Both of them hadn't slept all night, but one had a rosy complexion and was full of vigor, while the other was pale with bloodshot eyes.

Chou Feiqian looked at one, then the other, and finally gave Yin Yan a sympathetic look that said, 'Just one night sleeping together, and you're already this pent-up?' Thinking she understood, she patted Yin Yan's shoulder and left with Yin Hexiang.

"Tang Jia asked me to play ball. Big Brother, Brother Yu, I'm heading out now."

Yin Le also followed them out the door, afraid that if he stayed home any longer, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from imagining his big brother and Brother Yu's domestic life.

Bang. The main door closed. Yu Zhen turned his head to look at Yin Yan.

With a calm expression, Yin Yan took out a pill and ate it. He then took Yu Zhen's scarf from the hook in the entryway, wrapped it around his neck, and blocked his eyes in the process.

Yu Zhen: "???"

"To the apartment."

Standing in the apartment kitchen again with a pile of ingredients, Yu Zhen held the kitchen knife, dazed for a few seconds. Then, he decisively put the knife down, turned, and walked toward the living room, asking, "Yin Yan, what's wrong with you? Is something un—"

Sunlight shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows, crawling across the carpet and spreading onto the sofa, bathing both the sofa and a sleeping Yin Yan in its warm glow.

Yu Zhen shut his mouth. He looked at Yin Yan's face, which remained expressionless even in sleep, and tiptoed forward to crouch down and look at him.

Yin Yan was handsome, that was beyond doubt, but at this moment, he was comically squinting his eyes, trying to blur the features of this face.

Putting aside this physical shell, what did the Remnant Soul now bearing the identity of "Yin Yan" truly look like?

Would he be even more handsome than he was now, or would he have an ordinary face?

He would surely have pupils and hair as black as night, and he would definitely be very fair, but the curve of his eyes might be a bit colder, his lips always pressed together, the corners of his mouth rarely turning up.

If he's a Cultivator, he should have long hair...

His hand unconsciously reached out toward Yin Yan. Just as his fingertip was about to touch the other's face, a white shadow suddenly appeared and latched right onto his arm.

"Meow~"

A small, sturdy-looking white kitten raised its head and let out a soft cry at him.

Yu Zhen snapped back to his senses, immediately retracting his hand and scooping the kitten into his arms. He gently petted it, his eyes curving into crescents as he whispered, "Why did you come out? Are you hungry?"

Xu Wu flicked its tail, stood up straight, and began sniffing all over him.

'You silly thing.'

Yu Zhen rubbed its head, glanced at Yin Yan, then stood up with Xu Wu in his arms and tiptoed upstairs.

Finding a thick woolen blanket in the somewhat empty wardrobe, he glanced at Xu Wu sitting on the floor waiting for him. Just as he was about to tell it to jump onto the blanket, Xu Wu zipped up his leg, climbed straight to the top of his head, and lay down.

Yu Zhen's neck stiffened, not daring to move. He strained his eyes to look up, but naturally saw nothing. Feeling the tail tickling the back of his head, he gave a helpless smile. "You really know how to pick a spot."

Despite saying that, he didn't shoo it down. He went downstairs, still carrying the blanket with the kitten on his head.

He covered Yin Yan with the blanket and adjusted the position of the throw pillow on the sofa to make sure Yin Yan was comfortable. Yu Zhen looked on with satisfaction, then reached up to grab Xu Wu,rubbed its tail, and went back into the kitchen.

Washing, chopping, frying, and stewing.

The soup in the pot bubbled, steaming hot. Xu Wu strolled across the countertop with feline grace, occasionally reaching out a paw to steal a bite.

"Your original form is a pagoda. Is it okay for you to eat this stuff?" Yu Zhen asked curiously.

Xu Wu looked up at him, meowed, and then jumped onto him again, sweeping its tail through his hair.

"Looks like it's fine." He smiled and decided to fry a small plate of fish just for it.

When the food was served, Yin Yan was still asleep. Yu Zhen hesitated for a moment, but still went over to wake him.

Yin Yan hadn't changed his sleeping position. Yu Zhen first observed him with a look of "admiration" for a while before extending his hand.

