In times of extreme fear, the human body can unleash limitless potential.

For example, at this moment, Yu Zhen, who usually wasn't very strong, was somehow managing to hold back Old Huang, who had built up considerable strength from farm work, refusing to let Old Huang drag him away no matter what.

Old Huang was amused by his childlike avoidance. He stopped pulling, turned back to pry his hands off the pillar he was hugging, and coaxed, "You silly child, the person sitting outside isn't some kind of monster. Besides, don't you have me with you? Come on, let go. Be good."

Yu Zhen continued to shake his head, wishing he could wrap his legs around the pillar as well. A fierce coldness flooded his body, his thoughts started to become sluggish again, his lips turned purple, and it seemed even breathing had become difficult.

"Why are your hands so cold? Are you sick?"

Old Huang clearly felt the temperature of the hand he was prying away slowly dropping. Seeing that Yu Zhen's complexion was truly awful, not just from fear, he quickly raised his hand to touch his forehead.

"Aiya! Why is your forehead so cold!"

Yu Zhen could no longer hear any external sounds, nor could he feel anyone's touch. He only felt cold, very cold. Every cell in his body was telling him this, hoping he could save himself.

Thud.

The Peach Wood Sword he was clutching fell to the ground. His consciousness seemed to be drifting away. He faintly heard a strange ringing of a bell, and felt an invisible black shadow approaching, trying to lure his soul away.

"Disperse."

In his hazy, chaotic world, a familiar, slightly cool voice suddenly sounded in his ear. Then, all at once, the bell ringing vanished, his consciousness returned, and the sounds of the outside world reappeared. Before him was a pair of long legs wrapped in black trousers.

"Mr. Yin, something's wrong with Yu Zhen. I think he's sick."

"He's just too cold."

A warm aura came from in front of him. Yu Zhen's hands, which were hugging the pillar, gradually loosened, and he reached forward. In his sluggish mind, there was no room for superfluous emotions like fear, only the instinctual desire to survive.

Survive. I want to survive.

Even if I'm the only one left, I still want to live.

Yin Yan extended his arms to catch his leaning body, gently gathering him into an embrace. He slowly stroked his back until his frozen body gradually softened, then he stopped. Turning his head to look at the wide-eyed Old Huang, he said politely, "Could I trouble you to bring me some hot water? Thank you."

Old Huang's gaze shifted between his calm expression and Yu Zhen, who was nestled obediently in his arms. He responded, not quite processing the situation, and turned to walk toward the kitchen. Halfway there, he couldn't help but stop and look back.

"Hold on tight."

Yin Yan, holding the bowl of congee in one hand, extended his other hand towards Yu Zhen, who was now standing on his own.

With his back to Old Huang, Yu Zhen obediently reached out upon hearing this, placing his still-cold palm into Yin Yan's.

The two of them walked into the room hand in hand and disappeared behind the door.

Old Huang stared at the closed door in disbelief.

'Isn't this situation a bit off? How come it seems different from what I thought?'

Finally able to be alone, Yin Yan had Yu Zhen sit on the edge of the bed and gently waved a hand in front of his face.

Yu Zhen, whose eyes were blank and dazed, suddenly snapped out of his chaotic state. Seeing Yin Yan standing before him, his heart clenched, and he stood up, wanting to run.

"You're about to die."

Yin Yan said directly, dropping the bombshell with a calm expression.

Yu Zhen's movement to stand up froze. He stared at him wide-eyed and defensively. He tightened his fingers, realizing his Peach Wood Sword was gone. After a few seconds of silence, as if resigning himself to his fate, his body went limp and he sat back down on the edge of the bed. He lowered his head and said in a hoarse voice, "Can you kill me a little later? I want to go burn some more paper money for my grandpa."

'And burn some for myself while I'm at it.'

Yin Yan looked at the top of his head, where his hair was sticking up messily, a hint of helplessness in his eyes. He sighed silently and consciously took a step back to stand a little farther from him. Then, he picked up the bowl of congee from the bedside table and explained while gently swirling it, "The one who wants to kill you is not me, but yourself."

Yu Zhen froze, unable to stop himself from looking up at him.

"Your soul is incomplete. In the past, I was inside your body suppressing it, so you could live safely and without worry, avoiding the detection of Netherworld Officials and growing up in peace. Now that the Soul-Calming Pearl has shattered, I can no longer stay inside you. Whether you can continue to live peacefully is all up to you."

As he swirled it, steam rose from the Peach Blossom Congee again, and its fragrance faintly wafted out.

"A person should have Three Ethereal Spirits and Six Corporeal Souls, but you only have one ethereal spirit and two corporeal souls. It's already a miracle that you've lived this long. If by any chance..."

Yin Yan suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He held out the bowl of congee and said, "Eat. This is the Gift of the Mountain God. It can help you temporarily stabilize your soul and prevent the troubles of Soul Loss Disorder."

The amount of information in those words was too much for Yu Zhen to process. In his daze, he smelled the enticing aroma of the Peach Blossom Congee and instinctively reached out to take it. Then, he snapped back to his senses and stammered, "Wh-what do you mean, incomplete soul? What inside my body? And what's Soul Loss Disorder? I... you..."

He had too many questions. He was never a good talker, and his mind wasn't particularly sharp. In his anxiety and shock, he simply got stuck.

Yin Yan suddenly reached out and patted his head, saying in a low voice, "Drink the congee first. Director Huang is here."

Just as he finished speaking, the door was pushed open by Old Huang, who was carrying a thermos of hot water. As he walked in, he tried to discreetly observe the two of them, saying, "Here's the hot water. How's Yu Zhen? Are you still feeling unwell?"

