My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

[Volume 2—To the throes of the unwise, I sing the harmony of life and death.]

_

Wind and rain buffeted against the parasol. It flapped and flopped, making a dark and ominous noise that echoed alarmingly. The surroundings were deadly calm, cold, even.

The parasol hid the thing beneath it; in the darkness of the night, the thing's eyes were clearly unusual. Somehow, they stood out because It was… not there.

Those Eyes were empty, though the more apt word to say would've been the abyss.

Abyss!

The parasol-holding creature walked forward in the night. Everything was eerily silent except the wind and rain.

The unholy forest stretched under its footsteps, ever wide and disturbing as the rain splattered around it with tempestuous weight.

The pools of water it walked over turned into crawling worms, and everything it walked on seemed to just... fall into nothingness, being evaporated.

A sudden whip of wind made the parasol flap harder than ever.

The creature suddenly turned towards the side. It looked as if the abyssal gaze could pierce the darkness. Then, it focused its gaze on something—or someone. My heart faltered; the creature's abyssal gaze had found me.

A maelstrom of something surged forth, engulfing my consciousness in its wild, untamed fury.

I was, but a cultivator of the Vital Weapon Path, yet this creature in front of me was more, so much more than a cultivator. Something devoured my senses, and when I woke up, I was in another world.

…

Han Li opened his eyes. His mind was muffled and disoriented for a long moment before his gaze cleared. There was a sense of doom still echoing in his heart, almost as if he'd died. It was not an unfamiliar situation to a man who had died, not once, but twice before; it was a familiar well he'd rather not drink from.

He breathed heavily before looking at his surroundings.

He was seated on the high steps of the Temple of Suffering, and up in the sky, the sun was looming, high and mighty. It was noon of the fourth month.

Feeling parched, Han Li sniffed and sighed.

Then, he took some more deep breaths.

He had once again failed.

He did not really fail, but he couldn't go past the traumas of The Spirit. Shaking his head, he still felt that bone-deep fear. It was clutching at his bones and rattling him.

He snorted. His Heart Qi spread around himself, clearing the haze surrounding his mind.

After attaining [Blade Fusion], the Life Sword had become one with him.

Unless he wanted to, the sword doesn't have to be taken out of his body. It was flowing through him like a liquidized, no, a gaseous, substance. When he activated [Blade Fusion], the thing would surround him entirely, making him a blade in the form of a man.

He could also, thus, read memories that the sword stole without activating or carrying it physically in a sheath or something similar—he was the sheath.

Just a while ago, he had once again been attempting to read The Spirit's memories completely, but he just couldn't. Every time, it reaches that particular scene after a boring sleep, and then everything cuts off. Regardless, even with that, Han Li had already gotten a lot of information that he didn't have before.

The Spirit, named Munyu, was not originally from the Seven Continents as he had expected—that unnameable thing devoured her before she became what he coined a Spirit. Before she arrived here on the Seven Continents.

From then onwards, her life was a void to him. That moment just breaks his concentration in the dream. His immersion.

What was she? Was she dead now? What were her goals? Why was she with Yang Wei before Han Li killed him? It was all a mystery.

It gnawed at him to know more, but he also knew why he couldn't go past that blockade to watch more. Unlike the ordinary people whom he tried to watch the memories of, The Spirit was an actual Transcendent. The power difference was extreme!

He would have been able to see her memories quite easily if he tried to force it, though, but the issue was the effect on himself. The Spirit seemed entirely different from humans in all senses. He just couldn't read her memories without being affected mentally by her own emotions. If she grew terrified, he was also terrified.

He had many thoughts regarding everything, like the Spirit was from the Everlasting Human World and more, but he pushed those aside for now. Thinking like that gave him no benefits; he should focus on moving forward with that memory, at least until it gives him more methods of using Heart Qi.

Shaking his consciousness out from his head, the surrounding serene landscape became a much clearer thing in his mind, and he focused on the woman meditating beside him. It was Liyue.

He smiled slightly. It was going to be a pivotal moment in the girl's life. He briefly ended up thinking of their first meeting; more than three years had passed since then, and Liyue had become a woman… much more of it than she was.

