The flush on Wenren Li’s face had nowhere left to hide. He lifted his eyes to meet Chen Yixin’s gaze and asked a question completely unrelated to the current situation. “What is your name?”
“My name is… Rongzhi. Just call me A-Rong…”
For some inexplicable reason, Chen Yixin’s cheeks reddened as well. He could sense the seriousness behind Wenren Li’s question. Although he still did not give his true name, he offered something even more intimate—his courtesy name.
“Are you… A-Hua?”
By the time Chen Yixin asked, he was already nearly certain of the answer. The disillusionment that immediately appeared in his expression was almost impossible to conceal. The man before him was not unattractive—far from it, he was exceptionally handsome—but he looked nothing like the little child Chen Yixin had imagined the sapling would become if it ever took human form.
Wenren Li remained silent for a moment, neither admitting nor denying it.
But to Chen Yixin, failing to deny it was as good as an admission. He would naturally have remained extremely wary of a completely unfamiliar man, but he trusted the little sapling that had accompanied him for so long and shared danger with him.
No longer interested in struggling on his own, Chen Yixin simply collapsed against Wenren Li and became genuinely pitiful this time. “A-Hua, my leg hurts, and I’m hungry…”
After reaching Foundation Establishment, Chen Yixin had long since stopped needing ordinary food. Yet this strange place had not only reduced his cultivation to nothing, it had also turned his body into ordinary mortal flesh that required food and sleep.
Wenren Li had absolutely no defense against Chen Yixin when he behaved like this. The little sapling was him; whatever his spirit form experienced, his soul form and human body could feel as well.
He quietly allowed Chen Yixin to lean against him for a while longer before finally moving. One by one, he disentangled Chen Yixin’s arms and legs from around his body and arranged them properly, then stood and went outside the wooden house to prepare food.
Chen Yixin was not entirely trying to take advantage of Wenren Li. His unusual constitution was suppressed in this place as well, and only through physical contact could he sense anything from Wenren Li.
“A-Hua…” Chen Yixin murmured, the corners of his mouth lifting. “So you’re actually a male ghost who’s also a tree spirit…”
With that observation, Chen Yixin sprawled shamelessly across the bed in an exceptionally unrestrained posture.
Before long, Wenren Li returned carrying a bowl of snake soup made from the enormous python that had chased Chen Yixin earlier. Its meat had become their meal, and even its skin and sinews had not gone to waste.
Once Chen Yixin had eaten his fill, quenched his thirst, and slept enough, he no longer wanted to remain cooped up inside the house.
When Wenren Li came inside to retrieve something, Chen Yixin hopped over on one foot, slipped an arm around him, and promptly hung himself off Wenren Li’s body. “I don’t want to stay inside by myself. Whatever you’re doing, take me with you.”
Wenren Li remained completely unmoved. Chen Yixin’s eyes shifted thoughtfully before he raised both hands, cupped Wenren Li’s face, and rubbed it a couple of times for good measure. “A-Hua, please?”
The name “A-Hua” seemed to possess some peculiar magic over Wenren Li. A flush rose across his cheeks, and although he remained silent, Chen Yixin once again felt the same helplessness the little sapling had always shown toward him.
Wenren Li bent slightly and picked Chen Yixin up, apparently afraid that if he did not give in, Chen Yixin might do something even more outrageous.
Chen Yixin’s lips curved into an especially brilliant smile. The sapling’s weak spot was the male ghost’s weak spot as well—both were afraid of being touched and kissed…
Wenren Li placed Chen Yixin on the only stool outside the house, then went to the edge of the flower field, carried back a wooden stump, and made do with it as his own seat. Only then did he continue working on the snakeskin in his hands. He was making Chen Yixin a set of inner armor.
The wild beasts in this place were exceptionally ferocious, while the methods ordinarily available to cultivators could not be used. They had no choice but to rely on the most primitive forms of defense and hunting.
Chen Yixin no longer chattered incessantly. He simply watched Wenren Li make the armor without looking away, an inexplicable smile lingering constantly on his lips. Whenever Wenren Li occasionally glanced up at him, Chen Yixin’s smile immediately became even more radiant.
There seemed to be no discernible passage of time in this place. Chen Yixin sat there until he began feeling hungry again, and only then did Wenren Li finish the inner armor. Wenren Li stood and walked over to him, whereupon Chen Yixin immediately raised both arms, clearly asking to be carried.
Wenren Li fell silent for a moment, but ultimately did as Chen Yixin wished and carried him back into the house. He then fetched the inner armor and brought it inside. “Put this on.”
“All right.” Chen Yixin agreed, then loosened his outer robes and put on the armor.
Wenren Li watched silently, his gaze falling upon the wounds the wind blades had left across Chen Yixin’s body. He went in and out twice more, placing food, medicinal herbs, and a newly made crutch beside the bed before finally speaking again.
“Don’t leave the valley. Wait here until I return.”
Chen Yixin looked at Wenren Li. He wanted to go with him, but his body was weak and his ankle was still injured, so following along would only make him a burden. He nodded. “Come back soon.”
Wenren Li’s absence amounted to roughly four days in the outside world. When he returned, he carried prey in one hand and a medicine basket on his back. The moment he approached, Chen Yixin caught the overwhelmingly strong scent of blood and frowned in discomfort.
Wenren Li, however, frowned as well. He set down the prey and medicine basket and walked directly toward Chen Yixin.
