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

Lin Du took out the only two jade boxes from his empty storage ring.

Jade boxes are special storage containers for rare and precious spiritual items. Just as a pot needs a lid, even the Supreme Sect doesn't use jade boxes for everything.

Lin Du glanced at the mark on the jade box and took out the third rare and precious material he had prepared for himself.

The first step is to use Tianxinlian to calm the mind, soothe the nerves, clear the heart meridians, invigorate qi, and promote urination. The second step is to use Shenhai Zhenling to replenish vitality. The third step is to use the powerful medicine in front of us, Chiyang Huzhu, which is a potent medicine for restoring yang and reversing collapse.

Ordinary people wouldn't use this, nor would they dare to, because it's extremely hot and toxic; if used incorrectly, it could kill a person.

But Lin Du's situation is different. With the two rare and precious treasures she had in front of her, she really wasn't afraid.

"It really was like going through fire and water. Luckily, I was already dead at that time, so it would be difficult to get injured again."

Lin Du sighed, "The Heavenly Heart Lotus grows atop the high mountains and cold snow, and the True Spirit of the Deep Sea resides in the deepest part of the ocean, but this one is in the exceptionally treacherous magma of the earth's crust."

She removed the dark, unremarkable roots. No wonder this thing was the third step; if she had eaten this at the beginning, she would probably be dead by now.

She sat cross-legged on the bed and began to concentrate on refining the essence.

Just then, the medicine arrived at the perfect time; the yin energy emanating from her was so heavy that she didn't seem like a living person.

As soon as he began to refine it, Lin Du sensed the potency of the medicine.

Fortunately, there were no outsiders at the moment, otherwise they would have seen Lin Du, whose whole body was steaming. Unlike the others whose heads were smoking, Lin Du was emitting white steam all over his body, making him look like a god with his own dry ice effect at first glance.

That usually pale, almost bloodless skin was steamed into a cooked shrimp in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

For the real steam engine, we have to look to Lin Du himself.

Han Yueling hadn't come out for fresh air for several days. As soon as she came out by Lin Du's wrist, she was so frightened that she jumped into the air like a hedgehog ball.

"Huh? Who else could it be but you?"

"A fake Lin Du?"

Han Yue Ling was born with both cold and hot properties, but when she followed Lin Du, she mostly maintained the cold property. Who knew that when she came out today, she was scalded by the heat and rushed out.

Chu Guanmeng landed on the bed with a thud, then turned to look at Lin Du, who was radiating heat, and began to ponder the current situation.

Having returned from the underworld, everyone else has lost their yang energy, but she's lost all her yin energy? Can she handle so much yang energy? Is she still Lin Du?

Did I take the wrong medicine?

Chu Guan thought for a moment and decided to tap on the spiritual contract with Lin Du. But as soon as he tapped, drops of blood dripped onto the bed.

Chu Guanmeng was so frightened that she took off again, shouting, "Lin Du!!"

Lin Du raised his hand to wipe his face, removing the blood from his nose. "Don't panic. This medicine is a bit strong. It will take me a long time to digest it. If you're bored, you can go out and have some fun."

Upon hearing this, Chu Guanmeng responded with an "oh," indicating that it understood. It was another period of seclusion, something it was familiar with.

Lin Du either freezes himself into an ice block or turns himself into a brazier.

Mao Tuanzi shook his head fiercely. "Young people, they always go to extremes."

Lin Du really didn't expect the medicine to be so potent, so potent that it rushed through her internal organs, causing her meridians to burn and her muscles and pores to open up.

He finally understood – he was so overwhelmed by the drug's effects that he only knew to use his spiritual energy to digest and regulate it over and over again.

The erupting fire poison tried to destroy her heart meridian, but the medicinal power and vitality she had previously refined were continuously replenishing her heart meridian. The scorching medicinal power stimulated the vitality of her damaged body and dispelled the turbid yin energy accumulated due to her body's exhaustion.