Yu Zhen had never had his head patted so intimately in his entire life. In his daze, he didn't even notice what Old Huang said. Although there were still many things he didn't understand, he strangely no longer felt afraid. A thought suddenly popped into his head, one he believed without a doubt.

'Someone who would pat his head like this wouldn't harm him. Absolutely not.'

This thought came very suddenly, but once it appeared, it took root and sprouted in his mind, as if he had thought the same thing in his past life and had carved this idea into his soul, just waiting to be triggered by meeting a certain person in this life.

'It's so warm, his hand.'

He lowered his head and took a sip of the perfectly warm Peach Blossom Congee. He felt a sweetness and warmth spread from the tip of his tongue throughout his entire body, making him sigh comfortably.

'...Just like Grandpa's hand.'

"He didn't eat breakfast after getting up this morning, so he had low blood sugar. Now that he's had some congee, he's fine."

Yin Yan answered Old Huang's question on behalf of the stupefied Yu Zhen. He stepped forward to take the thermos, very familiarly found the teacup Yu Zhen kept on the cabinet, poured a cup of hot water and placed it by Yu Zhen's hand. Then he looked at Old Huang and said, "We've troubled you. Please do us the honor of staying for lunch."

'What's with this role reversal between host and guest?'

Old Huang became even more bewildered. He glanced at Yu Zhen, whose complexion was still not very good, and remembered the steamed buns, noodles, porridge, and pickles he had just seen in the kitchen. His heart soured, and he couldn't help but sigh. He shook his head and said, "No, thank you... Yu Zhen, even though your grandpa is gone, you still have to go on living. Don't be too hard on yourself. You... Ai, I'll be going now. I still have subsidies to distribute to other families."

After all, he wasn't a very close or familiar junior, so it wasn't his place to say too much. Seeing that the misunderstanding between the two of them had been resolved and they could now communicate normally, he said a simple farewell and prepared to leave.

Having finished the congee, Yu Zhen could finally think clearly. Hearing this, he quickly stood up, wanting to ask him to stay out of politeness, but then he remembered the empty vegetable basket in his kitchen. The words caught in his throat. He anxiously patted himself down, then forcibly stuffed two packs of cigarettes left over from the funeral into Old Huang's hands.

In the front room, Yin Le, who had been sitting on pins and needles, was just about to get up and eavesdrop in the backyard when he saw his big brother walk out with that Yu Zhen, the one who seemed to think his brother was a ghost. Together, they politely saw Old Huang off.

???

'What's going on?'

Standing by the courtyard gate, which only had half a door left, Yu Zhen watched Old Huang's figure disappear at the end of the dirt road. He turned his head to look at Yin Yan and hesitated before speaking, "You..."

"Resurrection. We share the same life and death. Your feeling that day was not wrong. The person you wanted to save had indeed passed away. What's inside this body now is just a wisp of a Remnant Soul that once accompanied you in your own body."

Yin Yan looked at him, his gaze calm and tolerant, his voice tinged with a sigh. "Yu Zhen... I've wanted to talk to you like this for a very long time." So long that the concept of time had blurred, and he had almost forgotten who he was.

The firewood in the stove made a soft crackle. A small spark floated out and landed on the hand of Yu Zhen, who was sitting behind the stove in a daze.

"Hiss—"

The burn snapped Yu Zhen back to his senses. He subconsciously slapped the spark away and rubbed the back of his hand. Looking at his fingers, which had regained a bit of color, he groaned and clutched his head.

Freed from the torment of the cold, his mind no longer sluggish, his reason and intellect came back online. He finally digested the massive amount of information Yin Yan had thrown at him.

'Soul-Calming Pearl, resurrection, Soul Loss Disorder... No, none of this is real.'

'I just idiotically burned a bead. How could my twenty-plus years of a materialistic life suddenly change so drastically?'

The conversation at the door had ended abruptly because of Yin Le's approach. He didn't know how to face an "Yin Yan" who claimed it was 'resurrection', much less how to face the family of the deceased who he had resurrected into. For some reason, he even started feeling guilty and ashamed on behalf of the current "Yin Yan". In his panic, he subconsciously found an excuse to hide in the kitchen, avoiding the center of the trouble.

But hiding wasn't a solution, and he couldn't hide for long anyway. The hot potato was still sitting outside.

'What should I do? What should I do.'

He moved his fingers to cover his face, recalling his muddle-headed life recently. In his heart, he knew that what that Yin Yan had said was most likely true, but...

"Xiao Zhen, don't blame Grandpa for nagging. I'm giving you this book. You have to cultivate properly, otherwise the Remnant Soul of a Great Power inside you will emerge and devour you sooner or later. When that happens, not only will this life be over, but your next life will be over too."

"Your line of marriage fate is affected by the Remnant Soul inside you. Grandpa can't read it. Ai, it's probably been severed. What a sin. It looks like my Xiao Zhen is destined to be a bachelor for life."

"Life, death, and reincarnation are all decided by fate. Xiao Zhen, you were born against the heavens. All your family ties are severed, and you are destined for a lonely life. Only the Remnant Soul inside you has left you a sliver of a chance at survival. Live on, live a good life."

"It's over, it's over! Xiao Zhen, I'm afraid you'll be reincarnated as a pig in your next life! Grandpa doesn't want a fat pig for a grandson. Quick, where's that book? Find it and cultivate properly. Curry some favor with the Great Power, let the Great Power change your fate for the next life."

Words he once thought were just jokes and teases all flashed through his mind. His grandpa's teasing, mischievous expression seemed to be right before his eyes. Yu Zhen's heart skipped a beat, as if he had grasped a life-saving straw. He got up and rushed towards his room.