Her beauty was one thing that had certainly become far more noticeable. Her curves were softer, her dark brows always sharp like swords, often frowning. Her baring was akin to a spear, haughty, upstanding, unquestionable.

Her dark eyes now closed, always had the shine of stars in them and an ambition of becoming more than what she was. Her dark hair was far longer than it had been, falling on her back and then following down to lay loosely strewn on the cobblestone ground. Her face, fair and beautiful, had a mature aura of confidence.

As Han Li stared at her, he couldn't help but think of his marriage. He had attempted to marry Liyue many times in the last few years, but something, anything, kept interrupting the marriage—ruining it. Something was afoot, and that made him slightly worried.

She was about to Evolve now. She was already an Awakened Master in the art of Spears, and her body had also become as good of a body as it could be in the Awakened Stage for an Ethereal Cultivator.

Han Li could've used his neutral Dao Crystals, which were usable by any cultivator of any Dao, to give her an early advantage—by giving her a body nearly equal to Evolution Stage Cultivators. Of course, but he had learned not to do that in recent years in one of his many… experiments.

He was not one to get into something without proper research, and he hadn't created his own Beast Core as of yet, too. He didn't really know what the principles behind it were. Most importantly, he only had 5 Life Dao Resources—now three, after healing Ruo and using one to increase Liyue's Talent to become Sacred.

He couldn't use the rest nonchalantly.

He had to be sure about it; he would soon enter the final parts of his experiment regarding Beast Cores, and he would probably have to use one as a throwaway experimental resource, too, but Liyue had reached maturity as an Awakened now; it was time for her to Evolve.

She and her growth were much more important than a Resource.

As he was lost in his thoughts, Liyue's eyes fluttered open and rested on Han Li's red eyes. Han Li was briefly speechless. Liyue had a regal elegance to her gaze, one that seemed heroic and beyond all, but her smirk broke the illusion.

"What, Big Brother, too stunned by my beauty?" She asked; her mind was already as calm as possible after introspective meditation. It was about time she attempted Evolution.

Han Li sighed and sat closer to her. He held her hand.

"Am I the nervous one now?" Her hand tightened around his. He asked, "Are you not nervous one bit about Evolving? You know, many people fail in it."

Liyue smiled. It was a beautiful sight, one that had even enchanted monks before. Of course, the only thing that scenario ended up with was either Han Li himself beating them up or Liyue herself beating them up.

…Not to mention, some monks had supposedly even gained enlightenment because they endured worldly afflictions by not looking at her as she passed by. She had become that beautiful. In an extremely powerful and bold sort of way.

Han Li smiled back. "If you fail in Evolution, your big brother Han will fail as a teacher. You are my best student, after all."

Liyue's smile broadened, and she kissed the back of his hand. "Mother Yue would make a scene if you call me the best…" She giggled. "And Yuanfen is also good."

"Yet, you are the first to gain my approval to Evolve, so you are indeed my best."

"Of course," she said, then her smile grew a bit wry. "We should try one more time to get married after I evolve. If it fails, we can be sure something is afoot."

Han Li held her gaze. The time seemed to stop briefly. No one would come here for a while; everyone, even Yue Li and the others, had been barred from this place as Evolving alone had been Liyue's choice—alone with Han Li if that made any sense.

She took a deep breath and then asked, "So, shall we begin?"

Han Li nodded, saying with a teasing smile, "Evolve, marry, and I finally get to have actual sex with you—which is not in the back but in the actual place."

She frowned and tightened her hold over his palm. With a disconcerted expression, she said, "That is so… like you! This is a pivotal moment for us; don't just think about that. Like, our future is bright no matter where I look, and the one thing you noticed was sex."

Han Li smiled, but her next words made him contemplative.

"This might not be too noticeable to you, Big Brother, but you know… we should do more than just have sex and walk around the temple. Not only me but all of us think so. You know, like an occasional break from research and cultivation is not too bad, right?"

Han Li nodded, but Liyue obviously saw the half-heartedness in his nod. She sighed, "I will talk some sense into you after I evolve—maybe by beating my own master in a fight."

That… made him raise an eyebrow.

"Evolve first." He said with a shake of his head and a faint smile which she smirked at.

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