The old woman became somewhat panicked, the wrinkled face twitching as she spoke in a low voice, "I'm not...I'm just..."

None of these people paid her any attention; one by one, they turned and walked toward the direction of the village. They needed to rebuild their homeland, to arrange the funerals for those who had died. At the same time, they also needed to reflect on themselves, wondering why they had been so harsh on Ye Qing before, to the point where he did not even want to speak a word to them. It is not easy to find faults in oneself, but through the old woman's behavior just now, they could easily feel how excessive they had been in the past.

"Have you let go?" Chu Mo asked with a smile, looking at Ye Qing whose aura seemed different.

"Mhmm, I've basically let go." Ye Qing replied softly, "I just didn't expect so many people to die, I hate myself for not having discovered it earlier."

"I'm afraid that in this world, there are hardly any people who could have discovered this matter. These Tree Monsters... they are quite intelligent," Chu Mo sighed lightly.

Sometimes, you can't entirely blame the ignorance of the people in this world; vision determines so much. Shrouded in ignorance and backwardness, they are unable to see the outside world, lacking that kind of experience. It is understandable that they cannot see through deception.

"We must act quickly, to prevent these Tree Monsters from killing more innocent people." When Ye Qing said this, his eyes shone with a very bright light.

It's a bit silly, but a kind of cute silliness. Chu Mo thought to himself and quickened his pace.

Under Ye Qing's guidance, it took Chu Mo five days to finally collect ten points of the Tree Patriarch's true spirit. Together with the one point he had collected earlier in Stone Village, he now had eleven points in total. This was the amount previously mentioned by the Tree Patriarch's true spirit.

Each time Chu Mo slew a Tree Monster, he had the Tree Monster's awakened Tree Patriarch's true spirit tell the truth to the villagers. Unlike in the small river village, when Chu Mo killed the other Tree Monsters, they hadn't fully exposed themselves yet, so he wanted the villagers to understand that he wasn't killing their tree gods; it was their worshipped tree gods that were inherently evil beings.

Of course, many villagers still did not believe it and loudly cursed Chu Mo as the evil outsider. The reactions were much the same as the villagers in the small river village who were also uninformed. Chu Mo didn't get annoyed, but simply asked them to dig into several graves, and they would naturally understand.

"Seeing their inability to distinguish between good and evil, I am reminded of myself," Ye Qing said softly, hugging his knees, sitting on the grass, and looking at the sunset on the distant horizon.

Chu Mo nodded: "As long as we eliminate all the Tree Monsters, it doesn't really matter if we bear some infamy. After all, this is also a great act of merit."

"Young Master, you're truly kind-hearted!" With sparkling eyes, Ye Qing looked at Chu Mo. Over the past few days, Ye Qing had come to worship this young man a bit. It wasn't affection, just pure worship, similar to how he had previously worshipped the tree god.

"I'm kind-hearted?" Chu Mo laughed sarcastically and said, "Maybe."

Afterwards, he summoned all the Tree Patriarch's true spirits and watched as they merged together. They formed a three-inch-tall Buddha statue that chanted a Buddhist mantra to Chu Mo: "Amitabha, benefactor has great merit!"

Chu Mo curled his lip: "Enough with the useless talk; you'd better summon all the remaining Tree Monsters in this world. That is the real great act of merit, Immeasurable merit!"

"Amitabha, this monk will do just that," the Tree Patriarch's true spirit nodded and began to summon the Tree Monsters from this world.

A moment later, the rumbling sounds began to emanate from afar as ancient trees towering into the skies slowly moved in from all directions. It seemed slow only because these Tree Monsters were immensely huge. In reality, they were quite fast.

In the blink of an eye, they had arrived here, forming a large encirclement like a wall of trees, trapping Chu Mo and Ye Qing within. Above their heads... were the branches extended by these Tree Monsters, blotting out the sun and sealing the area tight. Hardly any light could penetrate through.

Far away, even more Tree Monsters kept making their way here.

The sheer number made Chu Mo somewhat astonished.

At least a few thousand!

Afterwards, Chu Mo gazed coldly at the Tree Patriarch Buddha statue just over three inches tall and said indifferently, "Tell them to stop resisting; I am going to set fire to burn them to death."

"Amitabha, there's no need for such trouble. Once they all gather here, with one divine thought, I can awaken the true spirits within their trunks, and they will die on their own," declared the solemn-faced three-inch-tall Tree Patriarch Buddha statue.

Chu Mo couldn't help but snicker, "Tell me, Tree Patriarch, do I look that easy to fool? Do I look like an idiot? Where do you get the confidence from, thinking that at this point, I would still believe you are on my side?"

"Amitabha, the benefactor has misunderstood…" The Buddha statue, formed by the fusion of eleven points of the Tree Patriarch's true spirit, looked at Chu Mo with dignity and compassion, and said, "This monk..."

"Enough, spare me the monk act. Aren't you tired of pretending?" Chu Mo rolled his eyes and smiled mockingly.

Ye Qing, standing beside him, was utterly stunned. She had followed Chu Mo and been involved in this matter these days, experiencing it from beginning to end. Yet, she had never sensed anything wrong with the Tree Patriarch's true spirit. Why would the young master say such things about it?

