Village affairs are difficult to manage, recalling the past.

He Lian didn't want to beat around the bush and said directly, "Release them."

Upon hearing this, Luo Kui immediately stopped smiling and said, "Sect Leader He Lian, what are you doing? Why do you make me look like a bad guy?"

"..."

At this moment, the man with the wooden stick clenched his fist and said, "Why are you siding with those people?!"

After saying that, he pointed to the remaining villagers.

"..."

Han Sheng suddenly spoke up: "People can say whatever they want, and we can't control that. Since that's the case, we might as well just be ourselves and ignore him."

"Didn't I endure it?! How many years have I endured it?! Sixteen years! Sixteen years!" the wooden stick roared angrily.

He clenched his fist and said, "They say I'm good at everything, I've endured it all for so many years, but! They just had to touch the money that Grandma worked so hard to earn!"

"You embroider from day to night, do you know how much sleep you get each day?!" Wooden Stick said, his eyes welling up with tears.

He held up three fingers and said, "Three hours! Three hours!! She's an old woman who has to take care of me while also embroidering to earn money to support the family!!"

On a warm afternoon, a little boy leaned on the table and looked at the old lady in front of him, asking, "Grandma, why are you embroidering all this?"

The old woman smiled after hearing this, her small eyes narrowing into slits. Without stopping her hands, she said, "After you finish embroidering, sell it to get some money so I can buy some new clothes for Wooden Stick. His clothes are all old."

Wooden Stick looked at the calluses on the old lady's hands and said sensibly, "Grandma, Wooden Stick doesn't want new clothes, he just wants you to be healthy."

Hearing this, the old lady smiled again, her hands still moving, and said, "It's alright, Grandma will save the stick for when I get married in the future."

At this moment, Mugun couldn't stop crying, and everyone was at a loss for what to do.

Seeing this, Mu Gun wiped away his tears and said, "I will take responsibility for this matter myself. There is no need to involve Master Zui Luo."

This means that he doesn't want to be considered a disciple of the Zuiluo Sect, and wants to completely absolve himself of any connection with the Zuiluo Sect.

Luo Kui stood up, gripping the armrest of his seat, and said, "I'll stand right here today and see who dares to punish my disciples with wooden sticks!"

Clearly, Luo Kui meant he would never give up the wooden stick, nor would he allow it to leave the Zui Luo Sect.

Hearing this, Han Sheng felt a headache coming on. She said, "He Lian, what do you think we should do?"

He Lian glanced at Luo Kui and the others, then at the villagers, and said, "Then, we will have a battle eventually! Charge!"

Upon hearing this, Li Xingyi and the others immediately swarmed forward. Seeing this, Luo Kui said, "Wooden Stick, go and deal with those villagers! The sect leader will hold them off here!"

The man with the wooden stick was filled with gratitude. He turned to the villagers and, ignoring their pleas, swiftly drew his knife.

Li Xingyi glanced at it and frowned. Just as he was about to draw his sword, he heard He Lian say, "We disdain killing people. We can defeat you completely with just our sword sheaths."

"..." Li Xingyi didn't know what to say. At this moment, she was plotting something. At the same time, she understood He Lian's meaning: to stop them on the surface, but to go with the flow in secret. The others could only obediently refrain from drawing their swords and fighting with the Zuiluo Sect disciples.

Han Sheng glanced at He Lian, then at the wooden stick, closed his eyes, and said nothing.

Perhaps it was pity for the wooden stick, or perhaps it was dissatisfaction with the villagers' actions; selfish motives are always involved, and how can we judge who is right and who is wrong?

After hearing this, Luo Kui and He Lian locked eyes, and Luo Kui immediately pointed at He Lian and said, "Don't look down on us! We, the Zui Luo Clan, can win with our bare hands!"

Everyone was shocked.

……ah? !

Luo Kui glanced at them, and the Zui Luo Sect disciples had no choice but to obey and fight with their bare hands.

After a long while, Mu Gun finished dealing with the stick, turned around, knelt on the ground, kowtowed to everyone present, and cried, "This humble Mu Gun thanks you all!"

Everyone immediately stopped and froze. Han Sheng was about to speak when a voice came from behind him, "What are you thanking us for?! We didn't help you at all! Don't talk nonsense, kid!"

Han Sheng recognized the voice as belonging to the Yuanze Sect Leader Ze Hui. He turned around and saw Ze Hui with other sect leaders and disciples behind him.

"Is this place really that big? How did so many people manage to get down here?" Han Sheng asked.

Zehui explained, "Of course there are still some people outside."

He Lian looked at Ze Hui with the other sect leaders and asked in confusion, "What's going on here?"

Upon hearing this, Zehui waved his hand and said, "Oh dear, it's all a misunderstanding!"

When Zehui got to the point where he was fighting with the other sect leaders, he couldn't think of any other words to say, so he could only say, "You murderer who aided and abetted evil! Although the villagers of Mujia Village were indeed wrong, they can't just be killed like that!"

They need to be taught a lesson.

The sect leader was puzzled upon hearing this, and his grip on the sword loosened slightly. He said, "What are you talking about, you old codger? What murderer? It's clear that you've all joined forces to wipe out us small sects, which is why we've resisted."

"Huh?!" Ze Hui exclaimed in surprise, quickly sheathing his sword. He tentatively asked, "Do you know about what happened in Mu Family Village?"

Seeing this, the sect leader sheathed his sword and asked in confusion, "How could I not know? Sect Leader Luo Kui is currently purging the sect."

