"Remember."
Under Yu Sheng's probing, Zhan Xiaotian gave a definite answer.
He remembered his origins and knew that he was not a complete person.
Yu Sheng continued asking, "Then do you know who the other two parts are?"
Zhan Xiaotian looked at him, but instead of directly answering, he responded, "What does it matter whether I know or not?"
"You are a part of a divine being walking the mortal world, and the other two parts are Yin Wangzhi and Wen Jiu. They are your junior brothers, but they are also one with you," Yu Sheng explained gently.
"Master, whatever you say, I am willing to listen. Since you say the three of us are one, then it must be true," Zhan Xiaotian said nonchalantly, his brows slightly raising. "But Master, aside from your words, I truly can't feel that I am one with them. We are nothing alike, and we’ve never shared any kind of bond. I dare say that even ordinary twins would seem more alike than us."
"A serious person will also have a playful side, and a flamboyant person will sometimes show restraint. The human heart is complex, and it’s normal for different facets of one’s personality to be separated," Yu Sheng explained patiently. "When your sword spirit took form, strictly speaking… the personality and actions it displayed were also a part of you, but it really didn’t resemble you much at all…"
Mentioning the sword spirit incident, Zhan Xiaotian's face flushed, as if he had been caught off guard. His tone softened as he spoke, "Okay, okay… It is as you say. Since Master insists, I have no objections..."
Yu Sheng was puzzled. "What objections?"
He had only briefly mentioned that the three of them were one person. He hadn’t even gotten into what they were going to do next, yet Zhan Xiaotian had already agreed? Agreed to what?
Zhan Xiaotian looked at him with an expression of willing submission, his eyes burning with sincerity. He gently took Yu Sheng's hand and said solemnly, "Master, someone as amazing as you obviously deserves to be served and accompanied by all of us. I will try my best to get along with my junior brothers. As long as you spend one-third of your time with me, I will be content."
Yu Sheng: ???
Why does this sound so strange?
Yu Sheng: "Wait a minute, why do you want to divide the time into three parts?"
Zhan Xiaotian thought for a moment and then replied, "Ah... so you don’t want it to be evenly split? Then, depending on your mood, you can call me over when you feel like it, and when you’re not in the mood, you can have the other disciples come to warm your bed?"
What kind of nonsense is this!?
Yu Sheng rubbed his forehead in frustration. After a long exchange, he finally realized what Zhan Xiaotian was thinking.
Zhan Xiaotian thought he wanted to be in a relationship with all three disciples at once? And rotate between them?
What?!
Yu Sheng pointed his finger at Zhan Xiaotian’s forehead, watching as he staggered back slightly. Then, with a mix of annoyance and amusement, he said, "Who said anything about that? What I meant was, are you willing to return to your original state?"
"Return to my original state? Why would I want that? Don't you like it this way, Master?"
Yu Sheng touched his head. "I like both. Returning to the original state means you three will reunite as one and become gods again."
Zhan Xiaotian: "If we become gods, can we make Master live forever and no longer suffer from illness? In that case, it's definitely worth it."
"Not exactly... It will just save the Three Realms," Yu Sheng said. "If you don't like it, then there's no need to return. I will stay here with you. If the Three Realms can be saved, we will save it. If not, we will face everything together."
Zhan Xiaotian froze after hearing this, seemingly not expecting Master to give up so easily. After just a few words, he no longer insisted or tried to persuade him. Everything that happened today felt almost too good to be true, like it was fake.
At the same time, Yin Wangzhi also woke up in the Ghost Realm. Unlike Zhan Xiaotian, the Ghost King's subordinates were not good at taking care of people. Only a few ambitious and daring ghosts took the opportunity to show their favor, hoping to receive rewards when the Ghost King woke up.
Sure enough, as soon as Yin Wangzhi woke up, he saw Yu Sheng, who had turned into a ghost and was guarding the bedside. His pupils suddenly contracted, and killing intent spread out. The two attendants in the room immediately knelt and trembled in fear.
He thought his Master had already died, and after death, became a ghost, which was why he stayed by his side. This was not the outcome he wanted. He thought that it was because he hadn't protected his Master well that things had turned out this way.
The immense emotional turmoil activated his inner demons, almost worsening his injury. Yu Sheng quickly calmed him down for a long while, preventing him from rushing out to cause trouble with the Heavenly Dao.
He told Yin Wangzhi that everyone eventually dies, and that he was just a mortal, though his lifespan was longer due to cultivation.
But Yin Wangzhi was different.
"Master actually has something to say, right?"
Yu Sheng was surprised by his sharpness and nodded.
Yin Wangzhi even guessed it directly, "If I become a god and work with the other two detestable people, would that mean we can bring Master back to life? There shouldn’t be anything that gods can't accomplish in this world."
"This is not my intention," Yu Sheng explained. "I don’t want to use my life to threaten you, to force you to do what I say. Whether I am alive or a ghost, it doesn’t matter. To you, isn’t it still me?"
Yin Wangzhi did not speak.
