Yin Yan's gaze fell on his slightly parted lips. His hand suddenly moved forward and fed the pill into his mouth.

The emerald-green pill melted the moment it entered his mouth. A faint medicinal and plant-like fragrance spread through his mouth. Yu Zhen reflexively closed his mouth, catching Yin Yan's fingers, which he hadn't had time to withdraw, between his lips.

The two of them froze in unison, raising their eyes to look at each other.

Thump, thump, thump.

Unsure whose heartbeat was drumming wildly in his ears, Yu Zhen jerked back, pressing his lips together and staring wide-eyed at Yin Yan, unable to speak.

Yin Yan withdrew his hand, his expression still calm, as if nothing had just happened. He even had the leisure to tidy his sleeve, lean back a little against the sofa, and say, "Don't be afraid. It's just the lowest-grade Heart-Nourishing Pill. It can calm the mind and focus the spirit."

The drumming heartbeat in his ears quickly faded, as if everything that had just happened was merely his illusion.

Yu Zhen raised a hand to touch his chest and found no sign of his heart racing. He pressed it doubtfully. The medicinal effect of the Heart-Nourishing Pill quickly soothed his tense nerves, diverting his attention.

"Heart-Nourishing Pill?" He lowered his hand and scooted a little closer to Yin Yan, his gaze falling curiously on his hand. "Where did you get that from? Is it magic?"

Yin Yan raised his hand again. Yu Zhen flinched back reflexively. After realizing what he'd done, he froze awkwardly. He carefully glanced up at Yin Yan's still-expressionless face, turned his head to give a low cough, and silently shifted his body back.

"You see, I-I was just surprised, yes, surprised. I didn't mean to dodge you, really."

A textbook case of protesting one's innocence too much.

Yin Yan waited for him to get closer before flicking his forehead. Then he opened his palm, turned it over so the back of his hand was facing up, and replied, "The Heart-Nourishing Pill came from my Mustard Seed Space. The Mustard Seed Space exists in my Sea of Consciousness, and the key to enter and exit is the ring on our hands."

Yu Zhen was stunned by the forehead flick, which felt like an adult chiding a child. Then, he struggled to digest his words and was utterly dumbfounded.

"The ring on our hands? Us?"

He held out his ringed hand. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he suddenly felt the ring on his hand growing hot.

"Your fate and mine are linked, and we are both Remnant Souls. To reopen my Sea of Consciousness, using a contract token was the only way."

Yin Yan held his hand. His palm was hot, as if power was flowing through it. "You've encountered ghosts twice, and the accumulated power was finally enough to open my Sea of Consciousness. But the Mustard Seed Space is special. With your current soul body's strength, you can't open and use it smoothly yet, so this is all we can do for now."

The slight heat slowly faded, replaced by a strange feeling of connection in his heart.

Yin Yan moved his hand away, and with a "poof," a small, white, fluffy animal, only the size of a palm, appeared in Yu Zhen's hand.

Yu Zhen's eyes widened instantly, and his outstretched palm froze.

"This is the Realm Spirit of the Mustard Seed Space. If I'm not with you, you can call it if you need anything."

Yin Yan explained, lightly tapping the head of the little animal curled into a ball. He then withdrew his hand and leaned back against the sofa.

After the light tap, the animal's curled-up body stirred. Its small paws padded on Yu Zhen's palm, then it stretched its body in a big yawn, stood up, looked up at Yu Zhen, and opened its mouth: "Meow~"

Yu Zhen let out the breath he was holding. Looking at the tiny cat, which was only the size of his palm even when stretched out, he asked doubtfully, "A cat?" It was a kitten, as small as could be.

"It has merely taken the form of a domestic cat. Its true form is a pagoda, named Xu Wu."

Xu Wu.

Yu Zhen repeated this neutral yet imposing name to himself. He then looked at the dorky and adorable white kitten in his hand, with its big head and cute face. He really couldn't bring himself to call it by that name. Unable to suppress his love for cute things, he gently rubbed its head, looked into its dark, round eyes, and asked in a soft voice, "How about I call you Xiao Wu from now on? Do you agree?"

Having slept for many years, Xu Wu had also degenerated into its initial, ignorant state because its master's power had been greatly damaged and his soul was incomplete. Hearing his words, it tilted its head, padded on his palm again, and lowered its head to sniff his scent. It then sat down obediently and docilely, flicking its tail lightly. "Meow~"

"I'll take that as a yes."

Yu Zhen showed a rare, very obvious happy smile. Just as he was about to bring it into his arms, there was a sudden knock on the lounge door. Then, his hand felt light, the ring grew hot, and the kitten in his palm disappeared.

Yin Yan caught his empty hand at the right moment, giving it a gentle squeeze to stop the soft gasp that was about to escape his lips. He said to the door, "Come in."

Having connections makes things easy. In less than half an hour, Yin Yan went from being a dirt-poor Remnant Soul to a super-rich Remnant Soul.

After confirming the transfer information, Yin Yan, with Yu Zhen in tow, left the jewelry store under the respectful send-off of the manager. They went directly to the men's clothing section on the fourth floor and entered a shop with a minimalist style.

"You're buying clothes?"

Yu Zhen barely managed to keep his tone steady, hypnotizing himself into ignoring the terrifying prices on the clothing tags. He asked with a "calm" expression.

"Mhm."

Yin Yan nodded, his gaze sweeping over the racks. He pointed to a white sweater and said to the sales associate waiting quietly at a polite distance, "This one, in his size, thank you."

