NOVEL WEB 157 Thousands of Sacred Talents
Walking through the white-mudded expanse filled with gigantic trees, Han Li and Yue Li were followed by a very springy Wei Yuanfen, who had officially kneeled nine times to him in order to become his official and first disciple.
The girl seemed to be very familiar with forests, and seeing Han Li leave a lot of tracks behind while walking on their way, warned him: "Master, when you are in forests, you should always remove every trail you leave behind. Even if you don't have any enemies…"
Han Li raised his eyebrows. "Why is that?" Honestly, if the invincible bubble weren't protecting him, he would have removed such trails as he was very averse to leaving behind clues of himself. But such a young girl's perspective was always good. Maybe he could learn something?
"Donno why. My Mom used to tell me to do that," The girl replied, making Han Li sigh.
Yue Li was beside them, and she was carrying Little Ruo, who was still in her deep sleep. With a questioning gaze, she asked her son, "You told me the trials would begin here, but there is nothing going on… just another forest."
Her son shook his head. Now that she was focused on him, Yue Li could see that he had wrapped his sword in some clothing like a sheath and that it was hanging on his back while his face was, as usual, calm.
He spoke softly, but against the silent forest, it was enough to be heard. "The trials had already begun. By the way, let me tell you something that would make you proud."
Blinking to herself, she looked at him curiously. "I saved a baby earlier. Put him in a safe place inside the protective bubble. He should be descending back to where he came from when the trial results arrive. If I didn't help him, he would've probably been snake food."
Yue Li smiled, feeling warm. "As long as there is a little spot of compassion in your heart, there is always a hope of redemption... The monk said so. He must be wiser than you, so don't just ignore his words."
Han Li laughed and looked up at the sky. It was a white squarish sky.
What good? What evil?
What redemption?
"The trials have already started, Mom. The current trial, for that matter, is getting to your teammates if you are planning a Teamwork Trial or getting yourself ready if you are entering a Solo Trial. So, what do you say? Do you want to play solo, or do you want me to play with you?"
"Of course I want you to play with me," Yue Li said. "And you did tell me it would be a piece of cake for us to win as long as we play teamwork if it weren't for Ruo… now I can just eat this fruit," she showed him the brown fruit that the Monk had given them. "And I will be able to put Ruo away."
Han Li nodded, muttering to himself. "True, teamwork is obviously much better for us. It will be easy to gain the rewards. Maybe we could even go further than anyone…"
In his original plans, he would be a Power Born, at the very least, by the time he arrives here. But now that the Heaven Rising incident happened quicker than usual, he could only sigh and do what he could with what he had.
If his plans had gone as they should have, he would be about as strong as anyone inside the Demon World, and he could lead his mother all around, dominating the place. In that state, he was sure he could do much more than what he could now, so his actual goal of completing all 7 of the Trials was now impossible, in his current form, if he played the trials with his Mom as his Teammate, the first three trials would be generally easy but the next three would be harder than if he had played solo.
In his last lifetime, no one went past the 5th Trial. He himself had failed in the second trial, but he knew who had reached the 5th Trial, that was Monk Hen Shin himself, and after returning to the continent, he was called the strongest Power Born of the Era.
"But Master, then what about me?" Wei Yuanfen asked, raising her arms.
Han Li looked at her, even though she looked like a man at a glance. To him, her femininity was clear. Her arms were lithe, her lips too pink, her purple eyes seemingly a cauldron of curiosity, her face too fair. There was a different charm to cute girls wearing male robes and acting like one. Especially if the cute girl had an issue with her own cleavage being too small.
But even now, he felt as if the girl was sizing him up. She was somehow a literal wild catch.
"You?" Han Li chuckled. "You going solo is enough. You won't like the team trials; Mom and I could do it because we are very close people."
"What do we have to do in the Trials?" Wei Yuanfei asked with a curious tone.
Han Li sighed. "I don't know, since it is individualized, everyone has a different trial. But for couples, it should be easy to complete the first three trials if what I know is accurate."
Wei Yuanfen's eyes widened. "You guys are not a mother and son?"
Han Li smiled. "Of course, she is my mother. But who said we can't be a loving couple?"
Wei Yuanfen's footsteps slowed down. She hesitated for a second while thinking, 'Do people from big cities have a different culture? Eh… how peculiar. So does he have actual… Se.. Uh… That with his mother?'