"If the gods descend again, the Three Realms can be saved. Saving this world, isn’t it better than saving a particular person?"
"You always put these lofty ideals in your heart. I almost thought you and Zhan Xiaotian had more common ground."
"You actually don’t want to save the Three Realms, nor do you want me to do these things, right?" Yu Sheng asked him in return. "If you don’t want to, then forget it. I will stay with you here, until the Three Realms completely separate, collapse, and the world enters its end. I will never leave."
"You..."
Yu Sheng leaned in, gave him a hug, and softly whispered in his ear, "It was my fault for leaving without notice and forgetting so many things. Don’t be sad anymore."
The red in Yin Wangzhi’s eyes gradually faded, slowly returning to calm.
"This is what you said."
—
In the Spirit Realm, Wen Jiu was pinning his master, now in a spiritual form, beneath him, staring at him without blinking.
"Is what you said true?"
"Absolutely true."
"You won’t leave again… Is it really my luck?" Wen Jiu murmured softly. "Master, you’ve really made your decision? You’re not even going to take back that Linglong Snail?"
Yu Sheng smiled. "With you here, how could I worry about not having a good place to stay?"
"Master’s clothes are a mess again..." Wen Jiu took a deep breath. Although his body’s injuries didn’t affect him, his self-control clearly regressed after the distraction.
Yu Sheng smiled and looked at him. "Yeah, I just became a spirit and forgot how to handle these details. Do you remember, my disciple?"
So, Wen Jiu spent the entire night arranging his master’s clothes.
Spirit Realm Yu Sheng: I succeeded in seduction!
Ghost Realm Yu Sheng: Congratulations! Me too
Human Realm Yu Sheng: "..."
After a night of warmth and some idle chatter, Yu Sheng woke up in Wen Jiu’s embrace, his lashes brushing against his collarbone. As he recalled the important matters, he spoke up.
"Wen Jiu, do you like your master?" Yu Sheng’s head poked out from the blankets, nudging upward, looking as if he were asking for a sweet reply.
Wen Jiu immediately leaned down, pressing his lips to Yu Sheng's, kissing him gently, slowly, until things nearly escalated before he finally let go. "I love you, always have, always will."
Yu Sheng was left stunned by the kiss, unable to remember his next line, stammering in response. Another kiss landed on his forehead, nose, and the corner of his eyes, making his head feel warm and fuzzy, and he nearly fell back asleep, his eyes closed, reluctant to get up.
After a while, he finally realized something was off. Struggling to open his eyelids, he grasped a small piece of fabric at Wen Jiu's chest and whispered, "You've actually been alive for a long, long time, haven’t you? I know you’re not an ordinary spirit. In all those years, didn’t you ever have someone else you liked?"
Wen Jiu smiled. "Sounds like someone’s jealous. How fortunate I am, to be the one who makes you jealous, instead of competing with others for your affections."
Yu Sheng blinked at him, eyes determined—no way was he letting him change the topic.
"Alright," Wen Jiu finally conceded, "To answer you seriously, from start to finish, I’ve only had feelings for you."
He then subtly added, "I’m just a spirit, not some common wild beast. I don’t go through heat cycles, and I’m not a ghost driven by desire. I only need a companion if I want one."
Far away, both Zhan Xiaotian and Yin Wangzhi felt a slight itch in their noses, as if they were about to sneeze.
"Really?" Yu Sheng smiled mischievously at him. "But I heard..."
"Heard what?" Wen Jiu leaned in to kiss him again, as if teasing him on purpose, pulling away for a moment and then pecking his lips again, "Heard that I had someone I deeply loved once, but they abandoned me?"
Yu Sheng: "... How do you know so much detail?"
Also, what’s with the 'abandoned' part?!
Yu Sheng: "…Why do you say it so specifically…?"
And what’s with the 'abandoned' part?!
Wuwuwu, he really does seem like such a jerk.
Wen Jiu didn’t shy away at all. "Because I can probably guess what Master knows," he said plainly. "There’s something I haven’t always hidden from you. Nearly two hundred years ago, I did encounter a spirit."
Eh?
Yu Sheng raised a hand to cover his mouth, trying to prevent any more kisses while listening to his "confession."
It turned out that in Wen Jiu’s mind, the current him and the past him—who had become a spirit and traveled back in time—could truly be considered the same person, though there had been a small misunderstanding in the middle.
According to the rules of the Three Realms, when a spirit finishes its 'life,' it reincarnates into a human. After bidding farewell to him in the past, Wen Jiu waited, but the spirit never returned. He couldn’t find him again. When he met Yu Sheng, he noticed some similarities and mistakenly thought that the Yu Sheng in front of him—his master—was the person the spirit had reincarnated into.
Time-wise, it actually lined up because Yu Sheng was born into this world after that time.
"Master, I’ve been looking for you for a long, long time..."
"Whether it’s the past life, this life, or the next life... no matter how many times you reincarnate, I’ll look for you every time. I’ll never let go."
