Only now did they truly understand that everything the outsider had said was true. He had warned them, told them the truth, but they had met his words with indifference and mockery. The outsider had revealed to them the truth about the situation and that Ye Qing was not a harbinger of disaster; in fact, it was because of Ye Qing that the Tree Monster hadn't become too unrestrained. Regrettably, they did not heed his words and didn't take the matter seriously. Recalling this made the people of Stone Village nearly choke on their regrets.

If the Tree Monster hadn't been unable to absorb too much essence energy from people at once, it is likely that the few hundred villagers of Stone Village would have been killed in an instant, leaving them with no opportunity to even regret. But now their cries for help are met with no response from heaven or earth; they have no means of escape whatsoever.

Chu Mo and Ye Qing sprinted all the way to Stone Village and from a distance, they saw a towering ancient tree high above Stone Village. The countless roots of the tree formed a solid cage, sealing the entire village within. Faintly, cries could be heard coming from the village.

"Master, please save them!" Seeing this scene, Ye Qing became anxious and was on the verge of tears.

Chu Mo glanced at Ye Qing, sighing inwardly: this woman's simplicity and kindness were beyond reproach. Most people, in this situation, would likely feel secretly pleased, or even show happiness on their faces. They wouldn't even find anything wrong with showing their happiness openly!

Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil; there is no reason for me to endure grievances and swallow my anger, while also rushing to rescue you!

How should one repay kindness if they respond to malice with virtue?

In his bones, Chu Mo was not some saintly believer, but that did not stop him from admiring the pure-hearted Ye Qing.

"Don't worry." Chu Mo gave Ye Qing a reassuring look, holding the Cold Moon Blade and walking step by step towards the Tree Monster, which had undergone a complete transformation.

"Outsider, mind your own business!" The Tree Monster's icy divine consciousness brazenly formed a voice in the void.

At that moment, the crying from within Stone Village paused because they too heard this voice. The expressions of those still alive lit up with wild joy.

"Someone has come to rescue us!"

"Thank goodness! Someone is here to rescue us!"

"Help! Save us!"

The surviving villagers of Stone Village couldn't help but call for help loudly.

Chu Mo looked at the Tree Monster coldly, too lazy to communicate with it and charged straight at it.

The Tree Monster was also enraged. It hadn't wanted to provoke Chu Mo before, not because it truly feared this outsider, but because it didn't want the outsider to disrupt its schemes. Now that things had escalated, there was no need to hide anything anymore.

Thousands of roots shot towards Chu Mo like thousands of spears.

It was a veritable killing formation!

In a place where one cannot make use of divine abilities, its power was truly devastating.

For the vast majority of people in this world, that was the case. But not for Chu Mo.

The Cold Moon Blade moved, casting cold moonlight with murderous intent, instantly severing hundreds of roots of the Tree Monster. Before the next wave of the Tree Monster's attacks came, Chu Mo swung the Cold Moon Blade horizontally, chopping a large hole through the roots that trapped Stone Village and dashed inside in a flash.

The loss of some roots wasn't much for the Tree Monster, but the outsider instilled a chilling feeling in its heart. Despite having used all its strength, it was still unable to do anything to him. Instead, it allowed him to breach the cage and get inside...

Before the Tree Monster could come up with a way to deal with Chu Mo, it suddenly felt a burning sensation at its roots.

This was bad!

Fire!

The Tree Monster almost jumped up immediately.

Indeed, the towering ancient tree leaped from the ground, jumping dozens of feet into the air.

The roots that had confined Stone Village were also withdrawn instantly, flailing like countless hands, desperately beating the blue flames that had ignited at its base.

Unfortunately, this wasn't Mortal Fire!

Mortal Fire couldn't possibly inflict any harm on the Tree Monster.

At this moment, many villagers of Stone Village frantically fled their homes, running toward the outside of the village.

Chu Mo stood quietly, looking up at the Tree Monster being furiously consumed by the Samadhi Real Fire.

After escaping, the villagers of Stone Village saw the widow, who they had mocked, cursed, and bullied for a long time standing at the entrance of the village, looking at them with a gaze devoid of schadenfreude, but rather filled with worry.

All the people unconsciously stopped in their tracks, then turned their heads back to look at that tall figure standing in the middle of Stone Village. They all fell silent.

If they still harbored curses for Ye Qing at this point, it would truly mean they had lost all humanity.

However, there were a few bratty kids who, oblivious to life and death and unaware of the grave dangers they had just faced, saw Ye Qing and instinctively wanted to throw stones at her. Their respective parents harshly slapped their faces, swelling them up. Only then did they realize fear, though they still didn't understand what they had done wrong.

