The entire sect is obsessed with love, but I'm the only one who's truly insane.

At the Supreme Sect, dawn had broken, the morning glow pushing back the somber blue sky, dewdrops rolling down bamboo leaves, and a rich, warm aroma billowing out from the kitchen door of the dining hall.

"I remember, it was also a morning like this when my senior brothers and junior uncle left." Yuan Ye took a deep breath and landed in front of the dining hall.

"That's what they say, but it's a bit strange." Yan Qing still carried the warmth left from her morning class.

"Wake up in the morning, embrace the sun, and make a wish." Yuan Ye clasped his hands together and said sincerely, "Junior Uncle, please come back soon, if you don't come back..."

"You're going a bit too far. Putting aside the idea of ​​a good person making a wish facing the sun, isn't it excessive for you to perform Buddhist rituals in the Supreme Sect?"

"What if there's a shooting star in broad daylight? My junior uncle said that you should make a wish facing the sky; it's sure to work. Look! There's a shooting star!"

Yan Qing chuckled, then suddenly noticed a flash of light on the horizon. He immediately wrapped his left hand around his right, raised it to his brow, and performed a devout Taoist salute. "Junior Uncle, please come back soon. If you don't come back... wait? That wasn't a shooting star."

"That's a flying boat!" He lowered his hand, summoned a flying magical artifact, and stepped onto it. "Junior Uncle!!!"

A beat too slow to react, Yuan Ye hurriedly caught up, "No way, why do you always beat me to it! I was the one who spotted it first!"

Ni Jinxuan, who ran out of the kitchen, immediately saw the Supreme Sect's flying boat. The sect emblem on the side reflected golden light from the sunlight, and many people stood on it.

She quickly stepped onto her flying artifact and followed it towards the main peak.

Yan Qing landed on the main peak almost at the same time as the spirit boat.

A series of people disembarked from the spirit boat, including a female cultivator with an extraordinary yet somewhat unfamiliar aura.

Yan Qing greeted everyone respectfully, but Yuan Ye suddenly appeared out of nowhere and shouted, "Junior Uncle! Senior Brother! Second Senior Sister! You're finally back!"

Yan Qing's bow froze halfway through. Just as he was about to speak again, Ni Jinxuan's cheerful voice rang out, "Junior Uncle! You're back just in time! The steamed buns for breakfast are all ready!"

Feng Yi crossed her arms and glanced at Ju Yuan. "There are only four kids. I can understand if Yan Ye can't teach his disciples, but the other three all have masters, right? Why can't our senior sister teach them all?"

Ju Yuan whispered, "Because I was punished and sent to Jun Ding Prefecture, my second senior brother refused to teach another student, insisting on symmetry, so..."

"So the task of teaching Junior Sister talisman techniques fell to me?" Feng Yi looked at the three people who were already surrounded.

"Junior Sister is easy to teach. She's ranked first in talent on the Qingyun Ranking, and she succeeded on her first try, didn't she?" Ju Yuan wanted to reassure Feng Yi.

"It's easier than settling accounts in Jun Ding Prefecture," Feng Yi thought, still feeling a bit of a headache thinking about Lin Du's incredibly skillful and horrific talisman-drawing technique, which had somehow miraculously succeeded.

She couldn't think of any other explanation other than that someone was behind her.

Ju Yuan's sorrow rose like the sun reaching its zenith, "Look at these children, how united and loving they are."

Lin Du looked at the three children who were confronting him with loving eyes, "Alright, alright, it's just a ten-day trip."

Anyone who didn't know better would think they'd been gone for ten years.

"Is Senior Brother ready?"

"How was your journey, Junior Uncle?"

"Are you getting used to the food in southern Yunnan?"

"Did you encounter any danger on the way?"

The three of them seemed to have a million questions, making a commotion that could be heard by seven or eight people. Lin Du thought to himself that he really should let Granny Ma come and see her; she really was a woman of few words.

"I'm better, but my health isn't very good," Mo Lin explained with a smile.

"She still needs to be well cared for," Xia Tian added.

