The bed was a scene of utter disarray, with clothes, trousers, shoes, and socks piled in a tangled mess on the floor.
In truth, the physical stamina of a cultivator was incomparable to that of a mortal. Setting aside a few hours, they could easily travel for days on end or spend months refining pills and artifacts simply by circulating their spiritual energy. However, perhaps driven by human nature, neither of them moved.
From the evening’s exertions until the depths of the night, not a single lamp had been lit in the room. Amidst the darkness, Nie Shiyun lazily rolled over.
"Stay here tonight," Nie Shiyun said, resting his hand on Zhai Bairong’s chest.
Zhai Bairong considered it for a moment before finally murmuring a soft, "Alright."
The atmosphere was so pleasant that Nie Shiyun had no desire to get out of bed and tidy the mess on the floor. Instead, he pulled the quilt over them, and the two lay down to sleep.
For cultivators, sleep was not a necessity. Yet, perhaps because they were so profoundly relaxed, both of them slept until the sun was high in the sky the following morning.
Zhai Bairong had once mentioned that he often suffered from nightmares, but this night he slept peacefully, undisturbed until dawn.
When he opened his eyes, Zhai Bairong’s train of thought stalled for a moment. Waking in an unfamiliar environment with the breath of another person behind him, he rolled over, and the memories of the previous night’s frantic experiences gradually flooded back.
Nie Shiyun’s features could not be described as those of a peerlessly beautiful man. Though he was handsome enough, in the eyes of most, he was merely above average. Even when they first met, Zhai Bairong had found him unremarkable—especially compared to the circle of people surrounding himself and Duan Mingyu, Nie Shiyun lacked a strong presence. It was only after spending more time together that Zhai Bairong realized this man was full of wonders and difficult to fathom. Looking back, that sense of mediocrity was likely a deliberate choice on Nie Shiyun's part.
As Zhai Bairong watched him, he noticed Nie Shiyun’s eyeballs move beneath his closed lids. He sighed. "Since you're awake, why pretend to be asleep?"
Nie Shiyun opened his eyes with a smile. "I wanted to wait and see if you’d try anything, considering how long you were staring at me."
"I was just momentarily dazed upon waking," Zhai Bairong said, sitting up. A cultivator’s superficial injuries healed quickly; most of the marks from the previous night had already faded. Without even needing a medicinal draft, they would be entirely gone within half a day.
"Getting up already?" Nie Shiyun propped himself up as well. He was fully awake; had there not been someone lying beside him, he would have risen long ago. Zhai Bairong pulled back the quilt, parted the silken bed curtains, and sat on the edge of the bed to search for his clothes among the heap on the floor. Nie Shiyun wrapped his arms around Zhai Bairong’s waist from behind, pressing his face against the nape of his neck, where his hair was still messy from sleep.
His breath tickled Zhai Bairong’s skin, causing him to instinctively shrink his neck and let out an involuntary laugh.
"Are you ticklish?"
"Stop... ha, don't mess with me..." Zhai Bairong felt Nie Shiyun’s hands wandering over him. He didn't pull away, but he turned his head to speak firmly. Nie Shiyun was merely playing along; he gave Zhai Bairong a quick kiss on the lips before letting go and rising with him.
Though they still maintained a certain level of decorum, the atmosphere between them had clearly shifted. It was as if a tacit understanding of their relationship was quietly taking root.
They had nearly forgotten the serious business they were discussing yesterday amidst their passion. Nie Shiyun showed Zhai Bairong the spirit herbs Qi Miaohan had given him, asking if he could refine them.
"Blue Phosphorus Flower, Ice Spirit Grass... while not exactly rare, they aren't cheap, and you certainly won't find them here in the demon cultivators' territory," Zhai Bairong explained in detail after examining them. "The Pinyin Pavilion has claimed almost all the land in the north suitable for growing spirit herbs. These two items are unique to them; wild ones are very hard to find. It’s fortunate that Fellow Daoist Qi sent these when autumn had already arrived. If it were still summer, their spiritual energy would have likely withered away by now."
