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

"I didn't realize I was so competitive."

Lin Du placed a white piece.

High Priest: ...Listen to yourself, do you even believe what you're saying?

Click, click, the black and white pieces fall in turn.

"Aren't you curious about what you'll see after the bandages are removed?"

Lin Du chuckled. "I can see it, so can you?"

"Yes." The high priest looked up at Lin Du's unmasked face.

"It's just that I can't see you."

Lin Du nodded. "If I said I could see you, would you believe me?"

The opponent's hand froze for a moment before landing in the wrong spot.

Lin Du clicked his tongue softly and placed his piece.

"When you touched my consciousness, did you ever think that my consciousness is not some simple, straightforward watermelon rind?"

"I should be a trench stretching eight hundred miles across the sea."

"In such a short time, is what you perceived truly the complete me?"

Lin Du continued to spout off, but his moves were equally swift. "You are arrogant and conceited, dislike doing useless work, despise stupidity, want to completely control the world, want people to submit to you, yet look down on the lives of the ignorant masses."

"You think that the seven emotions of man are so greedy, like a thick fog obscuring his true nature. You think that evil is in the heart and that evil is hard to get rid of. So you use the Five Precepts and the Ten Virtues to discipline them for eternal life, thinking that as long as time goes on and generation after generation, evil will be restrained."

"But you can't understand why I hate stupidity yet still treat people kindly."

"I abhor evil, yet I never act rashly."

"I wanted to be in control of the whole situation, but I always remained an observer, planning carefully before taking action."

"You know everything I want in my heart, but you don't know why I have to suppress them."

"In your eyes, the mirror should reflect the most beautiful image in your imagination, but you don't know that when beauty reaches its extreme, it goes against reality and collapses completely."

Lin Du smiled as he watched the two hands locked in a stalemate. "What do you think faith is? And what do you think the masses are?"

"Do you think that the most dreamlike and perfect embodiment of what people desire is the right thing to do?"

"Don't forget, we are all part of the ignorant masses."

"You can't be backward compatible, but I can."

Lin Du gave a wicked smile. "What, you're not convinced? Do you think you're perfect? ​​Extremes aren't perfect."

A hint of gloom and resentment appeared on that face that was exactly like hers, but it quickly dissipated and turned into indifference.

The high priest raised his hand to place a piece, asking only one question: "Can you win when you play chess against yourself?"

Lin Du suddenly remembered something, flipped the chessboard over, and, under the opponent's astonished gaze, smiled without a hint of suspicion, "Have you ever heard of playing rock-paper-scissors with your reflection in the mirror?"

"High-level situations can often be resolved with just the simplest competition."

Just kidding, Lin Duren has been in this illusion for a long time.

If all eight people hadn't been missing, she would have overturned the chessboard long ago.

The two Lin Du sat facing each other on the altar, their reflections mirrored in the moonlight, which poured down like quicksand, making their disheveled white hair appear like flowing water amidst mountains.

If you ignore the rock-paper-scissors motion in their hands, it is indeed a beautiful sight.

In the midst of silence, only the temple stood out as a bright, clear spot. From the outside, the city appeared shrouded in a thick fog. Amidst the stillness, only the eerie female voice, as hazy as the night, emanated from the temple's frame.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

From afar, through the fog, came the melodious tune of the xiqin, ranging from the autumn music of the Han Palace to the Yangguan Sandie and then to the Zizhu tune, finally culminating in a strange melody as if venting its anger.

Listening closely, it sounds like the howling of wild dogs.

Not to be outdone, the other side also painstakingly replicated it, which, from a distance, sounded like two dogs hurling insults at each other, extremely frenzied and bizarre.

Three blocks away, Yan Qing turned around strangely, "Where did that dog barking come from?"

The person opposite sneered, "At least he's a scholar."

"What? Are you going to bark like a dog too?" Yan Qing looked across at the other side. "Bark again and let me hear it."

The barking of a dog reached the other side, and Ni Jinxuan, cracking her whip, shouted, "Yuan Ye! Stop barking like a dog!"

Four streets away, a faint, incoherent voice could be heard saying, "Straight ahead."

Ni Jinxuan nimbly dodged a whip that came flying from the opposite side, her temples throbbing.

The other side launched an attack: "Don't you want your parents to live forever? Don't you want them to be with you forever? Happy and joyful? For everyone to live in harmony forever? Isn't that what you want?"

"Don't tell me you want to live without parents?"

"You're the one who doesn't have parents!" Ni Jinxuan lashed out with her whip, closing in as she went. "I have two homes! I have so many elders! My uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters! Do you have any? You couldn't possibly have created the ideal version of me!"

"Who says I can't! Wasn't there a divine decree?"

"Junior Uncle's hair is still white!" Ni Jinxuan shouted loudly, expressing her dissatisfaction.

The person in the mirror image on the other side was indignant, "Isn't white hair attractive?! You clearly love it!"