"I had a good journey and gained a lot of knowledge." Lin Du thought for a moment. Not only did she have a good journey, but the drink that Granny Ma gave her every morning was extremely beneficial to her spiritual sense. It not only repaired her overly tired spiritual sense, but also brought about significant progress. In addition, there was a secret Gu technique that was not even available in the sect's library. She could say that she had gained a lot.

Granny Ma is practically a living bodhisattva in the world of cultivation.

"As for the food in southern Yunnan, it's quite good, especially the spicy one. The chili peppers used in one meal are enough for your senior brother and me to cook for about a month. When your senior brother and I are not around, you guys suffer..."

Lin Du carefully examined the three people in front of him, swallowing back the words "suffering," and said, "You've all gotten fatter."

Yuan Ye and Jin Xuan, in particular, had round, rosy faces, like perfectly risen white steamed buns.

Yuan Ye scratched his head. "I don't know why, but the sect leader is very busy, Uncle Ju Yuan has left, my master has gone to Jun Ding Prefecture to take over a job, and Fifth Uncle is always engrossed in alchemy, so we've changed to having the shops down the mountain deliver spiritual food to us every day."

In just ten days, the three of them had accumulated four-figure sums in the shops in Dingjiucheng.

Lin Du nodded. "I can tell, the food is very good."

After exchanging pleasantries and greetings with the sect leader and Feng Yi, the group rushed towards the dining hall.

"...Why do I smell something burning?"

Before he even landed in front of the dining hall, Lin Du sensed something was wrong.

Jinxuan exclaimed in surprise and swooped down, "The water for steaming the buns has boiled dry!"

Lin Du rushed down after him, exclaiming, "Beautiful!"

On the very first day back, a pot burned dry. It's incredibly lucky; it's sure to become a huge hit.

A group of people quickly put out the fire and saved the blackened pot. Fortunately, the steamed buns were still intact.

The five people happily put the broken pot out of their minds and carried the neatly stacked steamers into the dining hall.

"I didn't know you senior brothers and sisters were coming back today, so I only steamed eighteen." Ni Jinxuan patted her forehead. "But I should be able to make some more."

"No need. I had some delicious pastries at Feixingpai earlier, so I asked them for a few packs to bring back for you." Lin Du casually took out three paper packets from his storage ring. "There's also some local Yunnan pork, I'll stir-fry it for you at noon."

Yuan Ye and Jin Xuan looked at Lin Du with both eyes, feeling that their junior uncle was shining.

"By the way, Junior Uncle, during the few days you were gone, the three of us had all had a competition with someone." Jin Xuan raised her chin, her almond-shaped eyes curving, revealing the result before Lin Du could even ask.

"You won them all?" Lin Du casually stuffed a steamed bun into his mouth.

The three nodded in unison, their invisible tails swaying behind them, leaving afterimages.

Lin Du swallowed half a steamed bun, then suddenly remembered something. "I think I also had a competition?"

Yan Qing was the first to respond, "Eight years later, at the Central Plains Grand Competition, Wu Xi of the Guiyuan Sect still felt that Junior Uncle would not be able to reach the Cloud Soaring Realm by then."

"Good, I remember now," Lin Du glanced at Xia Tianwu, "We've already won once, I can't lose anymore."

The spring breeze never reaches Luoze; upon entering, one is immediately met with an intense chill and an excessively rich spiritual energy.

When Lin Du returned to Luoze, Yan Ye was still quietly meditating on the ice.

She couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Didn't you say you were going into seclusion? And you're still in seclusion in Luoze. If I don't go out, are you saying I can't go back to Luoze?"

Just as Lin Du was about to turn around and go to the library, she saw the person open his eyes and turn towards her.

"You're all back, why didn't you come and tell your master?"

Lin Du walked over, and inexplicably felt like a child who had missed curfew and was caught red-handed by his own father sitting on the living room sofa.

Just as Yan Ye was about to begin his reprimand, he suddenly noticed that his young apprentice had knelt down opposite him. Then, in an exceptionally sincere tone, he said, "You are truly a good master."

Within his divine consciousness, the young disciple's expression was serious and thoughtful, devoid of any hint of jest, making him even more terrifying than someone who spoke in a sarcastic or mocking tone.

Yan Ye was silent for a moment, then said, "It's good that you know."

It seems they were frightened by that scoundrel Yin Zhong.