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

March, year 93 of the Five Kingdoms calendar.

A book titled "The True Explanation of the Five Elements" suddenly appeared. It was presented to Emperor Mu Yong of the Great Ling Empire by Fang Qing, a guard of the Mu family, without being handled by anyone else.

Three days later, a bombshell announcement came from the palace of the Great Ling Empire, shocking the entire Nine Domains in a very short time.

The great True Lord was moved by the ignorance of all beings, the difficulty of their cultivation, and the lack of a clear path forward.

The True Lord could not bear to see sentient beings living in a daze, spending their entire lives without finding the right path. Therefore, he compiled a new method based on the five elements of heaven and earth and re-established the cultivation system.

The supreme scripture, "The True Explanation of the Five Elements," was thus published.

Logically speaking, such profound and mysterious martial arts manuals should be kept in the imperial palace and preserved as a secret manual for generations, with only core inheritors qualified to borrow them.

However, the True Lord said...

All beings suffer, and the road ahead is arduous. The path of spiritual practice is inherently difficult, and we should not hoard our teachings. Instead, we should widely spread the Dharma to benefit the world.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Mu Yong of the Great Ling Empire felt his heart surge and his blood boil.

What a broad mind and what a magnificent will this is!

The True Lord shines as brightly as the sun. As the successor of the great True Lord, Mu Yong made a vow in the court to let the True Lord's light shine throughout the nine regions and to convey the True Lord's will to every living being in the world.

In just one month, millions of copies of "The True Explanation of the Five Elements" were printed and sent from the Great Spirit Empire to all parts of the world.

All the major powers rushed to buy it, sweeping away all the copies of "The True Explanation of the Five Elements" that had been circulated at the fastest speed.

A brand-new cultivation system quickly spread throughout the Nine Realms.

The three entirely new realms were also mentioned for the first time by the martial artists of the Nine Domains.

Refine essence into qi, refine qi into spirit, refine spirit to return to emptiness.

Among them, refining essence into qi corresponds to the path to the innate martial arts realm, refining qi into spirit corresponds to the celestial martial saint realm, and the final refining spirit into emptiness is a brand new realm, which currently has no corresponding martial arts realm in the Nine Domains.

The new law has sparked a frenzy among some, a deep curiosity among others, and doubts among still others.

But even the most conservative people wouldn't question the rationality of the new law.

This is because the name of the author of the book has long been imprinted in the hearts of every martial artist in the Nine Domains.

If an ordinary person were to compile such a book, overturning the old system and defining a brand new realm of cultivation, it would surely attract countless insults. But when the author of the book is known as the Five Elements True Lord, there will only be endless praise and eulogy.

All that is written by the True Lord shall be regarded as sacred texts of this era!

Whatever the True Lord says is the ultimate truth of Heaven!

If you have any doubts, please carefully examine your own mind!

What? You're saying you can't understand the contents of the book? And practicing the methods described in the book isn't working?

It's okay if you don't understand!

With your pathetic, bottom-tier level of understanding, you think you can comprehend the True Lord's works?

You ask me if I can understand it?

Of course, one can understand it, but the sacred texts are too profound and require a lifetime of dedicated study!

Every word and every sentence in the sacred text contains profound truths of the Way of Heaven. Only by studying each word and sentence carefully can one understand the true meaning of the True Lord.

What? You're asking me how much I've learned?

What a joke! This is the work of the great True Lord; one must study even a single word for a whole day! How can you be so impatient?

Good disciple! Go and bring me my aged wine, so that I may study this sacred book of the Five Elements properly!

……

While sects across the Nine Realms were studying the "Holy Scripture" day after day.

In the courtyard of the Mu residence, the little girl in the cradle was fast asleep, and Mu Ling'er, who was guarding the cradle, also breathed a sigh of relief.

She moved with lightning speed, pulling Yun Wan, who was in the corner, in front of her, and spoke at a speed that Yun Wan could hardly hear.

"I'm entrusting Xiao Yongning to you. Take good care of her. Don't call me unless it's absolutely necessary, and don't call me even if something happens!"

Before Yun Wan could respond, a blur flashed across the courtyard. By the time Yun Wan came to her senses, the courtyard was empty, leaving only her and the sleeping Xiao Yongning.

A gentle breeze rustled the leaves by the courtyard wall, and to Yun Wan's bewildered amusement, a shower of petals fell from the sky, draping a golden veil over her shoulders.

Looking at the tall, ancient tree that seemed to be expressing sympathy for her, Yun Wan shrugged helplessly.

Amidst the falling petals, Yun Wan placed her finger to her lips and made a "shh" gesture towards the osmanthus tree above her head.

