Making It Official

"A Li, let's get married. I can't wait until Foundation Establishment." Ever since Zhang Rishan had brought people over last time, Zhang Qiling had felt increasingly panicked. He wanted to announce to the world that Yu Zhi was his.

"Zhang Qiling, you're joking, right? How are we supposed to get married like this? Tell me how!"

Yu Zhi's first reaction was to wonder if something had provoked him.

Zhang Qiling had always been so cool and aloof, yet lately he had become more and more possessive. That included, but was not limited to, wiping down Yu Zhi's body every day and running fire spiritual power through the Jade Burial Suit before dressing him in it. He called it sterilization, but he actually disliked the fact that someone else had worn it.

"You're rejecting me again, A Li. Is there something I haven't done well enough, something you're unhappy with?" As he spoke, he reached to strip off the Jade Burial Suit. The sight of Yu Zhi wearing that damned thing was such an eyesore.

Seeing that he wanted to strip his body bare again, Yu Zhi hurriedly explained.

"What I mean is, how do you expect a body to marry you? He can't even walk! He can't sit or stand. Are you going to let a bunch of people come and laugh at you? Watch the Zhang Family patriarch enter a ghost marriage?"

Yu Zhi was getting a little incoherent. What was all this? For the past couple of days, he had increasingly felt that something was off with Zhang Qiling.

And he doesn't have some little corpse-loving fetish, does he? How would we consummate the marriage like this? Am I supposed to watch a restricted-rated scene play out between my lover and my body? It's this weird feeling like my lover is cheating on me, but also isn't! Someone save me!

Wonderful! He had lost control for a moment, and every one of those words had reached Zhang Qiling loud and clear again.

I give up. Let it all be destroyed. I didn't have much of an image to begin with, and now it's all out in the open!

"Hahahaha, you're so cute, A Li. How could I love corpses? I only love you!"

Zhang Qiling burst out laughing. In the past, his smiles had been faint, light, bitter, sarcastic, or helpless. But over this time, he had learned that he could laugh wholeheartedly too. Whenever Yu Zhi had even the slightest emotional fluctuation, he could catch his true thoughts. It felt wonderful!

Whatever he did, he had someone to keep him company. But that group of people had been spying on them more and more frequently lately, and he was close to losing control. Yu Zhi could only be his. No one could have any thoughts about Yu Zhi, in any form whatsoever!

The people secretly spying on them: You're thinking too much. We were only spying on the Jade Burial Suit, and taking a few extra looks because you holding a corpse every day scared and bewildered us. We don't share your particular tastes!

"Then why are you in such a hurry? Let's hold it once I'm back in my body. Besides, a cultivator's bond-forming ceremony is a very grand affair. I want to give you the best of everything too!" Yu Zhi suggested. He had actually been making plans in secret as well. His wedding to Zhang Qiling had to be the grandest.

"No! I want to make it official right now." He refused outright. Once Zhang Qiling dug in his heels, nine oxen couldn't drag him back.

"You've really got me laughing now. You want to announce to the world that the famous Zhang Family patriarch is marrying a man-and a dead man at that? What will everyone else think of you? You're my god, Zhang Qiling. You're the person I love most. I don't want to hear a single person slander you. They can talk about me; I don't care. But you? No!"

Yu Zhi began to wonder where the problem lay. Had being in Zhang Qiling's body affected his thoughts? His own thoughts could indeed be dark and cold-blooded sometimes. Was he really this crazy?

"A Li, do you know? Ever since we came back from Changbai Mountain, I've been afraid. Afraid you'd suddenly leave me, suddenly disappear from this world. I wouldn't be able to go looking for you! Yu Zhi, tell me, if you just up and left, where would I go to find you?

"If you left this place, who besides Blind Man would know that I, Zhang Qiling, was your Yu Zhi's lover? If that day really came, I wouldn't even have a chance to introduce you to anyone."

"I wouldn't even have a chance to tell anyone about you. They'd only think I'd gone mad and imagined a person. When I died, there wouldn't even be anything connected to you carved on my gravestone, because no one would know."

"I just want the whole world to know you're my lover. From now on, whenever Yu Zhi's name is mentioned, the three characters for Zhang Qiling will come with it. Promise me, will you, A Li? I don't care what anyone says about me. I just want your mark."

Zhang Qiling's voice was resolute yet broken. Each question shattered Yu Zhi's heart into pieces.

He had always prided himself on giving one hundred percent of his love, yet he hadn't even noticed the other man's fear.

What had happened at the Cloudtop Heavenly Palace last time had truly left Zhang Qiling deeply traumatized. His plan to abandon his body would have made Zhang Qiling realize that perhaps one day he might abandon him the same way. If that happened, no one would be able to find him unless he wished it.

