As soon as Ye Zhizhou stepped across the Zhen Guo residence's threshold, Yan Mingyong had climbed the wall from the neighbouring palace.

Hearing the sound of door being pushed open Ye Zhizhou gathered his wet hair and called out, "Is that Changsun? The water is too hot, carry a bit of cold water in."

The footsteps paused at the door. There was a sound of the door closing, then footsteps walking over, going around the screen.

"Hm? Didn't I tell you to get cold water?" Ye Zhizhou turned, puzzled.

He was startled by the tall unfamiliar man who stood behind him and intuitively shrank back into the bathtub. He splashed the bathwater at the man and hardened his tone, "Who are you!"

Yan Mingyong wiped the water from his face then eyed Ye Zhizhou's face carefully, he also stole glances at the place under the water. He laughed, "Very good, Le'er couldn't even recognise me now."

Le'er? Except for his family members, only one person called him this... Ye Zhizhou was shocked. His eyes opened wide watching the beautiful man with his peerless grace, exquisite appearance and cold temperament.

"You... You're Mingyong?" Is this the gene mutation caused by puberty? This height is too tall.. and how did that gorgeous face grow up to look this cold-hearted?

"Le'er." Yan Mingyong bent over and caressed his cheeks, his fingers slowly trailed down his neck to his clavicle but stopped just before they touched the dangerous spots. "So you like to let people come in when you're bathing, hm?" His slender fingers lightly touched the protruding points.

Ye Zhizhou trembled, all the fine hairs from his neck to his back stood on its ends, he hurriedly grasped the other man's hands. He gazed deeply into Yan Mingyong's eyes with a sincere expression, "Mingyong, long time no see, I missed you so much!"

"Really." Yan Mingyong's tone and facial expression were quiet and almost flat, his mouth had a bit of a smile on. His slender fingers slowly retracted and gripped Ye Zhizhou's hands in turn, he continued to approach him, breathing right in his face. "Did you enjoy evading me all these four years...?"

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He's done for! Grown-up Yan Mingyong seemed more dangerous. He gulped and quietly shifted backwards.

Yan Mingyong's gaze suddenly deepened. He gripped his hand and dragged him from the water. One hand perched on the waist while the other released hand moved towards the bend of his legs, firmly holding him and carrying the naked Ye Zhizhou out of the water.

Ye Zhizhou's mind went blank. It's the princess carry! This is challenging the limits of embarrassment!

"Put me down!" He struggled hard, his hand pushed at Yan Mingyong's arm. He didn't think the slender looking man's arm would be packed with muscles — he was very strong and didn't budge from being pushed! Just what did this brat eat all these years? He really misses the sickly boy who he could spank at will!

"Behave a little." Yan Mingyong didn't care for Ye Zhizhou's struggles at all. His stretched-out hand across Ye Zhizhou's back could still pat his bottom. Yan Mingyong walked towards the door, "We marry tonight."

"No! I won't accept this!"

"Then, to the bridal room." Yan Mingyong was still such a good talker after he grew up.

"That's even more unacceptable!"

"Le'er." Yan Mingyong came to a stop. He looked down to him with a deep gaze that had a trace of frailty, "Do you not like me anymore?"

Ye Zhizhou stopped struggling. His head hung low guiltily and he turned quieter, "It, it's not like that. It's always been you who I like..." He had gone out to have fun and evaded the troublesome kid for four years, now that he thinks about it it was a bit too much...

"Mm, I also like you." Yan Mingyong started to smile, he laid Ye Zhizhou on the bed and pressed him down. A sort of exuberance leaked out from him even while the wide black robes still covered half of his body, "So into the bridal room first."

Ye Zhizhou then realised he was duped. He wanted to run but was quickly suppressed, gradually the struggle faded into entangling of limbs, the fearful cries dissipated and ambiguous groans rose.

An Chengsheng, who had happily rushed over to see his little brother with his newest poem collection, paused at the door. He turned away with a complicated expression, sadly hanging his head. After he's grown there's no more room for big brother, ah....

Ye Zhizhou was finally allowed out of bed three days later, after which their wedding was held promptly. Ye Zhizhou moved from the bed in the Zhen Guo residence to the bed in Yan Mingyong's kingly residence next door, living out a decadent life drunk on pleasures.

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A year later the people he arranged to take care of An Chengjie sent him word that the remaining poison in the man's body was all flushed out. His mind had regained its clarity, but due to the poison being left in his body for too long he had lost a portion of his memory.

Three years later, An Chengjie settled down with his own small house in a village a half-month distance from the capital city. He opened a small bookstore and got together with an honest local businessman. From then on his life gradually steadied.

Like this, several years passed. Emperor Yan passed away, the third prince who stood above all his brothers ascended the throne. Yan Mingyong immediately took off with Ye Zhizhou to a fief and they lived as its local tyrant, spending their days true to the two words "free and unfettered".

Decades later, Ye Zhizhou laid in Yan Mingyong's arms weakly. He sighed as he grasped his lover's hands, "This time I'm finally leaving before you.. But how will you be, I don't want to leave you alone..."

When his lover left him first he could directly leave for the next world to look for him again, but this time he was leaving before him. What should the man who was left behind do for the rest of his years? Moreover his lover is truly stubborn to his bones in this life.

"Sleep if you're tired." Yan Mingyong's hand covered his eyes, he bowed down and kissed Ye Zhizhou's forehead, his expression was serene without a hint of sorrow. "I will soon be with you."

His vision gradually blurred. Whatever sounds entering his ears faded away. Ye Zhizhou didn't get to hear his lover's last few words before he sank into the darkness.

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[No signs of life left. Preparing to transfer the soul. This is the end for the Beginner Practice mode. Initiating the Official Mission.]