The sunlight shifted. Yin Yan's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened. He looked stunned for a moment upon seeing Yu Zhen, then immediately grabbed his outstretched hand, a trace of nervous bewilderment in his eyes.

"Did I wake you?"

Yu Zhen let him hold his hand and gave it a smiling shake. "Get up, it's time to eat."

Xu Wu opportunely jumped down from him, landing directly on Yin Yan's abdomen and meowing at him.

The emotion in Yin Yan's eyes quickly receded into calmness. He looked down, released his hand, and sat up, pressing his forehead. "How long did I sleep?"

"Only three or four hours. If you're still sleepy, you can go to bed after we eat."

Yin Yan looked up at him, then looked away after a few seconds and walked toward the dining room with Xu Wu in his arms.

Yu Zhen watched his back, clutching his chest with a puzzled expression.

'Strange, why is it acting up again? Didn't he say it would get better after eating the Boundary Lure?'

"It's only a temporary relief, not a complete cure."

After the meal, Yin Yan gave this answer to his question. He then took his hand, and a silent power flowed from his grip.

Yu Zhen only felt that the hand holding his was very warm, a comfortable kind of warmth that made one want to indulge in it.

After swelling to its peak, the warmth slowly dissipated. Yin Yan released his hand and asked, "Are you still cold?"

Yu Zhen clenched his fingers, shook his head, and asked expectantly, "Not anymore. Is my problem with feeling cold almost cured?"

"Your soul body has only been strengthened, not completed. If your soul is impacted in the future, the body coldness will still reappear."

Yin Yan explained, motioning for him to sit opposite. He took out an ancient book and said, "With your current soul body strength, you can already try to guide qi into your body. But the spiritual qi in this realm is scarce and impure, so normal methods of qi guidance won't work. That's why I found this."

The characters in the ancient book seemed to be in seal script, but they were slightly different. Yu Zhen couldn't read them.

"This is the script of the Cultivation World. It cannot be read with the naked eye. Close your eyes and guide a bit of merit to cover the book."

Yu Zhen did as he was told. He placed his hand on the ancient book and, recalling the method Yin Yan had taught him yesterday, forced out a little of the golden light of merit.

A translucent book suddenly appeared in his pitch-black vision. He held his breath, suppressing his surprise, and "watched" as the book gradually solidified, slowly revealing the words on its cover.

"Farming Classic..."

This time, the characters had changed to the modern simplified Huaxia language. He couldn't help but murmur the words aloud. Then, a gentle breeze brushed his face, and the book before his eyes dissolved into specks of light that drifted toward him. He reflexively opened his eyes, only to see that the book under his hand had completely changed its appearance.

The originally simple, brown cover had become a soft sheepskin texture, and its size had changed as well. It now looked like an ordinary leather-bound notebook.

"You like growing flowers, so you shall enter the Dao through flowers. The spiritual qi in this world is scarce and difficult to absorb, but with the seven emotions adrift and opportunities everywhere, the Heavenly Dao is not picky about the method of entering the Dao. If you cannot absorb spiritual qi, then accumulate merit."

Entering the Dao through flowers?

Yu Zhen didn't quite understand, but he felt inexplicably drawn to the notebook. He couldn't resist reaching for it and gently opening it.

After flipping open the cover, on the modern-looking paper, several large characters were written vertically in brush script—First Question: Maiden's Stamen.

A faint scent of ink spread out. He reached out to touch it, and the characters, as if they had temperature and life, blurred and transformed the moment he touched them, turning into a line of words: To be a woman, one must pass through the Seven Sufferings of Life.

The Seven Sufferings of Life? Isn't that a Buddhist concept? For cultivation... shouldn't it be Taoist?

"I've told you, there are no distinctions in the way one enters the Dao."

As if reading his thoughts, Yin Yan explained and then stood up. "Let's go."

Yu Zhen couldn't keep up with his train of thought and asked blankly, "Where are we going?"

"To buy flower-planting tools."

A low-key black car was parked outside a nursery in the suburbs of B City. Yin Yan spent a large sum of money to buy a complete set of well-used tools from an old flower farmer. He handed them to Yu Zhen and said, "Use these. At the beginning of entering the Dao, old is better than new."

