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

The moment the zither music began, the atmosphere inexplicably turned tragic.

As the music began, the ghosts inside the house solidified. Shen Yan was unwilling to get entangled with the ghosts of the Loyalty Formation, and immediately swung out his second sword.

This time, instead of a cracking sound, the statue made a series of fine cracking sounds, like the cracking of ice in early spring, extending into countless fine, spiderweb-like cracks. Then, with a clatter, the clay statue fell to the ground, revealing a skeleton and a strange, dark gold stone inside. The skeleton was covered with countless incantations.

After the statue shattered, a gray mist remained inside. Even after the human bones and gold fell, it remained tangled and coiled on the high platform, slowly twisting, stretching, lengthening and widening, eventually vaguely forming a human shape.

The evil spirit revealed its true nature.

Lin Du narrowed his eyes; inside the clay figure were human bones.

The curse marks on the human bones are clearly... a soul-gathering array.

The most central talisman on the skull bore the name of the Soul Gatherer: Meng An.

According to a side account in historical records, the fierce god statue enshrined in Liyang Town was once a cultivator who died protecting the town. He came from the Meng family, a prominent family in the town.

Lin Du scanned the area with her divine sense and quickly calculated the time it took for the Soul Gathering Array to operate, which was almost identical to the time it took for the thousand-year-old evil ghost's soul to take shape. She roughly knew what was locked inside that iron coffin.

No wonder when they opened the coffin, there was only a thousand-year-old evil spirit, but no body.

She turned around quickly, "Yuan Ye, you hold on first. Yan Qingtian, come with me. Jin Xuan... protect Yuan Ye."

Yuan Ye's hand, which was playing the zither, almost trembled. "Why do I need someone to protect me? Who do you think you are?"

Ni Jinxuan cracked her whip, which landed in the air with a loud bang.

Yuan Ye quickly resigned himself to his fate, "With you protecting me, I feel very safe. Thank you, Junior Uncle. I even have the energy to play the violin now."

All three Cloud Ascension Realm experts left, leaving the onlookers somewhat bewildered.

"Running away again?"

"And three of them are at the Cloud Ascension Realm. What are they planning?"

Lin Du was very fast, and he didn't even bother to follow the town's planned roads. He took a straight line and used his spiritual power to fly to the courtyard as quickly as possible.

The three of them landed in front of the house where the iron coffin was placed. Lin Du took a deep breath, threw out a talisman to ward off evil spirits, and stuck it into the iron coffin.

The malevolent energy was extremely strong; the talisman burned automatically as soon as it was thrown up because of its effectiveness.

"Such a strong malevolent aura?" Yan Qing frowned.

"This ghost has a bit of a temper." Lin Du threw out seven exorcism talismans and stuck them all on the iron coffin.

This time the burning speed is much slower.

The demon's roar grew increasingly fierce, making people's eardrums ache.

Lin Du knocked on the iron coffin. "Calm down. You've been suppressed for a thousand years and you're still so irritable."

This time, the roar was mixed with the sharp sound of scraping against the iron coffin. The demon's fingernails were already sharp and pointed, and the sound of scraping against the metal was not only a torment to the ears, but also a torment to the mind.

The talismans on the iron coffin reignited, and Lin Du frowned, throwing out a dozen exorcism talismans.

"I'll count to three! If you don't quiet down and listen to me, your men will be utterly defeated! And you'll be finished too!"

The demon's voice paused for a moment, then its roar grew louder and louder, almost deafening.

Lin Du narrowed his eyes, channeled his spiritual power, and shouted, "One!"

The roar of a tiger and the thunderous crash of a demon colliding with the iron coffin made Yan Qing and Lin Du, who were pressing down on the coffin, feel their arms go numb.

"two!"

boom!

The immense impact propelled the iron coffin into the air, and Lin Du and Yan Qing were both thrown back several feet by the aftershocks of the force. Their magic boots scraped the ground, leaving four deep marks.

Lin Du sneered, "Tianwu, Yang Fire! Yan Qing, Breaking Evil!"

The evil spirit fell eerily silent, then landed on the ground with a thud.

Lin Du walked back to the iron coffin. "I know who you are and why you are trapped here. I can let you out, but we need to talk things out. If you understand, knock on the coffin door."

The iron coffin stubbornly remained silent.

Lin Du slammed his hand on the iron coffin, causing the entire coffin to vibrate.

"Okay, I'll continue. Listen up."

Yan Qing's eyes widened, but Xia Tian was unsurprised.

"Your real name was Meng An. Thousands of years ago, you died in a great battle while protecting the town from evil spirits. Later, the people of the town spontaneously erected a statue in your memory."

"And your closest friend, perhaps a subordinate or a disciple, in order to protect you, collected your remains when he sculpted your statue, and inscribed a soul-gathering spell, hoping that the power of incense offerings could gather your soul that had been shattered by evil spirits. He himself became the spirit of the Loyalty Array, guarding your statue."

"I just didn't expect that the incense was poisonous. The power of the vows not only gathered your soul, but also created an evil spirit. I don't know how you got trapped here, but I guess you are a descendant of the person who sculpted the statue and carved the curse for you. The curse mark on the chest of the stone statue outside and the curse mark on your bones are of the same origin."

Lin Du was tired of talking. "Am I right? If I'm wrong, knock once. If I'm right, knock twice. If I'm right most of the time, knock three times."

The iron coffin suddenly began to thump and thump, the knocking continuing.

This was the first time in Lin Du's life that he had encountered something even more rebellious than himself.

She slapped the coffin hard again, which happened to stick a vow spell onto it.

Lin Du cleared his throat and coaxed, "Now, let's discuss something. I can release you. Now that the evil spirit has been reborn, your people probably still think that evil spirit is a manifestation of you. Isn't that incredibly insulting to ghosts? Don't you want to devour that evil spirit?"

"However, you cannot harm us after we release you. After exorcising the evil spirit, I will send you to the underworld. If you agree, then knock once. Whether you knock or not, or knock more, it means you are willing to endure your former friend recognizing a thief as your father and sacrificing your life and soul for it."

The monks in the stands had never seen anyone so adept at deceiving ghosts.

Shouldn't Fu Sifang's evaluation of Lin Du also include "eloquent and persuasive"?

A heavy thud came from inside the iron coffin, and then it went still.

Lin Du was satisfied. "I forgot to tell you, I just set up an oath spell. You just need to tap it once, and the oath spell will be complete."

Killing evil spirits and using their strength against them is secondary; the main goal is self-preservation.

Yan Qing opened the coffin, and Lin Du stepped out to stop the formation.

For the Soul-Slaying Array to be stopped, the eight Lesser Eight Yang array eyes must stop operating simultaneously; otherwise, it will cause an imbalance in the array's energy, resulting in a backlash.

Holding the Floating Life Fan, Lin Du walked leisurely through the formation, patting each stone statue. His azure robe fluttered like a butterfly, appearing almost like a piece of azure silk to low-level cultivators. He circled the sixty-four stone statues, end to end, in just a few breaths.

The final eight strikes were completed simultaneously in a single breath, and the stone statues suddenly froze.

Lin Du withdrew his spiritual power and turned to look inside the house, just as Yan Qing moved the coffin lid aside.

She rested her chin on the fan thoughtfully, "All we do today is turn people's heads upside down."