[Matching the world...... World match completed. All rewards had been sent.]

[Begin transferring the soul.]

The small mirror in Ye Zhizhou's waist pocket shook. It crushed into powder and dispersed into thin air as if it had never existed in the first place.

Yan Mingyong moved the hand he laid on his love's face. He hugged him close for a moment before getting up. He held his consort up with some difficulty and took him outside. "Servants! Ready the carriage, head to the tomb!"

De'an's successor Huaizhou watched the aged King Xiaoyao enter the tomb whilst embracing his consort and tearfully closed off the entrance to the tomb. He kneeled down and knocked his head to the ground several times, he wouldn't get up for a long time.

From today onwards, the House of Xiaoyao is no more.

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Ye Zhizhou crawled up with an aching body.

His consciousness was still at the moment before his death where he held his lover's hand so he was incoherent and couldn't pull himself together yet.

"Snap out of it Liu Chen, run! Watch out, behind you!"

Following that shout, a heavy stench of decay came from behind him. Ye Zhizhou's body had been trained from his time at the border and from Yan Mingyong's martial training, he rolled away almost purely on instinct. He managed to miss a foul-smelling thing that pounced on him. He looked back and saw a half-rotting corpse, stopped in place by an icicle piercing into its body. The corpse was only three steps away from himself. It looked utterly hideous and nauseating.

Wei Xu retracted his ability and emerged from behind the shelves. Seeing Ye Zhizhou who had fallen down on his back, his eyes flashed a hint of disgust. He picked up the supplies on the ground and said impatiently, "Run out if you don't want to be zombie meat! You can't even handle this much, don't beg me to bring you next time!"

The pretty guy who called out to him ran up to them. He anxiously helped him up and pulled him out of the supermarket, all the while speaking hushedly, "Liu Chen, don't run around again. There are more zombies here and you have no ability. It's better to act with everyone. They cleared the doorway already, let's go."

Ye Zhizhou passively followed him out, frowning deeply as his eyes swept over the men gathering supplies and the rotting corpses chasing them.

These walking corpses... zombies?

Roar—

"Not good! High level zombies upstairs are on the move. Run, run!" Wei Xu's face changed sharply. He kept up ice walls and earth walls with his other companions, blocking the low-leveled zombies while supporting his wounded comrade to run. He picked up his steps and ran to the truck parked outside.

The good-looking young man pulling Ye Zhizhou trembled with fear, he staggered and almost fell but Ye Zhizhou grabbed his arm and supported him. He discovered a gaping wound on the other man's leg and threw him on his back without so much as a word, dashing to the truck that was right in front of him.

"Ee? No, Liu Chen put me down, I can run myself. You're not physically strong, I—"

"Shut up!" Ye Zhizhou interrupted his speech. The air was thick with the smell of decay. He spread out his spiritual force to cover the fleeing people and took the steel pipe that youth was carrying, plunging it into the head of an incoming zombie. He reached the truck and leaned sideways to drop the pretty guy inside.

Ye Zhizhou pushed him further in, "Climb in!" The first impression of this hellish world is way too stimulating!

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A companion in the truck pulled the young man into the truck but went around Ye Zhizhou and went down to support their other companions behind him.

Ye Zhizhou's hands were still extended in midair. He looked back at the buff bald man who avoided him.... Okay if you don't want to help, brother, but why roll your eyes at me?

The young man from before saw this and went to pull him up, he looked awkward as he quietly explained, "Brother Wang is like that, don't mind him, Liu Chen. Come up, brother Wei and other ability users are taking care of the rear, we have to get in first so we don't delay them."

He turned his gaze back to the young man pulling his hand up. On the truck, he wiped his face as he watched the rush of attacking zombies.

This world seems rather diseased...

The truck raced away after they had shaken off those zombies. Ye Zhizhou sat in one corner and pretended to be resting. One of his hands sneaked into his front pocket and poked at a small old mirror. He spoke in his mind, "Tongtian, the plot data."

The worn-out mirror shook and displayed a screen.

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The protagonist of this world is called Xu Yi. Before the apocalypse, he had been an ordinary college sophomore. He had awakened healing and spatial abilities at the beginning of the apocalypse. His space had a Spiritual Spring capable of washing the meridian and cutting the marrow as well as a Spiritual Field which could speed up the growth of plants. This protagonist's golden finger was simply going against the natural order.

Washing meridians and cutting marrows?

He poked the little mirror again, "Tongtian, other people's space are more useful than the one you gave me. See, it can wash out body's impurities. Look at you being so stingy."

The small mirror shook more violently. The screen whizzed away and turned into a beam of light that drilled into the space in his hand. The bright light flashed, his sight went black for one second and the next second the scenery in front of him changed from a mottled freight car into a bright blue sky and green grasses, a springtime paradise.

"Where... is this?"

[Your space, Zixu sanctuary.]

"....." This is way different from that shit space.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Translator: Padam | Editor: Divetus

[1] I haven't read the raws for the previous arcs, but in this arc YMY and YZZ repeatedly say "accompany". The young YMY always told YZZ to "stay with" him, YZZ also wanted to "accompany" him growing up. After they fought YZZ said: "..sleep, I'll accompany you", in the end they accompanied their partner through all life and death. Side note, De'an could mean virtuous quiet while Huaizhou could mean holding an island (Ye Zhizhou's Zhou) close, if you take the words separately.

[2] 1) Golden Finger, protagonist's cheat in life, their overpowered advantage. 2) Going against the heavens

[3] cut hair and marrow – "remold one's self entirely, cast one's old self, make a through change", but combined with washing the meridians it'll mean more "washing out impurities of the body, making it stronger and fitter"

[4] 紫虛洞府, Purple Void, mountain abode/retreat (dwelling of immortal)