Immortal after a Hundred Reincarnations

After speaking, she added via voice transmission, "Rest assured. I, Qing Lian, swear I will never reveal a single word of your secrets!

I won't even mention you in private to anyone! If I break this vow, may I be struck down and my soul annihilated."

Of course, she didn't want to be constrained and enslaved forever. Who would?

"Alright."

Xu Lei looked at Qing Lian's pleading gaze and her mother's expectant expression. He nodded. "Go ahead and remove it."

Naturally, Xu Lei accepted the Demon Core offered to him.

Why had Xu Lei created this contract in the first place? It was simply a matter of convenience. At the time, he hadn't trusted Qing Lian enough and feared she would leak the secret of his ability to reincarnate.

But after so many years together, Xu Lei felt Qing Lian's character was still trustworthy.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist."

"Thank you, Senior."

Qing Lian and her mother chimed in one after another.

Then, Qing Lian's mother formed a Dharma Seal and pressed it between Qing Lian's eyebrows.

It actually shattered the Contract Seal inside Qing Lian's mind.

As her Dharma Seal attacked it, Xu Lei felt a connection to the Contract Seal.

Xu Lei could have resisted, but he didn't.

「Several hours later.」

Xu Lei had a meal with Qing Lian and her mother at a large restaurant in the city.

As they were heading downstairs.

"I'm sorry, Senior. I have to leave with my mother now," Qing Lian said to Xu Lei, a little embarrassed. "I won't be able to follow you anymore."

"Go on, then. All good things must come to an end."

Xu Lei waved his hand. "The world is vast. Perhaps we'll meet again someday."

Before she left, Qing Lian once again swore a solemn oath that she would not reveal Xu Lei's secrets.

Only then did she turn and leave with her mother.

"By the way, daughter," her mother suddenly asked as they were leaving, "back when you two formed the contract, he didn't... violate you, did he?"

"Of course not, Mother! I'm still a virgin," Qing Lian said quickly, her face flushing red.

She and Xu Lei had indeed engaged in some flirtatious banter.

But naturally, she would never tell anyone about it.

Xu Lei said nothing, merely watching them leave.

Then he, too, turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Just then, Qing Lian turned back to look at Xu Lei's departing figure.

They went their separate ways, disappearing into the crowd. Looking back on their journey together, both couldn't help but feel a touch of melancholy.

「Seven days later.」

Xu Lei returned to the city where his mortal family from this life resided.

More than a decade had passed since his last visit home.

'Father and Mother must have gotten so old by now!'

Standing outside the gates of his family's estate, Xu Lei wondered, 'I wonder how my younger brother and sister are doing!'

But then, Xu Lei discovered the residence had new owners.

"Get lost, get lost! This isn't the Xu Family residence anymore. The Xu Family fell into ruin long ago!"

The household's steward added rudely, "If you're looking for that old crone from the Xu Family, you'll have to look in the countryside! An old crone is all that's left of the Xu Family now!"

Xu Lei was stunned.

He never imagined his family could have suffered such a great calamity.

Back then, Xu Lei had helped King Yu ascend the throne.

He had even become a trusted expert by Emperor Yu's side.

He had even gotten King Yu to use his authority to transport various materials for him.

But at the time, Xu Lei had actually used a Human Skin Mask to alter his appearance.

He hadn't faced Emperor Yu using his mortal identity in this life.

Instead, he had used the identity of a monk!

After all, a monk has no weaknesses!

He was backed by the enigmatic Buddhist Sect.

Even if Emperor Yu had ulterior motives?

His armies could kill one Monk, Xu Lei, but there would be thousands upon thousands more to take his place!

That was the only way to be truly safe.

If he had used his secular identity to face Emperor Yu, his family would have become his Achilles' heel.

With Shang Yin, it had been different because his younger sister was Xu Lei's woman.

Besides, Xu Lei hadn't had any real family to speak of back then.

His only connection, the Wei Family, was also the family of Shang Yin's own sister.

So, naturally, he hadn't needed to be so guarded.

But this time, Xu Lei had been cautious.

Thus, when he was gaining influence with Emperor Yu, he hadn't helped his mortal family in this life rise to fame and fortune.