She couldn't bring herself to ask it, and they walked forward in a contemplative silence. They saw many people, with interesting looks and attitudes, and many men looked at Yue Li as they passed by; she was a really beautiful woman, so it was natural. Just like that, Han Li also received some intriguing glances from women as he passed by them.
They were all young Sacred Talent Cultivators. Now that they were all safe and back in their comfort zone, their focus started to shift from benefit to romance, and seeing people like Han Li made them feel good about themselves a lot. It was natural.
They were part of such an incredible group of men and women, and compared to them, the people still stuck in Sacred Lust Continent were all just mobs. They were different. They had immense pride in themselves.
Passing by some of them, Han Li would briefly glance at them. There were many whom he knew, many of them who would be incredible cultivators years from now. If he wanted, he could try making a sect or something similar with just his knowledge of the future's extraordinary people who were just beggars now. Yet, Han Li didn't feel like it. That was quite the waste of time since he himself could teach his woman to be more extraordinary than them. He instead thought about Trials.
The Trials were set by the Sacred Demon of Lust, after all, and as far as Han Li knew, that man was mesmerized by the emotion of lust, and in everything he did, there was a tinge of lustful touch to it. Even though, in the end, there would always be a grander goal hidden behind such intentions.
Of course, he was not too familiar with that person. He just had some hunches about him. In his past life, the Second Trial was something he obviously had almost zero percentage chance of completing at that point in his life, so he wanted to do better than that. In the past, his Trial One was for him to resist the seduction of 1000 illusory beauties, something impossible for youthful males, but as he was too depressed about his mom's death, that was easy; his thing wouldn't even rise even if he wanted to at that point.
Trial Two was the harder one for him. It required him to fall into lust entirely and completely lose his rationale, and then return with an intact mind. But of course, he couldn't fall into lust at all, and with cold eyes, he returned to the real world.
But he later came to know that people could enter as teams and that the more the teammates loved each other, the easier the first 3 Trials would be. So, his mother and him entering the trials should make it a piece of cake ready for them to take a bite. He was a hundred percent sure he stood no chance against the Trials after the third one in his current state, but he didn't mind. His good brother Yang Wei was also working for him to get extra rewards. That was enough.
They walked through another part of the forest, and Han Li came to a pause.
In front of them was a city wall, at least ten times as big as Southern Lust City's wall. It was a dark monument that seemed to have stood the ages. In the bright white mud and surroundings, it seemed eerily special. Han Li's eyes sparkled. Many people were entering the city from all around, and around three hundred meters surrounding the whole city, the forest parts and becomes a clearing. From all parts of it, like little ants, hundreds of thousands of people calmly walked into the great city. Unrestrained laughter echoed out from the side as a young man walked by Han Li and said calmly, "As I expected, you didn't fight. You really have such a strong weakness, don't you?"
Han Li calmly looked at him. His gaze was deep.
"Yang Wei…" Han Li said calmly.
Yang Wei chuckled eerily, his pale eyes looking at the thousands of bright faces, all of great talent and upbringing, before he focused intently on Yue Li. Who looked back at him with discomfort.
"Your weakness, Han Li, such an obvious one!" With unrestrained laughter, Yang Wei didn't stop walking as he moved forward, soon mixing into the crowd as he vanished into the gates of the city.
Han Li calmly breathed out while both Yue Li and Wei Yuanfei sweated behind him, their hearts pounding inside their chest. They felt as if a blade of bone had gone through their necks as the man passed by. Even Han Li himself had a solemn gaze.
"Heart Qi…" he thought to himself. And even though Yang Wei was much weaker than himself, he knew that if they were to fight a battle of Heart Qi somehow, he himself would lose horribly. Han Li had a lot more powerful Heart Qi in quantity and quality, but Yang Wei was like a perfected swordsman, whereas he was just a young boy with a big sword that he couldn't even heft easily.
'The Spirit…' Han Li's cold eyes shimmered. 'I really want to see your memories.'
He had a feeling that The Spirit was important.
Then, he shook his head. We are in a battle of who grows stronger, not who grows faster. Yang Wei was already defeated when I read his memories; no need to be so agitated by his taunts.
"Come, let's enter... the City of the Sacred Demon," he said, taking his mother's hand while patting his disciple's back, breaking them out of their daze.