Lost and Found

Zhang Qiling slowly walked out carrying Yu Zhi's body, feeling his memories slip away bit by bit. In the end, only one thought remained: the man in his arms was his lover, who had been killed by a monster and whose soul had reincarnated as Wu Xie of the Wu Family.

He had to find Wu Xie and protect him, never letting his lover suffer the slightest harm again.

When Hei Xiazi heard the noise and came out, he was momentarily dazed. Mute's eyes were crimson, tears of blood streaming from them. The man in his arms was covered in blood too, without the slightest sign of life.

"Mute, what happened to Xiao Yu?!" Hei Xiazi barred Zhang Qiling's path, bringing his swift advance to a halt.

"Get out of the way."

Hei Xiazi could see that something was wrong with him, so he stopped trying to hold him back and stepped aside to let him pass. He followed close behind without stopping, wondering what on earth had happened.

"Mute, have you lost your memory? What happened?" Hei Xiazi chased after him. Even at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, he could barely keep up.

Hei Xiazi got no answer. Instead, Zhang Qiling shook him off in a few quick movements, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye. Hei Xiazi could only speed up with all his might.

What on earth had happened? They had been inside for less than ten days, yet Mute had rushed out carrying Xiao Yu's body. Their combined fighting strength could have swept through any of the great tombs. What had they encountered? Was the Bronze Door really that terrifying?

A hundred thoughts raced through his mind, but he couldn't make sense of it. He kept feeling that Yu Zhi wouldn't die so easily. He treasured Zhang Qiling so much; how could he bear to leave him heartbroken? Yet the tears of blood streaming from Mute's eyes and the body in his arms kept forcing him to face the fact that this was real.

Hei Xiazi chased after him with all his strength. If Mute had lost his memory, running off with Yu Zhi like this would surely put him in danger. If he hadn't, then carrying Yu Zhi like that, he was surely going to die for love. Hei Xiazi had to keep an eye on him.

He finally spotted Zhang Qiling kneeling in the snow after he had raced out of the tunnel and crossed two snowy mountains.

Zhang Qiling knelt there upright, holding Yu Zhi in his arms. With his eyes closed, he pressed his lips to Yu Zhi's forehead, as though sensing something.

Seeing this, Hei Xiazi didn't dare approach or move. He simply stood in the distance and watched quietly as snowflakes filled the sky and drifted down onto the two of them.

He could feel the loneliness and despair of that moment, as well as a faint hint of madness.

Zhang Qiling really was on the verge of madness now-mad with excitement. The instant he had rushed out of the tomb, he had thought he was hallucinating, imagining that Yu Zhi was speaking to him.

"Zhang Qiling."

"Zhang Qiling."

"Zhang Qiling, stop!" Yu Zhi shouted with all his might inside Zhang Qiling's head, but the fool wouldn't listen at all. His soul was already injured. Fortunately, the injury wasn't serious, but it needed time to heal.

"Zhang... cough, cough, cough... husband... stop."

Zhang Qiling stumbled straight to his knees, then carefully examined the man in his arms. He really had heard his lover calling him. It wasn't a hallucination. He had heard the term of address he had dreamed of; his hallucinations could never have come up with that.

But the body in his arms was still deathly silent, with no breath and no heartbeat.

"You fool, I'm inside your body! Haven't you noticed?!"

Hearing this, he hurriedly closed his eyes and began searching his body for Yu Zhi, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Well, there was a tiny little accident. To be precise, I'm hiding in your sea of consciousness right now. Um, to put it another way, you could also call it preparing for possession. If you want to say something, just think it in your head," Yu Zhi explained, a little embarrassed.

"As long as you want it, I can give you anything." His lover was still here.

"I don't want it, I really don't! My own body is perfectly fine, and if I took yours, how would I eat meat? I've been craving it for so long!" Yu Zhi hadn't expected a soul to be different from a mouth. A mouth had a gatekeeper, but a soul transmitted whatever it thought directly. All right, even that thought had been sent across!

"Mm, all right."

"What do you mean, all right? I wasn't thinking that just now." Yu Zhi was a little annoyed. What was all this?

"How much do you remember now?"

"I only remember that you're my lover, that you were killed by a monster, and that your soul reincarnated as Wu Xie of the Wu Family. I have to go protect him," Zhang Qiling answered honestly.

"Wonderful! What about the rest? What's your name? Who are you? Do you remember what you came here for?" Yu Zhi was so angry that smoke poured from his seven orifices. "That damned Queen Mother of the West, that fake!"

"I don't remember."

With no other choice, Yu Zhi directly showed Zhang Qiling the images from his own memories.

As his memories returned, Zhang Qiling's gaze grew sharp. "A Li, didn't you reincarnate? How are you in my body?"

"Keep watching. Watch the rest." Yu Zhi didn't waste any more words.

This time, Zhang Qiling watched from Yu Zhi's perspective. Seeing the soul being pulled out again still left him in unbearable pain, unable to breathe. But if he hadn't seen it wrong, Yu Zhi had used the golden light of merit to envelop a soul. The instant that soul was pulled out, it had carried something with it and crashed into his body.

"Whose soul was that?"

"It was Qi Yu's. I originally wanted to find him a body and settle the karma I owed him, but through a strange twist of fate, he reincarnated as Wu Xie. I didn't dare call out to you in the tomb, for fear that old monster would discover me. Seeing you like that, my heart was bleeding too, but I couldn't speak up to warn you. If I'd been discovered, all our efforts would have been wasted. That old monster said she couldn't leave the Bronze Door, but what if she could? So I could only wait for you to come out first."

"That's wonderful, A Li. As long as you're still alive, I can accept anything. It's really wonderful. You're still mine. Tell me, how about we share one body like this and never be apart?" Zhang Qiling felt that this really was bliss. He would never lose his lover again.

"That's a dangerous idea. We can't do that. How am I supposed to pin you down if we do? I've been craving you all these years and haven't had a single bite!" Yu Zhi's thoughts were once again transmitted to him without the slightest error.

"I give up!" Yu Zhi was speechless.

Just then, both of them sensed Hei Xiazi catching up. Yu Zhi hurriedly said, "Don't let him know yet. That fake said she'd made other arrangements. We're in the dark now, and she's out in the open. We might as well turn her scheme against her and see what tricks she's been playing. She left me in such a miserable state; one day, I'll definitely get my revenge."

"All right, I'll do as you say." What he had lost had been found again; how fortunate he was!

Listening to the voice in his sea of consciousness, Zhang Qiling's lips curved upward. Then, carefully holding the body in his arms, he closed his eyes and reverently kissed its forehead.

That was the whole scene Hei Xiazi saw when he caught up~ (That was what really happened, but he didn't know it.)