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

Dragging someone who is nearly 1.9 meters tall is still too strenuous for Lin Du. It's not the weight, but the size that makes him particularly cumbersome, even harder to drag than a stone lion.

As they stepped into the black coffin, the two of them almost simultaneously lost their footing and fell into nothingness, their legs giving way.

The moment they stepped out of the birth gate, their knees buckled simultaneously. Lin Du, almost reflexively, gripped the Floating Life Fan, channeled his spiritual power into it, and then shouted, "Jin Xuan Tian Wu, activate the Earth Fire Formation!"

Upon seeing Lin Du appear and hearing this, the two people, unaware of the situation, hurriedly completed the earth fire array that they had set up before opening the coffin.

Lin Du knelt heavily on one knee, and then poured the spiritual power of the Floating Life Fan into the previously set-up earth fire array. He opened his left hand, and his palm was covered with mottled blue and black marks from the scorching Yin Fire. Among them were seven meridian-sealing nails.

Yan Qing, who was standing to the side, suddenly knelt down on both knees. The long sword clattered on the ground. "Hiss, the bell-shaped cover is about to shatter."

He turned his head and looked incredulously at his junior uncle, who could still look incredibly handsome even when his legs gave way and he fell. He silently uttered a single word in his mind, "Eek."

The ground surrounding the black coffin suddenly formed a crimson array. Lin Du casually grabbed Yan Qing's hand. "Virgin blood?"

"...Huh?" Yan Qing's eyes widened.

Lin Du was anxious and asked again, "Is that right?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

A white light flashed from his fingertips. Lin Du stained the seven nails with Yan Qing's blood before using his spiritual power to stop the bleeding. Then he threw the nails into the seven spots within the array.

It was clearly a miniature Seven Gates Formation.

The sealing nails that suppressed Shen Yan's Yin meridians for thousands of years naturally became tainted with Shen Yan's Yin energy and resentment. The blood of a virgin boy was extremely Yang, which was the natural enemy of evil spirits. The Seven Minor Gates were for guiding the soul.

He pointed out to Lin Du the location of the ghost that had been completely released.

The yin energy in the air was completely dispelled by the intensity of the earth fire array. Lin Du stood up and watched as the seven nails in the array went from horizontal to vertical, and then they all started to rotate, pointing straight in the same direction.

Lin Du looked in that direction and suddenly froze.

That location... in the illusion, is a very old magnolia tree in front of the main hall.

Back then, when that little boy and Shen Yan were chasing and playing, they lay down together under the tree, and pink and white petals fell all over them.

She thought the evil spirits would harm people, so as soon as she came out, she activated the Earth Fire Array and set up the Seven Minor Barriers.

The Seventh Gate traps the ghost, while the Earth Fire Formation dissipates its malevolent energy.

I never expected that the ghost would be under that tree.

What was once a hall full of spring jade is now nothing but a withered tree.

A blue figure slowly emerged from the tree, then bowed to Lin Du, saying, "Thank you, young friend, for destroying this formation for me."

Lin Du let out a soft sigh of frustration, "I deserve to die."

The three stood behind Lin Du. "Junior Uncle, what's this?"

"Li Yang Shenyan greets everyone."

The four returned the greeting in unison. Lin Du then spoke, "Lin Du of the Supreme Sect, has brought his junior disciple here to break the formation."

After exchanging polite greetings, Ni Jinxuan asked, "May I ask, senior, what has happened in this city before?"

A trace of sorrow flashed in the man's eyes. "What I experienced was exactly what the two young friends saw in their dream."

Yan Qing then realized that two people hadn't entered the illusion array. "Why didn't you go in?! This isn't fair!"

"Because they have strong yang energy," Lin Du said calmly.

"Huh? I'm a virgin, don't I have enough yang energy?" Yan Qing's eyes widened.

"That's not what I meant..." Lin Du raised his hand to his forehead, "Their... spiritual root attribute problem."

Yan Qing silently shut her mouth.

That's definitely not the reason, but whatever Junior Uncle says goes.

Shen Yan kept smiling as he looked at the four people in front of him, but his brows and eyes were shrouded in an unyielding gloom.

Lin Du did not specify.