The power of ice and snow relieved the burning sensation in the body. With each circulation of the meridians, the chronic illnesses were completely burned away by the medicinal power, and the abundant yang spiritual energy was continuously internalized.

Lin Du went from being immersed in lava to being immersed in a hot spring.

Time outside never stops, but the time spent in seclusion is almost completely still.

Lin Du was unaware of the passage of time, his entire mind occupied by refining the medicinal power.

She only has this one life, so of course she has to live, and she must live, at least for three to five hundred years.

In the underworld, in the palace of Yama, a judge on paid sick leave casually flips through the Book of Life and Death, where data changes every moment.

People generally believe that the Book of Life and Death is fixed, and that one's entire life is written from the moment of reincarnation.

However, this is not the case for cultivators.

Cultivators begin their practice from the moment they enter the path, and every action and every choice they make has the potential to change their destiny.

This is true spiritual practice.

That is why the Book of Life and Death is such a real artifact. It is constantly evolving and calculating a person's future fate based on the merits and karma accumulated through their choices.

Before becoming a judge, the judge truly believed that fate was predetermined, but as he saw more and more examples, he suddenly realized the truth.

The so-called destiny is predetermined. Cultivators' understanding and enlightenment are clearly about improving their own destiny through the understanding of the laws of heaven at the moment of making choices.

Those who go against the natural order, such as abandoning ascetic practices, giving up enlightenment, or abandoning the rules, will have their lifespan shortened.

It is only through accumulated merits and karma over lifetimes that everyone's initial value is not at the same starting point.

The judge turned to one of the pages, where two words were written: Lin Du.

The judge had previously predicted that he would live to be ninety, but this has now been extended to five hundred.

Although it's much shorter than that of an ordinary Qian Yuan Realm cultivator, even less than a fraction of theirs, it's still a significant increase.

The judge looked at it for a while, then closed the book.

At the time, he pretended to exaggerate, saying that Lin Du only had a little life left, but in fact he still had fifty years to live. However, for ordinary people, fifty years is too short. Now it seems that Lin Du's lifespan really will not last.

As time passed, Lin Du grew accustomed to the pain and no longer found it unbearable.

When the burning sensation in her internal organs subsided, her blood flowed no longer, her meridians stopped expanding, and her heartbeat ceased to be deafening, she let out a long breath and patiently circulated her energy for several more cycles to consolidate it before finally stopping her cultivation.

Her heart function is basically the same as that of an ordinary person; it's just that her appearance is somewhat fragmented.

Lin Du let out a long sigh of relief, got up and stretched his body, and began to sort out his memories.

In her previous life, after she separated from her body and became a ghost in the mortal realm, she became even more lively than before, no longer bound by the weakness and discomfort of her physical body.

He didn't have much experience in life, but after death he wandered around Zhongzhou like a wild ghost without any restraints.

In order to get Granny Ma's help, Lin Du cleaned up many families and gray-area business associations, and crippled those Gu masters and forces that used Gu magic to control people to do evil deeds.

Everyone thought she was Granny Ma's most powerful corpse puppet, but they didn't know that it was just an equal exchange.

She was not driven by anyone; she prepared for all her own plans.

Snow-capped mountains, lava fields, the seabed, and ancient forests—the journey has been filled with trials and tribulations, but now, looking back, it all seems like a light boat has already passed through countless mountains.

Lin Du certainly wanted to live, but she wanted to live even more as Lin Du, with this life.

She had not achieved her goals in this life, had not given back to the people, and had not repaid the kindness of her sect. She did not want to forget everything and return to the cycle of reincarnation.

After stretching his muscles, Lin Du stood still, thinking about how he last met Xia Tianwu in his previous life.

That was decades after Xia Tianwuxin died.

The decline of the sect and the rampage of demons led Xia Tianwu to reopen his alchemy furnace and refine common pills and medicines to eliminate demons. He then sent these to the few remaining guards of Shijun Dingfu who were still protecting Dingjiu City and fighting against the demons.

