reading them slowly word by word as if teaching a young child. “Heaven and earth are dark and yellow; the universe is primordial and vast. The sun and moon wax and wane; the stars are arrayed in their positions.”
Gu Shi had never read the Thousand Character Classic before, so he read very slowly, and Feng Yingbai listened with rapt attention. After the span of an incense stick, Gu Shi finished reading it once. “Senior, I will read it another time.”
Feng Yingbai said, “No need. I know it.”
Treating it as something Feng Yingbai had simply learned from someone else’s memories, Gu Shi did not give it much thought and only asked, “Do you want me to read anything else?”
Feng Yingbai let out an “Mn.”
Gu Shi went back to the chest to find the Three-Character Classic and the Hundred Family Surnames, reading them one by one to Feng Yingbai. Just like before, after reading each book only once, Feng Yingbai declared he knew it.
Gu Shi offered a compliment, “Senior is truly amazing, knowing it after just a single listen.”
Feng Yingbai casually countered, “Can you not do that?”
Gu Shi thought to himself just how much of a genius he would need to be to master something just by hearing it once.
“This junior is dull-witted; it took me several years of studying when I was young to learn how to read.”
Feng Yingbai looked somewhat surprised. “Several years? Then why is there almost no trace of this process in those people’s memories?”
Only then did Gu Shi suddenly realize that it was not just empty flattery; Feng Yingbai really had mastered it upon a single hearing. He pondered for a moment. “Perhaps learning to read happened when they were extremely young, and they forgot about it as they grew up.”
Feng Yingbai did not speak further. He did not care much about such matters and simply asked Gu Shi to read other books to him. Gu Shi picked out a few more, reading continuously until daybreak, when he grew so sleepy he could not stop yawning, before Feng Yingbai finally stopped asking.
In just a single night, Feng Yingbai had learned how to read characters. Now, aside from changing clothes, he spent all his time reading books, lying prone by the pond to read, lying on the bed to read, and sitting on the floor to read. Feeling that the bare ground was too plain, Feng Yingbai paved the floor with the fifty thousand top-grade spiritual stones Gu Shi had given him as an apology on the very first day, making the entire cave dwelling sparkling and bright.
The books Feng Yingbai read were mostly storybooks, while the historical tales, biographies, philosophy, politics, and instructional science texts sent by Gu Yan this time were relatively few. Therefore, Gu Shi sent a message to Gu Yan asking him to find more storybooks, with as many genres and quantities as possible.
Gu Yan acted quickly, and within a few days, he sent several more boxes of storybooks. From then on, Feng Yingbai immersed himself in reading storybooks every single day, rarely even speaking to Gu Shi. The few words he did utter each day were almost entirely questions about how to pronounce a certain character or what it meant.
Gu Shi felt completely liberated, spending his days alternating between sleeping and cultivating. However, Feng Yingbai was very clingy; whenever he was in the cave dwelling, Feng Yingbai always insisted on staying close to him. When Gu Shi sat in meditation to cultivate, Feng Yingbai would lean his back against him while reading, though whenever Gu Shi went out, Feng Yingbai never questioned it.
In the blink of an eye, three months passed. Gu Shi’s cultivation had also stabilized at the late Foundation Establishment stage, just a step away from the Golden Core realm. Over the past few days, Gu Shi had been thinking constantly about their agreement. He was not sure if Feng Yingbai would still want to engage in dual cultivation with him, since dual cultivation was merely fun for Feng Yingbai rather than a necessity. He knew he should not be thinking about it, but he could not help himself, and could not even clearly tell whether he was looking forward to it.
On the day the three-month period arrived, Gu Shi deliberately spent the entire day meditating in the cave, but Feng Yingbai showed no intention of calling for him, burying himself entirely in storybooks instead. Deciding to wait no longer, he resumed his routine of heading out for practical combat the next day. Because he had missed half a day of combat on the previous day, he grabbed his sword and left the cave dwelling as soon as dawn broke the following morning.
Having spent three months fighting and killing in the Western Continent Secret Realm, Gu Shi had grown quite familiar with it. He knew that deep in the mountains lived a Heaven-Swallowing Python whose cultivation was higher than his own, and previously, Gu Shi had always avoided it. Today, however, he intended to test his sword against it.
Flying on his sword into the Heaven-Swallowing Python’s territory, Gu Shi hovered in mid-air, coldly gazing down at the terrain below before gathering all his strength to dive-bomb his sword straight into the peak of the mountain. In an instant, the earth shook and the mountains quaked, sending rocks and dust flying everywhere.
