Immortal after a Hundred Reincarnations

After Zhao Xin left, Xu Lei focused on his Cultivation alone.

However, his progress was incredibly slow.

It was much, much slower than in previous years.

He had no idea when he might break through to the next Great Realm.

Xu Lei didn’t know if it was simply because he was getting old.

After cultivating in the temple for three months and seeing almost no progress, Xu Lei decided to just leave the mountain.

He began to travel the world alone, sampling all its culinary delights.

The feeling of traveling everywhere on his own was actually quite nice.

With financial freedom, he could eat, drink, and lodge in the best places wherever he went.

And with his Cultivation, he had no reason to fear for his safety.

Back on Earth, even if you were financially free and had plenty of time, you couldn’t really travel everywhere alone with complete peace of mind.

After all, some places were still relatively dangerous.

You might even fall victim to local criminals.

It was better within the country; going abroad was more dangerous.

And even within the country, it wasn’t absolutely safe.

From the various official documentaries released, you could see that danger really did exist everywhere.

Many people were just lucky enough not to run into them.

But now, in this Otherworld, Xu Lei had no such worries at all.

He could immerse himself completely in the joy of travel.

A bit of casual, daily Cultivation was all he needed to do.

He’d already strived for over a hundred years in this life, anyway.

It was fine to take a break.

「A little over ten days later.」

One day, as Xu Lei was passing through a valley, he was unexpectedly ambushed by bandits.

This surprised Xu Lei.

In an age of peace and prosperity, bandits were virtually nonexistent.

The common folk had their own struggles, of course, but they could get by. They wouldn’t resort to banditry.

Even if some audacious individuals wanted to make a living through robbery, the Court would make great efforts to eliminate them.

Therefore, for the past hundred-odd years, there had been no bandits to speak of.

He hadn’t expected them to reappear now.

"Hey, old man, you’re dressed pretty well!"

"The boys and I need to borrow some cash!"

"Hand over the money without a fuss!"

"And no funny business!"

A group of masked young men, casually twirling their weapons, surrounded Xu Lei on his horse.

That’s right—Xu Lei wasn’t in a carriage, just riding a single horse.

Carriages could be inconvenient at times.

When you encountered a bad road, for instance.

It wasn’t as practical as riding a horse.

After all, this wasn’t like his past journeys, where he had women with him and had to consider their comfort.

Now that he was alone, there was no need for such considerations.

As he watched the bandits close in, Xu Lei said nothing.

With a flick of his finger and a blank expression, he shot out several blasts of Magical Power.

The blasts blew the heads off several of the bandits.

Of the two remaining bandits, one stood frozen in place, legs trembling and face white as a sheet.

The other turned and fled.

Xu Lei flicked his finger again.

He blew the head off the youth who was frozen in place.

He then spurred his horse into a gallop to chase down the last one.

’It would be a waste of Magical Power if he got too far away.’

By the time Xu Lei reached him, the young bandit had already fallen to his knees in terror.

He slammed his forehead against the ground again and again.

"Why did you become a bandit?"

Xu Lei didn’t kill him right away. Sitting high on his horse and holding the reins, he looked down and asked coolly, "How long have you been doing this?

What’s your stronghold?

Who’s your chieftain?

And how long has he been at it?"

Xu Lei wanted to understand what had changed in the world.

Xu Lei tried to recall. He thought he’d been seventy or eighty years old in his first life when the Great Shang Dynasty was founded.

He couldn’t remember exactly.

That was right. Even though it had only been that many years ago, when Xu Lei thought back on it now, he couldn’t remember his exact age at the time.

Xu Lei recalled living for several more decades after the founding of the Great Shang.

Add to that the thirty years between lives and the one hundred forty-eight years of his second life.

That meant the Great Shang Dynasty was now around two hundred years old.

’Is this Dynasty already beginning to decline?’

Xu Lei wondered. ’Has its golden age already passed?’

"Sir, please, spare my life, sir!"

The young bandit cried, "We had no other choice! The land all belongs to the Princes and the nobles.

We work our fingers to the bone all year, but after paying rent, there’s not even enough left to eat..."

After listening to his tale, Xu Lei had a good idea of the situation.

So, the Vassal Princes had grown too powerful.

Back then, Shang Yin had risen up in rebellion because he had been persecuted by corrupt officials.

And he had indeed come down hard on corruption.

He had even made it a cornerstone of national policy.

But someone has to govern the country.

Distrusting the bureaucracy, he had placed his trust in his own Royal Family.

As a result, over the years, members of the Royal Family had been granted fiefdoms across the land and had all grown powerful in their own right.

This sort of thing had happened plenty of times in the history of ancient Earth, so Xu Lei wasn’t surprised.

Different worlds, same human nature.

Then, with another flick of his finger, Xu Lei blew the young bandit’s head off as well.

The man had painted a very pitiful picture of himself.

But people begging for their lives always try to garner sympathy.

Some of what he’d said was probably true.

But judging by the viciousness on his face during the robbery today, he had likely done his fair share of evil deeds.

Now he had crossed Xu Lei, and Xu Lei certainly wasn’t going to let him go.

Afterwards, Xu Lei thought for a moment.

He turned his horse around and headed in a different direction.

He didn’t continue on his original path.

It was possible that the Vassal Prince of this region was nurturing dissent.

But other regions might not be the same.

As for the struggle between the Vassal Princes and the Royal Family...

...Xu Lei had no interest in getting involved right now.