The Past (Part 2) (Thanks for the Monthly Votes)

"Since then, the Jujutsu Sorcerers and the Monster Alliance had jointly established three Binding Vows for the Demon Clan," Lu Zhe continued.

"First, they were forbidden from using Cursed Techniques to falsely proclaim themselves saints and bring calamity upon all living beings."

"Second, once they entered human society, they had to abide by its laws and were forbidden from using magic to deceive the common people."

"Third, they had to inspect themselves, and if they turned a blind eye to those who had not made the above Binding Vows, they were forbidden from entering the mortal world."

"The Jujutsu Sorcerers also made a vow not to attack Monster Alliance members without cause."

"Only then did the war between Jujutsu Sorcerers and the Demon Clan come to a temporary end. After that, Heaven-Reaching Great Sage vanished without a trace."

"Where did he go?" Xia Jie asked.

"I don't know," Lu Zhe said. "To this day, the Monster Alliance has received no news of him. Everyone says he went off to recover from his injuries."

"Afterward, the Jujutsu Sorcerers no longer made things difficult for the Demon Clan, but the hatred between them was not so easily erased. The two sides continued to clash over the following decades."

"To prevent those conflicts from escalating, the seven demon immortals of the Monster Alliance discussed the matter with the upper ranks of Jujutsu Society and decided to hold a Jujutsu Exchange between the Demon Clan and Jujutsu Sorcerers every five years."

"It gave Monsters and Jujutsu Sorcerers an outlet to vent against each other. Of course, none of the exchanges could involve loss of life."

"Otherwise, history would repeat itself, and that would be a disaster for both sides."

"Your father and my sister met at the fourth Jujutsu Exchange," Lu Zhe said softly. "No one had expected that the favored son of the Jiang Clan would one day end up with a demon woman from the Monster Alliance!"

"When the prestigious Jiang Clan was going to form a marriage alliance with a Monster, the entire Jujutsu Society was thrown into an uproar!"

"Under immense pressure, your father took my sister and lived under assumed names!"

"Then, after they had you, they were left with no choice but to seek help from a Monster named Su Ze. That was how they were discovered."

At the mention of Su Ze's name, barely concealed anger surfaced in Lu Zhe's voice.

Xia Jie glanced at him, unsure what was wrong. He only assumed that Lu Zhe might be blaming him.

"Why did they need someone's help after having me?" Xia Jie asked quietly.

"You don't honestly think it is so easy for a Monster and a human to have children together, do you?" Lu Zhe said with lowered eyes. "Monsters are aberrations born from curses. Although we possess human bodies, our essence is closer to that of Cursed Spirits."

"While we cannot directly absorb curses, we can consume human flesh and blood to absorb the Cursed Energy that humans give off."

"Why do you think the Jujutsu Sorcerers took the opportunity to crusade against Monsters fifty years ago? This was one of the major reasons!"

"When a Monster and a human came together, if the Monster became pregnant, it would treat the child's flesh and blood as a source of Cursed Energy and absorb it. If the human became pregnant, she would be gnawed to death by the child in her womb."

"Your parents sought out Su Ze because his Cursed Technique was extremely unusual."

"Through contact, he could temporarily exchange the essential properties of two objects. For example, he could turn a person into a stone."

"Though there would be no obvious change in appearance, the person he touched would essentially become a motionless stone."

"There was a Cursed Technique like that?" Xia Jie said incredulously.

Damn, the control effect of that technique was practically overpowered.

"It was precisely because of Su Ze's Cursed Technique that your mother sought him out." Lu Zhe quietly clenched his fists.

"But Su Ze's Cursed Technique actually had severe limitations. The stronger a creature's Cursed Energy was compared to his own, the shorter its duration became, to the point of being almost negligible."

"However, that limitation could be removed if both parties to the exchange were willing."

"Then you should have figured it out."

"They only needed to exchange your mother's properties with those of an ordinary woman."

"Everyone your father knew was a Jujutsu Sorcerer, while everyone your mother and I knew was a Monster."

"In the end, Su Ze found a woman and completed the exchange of properties with your mother."

"But that exchange was a conspiracy!" Lu Zhe said through gritted teeth.