Xia Tianwu and Ni Jinxuan did not enter the Ghost Realm because they concealed Yang Fire in their hands, waiting for Lin Du's order to activate the Earth Fire Array. Ghosts would naturally avoid it, so it would be strange if they could enter.

Lin Du avoided the topic, feeling that there were still some things that weren't connected, and that the illusion she had just experienced was also incongruous.

Although some places in Zhongzhou worship incense and gods, destroying people's idols will provoke public outrage and directly seal people's souls to prevent them from reincarnating. How can these be considered proper believers? This is a cult!

It's just a statue, not the real person.

Are there few abandoned temples in the world?

Those who follow the path of incense offerings will inevitably encounter periods of prosperity and decline; this is all commonplace.

Why would someone be killed for destroying a statue? Is this a legitimate deity? Or is it an evil god?

Lin Du felt that the secrets of this ancient city were like an onion, and after peeling off the first layer, it was really an eyesore.

"May I ask, senior, why did this city become an isolated city overnight, stripped of all life?" Lin Du decided to get straight to the point and ask directly.

The man shook his head. "At first, my soul was trapped in the formation, and I was in a daze. I didn't know what was happening. I only felt the ground shake for a moment, which happened to shake a sealing nail up a little. That's how I slowly regained some connection with my body. After that, it took a long time, and I could only move most of the sealing nail out and regain the power to escape the formation. When I came out, I saw that Liyang Town was already like this."

Lin Du frowned. An earthquake?

What kind of earthquake could shake out the meridian-sealing nails embedded in the body?

She collected her thoughts. "Senior, I also discovered another evil spirit trapped in the Soul-Suppressing Array in the city. Do you recognize it?"

"If you don't mind, senior, after I unravel the secret of Liyang, I will help you dispel your resentment and send you to the underworld to be reincarnated."

Shen Yan bowed again, "Then I'll have to trouble you, young fellow Daoist."

"I don't know that evil spirit, but I think you can look for clues in the temple."

"Although my Yin meridians have been opened, I don't know why, but my resentment is getting weaker and weaker. It seems that I can't move unless I attach myself to something."

"I have a feeling that eight monks have come... but monks just chant sutras, they don't have such a lingering and rhythmic tone, it's more like..."

Lin Du raised his hand to his forehead, "Xi Qin."

Shen Yan's eyes widened, and he raised his voice, "Xi Qin?"

He listened carefully. "It sounds...like...is it? It sounds like they're talking, like they're saying...Xiao...using magic, crawling on the sea?"

Lin Du: ...

Yuan Ye is such an idiot!

She took out a piece of dead jade, "Please attach yourself to this jade, senior. After this is over, I will surely send you to the underworld."

Shen Yan glanced at it. "This is the Death Jade, isn't it? I entered the Death Jade and placed it within the Earth Fire Array you set up, was it to dispel the resentment within me?"

Lin Du, completely unaware that he had been seen through, readily admitted it.

If it is an evil spirit, then force it into the Death Jade; if it is a good spirit, then go in on your own.

Resentment drives people to become mindless demons, and to defeat these demons, it is necessary to dissipate the resentment. Without resentment, one can maintain rationality and limit the harm one can inflict.

This is a blatant conspiracy, just like how Shen Yan used an illusion to make Lin Du open his meridians.

Whether you choose it or not, the outcome will be the same.

Shen Yan smiled helplessly and entered the Dead Jade. Lin Du quickly placed the Dead Jade into a small peach wood box.

Instead of following Shen Yan's instructions to go to the temple, Lin Du went back to his original courtyard first.

The closer you get, the more you can hear the mournful and desolate music of the xiqin, except that this time it's no longer "Junior Uncle, I'm scared," but has started to lengthen the sentences.

Lin Du flew directly to the front of the hall and saw Yuan Ye sitting on the iron coffin. Although he was afraid, his hands were unusually steady. He could not only produce the sound of people speaking, but also answer the questions that Xi Qin produced. It was terrifying.

Xi Qinla asked, "Junior Uncle, when are you coming back?"

He answered himself, "It should be soon, it should be soon."

You might say he used perfect pitch incorrectly, yet he could still dispel the resentment of evil spirits; you might say he used it correctly, but... it just doesn't seem right either.

Lin Du crossed his arms, listening to the roar from the iron coffin below, his face grim. "Even ghosts would cry from hearing that."