Nie Shiyun was speechless, wondering why Qi Miaohan hadn't warned him sooner. He suspected the girl herself probably had only a superficial understanding of her sect’s specialty herbs.
Zhai Bairong decided to refine the pills immediately. Although the spiritual energy of the herbs had weakened slightly, they were still incredibly scarce items in Fanhua City. Qi Miaohan had likely plucked a random handful from the herb garden; all in all, there was enough to refine ten bottles of pills.
In the days that followed, not much seemed to change. However, when Zhai Bairong came to deliver the pills, the frequency of his overnight stays gradually increased. At first, he came once every three to five days, staying for a night or two. Later, it evolved into him staying for three to five days and only returning to his alchemy room once in a while. Nie Shiyun began to feel that renting that alchemy room was a bit of a waste, but there truly was no extra space in his small courtyard to set up another one. The Moon-Reflecting Sect was wealthy and influential; they likely wouldn't care about such a small amount of spirit stones.
Gradually, the house began to fill with another person’s daily necessities. Nie Shiyun found it quite fascinating. There was a line of defense between them, and that was the matter of Duan Mingyu. What Zhai Bairong truly thought and what he planned for the future were topics neither side ever broached. They simply grew more natural in their embraces, their kisses, and their intimacy. They occasionally slept together and woke up in the same bed—it felt like a matter of course, yet no one explicitly stated what kind of relationship this was.
However, Nie Shiyun felt that Duan Mingyu was truly fickle—or perhaps passionate but never devoted. By his count, Zhai Bairong had been traveling away from the Moon-Reflecting Sect for nearly two years, yet the other party had never once sent an inquiry. Perhaps a member of the harem who fell behind in cultivation was no longer recognized as such by the Heavenly Dao? Nie Shiyun occasionally mused on this, thinking that the Heavenly Dao was truly heartless.
Aside from the fact that there was now usually another person in his room, the other major change was that Nie Shiyun finally had time to go out again.
When it came to searching for spirit herbs and hunting for materials, the deeper one went into the forest, the rarer the finds. As a Golden Core cultivator, he was now more suited for this than Zhai Bairong, who remained at the late stage of Foundation Establishment.
Moreover, cultivators must struggle against heaven and against men; ultimately, many things had to be resolved through force. Simply raising one's cultivation level without practical combat experience would not do. Thus, once Zhai Bairong had essentially moved in, Nie Shiyun stopped being a shopkeeper rooted to his store. He began to rotate shifts with Zhai Bairong and started heading out frequently.
In the blink of an eye, the golden autumn leaves of Fanhua City withered and fell. Though not a single snowflake had fallen yet, winter had truly arrived.
Nie Shiyun had long ago set up formations in both the house and the shop, so it remained warm without the need for coal. The tree in the courtyard had lost all its leaves, standing bare and skeletal.
"Going out today?"
Zhai Bairong felt the person beside him move and quickly woke from his light sleep.
"Yeah. I thought I wouldn't wake you... Business hasn't been great lately anyway, so being away for a while shouldn't result in too many backlogged orders."
Nie Shiyun spoke as he pulled on his clothes. In winter, the sun rose late, and it was still pitch black outside. He had a feeling it might snow today.
Fanhua City was true to its name; it was most bustling and prosperous in the spring, followed by summer and autumn. In winter, it seemed to fall into a deep slumber, becoming somewhat lifeless. This was simply because many demon cultivators retained their animal instincts, becoming drowsy in winter or refusing to leave their nests. The same went for the tree and flower spirits, who disliked the cold and hid away early on. Every year at this time, only those demonic beasts without hibernation habits remained active.
"Then I'll trouble you to watch the shop?" Nie Shiyun said, now fully dressed. He turned to look at Zhai Bairong, his words more of a habitual comment than a genuine question.
He remembered hearing somewhere in his previous life that it only took twenty-one days to form a habit. Nie Shiyun felt that might be true. After a few months, he had already grown accustomed to having another person in his room.
Zhai Bairong sat up and smiled. "Of course. I have to pay my rent, after all."