Seeing Ye Qing's bewildered expression, Chu Mo chuckled softly, "Do you think it's telling the truth?"

"I... I think so." Ye Qing spoke with a blush and lowered her head: "But I don't have the same insights as the young master..."

Chu Mo laughed heartily and then said to the Buddha statue formed from the Tree Patriarch's true spirit, "Your encirclement is already in place, why continue the disguise? In a little while, we are going to have a falling out anyway. What, you think by continuing to deceive me, you'll be able to ambush me later?"

The Tree Patriarch's true spirit manifested as a three-inch Buddha statue, looking at Chu Mo, still with a face of calm compassion, "How did the benefactor discern the truth? Supposedly, this monk didn't reveal any flaws?"

Chu Mo burst into laughter, almost crying from amusement, "Old fellow, it seems you've been here too long and gone a bit daft. As a Tree Patriarch, after entering nirvana and turning into countless true spirits, merging into your descendants, do you really claim to have no knowledge of what they have been doing over these years? Moreover, if you truly entered nirvana, returned to the dust as everything else, why would you come back to life? The Buddha's Nirvana divine abilities are indeed very powerful, but you... you are simply not a tree of the Buddha. Stop flattering yourself!"

"That's not the only reason." The Buddha statue, still manifesting the Tree Patriarch's true spirit, looked puzzled at Chu Mo, "You have more reasons you haven't mentioned."

"Is there a need to tell you?" Chu Mo said with a sneer: "Transforming into thousands, absorbing the essence energy of living beings in this world, and then merging back into one. I must say, your scheme is indeed formidable. Enough talk, all you need to know is that I have seen through you. It's good timing, too, since you should have gathered all your avatars. So, this battle of ours, can now commence!"

"You should not have been able to see through what no one in this world can… Even as an outsider, you should not have been able to see through me!" The Tree Patriarch's true spirit no longer referred to itself as a poor monk, and its appearance also gradually transformed, morphing into the likeness of a small sapling.

The sapling was just over three inches tall, entirely golden and dazzling, exuding an immense pressure: "However, since you've seen through, you cannot be allowed to live."

"Don't be so confident in yourself," Chu Mo said, his divine consciousness stirring, as Samadhi Real Fire burst forth instantly, viciously sweeping towards the circle of Tree Monsters outside.

"A mere flame, daring to contend?" The three-inch-tall golden sapling gently swayed, releasing a powerful wave, like a storm, that instantly forced the Samadhi Real Fire back.

Chu Mo wielded the Cold Moon Blade, directly slashing towards the sapling.

The blade, filled with a murderous aura, cleaved towards the sapling. And this strike... was actually imbued with the mighty power of the Dao!

"Impossible!" The sapling desperately shook, radiating rays of light, trying to counteract the moonlight, and at the same time, letting out a disbelieving cry of shock.

At the same time, the Tree Monsters surrounding Chu Mo and Ye Qing began to launch frenzied attacks on them. Chu Mo was not worried about them; he was not afraid of these Tree Monsters, but Ye Qing was different. If it weren't for Chu Mo, she wouldn't be able to withstand even a single wave of such attacks, and would have fallen outright.

Therefore, while Chu Mo attacked the sapling, he threw Ye Qing directly into the world within the Sky Mirror. As for the surprise she would find there, Chu Mo didn't care.

Clang!

The Cold Moon Blade let out a resonant cry.

The blade had spirit. Especially when it met an owner it favored, this spirit would become even more intense.

It could clearly sense a mysterious force coming from the hands of its master, stimulating it to continuously resonate. Then, it unleashed this mysterious power in a strike.

Pfft!

The golden sapling, regardless of how desperately it shook or how powerful the waves it emitted were, still had a segment of its trunk severed by the slash of moonlight from the Cold Moon Blade!

Chu Mo's movements were too fast, instantly seizing the segment of the trunk and bringing it into the Sky Mirror.

This was the true spirit of the Tree Patriarch!

An extraordinary tonic, this segment of the trunk, invaluable, more so than a Quasi-Saint herb!

"Ah!"

The golden sapling transformed from the Tree Patriarch let out an enraged roar, a thunderous roar filled with rage.

But Chu Mo was indifferent, launching another slash with his blade.

"In this world... apart from myself, no one can wield the power of the Dao!" The Tree Patriarch howled. Another segment of the trunk was cut off!

Chu Mo replied with a sneer, "You're wrong. I'm not the only one in this world who can wield divine abilities and the power of the Dao. There's also me."

Chu Mo had finally understood why his mother had urged him to come to this place first—the reason lay with these Tree Monsters! This was a gift from my mother!

In this world, Chu Mo indeed could not use the divine abilities he had before, but the purple-gold bloodline inside him had awakened suddenly during the previous battle! That mysterious sensation let Chu Mo understand a lot in an instant.

It was as if he had been enlightened!

He thus understood his mother's intentions and realized that there must be a connection between those who sealed this world and the Luotian Imperial Clan!

Otherwise, how could someone of the Luotian Imperial Clan's bloodline... wield divine abilities here?

Crack!

Another slash, and the golden sapling was once again chopped by Chu Mo.

At that moment, a massive onslaught from the Tree Monsters... also arrived in an instant.

Chu Mo sneered, tossing out the Samadhi Real Fire.

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Delivered during the third night watch.

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