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

"This is a gamble between two big shots that started three years ago."

Since you're interested in learning about this somewhat uninteresting bet, I'll now recount this long story from the perspective of an ordinary "sinner."

Inside a simple restaurant, Qin Xiucai, who had been brought out by Mu Ling'er, wolfed down his food while telling the story of "Sin Village".

When they first arrived at the restaurant, the two of them almost couldn't get in. The restaurant owner, who was very respectful to Mu Ling'er, changed his expression immediately after seeing the character for "crime" on Qin Xiucai's forehead and refused to let them in to eat.

Chen Shan followed them up and gave the restaurant owner a good scolding before they finally managed to make room for them in a private room.

Mu Ling'er made no comment on this, but simply watched coldly as Chen Shan served her hand and foot.

Qin Xiucai showed no reaction whatsoever, as if he had long been used to it and did not care at all about the way others looked at him.

More than these trivial matters, he was more concerned about what dishes Mu Ling'er would serve him.

Qin Xiucai hadn't had a proper meal in many years, and since someone was willing to treat him, he didn't want to waste this hard-won opportunity.

Moreover, the person who invited him to dinner this time was a truly important figure.

Mu Ling'er's appearance gave Qin Xiucai a new possibility; with just a little guidance, perhaps the waters could be stirred up even more.

Having eaten for free in the village for so long, Qin Xiucai wanted to do something.

It would be best if he succeeded, but it wouldn't matter if he didn't. He was just an insect living in the shadows, and at most he would be trampled to death. It didn't matter what happened.

"The cause of this matter can be traced back to the Tianshun era more than 30 years ago."

The thirty-second year of the Tianshun reign was a year of great significance for all scholars in the land.

At the beginning of this year, a momentous event occurred in Changzhou that shook the world.

Founded by Zhuangzi, a new path of literature and morality called the Way of Great Harmony was born.

You are a very important person, so you must know about this matter and be familiar with the general principles of the Great Harmony.

With your knowledge, you can naturally understand that the emergence of new things often means the change and collapse of the old order, which will have a greater or lesser impact on the old things that are in contrast.

For various reasons, when a new path is born, it is inevitable that innovators and conservatives will emerge.

The former is determined to push forward the new path, while the latter is determined to safeguard tradition to the death.

This is the Great Harmony of Zhuangzi. The emergence of this path was a shock to the past order, and its ideas and thoughts contradicted the old culture and way that had lasted for tens of thousands of years in many ways.

I don't know what the Great Harmony looks like to you, but based on what I've heard from Master Zhuangzi's lectures over the past few years, it's a somewhat frightening concept that is both alluring and terrifying.

It is completely out of step with traditional literature.

Their diametrically opposed ideologies doomed them to be unable to coexist, and even if they tried to find common ground while reserving differences, it would be an impossible task.

If the path to harmony is to develop, it is destined to cause countless vested interests to lose their power and become stepping stones for the new path.

This will lead to a series of consequences, ultimately causing tens of thousands of people to remain in the past era, with no possibility of ever coming to the new world.

All that awaits them is death, and even a dignified death will be a luxury…

Seeing that Mu Ling'er frowned slightly, as if she did not quite agree with his words, Qin Xiucai deliberately slowed down his narration and described what he had seen in more detail.

"You might think I'm exaggerating, that it doesn't have to come to a fight to the death, there's always room for compromise."

But such is the nature of conflicting principles; there has never been a possibility of compromise since ancient times.

In the utopian world envisioned by Zhuangzi, there is no place for those people of the old era. Everything from the old era is destined to turn into firewood, burned to ashes, and become the resources for the birth of the new world.

The ideal of a utopian world is to eradicate the very foundation of all those currently in power; what Master Zhuangzi ultimately wanted to do was to make all current empires disappear.

Along with it, the foundational system that sustained the empire, and all the stakeholders within that system, also disappeared.

……

This process is not simply a matter of mutual consultation; it is often accompanied by countless acts of cruelty and repeated killings.

It's not just one or two people who are going to die, but an entire group, and everyone connected to them; the tide will push everything forward.

At this point, regardless of whether the people of the old era were good or evil, their fate is destined to be the same: the accumulated anger will devour everything, including the innocent, who will also be inevitably consumed.

You cannot expect to have everything under control when the fire is raging; anger and blind rage will consume everything.

And at that time... you and others will inevitably become enemies with Master Zhuang.

The blade of the Great Harmony Sect will also be pointed at you, and at the millions of your subjects.

You can easily imagine: if things really did develop that way, would your elders, and those who truly govern the order of heaven and earth, stand idly by?

Mu Ling'er remained silent. She wanted to speak up and refute, but decades of experience in governance told her that if Zhuang Sheng's ideas were truly like this, then what this seemingly ordinary scholar said was very likely to become a reality.

Even Mu An had told her that the stories he told were not suitable for this world and should not be applied blindly.

Even when she proposed to fully enlighten the people, Mu An stopped her and only agreed to popularize some of the most basic things.

He could continuously improve the quality of life for people in Qishan Road, but he disagreed with her large-scale enlightenment of ideas.

When certain ideas were mentioned, Mu An rejected them all without hesitation.

You should know that these ideas were actually things she had heard from Mu An before.

Mu Ling'er was certain that if things really came to the point Qin Xiucai had mentioned, several immortals and gods, including her Da'an, would definitely step in to maintain the old order.

Mu Ling'er, who spends every day with Mu An, knows best just how powerful the immortals and gods are.

It's no exaggeration to say that, even if the entire army of Daqi were combined, to Mu An, it would just be a few more ants to be crushed.

It can be easily solved by spending a little more time.

If the Great Harmony Sect were to truly launch a military campaign, then even immortals and gods would have to intervene, resulting in a true catastrophe for all living beings.

Across the table, seeing that Mu Ling'er didn't intend to interrupt him, Qin Xiucai continued speaking.

"What I just said is all rather vague, and it doesn't really have much to do with a 'sinner' like me. After all, someone like me is just a worm in the gutter, and once I'm dead, I'm dead."

There is actually no room for Datongdao to develop. What I said before was just some of my personal musings, so please don't take it too seriously.

Regarding "Sin Village," and the part you really want to know, we have to go back three years.

This is a wager initiated by Master Zhuangzi and Master Meng Yan, with the future of the Great Harmony as the stake, to be decided through nine rounds of betting.

"A betting game?" Mu Ling'er was somewhat surprised. She felt that everything she learned today was overturning her impression of Zhuang Sheng.