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

"Oh, it's the pile of top-grade herbs that Jinxuan brought back from that secret realm last time. She just happened to hand these over to the inner treasury." Lin Du transmitted his voice to the two of them, and then directly lit a transmission talisman and sent it to the sect leader.

Lin Du felt relieved after arranging everything, and the spiritual energy in his dantian began to circulate.

She encountered a small barrier to her understanding, just a tiny one.

Lin Du forcibly suppressed the circulation of spiritual energy, silently driving away the spiritual energy that was gathering around him. Suddenly, he thought of something, turned around to remove the restriction on Tao Xian's body, but met a pair of deep, almost intimidating eyes.

That wasn't Tao Xian's gaze.

Or perhaps it wasn't the look in Tao Xian's eyes, that of an honest, hardworking man.

Lin Du lifted his foot and walked right up to Tao Xian, staring straight into his eyes.

She stared into Tao Xian's eyes and quickly realized the strangeness of the divine palace.

The room was completely dark, with no lights on. Tao Xian's eyes were also devoid of light, so Lin Du's deliberately fierce face was not reflected in them.

Lin Du suddenly laughed. She stared at the person in front of her and said softly, "Borrowing someone's body to eavesdrop and spy on their privacy, how about it? Did you see what you wanted?"

"How many bodies do you have to lend? Give me one, and I'll kill you. How about it?"

Just as a slender hand reached out and was about to grab Tao Xian's neck, the man blinked, let out a howl, and took several steps back.

"Young Master Lin, why are you staring at me like that?"

Tao Xian clutched his heart, which was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to jump out of his throat. He thought to himself that this "junior uncle" of the Supreme Sect was too scary. The room was already dark, and that pale-faced guy with big black eyes was smiling like he was about to eat people. He would believe it if you said he was a ghost that crawled out of the ground!

Suddenly, a heavy iron folding fan appeared in Lin Du's outstretched hand. He then twirled it around on the knuckles, lowered his eyes, and said cryptically, "There are only two possibilities when someone stares at another person. The first is that they're about to kiss me..."

Tao Xian was terrified. Hearing this, he wanted nothing more than to kneel down before Lin Du. This child was so young...

"The second option is to fight them." Lin Du raised his eyes, took a step forward, his lower body gloomy and aloof. "Clearly, you and I can only be the second option."

Tao Xian responded with an "Oh," and said, "That's alright then."

But he quickly came to his senses, "No, no, Master Lin, why are you going to hit me?"

Lin Du raised his hand and, under Tao Xian's horrified gaze, pointed to his ear. "Guess?"

"I can't guess." Tao Xian honestly huddled up in a ball.

Lin Du stared at him intently for a moment. "When did your ears become able to hear? And when did you become able to speak?"

Tao Xian's cultivation level was higher than Lin Du's, so he could have broken through on his own initiative. However, it was clear that he was originally a shrewd person. Since Lin Du wouldn't let him listen, he should have known that it wasn't something he could listen to.

Lin Du had seen many people and believed that his judgment of people was fairly accurate. The original Tao Xian was just like an honest person who would be content with getting into a state-owned enterprise, getting promoted step by step, receiving salary increases, and finally reaching a management position.

But Tao Xian just now didn't seem like an honest person; he seemed more like a boss who quietly entered the lab to check if the graduate students were slacking off.

Tao Xian suddenly realized, "Oh right, why?"

"What were you doing just now? You seem to be up to no good. Are you perhaps a spy from the Flying Star Sect sent to investigate the secrets of our Supreme Sect's direct disciples?"

Lin Du took another step closer.

Tao Xian was startled and took another step back, thinking to himself that his heart was probably ruined today, and he might die of a heart attack before Mo Lin died.

Why does this kid exude such a strong sense of pressure?

In the dead of night, if it weren't for the missing knife, he would look just like a murderer.

"I...I don't remember much. I'm the kind of person who likes to daydream. You blocked my throat and my hearing, so I was just daydreaming because I was bored."

Lin Du stared at his bewildered face, then smiled. "You broke my spiritual power seal while you were daydreaming? You really are exceptionally talented."

Tao Xian thought about it and realized it made sense. Although Lin Du's cultivation level was lower than his, he was still a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Qin Xin Realm and had the best talent. Could it be that he really had some potential that he hadn't discovered yet?

Seeing that this honest man had his thoughts written all over his face, Lin Du chuckled softly and turned around. "Just kidding. I was bored too. I was the one who broke your seal."

The interaction between the two had already attracted the attention of the three people over there. Granny Ma watched the boy turn his head and smile for a moment, and rubbed the engraved silver bracelet on her wrist with one hand.

