There is a cause and effect.

Yi Qing stood up and comforted Xu Yi, saying, "Don't worry, he only revealed Bai Da's identity. It doesn't mean he has the ability to subdue the Bai brothers..." After saying that, he looked at the Prime Minister and asked, "I wonder how long ago it was when you last saw him, Prime Minister?"

“It has been more than three months.” The Prime Minister looked at Xu Yi: “Young Master Bai has been kind to us after all. If there is anything I can do to help you later, please let me know.”

More than three months? It's only been about a month since Bai Er sent the message to Xu Yi, so this must have happened after he left the Prime Minister's residence... Has the trail gone cold again? Xu Yi looked anxious...

Wu Zi tugged at Xu Yi's hand: "Let's leave first and go back to see if the Imperial Observatory has any records."

"Does the Imperial Astronomical Bureau keep records?"

“Yes, there are,” Wu Zi nodded. “The Imperial Observatory keeps an eye on these extraordinary people who know Taoist magic, and they might even have records of them.”

The three bid farewell to the Prime Minister's residence and returned to search through the Imperial Observatory's records all night. They only found that Jiu Yin had arrived in the capital a year ago, and that while in the capital, he merely wrote letters and performed exorcisms, without engaging in any extreme or exaggerated behavior. They also found Bai Zhouji's record, which only stated that he and his younger brother Bai Er had entered the capital half a year ago, and that there were no other records...

Xu Yi felt they had missed some important clue, but couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. "I feel like we've missed something, Wu Zi..." Xu Yi turned to look and saw that Yi Qing and Wu Zi on the other side were already asleep, slumped over their desks... Being a ghost, she naturally didn't need to rest, but the two cultivators were still human. Xu Yi stopped talking and picked up the paranormal record book from the past six months in the capital, examining each entry one by one, trying to find some clues...

When dawn broke the next day, Xu Yi finally saw the record of the Prime Minister's daughter's ghost encounter. It stated that the Prime Minister's daughter had encountered a ghost on her way back from Gushan Temple because it was too late, and was being tormented by the ghost, becoming increasingly thin. The Prime Minister's family immediately contacted the Imperial Observatory, but the Imperial Observatory's divination indicated that the matter had its own cause and effect and they could not intervene, so they ignored it... Only then did the Prime Minister's family post a notice seeking someone to exorcise the ghost...

"There is a cause and effect, and we cannot interfere?" Xu Yi murmured the words written in the record, walked over and shook Yi Qing awake, asking him, "Yi Qing, can you help me see what this word means?"

Yi Qing shook her head, clearing her mind a bit, before taking the record to look at it. When she saw the fragmented words written on it, her gaze towards Xu Yi held something that Xu Yi couldn't understand...

Seeing that Yi Qing remained silent, Xu Yi urged him again, "Speak up, is there anything you can't say?"

Unexpectedly, Yi Qing fell silent... Xu Yi was extremely anxious and shook his hand again: "Speak! Speak..." This commotion woke up Wu Zi as well. Wu Zi looked at Xu Yi, then at Yi Qing, and knowingly took the notes from Yi Qing's hand to look at them...

After a long, long time, Wu Zi sighed and looked at Xu Yi. Xu Yi, seeing Wu Zi's silence, became even more anxious: "Why won't even you, Wu Zi, tell me? Tell me now!"

Yi Qing glanced at Wu Zi, took the record, closed it, and placed it on the desk before speaking: "The meaning of 'cause and effect' is that they may have had entanglements in their past lives. There is a cause, and there is an effect of entanglement in this life... We cannot interfere in this matter."

"Can't interfere?" Xu Yi was surprised. "But I heard from the Prime Minister that Bai Da resolved his daughter's ghost encounter..." At this point, Xu Yi fell silent. She finally understood why their eyes were filled with such complex emotions...

This matter has its own cause and effect. In other words, regardless of the cause, the Prime Minister's daughter must bear the consequences of being haunted by a ghost. However, Bai Da ignored the cause and effect and handled the matter... This is already a violation of the rules...

"So... Bai Da deliberately interfered in a cause and effect that others shouldn't have been involved in, which is why he ended up with an uncertain fate?" Xu Yi's eyes filled with tears again: "So... from the perspective of cause and effect, Bai Da... deserved it?"

The phrase "you only have yourself to blame" undoubtedly became the consensus among the three people present...

A hush fell over the room, broken only by Xu Yi's tears falling incessantly onto the desk, silencing all three people present...

After a long silence, Yi Qing let out a long sigh: "Xu Yi, Wu Zi, the Imperial Observatory has regulations that state we cannot interfere in this situation. The rest is up to you..." With that, Yi Qing left...

Xu Yi was filled with confusion. She remembered Bai Da as a polite and courteous person when they first met. How could he have acted so irrationally? "How could he?" Xu Yi looked at Wu Zi. "How could he? Didn't he see the cause and effect?"

Wu Zi shook his head: "Bai Da has cultivated for a thousand years, how could he not see cause and effect? ​​Besides, only those who can see the threads of cause and effect can sever them..."

Xu Yi suggested a possibility: "Could it be...could he have been deceived?"

