Chapter 98 10%
The night's shadows grew deeper still.
Moon, in its gentle light, shone on the lands a beautiful glow. Amidst the silence, cicadas chirped.
Han Li and Li Yao were outside their home, seated on a boulder while sharing a jug of alcohol; their faces reddened by the drink.
"Fuu…" Han Li breathed out a puff of smoke. "This is really something."
Li Yao smiled. "This should've been given to you earlier, though."
Han Li shook his head and drank another hot mouthful of the drink. It felt as if his throat was searing as it went down. "Mom never made one for me," he said as he felt his chest warm and his body heat up.
"Really?" Li Yao shook her head. "Your mother is quite the airhead, but even for her, isn't that a bit too much?"
Han Li pondered.
In Sacred Lust, once a baby is born, people would store a jar of wine in the baby's naway and wait for the day the baby's age for marriage to arrive. It was a usual thing; almost every parent would store a jar.
One for the marriage and the other for the first birth of the new couple's child. The final one for the first Awakening of the child.
It was a tradition of sorts.
Li Yao, for a woman who loved alcohol, had kept four jars of strong alcoholic wine for Liyao's. The current one Han Li was drinking was one of them, which he had just uncorked.
It had been sealed for 18 years and was quite the fermented delicacy.
"It's not her fault…" Han Li sighed, his mellow red eyes shining with serenity. It had been an hour since the 'Yang Wei surprise attack incident', and his sleep was quite clearly ruined. He was stuck with explaining a lot to Liyue and Li Yao, too, even though explaining that he couldn't speak much because of the binding was enough in the end. Yue Li was sleeping all throughout the ordeal, and Han Li was quite worried about her but didn't wake her up in the end.
Heart of Chaos.
That technique could really mess up people's Heart of Cultivation.
He hoped she would be back to normal once she woke up.
Then, it was Li Yao who suggested they have a drink of alcohol that she had kept hidden for a long time. Han Li nodded, of course.
And thus, he was now here, drinking the spicy alcohol.
Liyue was, of course, beside his mom just in case she woke up startled or something. The presence of someone familiar could help in that situation. But it was nothing that serious.
"You really are forgiving in all her antics," Li Yao smiled. "I envy her slightly."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHan Li shook his head. "You misunderstand something, Li Yao—"
"Mother-in-law," she said.
"You misunderstand something, Mother-in-law. She just had no idea such a thing existed, and neither did I care enough to ask her." Han Li laid on his back on the huge boulder, and Li Yao sat by the side.
Li Yao nodded. It was not really like a must-do tradition anyway.
In silence, they just calmly enjoyed the night.
No lust, nothing.
Just thoughtful silence, alcohol, and the gradually warming winds of the 6th month as their companions.
Now that she thought of it, Li Yao once again thought of the earlier occurrence and gulped.
"To think people can really have enemies and such, unbelievable," Li Yao said, taking the jug from Han Li's hands and carefully taking a sip before blissfully sighing: "I really don't want to use this up…"
Han Li smirked. "There are three more there. Why won't you just use them too?"
Li Yao rolled her eyes. "That would ruin the meaning of this alcohol. Even this one tastes unique because it serves a purpose. I put it away to drink with my son-in-law, and it is indeed doing the work. Be thankful you got any. If you want more, why don't you just go through with the marriage already?"
Han Li snickered. "I don't think you would've given even this toif today's incident didn't happen, would you?"
"Questionable, really." Li Yao chuckled. "This 4th Jar was just for my own little satisfaction. In truth, you can't blme, can you?"
Han Li looked at her flushed face and could see she was reluctant to give away the liquor. "Alcoholic women do look enticing, I have to say that."
She looked at him with a side-eye.
Shaking his head and analyzing everything about the enemy for the last time, Han Li looked at his hands using Life Vision.
He had a lingering doubt. Something he had dismissed till now because of the lack of use the thing had till now.
