Once I enter the pass, great Confucian scholars will surely debate the classics for me.

The group of more than ten people slowly came to a stop.

The blue-eyed woman at the head of the group wore a pure white mask, so no one could see what her expression was underneath.

She stared at Ye Tingxiu, who was blocking her way, without saying a word, her blue eyes quietly scrutinizing him.

Ye Tingxiu swallowed hard, his face tense, and quickly clasped his hands in a salute: "Greetings, young lady. I am Ye Tingxiu. The reason I am blocking your way is that I am looking for an old friend. I heard that a woman in white with black hair and blue eyes appeared here, so I have been waiting here for a long time. I am blocking your way to verify this, not to rob you. Please do not be afraid."

Upon hearing this, the blue-eyed woman seemed to ponder for a moment before taking a step forward.

The dozen or so teenagers following behind moved in unison.

With each step the blue-eyed woman took, the soil slowly froze into frost, quickly turning into a frozen wasteland.

As Ye Tingxiu watched the other person approach, he quickly said, "Please wait, young lady. Just take off your mask and let me take a look."

Upon hearing this, the blue-eyed woman continued her elegant and composed walk forward. As she passed Ye Tingxiu, she extended her slender hand from beneath her cloak, slowly removed her pure white mask, and glanced at him indifferently, her eyes as detached as if she were looking at a stray dog ​​on the roadside.

When Ye Tingxiu saw that familiar yet unfamiliar face, he was stunned: "Lan Yue? Is it you, Lan Yue!?"

The blue-eyed woman paused, then calmly said, "I am not the Lan Yue you know. The Lan Yue you know is dead."

Ye Tingxiu said, "What do you mean? I don't understand."

The blue-eyed woman said calmly, "Lan Yue is just a wisp of my soul that was severed from my body and spontaneously took on the form of Lan Yue, while I am the original body."

"When she dies, her mission is over."

"The person you love is Lan Yue, not the real me."

"She is the true self, but the true self is not her. Do you understand now?"

The amount of information was too much; Ye Tingxiu's pig brain overloaded and crashed on the spot.

He couldn't accept that Lan Yue, whom he had been longing for, was just a fragment of someone else's soul.

"Very good, you understand." The blue-eyed woman put on her pure white mask again and continued walking leisurely with more than a dozen teenagers: "Our karma has been severed. I will explain it to you today. I hope you will not disturb my cultivation again, or I will kill you."

"Don't go, Lan Yue, wait for me." Ye Tingxiu, in a daze, took a step to chase after her.

"Don't go, it's dangerous!" Zhou Qingfeng said solemnly, pressing down on Ye Tingxiu's shoulder first. He pointed to the black cloak with red trim worn by the blue-eyed woman, on which were embroidered four large red characters: "Renxin Zizai" (meaning "Free and Easy").

This is precisely the defining characteristic of the Renxin Sect. Every member of the Renxin Sect can wear it to walk through this evil world and demonstrate that they are a member of the Renxin Sect, provided that they are strong enough. Otherwise, they will know what it means to be wanted throughout the entire territory, regardless of whether they are dead or alive.

In other words, everyone who dares to wear this skin and roam the evil world for a long time is extremely confident in their own strength, so confident that even if the entire empire were to besiege them, they could still escape unscathed. And these people are all renowned and powerful figures of their time.

There are only twenty-eight such powerful figures in the entire Renxin Sect, each of whom is ranked in the top thirty of the most wanted list of evil people, with bounties higher and higher. Evil cultivators respectfully call them the Three Emperors, Four Sovereigns, Eight Kings, and Thirteen Venerables.

That blue-eyed woman dares to call herself the "True One" and flaunts herself under the guise of the Renxin Sect. She is most likely one of the Thirteen True Ones. Even if she is not one of the Thirteen True Ones, she is an extremely dangerous person, a powerhouse that our group is not capable of contending with.

Ye Tingxiu said anxiously, "Old Zhou, don't stop me! She is Lan Yue, she is not dead!"

Zhou Qingfeng reacted quickly, kicking Ye Tingxiu in the back of the knee and pinning him to the ground. He shouted at him, "Are you looking for death? That's someone from the Renxin Sect, not the Lan Yue you know. If you dare to chase after her, she might really kill you!"

Under Zhou Qingfeng's forceful suppression, Ye Tingxiu slowly calmed down. Gazing at the blue-eyed woman's receding figure, he was dazed and lost in confusion. He didn't know the meaning of his years of searching for Lan Yue's whereabouts, or even whether his feelings for Lan Yue were real, or whether all his experiences were real. Could it all have been a dream, a bubble, or a lie?

"Retreat!" Zhou Qingfeng didn't linger any longer and quickly pulled Ye Tingxiu away in another direction.

Jin Wei, Ning Cha, and the others did not dare to linger and quickly flew to catch up.

The group returned along the same route, traveling non-stop, straight through 350 miles of swampy forest.

The unclaimed land is actually not very large, with a straight-line distance of only seven hundred miles from north to south. However, because most of the area lacks order and law, and is filled with chaos, death, war, famine, and plague, it is more suitable for evil cultivators to survive.

It's simply unimaginable how many heretical practitioners and unknown secrets are hidden here.

This time, they really hit the jackpot. In this defiled and evil world, which is boundless and the number of people in the Renxin Sect is pitifully small, if one is not sincerely looking for trouble with the Renxin Sect, the probability of encountering a Renxin demon in the wilderness is even lower than the probability of a million coins falling from the sky.

Night fell, and the group spent the night in an abandoned village. Zhan Fu and Zhan Qi stood guard outside the gate, while Ning Cha and Jin Wei searched every corner of the village to ensure that no demons or monsters were hiding there, in case of a sudden attack in the middle of the night that could result in casualties.

Ye Tingxiu was in a very low mood, sitting silently in front of the fire, poking at the firewood with a red-hot branch in his hand.

This guy has been like this all day, gloomy and depressed, like he's been driven to depression.

Zhou Qingfeng looked a little worried, and after organizing his thoughts, asked, "Old Ye, are you alright?"

Ye Tingxiu: "..."

Zhou Qingfeng said, "Old Ye, there are plenty of fish in the sea, why be hung up on just one?"

Ye Tingxiu: "..."

Zhou Qingfeng said, "Old Ye, you and Lan Yue grew up together since you were little, didn't you notice anything special about Lan Yue?"

Ye Tingxiu: "..."

Zhou Qingfeng said, "Damn it, say something! You're scaring me like this. Don't do anything rash."

Ye Tingxiu: "..."

"Alright, I won't say anymore. I know you can't accept reality right now and you really need some peace and quiet. I'll give you some space." Zhou Qingfeng sighed, stood up, and patted Ye Tingxiu's shoulder. "Call me if you need anything. I'm always here."

Ye Tingxiu looked up at Zhou Qingfeng, nodded, and hummed in agreement.

Zhou Qingfeng said nothing more, walked out of the dilapidated house, then looked back at Ye Tingxiu sitting alone in front of the fire. He couldn't help but feel sad for old Ye, shook his head and walked to a crooked tree outside the village.

Xiao Hongyun quietly stood on the tree trunk and asked worriedly, "Is he alright?"

Zhou Qingfeng crossed his arms and leaned against the tree trunk: "What do you think? His worldview has collapsed. He's lost his way and is in a state of confusion and denial of reality. It's uncertain whether he can get through this."