Haoren silently stared at the ceiling of his room, a staring contest he'd been engaged in for the past ten or so minutes since waking up.

His vision was wobbly, and so was his mind.

The incident leading to his current predicament was born from a simple mistake—he had started to believe he was "Gongsun Haoren." This person... Gongsun Haoren was a man who, though indifferent to most, did not commit any wrongdoing and never took a life without meaning.

As his other set of memories unfurled, he felt the stark contrast between the two. "He" who had voraciously sought to pour out his hatred onto the world and "Haoren" who had lived by his master's teachings could not be more different.

"He" had violated one thing semi-sacred to "Haoren"— family. "He" did not hesitate to use others' families against them, even torturing them. "He" did not take lives to preserve his own but simply to fuel his hatred.

To the new Haoren, who had yet to fully uncover that part of his memories, he believed himself to be someone who was once a sickly boy spending his life helplessly in a hospital room and a boy raised by his master. Recalling his bloodied path, he more or less had a mental breakdown.

"..."

Haoren continued to stare at the ceiling of the somewhat opulent room. He disliked living in this room. He used to reside in the servant's room right next door but began staying here after Li Feng's arrival. Although he wasn't sure before, now he knew—or rather, remembered why.

This room had belonged to his master. Even though she had never been here and had passed away long before Haoren had even set foot in this place, Haoren aimply couldn't let go of her. He wanted to hold onto any traces of her, no matter how disgracefully or unsightly it seemed.

"Master, what color is that?"

"What color does Master like?"

"Does Master like swords?"

"What about that?"

"Master..."

"How about..."

"This..."

"That..."

He created these traces, decorating and setting the room as his master would have liked. He never used this room because that would have been sacrilegious, and yet, now here he was.

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He felt awful. If he had simply forgotten all these memories or had them from the very start, he wouldn't have felt this way. But now, these recovering memories only seemed to create a sense of unease.

Would the Haoren of tomorrow be the same as the one of today, changing suddenly because of a simple memory? It was terrifying.

"..."

He continued to stare at the ceiling, unable to think rationally. The irrational fear propagated through his unease. What even was he? Nothing but an illusion that began to bud in the absence of the true selves, something that took the place of the two incomplete selves.

Once that place was no longer empty, when the selves were no longer incomplete, would he simply fade away? Would he even have an afterlife, when he wasn't even a true soul but just a mirage?

Just as his thoughts steered towards the greatest fragilities of his mind, he heard the door creak open.

"Here, I made some porridge."

It was Li Feng, entering with a bowl of porridge. Her presence brought a vibrancy to the room. Emotions such as embarrassment, worry, and sorrow flowed through the room, all gathering towards Haoren. Somehow, these emotions seemed even more vibrant today.

"Li Feng?" he asked for no particular reason, the words seemingly leaked out of his lips.

"Yes, it's me. You need to eat something. It'll help you recover."

Saying this, she helped him sit up, her hand behind his back. Seeing the concerned Li Feng bringing him food, Haoren was reminded of a scene from just a few days ago.

"Haha." He laughed. It seemed so amusing to him.

"What?"

Seeing the puzzled expression on Li Feng's face, Haoren's smile deepened. "Nothing... It's just that this is like our first meeting, except the roles have been reversed."

"???"

Li Feng's puzzled expression seemed like the greatest entertainment Haoren had had in a long time.

...

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...

"Haa..." Li Feng sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time today. After falling asleep again yesterday, Haoren had yet to wake up. She had tried a few methods to wake him up, but none really worked. And now that she just had to wait for him to wake up, her mind wandered off to a certain matter.

Specifically, to the matter of her liking Haoren. 'Well, it's not like I am sure that I like him...'

After a momentary pause, she saw her blushing reflection in the mirror ahead of her. "Tsk! Who am I even fooling with that!" She ruffled her hair in frustration and looked back at her reflection.

The girl who stared back at her wasn't exceptionally beautiful but had some lovely features. Her short black hair and brown eyes made her seem warm and approachable. While she wasn't exactly unattractive or average-looking, when compared to her "target" Haoren...

"Damn it!"

Another idea popped into her mind— seducing him. But...

"Small..."

It hadn't been long since Li Feng had barely escaped death by starvation, so her body wasn't exactly the most developed. She was even mistaken for a man while wearing Haoren's clothes. Moreover, recalling yesterday's event when their bodies touched, her face reddened even more.

'Rather than seducing, I'd be the one getting seduced, damn it!'

"Urgh...!" Groaning in annoyance as nothing went her way, Li Feng left her room and went to the courtyard to practice for a while. Thanks to the mysterious stew(?) from the other day, she was able to unlock two meridians in one go. Although she felt like she could go on, her instincts told her to let her progress stabilize. Moreover, Haoren had advised her to do so as well.

So, she simply practiced her arts learned in her past life and attempted to utilize Qi alongside them.

...

After an hour or so of failed experimentations, Li Feng halted her efforts and turned to sit under a tree's shadow, only to find Haoren standing there looking at her.

"..."

She fell silent at this sight, her body stiffening completely.

"Get ready, we'll be leaving for the market."

"Why?"

She asked without really thinking much, and the answer that came took her by surprise.

"To buy clothing for you. We can't have you wear mine forever, can we?"

Afterwards, everything was a blur. She didn't know how or when she had reached the marketplace, but there she was, and ahead of her was a broad back that seemed strangely reliable today.

Meanwhile...

'Where do we get clothes?'

...The back wasn't really all that reliable.