_
[Han Li] [Age: 18]
[Lifespan: 300 Years]
[Minor Lust Dao Crystals: 121]
[Talent: Sacred]
[Current Cultivation: Evolution Stage]
[Body: Top Tier Mortal Physique]
[Skin Building of the Demon Transformation: 1.01% complete]
[Magic Powers]
[None] [Talents]
[Low-Level Lack of Lust]
[Low-Level Fantasy Inducement]
[Low-Level Sensational Barrier]
[Low-Level Seduction]
_
As he expected, there was no information about his Heart of Cultivation in his whole [Life information].
It had already been over a month since he Evolved, and his Lust Dao Crystals had grown to 121 in the meantime. He hadn't added any extra Talents either.
But as his mind roamed through the info, he understood how the thing lacked anything about his Heart of Cultivation.
Even though a true Heart of Cultivation is not born until the Transcendance Stage, he was supposed to have it there.
He was once a Transcendent, after all.
Even though the uses would be extremely minimal, in theory, he should have the unique power of the Heart, 'Heart Qi.'
But he didn't.
'Now that I think about it…' Han Li suddenly closed his eyes, and his mind delved deep into itself.
In the depth of his insides, where the empty space was, he could feel his Dao Soul resting calmly inside, a red shine still there in its humanoid visage.
When people reach the Transcendence Stage, the difference between Ethereal and Transformation vanishes. Even though there would still be sinherent limitations, it mostly changes.
That was a Stage where people walked past the mortal boundaries.
And at that point, inside the Dao Soul—which would beca Minor 'Great' Dao Soul once a cultivator Transcend—there would be organs like his current Dao Soul had skin.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIt didn't have the skin-like material in it before he started transforming his skin. He knew that if he Transformed his organs, he would gain organs in his Dao Soul, too, including the Heart.
This was the uniqueness of [Demon Transformation]. It didn't care about Transformation and Ethereals.
'So if I cultivate all my organs, maybe I might be able to use the Heart Qi like Yang Wei—or the Spirit—is using. Maybe mine might even be a bit better than its.'
He shook his head. 'That thing is weird, I should be cautious.'
He then smiled as he looked at the hundred and smore shining stars in his Empty Space.
They closed in on the Dao Soul and started to meld into it one by one. It accepted them as they came, and as the crystals fused into it one by one, the skin that was once a paper from the [Demonic Lust Sutra] becmore and more physical and solid in the ethereal frof the Dao Soul.
He opened his eyes as his skin emitted a faint hiss and warmed up. At the stime, his red eyes shone with a calm glint. Power coursed through his body like blood.
[Skin Building of the Demon Transformation: 11.01% complete]
Han Li smiled.
He could feel a sense of security wash through his as his soft and humane skin becmore solid, more firm. Like leather, but more rigid and much more flexible.
'Even though it is far from the level Yang Wei's skin was when he becthat bone form.'
But still, it was better than earlier.
He should test it when he gets the chance.
But his skin felt slightly itchy and made it harder to focus for now.
He shook his head and snatched the alcohol from the dazed, red-faced Li Yao, who was already way down in her alcoholic trance.
Taking a sip, he sighed and carried Li Yao on his back. With a calm heart, he pushed everything about Yang Wei to the back of his head and walked into his room.
He was surprised to find his mom and Liyue sleeping soundly like dolls, hugging and covered in thick blankets to help the cold.
With a smile, he laid Li Yao, who was still conscious, in the bed and squeezed in beside his Mom. Bringing the gentle woman's tired body atop his chest, he protected her in his embrace as he looked at Liyue and Li Yao, who both looked at him with blurry gazes.
One sleepy and the other alcoholic.
"Go to sleep," he muttered, and without waking up the baby-like Yue Li atop his chest, they all went to sleep.
Since his mom asked him not to do anything lustful for the night when she fell asleep, he didn't play anything of that sort.
She was even clothed well now.
His hands just gently and protectively hugged her.
Soon, only gentle breaths mingled as the family of four slept, their hearts calm.