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

In a room of about thirty square meters, a twelve-year-old boy peeked out from among the densely packed books and looked at the old butler who was introducing him to the room.

"But what? Uncle Qin, is there something you want to teach me? Please don't hold back, just speak your mind."

Hearing the young man's words, the old steward, known as Uncle Qin, no longer held back and spoke frankly.

"To be honest, young master, I have read quite a few books, including many classics on literature and art, and I have some humble opinions on these classics."

The boy nodded slightly, affirming the old butler's words, and gestured for him to continue.

"Most literary classics in the world have something in common. They mostly guide people to do good, record the truth, goodness and beauty in the world, and teach readers how to be upright people, how to benefit the world, and how to become pillars of the country."

The boy in the pile of books squinted his eyes, seemingly agreeing with the old butler's point of view.

As the old steward recounted the story, he casually picked up a copy of "On Governing the Country Through Practice" and began to read it on the spot.

As the old butler narrated and the contents of the book were read, the young man unconsciously frowned.

"Unlike other literary classics, Bai Juyi's 'On Practical Governance' is too bloody and too absurd."

The examples given in the book are all quite extreme and almost impossible to occur in the real world.

In this book, Master Bai compiles a large number of dark stories.

And the endings of these stories are often extremely bad, making them hard to accept.

In Bai Fuzi's books, kindness goes unrewarded and can lead to despair and humiliation; there is no affection among family members, only numbness and indifference...

The five volumes contain a total of 120 stories, encompassing almost all the darkness in the world and magnifying the dark side of human nature to the extreme.

Under each story, Master Bai also provided commentary as the author, some of which was extremely rude and could even be described as vulgar.

What's even more incomprehensible is that Bai Fuzi uses a lot of first-person perspectives in the story, as if these stories were her own experiences.

The fact that everyone in the book is a villain is the most accurate description of the book.

But that's impossible. The empire is so great, and the people are so kind and honest. How could it be as bloody and absurd as described in the book?

If it weren't for Master Bai's noble status, such a book would never have circulated in the market; it would have been banned and burned.

The young man didn't listen carefully to the old steward's evaluation of "On Governance Through Practice." After turning to the first page of the book, his eyes never left it.

To the old butler, the boy had merely flipped through the book, which was full of blood and darkness, but only the boy himself knew the truth.

In this short period of time, he had roughly finished reading the book in front of him.

During the reading, he saw a kind person struggling to the extreme, and saw how a pure white lotus was stained with ink.

For a naive and romantic person, it is never an easy thing to taint themselves and tarnish their ideals.

The sunlight outside the window gradually dimmed, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone into the room through the window, illuminating the boy's slightly immature face.

Under the old butler's watchful eye, the boy closed the book in his hands and walked a few steps to the window.

"How awful... how wonderful..."

"Young master?"

The boy by the window turned his head and gave the old butler a bright smile.

"Uncle Qin, do you know where I can meet this Master Bai?"

The old man stared blankly at the boy by the window, bewildered.

"Young master, Master Bai is a great figure in heaven. Even the current emperor can only regard himself as a junior in front of Master Bai. How could we possibly have any way to meet such a great figure?"

Despite the old butler's dismissive attitude, the boy showed no sign of frustration. He waved the book in his hand and smiled brightly.

"Indeed, I was too excited. I was only thinking about meeting such a person as soon as possible and exchanging ideas with him, but I forgot about my current situation."

Seeing the young man's posture, the old butler was momentarily stunned.

For a fleeting moment, the old steward felt that the person before him was not a young man, but a literary master standing at the pinnacle of his field.

The daze lasted only a moment before the old butler quickly came to his senses and fixed his gaze on the boy's face.

A few seconds later, the old butler looked away, muttering to himself.

"I'm really getting old; I can even get confused when I look at a child."

With this thought in mind, the old steward remembered the instructions from Marquis Longyue.

He wanted to keep a close watch on the boy in front of him, to make the boy recognize the thief as his father, and to turn him into a sharp knife under the command of Marquis Longyue.

Thinking of this, the old butler's gaze darkened even more.

Although he didn't know the full details of the tragedy in Zhuangjia Town, he could guess some of it.

Non-vegetation, ruthless Practice makes perfect.

Having watched the boy grow from a tender infant to the present day, the old butler had long regarded the boy as his own family.

He sincerely hoped that the boy would never discover the truth and would live his life in this deception.

The Marquis of Longyue's mansion could afford to support a spoiled brat, but it couldn't tolerate a young man who wanted revenge.

Rather than living a life of hatred, the old butler would prefer the boy to grow up strong and healthy and live a wealthy and happy life.

only……

Watching the boy grow up little by little, no one knew better than the old butler what kind of talent the boy possessed and what kind of delicate mind he had.

The truth of what happened back then has probably already been discovered by the boy...

The old butler only snapped out of his daze when a young face came into view.

The boy by the window had returned at some point and was now standing in front of the old butler.

"Uncle Qin, I heard from the people in the manor a few days ago that Scholar Qin, the leader of the Datong Dao, has arrived in the Yinji Domain and will be visiting our manor soon. Have you heard of this? And is there any chance I might have to meet Scholar Qin?"

Coming to his senses, the old butler looked at the boy with his eyes narrowed and didn't think much of it, assuming that the boy wanted to meet the person he admired.

After all, the boy had loved reading since he was very young.

For scholars, the opportunity to meet such an important person would never be missed.

After hesitating for a moment, the old butler readily agreed.

"Young master, I, Qin, am unaware of this matter either, but please rest assured, I will definitely report it to the Marquis on your behalf. It shouldn't be a problem to meet him from afar."

"Thank you very much, Uncle Qin!"

"Young master, please don't be so polite. This is all I, Qin, should do."

……

As the last rays of the setting sun faded, the lights in the Marquis's mansion lit up one by one.

Standing by the window, looking at the courtyard where he had lived for ten years, the boy sighed silently.

"It's changed, yet it hasn't... When will this world and people's hearts ever end?"

"Enough, enough. At least this time, this vast country is far from over. Let's give it a shot!"