My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

In the deep forest area around 10 kilometers away from Southern Lust City was a pond, its surface covered in solidified frost. Suddenly, two people jumped out of it, one shivering in the cold on the other's back.

Han Li's hand clawed at the mud, and he climbed up the pond with one heavy lift, his mother tightly holding him. Once out, he laid on the ground and breathed heavily, his heart thudding against his chest.

"We could have died there just now." He breathed heavily, his heart full of trepidation.

Yue Li felt irritated at the dead leaves and mud sticking onto her, but she shared his sentiment. "Yeah, just miss."

They would have drowned to death for sure this time. Yue Li had been caught on a vine when they were swimming underwater towards this place, and even with Han Li's enormous strength, he couldn't undo it because it was strangely rubbery, as if it had both the properties of gum and rubber. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of it, and only then did he realize it was a unique type of tree that had become a Beast, having somehow absorbed enough Energy to create a core inside it. It was a goddamn living tree!

And of all things, he had almost lost both of their lives to it, which was supposed to be merely a better Magical Resource above water. Cursing his bad luck, he smirked, "But I killed it in the end. Can't fight your son when he grows serious."

Yue Li gave him a smack on the face. "What can't fight my son? It would have killed us both if that sword hadn't arrived in time."

Han Li chuckled.

"I am not joking, don't laugh!" She beat his face again. "Don't laugh, don't laugh!"

Han Li laughed for a second but stopped with an ouch when she poked his closed eyelids with her pinky. "So dangerous, so dangerous, I was half scared to death when I thought you were injured by that vine. Damn it, I am never letting you leave home!"

Seeing his restless mother try all sorts of things to hurt him but fail, he hugged her damp body to sleep above him, and she finally stopped, glaring at him with nervousness.

"How was your first brush with death?" Han Li asked, his heart pounding inside him. She took a deep breath and turned silent.

In that dark underwater space, she could remember it, something tugging her leg and pulling her deeper while he desperately clung to her, and his eyes suddenly shifted. It was not the eye of the gentle son who had exasperatedly promised her he wouldn't kill again unless it was absolutely necessary; it was the eye of something dangerous.

It was so abrupt—she had felt her hand detach from his, and the next thing she heard was a dying screech that a plant couldn't have released, not underwater, at least. Yet it did, and before herself, its body burst into green blood, and with a simple snatch, he collected something round from inside it.

Those eyes had shifted back to her, the ruthless shine replacing itself with a warm and relieved one. Really, it felt reassuring how crazy he suddenly was—she even wondered if he would be screaming if it was above water.

"You looked cool," she said, "Honestly speaking, I would be now head over heels at the moment, swooning how cool you were, maybe even holding myself back from doing something even worse than that licking thing I made you do… after all, I am a normal lady, I won't care for some plants dying, but after learning you killed a human, I was a bit scared."

Han Li looked at the new morning dawn. It had been two days since the wedding had been interrupted by whatever was happening. They had stayed in the underwater cavern for a whole day, not just being rabbits, all the time fucking, but actually just waiting for the chaos to calm. Most of the time, Yue Li was introspective, so they laid in silence with the darkness of the cavern and the sound of the river bed as their only friend.

However noisy Han Li seemed around his woman, deep down, he was a silent person. He liked silence, but after a while, after waking after sleep, Yue Li had had enough of the lightless place. So they had to leave, and then they were on their way back outside.

"Scared," Han Li sighed. "I don't know why, and it is the second time you've said it too; such a bad word. I hate it."

Yue Li chuckled.

"But in the end, it comes down to one thing. You looked cool. I am a dumb woman, so I easily swoon even when I am scared."

Han Li shook his head. Feeling a bit dejected.

He had promised her he wouldn't kill anyone unless absolutely necessary, too, so that was another dilemma he had to go around. Maybe just not doing what he promised was the best choice now.

"I am not worried about that, but something else, Mom, it bugs me constantly. I am a bit worried," he said, sitting up and taking her leg to see a round mark around her foot and angle. That vine did hurt her. His blood boiled at the thought.

"No licking," Yue Li warned, making Han Li roll his eyes at her. "Shameless Mom," he said, "Just listen now. Such things can be done later."

"I don't want such things!" she grumbled, "What are you worried about, anyway?"

"That instinctual feeling that we both had that something bad was going on if I alone had it, sure, but we both had it when this event started, so I feel a bit worried about why that was."

He gently warmed her legs using a towel, thinking with a sigh, 'There is also the 'change' that I am unaware of. What happened in this timeline that caused this? Was it the simple changes like butterfly flapping wings that had now changed the entire future already?'

And can his Sacred Eyes be trusted now?

[Life Vision], was everything always as it showed?

What was it that was different?

He had gained more questions rather than more answers after he headed out this time. The only good things were Hou Mang's pouch, which he had yet to check, and the Water Type Beast King Core inside him. And hatefully, he can't even absorb the Energy in the Beast Core since it would be Water Type whereas he needed Life Type.

Lust Spark can convert Lust into usable Energy for him, but Beast Cores has no lust.

A silence reigned for a while before Yue Li said, "I also learned something Xiao Li. Something I hadn't noticed till now."

"What?" he asked.

"Higher Stage Cultivators are not always omnipotent, you see," she said, "Even though you are Evolved, you can't do everything; you can't even create fire out of nowhere; only Fire-type Sparks can, and everything is like that."

Han Li frowned. "Wasn't that… super obvious?"

She coughed gently. "Let me finish."

"Just like that, everything is similar; each Spark is meant to help someone in one way, and yours is Lust, so beyond the bed and home, it is weak. Our cultivation method in itself is different from something like Mages, Xianxia Cultivators, or such; we are rather weak even if we break through."

Han Li frowned even more. "Not really. Once we reach Power Born, anyone who has at least a High-Level Foundation can fly, and they become much stronger. Best Evolution Stage Cultivators could barely break boulders, but the Power Born stage? They can create boulders in hundreds using their Magic Powers and throw them at you from the air."

Yue Li nodded.

"What about the Stage after that? Transcendence?"

"Transcendence?" Han Li smirked. "They could literally topple mountains, cleave the sea, and more. Their single wave of a hand can create a gorge here, the entire continent would shake when they fight, not just around the area like the Power Borns."

"I see," she nodded. "Then the Sacred Demons must be super powerful."

"And Mom, let me tell you a secret." Han Li smiled. "Transcendants are not too limited by their Spark, like lust, they are trapped in lust and so on. Instead, with lust, they will create fire of lust, water of lust, and yeah, it is a whole lot of confusion your dumb head won't want to get into."

"Hmm, nice, now I feel invigorated. We should go back to Liyue's, and also, the next time you kill someone, know that I will never forgive you for betraying my trust. And as soon as possible, tell that secret to me too. And sigh…" she muttered, "Weren't you supposed to only look after Liyue for three days after returning?"

"Yes, for the next three days, we won't spend a second with Li Yao and you; for sure; my Liyue knew a bit about the secret, and she didn't even ask," he smiled, "I have to give her the love she deserves."

Yue Li sighed. "Then let's go there after a while."

"Till then?" his eyes brightened.

"Let's find a cave or something."