The two artifact spirits returned to their Heaven-defying artifacts 'reluctantly' when it started getting dark since there was not a place for them to stay, seeing the two's reluctance, Zi Hua and He Li knew they had made the right choice in staying together, not realizing that it was only half the truth.
He Li had a storage ring which was given to him by his master so he brought out some ingredients from it.
"What's that?" He Li inquired after seeing the stove.
"Oh this? It's a stove, it's portable and doesn't require a fire to be lit"
"Woah, could I borrow it? I'll cook tonight's dinner" He Li offered, he liked cooking thanks to his hermit of a master treating him like a chef half the time, he eventually got used to it and didn't mind.
"Sure, thanks" Zi Hua wasn't too good at cooking either, since she had arrived here, she had always eaten food made by others apart from last evening, the food she made was... lets just say 'slightly' worse than the food made by her subordinates.
"Thanks" He Li then started to cook, whipping up several dishes of food.
Zi Hua was enticed by the aroma, she had always thought that Xiao Shen's cooking was the best despite his self-made recipes being rather... no comment, but now she was drooling from just the smell of the food.
"Thank you for the food!" The two started eating, Zi Hua found herself eating much more than usual despite not being too big of a fan of food and usually preferring desserts instead.
"That was delicious!" He Li was suddenly feeling shy from the compliment(s), his master had always called his food mediocre so he had always tried to improve his cooking.
"Thank you, but my master's cooking is even better" His master loved delicious food and could make it but was always too lazy and told him to cook instead.
If his master was still alive and met Xue Lian, the two of them would probably become good friends.
"You can go take a shower first" Zi Hua took out the portable shower and offered.
"Thank you, I won't be reserved and take the offer" He didn't have all those stuff like Zi Hua so he had only cleaned himself by pouring water over himself and didn't get the luxury to have a proper shower for the past few days.
After he had a shower, Zi Hua did too, by the time that they were both finished, it was already dark.
"I'll go hop into a tree and sleep, we're not in the desert yet" He Li quickly said, his brain was getting fuzzy.
"Wait, you've been lucky the past few days that you've been here but there are plenty of poisonous insects and plants" Zi Hua was worried that he would get poisoned, if he did Xiao Ling would be sad, although she had antidotes to the poisons but it was better to be safe than sorry, that has always been one of her mottoes.
"The tent is spacious so it won't be cramped" Hearing this He Li had no choice but to agree, he didn't have the heart to reject her kind intentions.
They wore the outfits that were meant to wear in the desert to sleep since it can be cleaned with a bit of spiritual power and it was rather comfortable.
The two went inside the tent, there was a comfy mat of the floor as well as pillows and blankets, the tent was spacious and if needed, could fit three people with space to spare to store other things.
Zi Hua and He Li slept back to back.
*Badumph* *Badumph*
They were so nervous that they could hear their own heartbeats, thankfully (or not) the two were back to back so they couldn't see the redness on each others' faces.