Nie Shiyun laughed it off. In truth, the rent was nothing. He hadn't waived Zhai Bairong’s consignment fees just because their relationship had changed; he still collected them according to the previous standard. However, Zhai Bairong was unwilling to owe him anything, stating clearly that the rent would be offset by his labor in watching the shop whenever Nie Shiyun went out.
The moment he stepped out the door, the chill swept over him. The cold in the Fanhua City region was different from that of the Central Plains; it was a damp, biting cold. Though there were no blizzards or freezing winds whipping his face, it pierced straight to the bone. Nie Shiyun hastily channeled the spiritual energy from his fire root, circulating it through a full cycle to drive back the chill.
The sky was gloomy that day, and even after daybreak, a layer of dark clouds remained. Nie Shiyun had suspected earlier that it might snow, and to his surprise, flakes actually began to drift down midway through his journey. Fanhua City rarely saw more than a few snowfalls an entire winter; this was the first, yet it showed no sign of being a light dusting, seemingly determined to grow heavier.
The Central Plains would also see snow during this time, but in the past, Nie Shiyun had always spent the winter months inside cultivating, and the time would pass in a flash.
Nie Shiyun couldn't help but think that in this kind of weather, it would be quite pleasant to warm up a pot of wine, do some "appropriate things" with someone in a room, and then pass the time casually reading ancient texts. He immediately shook his head helplessly, warning himself not to be so indolent. In a few years, the Great Cultivation Assembly would be held at the Pinyin Pavilion in the Northern Plains. After that, the most important secret realm in the book’s main plot—the Frigid Heaven Secret Realm—would have conditions far worse than these. He had best prepare early.
Because of the snow, the wilderness was even more desolate than usual. Normally, walking deep into the forest would lead to encounters with many high-level spirit beasts or groups of demon cultivators, but today Nie Shiyun walked for a long time without encountering anything. In the south, many spirit herbs withered in winter, and since no unintelligent demonic beasts came seeking their own deaths, he only collected some ores along the way.
After traveling for over two days, Nie Shiyun felt he had entered the depths of the mountain forests. However, the trees across the mountains were now bare, so they didn't block the sun or feel as dark and eerie as they did in other seasons. It was about time to head back, but Nie Shiyun hadn't found much on this trip. Feeling a bit unwilling to return empty-handed, he decided to head a little further up the mountain.
He dared to be so bold partly because many high-cultivation demon cultivators and dangerous beasts were hibernating, and partly because he possessed the Chaos Space, which made him significantly braver than an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.
After several more days of aimless advancement, the snow finally stopped. By now, the entire demon cultivator territory was likely covered in a thick layer of white. If Nie Shiyun didn't have to expend extra spiritual energy to pilot his flying sword to keep his feet from sinking into the snow, he would have been quite happy to admire the scenery.
Eventually, Nie Shiyun’s spiritual energy began to run low, and he was forced to find a spot by a spiritual stream to rest. Sitting down, he consumed two top-grade Spirit-Replenishing Pills without a hint of heartache. He closed his eyes to guide his energy, and soon felt his body recover seventy to eighty percent.
He couldn't help but marvel again; knowing an alchemist was indeed a great advantage.
Despite the snow, the spiritual stream here had not yet frozen over. Adopting the mindset that he shouldn't leave empty-handed since he was already here, Nie Shiyun took out several empty jars, intending to fill them with stream water to take back for brewing wine or tea.
Just as he had filled two or three earthenware jars and placed them securely in his storage ring, a small but extremely conspicuous object suddenly caught his eye.
He squinted his eyes to look closely, confirming that he wasn't hallucinating from staring at the repetitive snowy landscape for too many days.
...There was a patterned egg, drifting down the stream.
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 蓝燐花 | Blue Phosphorus Flower | A rare spirit herb unique to the Pinyin Pavilion. |
| 冰灵草 | Ice Spirit Grass | A rare spirit herb unique to the Pinyin Pavilion. |
| 寒天秘境 | Frigid Heaven Secret Realm | A major secret realm mentioned in the original novel's plot. |
| 回灵丹 | Spirit-Replenishing Pill | A pill used to recover spiritual energy (mana). |
| 瓦罐 | Earthenware jar | A simple ceramic container. |
