My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

168  Battle the 5000 Monsters

Suddenly, a cold sensation ran down her spine, and she looked to her side. There was the head of a python on her shoulder. Looking coldly at her. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Hiss!" Her pupils shrunk.

Now that she thought of it, she could sense something slithering around her waist. She had been so used to feeling her son's hand wrap around her that she hadn't noticed the feeling at all. That was the snake's tail, right?

Xiao…Xiao Li, where are you…?

She cried out in her mind, but somehow, her body acted as if on instinct, and just as the snake tried to move and bite into her head, something pierced right into the middle of its head. It was her knife.

"Eee!" She yelped and pushed the creature away, but it was somehow right on track to maw a wolf that would have fallen on her if she hadn't thrown it. She dunked down for some reason, and a claw passed by above her.

Filled with fear, she ran. Her heart was thudding violently, and she was feeling horribly wronged, even though she felt that her Xiao Li was watching from somewhere. She felt horribly betrayed.

Fwoosh!

She slid through the back of a cheetah-like thing, and in the air, her knife moved in an elegant arc. The cheetah whined as a great wound stretched across its neck.

Yue Li kicked the cheetah on the side, and her eyes grew electric as her knife pierced into its eyes. Suddenly, her Spark lit up, and her hair turned red. Her body slowly grew rigid with the instincts of a Knife user, and as if some magic had been cast on her, she forgot her hesitation, and her body just moved elegantly.

It was a dance of the knife. Crimson exploded here and there while Yue Li was in the middle, her body moving like an uncatchable fish in the water as one animal after the other was wounded and then shortly incapacitated. Often, some animals took advantage of some of her weak points and attacked her, but that weak point didn't happen a second time.

It was like a charcoal that had become a diamond. Her Soul Sense covered everywhere around her; her eyes were so utterly focused, not one of her movements seemed in vain; all of it was calculated, precise. Fwoop!

A knife pierced the jaw of a tiger, and a kick destroyed the head of a snake, making internal organs and brain matter explode around. Around her immediate surroundings, there were no longer any animals surviving, and her mind started to waver slightly. Her legs wobbling. Her own stamina had also been drained after all. Around a hundred dead creatures was her limit as she suddenly became sane. The red-eyed creatures suddenly released a ferocious roar and moved towards her from all sides. Her spark vanished, and her hair became a lusterless black. She was in a sort of daze.

From a short distance away from her, Han Li looked up at the ceiling and finally noticed this 3rd Trials Reward. He couldn't help but find it curious.

[Reward: A knife made from the talons of a Beast King-level bird. It can cut through anything below Power Birth level, like Tofu, and even pose a danger to them if used well.]

That knife would be as strong as his Life Sword with his current proficiency. Of course, his Life Sword would grow sharper as long as he could use a higher part of his Sword Proficiency, but with his Evolution Stage proficiency, cutting wood like tofu was the best he could do. He couldn't cut thick iron; maybe he could bend it but not cut it.

Yet, even untrained people could achieve that level with this knife because of its inherent sharpness. His Life Sword had a much higher potential, but this one had immediate use, which would, in turn, help weak people ambush strong ones.

Even Yang Wei could be cut using it. Of course, Han Li could do that without the knife already since his Proficiency was through the roof for an Evolution Stage Cultivator.

With a smile, he looked back at his mom, who the animals were once again surrounding. Her Stamina was already out. She was spent.

Han Li shook his head. With his current stamina, he could probably kill about 2,000 of the animals here before reaching his own limit, but if that happened, he would fail. Yet, with a light laugh, he walked into the fray, and a dark sword was unsheathed from its clothed confines. Lions, wolves, hippos, elephants, gorillas. Many creatures could only see a sword whooshing around before headless corpses fell one after the other. Every two or three seconds, one of them would fall. It didn't matter how thick their skins were and how powerful their horns were. Yue Li was safely put behind him, and any animal that came inside three meters of their surroundings found themselves dying. Once, a tiger pounced from the back and bit into Han Li's head, but his body was like an iron pole; it didn't budge, and Han Li positioned his hand in a claw and punched a hole into its stomach. His skin wasn't something these things could pierce. His organs wouldn't shatter due to such a flimsy impact, either.

