“Han Li, you surprised me when you repeatedly dodged my attacks, but do you think your luck will last forever? The movement technique you used just now was quite good, but it has its own limitations. Judging by your physical strength, it’s impossible for you to pull it off again. Just surrender like you should have in the beginning. You should be able to see by now that I have no intention to seriously hurt you. Just listen to me, maybe it won’t be as bad as you thought.”
Doctor Mo’s change of attitude made Han Li have goosebumps all over his body. He had changed from a gentle teacher to a cold-hearted and unfeeling figure. Now, he was using meaningful and heartfelt words to try to convince Han Li to surrender– Han Li didn’t know what to say. Doctor Mo actually thought Han Li would be that stupid and fall for this obvious lie?
However, his words caused Han Li to gain some confidence. Doctor Mo wouldn’t have used this childish trick to fool Han Li if he wasn’t growing desperate.
Han Li thought seriously for a while. He then signed and shook his head. Without a word, he waved his dagger at Doctor Mo and showed him his refusal.
Doctor Mo’s veins on his forehead suddenly bulged. Seeing Han Li ignore his words and use his weapon to provoke him, Doctor Mo couldn’t suppress his anger any longer.
“You don’t know what’s good for you!”
He quickly took a big step forward and ferociously said, “So close yet so far apart.”
Suddenly, Doctor Mo’s body nimbly moved to a spot only a few steps from Han Li, as if he were capable of shrinking space, a feat that evoked extreme fear in those who had witnessed this technique before.
Han Li, too, had a look of extreme shock displayed on his face. He swiftly retreated two steps backwards, increasing the distance between him and Doctor Mo, before brandishing his dagger horizontally in front of his body. The blade weaved a dance of cold light in the air, blocking Doctor Mo’s path forward as if Han Li had forgotten the previous suffering he had faced after clashing directly with Doctor Mo.
Doctor Mo coldly laughed. Of course he would not remind his opponent. He separated his palms and attacked Han Li from two directions, completely disregarding the dagger’s strange dance.
As the two silvery hands approached the rays of light emitted from the dagger’s dance, a bright laughter floated out, akin to what a hunter would do as he watches his prey step into a trap that was prepared beforehand. It was a laugh filled with immense satisfaction.
The laughter dulled Doctor Mo’s reactions and made his heart slightly tremble. As he slowed down his attacks, he heart a cold voice saying:
“You have completely fallen for my trap. Look at the dagger in my hand!”
After hearing this, Doctor Mo involuntarily shifted his gaze over, only to see that the dagger had stopped its dance. In place of it, Han Li made a strange stance. He arched the upper half of his body and moved the sword down to his waist. The lower half of his body was stretched tightly like a nocked bowstring. His overall posture was similar to an arrow that was about to be shot from a bow.
Other than emitting rays of green light, there wasn’t anything else strange about the dagger in Han Li’s hand. This caused Doctor Mo to be astonished. Could it be that Han Li adopted such a weird posture just to distract him?
Thinking of this, glee blossomed in his heart. Doctor Mo wanted to sneer at Han Li, only to find Han Li rushing forward like an arrow of incomparable sharpness. Shooting forward like a bullet, Han Li’s advance caused Doctor Mo’s expression to change.
Hurriedly, Doctor Mo once again joined his separated palms together, intending to use his palms to suppress the edge of his opponent’s blade. Strangely, the dagger only slightly wavered and somehow transformed into more than ten daggers that waved around in the air before piercing towards Doctor Mo from different directions.
Doctor Mo loudly snorted. In his heart, his evaluation of Han Li dropped by a few degrees. In front of an expert such as him, Han Li actually chose to use such an ordinary technique? Wasn’t that equivalent to seeking death? Doctor Mo could tell with a single glance where the body of the true dagger was.
As such, he squinted his eyes, targeting the position of the true blade. He increased his attack speed with the intention to crush the real dagger into pieces, causing Han Li to lose a weapon.
Chapter 49: Hidden Within Concealment
Once both parties were about to make contact, Han Li slightly moved the edge of his dagger. The blade’s angle had only shifted slightly, but in Doctor Mo’s eyes, his whole world had turned into chaos due to this seemingly minuscule but earth-shaking change.
The small light reflected on the dagger’s edge suddenly gave rise to a dozen extremely dazzling white balls of light. The radiance was incomparably intense, and Doctor Mo could not stop it from shining directly into his eyes.
“Not good.” He secretly cursed in his heart as he hastily retreated backwards, immediately shutting his eyes. But by then, it was too late. The white light had already entered his eyes and prevented him from attacking.
In that instant, Doctor Mo felt his eyes heat up, and his eyeballs began to ache incessantly. Tears dripped down from his eyes without restraint, and he had no time to wipe them away. He endured the discomfort with much difficulty and strained to open his eyes, but all he could see was a vast expanse of whiteness; even an object’s silhouette appeared like the layers of a mirage, fuzzy and indistinct.