After hearing a lot of sweet words, Yu Sheng, who had just poked his head out of the blanket, felt his face grow a bit hot. He quickly buried himself back into the covers, hiding the side of him that seemed a bit less dignified for a master.
Once he had calmed himself and regained his composure, Yu Sheng finally spoke in a soft voice, "I’ll try not to make it so hard for you to find me in the future..."
Yu Sheng from the human world received an urgent message, urging him to address the body merging matter, and only then did he remember to mention his background, the merging, and the mission to save the three realms to Wen Jiu.
He had expected Wen Jiu's reaction to the merging to be similar to the other two—either strongly rejecting it or showing reluctance. However, Wen Jiu's first thought was about what would happen to Yu Sheng's next reincarnation if the three realms couldn’t be saved.
In Wen Jiu’s logic, if after the separation of the three realms, Yu Sheng would still reincarnate and remain unaffected, it would be better to focus on narrowing the search range and not worry about the three realms. But if Yu Sheng would no longer have a next life, then the three realms must be saved.
Yu Sheng in the human world: Third disciple is so clever...
Yu Sheng in the ghost world: Yin Wangzhi has started looking for immortal elixirs that could make me live longer than the world itself. I also think Wen Jiu’s brain is sharp.
Yin Wangzhi furrowed his brows, feeling a sense of something. He glanced at Yu Sheng beside him, noticing a faint, mischievous smile on his face, making him feel a tickling sensation in his heart.
To relieve this itch, Yin Wangzhi directly embraced him, casually finding an excuse of "dreaming that the master doesn't want me anymore and is going to find other disciples" to act recklessly.
The next few days were relatively calm.
After each Yu Sheng reassured and took care of their respective disciples, they found an opportunity, arranged the necessary matters, and began establishing the teleportation arrays one by one.
The disciples suddenly became very agreeable. Before Yu Sheng could finish his first sentence, just saying "I want..." would immediately be met with responses like "Okay," "Sure," or "What do you want to do? Do you need help?"
Yu Sheng in the ghost realm came a few times, finding Yin Wangzhi so adorable that he deliberately teased him, first saying, "I want..."
Once Yin Wangzhi slowly said "Okay," Yu Sheng finally finished speaking, saying,
"Abstain for a month."
After one night, Yu Sheng swore never to make such jokes again.
About nine days later, the magic arrays, located at the borders between the three realms, which could somewhat serve as a replacement for the 'walls,' were established.
Since only one was created at a time, this method also successfully avoided the three disciples from meeting each other, thus preventing any slip-ups.
The system finally couldn't sit still any longer. After Yu Sheng and the others had spent another ten days indulging in luxury, decadence, and aimlessness, the system sent them a message.
System: Host? Are you there? Are you sure you’re not going to try saving this world anymore?
Yu Shengs: "..."
System: I thought those actions before were just temporary measures, just a tactical retreat. Don't tell me you're serious? Has your brain turned to mush because of the romance?
Yu Shengs: ... Hey, if the mission fails, will I disappear?
The system's voice sounded especially cold: You will be buried with this world.
Yu Shengs: (in unison) Yay!
Just before the system was about to glitch, Yu Shengs finally felt a twinge of conscience.
Yu Sheng from the human realm: Alright, let's get serious. I feel like it’s not settled yet. System, don’t be so pessimistic, we still have time. You see, the hostility between the three protagonists has already decreased a little, right? They no longer fight and think of killing each other every day, and the situation in the three realms seems to have improved slightly.
System: It’s because of this that I actually believed in the so-called ‘tactical retreat’...
Ghost realm Yu Sheng: "Don't worry, system. After all, we are one person. Some things don't even need to be discussed, we'll just act in perfect harmony."
System: "Oh, so I misunderstood. You actually have something planned after all?"
Human realm Yu Sheng: "Yes, I plan to wait until Xiaotian's sword spirit issue is completely resolved before trying to merge them. Recently, he's also started looking for ways to extend my life. I guess if he can't find anything, he'll still think of becoming a god or something."
Ghost realm Yu Sheng: "Is that so? I plan to just tell Wangzhi that I’m not dead, I've become three of them."
Spirit realm Yu Sheng: "Eh? Didn't we agree to just grow old together and not care about anything else? I still really like that past-life-present-life idea..."
System: "So this is the 'harmony' and 'consistency' you promised?"
Yu Shengs: "..."
After yet another discussion, Yu Shengs unanimously decided to wait until the situation with the three disciples stabilized before coming clean with them.
Yin Wangzhi's inner demon quickly disappeared. Zhan Xiaotian's sword spirit was reshaped once again. Though still thick-skinned and quite punchable, it looked much more stable now, no longer experiencing loss of control, and there was no need for various talismans to suppress it anymore.
However, plans couldn’t keep up with changes. Before Yu Sheng could actively reveal the truth, the three protagonists noticed something was off.
After all, they had discovered the characteristics of the split Yu Sheng back then, so it wasn’t hard for them to notice now. They had just been caught up in the surprise earlier and hadn't realized it.