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

In the now-abandoned temple, the towering statues still retain their former splendor, but the ground is now a mess.

The five people stood scattered inside the room, all silent, with only a suppressed voice flowing intermittently through the room.

"I came here to slay demons. That temple has been there for a long time. Initially, it wasn't very popular, but the number of demons has increased. The spiritual energy in this border area is somewhat mixed, so our cultivation speed is slow. However, we have the advantage of many merchants coming and going, and the trade is booming. We have many ways to earn spirit stones and acquire rare and precious materials from all over the world."

"The number of demons is increasing. They feed on human souls and essence. Cultivators with higher cultivation levels can handle them, but mortals always easily become their prey. Someone has to guard this place, but how can our cultivation speed keep up with the demons that eat human essence and refine human souls?"

"There has to be a way. That day, a few of us with higher cultivation levels in the city got together for drinks and to discuss matters. We passed by a temple at night and saw the ever-burning incense inside, as well as the statues that had never faded for some reason. Suddenly, an idea came to me."

"Others believe in it simply for peace of mind; perhaps there really is a power in the dark protecting our town."

"But how much of the power of these offerings truly represents?"

"Several of us thought of the long-declined incense and deity path, and coincidentally, we found the cultivation method of the incense and deity path in the fragments sold by merchants. The first time we used it was when we encountered a powerful demonic cultivator outside the city. We were exhausted, and our last resort was the power of our will."

"The demonic cultivators were indeed defeated by us. To thank us, the merchants gave us many gifts. We said it was the gods' blessing, and they went to the temple to offer a giant incense stick, which was almost ten feet tall and exceptionally magnificent."

"The temple became more and more popular, and merchants and travelers would come here to offer a giant stick of incense for safety and protection during their journeys, which gradually became a custom."

"In order to purify the resentment and evil energy in the incense and prayers, we... raised some things."

Lin Du nodded, "Ghost-faced bats and bone-eating worms."

"At first, everything was going in a good direction, until we killed so many demons that they dared not come again." Shen Yan's voice paused abruptly, as if every word he spoke next was extremely difficult.

"Then...the incense offerings gradually dwindled...and the children in the city began to disappear."

"We never expected that the incense god would raise a man-eating monster."

"There are fewer and fewer children in the city, and more and more people are going to the temple to burn incense. I don't know what the evil spirits have noticed, but they have also begun to wreak havoc outside the city. My wife... I don't know why she appeared outside the city, but she clearly came to the temple that day!"

"We really didn't expect this... We were all doing this to slay demons."

"How could a god who was originally meant to vanquish evil become an evil being?!"

Shen Yan's voice couldn't help but become excited.

Lin Du's expression remained unchanged, showing not a trace of surprise or fluctuation, clearly indicating that he had long anticipated the outcome.

"Things are indeed unpredictable, but I still have a question. The Bone-Eating Worms and Ghost-Faced Bats don't just feed on resentment, they also feed on corpses. May I ask, Senior Shen Yan, where do those corpses come from? Are they just evil cultivators?"

"Or... what about the bodies of other innocent bystanders who died unjustly?"

The room suddenly became eerily quiet.

After a long while, Shen Yan's voice finally rang out, "Although I knew you were exceptionally intelligent when you asked me the question, you are just too clever for your own good."

"Yes, indeed, there aren't enough corpses of demons, so there are also the corpses of dead passersby."

Lin Du clicked his tongue softly; that was indeed a bit unethical.

Human nature is like this: it's hard to face the mistakes we've made, and we dare not review the details, because every detail is tantamount to repeatedly questioning our conscience.

Perhaps more difficult for Shen Yan to accept than the pain of losing his wife and son was that his momentary lapse of judgment had led to a grave mistake that indirectly caused his wife's death. Even though he was filled with remorse and wanted to destroy the idol, everything had already returned to dust.

Although the four of them already knew that Lin Du had extremely strong judgment and quick thinking, they were still shocked beyond measure every time.

Perhaps there were times when she overlooked or miscalculated, but she would always be the first to place that crucial piece at the last moment.

It is hard to imagine that a person could accurately deduce a truth that is almost identical to the facts from those trivial details.

