My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

Chapter 172  Calm before the storm?

After making his mother trade the Life-type resource in their hand for something that could heal and mend broken limbs, Han Li waited for the resource to arrive with bated breath. The Life Fruit in Han Li's hand had already vanished.

Han Li took a deep breath.

He was a cold man, a man as cold as ice. Time had made his soul one made of obsidian. He could endure pain himself to a point even the other Transcendents would be stunned if they knew it. He was cruel to others. He could kill anyone other than a few without even blinking. Yet, he was just as cruel to himself.

He could, without batting an eye, hurt himself to achieve what he wanted. Yet, seeing his mother squirming in pain as blood dripped through her clothing, he couldn't help but grit his teeth. Yet, he consoled himself: 'This is just temporary. Everything temporary would be fine when the time comes. Impermanent things are worth as much as an ant; do not linger on pain. Search for the solution.'

Crrrrrr!

The space in front of Han Li, the literal atmosphere, trembled slightly. A drop of golden liquid fell from the sky out of nowhere and transformed into a hot red fruit. Han Li was stunned and didn't know what was happening at first before he realized it. Yet, he didn't take the time to contemplate and quickly took the fruit and moved to his mother.

Feeding her the fruit, he put her severed arm close to the bleeding stump, and she cried out in pain. He didn't have to wait for long before a searing red flame started to burn his mother's arm. It was hot and painful, and Yue Li lost consciousness in the middle of it, but her hand was soon fixed and healed, down to her very bone fibers, and she was sleeping with ragged breath that turned calmer as time passed.

Han Li sighed calmly and his forehead sweaty, sighed. They were in a cave now, and it was nearing night. The chill in the air was a bit discomforting, and the room was laden with shadows. In the middle, the mushroom bed was now covered in his mother's blood, yet she herself was now healthy. Her blood would be replaced by the healing energies in the fruit she had eaten.

His head slightly pounding with relentless questions, Han Li focused his gaze on thin air. The fruit, this time, had appeared out of thin air. Usually, something happens after the Luck Chat System is used, and as if reality and fate in itself were being tampered with, what he wants appears in his hand through coincidences.

What was the difference this time?

He knew it. Magical Resources were said to be normal fruits and normal resources that had been blessed by heavenly energies. And then blessed by the Great Dao. It was a myth as old as the Sacred Demons, and there was no way to prove it, but after seeing what he had today, he had a theory.

The Heavens, as he had coined the consciousness that lets people perform Magic Powers, bless the fruit or other resources with a power of its own. As in, if it blesses a normal fruit with the power of Life Great Dao, it becomes a Life Type Resource. And this should be the case for every individual Dao. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Including all the 7 Great Daos—Water, Air, Earth, Fire, Darkness, Light, and Life—And the countless normal Daos ranging from Lust to anything else. All these Dao, in the end, belonged to the Heavens, and it was that entity that should also be blessing normal fruits and such to be so valuable. So, the event of the immediate birth of a Life-type Fruit as a trade using his mom's System meant that the System in itself might be something that was even beyond the Heavens itself. Thinking of these, his thoughts returned to Li Shuanwei.

What was he?

He didn't use Magic Powers. He didn't use Heart Qi either. Was it a Talent like Han Li himself?

The power stolen from the Heavens to make it his own?

Han Li didn't know, but he had a feeling none of these were the case. He was missing something. Something crucial. Just like how he still didn't know why the Heaven Rising had happened so soon. That crucial piece would tell him everything.

He almost felt like a beast that had been trapped inside a dark room for all his life; such a creature wouldn't know what light was. But Han Li already had a plan, and he knew he had to be quick. If Li Shuanwei were to fail in the Trial, he would be back in the real world in two or three more hours at the most. Yet, before doing anything like that, he also knew what he was missing.

His own shoulder bones were broken, and the flesh inside was mangled. Red eyes bright, Han Li carried his mother on his back and walked out of the cave. Then, he moved to a nearby pond and washed her off of blood. She briefly woke up, her head feeling like mush. Han Li made her put both his sword and her knife into her Empty Space, and she once again fell unconscious.

