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"Don't tell me they were under that big tree?"

"Yes. Later, the sect disciples dug them up and chose an auspicious place to bury them."

"What about the tree?"

Wen Xu fell silent for a moment. "They used it for firewood."

"What? Seriously?"

To be honest, when he first heard how they had dealt with the tree, he had strongly suspected that his master had gone to make trouble for the sect master. But apparently not. Of course, it was also possible that his master simply refused to admit it. "Seriously."

He hadn't expected Yonglu Mountain to be quite so wild. "But a tree that big? How long would it take to burn through?"

"They say that once a tree's life force is extinguished, the spiritual energy in its body returns to nature. The senior brother who went to collect the firewood said there actually wasn't much of it." By now, it had probably all been burned.

"So the women from Little Tree Village..."

Wen Xu nodded. "They've all passed on."

Bian Chunchou had always felt things deeply. Even though he had already guessed, hearing it still made him sad. "Actually, I... I don't blame them, either." He had been furious when they forced him to marry, but thinking about it now, their lives had been a tragedy whose curtain had already fallen. "I'd like to pay my respects. Can I?"

They had harmed people too, but those illusions had been so cruel that Bian Chunchou couldn't help feeling sympathy for them.

"Of course. I'll go with you next time we head down the mountain."

"Then I'll ask Senior Sister Xiang He and Chen Zui-Zui too. We can find a time to go together."

**

Cultivation was dull and repetitive, but there was no denying how quickly it swallowed up