Death... and me

"Hahahaha!" Rean burst into laughter. It was truly one of the funniest things that had ever happened to him. Just how much of a loner was Lisia for her family to have such a reaction?

Lisia, obviously, was as red as a tomato. "Grandmother!"

Armalia and Lauren, Lisia's parents, immediately stopped what they were doing and rushed to the entrance. "What did you say?! A man? Where?"

They then looked at Rean before Armalia immediately took Rean's hand. "Thank you, thank you. We were already worried she was going to die alone. I know she can be a handful, but trust me! Deep, deep, deeeeeeeeeep down, she is not bad!"

"Mother!" Lisia wanted to die right there and then. "He is not my boyfriend! First of all, he is married!"

"What?!" Everyone looked at Rean with shock on their faces. "Sir, is what she said true?"

Rean continued to smile as he nodded. "Yes, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm married already."

Armalia sighed before looking at Lisia. "Girl, I know it has been difficult for you, but it is still wrong to try to rob another woman's man. Mother will not accept it."

Lisia's grandmother and her father nodded solemnly. "She is right, Lisia. That is wrong! We will not accept it."

Tears fell from Lisia's eyes. 'Why isn't there a hole when you need one?' she thought. Still, she tried to calm down and took a deep breath. "Grandmother, Mother, Father, we are not in a relationship. He is... he is..." Armalia then remembered she didn't know how to introduce Rean. Should she just say he is the great ancestor or pretend he was just a friend? Would the great ancestor get angry if someone weak like here called him a friend?

Rean noticed Lisia's struggle and decided to help. "Well, as Roan and I said before, we weren't truly intending to show our real identity. But since you brought me here, I guess it won't matter that much. Malo will disclose it in the main communication channels later anyway."

Rean then patted the Old Woman's head as if he was looking at a junior. "What's your name, kid?"

The old woman was taken aback and immediately stepped back, or so she tried. However, it seemed like there was a force holding her in place, which made her quite angry. "Young man, is this how you treat your elders? This joke isn't funny. Since when did I become that close to you?"

Rean then focused on his light element and made his body transform once again. Right in front of everyone, his body structure changed into another young man, although this one had white hair and eyes. He continued to rub the old woman's head as he said. "It's not a joke; I'm indeed much older than you. Your mother, Malaka, was my little sister. I came this time to visit her, but I heard she has already passed." Rean then took his hand off the Old Woman's head and looked at everyone. "My name is Rean. Some of you like to call me a great ancestor, from what I'm told."

Only then did everyone in the room recognize the 'youth' in front of them. "G-Great Ancestor!" Immediately, they all kneeled on the floor. 

Well, they tried to. However, Rean used his Divine Energy to prevent them from doing so. "There is no need for such behavior. If you know Malaka, you should know as well that this kind of thing means nothing to me."

Lisia was happy that the misunderstanding was resolved. "S-Sorry, Great Ancestor. I know you said you didn't want to see them, but I still felt it was the right thing to do. I just didn't expect they would act like that just because I brought someone home."

The old woman recovered from her stupor and quickly apologized. "Sorry, Great Ancestor! My name is Salaka. My mother and father simply decided to give me a similar name to my mother. I'm her third child, and you were already long gone when I was born. Still, Mother had told me about the countless adventures you went through. She didn't regret staying behind, but I could also tell she missed you dearly."

Rean nodded. "It's fine. Life is an endless stream. Not even a god can stop it. From the looks of it, she had a great life, which is all that matters."

Armalia, Salaka's daughter and Malaka's granddaughter, also spoke. "Unfortunately, I also hadn't had the chance of meeting her. But I saw many recordings, so I'm sure she was happy."

Lauren, as kind of an outsider, coughed a little. "Ahem... since you are all senior Malaka's ancestors and family, I'll take my leave. I feel like I'm uncalled for here."

"Hahaha!" Rean laughed in response. "There is no need for that. I'm not staying much longer anyway." Rean then looked at Salaka. "It seems like you are stuck in the Late Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Do you want some help?"

Salaka was taken aback. She had given up cultivating several decades ago after failing countless times to break into the Peak Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. She had already accepted that she was going to die of old age, so such an offer took her by surprise. "Can you really?"

Rean touched her shoulder and immediately sent some of his Divine Energy inside. He cleaned her body and forced the barrier of the realm loose. As if moving automatically, Salaka's Spiritual Energy surged like a torrent, destroying the barrier that kept her away from the Peak Stage in one go. "This..."

Seeing that, Lauren couldn't help but ask. "Does that mean Great Ancestor can make people breakthrough anytime he wants?"

Rean understood what Lauren thought. "You got the wrong idea. All I did was to eliminate the obstacle that prevented the breakthrough. I can't give you or anyone else the energy necessary for that. The breakthrough itself has to be done by your own Dantians' Spiritual Energy."