Those watching in front of the water mirror were equally shocked. At everyone's insistence, they opened the sound of the Supreme Sect's secret realm separately. Although it was not loud and was sometimes even drowned out by the crowd's discussions, high-level cultivators with strong divine senses and five senses could hear it clearly.

From the moment Lin Du began asking questions and probing inquiries, the previously murky situation began to show a glimmer of hope.

She was like the sharpest knife in the world, with the cold, rational light of snow, peeling away the lingering gloom that shrouded the lonely city.

"What did this child eat to grow up so smart?"

"Haven't you heard? He loves reading."

"That's true."

Lin Du's unusually calm voice continued, "Senior asked us to enter the temple, but didn't mention its secrets or the existence of the Loyalty Formation. Your wife and children's belongings are here. Since you are so eager for revenge and have led us here, then..."

She removed the talisman, then tossed the wooden sword and magnolia hairpin into the peach wood box. "The juniors will not disturb you any longer."

Lin Du turned and left. The four people behind him were stunned, but subconsciously followed him, not daring to show any doubt on their faces.

"Junior Uncle, are we really leaving?" Ni Jinxuan transmitted her voice to Lin Du.

Lin Du took large strides and didn't even look back.

"The incense gods here have been worshipped for at least several hundred years, while the spirits of this Loyalty Formation outside can kill a cultivator at the Radiant Sun Realm. What are we doing here? Are we courting death? Which one of them are we capable of offending?"

"Let them take their revenge and settle their scores."

"Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best."

Ni Jinxuan felt that her junior uncle made a lot of sense and was almost unable to refute it, but she also felt that her junior uncle didn't seem to think that way and should have a backup plan.

This unexpected turn of events caught everyone off guard.

Those who had just been praising Lin Du's keen insight fell silent, their faces full of questions.

"They just left like that? The formation isn't broken? The evil god isn't destroyed?"

"You are from the Supreme Sect! Righteous disciples who vanquish demons and protect the righteous path! You're leaving already?"

Lin Du crossed the threshold with one leg and arms crossed, only to hear a question behind him, "Are you really leaving?"

The young ghost appeared before the statue, saying, "But the statue has been infested with evil spirits. Aren't the disciples of your Supreme Sect supposed to exorcise these demons?"

"Senior, as you just said, I'm just a kid, and my fellow apprentices are just kids too. Can you bear to see us kids being sent off one by one?"

Lin Du didn't even turn her head before walking out of the house. The four people behind her followed suit and walked out of the house as well.

Shen Yan watched the children's backs for a while, then smiled helplessly, squatted down, and picked up the wooden sword and the hairpin.

"Very well, very well, so this is where I am today... I've come to an end."

The young man turned to look at the statue. "It's nothing but an evil spirit. I couldn't destroy you before I died, but today I will smash you to pieces!"

A cold wind rose inside the room, and the yin energy surged. The young man's ghost became more and more solid, his fingernails and long hair grew wildly, and his physical form transformed into the appearance he had before his death.

He held the small wooden sword in his hand, and a surge of yin energy rushed into the blood-stained sword. In a daze, he heard a child's clear laughter.

The scene was undoubtedly comical: a tall young man was holding a child's small wooden sword, which didn't look like a sword at all, and was even less handy than a dagger.

But no one could laugh, because the ghost's sword aura was incredibly sharp, carrying with it a majestic aura of exorcising demons and dispelling evil spirits.

The moment he made his move, the Loyalty Array outside sensed the killing intent and was quickly activated. However, because the person inside was not alive and had no physical form, it did not immediately restrain Shen Yan's movements.

When the sword energy struck the statue, a crack was heard and a fissure appeared running from top to bottom.

Lin Du stood in the courtyard with his four junior disciples, watching this scene unfold. The compass in his palm was spinning wildly, eventually turning towards a spot inside the house.

The young woman in the blue robe suddenly moved and strode towards the door.

"Junior Uncle! Aren't we outmatched? Why are you still going in?"

Lin Du stopped in front of the door, sensed the array, and confirmed that it was only inside the house. He then said, "Yeah, I'm not going in."

"I'm just standing at the door, cheering you on."

Everyone was speechless upon hearing this. The four junior disciples felt that she was right and followed her to the door.

Yuan Ye pulled out Xi Qin. "It's not too much for me to cheer you on, is it?"

This is called listening to your junior uncle!