Immortality: Starting with a grave, I'm invincible when burying corpses.

The old man sitting on the earthen slope spat a mouthful of phlegm onto the ground and spoke angrily.

"If the officials hadn't prevented the people from our village from going there, I, this old man, would have insisted on going to 'Wen Village' to live. Who knows, I might even get a wife and have a child in my old age..."

"We've all been to jail, so why do the people from 'Wen Village' live such comfortable lives? They have businesses, wives, and children, and warm homes, while we have nothing..."

Upon hearing the old man's words, Qin Xiucai's eyes darkened. He lowered his head and after a long while, he uttered a vague and unclear statement.

"The important figures in the Wenchang Hall wouldn't leave a stain on their reputation..."

"What? Scholar Qin, speak louder, we can't hear what you're saying."

"It's nothing, just talking to myself, it's not a big deal. It's getting late, you should all go get your food, or there won't be any left... Don't worry about me, I'll just sit here by myself for a while."

……

Amidst the ridges of the fields, a travel-worn Mu Ling'er walked briskly along the narrow ridges.

She wore a light blue long dress with a hem that almost touched the ground, and a wine jug hung from her waist. Every now and then, she would jump around, tumble in the air, and land steadily on the two-inch-wide patch of earth, perfectly demonstrating her ability to make mistakes.

Qin Xiucai, who was sitting at the entrance of the village, saw the blue figure from afar, but after watching for a while, he looked away.

A naive and wealthy young lady would never reach their "sinful village"; the soldiers outside would naturally stop her.

There might be some trouble, but you shouldn't suffer too much loss. Just pay some money and it'll be fine. Those thugs are only after money; they won't harm anyone.

Until one moment, a figure blocked the sunlight, causing the light in front of Qin Xiucai's eyes to suddenly dim, and Qin Xiucai, who was drowsy, was suddenly awakened.

"Excuse me... sir, may I ask if Master Zhuangzi taught in this village?"

The speaker stared at Qin Xiucai's forehead for a long time, where a pebble-sized character for "crime" stood out starkly in the shadows.

The hesitant tone clearly revealed how conflicted the person asking the question was about the form of address.

???

Looking for Master Zhuang?

The moment he saw Mu Ling'er clearly, before he could even think things through, the dazed Qin Xiucai blurted out his innermost thoughts.

"How did you get here? This isn't a good place. You'd better get out of here before the soldiers spot you, or you might end up in jail..."

Mu Ling'er, who had finally found the place, was slightly taken aback. She glanced at the slightly surprised Qin Xiucai, then at the soldiers who had gathered from a distance after noticing the commotion, and smiled.

"Interesting. It seems things here are even more interesting than I expected."

In a short while, Qin Xiucai had woken up from his drowsy state and subtly looked Mu Ling'er up and down.

Upon seeing Mu Ling'er's jewelry and shoes, Qin Xiucai's pupils constricted briefly, but he quickly regained his composure.

Finally, he noticed the sword tucked into its sheath at Mu Ling'er's waist. The sheath was covered in cloud patterns, its material unknown, but it was definitely no ordinary object.

He was wrong from the start. The person in front of him was no ordinary young lady from a wealthy family. Putting aside the sword, the value of her jewelry alone was probably worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Having made up his mind, Qin Xiucai immediately lowered his head and shut his mouth, deliberately appearing quite nervous, just like an ordinary person when meeting an important figure.

In Qin Xiucai's view, as long as he is ordinary enough, trouble will not find him.

No matter how important a person is, they have little to do with an ordinary villager like him.

If Mu Ling'er were a scion of a traditional aristocratic family, Qin Xiucai's behavior would undoubtedly be the safest approach.

The noble scions of powerful families would never deign to cast their gaze upon such an ordinary villager.

Unfortunately, standing in front of him was Mu Ling'er, a woman who had advanced to the Celestial Martial Saint a few months ago and had even made herself look like she was twenty years old.

Although Mu Ling'er said that she didn't care about appearance at all, and didn't care that Mu An looked younger than her, she was actually quite troubled by this matter in private.

Even though she had personally told Mu An that he was not allowed to change his appearance for her, Mu Ling'er would still occasionally chat with her maids, Xiao He, Xiao Lü, and Mu An.

Reason is reason, and complaints are complaints.

Mu Ling'er disagreed with Mu An changing for her, but every time she thought about it, especially after being talked about by people on the street, she would complain a few times, leaving Mu An to pretend he didn't hear her. She was a perfect example of contradiction.

With the knot in her heart that had troubled her for decades finally untied, it's not hard to imagine the surprise that the smooth breakthrough and the change in her appearance brought to Mu Ling'er.

As a result, in the past few months, Mu Ling'er has found everything pleasing to the eye, and has even shown a tendency to become more and more entertaining.

At this moment, the situation, so different from what she had imagined, along with the soldiers surrounding her, made her extremely interested in the village before her.

"Name?"

Upon suddenly hearing the woman in front of him ask his name, Qin Xiucai paused for a moment, but still chose to answer.

The woman in front of him looked like she was no ordinary person; if he didn't answer, she might cause him trouble.

"My name is Qin Yang, and many people in the village call me Scholar Qin. May I ask what questions you, esteemed guest, may I ask?"

After asking only one question, Mu Ling'er stopped asking and instead sat down on the mound of earth, casually waiting for the soldiers to arrive and surround the two of them.

The leading officer glanced at Mu Ling'er, his gaze lingering on the sword at her waist for a few seconds.

I've seen through their gaze; they're not people I can easily mess with.

The officers and soldiers, when faced with the choice between directly arresting people and following official procedures, decisively chose to follow the procedures.

"Name?"

"Mu Ling'er".

Why did you trespass into this "village of sin"?

"Looking for someone."

"Who should I look for?"

"The founder of Datong Academy was Zhuangzi."

The moment the words were spoken, more than a dozen knives were drawn simultaneously, gleaming with a chilling light in the sunlight.

This action also made Mu Ling'er squint her eyes and put her hand on her waist.

Wow! Getting to chop someone up right after arriving, how exciting!

Just a few days ago, Liu Yun's sword spirit, Xiao Liu, was complaining to her that he couldn't kill anyone when he was with her.

Unfortunately, the leading officer was a reasonable man. He waved to stop his subordinates behind him and squinted at Mu Ling'er.

"Miss Mu, the place you are in now is a restricted area and is very dangerous. The village is full of vicious criminals."

For your safety, it's best not to get close, lest you needlessly suffer misfortune.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers were somewhat sensible, Mu Ling'er released her hand from her waist, but she still kept nagging.

"A restricted area? A criminal? I don't see any of that. What, if I insist on going in, are you going to arrest me?"