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

When Zhuang Sheng walked out of Lin'an Hall, he was in a daze.

The setting sun cast its last rays upon him, stretching his shadow to the end of the street.

The trees on both sides were shadowy, their lush branches appearing menacing in the twilight.

"A mental illness requires a mental cure," is a very common saying, but Zhuang Sheng felt for no reason that Lin Zhimin might have recognized him.

Even though he looks completely different now than he did forty years ago.

Otherwise, why bring up that annoying word "heart" again?

Has this damned old man forgotten the inhumane things he did back then?

Does he think that by treating patients and saving lives now, and by putting on a "hypocritical" act, he can completely erase what happened back then?

People are always like this when they are nervous; they will inexplicably magnify any slightest disturbance.

Zhuangzi was in this state of mind at that moment.

His thoughts drifted far away, back to a winter day forty years ago, back to the small village at the foot of Fuling Mountain.

Fuling Mountain, the sacred land of medicine, Medicine King Valley, and a mad Medicine King Valley disciple, and an ordinary little village.

This is a story that Zhuangzi could never forget, and a place he never returned to in his entire life.

……

……

"Ah Sheng, the New Year is almost here. You and your sister haven't had any nice clothes to wear all year round. This year, I want to weave you some new clothes. Take this piece of cured meat and this letter to your uncle in town and tell him you want to exchange some cloth."

"Mother, it's alright. You can knit it for my sister. It's fine for me to wear my old clothes."

The gentle and elegant woman knelt down and gently patted her son's head. Her voice was as tender as water, touching the depths of the child's heart.

"Ah Sheng has grown up. Your older sister isn't well, and a divine doctor from Medicine King Valley is coming to the village today. I have to take her to see a doctor. Can you go to town to find your uncle by yourself?"

The excited child pumped his fist and solemnly promised his mother.

"Don't worry, Mom, I'm not a child anymore, I'll definitely be fine."

On the way out of the village, my mind was filled with images of my grown-up child jumping around, and I passed a young doctor.

The doctor, with disheveled hair, looked somewhat unkempt. As the two passed each other, he made a point of glancing at the child.

The child, whose mind was still young, couldn't think of much, but he greeted the doctor warmly.

"Apricot Blossom Village is just ahead. Is the Divine Physician here to treat the villagers?"

The disheveled doctor paused slightly, stopped in his tracks, and brushed his long hair aside to reveal a handsome face with thick dark circles under his eyes.

It was this one gesture that made the young child remember this face.

He looked at the child, staring blankly for a long time, until the child became a little impatient. Then he slowly spoke, his voice very hoarse, as if he hadn't drunk water for several days.

"A weak constitution is difficult to cure completely. Get plenty of rest, avoid getting angry, and it would be best to take some medicine to replenish qi and blood and strengthen the body's foundation."

After saying that, the doctor's hair fell down again, hiding his entire face in shadow.

The child scratched his head and suddenly remembered that his mother had taught him to be grateful for the kindness of others.

"Thank you?" The child bowed slightly, mimicking her mother's gesture of respect, a gesture often used by young ladies from well-to-do families.

His comical appearance made an elderly man passing by burst into laughter.

"Ah Sheng, you've come again! What kind of man bows like that!"

The child awkwardly clasped his hands together, took a few steps towards the edge of the village, and just as he was about to leave, he suddenly turned back and made a face at the old man's back.

"Mother used to be a young lady of high birth, how could she be wrong? This old man must be talking nonsense!"

He muttered to himself, but Ah Sheng didn't dare to tease the old man in front of him.

The village is very small, with only eighty-two people in total. If he dares to do it now, his mother will find out tonight, and then he'll be in big trouble.

Thinking of his mother's angry face, Ah Sheng couldn't help but shudder.

He didn't want to be scolded, much less beaten!

Ah Sheng couldn't remember what happened after that.

He walked out of the village, while the doctor walked into the village, both seemingly muttering something to each other.

He only remembered walking happily along the ridges of the fields and along the official road, from morning until noon, and having a hearty lunch at his uncle's house.

Carrying large and small bags, they retraced their steps.

In his limited memories, his uncle was a really, really good person. Every time he visited, his uncle would prepare a lot of things for him.

Most of the time, however, her mother would push it back and forth, refusing to accept it no matter what.

Now that he's come here himself, and his uncle wants to give him something, he's not going to be polite.

What was it again?

A gift from an elder should not be refused!

As the sun was about to set, Ah Sheng, who had been walking all day, finally saw the outline of Xinghua Village.

He quickened his pace excitedly, carrying large and small bags, wanting to give his mother and older sister a surprise.

He wanted to tell his mother that his uncle had given him a lot of cloth, enough not only to weave a new dress for him and his sister, but also to make one for his mother herself.

In Ah Sheng's memory, his mother hadn't worn new clothes for a very, very long time.

She even dismantled her old, gorgeous clothes and used them to make clothes for him and her older sister.

He also wanted to tell his mother that they would have meat to eat during the Lunar New Year this year.

Because his uncle prepared a full five pounds of meat for him, it was quite heavy to carry all the way back!

Or perhaps, his mother would gently tap his head and criticize him in a helpless yet gentle tone, saying that he shouldn't have accepted so many things from his uncle.

This is indeed something a mother would do.

But Ah Sheng felt it was well worth it to have a good year in exchange for a minor criticism.

My mother is gentle; unless it's something too outrageous, she won't really blame him.

He could already picture the smile on his older sister's face when she saw these things, and his mother's nagging as she knitted new clothes and made meat soup for them.

Until he stepped into the familiar village, smelled the bloody stench in the air, and saw the familiar figures on the ground.

Zhuang Sheng did not want to recall what happened after that.

All he knew was that he was awakened by the same nightmare countless nights, again and again.

Countless heartless figures rushed towards him from all directions, determined to drag him into that endless abyss.

How can a person live without a heart?

Xinghua Village had only eighty-two residents, but on that day, eighty-one more heartless corpses appeared in the village.

Little Ah Sheng lay on the corpses, crying all night. He shook the people on the ground like a madman, but he couldn't make them make a sound again.

The next day at noon, many people came to the village. They were dressed in silk clothes and carried large medicine chests.

He walked around the entire village again and again, shaking his head and sighing repeatedly.

Each and every one of them was a big shot, someone they would never normally see in their small village.

The one in the lead was a woman, and she was the only face that Ah Sheng remembered.

Because her face was so pale, as pale as a corpse, because she knelt before Ah Sheng, apologizing again and again, slapping herself in the face repeatedly.

Until blood appeared at the corner of her mouth, until she fainted, and was hurriedly taken away by other important figures.

Ah Sheng didn't actually hear what she said clearly; his mind was filled with thoughts of how to wake up his mother and sister again.

We clearly promised to knit new clothes, we clearly promised to have a good New Year together. After suffering for so long, it's rare to have some good things to celebrate the New Year. How can we just go to sleep like this?

Later, Ah Sheng also fainted.