On which of two blocks of wood will be the first to break the ice

"Zhang Qiling, I don't want any more ginseng soup. Spare me."

Yu Zhi had been fed ginseng soup for a week. For the past few days, he had been lying in bed digesting the memories, with no attention to spare for the outside world.

His body had simply reacted on its own, eating whatever he was given. When he woke up today, he found the taste of ginseng filling his mouth, bitter with a hint of sweetness. It had all been century-old ginseng, and the nourishment had nearly given him a nosebleed.

Being around Zhang Qiling was already tempting enough. What would he do if he accidentally lost control and got a nosebleed in front of him?!

Yu Zhi had made remarkable progress over the past few days and had finally sorted through all of Daoist Green Jade's memories. He had never heard of a single sect, faction, or place from the old ghost's memories in the cultivation world where he had been carrying out his mission.

But the divisions of cultivation levels, cultivation techniques, and so on were the same. There had to be countless threads connecting the two. He had converted the old ghost's entire soul into spiritual power, so his misfortune had turned out to be a blessing.

He had leaped straight to the Qi Refining Eighth Layer. No wonder those demonic cultivators loved devouring others to increase their cultivation; cultivating at that speed was like riding a rocket. From the memories, he had also learned the Zhang Family's secret and about the old ghost's entire life.

"You're still too weak. You coughed up so much blood that day, and you were badly injured too." Zhang Qiling disagreed with Yu Zhi's request.

"I really am better. My misfortune turned out to be a blessing this time. That old ghost wanted my body? No way. I beat him until his soul scattered and learned a lot of information." Yu Zhi was immensely pleased with himself.

"I don't need that kind of blessing ever again!" Looking at the smug smile on that fair little face, Zhang Qiling felt only heartache and fear. He pulled Yu Zhi into his arms. "Yu Zhi, promise me!"

"O-okay."

Being held in his arms while awake felt wonderful. Yu Zhi breathed in Zhang Qiling's cedar-like scent. It was cool and aloof, just like the man himself, yet intoxicating. He closed his eyes and hugged him back tightly.

What do I do? It looks like I can't leave the bright moon hanging high anymore. The bright moon is in my arms right now. I'm going to break my word!

Yu Zhi felt something trickle from his nose. He touched it, and his hand came away red. Oh no!

"Zhang Qiling, my nose is bleeding! Let go of me, quick! I told you I really couldn't drink any more. Look, my nose is bleeding!"

"Mm, no more. Sorry, I gave you too much nourishment."

"It's fine, it's fine. It's not your fault. The weather's been dry lately, and I've got a bit of internal heat. A capillary in my nose just burst, that's all."

What was Yu Zhi supposed to say? That Zhang Qiling was too tempting, and holding him had set his heart and mind running wild? That he'd gotten a nosebleed because of it? He couldn't possibly say that. He still had his dignity to think of!

"Let me tell you a huge secret about the Zhang Family. I doubt even you know it!" Yu Zhi slowly told Zhang Qiling the story.

"That's how it is. Your Zhang Family are actually descendants of the Queen Mother of the West. I just don't know what's going on with the Queen Mother of the West in the Queen Mother of the West's Palace in the book. I reckon she's a fake." Yu Zhi repeated the old ghost's earlier conjecture about what had happened ten thousand years ago.

"And the old ghost in the ring was really named Chen Qingyu. He was an outer disciple of the Falling Flower Sect in the cultivation world. He obtained an inheritance in a secret realm, but it was both righteous and demonic. Its power was immense, and how it was used depended entirely on the user. Daoist Green Jade used the inheritance to rise to the forefront of the younger generation.

"Though he couldn't compare with the heaven's favored sons of the greatest sects, he still made a name for himself in the cultivation world. He usually put on a respectable facade, but behind the scenes he was ruthless and vicious, cultivating by devouring other people's cultivation and flesh.

"During a trial, he met two disciples of the Holy Sword Sect. He deliberately befriended them with ill intentions, but their elders discovered his scheme in time. Their sect joined forces to hunt him down. In the end, he escaped here, but his cultivation fell to the Nascent Soul Stage."

"Badly injured, he was saved by the Zhang Family's Qilin woman. What happened afterward was simple: a story of the farmer and the snake, with no love involved. He discovered what was special about the Zhang Family and wanted to use their Qilin bloodline to restore his cultivation. He pretended to have feelings for the Qilin woman and tried to court her, but the Zhang Family didn't marry outsiders. Chen Qingyu's plan fell through, and he came to hate the Zhang Family.

