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

Standing in front of the podium, Feng Yi crossed his arms, sneered, and said, "Let me tell you, the reason our sect's disciples were able to come out is because they are smart. Don't give me that nonsense about everyone being fine. You need to give me an explanation for this."

Before the Supreme Sect's voice could be turned off, a cry of surprise rang out.

"Junior Uncle!"

Feng Yi suddenly turned his head to look, and a chill ran through him.

Ni Jinxuan kept looking at Lin Du, and only when she got up did she notice the scattered bloodstains on the ground, like flowers trembling on the yellow soil.

Lin Du waved his hand lazily, indicating that she was fine.

It's normal to get a cerebral hemorrhage after breaking through so many formations today.

She was particularly used to swallowing the pill with her own blood, and she swallowed the pill that replenished her depleted spiritual energy. "It's alright, I'm leaving."

They spent a lot of time on this stage.

A sigh rose from the stands. This Lin Du... although he was exceptionally talented, judging by his current lifestyle, it felt like he would be lucky to live even one more day.

The fourth challenge is usually a question about one's conscience.

Before the team battle in the fifth level, it's essential to reflect on your own mind.

Perhaps to outsiders this hurdle is nothing, but Feng Yi knows that this fourth hurdle may be the one that will ultimately kill Lin Du.

Lin Du is a smart student, but definitely not a good one.

She is too independent and opinionated. She takes every piece of knowledge the teacher imparts, but she is almost completely unwilling to accept any of her own opinions. To shake her established beliefs, one would have to experience them firsthand before she would reflect on them and make changes.

In Yan Ye's words, he's a stubborn ox; not even eight hundred cows in the back mountain animal park could pull him back.

As soon as the five people entered the fourth level, they were already in an illusion. They stood there straight with their eyes closed, like five exquisite sculptures. Just standing there was pleasing to the eye.

If we ignore the dried meat he had just put in his mouth and the sweet cake he was holding in his hand as he breathed a sigh of relief.

An array seal appeared beneath the feet of the five people one after another. If anything happened within the array, it could be reflected in the array seal.

For example, the array under Ni Jinxuan's feet was colorful and beautiful, but it was clear that the illusion was wonderful and functioning smoothly.

Sure enough, after a short while, Ni Jinxuan opened her eyes, blankly raised the sugar cake in her hand and took a bite, only to find that the four people around her were still frozen and had not come out.

She had no choice but to find a place to sit down, and like a hamster, she hugged the sugar cake and nibbled on it, her big eyes fixed on the four people in front of her.

The array patterns beneath Xia Tian's feet were an intense crimson, as if they were about to burst into flames at any moment.

She was the second to wake up. After waking up, she took a deep breath and showed some unusual expression.

Although she was devoted to alchemy, ever since she obtained the purest primordial flame in the world by chance, she had to overcome many things in her cultivation. Completely merging with a flame was not an easy task.

A medical practitioner who always produces bad pills and blows up the alchemy furnace is not a good alchemist.

After she began refining the strange fire, the illusion was filled with repeated explosions of failed attempts.

Until Lin Du appeared.

The first time was when she jokingly said, "Isn't that the legendary fertility pill?"

The second time, she said, "What useless pill? That's our Supreme Sect's special product, the super invincible, thunderous, cool, and bio-chemically deterrent Heavenly Thunder Seed."

The third time was when she lazily followed Jiang Liang to the alchemy room after finishing her training. That afternoon, Xia Tianwu had caused a commotion, and Mo Lin was repairing the roof. Lin Du was beaten by her senior brother because of the explosion and was howling in pain.

He used the excuse of being covered in dust to help Jiang Liang repair the roof, but when he arrived, he only sat side by side with his second nephew, who was holding the remains of the alchemy furnace. One silently blamed himself and reflected on his actions, while the other was lost in thought.

Lin Du casually offered a piece of advice, "Actually, you've been practicing controlling the strange fire because the source of your pills is too intense, and you also need to ensure that the medicine is refined for the required time. Just now, I saw that you were able to control the strange fire into such a stable and small ball, so your control should be quite good."

