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After Lu Dongbin met Peony Fairy at the entrance to the Jade Pool, he asked, "Why are you so foolish? Why didn't you say I tricked you into stealing it? Isn't slaying demons and eliminating devils the right thing to do?"

"This isn't a matter of whether slaying demons and eliminating devils is right or wrong.

"I could deceive the Queen Mother, deceive the Jade Emperor. But how could I deceive my own heart? Once the heart has stirred, anything one says is merely an excuse."

Peony Fairy looked at him and smiled. "I'm going down to the mortal world."

Stealing the Mountain-Stabilizing Divine Needle had not caused any irreparable consequences, so the crime itself was not so grave.

But holding an immortal post yet making such a mistake because of personal feelings—that was the key reason she received this punishment.

Today, she could steal the Mountain-Stabilizing Divine Needle for personal feelings. Tomorrow, could she resist the Heavenly Court for those same feelings? Could she even bring in fiends to overthrow the Heavenly Court?

It was precisely because such precedents might arise that immortals and gods who stirred up personal feelings and then erred because of them were punished severely.

Otherwise, it would not be enough to warn those who came after.

"No. I can't just let you suffer like this. I'll ask the Jade Emperor to pass judgment again." Lu Dongbin took Peony Fairy by the hand and was about to head for the Hall of High Heaven.

"Enough!" Peony Fairy flung his hand away and demanded, "If you, Lu Dongbin, have ever felt even the slightest bit of affection for me, Peony, then come with me before the Jade Emperor right now and make it clear!

"Then the two of us will be banished to the mortal world