Yu Zhi Wanted to Hide His Beauty in a Gilded House

It was summer, so water and food were easy to find, but he didn't know how to start a fire by rubbing sticks together.

In the early stages, the wood spiritual root's main use was healing. Other Five Elements spells could also be cast with spiritual power and hand seals, but he was still a newbie who had only just drawn qi into his body. He couldn't do it.

Come to think of it, a fire spiritual root would be much more convenient out in the wilderness. Without fire, would he have to eat his food raw? He had been through the plots of more than a dozen small worlds, but every time, the system had forced him to follow melodramatic plots, mindlessly provoking people and perversely forcing himself on the female and male leads every day. He'd never had a chance to learn these skills. Thinking about it made his heart ache to death.

Forget it. He'd find some prey first and ask Zhang Qiling if he knew how later.

He also needed to find a cave or somewhere similar. At the very least, he had to make sure he was safe while cultivating.

The Heavenly Dao was suppressing his spiritual force now, so it was best not to use it unless he had no choice. Yu Zhi could sense that as his cultivation grew, he would definitely be able to release his spiritual force to perceive his surroundings without being suppressed.

He moved quickly through the mountains and soon found a nest of rabbits. He used spiritual power to take the whole nest and put them into the space.

Zhang Qiling lay quietly with his eyes closed. Suddenly, he sensed that something had appeared beside him. He turned his head and saw four dead rabbits, one large and three small.

After waiting a while, the man still hadn't come in, so he lay there motionless, staring at the ceiling. He had already looked the place over when he first arrived. It was a square house? Or a box? All six sides were white walls? It was hard to tell what they were made of with the naked eye.

But he did know that this place was that man Yu Zhi's secret.

Since the man knew him, he wondered what he wanted from him. Was he like those researchers? Did he need his blood? His flesh?

Zhang Qiling had no way of knowing. All he could do now was try to recover his memories and strength.

While a certain someone inside the space was staring blankly into space, Yu Zhi was moving nonstop through the mountain forest outside. At last, he found a cave.

The entrance was only wide enough to squeeze through sideways. He first used his spiritual power to probe the cave. It was empty and fairly spacious inside, making it a decent place to rest.

Back in the space, he saw Zhang Qiling staring blankly ahead with his eyes open and felt a little unsure how to treat him.

Yu Zhi picked up the rabbits from the floor and considered his words. "Um, Zhang Qiling, I found a safe cave. Do you want to come out with me now?"

"Mm."

He forced the single syllable out of his throat with great effort.

Fortunately, Yu Zhi's sharp ears caught it, a very weak, brief syllable. He seemed to have forgotten that, as a test subject, Zhang Qiling would certainly have been injected with drugs to weaken and sedate him.

Yu Zhi put down the rabbits, walked over to Zhang Qiling, and took hold of his wrist, preparing to send spiritual power into him.

With his pulse point in someone's grasp, Zhang Qiling struggled, but he couldn't muster enough strength to pull free.

"Don't move. I'll treat you, and you'll be fine in a moment," Yu Zhi reassured him gently.

Hearing that, he stopped struggling and let Yu Zhi do as he pleased.

Yu Zhi looked at the now-obedient man, his eyes brimming with affection, and slowly guided his pitiful amount of spiritual power into the other man's body, circulating it through his meridians for one complete cycle.

When the cycle ended, he felt dizzy and lightheaded. Unable to control his body, he collapsed onto Zhang Qiling.

He raised his hand and swore he absolutely hadn't done it on purpose. Probing and treatment were very different. For a newbie who had only just drawn qi into his body, managing to complete one cycle was already thanks to the boost from his spiritual force.

Zhang Qiling felt a cool energy circulate through his body and gradually felt his strength return. The weakness vanished completely, and he thought, Who is he, exactly? With these magical abilities, does he still need anything from me? What do I have? Then something heavy pressed down on him.

After a pause, he didn't push Yu Zhi off him, merely resting a hand lightly on the other man's shoulder.

"Zhang Qiling, you've exhausted me. I'm still a newbie, you know," Yu Zhi said, remaining sprawled on top of him.

"Thank you!"

Hearing that cool, magnetic voice, Yu Zhi raised a hand and rubbed his ear. His ear was going to get pregnant. Every part of him was exactly Yu Zhi's type. That voice alone was almost more than he could take. He still wasn't getting up, but he absolutely wouldn't admit he was taking advantage. How could he keep shipping the Pingxie CP like this? It looked like he would have to break up the CP!

Zhang Qiling looked at the person who wouldn't get off him as he made a series of little movements, then sat up, helping Yu Zhi sit up with him.

Yu Zhi's face turned red in an instant.

"Sorry, I fell on you. I'm just a little drained. It's fine."

His eyes darted around and landed on the rabbits on the floor, and he changed the subject.

"Um, can you start a fire? I'm going to roast the rabbits."

"Yes."