"Then you banded together to take advantage of the situation and wipe out us small sects, dreaming of reaching the top yourselves. You are utterly shameless!"

As he said this, his face darkened with anger, and he gripped his sword even tighter.

Ze Hui immediately understood. He figured that Luo Kui was afraid they wouldn't help him, so he deliberately said that Shuanghan, Yuanze, and Feihe were going to destroy their sects.

Ze Hui immediately said, "Oh dear! You've been fooled! Sect Leader Luo Kui is extremely protective of his own; how could he possibly go and purge the sect!"

As soon as the two sect leaders sheathed their swords, the others also sheathed theirs upon seeing this.

At this moment, Heming and Zemin walked over and bowed in unison, saying, "We hope that all the sect leaders will go down into the well to investigate."

The sect leader stroked his beard and said, "How can we trust you?"

Zemin said, “Each of you take a group of disciples down the well and leave a group of disciples behind to guard it.”

Zehui smiled in agreement: "That's right, that's exactly what I was thinking too."

The sect leader said, "Hmph! Stubborn to the end!"

The disciples then went down the well one after another. Ze Hui scratched his head awkwardly, and the sect leader turned to look at him and said, "Why aren't you going down yet? Are you afraid?!"

As Zehui stepped forward, he said, "Why wouldn't I dare? I'm here now."

Inside the well, Zehui said, "That's how it is."

The other sect leaders who came down with Zehui looked at the villagers' corpses on the ground and Luo Kui opposite them and understood everything; what Zehui said was true.

The sect leader, disregarding everything else, angrily exclaimed, "Sect Leader Luo Kui is truly cunning and shrewd! He's made us small sects run wild!"

"Yes, yes! How could you drag us down with you for the sake of your disciple!" the others chimed in.

Upon hearing this, Wooden Stick immediately said, "Esteemed sect leaders, I, Wooden Stick, will take full responsibility for my actions. This has nothing to do with Sect Leader Luo Kui! I..."

Before he could finish speaking, Luo Kui stretched out a hand, indicating that there was no need to say more. Seeing this, the wooden stick said, "But..."

Luo Kui glanced at him, and the wooden stick fell silent. Everyone waited for Luo Kui to speak, and Luo Kui quietly looked at the people in front of him.

After a long while, he sighed.

"This matter was my fault, Luo Kui. If I had to choose again, I would still do the same thing. I am a rough man and I don't like those grand principles, but I do know right from wrong. As the sect leader, I should protect my disciples," Luo Kui said solemnly.

Upon hearing this, Mugun burst into tears and kowtowed to Luo Kui, saying, "Disciple... thanks... Sect Leader... for protecting me, thanks... Sect Leader... for teaching me, thanks... Sect Leader... for avenging me..."

His voice choked with emotion, filled with gratitude. He closed his eyes, composed himself, and stood up, saying, "The sect leader has shown me immense kindness. I do not wish to implicate the sect leader. I am willing to atone with my death. I hope the sect leaders will spare the Zuiluo Sect."

After saying that, he picked up his sword and slit his throat. Blood flowed freely, and his body fell to the ground. Everyone was stunned. Li Xingyi was unsure whether to be happy or sad, or whether he was right or wrong.

This is the second time, and I still don't know what to do.

She was filled with bitterness.

Luo Kui hurriedly stepped forward to lift the wooden stick and examine it. The stick's eyes were still open, but it couldn't say anything. He slightly raised his hand.

"Waaaaah!" There was a bamboo basket in the stream, and the baby inside was crying loudly because it was hungry.

Hearing the sound, the old woman who was washing clothes by the river looked up, glanced around with her small eyes, spotted the bamboo basket, and hurriedly dropped her clothes to stop it.

Back on the bank, he exclaimed, "Whose child is this? It floated down the river!"

The villagers immediately checked everyone in the village and found that no one had lost a child. The old woman looked at the baby in the bamboo basket and felt pity. She carefully picked up the baby, who was still crying.

The old lady could tell at a glance that the baby was hungry. She took the baby home and fed it some rice cereal. After the baby finished eating, it was still crying. Seeing this, the old lady skillfully comforted it.

The rocking motion gradually subsided until it stopped. A gentle breeze caressed the old woman's silver hair, and she smiled kindly, looking at the large pile of wooden sticks by the wall.

These were cut by my late husband before he passed away. He was worried that after he was gone, there would be no more wooden sticks and my wife would have to find them herself, so he cut wooden sticks for three walls in advance, just so that my wife would be more comfortable when she was alone.

"Ah, let's call it Stick, it's easy to keep it alive."

Her voice was gentle and slow.

Little did she know that this baby was also her hope for survival. She had lived long enough at seventy, and as a lonely person, she had no intention of living any longer.

Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps the old lady's husband hadn't yet settled his next life's home, and she hoped he would give him some more time.

Year after year, she persevered for seventeen years, all for a child with whom she had no blood relation.

At this moment, the stick's eyes were filled with a smile.

Grandma, you've come to pick me up. I'm such an unfilial son, I've burdened you in this life, and I'm afraid I'll have to follow you in the next, causing you worry for the rest of your life.

Tears streamed down his face, his body went limp, and he passed away.

“One life for one life. This matter is over. Give them a proper burial,” He Lian said.

This matter is beyond my control. People's choices in life are always so pessimistic. Who can say for sure what is right and wrong? It's just a knot in our hearts.

Each sect buried everyone in Kimura. Luo Kui buried the wooden stick and the old lady's body in a scenic spot, undisturbed, with the flowers and plants still there, but the former liveliness was gone.