As if afraid the other party wouldn't understand, she even pointed to the cradle next to her.

Another gentle breeze blew, and the falling petals swirled in the air, raining down from the sky and covering the courtyard soil, but perfectly avoiding the direction of the cradle.

This scene made Yun Wan's smile even wider, and she affectionately touched the drooping branches and leaves.

Ancient trees are believed to possess spiritual power. Those who have lived in the Mu family mansion for a long time have acquired some of that spirituality.

……

Meanwhile, in Mu An's study.

Mu Ling'er, who had "run away," lay sprawled on the rattan chair like a salted fish, not moving an inch for a long time.

It wasn't until Mu An brought over a plate of spiritual fruit that she "came back to life" and began eating the fruit without any regard for her image.

"This little rascal is really hard to take care of! He's sick all the time, and after all this time he can't even walk properly anymore. He needs someone to accompany him for everything..."

Mu An pretended not to hear her complaints and sat down at her desk to look through the picture book.

Perhaps it was the sight of the scenery that stirred up emotions, or perhaps it was because Xiao Lü and Xiao He's graves were located within the Mu residence.

Living in the Mu family mansion, some things are simply unavoidable.

During this time, Mu An would occasionally find some of the things that Xiao Lü and Xiao He had left behind.

The book he looked through the most was the sketchbook that Xiao Lü left him, which he would often spend an entire day looking at.

After flipping through it so many times, Mu An even began to consider turning this picture book into a priceless treasure.

This scene delighted Mu Ling'er. Whenever she saw Mu An like this, she would stand beside him and chat with him about the things from back then.

Mu Ling'er never tires of these stories. She will tell them over and over again, recounting the interesting things that happened back then. Some of them were things they experienced together, and some happened when Mu An was not at home.

If Xiao Yongning's mood was not so good, Mu Ling'er would dig out Mu An's old diary and "discuss" a series of things related to listening to music in brothels.

When she had nothing to do, Mu Ling'er would list some famous brothels in Qing'an Prefecture and compare the current courtesan with the courtesan of yesteryear.

If the conversation gets lively, Mu Ling'er will shrug her hands, expressing a slight sense of regret.

Mu An's life back then was far too "difficult," unlike the powerful and wealthy of today who are surrounded by stunningly beautiful women.

Every time this happened, Mu Ling'er would get a big bump on her head, howling in pain for a long time, shouting things like Da'an had changed.

Mu An ignored her, treating her as if she didn't exist.

In the last few years of her life, Mu Ling'er appeared exceptionally carefree.

In Mu Ling'er's mind, her time was running out. In these last few years, she only wanted to spend every day happily with Mu An.

But in Mu An's mind, it was just a matter of them being separated for a while.

Whether it's decades or centuries, it's not a big deal. Just like the previous treasure hunt, it's nothing more than a temporary separation.

As for the differences...

That is, Mu An has learned from his previous mistakes, and this time, Mu An does not intend to tell Mu Ling'er anything.

Mu Ling'er had deceived him before, so naturally he would deceive her back this time.

Seeing Mu Ling'er's silly and eager appearance as she approached him, Mu An couldn't help but find it amusing.

He's already looking forward to the future.

It will be very interesting when Mu Ling'er returns from reincarnation and the two meet again.

After all, Mu Ling'er's cycle of reincarnation only has one stop.

A child's body, an adult's soul—that'll definitely be interesting.

Perhaps we can pretend we don't know her then, and while she's still young, teach this disobedient "bad kid" a lesson.

Sitting on the rattan chair, Mu Ling'er suddenly felt a chill. She quickly sat up and looked around in surprise and uncertainty.

Seeing that Mu An was looking at a picture book not far away, and there was no one else around, Mu Ling'er quickly came to a conclusion.

"It's definitely Yongning up to something again! That troublesome brat!"

After thinking it over, Mu Ling'er lay back down.

She was tired and didn't want to move. She could leave things like Xiao Yongning to Yun Wan.

With this thought in mind, Mu Ling'er tossed and turned on the large rattan chair, finally propping her head up with her hand and looking at Mu An.

"Da'an, is that 'True Explanation of the Five Elements' that you had sent out really effective for cultivation? I flipped through it a few days ago, and the contents seem quite complicated."

"Of course it is possible. The Five Elements True Explanation was compiled by me with reference to the cultivation system of the Spirit Realm and combined with the current situation of the Nine Domains."

This technique allows one to use primordial energy instead of spiritual energy for cultivation, enabling further breakthroughs beyond the Celestial Martial Saint level and increasing the probability of attaining the Dao as a terrestrial immortal.

However, because primordial energy is less stable than spiritual energy, this method requires extremely high aptitude; only one in a million people can master it.