My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

Chapter 44  Demon's [l].

The white flag rose. Drumbeats rang out like deep rumbles. People's chatter kept ringing out like a wild cluster of bird cries. Among the more than 300 people surrounding the venue were two people who stood to the side.

Yue Li, and Shan Liyue. Looking up at the sky, and seeing the darkening clouds, Yue Li had a worried and slightly anxious expression. The whooshing wind didn't aid the situation either.

"What is it, Mother?" Liyue asked with a pat on her shoulder.

Yue Li's thoughts were broken and she looked around. She said with a shake of her head, "Nothing, it seems it might rain soon. I wonder what Xiao Li is up to."

"He said he would come before the ceremony actually began, right?" It was difficult to hear her words amidst the noise of the crowd, so she spoke loudly.

Liyue had gone early in the morning to Han Li's and wanted to visit the ceremony along with him and Yue Li, but he had made Yue Li and her come here alone.

He said he would be here before the actual ceremony began.

Yue Li took a deep breath, yesterday's event flashing through her head. Most of the day, she and Han Li had spent time teaching her about minor things in cultivation.

Not many complex things but just filling up her basics. But unlike what she expected, Han Li didn't play around with her body when the night came.

That had made her anxious a while into her sleep and she opened her eyes to look at him. What she saw then, that image was still etched deeply in her mind.

It was deep in the night, but Han Li wasn't doing anything and just looking infront of him with an indifferent gaze. Seated in the lotus position like a statue, emotionless and just calm. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Seeing him like that, her heart had shivered.

Only when he had turned around and looked at her did his monolith-like gaze soften back to normal. 'Go back to sleep,' he said.

She struggled to sleep after that and when the morning came, she didn't know why but she couldn't bring herself to question it. She began to speak but then closed her mouth.

Their interactions had been quite awkward the whole day even though it seemed normal. And when Liyue enthusiastically came and braved herself to ask them to visit the ceremony together, he had asked them to come here by themselves.

Everything made it suspicious for Yue Li.

A distant rumble of thunder echoed through the dark and gloomy lands, rather than the usual celebratory atmosphere of the ceremonies.

"Ah, isn't that the first Awakening kids? How nostalgic." Someone from the side said.

Yue Li and Liyue immediately looked towards the small stage just below the flagpole, and Liyue whispered, "They are the 13-year-old kids who will go through the First Awakening today. What a coincidence…" She smiled. "Exactly 13 kids came to Awaken."

Nodding, Yue Li looked at them. Children wet behind their ears, filled with excitement and nervousness, looking at the crowd of people watching them with many expressions. She still remembered her Xiao Li on his 13th birthday; just rolled to a corner of the bed and silently asleep.

As if nothing bothered him even though he felt alienated from the rest.

"Hello Everyone!" A woman with an iron mask climbed on stage and clapped her hands. The people around became silent.

"This time, I will be the one hosting the first two 'smaller' Awakings, and the clan head and other elders will be holding the Third Awakening and attempts at Evolution that some of our Clan members plan to go through today."

Someone around whispered, "Did you hear Lady Fang Li reached the Evolution Stage when she was 29? She is not a great genius but she is sure talented!"

Yue Li just kept watching. In total, there were 11 Evolved Cultivators — Stage 3 Cultivators — in Starlight Family and this woman, Fang Li, was one of them.

She was one of the 11 special people among more than 500 clan members and was thus a very popular person. Not to mention she was the youngest.

The Awakening ceremony began and the children were sat in a circle for the 400 or more audience to see.

Then, Fang Li lazily told the kids what to do and they all started to one by one bring out their Spark from inside their Empty Space. All of them only made it come out one Barrier and once they did so, they looked around in disbelief at their enhanced senses. They were not Yue Li or Han Li for them to go through all 3 Awakenings at once.

They were kids and thus their minds and souls weren't strong enough to handle the extreme stress that came with the added senses. 18 was the age preferable for a mature mind that could hold the data that comes from all sides and not just explode.

If ordinary kids had 3 breakthroughs at once. Most would have severe disabilities for life like dementia, mental ailments, or even die in the worst cases.

Cultivation was not all fun and games.

As she looked at every kid smiling and walking away from the platform, and the cheering crowd, Han Li's teachings came back to her one by one.

She had learned many such basic things yesterday and that made her ponder.

"Next will be the second Awakening, kids at the appropriate age come up," Fang Li said out loud.

This time, there was only one boy and soon after going up, he immediately finished his awakening and ran away in embarrassment. Being alone above the platform was much harder than being there with others.

Yue Li chuckled at the kid's actions and said to Liyue, "I had always thought if Xiao Li went there, he would be like that, shy and flustered."

"He gets shy?" Liyue asked curiously, indeed, speaking with Yue Li was becoming easier for her.

"Yes, he does get shy. He is just like all the other kids his age, he gets playful, he gets sad, he gets excited at some things too," Yue Li paused, "But he shows only me most of his sides. Nobody really knows him. He doesn't even have a good friend other than me."

"…I thought he looked cool and calm all the time, though," Liyue murmured, "It's a bit hard to think he can get sad."

"He does. But I rarely see him angry though," Yue Li looked at Fang Li slowly climbing down the stage and spoke, "But when he does, it scares me a lot."

"…Why?"

"Because I can't tell if he is angry or not…" A drop of cold rain fell on Yue Li's cheeks. "Ah! It's raining. Do you want to go back home to see him?"

There would be an Awakening ceremony next month for her to see the Evolving cultivators. She wanted to see why Han Li had that expression yesterday. Did someone piss him off?

Liyue looked at her, but just as she was about to speak, a bolt of thundering lightning flashed in the sky and a downpour of rain followed right after. They had to run and take cover.