“He might be deceived by others, but the cause and effect line… could never deceive him.”

"The causal thread... it could never lie to him?" Xu Yi murmured repeatedly, "So what exactly is it? What is so important that he would disregard the causal thread and forcefully intervene?"

Wu Zi looked up at Xu Yi: "It might be... love..."

"Love?" Xu Yi recalled the prime minister's words: "He fell in love with the prime minister's daughter, so he ignored the causal chain and forcibly severed the causal relationship?"

"Um."

"Is love... truly that great?"

Wu Zi tenderly patted Xu Yi's head: "People in love... find it hard to extricate themselves..."

"So...this is Bai Da's love tribulation?"

“Yes,” Wu Zi nodded, “It’s still a fatal calamity.”

Thinking of the other possibility, Xu Yi said calmly, "So, as long as Bai Da overcomes this tribulation of love and death, he can become an immortal, right?"

"really……"

"So... when he was only one step away from becoming an immortal, the ultimate goal of cultivators, he still chose love, right?"

“Yes,” Wu Zi nodded again: “This is the reason why love tribulations have been so difficult to overcome since ancient times.”

"Yes... even a cultivator like Bai Da, who has seen it all, couldn't overcome it..."

After another long silence, Wu Zi asked Xu Yi, "Should we... still look for Bai Da?"

"Find..." Xu Yi's tears fell down her cheeks again: "If Bai Da didn't survive because of his love tribulation, then I will... collect his body, which will also put an end to this friendship."

“Okay,” Wu Zi grasped Xu Yi’s hand, “I’ll go with you.”

Xu Yi suddenly thought of Bai Er: "Bai Da failed because he couldn't overcome his love tribulation, but what about Bai Er? Why did Bai Er also disappear?"

“Oh yeah…” Wu Zi also suddenly realized, “Where did Bai Er go?”

“Bai Er didn’t forcibly intervene in the cause and effect, so it should be possible to investigate using the Imperial Observatory, right?” Xu Yi looked at Wu Zi, who nodded: “Let’s go find Yi Qing.”

“Okay.” The two went to find Yi Qing and explained Bai Er’s problem. As expected, Yi Qing took them to a divination hall. The result was a neutral hexagram, indicating that the matter was feasible. After casting a new hexagram to ask for directions, the three of them went to the northwest corner indicated by the hexagram…

They continued their journey to the outskirts of the city, but the tracking talisman remained unresponsive. Undeterred, the three headed towards the northwest corner. However, the area outside the city was an endless plain with no buildings or hiding places. Moreover, Bai Er was a demon who had been around for several hundred years. To trap Bai Er without revealing any trace of his presence, it would definitely involve a formation, and the area would be quite large. It was impossible to leave without a trace...

Just as the three were about to give up hope, they saw an abandoned manor ahead. There was no one in the manor, and the houses were dilapidated, but the earthen walls of the manor showed signs of being rebuilt, indicating that it had been renovated recently.

Having seen this, the three of them had a better understanding of the situation, so they each took out their magical artifacts and carefully went inside.

The entire manor was spotless, without any protective formations. The three of them split up and searched the manor, but found nothing unusual... It seemed to be an abandoned, uninhabited manor...

The three looked at each other, about to leave and search other places, when Xu Yi suddenly felt the wooden planks beneath his feet ripple like water...

"A magic shield?" Xu Yi looked at Yi Qing and Wu Zi beside him. The two of them squatted down to examine the floor and finally found a movable wooden board in a hidden spot. After prying open the board, the three of them went down the stairs under the board and arrived at an empty space that resembled a cellar. However, there were only a few pottery jars scattered around the empty space, and nothing particularly special...

"What...what's going on?" Xu Yi asked, puzzled. "I really felt some fluctuations in magical power underground..."

“You’re a spirit, your intuition shouldn’t be wrong,” Wu Zi affirmed to Xu Yi. “There must be some trick we haven’t discovered yet…” After saying that, the three of them split up to examine the pottery jar on the ground, but they found no traces of engraved runes inside or outside the jar…

All three felt there was something wrong here, but they couldn't pinpoint what it was... Xu Yi stomped her feet in frustration... and her eyes involuntarily reddened... At the moment Xu Yi's eyes turned red, the three clearly heard the sound of the surrounding array operating... Although it was only for a brief instant, it confirmed their suspicions...

"Xu Yi, release some ghostly energy..." As soon as Wu Zi finished speaking, Xu Yi spread his ghostly energy layer by layer. As more and more ghostly energy appeared on the ground, all three of them could clearly hear the sound of the formation operating, getting faster and faster. Then, many runes lit up on the ground and walls around them. These runes were carved into the earthen walls and ground with a yellowish dark paint. Because they were all yellow, and there was no light in the cellar, they were completely unnoticeable when the light was off...

The array patterns lit up, and the two people skilled in array formations acted simultaneously, breaking the hidden array in a moment... The original appearance was finally revealed before their eyes...

On the vast open space, golden arrays were in operation, and the same array was also located at the same position overhead. Two circular arrays rotated independently, completely enveloping the circular area they covered...

And right in the middle was Bai Er kneeling...