Stepping In

On some instinct, Wen Xu felt that something was wrong. "Tell me everything carefully. Don't leave out a single detail."

If it had been anyone else, Chen Zui would have been too lazy to explain, but Wen Xu was different. He was his good friend, so he recounted every conversation he could remember.

As Wen Xu listened, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper. "For such a strange custom to have endured from ancient times until now, it must be held in great importance by the villagers. You said that old woman claimed she was marrying her daughter to the Sacred Tree that very night, yet she only began preparing the wedding dress on the day itself. That makes no sense. Even an ordinary family would need several months to prepare a daughter's bridal gown. Besides, Little Tree Village is hundreds of miles from Langyuan City. She said her daughter liked Lotus Pavilion's clothes—how much truth do you think there was in that?"

"You two were clearly cultivators, yet you disguised yourselves as ordinary people and went to Lotus Pavilion to buy dresses for ordinary women. Since she ran into you like that, she had probably targeted the two of you from the start. Asking you to part with the clothes was false; striking up a conversation with you was true."

Chen Zui rubbed his head. Eh? Was that how it was?

"Then why did she want to talk to us?" Chen Zui did not understand.

"She was probably... trying to lure you to Little Tree Village." Wen Xu hoped he was wrong. "I'll make a trip to Founding Peak, ask for that senior sister's name, and incidentally look into whether this Little Tree Village is real."

Besides, even the proprietor of Shared Goblet Tavern could speak of it in such