"Fine, if my presence can help you, then I will stay by your side," Bai Shijue said, much to Han Shun’s joy.
He continued refining his qi under the waterfall while staring at Bai Gege. Though none of them got wet because of Han Shun that could diver the falling water to avoid them both.
Han Shun meditated until late at night, and then he started getting sleepy. He was really strong and had great talent, indeed. But he still had a mortal body. He slowly got weaker and sleepier, so Bai Shijue decided that it was enough.
He grabbed Han Shun by his collar and dragged him out of the waterfall. He carried Han Shun in his arm and flew away from the waterfall.
"Bai Gege? I’m not done with my practice...."
"That’s more than enough. You need to replenish your energy as well. You still have a mortal body, so you need food and sleep."
"So that means, if I have an immortal body, I don’t need to sleep anymore?" Han Shun asked.
"No, you don’t need food or sleep. You can eat, of course. But you’re not obliged to because you don’t feel natural hunger or exhaustion," Bai Shijue replied as he carried Han Shun back to the residence.
Han Sun buried his face in Bai Gege’s chest right now. He could smell the faint scent of sweet flowers exuding from Bai Gege’s body. He had a certain craving for this scent because this was Bai Gege’s natural scent, something that was comforting for him.
"Bai Gege, does that mean you’ve never slept when I was sleeping?"
...
"Does that mean you have been heating up the residence with your fire technique and also guarded me every night from danger?"
...
Bai Shijue refused to reply because he didn’t want Han Shun to feel indebted.
Though, the answer for both was the same.
Yes, he never fell asleep because he wanted to protect Han Shun from danger. He also warmed Han Shun’s courtyard every night, so the young boy could sleep peacefully even during a harsh winter.
"Bai Gege, do you care about me that much?"
...
"I care about you too, Bai Gege. I want to be with you every second. I want to keep my eyes on you...." Han Shun said. He didn’t care if Bai Gege refused to say anything. As long as he could stay with Bai Gege, then anything didn’t matter.
’Bai Gege, if I have become an immortal like you. I will never need to sleep, so I can watch you everywhere. Every second of your life, I can keep looking at you, standing close by your side, and guarding you against any harm,’ Han Shun swore in his heart with determination.
They arrived at the residence late at night. Bai Shijue landed in the courtyard and put Han Shun down.
"Go and take a warm bath. You will get sick," Bai Shijue said. "I already make the water hot enough for you, then we can have dinner."
"Yes, thank you, Bai Gege!"
As usual, Han Shun took a bath and then joined with Bai Gege for dinner under the Plum Blossom tree.
This was very much heaven for Han Shun. Because he got to be with his Bai Gege for almost 24 hours. It was too bad that he had to sleep, so he couldn’t stay with Bai Gege for a few hours every day.
"Bai Gege, please don’t leave me alone, okay? Han Shun will work my hardest, so I can be strong enough to go with you."
"You don’t need to hurry. There are plenty of times," Bai Shijue said.
**
After Han Shun returned to his courtyard to sleep, Bai Shijue sat alone playing his guqin to fill the empty night.
Pupa materialized in front of Yunyu and then said, "Don’t you realize that Han Shun will be the same Han Ye 2.0?"
Yunyu stopped playing his guqin and frowned, "Wait, what kind of Han Ye are we talking about? Is it the batshit insane Han Ye Gege, or naturally obsessed with me God Han Ye?"
"Both!" Pupa said. "You should set up a boundary as soon as possible if you don’t want him to get obsessed with you. Don’t you see what happened when they do?"
Bai Yunyu remembered how dramatic and messy it was when the soul shard of Han Ye Gege actually fell in love with him. In any world, it would be crazy messy.
This was the last world he would do to complete all the 15 transmigration worlds. Yunyu didn’t want this one to be a mess as well.
But judging from Han Shun’s dependency and how his cultivation works, it seemed that he was bound to be with Han Shun for a good while.
"Don’t you see that he cannot cultivate without staring at me?" Yunyu said. "I don’t think I can set any boundary right now. Because his key cultivation involves me, maybe after he is strong enough that he could cultivate without actually meditating."
"We also need to find a new person for him. Han Shun is still young, don’t lock him up with only yourself around," Pupa said. "Or maybe give him a pet to take care of. At least that would be a proper distraction, right?"
"Oh, that’s a great idea! But I don’t think we can take care of a regular pet. Because we’re going to go to the immortal realm sooner or later, that means we need something from the forest of lost mist as a pet," Yunyu said. "Probably something small that can accompany Han Shun when I’m not around, so he wouldn’t constantly think about me."
Bai Yunyu got up and patted his robe to clean it. He had one idea in mind.
To find a cute pet for Han Shun, this was the least he could do to avoid Han Shun developing feelings for him.
"Oh, Pupa, I wonder about something."
"What?"
"Are you considered a pet or not?"