After the explanation, Lu Yang seized the opportunity before Tang Qiaoqiao and Cui Que’er arrived to drag Meng Jingzhou along to do good deeds and accumulate merit. He was racing against time, striving to carve out some time for leisure.

Nevertheless, Lu Yang dared not ignore the lecherous monk, the insect cultivator, and the rest. He wasn’t certain whether this loop would be the last. If he was unlucky, and this was the final loop, missing even a single person would plunge Kaihuang City into chaos.

Lu Yang had suffered before due to a similar incident.

Once, he was trapped in a loop and repeated the same conversation with Tao Yaoye fifteen times. Eventually, he found it unbearably tedious and simply went through the motions perfunctorily.

As fate would have it, that turned out to be the final loop. Tao Yaoye thought she had done something to displease him and nearly burst into tears. Lu Yang had to go back and gently explain for half a day before the misunderstanding was resolved.

“The chaos of Kaihuang City.”

“Beauty, just yield to me...”

“My life is almost up...”

“From now on, your sensitivity...”

“Great Master, they’re all here. You just have to perform a soul search.”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou did everything in one go, finally catching up to where they had been before the loop began.

“Why do you seem so rushed?” Meng Jingzhou had been unable to keep up with Lu Yang’s pace the whole time. It felt as if Lu Yang already knew what was about to happen.

“Don’t ask. I’m mentally exhausted.” Lu Yang sighed, silently praying that a sixth loop wouldn’t come.

Having reached a timeline beyond the time loop, Lu Yang finally relaxed. He went to a sugar-painting stall and bought two sugar paintings shaped like him and Meng Jingzhou.

He handed the one with Meng Jingzhou’s appearance to Meng Jingzhou himself. “Here, my treat.”

Meng Jingzhou accepted the sugar painting with mixed feelings. He examined it from all angles but hesitated to take a bite. There was nothing wrong with the sugar painting, except that it looked too much like him.

Lu Yang also hesitated to eat his own. However, he felt it would be a shame to pass up a sugar painting of himself; they weren’t easy to come by.

In his mental space, the Everlasting Immortal Fairy suddenly sat up from her lotus platform, brimming with interest, though it was unclear whether it was because they had finally reached uncharted time or because she saw Lu Yang buy a sugar painting of himself.

“Xiao Yangzi, come, come, let me borrow your body.”

Resistance was futile. Lu Yang was immediately possessed by the ancient she-devil.

The ancient she-devil used Lu Yang’s body to lick the sugar painting, letting out a drawn-out “mmm.” “Really sweet.” 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Then she returned the body to Lu Yang.

Seeing her reaction, Lu Yang skeptically licked his own sugar painting. It tastes just like any ordinary sugar painting. Why did the Immortal Fairy say it was “really sweet?”

After that first lick, he got over the psychological hurdle in his heart and continued eating his sugar painting.

Seeing that Lu Yang dared to eat his, Meng Jingzhou saw no reason to cower and began eating his own as well.

The two walked through the bustling streets, eating their sugar paintings. The passersby’s conversations streamed into their ears from time to time.

“Lü Cheng, let’s divorce. You’re already forty years old, yet you still haven’t accomplished anything. Had I known, I never would have married you.”

“Son, you’re already six years old. Stop spending my money. It’s time you became independent. Let’s sever our father-son relationship.”

“You old thing, do you know how much silver you’ve cost me since you got sick? From today onward, I won’t care whether you live or die. Get out of this house.”

Lu Yang stopped in his tracks. He had heard many such conversations one after another—couples divorcing, fathers abandoning children, children casting out parents. The frequency was alarming.

“Wait, why does something feel wrong?”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou realized that at some point, the laughter that had filled the streets had vanished. All that remained were the chaotic sounds of footsteps and cold, emotionless voices.

They had been so engrossed in their jovial conversation that they had failed to notice the abnormality in their surroundings!

On the entire street, only the two of them were laughing. They were the ones who were out of place!

“What’s going on?!”

“It’s the Emotion-Forgetting Pill!”

Things clicked for Lu Yang. This is clearly the effect of the Emotion-Forgetting Pill. Without emotions, people are driven solely by self-interest. To a father, a young son is a burden. To adult children, an elderly mother is a burden. All are expendable!

Everyone on this street has consumed the Emotion-Forgetting Pill!

Wait, no... It’s not just this street.

Under the sweep of spiritual consciousness, there was hardly any privacy to speak of. But Lu Yang couldn’t afford to care about that now. He extended his spiritual consciousness, covering dozens of streets and houses. Be it mortals or cultivators, all wore blank expressions, moving like the walking dead!

“From the looks of it, the entire Kaihuang City has fallen into this state!” Lu Yang found the situation dire, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

“Is it the Heartless Creed? How did they manage to affect everyone?” Meng Jingzhou’s expression grew grave. Even though it was right under their noses, they hadn’t detected anything.

A memory seemed to strike Lu Yang, and he looked down at the ground. Puddles of water had seeped into the gaps between the bluestone streets, and the earth and soil were damp. The clues connected into a clear line.

“It’s the Transport River water!”

“Do you remember how Master Duanchen described the Emotion-Forgetting Pill after performing a soul search on the three-eyed ghost monk?”

With Lu Yang’s reminder, Meng Jingzhou also understood. “The Emotion-Forgetting Pill dissolves in water! The problem lies in the water!”

“Exactly! Someone must have dumped a large quantity of Emotion-Forgetting Pills into the Transport River. It is the Buddha Bathing Festival today, which commemorates the World-Honored One’s birth. To celebrate, people splash water!

“The Transport River water is splashed across the whole city. As the water evaporates, the Emotion-Forgetting Pill’s components become airborne. A single breath is enough to be affected, and no one would notice!

“Perhaps demon beasts are more sensitive to the pill’s composition. Do you remember the insect cultivator we encountered while doing good deeds? The insect king turned on its master, nearly causing an insect plague. That might have been because the insect king was affected by the Emotion-Forgetting Pill and was no longer bound by emotions!

“Our cultivation is too high. Even ingesting a full pill affects us for only a few breaths. The airborne concentration must be diluted numerous times, drastically reducing its effects. Even if we absorb it, we’re immune.

“But other cultivators aren’t capable of this!

“Let’s find Master Duanchen. He’s also at the Divine Transfiguration Stage. Although he’s not as strong as we are, he should still be unaffected.”

Without hesitation, the two disregarded the city’s no-flying rule and soared into the air, flying toward Kaihuang Temple.

They landed at Kaihuang Temple’s entrance. The temple’s incense offerings remained abundant. In fact, due to the Emotion-Forgetting Pill’s effects, even more pilgrims had come to burn incense and pray.

The pilgrims’ expressions were wooden. Like marionettes, they filed into the temple and deposited copper coins, silver, gold, and spirit stones into the donation boxes with mechanical precision.

If some had previously gone through the motions out of social conformity, now that they were in their emotionless states, even that feeling was gone.

The two pushed open the door to the abbot’s chamber and rushed in, shouting urgently, “Great Master, this is terrible! The entire city has been poisoned by the Emotion-Forgetting Pill!”