With his hand firmly inside its guts, the tiger whined in pain but, in seconds, started shriveling as if its essence was being absorbed. Yes, Han Li was devouring its stamina. He chuckled merrily, but for the cunning monkeys jumping around, he looked frightening.

His mother stood a bit dazed behind him. Kicking the dead tiger towards another horde of these animals coming at him, making them stumble. He gently bent down and kissed his mother, sharing some stamina with her before moving and continuing his rampage.

For anyone else, Stamina could be an issue. For him?

Enemies could become his stamina as long as he touched their organs. His Mother breathed out, and her heart started to thud. Loud.

Her heartbeat was loud.

She didn't want to harm these animals. She didn't want to.

Her spark flourished to life, and her hair turned red.

She moved fast, and the next second, she was standing back to back with her son. He couldn't help but smile and taunt, "Like fighting when it is not humans, Miss Racist?"

Yue Li cursed. "How dare you throw your Mom into danger. Bastard!"

Of course, she didn't like the sticky feeling of blood. She felt like vomiting. She wanted to gag so bad. Yet, the animals were turned into pieces of stone a while after death. So, that helped a lot.

She pushed down a black gorilla, and her son's sword decapitated it. A nimble Han Li jumped up and pushed his hand into the hole left in the neck. The rather shriveled body fell back before the mother and son continued fighting. Often, Han Li would bend down and kiss his mother before moving, and she would follow, often flinching at the gruesome sights and even vomiting on the side. Yet, when she needed protection, a flying sword would appear even if Han Li was far away.

Barehanded Han Li was a beast on his own. He would catch a creature's maw and tear it apart. Whatever his robe looked like earlier, it was now damp with thick blood, yet above his neck, he was clean. He had to kiss, after all. Bloody kiss tasted bad. He knew it.

Filled with laughter, curses, growls, and whines. About 3 hours passed before Han Li and Yue Li once again stood back to back. Both of their bodies were bloody, but their eyes filled with energy. Their stamina was still at its peak, even though Yue Li felt a bit mentally exhausted.

Around them was a long river of blood and pieces of statues. On the wall, another doorway had appeared. Han Li chuckled softly, his voice echoing through the stone room.

"Red Haired Demon Yue Li. A perfect nickname for you. Nobody would doubt your capabilities after seeing this. You killed more than a thousand helpless animals, after all."

She rubbed her face. She was not skilled enough to avoid getting blood on her face, but she did keep her mouth clean. "These are not real animals, and they were attacking us…" she said, hesitation lacing her tone. Her heart was still pounding. Never had she felt so excited.

"You once promised me in your sleep you won't show me blood…" She breathed heavily. "Your words are worth shit. I want my trust back."

Han Li laughed. "I must have meant I won't let anyone force you to fight. If you stood there like a dumbass and waited, I'd have honestly come to save you. And yes, this is such a nice chance to let you experience a knife; you know, your proficiency is Awakened High Level already. As good as Liyue now."

She looked dazedly around her for a while before shivering. She had convinced herself that these animals were real and nothing could prove her wrong. "I'd need a lot of consoling later. Xiao Li, I hope you do it well."

"For sure. These things were destined to die anyway."

Her heart still pained horribly.

More than a thousand lives. She felt filthy. She had a lot of thoughts swirling inside her head but like a defensive mechanism, all of it was pushed aside for now, some day, it would burst. She couldn't help but secretly shiver as Han Li took her hand and walked towards the next Trial.

3rd Trial already would have been impossible for most other Evolved Cultivators. Han Li couldn't help but feel his intrigue rising. Can he pass the next level?

He honestly didn't think so. Yet, he wouldn't lose without trying his maximum, death was not an option here after all. If someone reached near death, that protective bubble would once more appear and they would be sent back.