Clean of blood, other than the still reddened clothes, hair and body wet, Han Li then moved towards the Southern Lust City. His eyes were calculating, and his mind was in a slight overdrive. He knew he was in an extremely disadvantageous situation with Li Shuanwei as his obvious enemy—Li Xingguang was his father, after all.

A Power Born could find and kill Han Li, as he was now, even if he went into hiding.

And the mere fact that Li Shuanwei knew his secrets alone made it a paramount need that he was dead. No matter what, as long as he lived, Han Li couldn't sleep calmly.

As the shadows of the forestry passed by, just before the dawn sun vanished into the horizon, Han Li reached the city gates and entered it without a second's waste. With eyes a calm pond, he passed by the Evolved guards and soon entered the crowded streets. Heart just as calm as his gaze, he entered Starlight Zone and, passing the Evolved guardian of the wall who looked at him with a surprised, borderline stunned gaze, he went directly to his home. The door was locked, but Han Li pulled out an iron key from his own Empty Space and opened it.

Entering inside, he didn't see Liyue or Li Yao and was a bit worried at first, but he spread his Soul Sense towards the kitchen; the utensils were wet, and they seemed to have just eaten something. Then, he briefly walked near and found four women in the backyard—Liyue, Li Yao, Hua Feilan, and an unknown woman.

He would have used Life Vision on her, but he now had no time and didn't go to greet them. No one could sense his Heart Qi-infused Soul Sense, either. So, without waiting, he went into his room and found it neat and tidy. Han Li smiled. Then, he gently laid his sleeping mother on the bed and took out the Demonic Lust Sutra book from under the bed. With a slightly pained frown, he touched his shoulder and sat to a side. Inside his Empty Space, he now had [3000 Dao Crystals] that could be used by any cultivator of any Dao and [121 Minor Dao Crystals of the Lust Dao], a total [3121 Cystals].

He only needed 1000 for him to achieve one more Transformation. Even though that would be his limit at the Evolution Stage, one more Transformation would atleast double his current strength. He had planned to use these crystals to help Liyue and his mother achieve a better physique before breaking through to the Evolution Stage, but he no longer had such a choice. He would have to do that some other way. He had set a time limit for himself already: in 2 hours, if what he was thinking of was wrong, he would have to run with his family. He knew a bunch of escape ways. He calmly flipped to a page in the corpus left behind by the Lust Demon. The ultimate guide in the path of cultivation he had yet seen. Skin Building, Tendon Stretching, Bone Forging, Blood Condensation, Flesh Transformation, Organ Strengthening, and Physique Perfection. Of them, he had already completed Skin and Organ, while Physique Perfection was only possible to be trained as the last Transformation. Now, his choices were Bone, Blood, Tendons, or Flesh. The bone would give him improved strength and defense, making him almost unkillable by Evolved. They can't harm his bones, his skin, and organs. How can they kill him?

He would be invincible under Power Birth. Atleast by conventional senses. Unless they had a weapon as sharp as his mom's knife or had Mastery of a weapon that would allow them to cut through his skin like he himself could cut through.

If he chose Blood Condensation, he would gain regenerative abilities and could heal even better than Nu Kai from the fourth trial. He could heal every part of him that is already Transformed. He would be able to heal his skin and organs very quickly. Yet, it wouldn't be able to heal his bones, flesh, or tendons. So, that was out.

Then Tendons. If he transformed it, he would be far faster than Nu Kai. He would be like a blur to almost any Evolved in the entire continent unless they have a Light Type Beast Transformation of their own. Yet even then, he would be nearly on par even if they were Sacred Talents.

Then there was flesh. Flesh would give him regenerative power, which wasn't anywhere nearly as good as blood, and a bit of defensive prowess, too. Yet, he would still be vulnerable to bone-breaking attacks. So what should he choose as his last body Transformation in the Evolved Stage?

His head spun. And soon, he knew what to do. Indecision was vital, after all.