Chapter 171 The world was unforgiving.
Even Yue Li felt a foreboding sensation around her nape as a stone statue-like thing walked out of the wall. It was humanoid, and soon, it opened its eyes. A very human-like pair of calm eyes, a unique dark pair of eyes that shimmered with cunning and curiosity, and a smirk on its stone-like face that was full of ridicule.
Han Li trembled slightly, his breathing growing heavy and his sword growing utterly defensive. His heart also beat faster than ever after regressing back with future memories. He snarled, "We meet again, Unawakened."
The rock-made man on the wall tilted his head. Slowly, as if water was flowing out of his skin, the rock faded away, and his true appearance was revealed, making Yue Li's eyes widen while Han Li grew apprehensive. The face was far too familiar.
This face had been in Han Li's dreams and his thoughts all the time for the past few weeks. He had always been thinking of this man. He had been mulling over so much, and now that the culprit was in front of him, Han Li couldn't help but feel a sensation of foreboding.
Starlight Clan Head's direct son, Li Shuanwei. The man who had been the center of all chaos in Southern Lust City. The man who had made Han Li move out of his comfortable cultivation area. A cold sensation of unpredictability hung in Han Li's mind. This one person, Han Li, had no idea what he even was.
The young man's appearance now resembled the signature appearance of a Starlight Clan member—brownish black eyes that seemed to reflect the shining stars of the night sky and hair a deep black, which he had tied behind him in a small bun.
"Didn't think I would meet a clan mate in this place. How intriguing," The man sounded lazy, almost too relaxed. That was scary. Especially scary after seeing the whole battle Han Li had just fought with Nu Kai right in front of him. Han Li's mind rang with alarm bells.
Regardless, his words were calm. "Li Shuanwei, a filthy rich young master of our areas. A close son of the Starlight Clan Head, a silk pants who had often been said to be idiotic or stupid. He was by today more than 30 years old, but the man hadn't even Awakened for once yet. An unawakened adult.
"Not because he had some kind of issue regarding his cultivation—the man just hated cultivation, supposedly. Someone who intentionally avoids all kinds of conflict no matter how they come. A man who likes to sleep at home rather than wake up to eat. A person who is said to be the epitome of laziness."
Blinking, Li Shuanwei rubbed off some remnant mud on his pristine white clan robes. "You seem to really know me. I am proud that a genius with Sacred Talent who had Evolved at the tender age of eighteen remembers me."
Han Li's hair stood on end as the man's gaze focused on him for a second before moving to his mother. He couldn't understand why. A profound sensation of crisis hit him with just a glance. His mother must have felt the same as she paled where she stood.
"Technically speaking, she and I are friends from the same generation, you know?" Li Shuanwei asked. His gait was still as languid as ever, his gaze lazy. "She is just five or so years older than me. I still remember the days every one of my generation was on her back, trying to woo her. How nostalgic."
Yue Li stood behind Han Li, hiding herself. She did not have much of a recollection about this person even though she knew him vaguely as she had seen him.
Seeing that, Li Shuanwei sighed with a saddened expression. "When everyone bullied me for being Unawakened at my age when I was thirteen, you once consoled me. It felt good. I just remembered it. You must have been just a year or two older than me then."
Yue Li hid behind Han Li and said softly, "Sorry, but I don't really remember you. I know your appearance but nothing much."
Han Li calmly said, "You don't have to respond to him. He is making a fool of you."
His own gaze never left the person nor even blinked. His Life Vision was still the same, no difference whatsoever from the past Li Shuanwei he had used Life Vision on. (Chapter 108)
[Li Shuanwei] [Age: 30]
[Current Cultivation: Unawakened]
[End time cultivation in the first life Premonition: Unawakened]
[End time cultivation in the last Premonition: Unawakened]
[Death: (in the last premonition) At age 50, a renowned poet who grew enchanted by a woman's beauty, only to get dumped and commit suicide.]
He was obviously a weakling, yet obviously, he was not. Han Li had never met someone like that. And didn't he have a Starlight Spark? What was he doing using something like the power of the Rock clan to hide among the rocks?
And the Trials 'Artificial Intelligence' as Yue Li had coined thought only himself and Nu Kai combined stood a chance against this person.
"Your head is spinning with thoughts…" Li Shuanwei squinted in curiosity. "I almost want to kill you to nip all your secrets out already. That sword is nice. Your body isn't half bad, but you are supposed to have the Starlight Spark. No, you are supposed to have no sparks at all. My head is spinning now. What curious subject I have had in my own backyard without knowing at all."
Han Li calmly laughed. "A cultivation base I can't sense no matter what I try, powers that are not of the Starlight Spark. Is it a Magical Resource that hides you in a rock? Yet why do I feel it is not? And also tell me, why were you the cause of all that bloodshed that happened in the surroundings of our city? Do you know how many innocents died due to you?!"