One six or seven-year-old brat defiantly asked, "When we did this before, didn't you all cheer loudly? Why hit me now?"

His father, a middle-aged man, raised his hand high but couldn't bring himself to strike down. Instead, he suddenly crouched on the ground and broke into uncontrollable tears.

The bratty child was petrified, clueless why his normally domineering father had suddenly changed, and helplessly watched him.

"It's not you who's wrong, it's your father, it's all of us," an elderly man sighed as he approached and said while looking at the child, "Your Aunt Ye... she's not a bad person, she's a truly good person."

As the elder spoke, he bowed deeply towards Ye Qing, "We are sorry, it was our mistake before."

"We are sorry, it was our mistake before!" All the villagers from the small river village who had escaped now all bowed to Ye Qing, sincerely apologizing.

Tears suddenly brimmed in Ye Qing's eyes, but she didn't utter a word. Forgive them? Even the most naive and kind-hearted woman couldn't possibly have no psychological shadows from the past curses, interrogations, and attacks. She was kind-hearted, so she pleaded with Chu Mo to save these people. But it didn't mean she had forgotten what had happened.

The small river village people didn't really think their apologies could make Ye Qing forget all past hurts. Though their apologies came from the heart, it was more about alleviating their own guilt.

What does it mean to be kind? How could genuine kindness ever let those foul curses be uttered?

At this moment, the roaring flames had completely devoured the Tree Monster.

As the Samadhi Real Fire consumed the Tree Monster, it also absorbed a massive amount of essence energy. Therefore, with each Tree Monster it devoured, the Samadhi Real Fire grew stronger.

Almost instantly, the Samadhi Real Fire completely burnt the Tree Monster to death.

Then, a speck of the Tree Patriarch's true spirit appeared, replaying what had happened before when Chu Mo killed the Tree Monster in Stone Village and the Tree Patriarch's true spirit emerged.

Chu Mo did not stop it, since the villagers from the small river village were now aware of the Tree Monster's evil nature, but they were still unaware of the true circumstances. Chu Mo wasn't exactly benevolent; he merely hoped that these people would learn their lesson for the future and stop carelessly labeling everything as ominous as if they had no brains.

After sealing away that bit of Tree Patriarch's true spirit, Chu Mo returned to Ye Qing's side. The villagers from the small river village, already fearful of Chu Mo, were now even more reverent. They wanted to thank him but hesitated, not daring to approach.

Chu Mo wasn't interested in hearing their thanks, finding it all fake. No matter what, he couldn't forget how these people had acted previously. People might have sudden realizations or come to understand many things after facing life and death, but many things ingrained in their nature wouldn't change. Because that's inherent.

It's easier to change rivers and mountains than it is to alter one's nature. This isn't an exaggeration.

"Shall we go?" Chu Mo glanced at Ye Qing.

Ye Qing smiled radiantly at Chu Mo and nodded, "Yes, my lord, let's go."

Her heart's knot had finally been untied completely!

The small river village would become a chapter in her life's story, a memory etched in the depths of her recollection. From now on, her world would be vastly different.

"Ye..."

Just as Ye Qing turned around, an old woman behind her called out the first syllable of her name.

Ye Qing paused for a brief moment.

The old woman awkwardly said, "That... you can come live in the small river village, outsiders... aren't they saying, you... bring good fortune."

Upon hearing the first part of the sentence, a faint touch of moved emotion flashed across Ye Qing's face. However, after hearing the second part, her visage revealed a hint of desolation. She didn't speak but simply shook her head gently, and then, with a resolute expression, she said to Chu Mo, "My lord, let's go. I'll take you to the next village."

Chu Mo nodded and, without giving another glance at those people, left straight away.

As the two of them walked away, the facial expression of the old woman gradually turned ugly. She couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "A slut is always a slut, indecent, seeing a handsome man and losing all sense of shame... no dignity!"

Previously, if she had said this, surely a large group would have echoed her sentiment.

But today, for some reason, nobody joined in after she finished talking. She looked up somewhat sheepishly, only to meet dozens of angry eyes.

A middle-aged man stared at her furiously, "Have you lived so long that you've become a dog? Do you have any shame? She just led people to save us all! And you turn around and curse her? Are you even human?"

"She's leaving because we drove her away. Your first sentence seemed like you were trying to detain her, but the next exposed your true thoughts. She's not a disaster star anymore? But a lucky star... and now you want to detain her?" a middle-aged woman looked at the old crone with disgust.

Although the others didn't verbally accuse her, their gazes were filled with aversion.

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