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

After spending the New Year at the Star-Picking Platform, Mu An did not leave immediately, but stayed in Qi'an City for another month.

During this month, he focused on recuperation and did not, as he had when he first arrived in Qi'an City, spend his days and nights in brothels discussing music, chess, calligraphy, and painting with the kind and friendly young ladies.

It wasn't that he had lost interest in beautiful women, but rather that he had more important things to do.

On the first day of the thirtieth year of Chengtai, when he paid New Year's respects to Princess Yongning, he received a New Year's gift prepared for him by the princess.

One of each of the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Mu An vaguely remembered that it was a sunny morning.

Jun Yunxin, who had just woken up, yawned, rubbing her eyes and hair. Then she suddenly woke up and pulled him to a corner like a thief who had appeared out of nowhere.

"I took too much when I was in the palace. Now those old men from the royal family are watching me every day and won't let me into the palace's treasury. I can't get too many rare and precious items for the time being."

I heard from others that the kind of killing you did at the Vermilion Bird Gate would require nearly a hundred years to cleanse your karma over time.

"Spiritual beings born in blessed lands and grottoes are nurtured by nature and possess a certain amount of fortune from birth, which can cleanse you of your karma."

As if she had spoken in a hurry, Jun Yunxin took a couple of breaths before continuing her rambling.

"These are definitely not enough. You can make do with these for now, and I'll figure out the rest."

This won't be easy to steal. When we leave the capital, you come with me into the treasure vault. Apart from a few items for healing, we'll take all the remaining five elemental spirits!

We'll finish our food and run, letting the main group walk on their own. We'll head back to Lingzhou first.

"At that time, we'll be thousands of miles away, and neither Father nor my brother can do anything to me!"

Mu An herself didn't know how complicated her feelings were at the time, looking at Jun Yunxin's innocent face.

He really wanted to give Jun Yunxin a good scolding on the spot to stop her from having such a stupid idea.

So you're just squandering your own family's wealth? One person used up hundreds of years' worth of savings. If the ancestors of the Jun family knew about this, they'd be so angry they'd crawl out of their graves.

This is no way to squander money!

But then I thought, many of these spiritual objects would be given to me.

Mu An promptly shut her mouth and gave Jun Yunxin a thumbs up.

Well done!

You're the perfect boss ever!

With this attitude, it would be a disservice to this salary if they didn't work hard!

As for karma and all that, Mu An was actually a bit confused.

He asked several familiar celestial martial saints, and the seniors all said that karma is extremely harmful, making it impossible for people to cultivate, and even causing them to go astray in their cultivation.

Moreover, karma cannot be observed or measured; it can only be consumed by time or washed away by the spiritual substances of heaven and earth.

When your spiritual practice returns to normal and you no longer feel irritable or experience inner demons from time to time, your karma will have been almost completely eliminated.

He also sought guidance from the master painter, but the master painter only gave him a deep look and then had him serve as a model by the lake for half an hour.

Just as the painting was about to take shape, the painting master put away his brush, making Mu An in the painting appear hazy and indistinct.

The entire painting captures half of the spiritual energy contained within the mountain and the river; one glance is enough to tell it's a treasure.

Finally, the painting master gave the painting to him, saying it was just to establish a good relationship.

Over the course of the past month, Mu An tried again and again, searching every inch of his body, but he still couldn't find the karma they were talking about.

His cultivation speed did not slow down at all; his cultivation using spiritual objects was still as rapid as before.

As for when there are no spirits, Mu An said, "Just keep climbing. As long as you climb long enough, even a snail can circle the world."

Just two days ago, Mu An suddenly had the idea to look inward at himself.

While reading through his cultivation techniques, he suddenly discovered a tiny red dot, the size of a pinhole, in the lower right corner of the ancient book deep within his consciousness. It was so small that it was almost invisible unless one looked closely.

As if struck by a sudden inspiration, the moment Mu An saw the red dot, he understood where the terrifying karma that the elders had spoken of had disappeared to.

