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

With a wave of his hand, an exquisite awning boat appeared out of thin air and landed steadily on the lake next to Mu Ling'er.

With another step, Mu An appeared on the small boat and reached out to pull Mu Ling'er up.

"You're such a grown-up, why are you still acting like a child?"

"I'm excited! I'm happy."

Mu An chuckled and casually dried Mu Ling'er's clothes. "I haven't named this lake yet. Do you have any ideas?"

"Ling'er Lake?" Mu Ling'er blurted out, her cheeks flushing as soon as she finished speaking. She scratched her head shyly, as if she herself felt embarrassed.

"Then..."

"No, no, no... I was just kidding, you should get it yourself."

"Let's just call it Spirit Lake."

"It doesn't sound very good. The name Linghu is too common and doesn't have any unique features... How about Ling'an Lake? We can take one character from each of our names. It sounds pretty good too."

"Whatever you say, it's fine."

"Then it's settled. From now on, this lake will be called Ling'an Lake. When we get to the shore later, I'm going to carve a monument on a stone! I'll have all our names engraved on it!"

"Do I have to have my name engraved too?"

"Of course! We erected this monument together, so both of our names should definitely be on it!"

"it is good."

……

……

March 24th, the ninth year of Ningtai.

The sixth day before the end of the betting game.

Dark, thick clouds covered the sky and everything in the world.

Dark clouds loomed over the city, threatening to crush it. The thick clouds pressed down hundreds of meters high, making the air incredibly viscous and difficult to breathe even after just a few steps.

A torrential downpour could come at any moment.

At the entrance of "Sin Village", Mu Ling'er held up an oil-paper umbrella and quietly gazed at the distant mountains.

Qin Xiucai stood beside her, holding a black umbrella.

Over the past four days, Mu Ling'er did not travel with Mu An, but instead had Qin Xiucai take her all over Ping Le County and the entire "Sin Village," gaining a deeper understanding of the people and events there.

"Scholar, did that boy named Xiangzi go into town today?"

"My lord, Xiangzi still refuses to give up. He went to the city early this morning to look for work."

"Is it because his sister is always hungry?"

"That's certainly one reason, but it's not just that. Xiangzi is a good kid. If you don't mind, perhaps you could take him and his sister away. I think Xiangzi would be willing to repay your kindness with his whole life."

After nodding slightly, Mu Ling'er turned to look at the village behind her.

There are quite a few people in the village, but most of them live aimlessly, spending their days in the village doing nothing.

Occasionally, they would make a fuss, either arguing or fighting, causing a lot of trouble.

Just as Qin Xiucai said, the people here are like a group of "insects" in the shadows.

However, some people did not see it that way. After observing for a few days, Mu Ling'er saw both the bad side and the good side of the village.

Perhaps it was because of Zhuang Sheng's daily teachings over the past three years, or perhaps it was because Zhuang Sheng truly tried to win people's hearts with sincerity, and since people are ultimately made of flesh and blood, he had no shortage of supporters in the village.

Most of these people are young, at most in their thirties.

Every day, they would carry their stools to the Datong Academy where Zhuang Sheng was studying, to listen to Zhuang Sheng and Wan Shu give lectures.

These people were not very knowledgeable or insightful, but they were willing to listen to Zhuangzi and believe in his teachings.

Even though he repeatedly encountered setbacks and unfair treatment in the city, the number of people willing to believe in Zhuangzi did not decrease.

The elements of "Sin Village" are really complex.

The minors were merely thieves or imprisoned for their crimes, while the majors had killed dozens of people and were supposed to be executed that autumn, but were instead sent to the "village of sin."

Mu Ling'er had a detailed understanding of these people. Among them were unfortunate people like Xiangzi and Su Yu'er, as well as some who were truly desperate criminals who had committed serious crimes.

The former were simply less fortunate and deserved to be educated; Zhuangzi was capable of educating them. But the latter…

As far as Mu Ling'er was concerned, there was absolutely no way she could believe these desperate criminals. The crimes they committed were unforgivable, and no one had the right to forgive them on behalf of those they had killed.

If Mu Ling'er were to judge these people, she would definitely sentence them to death according to the laws of Qishan Dao.

If Mu An were to witness this, these people wouldn't even be able to leave behind a complete corpse.

The saying "every hateful person has a pitiable side" has nothing to do with her.

If you have any grievances, you can talk to the people they killed, or even to the King of Hell. This is Mu Ling'er's philosophy, which has remained unchanged for decades.

But in the village of sin, many such people became Zhuangzi's most devout "believers".

Yes, "believers," Mu Ling'er prefers to use this word to describe these people.

They didn't seem to truly understand the concept of the Great Harmony Way; rather, they were like drowning people clutching at their last straw, seeing Zhuangzi as their only salvation.

That's it.

In the eyes of these people, Zhuangzi was more like a god than a man.

As for those desperate people who don't believe in Zhuangzi and only believe in themselves...

Mu Ling'er had also asked, and Qin Xiucai pointed to Wen Village across the street, then to the patrolling soldiers, and laughed heartily.

"They're all dead, good riddance! It's just a pity, they were a bunch of damned things to begin with, and before they died they completely ruined the reputation of our village, dragging everyone down with them and turning them into insects."

If you ask me, the government let them die too easily. They should have been tortured severely, sent to the deepest hell!

As he said this, Qin Xiucai, who had been relatively calm, became somewhat angry. He cursed the desperados, Zhuang Sheng, and finally himself.

As he spoke, Qin Xiucai's face turned red. Realizing he had lost his composure, he reluctantly uttered a remark.

"It's true that Master Zhuang was a good person, but there are many bad people in this world. Not everyone deserves to be saved. Insisting on saving them will only kill yourself and many more people."

On this point, I've always thought he was stupid, forcibly establishing cause and effect and not understanding the principle of respecting other people's fate.

Of course, Master Zhuang was indeed a good man; without him, an insect like me would have died long ago.

Mu Ling'er made no comment on any of these matters.

Without knowing the full picture, I will not comment.

Mu An's words were vague and ambiguous, but she was willing to wait a few days to see the truth of the matter.

Moreover, there are indeed some people in this village who are worth taking with you.

She didn't understand why Qin Xiucai kept calling himself an insect, but that didn't stop her from thinking that Qin Xiucai was a talented person.

If possible, she even wanted to bring this person back to Qishan Road and give him an important position.

It's such a pity that such a talented person died here.

And there's that boy named Xiangzi.

Even now, this young man, whose life has been full of hardship, remains hopeful and tries time and time again to support himself, for himself, for his family, and to repay his benefactors.

Mu Ling'er appreciated this sentiment.

She is also someone who values ​​family and admires this kind of young man.

It's such a pity that he died like that.

……

"Sir, it's going to rain. Would you like to come into the village to take shelter?"

"No need, take this umbrella and go pick up the boy. Judging from the sky, it's going to rain heavily. If no one goes to pick him up, he'll probably have a hard time coming back."