Loving You a Little More Every Day

This time, Zhang Qiling began cultivating without a hitch. The Ice and Fire Qilin Art truly lived up to its reputation as the Zhang Family's cultivation method. It was formidable indeed. Previously only at the Qi Refining Second Layer, he experienced a sudden enlightenment the very first time he cultivated. Spiritual energy rushed into his body like a whirlwind, eventually forming a small tornado.

Seeing that nothing had gone wrong this time, Yu Zhi withdrew outside the little courtyard. For one thing, he wanted to guard against anything nearby accidentally disturbing Zhang Qiling's enlightenment. For another, his own presence there would affect him. An opportunity like this was hard to come by, and the benefits it could bring were beyond anything one could trade for.

Seven days passed in this state of enlightenment. Throughout that time, spiritual energy continued to swarm toward him as before, showing no sign of diminishing.

Yu Zhi did not disturb him. He simply sat outside the courtyard, keeping watch while refining voice transmission jade slips. Although they were collectively known by that name in the cultivation world, people had actually made improvements to them, crafting them in all sorts of forms.

There were rings, bracelets, necklaces, ornaments, and so on-the list went on and on. This time, he wanted to make a pair of jade pendants, the kind they could wear around their necks. He had long since decided on the designs.

Both would have a qilin treading through fire carved on the front. On the back of Zhang Qiling's, he would carve his own portrait. On the back of his own, he would carve only the three characters "Zhang Qiling."

Yu Zhi knew that the three characters "Zhang Qiling" were merely the title of the Zhang Family's patriarch. Every patriarch was called Zhang Qiling.

But now that the Zhang Family had disbanded, and he was its last Qiling, from this point on, those three characters were more than a symbol. They were what he was known by, his name.

Although his mother had called him Xiaoguan, that was not a childhood name either. It was an affectionate way for a mother to address her child, like "baby."

Zhang Qiling had no other name, either. Yu Zhi had thought about it for a long time, but could not think of anything else to call him besides those three characters. No other designation was worthy of the god on the snowy mountain.

Yu Zhi could also sense that whenever he called him Zhang Qiling, his Adam's apple would bob, and he would look at him eagerly.

"Zhang Qiling, how are you?"

Seeing him walk out, Yu Zhi grabbed his wrist and began examining him.

"Qi Refining Seventh Layer? Damn, is this cultivation method really that powerful?"

"Mm. The cultivation method suits me very well, so I did make rapid progress cultivating it. But the main reason my cultivation increased so much was this."

He raised his left hand, indicating the dark green ring with a red rim.

"What's going on? What's that?"

"This is the 'equipment' you were talking about." Zhang Qiling mimicked Yu Zhi's tone.

"Damn, I knew a token that important had to be equipment! What does it do?"

"It's called the Qilin Ring. The pattern on it is a small, portable Spirit Gathering Array. It automatically absorbs spiritual energy and stores it in the array. Its main functions are to help with cultivation and provide storage, but it needs Spirit Stones or spiritual energy stored in advance to activate the array and help with cultivation. To claim it as its master, you need a Qilin Blood bloodline and the Ice and Fire Qilin Art."

"As soon as I started cultivating, the ring automatically recognized me as its master. I used up all the spiritual energy inside during this session. The previous patriarch took everything else down with him in that great battle, leaving only this ring."

Zhang Qiling paused to catch his breath, then continued, "I also obtained some memories from the ring this time, as well as information about Heavenly Bestowal. Heavenly Bestowal isn't actually a problem with the Zhang Family bloodline. It's a curse. Back then, someone close to the Queen Mother of the West plotted against her and cursed her, and her blood descendants were cursed along with her. The curse was originally supposed to turn those with purer bloodlines into fools and lunatics when they reached eighteen, before they died suddenly.

"Later, a Zhang Family Qiling found a secret method to suppress it, using extraterrestrial Meteorite Jade. But it could only ensure that those with pure bloodlines lived for five hundred years. The aftereffects were memory loss upon contact with Meteorite Jade or intermittent memory loss at irregular intervals. That was how it was passed down."

"Then what's the Ultimate you've been guarding?"

"The Ultimate? The ring didn't say."