Good heavens, how could an ancient book that can transport people through time be an ordinary object!

Mu An was excited to realize that the so-called karma could not be applied to her at all.

However, considering Princess Yongning's extreme enthusiasm for this matter, and her constant refrain of saying that the hero should not bleed and weep, and that she was determined to obtain enough spiritual treasures from heaven and earth to eliminate his karma, he felt that it was best for him to keep such matters to himself.

It's incredibly frustrating to pour cold water on someone when they're at their most excited.

It's definitely not because he coveted those spiritual items!

Cough cough cough!!!

……

On the 30th day of the first month of the 30th year of Chengtai, a very auspicious day.

Amidst the discussions throughout the court, the old emperor abdicated, passing the throne to the third prince, Jun Yunhua, while Jun Yuanqi himself moved to Tianqi Garden, saying he wanted to live out his remaining years in peace.

The events in the palace were too significant, and there were too many people in Qi'an City. Even though the battle under the Vermilion Bird Gate ended quickly enough, and the news was subsequently suppressed as much as possible, it couldn't stop the gossip from spreading.

All sorts of rumors spread among the people, and were further imagined by those who love to hear stories and watch the excitement, becoming increasingly bizarre.

The simplest way to deal with this situation is always to give benefits directly, so that the people realize that the new emperor is benevolent and shines like the sun over the entire Great Qi, and that only by following him can they have a future.

The new emperor ascended the throne and granted a general amnesty.

Just as many people in Qi'an City had hoped, in order to appease the people and win broader support, a general amnesty was an inevitable outcome.

Even the Ninth Prince, Jun Cheng'an, was only stripped of his title of Prince Qi, and no further punishment was imposed.

Mu An made no comment on this, only feeling that the new emperor was leaving himself with future troubles.

Putting everything else aside, you have to know that there is a retired emperor above him who holds real power. The dragon throne is important, but it is not uncommon for an emperor to be sidelined.

As Jun Yunxin's trusted subordinate, Mu An naturally met with the new emperor in private.

The meeting was brief, and the conversation was very polite.

In front of Jun Yunxin, Jun Yunhua was completely the image of a loving older brother who cared for his younger sister.

They would offer words of comfort and concern, and would also offer a few words of criticism on one or two of Jun Yunxin's excessive actions, mostly concerning medicine and treatment.

The balance was just right; it neither angered her nor made her feel uncared for, so the little princess was in a very good mood, and her condition has improved somewhat in recent days.

However, Mu An's intuition as a cultivator still made him sense something amiss.

A strong sense of apprehension, an unconcealable fear, and a faint malice that has evolved from these complex emotions deep within the heart.

Mu An saw this and kept it to himself. He didn't tell Jun Yunxin about his intuition, but instead took the opportunity to mention it to Lin Li, telling her to be careful.

He distanced himself from the new ruler and politely declined the olive branch he was offered.

As I always say, Mu An never interferes in other people's family affairs.

He wasn't a gossipy person, nor did he believe that Jun Yunhua would necessarily harm Jun Yunxin.

No one is perfect; what one thinks and what one actually does are not necessarily the same thing.

Even the closest people cannot guarantee that they will never have malicious thoughts at some point. This proves nothing and should not be used to condemn a person.

Because evil thoughts may only last for a moment, while good thoughts are hidden in every aspect of life, there is no need to deliberately amplify them before things get serious.

Being too deliberate can easily amplify this malice, causing one to overlook all the beauty in life and making the conflict spiral out of control.

Just like parent-child relationships and spousal relationships, sometimes, a thousand or ten thousand acts of love cannot compare to a stranger's one accidental act of kindness.

On the contrary, an unintentional act of malice was treated as an unforgivable act, repeatedly brought up, and constantly questioned, ultimately leading to the breakdown of the relationship.

Because Mu An understands these things, she won't jump to conclusions. Lin Li should just be careful about these matters; there's no need to trouble Jun Yunxin, whose body is already weak, with this as well.

……