Zhang Qiling's answer was as brief as ever. Although he had lost his memory, he still retained some common knowledge, skills, and bodily reflexes.

"Then let's go out."

With that, Yu Zhi picked up the rabbits in his left hand, took Zhang Qiling's hand with his right, and flashed out.

But only he and the rabbits came out. Where did my great big Zhang Qiling go? His heart panicked for an instant, and he hurried back into the space to find the other man holding up his arm and looking at him in confusion.

Yu Zhi was dumbfounded. What was going on? Could he come in but not go out? Was he going to spend the rest of his life in here? Hiding a beauty in a gilded house? Little black room warning? Why was he feeling a little secretly delighted?

"Ahem." Yu Zhi put a stop to the trash in his head.

"Well, it's my first time bringing someone in here too, so I don't know what's going on either. Wait while I check."

After saying that, Yu Zhi checked the system's internal configuration from before and finally figured it out. He couldn't bring people directly, but he could exploit a BUG: a person on an object didn't count as a person, but as a decoration on the object. So bringing the bed in with them during that crisis had been a lucky accident.

It seemed Zhang Qiling was destined to be his.

"I've figured it out. You still need to lie down on the bed, and I'll take you out along with it. As for why, um, it's complicated to explain."

Yu Zhi was indeed a sucker for good looks, but he still had some brains. They were strangers, after all, and he had to be on his guard, even if only a little.

Zhang Qiling said no more and turned back to lie on the bed. Yu Zhi brought both him and the bed out into the cave.

He got up and checked the cave, then went out and brought back some dry branches and leaves. Before Yu Zhi could see how he started the fire, the flames were already burning.

"Holy shit!" Yu Zhi was impressed. He had been so fast that neither Yu Zhi's eyes nor his brain had learned how.

"Keep an eye on the fire." Without waiting for an answer, Zhang Qiling took the rabbits and quickly left.

About half an hour later, he brought back the cleaned rabbits and a wooden bowl filled with water.

"Where did you get the bowl?" Yu Zhi stared at the wooden bowl being handed to him, utterly baffled. He remembered Zhang Qiling had left empty-handed.

"Made it just now. Drink." Zhang Qiling answered mildly, as though it were perfectly ordinary.

"Awesome." Yu Zhi gave him a thumbs-up, took the wooden bowl, and drained it in one gulp.

Zhang Qiling showed no reaction. He handed Yu Zhi the rabbits skewered on wooden branches, then took the bowl and went out again. He soon returned with a bowl of water.

The two of them made do with their first meal since escaping. It didn't taste like much, but it filled their stomachs.

After all that, Yu Zhi felt especially tired. He had fled all night without sleep or rest, then given a patient some basic treatment. He needed rest.

"Zhang Qiling, let's go back into the space. I'm tired and want to rest. You've lost your memory, so I wouldn't feel at ease leaving you outside on your own."

Yu Zhi looked into his eyes as he spoke. He knew this man was known for vanishing the moment you let go of him, becoming a missing person as soon as he was out of sight. Yu Zhi had his own selfish reasons: he was afraid that if Zhang Qiling disappeared after he fell asleep, where would he go to find him? Right now, he had only his wits and no power. If he lost such a great treasure, he wouldn't even know where to look.

Zhang Qiling silently looked at Yu Zhi. He too seemed able to sense what the man was thinking: he didn't want him to leave. But in his current situation, he didn't want to return to that laboratory. His body hadn't recovered, and with no memory, he had nowhere to go. For now, he would follow this man.

After about five seconds, he softly said, "Mm."

With that, he walked over and lay down on the bed. Seeing how cooperative Zhang Qiling was, Yu Zhi felt the tiniest, tiniest bit of unease in his conscience. Then he brought the man and the bed into the space together. Once inside, Yu Zhi paid no attention to what he did, lay down where he stood, and fell asleep.

Zhang Qiling looked at the man who had fallen asleep on the floor just like that and gave a very small smile, as though only the corner of his mouth had moved. He thought that whatever this man's purpose was, he had saved him, at any rate.

He stopped thinking about it and fell asleep too. Perhaps because the environment was completely safe, or perhaps because the treatment had worked, he slept more soundly than ever before.

Listening to Zhang Qiling's steady breathing, Yu Zhi moved his eyes beneath his closed lids, feeling a delayed wave of fear. What if Zhang Qiling had run away when he went to wash the rabbits just now? He had been careless. He couldn't be so negligent next time.

As he thought about it, he too fell asleep.

He slept well. Yu Zhi felt that his body had recovered considerably. He flashed outside, and the cave was just as before, except that the fire had gone out. The most urgent task was to cultivate to the Qi Refining First Layer as quickly as possible and become impervious to blades and spears in this world, which would give him some ability to protect himself. Yu Zhi assumed the five-hearts-to-heaven posture, with the centers of his palms, soles, and crown facing upward, and began to cultivate. The wood-element energy in the mountain forest was indeed more abundant.