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

Not far away, there was a small, yellowed book. Mu An glanced at it; it was a storybook, telling various folk tales. When Mu An was little, Xiao He had read it to him.

If it weren't for that blood that hadn't yet dried, everything would be so wonderful.

The Dark Feather Guard beside him lifted the child's clothes, examined him for a moment, and then spoke:

"There were no signs of struggle, and no other injuries on her body. The knife that killed her was swift, and the timing was perfect; her life must have ended in her sleep."

The Dark Feather Guard paused for a few seconds, then, seeing Mu An's gloomy face, added another sentence.

"She had kiss marks on her forehead and hands."

Standing in front of the bed, Mu An was stunned for a long time. In the end, he just cursed and punched the wall next to him hard.

Outside, the night remained, the campfire still burned, and amidst the corpses scattered on the ground, the woman knelt, her knees bruised and purple, her body swaying precariously, yet she knelt upright, holding the small knife Mu An had given her in both hands.

The sharp blade was aimed at her own palm, cutting her flesh, but she was completely unaware.

The dim campfire flickered in the mountain wind, casting shifting light on the woman's face.

Seeing Mu An return, the woman slightly raised her eyes and raised the knife a little higher.

This time, Mu An spoke up.

"Is that your child?"

The woman didn't look up, but her voice trembled: "Yes."

Having received an affirmative answer, Mu An's eyes darkened as he looked at the Dark Feather Guard beside him.

"According to the laws of the Great Qi Dynasty, what will happen to her?"

The Dark Feather Guard glanced at the woman on the ground, showing little emotion: "My lord, she should be executed."

Like a heavy hammer blow to the heart, the concise answer left Mu An unable to calm down for a long time.

What you see on paper and what you actually see are not the same thing.

After a full quarter of an hour of silence, Mu An finally asked again, "Do I have the right to judge her?"

The Dark Feather Guard cupped his hands in greeting: "Sir, you are one of the Seven Stars of Azure Jade appointed by Her Highness the Princess. You are of the same rank as the ten Heavenly Stem Commanders and are responsible only to His Majesty and Her Highness the Princess. You have the authority to deal with any commoner and can execute officials of the seventh rank and below without prior approval."

Mu An realized once again just how much power the princess had given him, but he didn't think too much about it at the moment. He simply squatted down and took the dagger from the woman's hand.

He could clearly feel the woman kneeling on the ground trembling, and he could also feel her despair and sorrow.

Even though the woman didn't shed a single tear, Mu An could still sense her sadness at that moment.

After thinking for a moment, Mu An smoothed the woman's hair with his hand, then conjured a ball of water in his hand to wash away the bloodstains on the woman's body.

He didn't hide it from anyone; in front of all the Dark Feather Guards, he condensed enough water to wash a person clean.

After doing all this, he took the dagger from the woman's lifeless gaze, then took off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders.

"You may leave now. I acquit you."

The woman's body trembled more and more. She clenched her fists, and the bleeding that had just stopped started flowing again, dripping onto the ground.

She raised her head and stared at Mu An, who did not look away but met her gaze calmly.

After a long while, the woman lowered her head again.

Mu An patted her shoulder and comforted her, "Life is long, live it well."

The woman remained silent, only bowing repeatedly.

She kowtowed nine times before struggling to stand up, her body swaying precariously as if she might fall at any moment.

Seeing the woman's condition, Mu An gave an instruction to the middle-aged Dark Feather Guard who had been involved in the whole affair.

"Send her down the mountain, find a place for her to settle down, and then try to find her relatives who are still alive."

"Yes"

Mu An watched the two walk away, drops of blood sliding down the woman's fist and dripping onto the ground, mixing with the bandits' blood.

It stained the dust red, and it also stained the fallen leaves red.

The evening breeze still carried the stench of blood.

The thick clouds dispersed, the full moon reappeared, and starlight shone down, illuminating the mountain village littered with corpses and the rugged mountain road.

With a slightly forced smile on Mu An's face, the woman stopped, turned around at the end of her line of sight, and bowed to him again.

This time, the woman deliberately found a higher spot, a protruding rock that required both hands and feet to climb.

The rocks were very high, allowing Mu An to see her figure clearly.

The woman stood on the rock, her knees bent.

This time, the woman knelt for a very, very long time.

Mu An smiled and waved to her. Even if this was the only one who still had a shred of humanity, he felt it was worth it.

But her waving hand froze in mid-air. The woman, who had stood up again, leaped off the rock clinging to the cliff with her unsteady legs.

The bright moonlight and the dazzling firelight illuminated Mu An's frozen expression.

Mount Qi is very high, so high that if a person falls down, not a sound can be heard.

Mount Qi is very short, so short that it only took them an hour to climb it.

Time passed slowly, and the mountain forest was extremely quiet under the night sky, with only the crackling of the campfire echoing in the ears.

When Mu An came to his senses, Yin Ling, the Dark Feather Guard in charge of escorting the person, was already kneeling at his feet.

He was a middle-aged man who looked to be about forty years old. Wrinkles etched his face, telling a story of vicissitudes. He lowered his head, adopting a posture of repentance.

After a long, long time, Mu An pulled the man up, looked at him deeply, and finally just sighed.

"It's fine, it's better to be dead."

His voice was a little hoarse, but then returned to calm.

"Since you failed to keep a close watch on her, I'll punish you by making you find a quiet place to bury her."

……

The stars, like water, cast down their eternal light; the mountains remain unchanged, outlining the depth of the night.

Looking at the corpses covering the mountain, gazing at the eternal starry sky, and feeling the autumn night breeze, Mu An shivered and breathed warm air onto his hands.

As his spiritual energy gathered and converged in his chest and abdomen, he unleashed all his spiritual power for the first time, allowing his voice to resonate throughout every corner of the mountain stronghold.

"Cut off the heads of all the bandits and build a mound of skulls! Set the fires on and sound the horns!"

When the sun rises tomorrow, I will let all the forces in Qishan see this small mountain built of corpses.

"Gather the remaining corpses and, when the sun is high in the sky tomorrow, deliver them one by one to each village in Qishan!"

The black-clad figures moved through the village like the most diligent worker ants, meticulously carrying out Mu An's orders.

The mountain of bones grew higher and higher, carrying a thick stench of blood and a bone-chilling cold.

But at this moment, Mu An felt that this was not enough.

There was never a moment when he would agree more with Jun Yunxin's orders than now.

As the sky gradually brightened, a Dark Feather Guard with a golden talisman stepped forward.

"Sir, we have gathered nearly two thousand women and children. We don't know what to do with them."

This time, Mu An simply waved her hand and responded in a tone devoid of much emotion.

"You shall investigate and act in accordance with the laws of the Great Qi Dynasty."

"Yes"

That night, flames soared into the sky above Qishan.