"One moment." The sales associate immediately stepped forward. Her gaze wasn't overly presumptuous, so she didn't notice Yu Zhen's eyes suddenly widening.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Yin Yan turned back at the right moment, stopping Yu Zhen's imminent refusal with a look. He said matter-of-factly, "All your clothes were buried under the rubble. You need to buy new ones."

"But we don't need to buy this..."

"We do." Yin Yan cut him off, casually pointing to a plain-colored shirt for the associate to get in his size. Then he walked to Yu Zhen's side and said in a low voice, "The Yin Family's business in B City is very large. Right now, I am Yin Yan, and you are Yin Yan's partner. We're not just wearing clothes; we're wearing the Yin Family's face."

"..."

Yu Zhen remembered the meeting gift from Chou Feiqian, which was in the tens of thousands. He swallowed the words of refusal, and when the sales associate returned with the clothes, he proactively reached out, took them, and went into the fitting room.

A shirt, a sweater, a cashmere coat, trousers, shoes, a belt... The old clothes came off one by one, and the well-fitting new clothes went on one by one. Yu Zhen was like a pearl that had been wiped clean of dust, finally revealing its original, brilliant luster.

Without the oversized, old-fashioned, and bulky padded clothes obscuring him, his figure finally became clear.

A well-proportioned yet slightly slender body, somewhere between a teenager's and a young man's, with long limbs, beautiful lines of the shoulders and neck, and a gracefully curved nape... All these details, previously hidden by the bulky padded clothes, were now revealed. When he turned slightly to the side, the line extending from his jaw down his neck to his shoulder was so perfect it made one want to pull him into an embrace.

But Yin Yan took a step back—a large one at that.

Yu Zhen, who happened to turn his head and see this: "..."

He shifted his neck uncomfortably and stopped looking at himself in the mirror.

Having lost the protection of the padded coat's stand-up collar, he felt that his half-exposed neck was a bit chilly, making him wish he could pull the shirt collar up higher.

"Is it weird?" he looked at Yin Yan and asked in a low voice, tugging at the cuff of his coat.

Yin Yan came back to his senses, though no one noticed he had been lost in thought.

He didn't answer Yu Zhen's question. Instead, he turned his head to the sales associate waiting quietly to the side and said, "We'll take all of these. Also, please get me a scarf, a soft one."

The sales associate nodded and turned to pick out a scarf. Yu Zhen couldn't help but move closer to Yin Yan, and then Yin Yan took another step back.

"...Do I have germs on me?" Yu Zhen stopped and asked numbly.

Yin Yan moved his gaze from Yu Zhen's neck to his face, then to the top of his head, and answered irrelevantly, "Almost there."

Yu Zhen met this with silence, wordlessly broadcasting signals of frustration and anger.

The sales associate returned with a scarf. It was camel-colored, made of wool, very soft, and also quite thick.

Yin Yan took the scarf, finally willing to approach. He went forward and wrapped the scarf around his head, not stopping until it covered his neck and most of his face. Then, he gently patted his head and turned to follow the sales associate to the checkout.

A fleeting, tingling, and numbing sensation rose in his heart, but Yu Zhen had no time to notice it. His attention was completely focused on the scarf that had overwhelmingly enveloped him, and he fumbled to free his nose from its confinement.

By the time he could breathe fresh air again, the culprit who had just angered him was already gone, and that tingling sensation in his heart had also vanished.

"Always saying things people can't understand..."

He furrowed his brows and muttered under his breath. After realizing he was complaining, he paused for a moment, touched the soft scarf around his neck, lowered his head, and buried most of his face in it again.

After buying the clothes, Yin Yan maintained a polite distance of two steps from Yu Zhen and led him into a high-end hair salon on the floor below.

"Fix his choppy bangs."

After saying this to the hairstylist, Yin Yan walked over to the lounge sofa, sat down, and casually picked up a magazine to flip through.

Yu Zhen glanced at his calm, almost cold side profile, then sat down in the chair with a sullen face. On a whim, he said to the hairstylist, "I want to shave my head."

"Only Buddhist Cultivators need to shave their heads." Yin Yan didn't look up, speaking calmly, "The Yin Family people don't like bald heads. Neither do I."

"..."

Now I want to shave it even more!

Yu Zhen glanced at the hairstylist's bewildered expression, swallowed his sudden bout of willfulness, and said considerately, "Then... just a buzz cut. You can do whatever you think is best."

The hairstylist fell silent upon hearing this. He looked back and forth between the two of them and decisively banished the words "buzz cut," which were a grave insult to his aesthetic and skills, from his mind, choosing to selectively hear only the words "do whatever you think is best."

He gave a reserved smile, observed Yu Zhen's facial features, and his eyes lit up as an idea formed in his mind.

After a series of trimming, cutting, blow-drying, and styling that took a full two hours, Yu Zhen was finally let out of the chair by the assertive and domineering hairstylist.

The person in the mirror still had black hair, with no messy curls or random dyes. His hair looked neater and more voluminous than before, looking very soft and touchable.

His bangs had been completely restyled, revealing his forehead. The hair at his temples had also been trimmed, and his hair was a lot shorter overall, accentuating his facial features, especially his brows and eyes.

In short, it looked very good—strikingly handsome, yet not in an overly deliberate way. It appeared very natural and casual.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Yin Yan, who had at some point put down his magazine and was now standing behind him, raised a hand and covered his newly styled hair. He then took out the scarf Yu Zhen had removed earlier and once again wrapped it around his head, covering up all his handsome, now-exposed features.

Yu Zhen, whose vision was completely blocked by the scarf: "..."

Was his face that unpresentable? His hands started to itch again, probably from the urge to hit someone.