Zhang Qiling was smart, truly smart. He would think of many things, including the possibility that Yu Zhi might really just leave, and he would have nowhere to look for him. He was afraid. He was afraid! Why hadn't Yu Zhi noticed it before? Instead, he had thought Zhang Qiling was flirting with him.

If he hadn't been in Zhang Qiling's sea of consciousness, Yu Zhi would never have known about these thoughts.

So Zhang Qiling's inner life was this rich. In his heart, he was a chatterbox who talked to himself, but he wouldn't open his mouth to say it aloud. Perhaps it was the hurt he had suffered as a child. A little boy with no one to confide in, who had even been bullied and hurt, until in the end he could only talk to himself in his heart.

"Zhang Qiling, I'll always belong to you, lifetime after lifetime. I told you, we've signed a soul-imprint contract. My soul belongs to you! No matter where I go, I'll always carry you with me," Yu Zhi promised solemnly.

"A Li, will you give me access to the system? I want permission to find you whenever and wherever you are," Zhang Qiling said, seizing the moment to make his request.

Yu Zhi didn't hesitate for a moment. "Of course. Wait, let me see how to operate the system and whether there are any permission restrictions. After I got this thing, I came straight here as my first stop. You were the first person I saw. No, the first handsome person."

Zhang Qiling quietly committed every word Yu Zhi said to memory. When the time was right, he would ask him for details. Just who was the first person he had seen?

"Found it. It really does have that feature. I can set a companion and secondary permissions. This system was originally a mission system, and these functions were only meant for doing missions. I combined the abilities of two systems and tinkered with it as I pleased, but this system can't be controlled. Even now, I haven't figured out what it actually is. I still don't want you to bind it. Once it's bound, I don't know how to unbind it, or I would've thrown this dangerous thing away ages ago."

Yu Zhi had several questions. What exactly was the system? It even stood above the cultivation world, able to disregard time and barriers to reach any world it pleased. And what were the missions actually for? What could ordinary cannon fodder, villains, and supporting characters bring it? Had his ability to erase the system really been a twist of fate, or was there some plot behind it? And then there was that uncontrollable space that was always swallowing treasures.

"Yu Zhi, if I had a system like this, what would you choose to do? Would you just watch?" Zhang Qiling reminded him at the right moment.

"How could I? I would never let you face danger alone. Good or bad, I want to be involved, involved in every moment of your life!"

Yu Zhi answered without hesitation, and dealt his own heart another critical hit!

Putting himself in Zhang Qiling's shoes, just the thought that Zhang Qiling might suffer where he couldn't see, that someone else might be there to keep him company, made him want nothing more than to tie himself directly to the man's waistband! Don't ask why he wouldn't tie Zhang Qiling to his own waistband. Don't ask! If you must know, he wasn't worthy!

"So, you see, A Li, the magistrates are allowed to set fires, but the common people aren't allowed to light lamps!" His voice was filled with an indescribable grievance.

Yu Zhi was decisive too. Once he understood, he didn't hesitate. Whatever happened, they would bear it together. Things had already come to this; if he still spouted bullshit about not worrying about his safety, he wouldn't be himself. "It's set up. You should be able to see it now. I don't know if you can understand it, though."

"Mm, I see it. This thing is amazing." Zhang Qiling didn't touch anything at random. He only watched the pale blue halo bound to his soul, linking it to Yu Zhi's soul. Wonderful. Now Yu Zhi couldn't run away.

At that moment, the corners of Zhang Qiling's mouth curled into a triumphant smile. A Li must never be allowed to escape him. Even the possibility had to be cut off completely.

"So, A Li, let's get married. I want to announce it to the world. I won't consummate the marriage with your body; I only want to make it official." Zhang Qiling began seducing him with his voice, lowering it slightly until it was deep and a little husky, intensely sexy. Yu Zhi couldn't resist it. Zhang Qiling had tried it before, and it worked wonderfully every single time!

"All right. Later, we'll hold another grand ceremony." Yu Zhi readily agreed. Hearing that voice in Zhang Qiling's sea of consciousness made even his soul tremble. This is going to be the death of me. If we dual cultivate in the future, won't I drown in him?

"I won't let that happen, A Li. I'll make you show some restraint." Zhang Qiling, a virgin who was a hundred years old when rounded up, began making grand pronouncements. The words he spoke would later turn into a hand that slapped him in the face.

Yu Zhi's old face flushed. He had to find a solution quickly and return to his own body as soon as possible. If this went on, he would truly have neither dignity nor face left; even his underwear had been stripped clean off. Most of all, it was just too embarrassing!

This proved once again that it was perfectly natural for him and Blind Man to be brothers! They were both chatterboxes!