Li Shuanwei sniffed. A languid expression on his face, he said: "Another dog that I should have killed long ago. You see, I had everything down there: money, power, and everything. Yet, I didn't have women. Killing you should get me some, right?"
Han Li's gaze condensed. With a cold gaze, he readied for battle, but Li Shuanwei just shook his head and chopped the air before him with a slash. Han Li expected a lethal attack, but nothing came; his heart dropped, and he looked back. His mother's painful scream echoed all the way in the room as one of her arms was slashed. Crimson exploded from her shoulder, and she coughed up blood.
Han Li's heart thudded, and he shouted. "STOP!"
Li Shuanwei stopped midway in his second chop. He wouldn't be able to kill the woman right away due to the protection of the bubble, but taking another hand wouldn't be trouble. Yet, curious, he stopped. What will Han Li do to stop him?
He had expected Han Li to do something ridiculous, but seeing what Han Li did next, his mood was ruined. He moved towards his mother without any care for the enemy and showed the same enemy his back. Li Shuanwei frowned in disgust and was about to attack when Han Li coldly looked back and took the knife he had gotten as a reward in the past trial away from his Mom's hand. She was bubbling in pain and breathing heavily.
His mother's left hand was gone, and her eyes were wide in shock.
Han Li's heart was as cold as an abyss. Yang Wei had made him frustrated but never murderous. Li Shuanwei, Han Li's red eyes, seethed murder. He hadn't even been able to see the attack, and he still didn't know what had happened.
It was far too quick. And it was neither a Magic Power or Heart Qi. It was a sort of different power. It was not any Talent either. It was something entirely different from the usual Cultivation.
He doubted it could hurt his thick skin, but his mother was in far too much of a danger. She was already losing too much blood. She wouldn't be able to survive.
"Li Shuanwei," He suddenly said and caught the man's curiosity once more, making him stop midway through his second chop. "There is a saying I had gotten used to hearing a lot." He stood up and flourished his black sword, placing it near his mom.
He held the knife with his other hand, placing it exactly around his belly. "I don't know what power you just used. Neither do I know what kind of freak you are."
Many had told Han Li that in his previous life.
Li Shuanwei's eyes burst with curiosity.
A chuckle almost escaped him as hair began to stand behind his back.
Exhilarating!
This was a first.
Yet, the next second, his jaw dropped. Han Li's knife sunk into his own stomach, which he himself found a bit irritating to pierce through, and his sword gently pierced his mom's belly. Just enough to bring the bubble out.
Two bubbles appeared and wrapped up around themselves. Han Li coldly said, "I shall wait for you below. And I will kill you there."
Dark crimson smoke devoured them, and just before they vanished, Han Li took hold of his mother's severed arm, and then... they vanished.
Li Shuanwei felt his nerves bulge.
A second later, he spat, "Trash." And looked towards the side of the stone room. Another door had opened. The door to the fifth trial. With a frown, he calmly headed there. With his father's help, it won't be too hard to kill such trash when he was back home. Yet, the things that must be happening down there also gave him a slight headache. The Power Born Demonic Ice Fairy must be still in wait for him to head down. But he was still happy; this trial was the first one to give him such a rare treasure. A tree that can bear a Life Type fruit every six months.
Meanwhile, unlike the Heaven Rising, which was full of grand shows, heading down was simple and straightforward. His stomach was bleeding, and a knife sunken into it. With his mother in tow, Han Li appeared back inside the forest surrounding Southern Lust City. Bathed in a three-meter-long wave of red smoke, he quickly ran out of the place and entered the nearby cave where he and his mother were before they rose to the heavens. Laying her on a mushroom-like bed, he asked, "Mom, can you listen? Is it too painful?"
She held back her sobs and looked at him with a blurry gaze. "Can.. still feel the pain." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Han Li gritted his teeth at the sight. Her stomach was also bleeding, and she was weak, and her blood was losing.
"Mom… It's nothing, don't worry. I will get you standing right away. We have a Life Type resource at hand, after all. Nothing to worry about. Keep sane and trade it using your system, we are back home too. Come, there is no issues."
He really hadn't expected a power to bypass him and appear behind him. The fact that Li Shuanwei was so demonic was also news to him. Yet, his eyes burned with danger. He had never been so infuriated.
His mother was on his back and he still failed to keep her safe.
For the first time, Han Li felt the pain of being a True Demon. To fight their own betters while having their inferiors to protect on their back. This was hell for the ambitious.
Yet, as his mother numbly traded for the apt resource he told her to, he couldn't help but compose himself. He had to heal her first and foremost.