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

As soon as Yuan Ye finished speaking, the old man who had been kowtowing prostrated himself on the ground and collapsed.

He rarely showed such ruthlessness, and Lin Du looked at him with a "you're a promising student" expression, while Ni Jinxuan beside him seemed somewhat flustered.

Yuan Ye has always been a slippery and unreliable character in the Supreme Sect. He has never been so full of vigor before. If he was as unreliable as the strange and bizarre mechanical beasts he created in the past, his current full-powered appearance really makes him look like a prince.

He stood there, his entire body radiating a chilling killing intent, then gently bent down, his voice mild, "What is the Imperial Preceptor doing? I am from a prestigious and righteous sect."

"You're right. You've come seeking a way to save the country, don't you think you're being perfectly reasonable, truly doing a good deed for the nation, and truly deserving of the title of Imperial Preceptor?"

Yuan Ye's tone was chilling, "What a pity. The Great Zhou was pacified by my brothers. When you sided with the evil sects and allowed them to harm the lives of the common people of Great Zhou, did you never think that you were doing it to protect the world?"

"What? Are you suggesting that that's the price to pay?"

"They only lost their lives, but the Great Zhou lost the entire empire."

Yuan Ye chuckled lightly, using his spiritual power to forcibly lift the man's head, staring directly at the old face wrinkled like a preserved plum. "Your selfish desires have donned the guise of a peaceful world, your old bones have donned a patchwork cloak, and you really think you're a savior? You're not worthy!"

Seeing that the Grand Preceptor remained silent, Yuan Ye's previously dismissive voice suddenly turned fierce, "Speak up, savior of the Great Zhou!"

The imperial advisor felt the sudden release of powerful spiritual energy and burst into tears. "Your Highness, spare me! Your Highness, spare me! I really just wanted to cultivate honestly! I just wanted to be able to cultivate! Who knew... who knew..."

"Who knew that the small sect would take advantage of my age and mediocre talent, and I could only be a regular handyman disciple. Later, one day His Highness's name appeared on the Azure Cloud Ranking, and I said I knew him... They all laughed at me."

"That sect was really too tough, and I didn't have many resources. I just wanted to find Your Highness, hoping that Your Highness would at least give me something. So I left the sect and headed north, but I ran into that group of people on the way. They asked me if I knew Your Highness?"

"I said yes, and they asked me how I could prove it. I said I had your birth date and time. Then they asked me if I wanted to return to the mortal world, and to return in glory."

The Imperial Advisor, trembling as he coughed up blood from the oppressive spiritual energy, recounted everything that had happened.

"Your Highness, we did indeed go to the immortal island to save the country. Now, your spiritual energy is nourishing the dragon vein—this is the way to save the nation! At the time, we were so eager to save the country that we didn't discuss it with Your Highness. But if Your Highness knew about this, you would surely agree, wouldn't you? Could it be that you've abandoned the Great Zhou after cultivating immortality?"

Yuan Ye grew colder and colder as he listened, and finally his smile vanished completely. He stood there, and the wide sleeves he had put on just to look good were suddenly tugged at by someone, and a girl's voice rang out.

"But righteousness is righteousness, and evil is evil. You're wrong to continue the dragon vein using evil methods. Why is it natural for Yuan Ye's spiritual power and origin to nourish the dragon vein, while you become the savior? Disregarding the lives of others?"

"Ultimately, your taking others' sacrifices for granted is nothing more than..." Ni Jinxuan trailed off, struggling to find the right words, "...easy for you to say when you're not the one suffering!"

The icy coldness in the young man's phoenix eyes slowly melted away, and then he smiled, ceasing his conversation with the Imperial Advisor. He turned to Lin Du, "Junior Uncle?"

"Take him with you, let's go, and make him point out the crime scene." Lin Du paused, saw the hesitation in Yuan Ye's heart, but still gave instructions despite Xie Yu's presence.

"Yuan Ye, throughout history, no dynasty has ever lasted indefinitely. From prosperity to decline, a dynasty can only last for two or three hundred years, no matter how hard it tries. As long as resources continue to concentrate at the top and in the same group of people, while the population at the bottom increases and the land resources decrease, it will eventually decline. This is the law of society."

"There is a distinction between immortals and mortals. We, the righteous path, should set things right and not interfere with the natural order. Moreover, the prosperity of a nation depends more on human effort than on destiny."

Even in the cultivation world, there are great cultivators who constantly give back to the heavens and all living beings. However, feudal royal families and aristocratic clans do not give back to the people. The Great Zhou Dynasty is now plagued by redundant officials and excessive taxes, an empty treasury, and nine out of ten households on the border are deserted. It is already showing signs of decline. If there is no wise ruler and honest officials to reform and innovate, it can only continue to decline. It is now just barely surviving.

