My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

132  Crimson Night

The moonlight struck against the Elephant Rock, gently lighting its contours as time gently trickled towards midnight. As serene as the place seemed, though, it was still in the middle of an expansive jungle, and it was a night.

Snakes crawled the ground, hissing as they moved past. Night birds cried and flapped their wings, some hunting, some being hunted. And among all that, or under all that, a conflict was also happening that had the benefits of the greatest powerhouses around the area at stake.

Inside the Elephant Rock, Han Li and Yue Li were leaning against the rock's hard surface, and his mother was assaulting him with kisses and pushing him down to play around with him. sensing it was around midnight, Han Li was just about to forget the last thing that bound his hand. But then, he stopped and pushed his mom's mouth away from his. Then, he covered her mouth with a hand tightly to silence her.

His heart-qi-tinged soul sense, hidden from normal men, slid out of the Elephant Rock, and his senses expanded. At the same time, a gentle transmission echoed inside his mom's mind: "Mom, someone is coming. Probably a runaway, but let me see, and no matter what, don't make a single noise."

She nodded and pushed down the lust inundating herself at the moment. Han Li focused on his Soul Sense.

Wobbling on his feet was an old man, his body covered in wounds and his grey robes full of blood. On his face, there was a long cut that went deep enough to show his skull. With a single glance, Han Li recognized the man 10 meters away from the Elephant Rock.

'Hou Mang,' Han Li determined. Stunned. Evolved are already escaping?

This was also the route towards another city, so it was reasonable that someone chose this area to escape. Does that mean the conflict was already over, or was this guy just running away in fear?

That was the Demon he had seen in the city who would go on to murder the seven-year-old young boy named Hou Jing to gain more power. But the man seemed haggard and near death; he was holding on to his left hand, which seemed as if it was on the verge of being severed.

'What is going on?' Han Li's eyes sparkled, and he pushed his mom towards his chest. She silently looked at him, her heart beating wildly with excitement and nervousness.

His full focus then moved to the outside world.

…

Hou Mang breathed heavily and walked a step at a time, and as he reached the Elephant Stone, he leaned on it, his blood marring the pristine stone surface.

"Gr…" he groaned. "What a bad time. I should have just moved the other route."

He leaned back and took a small pouch from his side. With a further grimace, he pulled out a yellowish flower from inside it that seemed to lighten his body in a star-like essence.

"What a waste, what a waste," he muttered and looked at the sky. "I hope this heals me entirely."

Inside the rock, Han Li grew contemplative as the man got ready to eat the flower.

'Starlight Flower. A Magical Resource that could heal the wounds of people on a surface level. It might not be able to heal everything, but it can heal simple wounds like that and make him at least a bit functional.'

It was a resource that came under the "Light Great Dao."

He gently closed his mother's ears with his hands, and outside the rock, a dark thing slowly flashed towards the old man. The old man was an Evolved of the Ethereal Path, and his Dao Soul was of the Smoke Dao. According to his understanding, the reason the old man was grooming that young boy was to strengthen his body—as in, it was not strong yet.

His sword could hurt such flimsy bodies as Top Notch Mortal Physiques even without him using his own hands proficiently. He hoped that was still the case as his Soul Sense covered the old Hou Mang from all sides, ready to stun him with one of his Talents if need be. But as the Life Sword flashed forward, it gently sunk into the old man's flesh, into his heart, and as his eyes widened and he shrieked, Han Li's cover over his mom's ears tightened ever so gently.

A second later, Hou Mang gently fell to the ground, as dead as dead can be.

The sword circled in midair, cutting off the small pouch in Hou Mang's hand, and, once more, pierced into the body. Its pure strength was based on his Soul's power; it could easily carry a weak body to around a meter height.

It took the body and flew away for a while before dropping it under a small hollow tree, and then, it came back to rest, hidden under the Elephant Rock.

Han Li sighed inside.

'There is a lot of blood around; if someone checked, it would be easy to figure out something happened.'

But his goal was not to hide things from others; as long as the one who hurt Hou Mang couldn't even kill Hou Mang entirely, Han Li believed they couldn't do anything to him either. But he wasn't one to move without being cautious.

Now, he finally had a way to realize what was happening.

The sword moved and pushed up the 'belly' of the Elephant Rock, and as it continued to do that for about 5 minutes with almost all the strength that an ordinary adult might have, a doorway suddenly appeared, and the sword entered, having already shaken off all the bloodstains. It also carried the small pouch with it, whereas, a hand moved out the rock to grab the flower.

22:04

The sword moved and pushed up the 'belly' of the Elephant Rock, and as it continued to do that for about 5 minutes with almost all the strength that an ordinary adult might have, a doorway suddenly appeared, and the sword entered, having already shaken off all the bloodstains. It also carried the small pouch with it, whereas, a hand moved out the rock to grab the flower.

Han Li took hold of it, and a second later, the entry closed with a dragging sound.

Chuckling, he closed his eyes and said calmly, "You can relax, Mom."

Yue Li looked at him curiously. "What happened?"

Han Li sighed. "A secret."

Yue Li frowned.

"I also want to use your sword to see your memories someday, or it will be too unfair, Xiao Li."

Han Li saw that she was no longer so aroused and couldn't help but feel it was a pity. He shook his head and said calmly, "Don't worry too much about it now. You are not capable of doing that either."

"Someday?"

"Sure."

"What now then?" she languidly asked, not knowing that a man had died outside. If she had known, she might have been frightened, or maybe disgusted at her son and probably angry too. Even if the person outside was a Demon, his mom would never approve of his action.

She was too naive.

Han Li caressed the back of her head. "Now, I want to do something for some time. I want to check the memories inside the sword that I just absorbed; wait till then, and we will continue."

Yue Li's eyes brightened. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"You wounded our enemy?"

Han Li sighed and took the sword; as it brightened, his senses slowly shut down, and he entered the land of those memories. Yue Li frowned, feeling her gut wrench slightly.

Just before completely falling into the memories, Han Li muttered, "The person outside was a Demon who planned to kill a seven-year-old boy. And probably, also involved in killing the caravan full of people too."

Yue Li frowned even harder. Feeling her skin crawl slightly.

Han Li never wanted to show her the dark side of the world like he wished to do with Liyue. He wanted to keep his mom who she was unless it was her own decision to change. But she would have to see some things regardless of whether he wanted or not, and today, her being here was important since he would have to use the Luck-Chat System to keep himself safe, so using it to keep his Mom safe was the same as that.

His Mom's presence made both of them safer rather than her being a burden, especially since he had already gotten something as good as a Light Type Magical Resource this early on to trade with. Not that he had thought of this in his plans; it was just a very good addition. With it, he could get something that would help them escape faster. Even if it would only be for one person.

And this would only pile up to be more advantages if he could gain something more; that was why he had brought her here in the first place, especially with the Elephant Rock as a distraction; he was rather sure of his success.

But in the end, bringing her would also mean showing her a bit of his 'other side.' The part of him that was not the gentle son she knew.

***

In a faraway city existed a small clan, the clan barely had 20 people living in it. The family of twenty named themselves the Smoke Clan, and they were rather prosperous. Some time ago, exactly one hundred and twenty years from today, a baby named Hou Mang was born there.