Before long, the Heaven-Swallowing Python appeared, its jaws gripping a struggling black butterfly from which black liquid was dripping. High in the air, Gu Shi patiently waited for the python to finish eating the butterfly. The python raised its mountain-like head, staring straight at him with its massive pupils radiating a dangerous red glow. Suddenly, it whipped its body upward. Believing it was about to attack, Gu Shi gripped his sword with stern vigilance, but the python simply exerted force to hurl the dying black butterfly right toward him.
Gu Shi slashed with his sword, cutting the butterfly in half as black blood splattered all over him. Infuriated, Gu Shi charged at the python with his sword raised. Mid-flight, however, his body was suddenly seized by a familiar force. A flash of white light blinded his vision, and in the next moment, he found himself back in the familiar cave dwelling.
The temperature inside the cave was soaring. Feng Yingbai was lying on the bed; the Dharma robe was gone, and like their very first encounter, he wore only a thin layer of sheer gauze. Cracks had split open across his entire body just like the previous times, and terrifying waves of heat radiated outward from within. Gu Shi sensed that the temperature this time seemed even higher than before, but before he could dwell on it, he was pulled onto the bed, only to be violently hurled away the very next moment, landing precisely in the lotus pond.
Hurriedly casting a cleansing spell, Gu Shi washed away the black blood covering his body. In the next instant, Feng Yingbai was right in front of him, wrapping his arms tightly around him and urging him impatiently, “Hurry up.”
Gu Shi hesitated somewhat; this matter seemed far more complicated than he had imagined. Remaining still, he called out, “Senior,” trying to pull Feng Yingbai back to his senses.
Ignoring him entirely, Feng Yingbai urged him once more, “Hurry up.”
In the span of that brief moment, even more cracks burst open across Feng Yingbai’s body. Gu Shi could clearly see the substance flowing inside them; it looked very much like magma, but how could anyone possibly have magma inside their body?
Gu Shi could not figure it out, and Feng Yingbai did not give him any time to ponder. Scorching lips pressed down upon him as Feng Yingbai touched Gu Shi’s face. His eyes turned blood-red, his voice grew hoarse, and his body trembled. “Gu Shi, I am in so much pain.”
Subconsciously, Gu Shi wrapped his arms around Feng Yingbai’s waist. He wanted to ask what burning one’s source meant, but the words would not come out. Feng Yingbai was far too urgent, like a traveler about to die of thirst in the desert, recklessly pulling him close to demand water; he only wanted water, no matter the massive cost.
Gu Shi could not resist; the right of choice had never belonged to him.
In the lotus pond, the little goldfish crowded together in sheer panic at the farthest corner, shifting back and forth in a dense cluster, terrified of being baked alive by the surging waves of heat.
Feng Yingbai’s complexion grew paler by the inch, while Gu Shi’s cultivation skyrocketed as if propelled by a rocket. This made Gu Shi extremely uneasy; he halted his movements and called out, “Senior, how are you holding up?”
With both hands, Feng Yingbai dug his nails fiercely into Gu Shi’s back. His usual languid expression turned ferocious, blood trickling from his facial orifices and his eyes completely bloodshot, resembling an evil ghost crawling straight out of hell. Agony made his voice turn harsh and cruel. “I told you not to stop.”
Not daring to speak further, Gu Shi simply lightened his movements slightly, only to be barked at with a stern command, “Harder. Put strength into it.”
Gu Shi had no choice but to obey. The cultivation within his body had already soared all the way to the mid-Golden Core stage, with faint signs of pushing toward the late stage. This made Gu Shi’s heart grow increasingly unsettled; could his fire spiritual root be some evil art that sucked away other people’s cultivation?
Suddenly, Feng Yingbai spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood. Trembling violently all over, he passed out cold, while blood continued to pour unstoppably from the corners of his mouth, dyeing the entire lotus pond red almost in the blink of an eye. Terrified until his legs turned weak, Gu Shi hurriedly pulled himself away, picked up Feng Yingbai, and flew onto the bed.
The cracks covering Feng Yingbai’s body had vanished, but his complexion was as pale as paper, and his breathing was so faint it was barely perceptible, a dying state of utter exhaustion. Gu Shi attempted to channel spiritual power into him, only to discover that his spiritual power could not be infused at all; Feng Yingbai’s body was instinctively rejecting it.
Sitting dejectedly by the bedside, Gu Shi stared at the lifeless figure on the bed with his mind in utter chaos. He wanted to do something, yet had no idea what to do.
Gently grasping Feng Yingbai’s slightly chilled hand, his voice lowered, trembling, “Senior, tell me what on earth I should do?”
Yet the only response that greeted him was the sound of the little goldfish struggling desperately for life in the pond below.