Time rewinds to one incense stick ago.

Following the path to the guest room on the second floor, Chen Yi chanted the spell to open the Heavenly Eye and glanced around.

There was nothing peculiar within the room.

In this small inn, there likely wasn't anything capable of shielding the Heavenly Eye, so Chen Yi closed his Heavenly Eye and refrained from further suspicion.

Yin Weiyin, watching him scan the room with the Heavenly Eye and then proceed without using any additional spells, couldn't help but sigh at the waste of such a powerful gift.

Clearly, he had already reached Golden Core cultivation. Even if he didn't practice the Sword Immortal's legendary "guiding sword for three thousand miles in one breath," he could've at least mastered techniques like the Five Thunders Righteous Method or the Samadhi True Fire.

The female crown couldn't help but feel envy, tinged with regret—lamenting that Chen Yi's cultivation prowess wasn't hers to wield.

She had spent over a decade in bitter cultivation, acquiring Taoist skill after skill, yet her limited cultivation made it difficult to manifest her abilities.

Unlike martial artists who climb the ladder of martial arts, each step honing their singular skill, Taoist and Buddhist cultivation only becomes more intricate as one ascends in realm—each revealed technique bringing endless variations.

Thus, when it comes to combat, cultivators below the sixth realm Nascent Soul specialize in particular arts, but once reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, Taoist and Buddhist practitioners often surpass martial artists.

It was commonly whispered among those in the mountains: tales of Nascent Soul cultivators feuding with Third Rank martial artists, summoning deities to strike them down in a final moment.

Nascent Soul was evidently the watershed realm. Once reaching Nascent Soul, cultivating for centuries or millennia promised a fair chance at ascending to immortality.

These considerations often haunted Yin Weiyin. She often thought: if she had been in the Nascent Soul Realm during that fateful underground palace incident, how might things have turned out?

Even if she couldn't have resisted the terrifying pressure of the Tushan Clan, perhaps she could have walked the path of longevity. At least, she wouldn't have been dragged helplessly into peril…

Recalling those moments, the female crown felt her heart churn with chaos.

She raised her eyes to glance at Chen Yi.

Chen Yi turned his head and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Fearing he'd accuse her of hiding something, Yin Weiyin added, "Just a minor matter."

Many grievances she dared to harbor only within her heart, afraid to speak them aloud.

Chen Yi didn't know what was troubling her; he could only sense her faint gloom. But at that moment, he had no time for distractions.

Outside, footsteps sounded.

The mad scripture master, having gone out to inspect earlier, now returned and pushed the door open.

"Did you find anything?" Chen Yi asked directly.

The mad scripture master stroked his beard, swaying his head dramatically before responding, "From here to the shopkeeper's room, it's a total of one hundred and twenty-three steps. Along the way, there are three traps, but they're quite ordinary—just a rope here, an iron basin there, and seemingly some concealed needles beyond that."

It sounded like methods commonly used in Jianghu to guard against martial artists.

Chen Yi paused and then asked further, "Anything else?"

The mad scripture master twitched his nose and mimicked the motion of sniffing before saying, "They're keeping ghost children here."

"Ghost children?"

"Yes, it involves using the souls of the dead to rear ghost children. This sort of technique is typically employed by families who've lost their own children. I've exorcised enough souls to have seen plenty of cases like this," the mad scripture master responded flippantly.

Now that the investigation was complete, Chen Yi had a general plan in mind.

Having a solid strategy before moving was always beneficial. Rushing in recklessly often led to disaster, and unless forced, Chen Yi would never act impulsively.

He patted the Brocade Spring Blade at his waist and nodded towards the mad scripture master.

The mad scripture master had long wanted to dive into chaos; had it not been for Chen Yi's suggestion, he wouldn't have bothered meticulously scouting every corner.

Chen Yi turned back to look at Yin Weiyin and spoke softly:

"Stay here. The talismans have already been placed around."

Based on the mad scripture master's description, the path to the shopkeeper's room was riddled with traps. Chen Yi was concerned that the female crown, lacking Jianghu experience, might accidentally get caught.

While it wasn't impossible for him to protect her, caution was the safer bet. Instead of bringing her along, he decided to leave a trace of Sword Intent on her to ensure her safety as she stayed put.

Yin Weiyin didn't object to Chen Yi's arrangement. After a moment of lowering her gaze and hesitating, she finally said:

"Then return quickly."

Her words were not a spur-of-the-moment utterance but rather a deliberate decision after careful thought.

Chen Yi nodded, closed the door, and stepped away. As his figure vanished, Yin Weiyin let out a breath of relief. When he was around, her chest felt leaden, her hairs seeming always on the verge of standing up.

Once he went further away—or fell asleep—she could relax slightly.

But her sense of relief didn't last long. Glancing around at the suffocatingly oppressive surroundings, with a faint premonition that ghost fire could ignite at any moment, Yin Weiyin broke out in goosebumps. She couldn't help but gaze towards the door, wishing for his quick return.

In the narrow, ashen-gray corridor, Chen Yi and the mad scripture master moved one behind the other.

Looking through the gaps of the railing, they could see the scene on the first floor of the inn.

From the vantage point on the first floor earlier, these details were concealed, but now, from the second floor, they could see strange white vapor wafting from the food served below.

The vapor looked, at first glance, like the tantalizing steam from freshly prepared dishes.

But upon closer inspection, it resembled the wispy white smoke rising from rituals for the dead.

And the scent of this vapor stirred a ravenous craving for those dishes…

This vapor appeared solely over the meat dishes, not a trace on the vegetarian options.

"That's turbid qi… incredibly dense turbid qi," the mad scripture master transmitted secretly with a click of his tongue.

"Turbid qi?"

"Meat inherently carries turbid qi, while vegetables are innately pure qi. Turbid qi breeds vexation, and such vexation bewilders the three souls and seven spirits."

When others posed questions, the mad scripture master never withheld answers.

"Buddhism emphasizes severing vexation, abstaining from meat, but Taoism explores enlightenment through worldly turbulence, seeking the 'Dao' amidst vexations. Thus, except for the Quanzhen Sect lineage, Taoists do not oppose eating meat."

As the mad scripture master's words swirled in his mind, Chen Yi quickly grasped the underlying meaning.

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