The path to immortality through martial arts begins with being forced into marriage!

"How did you get yourself into such a mess?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Mu Yangyan's small body trembled violently, his eyes shining frighteningly in the darkness. He scrambled to his feet, completely ignoring his wounds.

But upon seeing his own filthy appearance, he subconsciously took two steps back.

"Brother, you should leave now!"

"I'm a wanted criminal by the government now. If you stay with me, it will implicate you."

Cui Yi, however, did not take it seriously and instead comforted him, saying, "The Demon Suppression Division has already determined that you have nothing to do with that massacre."

"I believe it won't be long before the warrant for your arrest is lifted, and you won't have to hide anymore."

To everyone's surprise, Mu Yangyan stubbornly shook his head: "Big brother, you are a good person, I don't want to lie to you."

"Actually, I killed those people."

"..."

After hearing this, Cui Yi remained silent for a moment, but in his heart, a storm was brewing!

What on earth is this kid saying?

Even though the Demon Suppression Division has already determined that it was the work of evil cultivators, why does he still want to take the blame?

Do you know what you're saying?

Cui Yi's gaze darkened, and his aura became much more somber.

"I know it all too well."

Mu Yangyan raised his head, and a sadness that seemed out of place for his age appeared on his youthful face.

"Brother, let me tell you a story."

"My father was a soldier, a centurion in the border army. My mother was skillful, spinning and weaving day and night to earn some copper coins to supplement the family income."

"I also have a younger brother and sister-in-law who are both young and they keep bothering me to raid bird nests and catch stream fish."

Life was hard, but when Dad came home he would bring malt candy and candied hawthorns, and Mom would always alter her thickest coat for me to wear.

"Back then, I thought, what's wrong with being poor? It'll keep me warm."

"Later, there was a war in the north, and my father went there and never came back."

"My mother was already frail, and when she heard the news, she vomited blood on the spot and never left her bed after that."

"The little money we had saved up was spent like water on doctors and medicine, barely enough to keep my mother on her feet."

"The pension issued by the imperial court should be ten taels of silver."

"But this money never reached my mother or me."

"My mother is coughing up blood more and more often, and she can't stop taking her medicine. When I go to the pharmacy, the shopkeeper shakes his head as he flips through the ledger, saying that old debts have not been settled and he can't extend credit anymore."

"I begged on my knees, and he had me thrown out the door."

"I don't blame him, because my father taught me that everything in this world has its value."

"If you can't afford the value, you don't deserve to own it. I only hate that I don't have money. Then I thought of the pension."

"I went to my uncle's house, knelt in the yard and kept kowtowing, begging for a few coins to save my life."

"But they call me a jinx, saying I killed my father."

"Isn't the kindness they've shown our family over the years worth at least ten taels of silver in compensation?"

Mu Yangyan turned his head and looked at Cui Yi, his eyes frighteningly calm.

"I don't understand, brother."

He asked softly, as if he were asking Cui Yi, or perhaps he was asking this silent world.

"Is blood ties and decades of affection really worth less than ten taels of silver?"

That night, my mother died.

"Before I left, my mother specifically told me to be patient."

"Without our parents' help, our lives would only get harder, and we can't afford any more setbacks."

"I listened, I really listened."

"But they won't let us go."

Hatred finally surfaced in Mu Yangyan's calm eyes!

A boundless hatred!

"They summoned some prominent people in the village and said that my father's pension had already paid off the old debts, and that it was against the rules for the three of us orphans to occupy the ancestral home."

"In front of the whole village, they threw our bedding, pots and pans, one by one, outside the door."

"I protected my younger siblings who were crying so hard they were convulsing, and watched helplessly as my uncle took out some documents from who-knows-where and tried to take away the last few land deeds."

"That was the lifeblood that my parents earned with every drop of sweat and blood; it's the last thing they left us."

"That evening, I entrusted my younger brother and sister-in-law to a blind old woman at the end of the village and went up the mountain alone."

"I knelt for a long time in front of my parents' grave where they are buried together."

"The soil was freshly turned and still damp. I kept kowtowing, my forehead pressed against the cold earth, repeating the same words over and over again..."

"Mother, I'm sorry."

"Yan'er can't listen to you anymore."

"They must die."

"Only in that way can the younger siblings who stay in the old house survive and not be trampled into the mud."

"We won't let them take over our two old houses and a few acres of meager land in a legitimate way."

"That night, I sneaked home, took a kitchen knife from the kitchen, and sharpened it on the whetstone by the well for a long time."

"I remember it was very, very cold that day. My hands were frozen and numb, and I even cut myself a few times."

"Then, when I arrived at my uncle's house, I went around to the back of the house and burned the hay in the livestock shed."

"When the flames started to leap up, I stood in front of his house with my knife in hand."

"The first person to rush out was my cousin, disheveled and cursing."

"I recognize him. He was the one who leaned against the door that day and spat sunflower seed shells in my face."

Mu Yangyan paused, as if recalling or reminiscing: "The knife was heavier and faster than I imagined. I didn't feel like I used much force, but he fell down."

"The blood was hot, and when it splashed onto my face, it felt warm and cozy."

"Then came my aunt, who screamed and lunged at me to grab my face, and then came my uncle."

"He was carrying a stool, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was shouting that the little beast had gone too far."

"The firelight grew brighter and brighter, reflecting the blood and their terrified faces."

"I don't know where I got the strength or the courage to keep stabbing them. I just felt that they all deserved to die."

The boy's voice finally trembled slightly, but was quickly suppressed again.

He looked at Cui Yi, his eyes devoid of madness, only a desolate clarity.

"From beginning to end, we never intended to harm anyone, nor did we take advantage of anyone in the slightest."

"We just want to live, we want my mother to be able to take her medicine, and we want my younger siblings to have a thick coat to wear in winter so they won't have to huddle in the haystack to keep warm from the cold."

"But in this world, only money matters, not fate, and certainly not reason."

"It's as if there has been no justice in this world since my father died in battle!"

"Brother, tell me, do I have any other choice?"

The biting winter wind swept through the alley, making a mournful sound.

Cui Yi looked down at the boy's stubborn face, his throat felt like it was blocked by something, and he couldn't answer a single word.

That ten taels of compensation bought away more than just a human life!

"No... You are not a cultivator, much less a heretical cultivator."

Cui Yi quickly discovered the flaw; the Demon Suppression Division's investigation couldn't have been wrong, unless...

There was a third party present at the crime scene!

Moreover, this third party is an evil practitioner!

"Hehehe, I've finally found you, little guy!"