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

Elegant buildings stand along the wide streets, their lights casting a soft glow on the celestial palace.

December 29th, 33rd year of Ningtai.

At sunset, in Qi'an City, on the Fourth Ring Road.

Standing outside the city wall of the fourth ring of Qi'an City, Mu Ling'er stood there for a long time.

Today, Mu Ling'er was not wearing the Danxia robe that Mu An had made for her as usual, but instead wore a brocade robe from an ordinary wealthy family.

She also took off the sword from her waist and replaced it with an ordinary-looking jade pendant.

This will be just like the queues of ordinary people at the entrance to the inner city.

Since entering the territory of Qi'an City, Mu Ling'er has become much quieter, unlike on the way here when she was chattering away, talking about everything under the sun, from Qishan Road to Qi'an City.

She did not take a carriage, but walked with Mu An all the way from the ninth ring of Qi'an City to here.

They didn't walk too fast; it took them three days and three nights to cover a distance of about three hundred li.

Go wherever you want, see whatever you want.

To be honest, this was Mu Ling'er's first time visiting Qi'an City.

After traversing the vast lands of the Ninth, Eighth, and Seventh Ring Roads, Mu Ling'er finally showed some interest in the Sixth Ring Road, where pedestrians were gradually increasing, and bought some simple trinkets.

With the year-end approaching, the flow of people coming and going through the city gates of Qi'an City has become significantly denser, and checkpoints have been set up at the gates that are usually open, making the procession move extremely slowly.

At this moment, Mu Ling'er and Mu An stood together, dressed in ordinary clothes, slowly moving forward with the crowd in line.

Behind the two stood a bejeweled noblewoman, who was gently fanning herself with a fan. In front of them stood a refined middle-aged man, who, judging from his appearance and demeanor, appeared to be a mid-level official.

If it weren't for the fact that it was near the end of the year and there were too many people entering the inner city, it's highly unlikely that these two would have been able to queue here.

Mu Ling'er didn't care who was in front of or behind her, nor did she care whether others could hear her.

She parted her thin lips slightly and began to criticize Mu An with a hint of sarcasm.

"Qianjing City, a thousand-year-old capital, was a gathering place for the most powerful and influential families in the country."

I originally thought I could learn a lot here and draw some lessons from it, but now it seems that Qi'an City is nothing special.

Despite being in the same city and separated by only a wall, the two places are worlds apart, which is extremely disappointing.

Look at that Star-Picking Pavilion, over a thousand meters high, truly soaring into the clouds, overlooking all living beings.

And that majestic palace, standing on steps, rising higher and higher, seemingly full of majesty, is actually extremely corrupt.

Those towering pavilions must be three to five hundred meters high.

The entire inner fourth ring looks no different from the Heavenly Palace; it seems that the foundation of the Great Qi Dynasty over a thousand years has been poured into this.

Standing atop the Star-Picking Tower, or residing in a palace within the imperial palace, one would likely feel as if the entire world were in one's grasp.

But what good is that? Has it brought any benefit to those outside?

When she spoke, Mu Ling'er did not lower her voice.

The middle-aged man in front and the noblewoman behind both changed their expressions and moved away from the two of them, creating a small empty circle around the two of them.

The people around them also noticed this and all looked at Mu An and Mu Ling'er. Some looked at them with pity, some hesitated for a moment and then took a step back, and some looked at the two of them as if they were crazy.

Is this something that can be said in public? What kind of junior is this, so insensible? They're probably going to get into trouble for no reason.

Others had obvious disdain and undisguised pride in their eyes.

"You lowly outsider, ignorant of the laws of heaven and the rules of etiquette, how dare you bark like a dog in this solemn place?"

Not only are they ignorant, but they also dare to say such despicable and shameless things under such solemn city walls, openly insulting the royal family and the officials of the court.

Such a lowly person deserves to have nine heads, not enough to behead.

How many years has it been since I've seen such foolish peasants in the city?

It's a pity that both of them had such good looks, yet they ended up with their bodies torn apart.

The splattered blood would be caught by the peasants in the outer city with steamed buns, which they would then use to treat the children in their homes.

Such an ending is worse than being thrown into a brothel, where people could at least enjoy the spectacle.

What a waste! What a terrible waste!

Mu Ling'er was unaware of what others were thinking.

Since her head is on someone else's body, she can't control what others think; she can only decide what she thinks and says.