Without her unique fire and fire spirit root, she could only use the simplest method—fire without any enhancements—to refine pills.

Lin Du accidentally obtained several beneficial pill formulas from Granny Ma. When he passed by the old site of the Supreme Sect, he heard that Xia Tianwu had started refining pills again. He changed his appearance, spent the spirit stones he had left, gathered a large amount of medicinal materials, and went to Xia Tianwu to refine pills.

It was the dead of winter. Summer was on the mountain. She was very weak and pale. Even under her thick white fox fur coat, her thin body could still be seen. She looked so frail that even the heaviest fox fur coat couldn't cling to her body.

Wu Xi stayed by her side, never leaving her for a moment, but Xia Tianwu never turned around to look at her. Upon seeing a stranger, Wu Xi nervously wanted to stay in front of her, but it was Xia Tianwu who spoke up and asked the person who was wrapped up so tightly, "I wonder what business my friend has with me?"

Lin Du was wrapped in a non-breathable "shroud," revealing only a pair of eyes that had lost their light and bore distinct scars. "I have a few pill formulas and would like you to refine them. You need to bring your own herbs. Five thousand spirit stones. Are you in?"

Five thousand spirit stones are nothing to an ordinary medical cultivator.

Wu Xi thought the person in front of her was deliberately trying to humiliate her, and immediately became angry, but Xia Tian stopped her. "I have never refined these pill formulas before. The failure rate is very high. I see that these medicinal materials are extremely precious, so the pill formulas must also be rare. If you really want to find a doctor to refine pills, you can go to the Jishi Sect for a more reliable method."

Lin Du knew that Xia Tian was not refusing the job because of the low pay or the potential humiliation, but because he was afraid of failure.

Even with her own cultivation, master, and unique fire, her success rate wasn't high before. Now, disheartened, she only refines basic pills, mainly for emergencies.

But Lin Du always has his own methods. He can find the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of even people he has only met once, let alone people he knows well.

She said sincerely, "I have obtained these pill formulas and gathered these medicinal materials, and I have spent all the spirit stones I have left. I only have five thousand left, but I am nearing the end of my life and have nowhere else to turn. I heard that you are a disciple of the number one medical cultivator, so I have taken the liberty of coming here to ask. If you are not willing to take it, then probably no one else will."

Summer was deeply moved by what he heard, "But I can't guarantee success, what if..."

"Life and death are predestined. Without you, even with all the medicinal herbs, I would still die. You don't need to feel pressured."

At that time, Lin Du was unsure whether her plan would succeed. Since Xia Tianwu was able to refine pills again, as long as she was given a chance, she would have the courage to try other high-level pill formulas.

Even if Lin Du fails and cannot rewrite the ending, Xia Tianwu may be able to come back to life and at least rediscover his original dream.

Summer truly succeeded.

Lin Du didn't know how many times she had failed, but when Lin Du received the message, Xia Tianwu was even thinner, frighteningly thin, but the light in her eyes was frighteningly bright.

"I've successfully refined your elixir."

Lin Du took the pill and was about to leave when Xia Tianwu called him back, "So, I can still be a useful person now, right?"

Lin Du paused in her steps. Winter was approaching, and some ice was melting, leaving a clear, waddy puddle in the muddy path beneath her feet.

"Um."

With just that one sentence, Lin Du knew she recognized him.

Xia Tianwu recognized her; she was a medical practitioner, so how could she not remember the habitual walking and standing posture of an acquaintance?

Besides Lin Du, who else would want to hire a useless person who has long since stopped practicing advanced pills?

Even though that person should have been dead, Xia Tian had no intuition that the person was Lin Du.

"In my next life, I want to be a more useful person." Xia Tianwu stood behind Lin Du, looking at his back, his voice louder than usual.

Lin Du took the medicine and left without looking back, stepping on the thawed soil, his time running in the opposite direction from that of the living.

"Yes, it will. It definitely will."

Her words dissipated in the gentle breeze.

But Xia Tian didn't hear it.