Yu Zhen looked at the set of tools, still bearing the scent of soil. He picked up a pair of pruning shears and caressed the marks left by years of use. He glanced at Yin Yan and gave him a smile. "Thank you."

Compared to new tools, he also preferred old objects.

It was just a pity that all his own tools were buried under the ruins of the Taoist Temple, decayed and lost.

Yin Yan looked at the gentle smile on his face, his gaze wavering for a moment. "You've started smiling more."

"Really?" Yu Zhen touched his own face, his smile growing brighter. "It's probably because I've been in a good mood these past two days."

He had also become more confident. He no longer stuttered cautiously when talking to people and could make normal eye contact, no longer shying away timidly.

The effects of Soul Refining were beginning to show.

Yin Yan averted his gaze, walked to the car, and pulled open the door. "Get in. We're going to the next stop."

An hour later, the car stopped at the foot of a lesser-known mountain in the suburbs of B City. Yin Yan took out a bag of candy and handed it to Yu Zhen. "Go. Use this candy to trade for seeds with the mountain villagers."

"Seeds?" Yu Zhen looked down at the bag of obviously expensive imported candy in his arms, bewildered. "Can they be any kind of seeds?"

"Any kind will do. The seeds you get now will only serve as a medium for your future cultivation. The variety doesn't matter."

Yu Zhen nodded, only half-understanding, and walked toward the nearest village at the foot of the mountain with the candy.

People living at the foot of the capital city were all very clever. Even though Yu Zhen was well-dressed and looked kind, not like a swindler, everyone was still on high alert against him. Most families waved him away before he could even finish his request.

Helpless, Yu Zhen looked back at Yin Yan waiting far away at the village entrance, pulled his scarf down a little, and decided to change his approach, targeting only children and the elderly.

This time, the operation went much more smoothly. By playing with the children and cheering up the elderly, he successfully traded for a small bag of seeds, mostly vegetable seeds, with a few wheat and flower seeds mixed in.

"Thank you, Grandma, that's enough, that's enough, it's really enough."

Yu Zhen smiled and stopped the old woman who wanted to stuff more seeds into his hands. He helped her sit down inside the house, thanked her, and then, out of curiosity, looked around the cold, dark room and asked, "Grandma, do you live alone? Where are your children?"

"Gone, all gone."

The old woman sat on a wooden chair in the main room. Her cloudy eyes scanned the room, which seemed as if sunlight could never enter. Her tone was calm, yet it carried a desolate world-weariness.

"I married into this village when I was sixteen and gave birth to five children. The eldest died at birth. A fortune-teller said he was born into the wrong life, so he went back to the underworld to be reincarnated."

"The second was a girl, plump and always crying. When she was seven, she disobeyed and went to play in the water. When they pulled her out, her belly was swollen this high. I just lay there on the riverbank and cried, I almost cried my eyes out..."

"The third was a good boy, but he could never put on weight. During the famine, he said he was going to find food for me, but he went and never came back."

"The fourth went to be a soldier. A living person was sent off on a train, and what came back was a military uniform. I couldn't cry anymore, I couldn't cry anymore."

"The fifth... the fifth got married, married into the city. There are so many cars in the city, people can be gone just like that. I don't know where my son-in-law took my little grandson, I can't find him."

"Later, my old man passed away too, and this house became empty, with only me left."

As the old woman spoke, her gaze fell on the sunlight that stopped at the threshold. There were no tears in her eyes, no sadness on her face. She could even manage a smile as she reached for the teacup and teapot on the table. "Child, you must be thirsty. Come, have some water. It's been a long time since anyone listened to me talk. The policies are good now, people bring me oil and rice every month, and a young man like you even brings me candy. Life is good."

Yu Zhen took the water the old woman handed him and smiled back at her with red-rimmed eyes. He drank the water in one gulp and echoed her sentiment, "Yes, life is good."

An old woman who had seen through everything didn't need pale sympathy or comfort. Quietly listening was all he could do.

Yu Zhen had entered the village happily with candy, but he left with his head bowed and shoulders slumped.