"Hm? It didn't say? Something's not right. By rights, if you lose your memories when you come into contact with the meteorite, you shouldn't go into tombs and touch it. So how have you been searching for your memories in tombs all these years? And why do you have to guard that Ultimate?"

"I don't know. Before, I was only following my instincts. I just had a feeling that I had to go into tombs myself, search for my memories, and guard the gate. I couldn't control it. And I can clearly feel that the urge pushing me has been growing stronger and stronger lately."

"What's behind the gate? What is the Ultimate?" Yu Zhi was curious too. Even at the end of the book, that plot hole had never been filled.

"I don't know. I don't remember."

Good grief, Yu Zhi thought. Even after coming to this world, that plot hole still could not be filled. It seemed he would have to find a chance to see for himself. There had to be a secret in there.

"Looks like something else must have happened to your Zhang Family later on. Maybe someone or something plotted against you again. Perhaps it was 'It.'"

Yu Zhi speculated. He had originally thought that once he came here and started cultivating, his combat power would absolutely be at the ceiling, and then he could have a sweet romance.

He had not expected things to be as complicated as calculus! Heavenly Bestowal would not be easy to deal with either. He had to think of a solution. It seemed he would have to go through that old ghost's memories again.

The old ghost could be said to have died a fitting death. He had not done a single decent thing while alive, but in death, he had given Yu Zhi a great deal of useful help.

Neither of them was in a hurry to leave anymore. They became absorbed in cultivation, unable to pull themselves away. This was an excellent place for Zhang Qiling to cultivate, while Yu Zhi went through the old ghost's pile of memories, learning and experimenting as he went.

Only by growing stronger could they deal with what lay ahead. He did not know how that book had been written, either-a perfectly good cultivation fantasy had somehow been turned into a tomb-raiding brotherhood story.

Thinking about it now, with so many formidable things in the tombs, there was no way they existed only in tombs. He had been too young and naive.

Looking at it another way, Wu Xie was known as the leader of the unorthodox tenth sect, so he surely had some secrets. The author of that book had really done a fine job, writing nothing useful at all and only describing things for readers to ship.

Because their plans had changed, and they had not bought many supplies before, the two went out and brought back another batch. They also bought some vegetable seeds, not to farm, but to see whether anything could grow in the soil and whether it would be as magical as in a Long Aotian novel. The seeds did not sprout at all, and the plants they transplanted in could not survive either. In the end, they gave up trying.

During this time, Zhang Qiling also gradually took note of some of Yu Zhi's little habits: when he was speechless, exasperated, or asking him to do something, he called him "big brother." In front of others, he called him Xiaoguan or "big brother." Only when they were alone did he call him by his name. When his tone was serious, it meant he had serious business to discuss; when it rose, it meant he was worried about him.

And when he wanted Zhang Qiling to kiss him, he would unconsciously call him "Zhang Qiling" in a clinging, affectionate voice, then gaze at his lips with those peach-blossom eyes.

In the mountains, days and months passed unnoticed, and a year went by in the blink of an eye. That day, the two were wrapped up in another lingering kiss when Yu Zhi suddenly sprang up as if back from the dead and pushed Zhang Qiling away. "Holy shit, we forgot about Hei Xiazi! We haven't contacted him for a year, and we haven't treated his eyes either. We have to go back."

"Am I not attractive to you anymore? Yu Zhi, you're kissing me and still have the mind to think about another man!" Zhang Qiling was genuinely a little angry this time. The chill in his voice was almost enough to form shards of ice. Then he got up and walked away.

He was afraid that if he did not leave, he would hurt Yu Zhi. He was finding it harder and harder to control his possessiveness toward him. He was no longer indifferent to everything; Yu Zhi's every movement and expression tugged at his heart.

"Hey, hey, don't go! I won't think about him anymore. Let's continue."

Yu Zhi looked at Zhang Qiling, who had suddenly turned cold and aloof, his eyes full of little hearts. What was he going to do? He loved this side of him even more!

Well, it was not as though he had been distracted. His mind just had flashes of inspiration from time to time, and he would remember something. If he did not say it then, he would forget it the very next second. He had forgotten things so often before that he had developed the habit of saying whatever came to mind. He had not expected it to make Zhang Qiling angry!