Xie Yu had been standing outside the door, and only after hearing this did he glance at the figure in blue inside.

"Yuan Ye, tie them up and take them away."

"Junior Uncle, let me do it!" Ni Jinxuan volunteered.

"That's fine too." Lin Du's voice softened a bit. "Be gentle, or your hand will hurt."

Just as Xie Yu was about to ask why his hand hurt so much and why he hadn't gotten the key to the cage's iron lock, the fairy standing next to Yuan Ye suddenly tore open the iron chain, which was almost as thick as an adult's arm, and easily ripped off the folk master's runes.

The yellow talisman fell at the woman's feet like a piece of waste paper. Then, the woman moved gracefully and easily in front of the Grand Preceptor who was trying to break out. She took out a rope, and with a flash of golden light, she bound the man tightly. It felt very substantial.

The Imperial Advisor was bound up like a salted fish, hanging precariously in the air.

Xie Yu: ...Is Yuan Ye really following a legitimate immortal sect?

"Thank you, Grand Commandant. I will take my nephews and leave now." Lin Du said, glancing at Wei Zhi.

Wei Zhi understood and borrowed some spiritual power. The four of them, along with a dying salted fish, merged into the sunset and flew swiftly towards the dragon vein and the tomb.

Before the four left, Xie Yu called out to Yuan Ye.

"Don't worry, I'll be back," Yuan Ye said as he rose into the air. "I keep my word, Xie Qingyu!"

Ni Jinxuan asked, puzzled, "Why are you still helping him?"

Yuan Ye paused, not saying directly that because the Yuan family had repeatedly doubted the families of meritorious officials, the Xie family had been forced to make concessions and bide their time. However, when he saw that there were no more good generals, for the sake of the Great Zhou, he still asked his good brother Xie Yu to agree to go to the front line, which caused Xie Yu to lose his fiancée, father and brother.

"He gave me his fiancée's birth date and time before, and I made a soul-tracing talisman on the carriage."

"If the soul is in this world, it will automatically ignite even if it is reincarnated, but the soul-tracing talisman can never be infused with spiritual power, which means that his fiancée does not show any signs of reincarnation."

"His fiancée's spirit is definitely not here."

Lin Du looked up in surprise, and then suddenly remembered that Yuan Ye had mentioned in the library that his study companion during the Great Zhou Dynasty would also hold a pen like her.

She had once guessed that Xie Yu's "little master" was a time traveler, but she never expected that he would actually be Xie Yu's fiancée.

After death, where does the soul go?

Lin Du suddenly seemed a little dazed. Wei Zhi noticed her momentary lapse in mood and asked, "What's wrong?"

Lin Du snapped out of his reverie and shook his head. "It's nothing. I was just thinking that perhaps Xie Yu's fiancée is a soul from another world. Do you know how a soul from another world can get to another world?"

Wei Zhi paused for a moment, "Generally, each realm is governed by the Heavenly Dao. Souls from different realms cannot leave that realm unless their power breaks through the Heavenly Dao's restrictions, that is, they ascend."

Lin Du seemed thoughtful. "Isn't there any other possibility? After all, you said that skeleton was that of a mortal?"

Wei Zhi frowned slightly, a thoughtful expression on his handsome face. "Perhaps one explanation is that powerful forces create turbulence when breaking through the two realms, potentially carrying away some souls that have just met the conditions and are about to leave their bodies. But such opportunities are too rare. Does a power that transcends the Heavenly Dao yet remains in this realm truly exist?"

Lin Du frowned as well, seemingly lost in thought. "Is that so?"

"If it's a soul from another world possessing a body, won't the Heavenly Dao detect it?"

Wei Zhi glanced at her in surprise. "The body is just a shell. It is the union of spirit and flesh that is created by nature, as long as it conforms to the way of heaven."

Lin Du muttered to himself, "Is the Way of Heaven really so arbitrary? Does it only recognize what is natural?"

Wei Zhi smiled. "Pretty much. What? Are you a soul from another world?"

Lin Du, utterly audacious, neither dodged nor evaded, "I am ranked first in talent on the Azure Cloud Ranking, recognized by the Heavenly Dao. Do you think I am?"

Wei Zhi withdrew his gaze, stared straight ahead, and avoided the topic, saying, "We've arrived at the dragon vein."

Lin Du patted Yuan Ye on the shoulder, "We're going to dig up your ancestral graves."

Yuan Ye grinned, "Damn! Today I'm going to make a decision that goes against our ancestors' wishes!"