Mu An did notice these suicidal fools. Although he didn't say it out loud, their obvious malice, coupled with the thoughts that automatically entered his ears, made it hard for him not to care.

Looking down on them is a minor matter, and thinking they're stupid isn't a big deal either; it's all human nature, and Mu An can understand it.

What one thinks in one's mind generally cannot be used to determine guilt or culpability.

However, these people who are thinking about the brothel are all burdened with karma. It would be against the principles of morality not to see them off.

After thinking for less than a second, Mu An decided to let these fools live a little longer, and send them back to heaven and earth after they had listened to Mu Ling'er's explanation.

Today, Mu Ling'er's mouth was like it was coated with poison; she kept spewing insults at all the nobles of Qi'an City, from top to bottom.

"The inner city was extremely luxurious, with towering buildings and magnificent palaces, and was full of high-ranking officials and nobles."

Looking at the magnificent buildings and marble-paved roads, one can imagine that the bowls and chopsticks used by these high-ranking figures are probably made of gold and jade.

The outer city, however, was filled with homeless beggars, old men selling charcoal, and pitiful people who had frozen or starved to death.

In this short journey of three hundred miles, I don't know how many pitiful people living in the gutter I saw.

Many unfortunate people carry heavy burdens on their backs, and as they walk along the road, they are crushed by the weight of those burdens and lose their lives.

What is this? Is this how things are right under the emperor's nose?

The Great Qi royal family has a history of thousands of years. They have the spare money to build so many magnificent palaces that are hundreds of meters high, and they also have the ability to spend huge sums of money to build the Cloud Legion...

They wouldn't even lower their gaze to the slightest bit of pity, to offer any relief to those who couldn't survive...

"What? Don't the people outside Qi'an City deserve to live properly? Or are they not citizens of the Great Qi?"

Mu Ling'er grew increasingly indignant as she spoke, letting out several cold snorts and looking towards the back of the city wall with disdain.

"I originally thought our family's daily expenses were a bit too high, and I was thinking that we should be more frugal and cut some unnecessary expenses."

Now it seems that compared to the high-ranking officials and nobles in Qi'an City, our expenses are nothing.

If the people living in these grand mansions saw this, they would probably think that everyone in Qishan Road is poor and can't afford such magnificent buildings..."

The rapid-fire words left Mu An speechless. He had thought that Mu Ling'er would be like him when he was young, marveling at the prosperity of Qi'an City and having a good time for a while.

Let's go join the fun during the Lantern Festival and watch a group of immortals nearing the end of their lives fight each other outside Qi'an City.

Mu An had already planned it out. He would take Mu Ling'er to the Star-Picking Pavilion the day after tomorrow to enjoy the unique romance of Qi'an City during the New Year's Eve celebrations.

In Mu An's memory, the night view from the Star-Picking Pavilion was indeed spectacular and worth seeing.

Who would have thought that before even entering the inner city, Mu Ling'er would pull such a stunt on him.

How come I never noticed before that this little girl is so aggressive!

That's really... incredibly skillful!!!

Objectively speaking, Mu An felt that Mu Ling'er was right.

It had been a very long time since Mu An last visited Qi'an City.

Logically speaking, after eighty or ninety years, Qi'an City should have become even more prosperous.

The reality is quite different; Qi'an City today is much more dilapidated than Mu'an had ever seen.

Leaving aside the inner city, the outer city was far less prosperous than it once was.

Large numbers of shops have closed down, and the number of beggars, which was once ten times greater, has decreased by at least half.

Even the brothels where Mu'an used to enjoy tea and music have mostly disappeared. This is hardly normal for Qi'an City, which is full of century-old shops.

And then there were the complaints that occasionally reached my ears, the mournful sighs, and the roars of officials beating people.

All of this proves the decline of Qi'an City.

only……

That little girl's mouth is way too sharp!

Seeing the soldiers surrounding him, Mu An spread his hands at Mu Ling'er and said jokingly.

"I remember Ling'er, you came to Qi'an City this time to repay a favor, right?"

Therefore, we specially changed into ordinary clothes, and on the way, you repeatedly emphasized to me to keep a low profile and not to cut down anything that displeased me.

I remember it very clearly; you emphasized it to me three times.

What? The friend Qingxi who invited you here is now the wife of Xiangwang, the twelfth prince of the Great Qi Dynasty.

I was also told to be careful not to go too far and embarrass others.

Now it seems I'm not clear on the matter, but you, Little Ling'er..."