……

As Mo Lin listened to the little girls arguing, he thought of Lin Du's comment when he watched Ni Jinxuan and Yuan Ye bickering with his arms crossed and a nonchalant air: "Elementary school kids arguing."

...It really does sound like chicks arguing.

The sound of a sword pierced the air once more, its light tearing through the thick fog, carrying boundless killing intent.

Mo Lin's brows furrowed instantly as he raised his hand to block. Even though their moves were the same and their spiritual power was identical, their expressions were completely different.

"Did you knock Tianwu unconscious?"

"You've slandered me!!! You've slandered me! You even harmed my junior sister!!"

Mo Lin was thrown into disarray and shouted back, but his movements were slightly flawed, which his opponent seized upon, thrusting his sword out fiercely.

Xia Tianwu, who was standing to the side, raised his hand at some point, and a strange fire suddenly appeared on Mo Lin's sword. It spread like wildfire and quickly slashed out along the sword energy that Mo Lin had blocked. In the dark night, it was like a burst of sparks, leaving a red arc of light in the air.

This move startled the mirror image on the other side, and the strange fire blazed, forcing him to retreat.

Mo Lin was prepared to be burned as well, but he did not feel the same damage.

He turned his head in surprise. "Why?"

Summer said matter-of-factly, "My strange fire entered your body, and that's how I got to know you."

Even through the thin mist, Mo Lin's ears were bright red.

Huang Xuan and Yue Han looked at the person in front of them who looked exactly like them, and fell into deep thought.

"Old Huang, he's so good, I don't think I can beat him."

"...It's alright, young master. We... um... will do our best. You can try to influence it with kindness!"

Huang Xuan tried hard to find the right words, but he wasn't sure what to say.

Then he rushed forward first, met Yue Han's gaze, and struck her hard, saying, "No matter how naive or ignorant you are, young master, you can grow up eventually! Our clan has plenty of money to teach you a lesson!"

……

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

The gesture was made again, and the high priest's face showed a listless and weary expression, as if he wanted to stop this meaningless activity. "You know, to break the illusion, you must shatter your perfect self with your own hands."

Lin Du, however, wasn't annoyed at all. While continuing to clench his fist and pull it back, he casually asked, "Do you know when you can win at rock-paper-scissors in front of a mirror?"

She felt the last core of the Snow Essence Pill within her body, her expression unchanged, and began to dissolve it little by little. Defeating another version of herself was simple: first, break free from the old patterns; then, make the other person relax and follow their preordained instincts; finally, surprise them and surpass the original self.

"When one of them is no longer the same person." Lin Du's voice was tender, yet contained a chilling undercurrent.

The power of ice and snow spread wildly outwards, breaking through the temple with overwhelming force, as if trying to condense all the fog formed from the seven emotions into frost.

The heavy snow finally fell on the temple.

Through the swirling snowflakes, the high priest met a cold and indifferent face; the man's pupils were deep and icy, devoid of any light.

Lin Du's smile vanished, his voice as cold as ice, "It's time to end this."

At the same time, blood suddenly stained the bowstring. Yuan Ye clutched his throat, panting heavily, and smiled as he watched the fog being blown away by the wind and snow.

"See, I told you, who said Xi Qin can't kill people?"

"What kind of carefree path do you cultivate? Don't you know that the three thousand great paths are established within the three thousand worlds? Without a world to stand upon, where can you find true freedom?"

Fists collided, and a clear female voice rang out, "You are not my father and mother. I have known this for a long time. Parents are also individuals and do not need to revolve around their children forever. I am very independent. My father and mother and I can grow up anywhere in the world."

"I accept my failure and my companions' mistakes. Even though we are incomplete and have many unsaid things, you will never be stronger than us together."

A clear, cold female voice mixed with a strange, stiff male voice coughing echoed through the snowy night.

"Who says scholars can only have secure jobs? I love blacksmithing." Yan Qing held his other self firmly in check, ignoring his own equally hoarse and suffocating voice.

"Young Master, I don't want a false perfection. I just want you to grow in a real way. That's enough."

"Old Huang! I'll handle this! I can do it myself! I don't need your protection! My original form is so much bigger than yours!"

The snow is getting bigger and bigger.

"See, I won."

Lin Du reached out and easily caught the fist opposite him. In the next instant, the fist shattered into pieces.

With a snap, the illusion vanished, like a mirage.

Everyone knelt on the ground. Ni Jinxuan touched the two Heavenly Grade spiritual plants in her arms and held them up in surprise, "Junior Uncle! I have two!"

Yuan Ye and Yan Qing simultaneously lowered their hands from their necks, looked down at what they were holding, and grinned at each other.

Mo Lin and Xia Tian exchanged a glance, then their eyes suddenly began to wander.

"Um... I... oh right, I have one too! Junior sister, can you see what it is? I don't recognize it!"

Lin Du silently sat up cross-legged. After all, his mirror image identity was that of a high priest; how could he not abuse his power and give her something? Didn't he deserve divine rewards just because he was a god? How despicable!