"Have you considered that the reason the furnace exploded wasn't because you were incompetent, but because the furnace itself was faulty? The strange fire was too intense, causing uneven heating of the alchemy furnace, which led to the explosion. There was also a temperature difference between the inside and outside. How about I add another array to this furnace for you?"

After returning from Phoenix City, Lin Du became enthusiastic about engraving patterns on the pots and pans in the kitchen, and successfully developed a timer for cooking rice, saving a lot of time.

Because the furnace explodes too often, the furnace that is useless in the summer is not a very precious alchemy furnace, but it is mainly characterized by high temperature resistance and toughness, so theoretically there should be no problem.

In order not to dampen Lin Du's enthusiasm for engraving, Xia Tianwu still let Lin Du try it out.

Lin Du, Yan Qingyuan, and Cang Li spent several months tinkering before they could barely create a furnace that could withstand the strange fire. Although the furnace is still somewhat strange and ugly, it has never exploded, and the success rate of refining pills has increased by 20%.

It wasn't until then that Xia Tianwu finally overcame the hurdle of questioning his own heart.

She was naturally aloof and reserved, and her master was also a quiet person who didn't talk much. So it wasn't until Lin Du came that she realized that some things could be done by many people together, even if it was just talking to others, looking at things, and giving them advice. That would make things much better.

It's useless to keep looking for reasons within yourself and denying your own value; people always have to move on.

Lin Du's words are often unorthodox and heretical, but they always have a miraculous effect on the people of the Supreme Sect.

For example, "Don't blame yourself. When something happens, look for the cause in other people first. If there are no other people, look for the cause in the environment."

"After all, you are also a genius in alchemy. Do you know what a genius is? It means to find a new path, to make the environment adapt to the talent, rather than the talent adapting to the environment."

Summer has come out.

Next was Yan Qing. He mumbled something under his breath, then shouted and finally came out, the jerky in his mouth falling to the ground.

Yan Qing caught it with lightning speed.

"Thank goodness, that was terrifying! I dreamt that my junior uncle came out of the library and said, 'You haven't even read this book yet!' It scared me so much that I secretly read for three nights straight."

Jinxuan pondered for a moment, "But Yanqing, haven't you read enough books? Junior Uncle has never said anything to you, has he?"

Yan Qing chewed the jerky with lingering fear, swallowing it with difficulty. "That's why I said it's all in the past. Everything is in the past. Now, I'm knowledgeable in everything! Invincible!"

He glanced at Lin Du, who was still in the formation, and added guiltily, "Second only to Junior Uncle."

This time, the three of them sat in a row and began to gnaw on the crisp and sweet spiritual fruit.

Yuan Ye was the second to last to wake up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he heard the crunching sound of fruit being eaten. He let out a long sigh of relief, "This is really hard to endure. The cultivation world is much better."

That's not a place for human beings to live in the palace.

Lin Du has always been the one you don't have to worry about the most, but now she's the only one left in the illusion.

This year's Inquiry into the Illusionary Realm uses the technique of reincarnation.

Once you enter the secret realm, you will retrace your life from the day you were born, moving forward and looking back to hone your mindset.

Only the most important things that you remember deeply will stay with you for a long time; otherwise, other moments without lingering feelings will pass by as quickly as falling petals.

But Lin Du's previous life undoubtedly had many hardships.

Lin Du was feeling very bad.

On the day of her birth, her grandparents, who were waiting outside the delivery room, immediately turned sour and went home when they heard it was a girl.

That was clearly what her mother told her later, but now she clearly saw that scene in the illusion.

There was also a case where a father asked for leave, and his colleagues joked, "If it were a son, he would be too happy to ask for leave."

The faces of those people—whether displeased, forlorn, or laughing—were imprinted in Lin Du's vision.

As they grew older, their small bodies were left alone in the courtyard, with no adults to look after them. They would struggle to cook glutinous rice balls or frozen dumplings for themselves while standing on a stool. When their parents came home, there would be endless arguments and blame.

"Lin Du, you must remember, you are a girl. Your grandparents don't like you, so our family won't get any inheritance. You have to be strong!"

