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

That night, the crescent moon hung high in the sky.

After confirming that Yuan Ye could cultivate normally, Lin Du, who was protecting him, breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the spirit stones piled up into a small fortress without even raising an eyebrow.

On the other side, the prayer beads on the ground moved silently, and the person's features were so clear and upright that they resembled a silent mountain rock.

Lin Du stood up, intending to go out and study the night market, and Wei Zhi also opened his eyes.

Their eyes met. Lin Du, feeling guilty, asked telepathically, "What are you doing?"

"Where to?"

……

"I'm hungry, time for a midnight snack." Lin Du met his calm yet imposing gaze, feeling both unreasonable and confident.

It's midnight.

"After the Da Zhou Night Market, there's a morning market. There's always something to eat. Late at night, a bowl of wontons is the most comforting thing to do."

Wei Zhi kindly reminded her, "You've eaten at least seven or eight meals today, so stop it."

Lin Du sighed and sat down, feeling stifled.

A moment later, Wei Zhi's voice reached her ears, "I have no ill intentions towards Yuan Ye."

"Because he's just like me when I was a child, except he had a choice, and I didn't."

Lin Du sat in place, his eyes lowered, saying nothing.

The man's gentle voice flowed into Lin Du's consciousness.

"I am the last prince of the Kingdom of Possa. At that time, the Kingdom of Possa discovered that the royal dragon energy was declining and the kingdom was about to perish. In order to continue the royal family, the great shaman said that the key to whether the kingdom could continue lay in my unborn baby. So they used a secret method to forcibly integrate the true dragon's primordial core into my body. You could say that I was originally a dragon."

"But I was born with the Buddha's relic they hate the most."

Lin Du finally made some movement, which was not beyond her expectations. She turned her head and said, "A mortal body, integrated with the inner core of a true dragon? It's a miracle that you're still healthy."

No wonder he insisted on capturing a dragon to refine later; it turned out he did it to suppress the erosion of his physical body by the dragon's inner core.

"It truly is a miracle." Wei Zhi smiled. "So, although we don't need to take the pills to alleviate the backlash of the dragon energy anymore, there are still some left. Giving them to Yuan Ye is just a side benefit."

Lin Du asked a crucial question, "Is the medicine still effective? It must have been many years, right? It's been a hundred or two hundred years since you refined that dragon's body?"

Wei Zhi: ...It still has to be Lin Du, his focus is on being different.

"Don't worry, the medicine is still working." Wei Zhi glanced at Yuan Ye. "The backlash from the dragon energy is quite painful, but this kid has been enduring it without saying a word. He's pretty strong."

Lin Du seemed to be deep in thought. Wei Zhi probably hadn't fully digested that inner core yet. Such a thing in a child's body was probably not a treasure, but something that could take a life at any moment.

According to the book, those with low cultivation levels should not even touch the True Dragon Inner Core, as it will burn them directly. If high-level cultivators attempt to refine it, they will basically be devoured by the violent power and die from their bodies exploding.

It's truly remarkable that Wei Zhi has lived to be this old.

"Then...why are you corrupting Buddhism?"

Lin Du originally thought that Wei Zhi was a royal descendant and should hate Buddhism.

"..." Once Wei Zhi discovers something and gives it to Lin Dutou, it will never end.

He turned his head and said, "The three of you were only dressed a little better today, and you still got noticed. How much more so a child carrying gold in the middle of the city."

"Sometimes things are more complicated than you think," Wei Zhi paused, "but the complexity isn't something you need to know."

"I'm telling you all this today simply to show you that you don't need to be too wary of me."

People say he's unorthodox, arrogant, and monstrous, neither Buddhist nor demonic, but it doesn't matter; he had no choice.

Some people are probably born carrying the sins and responsibilities of their previous generation.

only……

He looked at Yuan Ye and said, "Your nephew is very lucky."

"The feng shui of the Supreme Sect is good," Lin Du casually made up.

"Indeed," Wei Zhi said with a smile.

"If you need ice when it flares up," Lin Du paused, "I'll break off some more for you? Consider it payment for Yuan Ye's pills."

Ice imbued with the spiritual essence of millennia is hard to find, and elixirs that suppress the backlash of dragon energy are even more unique in the world.

Lin Du is indeed keen on swindling people, but he should still be polite to kind-hearted people.

Wei Zhi looked at her suspiciously. What did she mean by "break a little"?

//

The group of four did not linger in Jinliang and headed southeast, pretending to be a robbed opera troupe. They bought food with only copper coins and were no longer watched by anyone.

Jiangnan is an even more prosperous region, and Lin Du plunged headlong into those fragrant alleyways, eating until tears welled up in his eyes.

Yuan Ye had a strong palate and wasn't particularly fond of Jiangnan cuisine, but for some reason, he always felt that when his junior uncle was here, he seemed more interested in looking at things than before, when he was lazy and indifferent.

Everyone says that Jiangnan is beautiful.

As Lin Du spoke, he tilted his head back and downed a glass of wine, his face remaining unchanged, and walked into the Jiangnan region in the summer.

Suddenly, the noise of children came from behind. "Oh dear, isn't this the sickly little Jiang from the Jiang family? Why is he out here all alone?"

"Oh, sickly girl, you never leave the house, you're like a lady from a wealthy family, what a pity..."

"What are you holding in your hand! Hey, give it to me!"

"Want it? Go get it yourself if you dare! Jump up and grab it!"

"Oh dear, will jumping around cause a relapse?"

Lin Du suddenly turned around and walked straight towards the group of unruly children. The biggest one among them was holding a booklet high, while the "sickly kid" that the other child had mentioned seemed to be born weak and short, and was about to cry in distress.

Just as the burly man was swaggering around, something was suddenly snatched from his hand. He turned around in confusion, muttering, "Who is it, meddling in other people's business..."

The person was dressed in blue, and although she was a woman, she wasn't dressed like a typical woman of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Instead, she resembled a Taoist priest. She was extremely tall, with a pale face devoid of any expression. She easily raised the scroll, her tone mocking, "Want it? Go ahead and take it yourself if you dare! Jump up and grab it!"

The big guy jumped up and down angrily a few times, but still couldn't get it. He angrily rammed his head into the strange adult, but the man suddenly dodged to the left with incredible speed. The child rushed forward headfirst, fell heavily to the ground, and cried out loudly.

Lin Du withdrew his hand and looked at the child in front of him. He was clearly eight years old in terms of bone age, but he was extremely thin. People would believe he was five or six years old. He was sallow, thin, and withered. He was so small that you could almost see the veins on his hands.

"Here you are. Are you alright?" Lin Du asked.

The child accepted it in a daze, then quickly performed a Taoist salute, a gesture rarely seen in the Great Zhou Dynasty, with both hands, saying, "This humble one is Jiang Yang, thank you, Taoist Master."

Lin Du helped him up. "Ordinary people don't know how to perform the Taoist ritual. How do you know? Is your family Taoist priests?"

Jiang Yang shook his head. "My mother consulted a Taoist master when she was seeking medical treatment for me, that's how she found out."

Lin Du looked at the fabric of his clothes. He wasn't from a wealthy family, but they were comfortably well-off.

Suddenly, a child came running out from the side, shouting as she ran, "Hey! Did you bully Jiang Yang again! I heard you all in the yard! Don't bully people! I'll tell your parents!"

The child's delicate eyebrows and eyes lit up with a smile.