"After your mother became an ordinary person, Su Ze first leaked your father's whereabouts to the Monsters, then sold your mother's whereabouts to the Jujutsu Sorcerers."

"Your mother suffered severe injuries during those repeated pursuits!"

"Yet Su Ze himself and the woman who had become a Monster disappeared without a trace!" Lu Zhe said bitterly.

How could he not hate him? Su Ze had once been his friend, and Lu Zhe himself had introduced him to Lu Xiaolei.

Looking back, Su Ze had probably harbored ulterior motives from the beginning.

It was only after Jiang Changqing and his sister, Lu Xiaolei, got together that Su Ze began approaching him.

Later, Su Ze had deliberately shown him his Cursed Technique, leading to everything that followed.

As for the woman who had gained a Monster's body, Lu Zhe had originally kept watch over her himself.

But who could have expected that he would trust Su Ze's lies and rush off to save his sister, allowing both of them to disappear without a trace?

"Can he and that woman still be found?" Xia Jie asked hoarsely.

Lu Zhe looked at him and said silently, "I've been looking for him all these years, but I've never found him."

Xia Jie's expression tightened. He heard the apology in Lu Zhe's words.

"Uncle, you and Su Ze..." Xia Jie said in a coaxing tone.

Being called uncle lifted Lu Zhe's spirits considerably, but when he saw Xia Jie's eyes, he could not help thinking of his sister again.

"Su Ze was once my friend... and I was the one who introduced him to your mother!" Lu Zhe said dejectedly.

Xia Jie fell silent at once. Though he wanted to say that none of this had anything to do with Lu Zhe, he could not bring himself to say it.

"The Monsters who hunted my parents..." Xia Jie said after several seconds of silence.

"They're all dead!" Lu Zhe said coldly.

"And the Jujutsu Sorcerers who hunted my parents..." Xia Jie continued.

"Most of them are dead!" Lu Zhe looked at Xia Jie. "But there aren't many survivors either... Before your father left China, he secretly assassinated another batch of them. Only a few troublesome ones remained unresolved!"

"Some of the ones who went into hiding are difficult to deal with now."

Xia Jie recalled his gentle father. It was truly hard to imagine him as a cold-blooded assassin.

"What about Su Ze?" Xia Jie asked in a deep voice. "Have you found any clues about him over the years?"

"I've been searching for him, but he has been like vaporized all these years. He has never shown himself," Lu Zhe said, shaking his head.

"I suspect he may have joined some organization and gone into hiding."

"Are there other organizations among Monsters besides the Monster Alliance?" Xia Jie asked.

"Many," Lu Zhe answered. "Although everyone nominally belongs to the Monster Alliance, Heaven-Reaching Great Sage has never appeared, and the seven demon immortals who founded the Monster Alliance have differing ideals. As a result, three major factions emerged within the Monster Alliance."

"Many Monsters have also formed their own forces."

"However, the Monster Alliance still supervises the younger generation and Monsters from other factions, requiring them to make the Binding Vows established back then."

"What happens if they refuse to make the Binding Vows?" Xia Jie asked.

"Then they become Wild Monsters, and Jujutsu Sorcerers may attack Wild Monsters at will. Generally, this does not happen, but in recent decades, as the number of Monsters has increased, Monsters who have not made Binding Vows are no longer rare."

"Wouldn't the Monsters in the Monster Alliance be violating the Binding Vow of self-inspection?" Xia Jie asked.

"The consequences of violating these three Binding Vows are not as severe as you think," Lu Zhe explained. "If all three are violated, one's own Cursed Energy will turn into flames and burn them to death."

"But if only one is violated, at most twenty to thirty percent of one's Cursed Energy will be sealed."

"The third Binding Vow is also quite flexible. Ignorance is no crime, after all. If someone violates it because they were deceived by the other party, they may not even be restrained by their Cursed Energy."

Xia Jie smacked his lips twice. "They really all have their own ways around it."

Lu Zhe said expressionlessly, "You can't expect Monsters to obediently make Binding Vows according to the Jujutsu Sorcerers' demands forever. The Jujutsu Sorcerers know that too."

"But as long as the Monsters do not stir up trouble, they turn a blind eye."

"Peace between Monsters and Jujutsu Sorcerers did not come easily. No one is willing to shatter it lightly."