This kid is really clever and mischievous.

Feeling tricked, Tao Xian said, "...Thank you, but please don't let it happen again. These ups and downs are too much for his age; his heart can't take it."

Lin Du lowered his eyes, crossed his arms, and waited for Xia Tian to ask him how to lure the Gu and how to scrape the bone. The hand holding the fan unconsciously tapped his arm.

"That Gu isn't completely immobile. I use the power it fears most and the power that attracts it most, one to drive it away and the other to lure it in. Then I can capture it and remove and kill it using a secret technique."

Granny Ma glanced at Lin Du. "The spiritual energy fluctuations you emitted just now, were they pure ice spiritual energy?"

"Yes."

"Once the medicine arrives, just return to my place." Granny Ma paused, then said, "As for the reward, I want you to find the original mother Gu worm and destroy it."

"You must swear an oath to heaven and earth; I will only give you ten years."

Lin Du was stunned for a moment. The death of a Gu worm's mother Gu meant the complete extinction of a Gu master's lineage. If the mother Gu already had a successor, it would be equivalent to the loss of a Gu master.

It's even quite possible that they directly killed a group of Gu Masters.

Granny Ma truly hates Gu worms, which explains why she cures Gu poisoning in everyone, yet lives a solitary life.

Lin Du didn't have time to ponder the implications, fearing that the foolish Zhu Zi would say something inappropriate again, so he spoke up himself, "May I ask Granny Ma, is there nothing else to replace this? After all, we might not even encounter a few Gu Masters in our entire lives, how could we be so unlucky?"

To her surprise, Granny Ma gave her a half-smile and said, "Don't try to fool me. The mountains behind this village are full of Gu masters. As long as you're determined, you can find a Gu master anywhere. You just think that killing a Gu master indiscriminately is reckless killing, don't you?"

Lin Du raised his hand and tapped his head with his fan. "What are you saying? It's just that I'm young and haven't read much, so I don't understand. How about you give me some books about Gu Masters and Gu worms? Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Don't you think so?"

"I originally intended to stay here for a few days, but since you're here, we'll depart tomorrow afternoon. You can stay here as well."

Granny Ma paused for a moment, then kindly reminded Lin Du, "The sun has set, and there's a lot of miasma in the mountains at night. It won't be easy for you to go back. Just stay inside and don't cause any trouble."

As the old man spoke, he produced a booklet wrapped in kraft paper, saying, "I'm afraid you'll be too lazy to read it all."

"You should still read it," Lin Du said with a smile, taking the book. "Thank you, Grandma."

As night fell, the four of them were arranged into two side rooms. Lin Du made an excuse that Mo Lin and Xia Tian did not have to stay together, and that he would have to make do with squeezing in with Tao Xian.

Upon entering the room, Lin Du first placed a lamp. The two round balls on the lamp made the candlelight appear as small as fly heads.

Tao Xian, who had initially felt awkward, suddenly realized that traveling with a wealthy family's scion actually had its advantages.

Lin Du placed the book on the table himself, glanced at the tabletop, which, although made of ordinary wood, was polished to a shine and looked glistening under the light.

Looking back, every part of the room was clean and tidy, but it was clearly an uninhabited room.

Lin Du squinted and reached out to touch it. There wasn't a speck of dust. Could it be that it was just wiped clean?

That village is really warm and hospitable.

She opened the booklet and found that it was all handwritten, written in the oldest script, roughly equivalent to seal script, and also contained some pictographs. It was not the script commonly used in books in the cultivation world today.

At this moment, Lin Du only regretted that he was a science student.

She also needs to learn seal script. Her senior sister gave her some books, but she doesn't learn it very quickly. It's still a bit difficult for her to read a whole book, not to mention that it's not just seal script, but also pictographic characters that she has to guess.

She sighed deeply, "People really need to read more books."

Tao Xian glanced at Lin Du in front of the lamp. The man was sitting at the table, frowning and deep in thought, looking like he was studying hard. He even took out another thick book and quickly turned the pages.

...These disciples of the Supreme Sect aren't cultivating at night, but reading books instead?

When do they begin their cultivation?

"Young Master Lin, don't you need to meditate and cultivate? I can sit on the stool, and you can have the bed." Tao Xian didn't want to take advantage of the child, so he suggested changing seats.

Lin Du was translating seal script and was already annoyed. Upon hearing this, he said absentmindedly, "I won't cultivate today. I need to suppress my cultivation level, otherwise I'll form my core."

Tao Xian: ?

He needs to prepare several heart-protecting pills when he's with these geniuses.