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

When the group from the Supreme Sect arrived, it was still afternoon and the sky was not completely dark yet. However, every household had already closed their doors, and there were few lights. Along the way, there were many exorcising talismans pasted on the doors, and when one's divine sense entered, one could feel the heavy physical defenses behind the doors.

The city was desolate in winter. The snow on the streets was left unswept and gradually piled up into a thick layer of ice, which gleamed coldly even in the hazy sky.

"Those who could leave have left, but in the end, it's hard to leave one's homeland. You can't hide forever. Huangshi City is the largest city in the northwest of Zhongzhou. If this place is flattened, it will be even harder to defend the others." The city lord received the news of the arrival of the Supreme Sect and hurriedly came out to greet them, explaining the situation as he welcomed them into the city.

Lin Du glanced over and saw that the servants brought by the city lord were all shrouded in a thick fog of emotions, a mixture of anger, sorrow, fear and disgust. Presumably, the matter of the demonic tide was weighing heavily on everyone's hearts.

Yan Qing took a quick step forward, smiling as he exchanged a few pleasantries on behalf of the Supreme Sect. "The City Lord is very righteous. Now that the demonic tide is about to arrive, we would like to take a look at the defensive formation first and see if we can be of any help."

"That would be perfect." The city lord knew that every demonic tide was also a time when disciples from each sect would go down the mountain for training. While it was a training opportunity for these disciples, it was a real life-or-death crisis for them. The fact that he could think of helping to strengthen the city's defenses was already extremely kind.

It still has to be the Supreme Sect.

Lin Du glanced at Qi Zhen and said, "I'm sorry to trouble you, but some of our sect's disciples are feeling a bit unwell from the flying boat. I would appreciate it if you could find them a guest room to rest for a while, City Lord."

"Of course, of course," the city lord laughed. "A courtyard has already been set up, and all the major sects have reserved one for it."

"Have all the other sects arrived? I'd like to hold a meeting to discuss this together."

"Perhaps because they are far away, only the Luoshu Sect and the Wuyai Sect have arrived; the rest are still on their way."

Lin Du nodded. "Then we don't need to call them yet. Yan Qing, Yuan Ye, and Mo Lin, come with me. Senior brothers, you take the other disciples to rest."

He was absolute in his word, and no one dared to disagree; he was very imposing.

The city lord glanced at Lin Du again. Putting everything else aside, the fact that she could even order her senior brother around clearly showed that she was the backbone of the entire sect.

If he remembered correctly, this one was the youngest among all the disciples, except for the one he had never heard of.

Lin Du acted swiftly and decisively. After obtaining the defense blueprints, he immediately grabbed a piece of paper, calculated with one hand and drew with the other, adding several sub-arrays.

Without using counting rods, without any deliberation, and not even starting a new formation, but rather supplementing the existing formation.

While it may seem cheaper, it actually tests a mage's abilities to a great extent. The formation you design may have already spent a long time modifying and perfecting beforehand, so you don't need to follow other people's ideas or recalculate.

The city lord looked at him with great admiration, thinking that he was indeed the only disciple of Immortal Venerable Yanye.

But there's another problem: "Wouldn't it be too time-consuming to add to the existing data with real people?"

The next moment, Lin Du picked up a piece of paper and dried the ink. "That's enough. The material cost is reduced by fifty percent, and the effect is enhanced. The original Earth Grade 1 defensive array can reach at least Earth Grade 7 or even Heaven Grade."

"That's it?" The city lord was greatly shocked, as he had thought it would take at least several days.

"Okay, all done." Lin Du carried the diagram out, handing the city lord a half-sheet of draft paper listing the materials. "Check if your warehouse has these materials. If not, I'll get them."

Adding more defensive formations would be too costly; their Supreme Sect emphasizes thrift and diligence.

The city lord took the paper and looked at the pale blue figure in front of him. Although she was dressed in a tight-fitting outfit and walked with a gust of wind, she didn't even bother to give others a second glance. In his heart, it was no exaggeration to say that she was a celestial being descended to earth.

No sooner had Lin Du left than the people from Luoshu Sect arrived. "We brought a new defensive formation. We just measured the location within the city and found it feasible. We plan to strengthen the formation."

The city lord could only explain, "Master Lin Du has already gone to improve the defensive formation?"

The disciples of Luoshu Sect seemed to have been struck at a vital point. "Lin Du?"

"Yes, Master Lin Du," the city lord was about to explain when he saw the array master from Luoshu Sect rushing towards the city wall with an array diagram in his hand.

"I don't believe it! This time, my array diagram was specially designed to suit the local conditions! Lin Du's was a hasty creation; it has to be replaced by mine!"

City Lord: ? Hmm?