He slowly crouched in front of him, and before Chen Yixin could understand what he was doing, Wenren Li darkened his expression and plucked the little flower from between Chen Yixin’s lips.
“You’re not allowed to do that anymore…”
Chen Yixin had once held Wenren Li’s flower between his lips. How could he then go around putting the flowers of other plants in his mouth, even if those plants had no sentience?
Chen Yixin blinked, completely baffled, but wisely nodded anyway.
Now that Wenren Li had returned, Chen Yixin no longer wanted to use his crutch. He leaned into Wenren Li’s arms and poked him in the chest. “When are you going to turn back into your true form? If I put your flower in my mouth, then I won’t—”
Before Chen Yixin could finish, Wenren Li abruptly picked him up, deposited him on the bed inside the house, and disappeared again with astonishing speed…
“Could that flower… be some especially sensitive part of him…?” Chen Yixin realized it far too late. Remembering the little sapling’s reactions and Wenren Li’s behavior just now, he fell backward, grabbed a fur blanket, and pulled it over his face.
“I’m doomed, I’m doomed…” Chen Yixin muttered, clawing irritably at the fur beneath the blanket. He had only been teasing a little sapling. How had he somehow ended up doing something practically R-rated?
Wenren Li remained outside the house for quite a while before finally continuing to sort through the medicinal herbs with his cheeks still flushed. By the time he entered the room again, Chen Yixin had completely restored his respectable demeanor. There was no sign whatsoever that he had finally realized what he had been doing, but he also never asked Wenren Li to show him his flower again.
Chen Yixin spent another two months recovering from his injuries and his twisted ankle before he was completely healed. The first time he followed Wenren Li into the forest, he returned injured again. Wenren Li treated his wounds and gathered medicinal herbs for him to soak in medicinal baths, using the process to temper Chen Yixin’s body.
Another half year passed before Chen Yixin finally managed to kill a ferocious beast containing a black crystal entirely on his own.
Chen Yixin pulled the knuckle-sized black crystal from the beast’s sea of consciousness and glanced behind him. Spotting Wenren Li standing far in the distance, he immediately ran toward him at full speed. “For you.”
Chen Yixin placed the black crystal in Wenren Li’s palm, his blood-speckled face breaking into an exceptionally bright smile. Wenren Li abruptly lost himself in the sight. He placed the crystal inside a cloth pouch, then took Chen Yixin’s hand and led him back toward their little valley.
Chen Yixin looked down at their joined hands and blinked softly before quickening his pace to walk beside Wenren Li.
“A-Hua, have you ever thought about how we’re going to leave this place?” It was the first time Chen Yixin had asked the question.
Wenren Li turned to look at Chen Yixin but did not answer. He continued leading him back into the valley, though rather than returning to the wooden house, he brought Chen Yixin to the center of the sea of flowers. “If you want to leave, I can send you away whenever you wish.”
As Wenren Li spoke, the black crystal Chen Yixin had given him flew into the air and sliced across empty space, causing a faint passageway to appear.
Chen Yixin immediately stepped forward, not to enter the passage but to seize the black crystal in his hand. “Did A-Hua forget? I gave this to you. I didn’t give it to you so you could use it to send me away.”
After saying that, Chen Yixin shook off Wenren Li’s hand and stormed angrily toward the house.
Wenren Li turned in mild surprise. He looked down at the hand Chen Yixin had thrown aside, then toward the wooden door that had just been slammed shut, obvious confusion appearing on his face.
A moment later, the door opened again and Chen Yixin called out with a dark expression, “Time to sleep!”
A second, slightly smaller wooden bed had since been added to the house for Wenren Li. Chen Yixin had occupied Wenren Li’s larger bed from the moment he arrived.
Wenren Li had no idea what Chen Yixin was thinking, but he nevertheless returned inside to sleep as instructed. Not long after he closed his eyes to rest, however, he heard Chen Yixin rustling around and climbing out of bed.
Chen Yixin got down and made his way toward Wenren Li. “A-Hua, I had a nightmare. I’m sleeping with you.”
Without waiting for Wenren Li to respond, Chen Yixin squeezed himself onto the bed beside him and stubbornly settled down.
Wenren Li turned onto his side and shifted over to give Chen Yixin more space, then gently placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling off the bed.
The two lay there together without speaking. Chen Yixin actually wanted to say something, but he had not yet figured out his own feelings, much less how to explain them to Wenren Li.
“Go to sleep.” Wenren Li lightly patted Chen Yixin’s shoulder, paused, and then continued patting him.
Chen Yixin pressed his lips together and edged farther into Wenren Li’s arms. Only after a long while did he mutter, “I’m not leaving.”
Even if he eventually left this place, he would have to abduct his A-Hua and take him along.
“All right,” Wenren Li answered softly, then continued patting Chen Yixin’s shoulder with increasing naturalness. He had seen mortals soothe people to sleep this way.
Chen Yixin seemed satisfied with Wenren Li’s response. Instead of continuing to lie stiffly on his back, he turned onto his side and gently wrapped his arms around Wenren Li, though he still insisted stubbornly, “The bed is too small.”
The bed was too small. That was the only reason he had no choice but to hug Wenren Li while they slept.
Wenren Li said nothing, but neither did he push Chen Yixin away.
After that night, Chen Yixin climbed into Wenren Li’s bed for several nights in succession, until they finally abandoned the smaller bed and returned to sharing the wider one. Chen Yixin stopped bothering with excuses as well. Once Wenren Li lay down, Chen Yixin simply rolled straight into his arms.
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