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

A plague came suddenly and went suddenly.

A miracle unique to the gods bought time for the children of Lingzhou to receive treatment.

The opening of the road between Qishan and Lingzhou allowed medicinal herbs from Qishan to be transported down the mountain.

The towering mound of skulls within Black Wolf Stronghold terrified the bandits of Qishan Mountain.

The hundred-meter-high bone tower gave the bandits an unprecedented shock.

Two villages were completely slaughtered, and two others were crippled. With just one operation, no one in the vast Qishan region dared to resist.

The leaders of the remaining mountain strongholds pooled their resources, contributed manpower and labor, and, relying on their familiarity with the terrain of Qishan, mobilized all the bandits in their strongholds to collect a large amount of medicinal herbs.

In an instant, it filled most of the gap in the supply of herbal medicines and saved the lives of countless children.

The leaders went to great lengths, personally delivering the herbs to Yongning County with their caravans. They also went to great lengths to find out Mu An's preferences and sent cartloads of gifts to Mu An's residence in Yongning County.

Although they didn't see her, it didn't stop them from being filled with trepidation. Standing in front of Mu An's residence, they swore oaths and vowed to treat Princess Yongning as the sun above them and to be good bandits of the new era.

Once you've paid your respects to the boss and become his henchmen, don't kill them!

To the bandits' regret and relief, they were ultimately unable to meet the "demon king" who took pleasure in killing bandits.

The details are too complex to explain to outsiders.

……

Time slipped by in a daze, autumn came and went and winter arrived.

In four months, the plague was completely over; it was a Pyrrhic victory.

Even with sufficient medication, 70,000 to 80,000 children still did not survive that autumn.

To demonstrate his benevolence, the emperor exempted Lingzhou from taxes for three years and called on his officials to raise eight million taels of silver for disaster relief.

Lingzhou has a registered population of 18 million, with nearly 2 million people affected by the disaster. 8 million taels of silver were used to repay various pharmacies.

The rest, divided equally, should at least amount to one or two taels of silver per person.

However, Mu An heard that apart from the disaster victims in Yongning County who received a lot of relief supplies, other counties received at most some coarse rice.

When he heard people mention these things, he wasn't surprised; he just sighed silently.

The Great Qi Dynasty has its own unique national circumstances, so there's no need to elaborate; just get used to it.

None of this had much to do with him.

After spending four days on Mount Qi and three days in Yongning County, Mu An returned to his loyal Qing'an County.

Princess Yongning did not try to keep him, but expressed her high approval of the Black Wolf Stronghold's project and rewarded him with a few spiritual fruits.

There was no secret mission as he had imagined. Jun Yunxin, whose health had improved slightly, didn't mention anything, only telling him to go back and cultivate properly.

In just a few days, Mu An became the Kaiyang Envoy of the Dark Feather Guard and a member of the Seven Stars of Azure Jade without even realizing it.

He jumped from a lowly ninth-rank official to a high-ranking third-rank official, a twelve-step leap in rank, becoming the highest-ranking member of the Mu family, with his salary increasing dozens of times over.

Even though the Dark Feather Guard's system is relatively independent, such an exceptional promotion is certainly against the rules, but Mu An expressed his approval.

Princess Yongning was indeed the kindest person he had ever met, though her health was a bit poor.

According to Old Man Lin, this generous princess probably won't live much longer.

This is truly a regrettable matter. If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely offer her more incense so that her lineage will not be cut off.

Even if the Great Qi Dynasty were to fall, he could guarantee that the princess would still receive tribute.

As the saying goes, it's better to return home in glory than to travel in fine clothes at night.

Mu An, however, did the opposite. Although he was promoted, his life did not change much.

Even his two maids were unaware that their young master had become a high-ranking official of the third rank after just one trip, the same rank as the governor of Lingzhou.

Even a seventh-rank official can be found in front of the prime minister. Although Mu An is not the prime minister, he is a high-ranking official in the Dark Feather Guard, a violent organization, and has the authority to execute county magistrates first and report later.

Such power is self-evident in a small county like Qing'an.

If he were to reveal his identity, the status of his two maids would naturally rise accordingly, allowing them to stand tall when they go out and speak loudly to the magistrate.

The Mu family could even treat him like royalty and allow him to establish his own lineage.

But he did nothing. He simply continued his daily routine of reading, practicing meditation, and occasionally visiting brothels to enjoy music and dance.

In my spare time, it's quite fun to play with "kids".

It feels so good to pinch those soft little cheeks.

His languid demeanor was even more pronounced than before, prompting the two maids to occasionally chirp softly in his presence.

It's always about how beauty can lead to trouble, how someone else has achieved some academic success, and from time to time, it's about the young ladies from prominent families who are ready to be married.

Mu An didn't argue, but just smiled and agreed, then turned around to listen to some music to relax.

When asked, the answer is always "next time, for sure."

The two maids were so angry that the tea they brought them for several days in a row was always cold.

Mu An wasn't annoyed. He calculated their ages and figured that it was normal for his two maids to be a little short-tempered, as they were also going through menopause.

As time went on, Xiao Lü and Xiao He gradually got used to it and gave up struggling, following Mu An to the afterlife.

The young master has been spoiled, but it's not a big problem. They still have Xiao Ling'er, and they'll definitely be able to raise him well this time!

Honestly, it feels like going back 18 years!

Back then, the young master was also a small child, sensible and obedient, unlike now who is such a worry!

Seeing that his two maids, whom he treated like family members, had diverted their attention, Mu An was happy to relax and went about his own life.

He didn't need to take care of Mu Ling'er, whom he had adopted. The two wet nurses and maids treated her like a precious treasure, doting on the little girl every day.

Mu An was happy to have some peace and quiet, and ate spiritual fruits every day to accelerate her cultivation.

If there's any change, it's probably that the head monk of Ling'an Temple occasionally visits with vegetables grown in the mountains, and also brings some ritual implements that are said to have been blessed.

The old Taoist priest at Chaoyun Temple now has two dark circles under his eyes. He avoids Mu An every day. Whenever Mu An comes up the mountain, the old Taoist priest comes down from the back of the mountain, aiming to avoid seeing each other.

After two months, all the spiritual fruits were exhausted.

As his cultivation progressed and his vision became clearer, Mu An also realized that there was no other way to cultivate immortality except to endure hardship or spend money.

There are two kinds of energy in this world: primordial energy and spiritual energy.

The former is the root of martial arts training. Whether it is internal or external skills, training is about absorbing vital energy in a subtle way.

Without vital energy, external martial arts training will only result in hidden injuries and broken bones.

He will probably develop a few gallstones from cultivating his internal energy, and finally, overjoyed, he will proclaim that he has comprehended the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir.

Even a master of innate level can only vaguely sense the existence of primordial energy.

Mu An felt that to see the trajectory of primordial energy as clearly as he did, one would probably have to become a Celestial Martial Saint.

As for spiritual energy, Mu An defines it as a higher level of energy than primordial energy.

It takes about one wisp of spiritual energy for every ten thousand strands of primordial energy to be generated. The latter can leverage the former to simulate the abilities of a martial artist.

Mu An's battle on Mount Qi was just like that. He communicated with the outside world through the spiritual power in his body, leveraging the primordial energy of heaven and earth, and directly consuming the power of heaven and earth itself to fight.

Achieve maximum effect with minimal consumption.