Just after Emperor Yu ascended the throne, Xu Lei had someone check on his family. At the time, they were doing just fine, as always.

So Xu Lei had stopped paying attention.

He had completely severed ties, at least on the surface, with his mortal family.

Emperor Yu had no idea which family was Xu Lei's own.

Xu Lei had assumed that with his father there and his younger siblings growing up, the family would prosper even without his help.

He never thought they would have fallen into ruin!

Thinking about Bai Ling and Qing Lian leaving, and now looking upon the ruins of his mortal family...

Xu Lei couldn't help but sigh inwardly at the impermanence of the mortal world.

Next, Xu Lei made some more inquiries.

He learned that his family's wealth had been scattered and that everyone had died, leaving only his elderly mother and his younger brother's wife.

When he heard this news, Xu Lei's heart couldn't help but tremble.

He never thought that leaving home all those years ago would mean a final farewell to his father and younger siblings.

He heard that his sister-in-law had only been married into the family for about half a year when disaster struck the Xu Family.

Xu Lei's mother was now disabled, and it was this sister-in-law who had steadfastly refused to abandon her, taking her to the countryside.

After learning these simple facts...

Xu Lei didn't hesitate. He immediately bought a horse and rode out of the city toward his sister-in-law's village.

He didn't even stop to ask for the details of how his family had met with such a disaster.

He could slowly investigate that matter later.

Finding his mother as quickly as possible was the most important thing right now.

He thought of his mother: an old, disabled woman, penniless, with no sons or daughters, and only a young daughter-in-law by her side. He couldn't imagine how she was surviving.

He had become a monk at a young age and had never truly fulfilled his filial duties.

Now, his heart was filled with guilt.

If only he had paid a little more attention to his family over the past few years, perhaps things wouldn't have ended up like this!

After riding for several hours, Xu Lei arrived near the village.

He asked for directions.

From an old farmer returning from the fields with a hoe on his shoulder, he learned a little about his mother's current situation.

According to the old farmer, when his sister-in-law brought his mother back to the countryside to care for her, her own family refused to accept them.

So now, the old woman and the young woman lived alone in a dilapidated old house at the edge of the village.

His sister-in-law had yet to remarry.

After all, she was a widow, and she came with a crippled old woman whom she refused to abandon, insisting on caring for her.

After giving the old farmer a bit of silver in thanks...

Xu Lei walked straight to the courtyard of the dilapidated old house at the edge of the village.

The courtyard was filled with all sorts of medicinal herbs laid out to dry, along with silkworm trays and other things.

Behind a series of racks on the left...

A beautiful woman in her early twenties was washing the hair of a white-haired old lady in a wheelchair.

The woman had an exceptionally eye-catching, large bust.

Perhaps because some water had splashed up and wet her clothes...

Though her clothes weren't transparent, they clung tightly to her body, revealing her stunning figure.

Or perhaps it was her slender figure—the contrast with her slim waist and limbs simply made her chest and hips all the more striking.

As for the white-haired old lady, though age had withered her features, Xu Lei recognized her at a single glance. It was his mother in this life.

His mother had been just shy of thirty when she gave birth to him, and he had now lived for over twenty years.

That meant his mother was only in her early fifties.

But she looked far older than any ordinary woman of fifty. It must have been because of the great tragedy that had befallen their family.

"Child, you've done more than enough for me. You should find someone and remarry. Just let me live in this house by myself. You can come back to visit me when you have time!"

"Mother, don't say such things!"

"Promise me! Or I'll find a time when you're not here and just end it all! It would be better to die than to keep living like this and dragging you down! You're still so young and beautiful. If I weren't holding you back, even if you couldn't marry into a wealthy family, you could surely find an ordinary one."

"Mother, what are you talking about..."

As they continued their conversation, their voices drifted out from the yard.

Xu Lei's eyes instantly welled with tears.

"Mother!" Xu Lei couldn't help but cry out.

The two women inside turned their heads in unison.

Xu Lei rushed forward and fell to his knees with a THUD before his aged mother, his voice trembling as he spoke:

"I'm sorry, Mother! I have been unfilial! I have been so unfilial! I'm too late... I've come home far too late."