55 Heart that strives
After Uncle Li left, Han Li took the flagon of wine and went into the room where Yue Li and Li Yao were having a fun conversation.
"Yes, She is learning spear and I am learning knife. Han Li says she is doing great."
Li Yao asked, "It isn't anything really dangerous right?"
Chuckling, Yue Li said, "Nothing harmful, we just walk around, cut vegetables, and eat. It's great these days."
Han Li entered the room and Li Yao's nose twitched. Her eyes shining, she exclaimed, "Fruit wine from the city that has an especially tacky smell. Is it the Blazing Wine?"
Not speaking, Han Li showed the symbol cast on the flagon. It had a claw mark on it.
"So it is the blazing wine!" Li Yao exclaimed, "Isn't that like 500 Sacred coins?"
"I promised to bring some wine, of course, I would bring something good." Han Li smirked and sat on a chair between the girls.
Li Yao's room was spacious; even with all four of them being in one place, it didn't feel stuffy like his home.
"Give it to me!" Li Yao said enthusiastically.
Liyue wanted to help but Yue Li said with a smile, "Relax."
Moving beside her, Han Li made her sit on the bed. She was one of the most misfortunate among those who failed in their Evolution since her whole body had become a painful wreck.
Even sleeping was not much of a help, and frequently, she would have to endure the pain.
Having sat her up, Han Li supported her back with a hand and also helped her drink the wine. She gulped it down and the hot liquid slowly spread warmth inside her.
"Haa..." Li Yao sighed, "How long had it been since I drank something as pricey as this?"
Her face was reddened and she looked intoxicated.
"It's okay if you drink that much but I won't recommend more." Han Li warned calmly.
Li Yao reluctantly nodded. This jar of wine might just cause her another cycle of vicious pain.
"Is it really that good?" Yue Li asked curiously. "I didn't like it at all, it's even that expensive."
Liyue nodded from the side. Exactly, she didn't like it either.
After leaving the house, they had bought the wine en route, and obviously, they tasted it first.
Han Li didn't make Li Yao sit and just let her stay seated like that with his hand as support. "Wine is something adults enjoy," he said with a chuckle, "Not for kids like you two."
Yue Li and Liyue looked at each other and shrugged.
As the four just casually talked about inconsequential things, time slipped by and the night grew deeper. Cicadas were chirping in the distance and some dogs were barking.
The lanterns hung to the side of the room went out multiple times but Liyue kept lighting them up. And even though Li Yao said it was enough, she still pleaded for two more gulps...
By the time everyone started feeling sleepy, Li Yao was quite drunk. So, Han Li laid her down on the bed. Standing up and stretching his shoulders, he said, looking out the window: "It's late, Mom, we should go."
Liyue and his mom were at the moment eating some fruit that they had cut in between their conversation. It was Yue Li's boasting of her control over the knife.
"Oh, okay!" Yue Li readily put the knife aside and followed.
"Why don't you stay the night?" Even though she was drunk, Li Yao still asked.
"There is a free room here too," Liyue said from the side.
Evolution meant what it said, it was an utter level up in all aspects of life.
Even she wished she could do that.
"Xiao Li, do you really think we will be able to succeed in Evolution?"
Han Li nodded.
"But Mom, don't you feel even slightly jealous of them when I show them some love?" Han Li asked with a smile, "You have been rooting so much for the girl."
"I used to feel insecure," she kissed his hands.
"Used to? You don't anymore?" Han Li smiled even more.
From ancient times, there was a saying: Never betray your clan or you will forever be unable to go up in cultivation. In Han Li's first life which he died in Kevin's hands, he had put his faith in that saying.
That saying indeed had truth to it. If someone betrayed their kin and regretted their actions, a knot would be created in their hearts and that would make them indecisive.
Facing a breakthrough under such a condition was not at all advised.
After her failure in Evolution and her whole life, the budding insecurity in Yue Li's mind was such a knot. It was not strong, but it was there.
'Ah, will my Xiao Li leave me when he comes of age?'
That was a thought that haunted her. And with that came another thought, 'Am I not valuable?'
That was a no-go area for cultivators. One of the main reasons he was so rushed in marrying Liyue and getting Li Yao was this.
He wanted to remove that insecurity from the bud. Yue Li's life purpose in itself was mainly him. Her worrying that Han Li would leave was normal since that was the norm of the world.
What son lives for his mom?
Almost none.
But if he showed her he loved her more than anything, the knot should vanish. So when he gives her attention even after multiple women surround him, she should naturally know it. But to think she had already untied it.
"Yes, I no longer feel insecure. I never felt insecure after you confessed that day," Yue Li said, a blush on her ears and a smile on her face.
Han Li chuckled.
"So your heart of cultivation is that."
Yue Li raised an eyebrow.
"Every person has something that pushes them forward to achieving higher cultivation. It's their will, their dreams. For example, my heart of cultivation is to have our life and death under my control and protect you by my side."
If he betrayed his own heart, he would lose his will and his dreams, and that in turn would make him incapable of having breakthroughs.
"Edgy..." Yue Li said smilingly.
Han Li tapped her on the forehead and said, "As for your heart of cultivation. It is a weak but similarly strong heart. You want to follow me and be by my side forever. It will keep pushing you higher and higher but there are risks...I will always be your limitation and binding if you continue with that heart."
Yue Li closed her eyes and hugged his hands. "No, there are no risks. I am your limitation and binding too after all."
Smiling, Han Li pinched her cheeks. Sharing the heart of cultivation was the biggest show of weakness, the biggest show of acceptance. Higher-level cultivators would never reveal it.
But if they did so willingly, it was what they called giving a heart to someone.
And in her heart, Han Li having women around him didn't matter. If he had a huge Harem, fine. But she will be the one standing beside him.
She would be the Queen if he was the King.