"Your dad is incompetent, I'm leaving."

"If you don't want this burden, do you think I'd want it?"

Her parents were separated, and her maternal grandmother, who raised her, passed away from a heart attack before her tenth birthday.

At the funeral, her mother cried her heart out. She went to comfort her, but was pushed away and fell down the steps.

As he grew older, the teacher sighed, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. Faced with the complicated tuition fees, Lin Du could only put aside his pride, awkwardly preparing himself mentally time and time again, and then beg for living expenses from his parents, who had long since started their own families.

Every phone call was like a slow, agonizing torture.

A humble plea and hesitant reasons, even for legitimate tuition fees, sound like pale and superfluous excuses.

Lin Du thought he had forgotten that feeling, but now, the tidal wave of memories still washes over him, leaving him battered and sore all over. Eventually, he becomes numb.

She went through these hardships numbly, and no longer felt the embarrassment and stubborn pride of the past. In order to survive, there was nothing she wouldn't do.

He studied hard, got into a good university, took out student loans, and even before entering school, he started working as a mobile phone agent selling SIM cards, tutoring, and doing other jobs.

Until she graduated smoothly, found a good job, and paid off her loans, she became a regular elite in everyone's eyes. Like a stone that had been abandoned, she desperately polished herself, grinding away her original dusty outer skin and transforming it into a lustrous jade. Further polishing would only add some gold and silver to make it into a pendant or ornament, with no other room for upward growth. Thus, she lost the meaning of her life.

Desperately trying to prove your abilities and that you can live well on your own is ultimately meaningless.

Because it was nothing more than an insignificant little stone abandoned by two people in their failed past.

No one cares whether that stone is a beautiful piece of jade, how exquisitely it was later carved, or which display case it shines in.

People came and went around her, a surging crowd, but she remained steadfastly in place, like a stubborn rock.

She was swallowed by the giant waves and swept into the endless depths of the sea.

Whether it's a beautiful jade or not, it's just a stone.

When Lin Du opened her eyes again, a hand firmly grasped hers.

"Are you alright?" It was Du Shao.

Next was Yan Ye, "Now, I've got your back."

She was not convinced by Yan Ye, so she set herself a goal: to beat him and let him feel what it was like to be crushed.

At least... she should be able to see Yan Ye's reaction after being surpassed by her own apprentice.

In the modern world, Lin Du cannot see his parents' reaction to learning that he has been admitted to a prestigious university, but in the cultivation world, Lin Du can see his master's furious reaction.

"Junior Uncle, are you alright?"

The voice was tinged with worry, sounding like Jin Xuan, but upon closer listening, it was Tian Wu.

"Junior Uncle, I'm fine." It was Mo Lin.

"It has to be you again, Junior Uncle." Is it Yuan Ye, or Yan Qing?

"Go ahead and do what you want to do, junior sister."

"Lin Du, so many of us are holding you back, not telling you to die."

"It's okay, I'll teach you."

……

Are relationships in the world everlasting? Is it so difficult to maintain them for even a few decades?

It seems like... more than nine years have passed.

What is the meaning of life?

Lin Du felt the call.

What is it?

Perhaps it's because, even knowing the coldness and warmth of human relationships, and the vicissitudes of life, we still can't let go of the lights of humanity, the sunrise and sunset, and are still moved by every bit of warmth.

A life starting anew, strong and fearless.

Lin Du's eyelashes trembled slightly as she opened her eyes.

All that could be heard was a jumbled, overlapping cry of "Junior Uncle!" The noise was so loud that Lin Du almost wanted to keep his eyes closed.

But she quickly realized something was wrong.

Lin Du looked thoughtfully at the hand on his wrist. It was Jin Xuan's hand, followed by Tian Wu's, and next to Jin Xuan's hand was Yuan Ye's. Behind Yuan Ye was Yan Qing.

But they hadn't moved yet, because their bodies were covered with a thin layer of frost.

It's frozen.

Lin Du: ...

"I did it?"

Four pairs of eyes looked at her innocently and blinked at the same time.