The remaining young man in blue, holding a handful of yarrow stalks, shook his head, muttered to himself, and turned to walk back. "I've already calculated it all. Although this time we've encountered great misfortune, there's an exception that will turn misfortune into good fortune. Lin Du has arrived, so he must be that exception that suppresses misfortune—no, that exception that suppresses misfortune."

The city lord comforted himself, thinking that it was alright for a disciple of a major sect to act a little differently.

When it was completely dark, Lian Heng's faction finally arrived, bringing a lot of materials for setting up formations. As soon as Meng Ling heard that Lin Du had already left, she ran to the city gate without even drinking tea, leaving the city lord dumbfounded.

The city lord silently repeated to himself, "It's a major sect, so it's not surprising that they act arbitrarily."

A while later, people from the Crimson Cloud Sect arrived. One of their disciples asked, "Who from the Supreme Sect has come this time?"

The city lord honestly replied, "Master Lin Du brought..."

Before he could finish speaking, the young man hurriedly grabbed his sword and left. Once outside the house, he turned back and poked his head out again, asking, "Where is she?"

"The city gate..."

The young man took off flying, leaving the others inside with the words, "Master, I'm going to find Lin Du for some pointers! Let's see how many moves I can withstand now!"

City Lord: ? Didn't your Crimson Cloud Sect know formations? Why did you go looking for them? Are you just making trouble?

When the disciples of Chongxu Sect arrived, the city lord finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that no one came up to ask about the Supreme Sect.

Unexpectedly, after being led into the courtyard, the female cultivator in the lead asked, "I wonder if Lin Du from the Supreme Sect has come this time?"

The city lord was numb. He pointed to the city gate and said, "Master Lin Du is setting up an array on the city wall."

Li Qing nodded. "No wonder."

She laughed and said, "I had the honor of fighting with Fellow Daoist Lin in the Central Plains Grand Competition before. At that time, she said that there would always be a chance to be teammates. I didn't expect it to happen so soon."

The city lord smiled ingratiatingly, "Yes."

This Master Lin Du is really something. He looks so cold, but I never expected him to have such good connections in all the major sects.

Before all the major sects had arrived, people from smaller sects had also begun to arrive.

Originally, the city lord did not need to receive them, but the Tongtian Sect is now ranked nineteenth in Zhongzhou, and they brought some food and supplies to guard the city.

The city lord expressed his gratitude repeatedly. After exchanging pleasantries, the leading female cultivator asked with a smile, "I heard the Supreme Sect has already arrived?"

The city lord was already very familiar with the place. "That's right, they've arrived. Master Lin Du is here too. They're setting up an array over the north city wall."

Feast: ...No need to go into that much detail.

The city lord, unaware of what Sheng Yan was thinking, turned to leave and remarked to his son beside him, "This Master Lin Du truly has friends all over the Central Plains."

"Indeed, both Senior Sister Du from the Jishi Sect and Senior Sister Xu from the Tiansu Sect asked if Master Lin was coming this time." The young man said with no small amount of envy, "He's really popular!"

Lin Du, who was very popular and had friends all over the Central Plains, was very troubled.

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" The array master of Luoshu Sect held the array diagram and insisted that Meng Ling judge the matter.

"In my opinion, your formation is feasible, but the construction speed is too slow. It would take you seven days to build it by yourself. Even if you bring a few more formation masters, it would probably take a whole night. The losses would be huge, and the cost would be extremely high." Meng Ling shook his head. "Let's not cause Fellow Daoist Lin any trouble."

Lin Du felt that he wasn't the only one causing trouble.

"I'm very busy." Lin Du numbly arranged the array stones.

"I know, so I'll teach you a few moves once the master has finished setting up the formation, even just one move will do."

Yi Zhen followed Lin Du around aimlessly, as if he wouldn't leave until Lin Du punched him.

"I want to test whether my current level of the Crimson Sky Sword Technique, now at the seventh level, can withstand the restraint of my innate ice spirit root."

Yan Qing and Mo Lin pulled the noisy person away. They finally found a laborer, so it was perfect for them to dig holes and lay traps together.

Meng Ling stood to the side, completely mesmerized, holding Lin Du's array diagram. "Did you really figure this out in just one hour?"

Yuan Ye reminded him, "It's less than an hour, there's still a quarter of an hour left."

Meng Ling was greatly shocked. "Didn't they even see this defense map beforehand?"

"Yes." Yuan Ye asked, puzzled, "What, you can't?"

Meng Ling couldn't. He had thought that after ten years of hard work, he could at least compete with Lin Du again. But Lin Du's skill in formations, especially his speed and meticulousness in responding to changes, far surpassed Meng Ling's.

How did Lin Du come to this? Is this the strength of someone with the number one talent?

Yuan Ye was shocked: I often feel out of place in the world because I am used to the fact that everyone around me is a genius.