"But he kept up his act so well that the Qilin woman regarded him as a close friend. Some of their unique traits were discovered, and 'It,' which had long coveted the Zhang Family, discovered them too. The two hit it off at once and began plotting the Zhang Family's destruction."

Yu Zhi had realized that the old ghost had never done a single decent thing.

"'It' still exists."

"One day we'll wipe 'It' out completely. I'm not finished yet! Chen Qingyu knew the emperor at the time was obsessed with immortality and refining pills. But there was an unwritten rule in the cultivation world: emperors must not cultivate, nor could they cultivate. Otherwise, the world would surely be plunged into chaos, and everyone involved would suffer heavenly punishment. To restore his cultivation as quickly as possible, Chen Qingyu told the emperor that the Zhang Family possessed a secret method of attaining immortality and urged him to move against them.

"At the same time, he stirred up countless cultivators, setting off a devastating war. That war directly exhausted the spiritual energy, which had already been thin, and fewer than one in ten thousand cultivators survived. Anyway, the Zhang Family won by a narrow margin in the end, but they suffered terrible losses too. Chen Qingyu and the Zhang Family's Qiling perished together.

"But the old ghost's ring was a treasure he had also obtained from that inheritance. He managed to hide inside it, barely escaping the scattering of his soul. The Zhang Family feared he had another trick up his sleeve, so they sealed the ring.

"Later, the Zhang Family fell apart and migrated several times. No one knew when the ring was brought out, but it eventually ended up in the storeroom. That's the whole story, more or less. There were cultivators in this world a thousand years ago, and your Zhang Family must have had plenty of formidable cultivators and mighty figures. Don't you remember anything about it at all?"

Zhang Qiling thought back carefully. "No." Then he added, "I didn't inherit the position of clan leader under normal circumstances."

Yu Zhi thought of his miserable childhood again and comfortingly patted Zhang Qiling's arm. "It's all right. None of that matters. I also got Chen Qingyu's cultivation technique this time, and it suits me very well. It's just that it's both righteous and demonic. You..."

"I don't care. I'm not as good as you think I am."

Zhang Qiling knew what Yu Zhi had wanted to say when he paused. But he wanted to say that he had been like that before because there had been nothing in this world he cared about.

All he had were responsibilities he had been forced to accept. He couldn't refuse them or resolve them, and he had no choice. But now he wanted to make a choice for himself, just this once.

"Then what if I wanted to destroy the world?" Yu Zhi teased.

"I'd go with you. You wouldn't!"

"Hey, Zhang Qiling, you're acting really strange today. Are you..."

After thinking it over, he didn't finish. If he was wrong, would he pretend to be calm and take it back by saying he was joking? But he didn't want to joke.

"Am I what?" Zhang Qiling's eyes flickered as he waited for Yu Zhi's next words, with a faint trace of anticipation.

"Nothing. This cultivation technique is on the dark side. How should I put it? You have to keep devouring things. Animals will do, and so will spiritual plants. Devouring a cultivator's cultivation makes you grow even faster, and there are no side effects. But you need to find a plant full of spiritual energy and refine it into your bonded spiritual plant. I thought of one. Guess what it is?"

"The Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress." Zhang Qiling hadn't heard what he wanted to hear, and even his voice sounded dejected, but he still answered Yu Zhi's question.

"We really are of one mind! It's the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress. That big fellow must have spiritual energy, but we'll have to go take a look. I have to settle on a bonded spiritual plant before Foundation Establishment. It's a shame the Divine Bronze Tree isn't a plant. Otherwise, that thing would be heaven-defying-it can copy things endlessly."

"All right. We'll go once your injuries have healed."

"I'm already better. How about we leave tomorrow? We can also visit all the tombs from the story."

"No. We'll go in a month." Zhang Qiling firmly refused.

"A month? I can't lie around for a whole month! I'll rust!" Yu Zhi protested.

"Yu Zhi, please don't frighten me like that again. I can't bear to lose you anymore." Zhang Qiling sighed.

"All right... all right." Yu Zhi really felt that everything about Zhang Qiling was strange today.

At that moment, Yu Zhi could be called a block of wood. But it wasn't really his fault. He was a complete novice with no practical experience, and when it actually happened to him, he was hopeless.