"HYA! HUA! HA! AH!"

The loud shout of many vigorous young men training and sparring was like music to Yunyu's ears. It was already evening, and he spent quite a while here. Ghost Yunyu floated around and stood in front of one handsome young martial artist, doing his daily regime of training planned by their master.

[Ah, so handsome, it makes me want to hug them like this~]

Yunyu commented whilst checking all the handsome young men around in this kung fu kwoon or training hall. This was the most prominent training hall that Yunyu could find outside the forbidden city and the capital. This was in a smaller region not far from the capital, but the region was mostly filled with martial arts practitioners because they needed a better environment to maintain their rigorous training.

[And that rigorous training translates into their abs! Their muscular biceps and amazing thighs! Daamnnn, please choke me with your thigh, daddy!]

[Pupa: I knew you were up for no good when you said you want some refreshment.]

[Hehe, you know, if Huang Shu can fill his harem with 102 ger men and women, then I should be able to fill my harem with 102 handsome, strong men too! This is injustice, unfair!]

[Pupa: Anyway, what would you do here?]

[Eh? Nothing, I just want to see some handsome men to clear my mind.]

[Pupa:…]

Yunyu kept on watching until a masked man suddenly appeared from the back garden. He wore a demon mask that covered his face, and the practitioners all stopped their training and cupped their hands before bowing deep, "MASTER!"

Yunyu darted his eyes immediately to see their master. He thought it would be an old man or at least a middle-aged man with an unkempt beard, but when he saw the demon mask, tall with broad shoulders, he knew that the master was actually a lot younger than his expectation.

The master cleared his throat and commanded his students, "Spar with your friend for two hours before finishing for today. You may eat dinner and rest after that."

"YES, MASTER!"

Ghost Yunyu peered at the master. He felt quite familiar with him, at least from his voice. He could sense they had met before.

[Is it just me, or he is quite familiar even with that demon mask?]

[Pupa: Probably just your imagination, hey!]

Pupa was suddenly hugged by Yunyu, and Yunyu flew to follow the mysterious master. He returned back to the garden behind the training ground. He floated around the man, trying to guess who he was.

[Hm… broad shoulder, long silky hair…]

He checked the hands, but it was unfortunate that the man wore a pair of gloves. Thus, he continued to follow the man to the back garden.

The man sat on a pavilion. He checked on a letter that he received this afternoon. Yunyu followed to the pavilion, but the moment he entered the pavilion, the master suddenly threw a dagger at him.

Yunyu froze on the spot, and fortunately, since he was a ghost already, the dagger passed through him.

[HOLY SHIT! DID HE SEE ME?!]

[Pupa: I think he just has a very keen intuition.]

"Who's there?" the master in the demon mask asked. Which, of course, Yunyu couldn't answer since he didn't want to waste his precious apparition chance for a random man.

…

After getting no answer, the master sighed and took off his demon mask, revealing a stunningly handsome man with very familiar eyes to Yunyu.

Because the moment their eyes met, Bai Yunyu would sense a spark between them.

[Xu Jiansheng…]

Yunyu slowly approached Jiansheng. He didn't expect Xu Jiangsheng to be the master of this training hall.

The man hadn't changed much since the last time they met, but it seemed that he had less sleep nowadays.

Xu Jiansheng was reading a letter, which Yunyu also peeked. He thought it was a letter from Jiansheng's girlfriend or something, but it was actually a letter full of codes, like a secret letter from a spy.

Yunyu couldn't read anything except for one word,

War.

[Pupa, I just remembered that Jiansheng is the revolutionary leader who toppled the Emperor after he ruined his own Empire out of madness, right? What caused him to do this?]

[Pupa: Yes, it seems that Jiansheng has been planning it since long ago. Unfortunately, his background is not written in detail here, but it seems it's about his family. Because there is one passage, written that Emperor Xianliang had ruined his family.]

[Pupa: And for the attack, he is waiting for the right time, so he could attack when Huang Shu was at his most vulnerable.]

[So it will take a long time before he attacks?]

[Pupa: I don't know in the Jiansheng's side. But Huang Shu is surprisingly spiralling down really fast after your death. In the world background, the Empire will be in peril after three years. But in the world background, Huang Shu persevered for a year before falling into a deep depression and insanity. Also, there is no… this embalming corpse thing in the world background.]

…

[I think I know how to accelerate stuff, at least on Jiansheng side. Since I guarantee that Huang Shu is already on the verge of losing it.]

[Pupa: Don't tell me that you want to use your ten to twenty seconds apparition on Xu Jiansheng.]

[Wait, I can use up to twenty seconds apparition?]

[Pupa: Just a rough estimation, but yes, you should be able to.]

[Alright then, time to do some ghosty-ghosty on Jiansheng!]

[Pupa:... somehow, I feel like Xu Jiansheng is also not a good choice, knowing his long time affection--]

[Aish, come on Pupa, you're just being paranoid~ What's worse that could happen? Jiansheng is a good person!]

Xu Jiansheng felt someone was watching him. He looked around, but he found nobody. It made him restless, worried that someone might've spied on him and foiled his plan to attack that bastard Emperor.

Honestly, he couldn't wait to topple that bastard Emperor who had ruined his family to the ground, massacring anything in the name of conquering, just because his father wanted to protect his family, who was on the opposite side.

'And he still got everything, including Bai Yunyu…'

Xu Jiansheng hated everyone in the imperial family, but his heart was beating and full of warmth whenever he remembered Bai Yunyu. He knew that Bai Yunyu was suffering right now, and he refused to escape with him.

That's why Jiansheng really wanted to rush and attack the forbidden city, so he could forcefully rescue Bai Yunyu.

But it wasn't the right time yet. His spy in the imperial palace hadn't returned yet, and he was afraid that he might've been discovered and died.

'I need to make sure that Bai Yunyu is alright. At least, I want him to persevere until I can rescue him,' Jiansheng thought. Truly, the thought of Bai Yunyu dying scared him the most. He already sent his spy to deliver food to Yunyu daily after his last meeting, but there had been no information from his spy after that.

"Bai Yunyu, wait for me, okay?" he said.

'You don't need to rescue me anymore, Jiansheng… because I'm here.'

"Who's there?!" Xu Jiansheng looked at his left and right because he thought he just heard Bai Yunyu's voice.

Then he felt a cold but gentle caress in his cheek before he heard someone whispering to his ear, 'I miss you, Jiansheng.'