He instantly felt angry and frightened. Because of his own carelessness, he regretfully fell for his opponent’s crafty trick once again.
However, Doctor Mo had traveled the country for a long time and thus had plenty of experience in handling various kinds of dangerous situations. He continuously retreated several steps backwards to try and gain some distance away from Han Li and buy himself some time to recover. Simultaneously, he withdrew his palms to the front of his body and waved them relentlessly. Relying on the invulnerable Demonic Silver Hands, he protected the crucial areas of his upper body.
He had already decided that before his eyes recovered, he would not take the initiative to attack. Any offensive attack would have to wait until he could see clearly again before making a move. Doctor Mo was aware that he was yet again caught within the brat’s trap.
Currently, Doctor Mo’s contempt for Han Li had disappeared from his heart. The level of danger in his struggle against Han Li was not inferior to the life-and-death battles against formidable opponents from his earlier years.
Even though he could not see Han Li’s movements, Doctor Mo twitched his ears and listened with rapt attention, trying use his sense of hearing to determine Han Li’s next move.
Suddenly, Doctor Mo vaguely saw a shadow flash by. Shortly after, there was a sharp noise and a surge of cold wind coming from his front.
Doctor Mo did not panic at Han Li’s attempt to assassinate him; instead, he was delighted. Han Li’s strategy was somewhat naive. If Han Li had silently hid at one side to mount a sneak attack, Doctor Mo would have truly been worried. However, there was nothing to fear from a bold frontal attack. He had already trained his hearing to the point of perception, able to distinguish between the sound of wind, a thrust of a dagger, and an attack from an embroidery needle– he was able to hear perfectly.
Doctor Mo heard the noise clearly, but his hand deliberately slowed down to make a small opening in front of him. Sure enough, the surprise attack immediately changed direction, deviating from its neutral path and making a beeline for his throat.
Doctor Mo grinned hideously. His right hand, which had been waiting the whole time, suddenly made a move. He quickly grasped firmly onto the edge of the blade as he did not fear the sharp edge of the dagger at all.
Han Li was aware of the turn of events and violently exerted some force to pull the dagger back a few times. But in the grasp of the Demonic Silver Hands, the dagger did not budge at all, making Han Li’s attempts a waste of effort.
Doctor Mo felt a little proud of himself, but he did not dare to be careles
s for a moment because he was afraid that Han Li would realize this chance and release his grip on the dagger to run away. With disregard for his ability to see, Doctor Mo abruptly executed a move using hundred percent of his power with one hand. He pulled the dagger to one side, planning to pull Han Li firmly away from his front and personally hold him down. Instead, Doctor Mo felt that his hand was as light as a feather, as if there was nothing in his palm.
He was greatly startled. He had definitely grasped the edge of the blade, so how could his hand be light all of a sudden? Even if Han Li had managed to loosen and release the dagger from Doctor Mo’s grasp, it shouldn’t have caused Doctor Mo’s hands to become lighten this abruptly.
Doctor Mo did not have enough time to think about it. His body acted on reflex and maneuvered evasively. At once, his head dropped to one side, and he leaned over with all his might. His neck was bent in an unfathomable angle in an attempt to avoid a fatal attack.
Doctor Mo’s many years of bitter training in profound skills had finally displayed their usefulness. At this moment. Doctor Mo felt something cool, a sharp object, brush against his neck. It barely grazed his skin and did not result in further injury.
After dodging this attack, Doctor Mo feared that Han Li still had some moves in reserve. Without thinking, he actually copied one of Han Li’s previous escape tricks– he dropped his whole body to the floor and rolled away. Only after rolling a great distance from Han Li did he dare to rise and stand.
He hastily used two fingers to put pressure on the blood vessels in his neck to stop the bleeding.
At this moment, some fear arose in him. A moment ago, he felt that he could not hide anywhere within the room, but he did not expect his body’s instincts to be brought into full throttle and actually manage to escape death by random chance.
He had been thinking hard up to this point, but eventually Doctor Mo could not help but raise his head to glance at Han Li. At this time, he discovered that he could see the objects within the room with clarity. He was unaware at which point in time his vision returned back to normal.
Doctor Mo could only see Han Li glaring at him with dissatisfaction, obviously discontent with Doctor Mo’s continuous evasion of his blade.
Han Li carried in his hand a sharp, inch-long weapon. From its shape, it resembled an odd awl, but its handle was the original dagger hilt. The weapon as a whole looked somewhat grotesque. The surface even had some blood stains on it. This was indeed the strange weapon that had injured Doctor Mo.
Doctor Mo turned gloomy, his eyes filled with fury. He kept having narrow encounters that threatened to cost him his life. Doctor Mo was about to lose his patience and about to burst with anger, but he noticed that his right hand was still holding on to something.
He looked down and saw an immobile blade. He lightly lifted it up to get a closer look. Suddenly, he realised that this blade was hollow; the space within the blade was similar to the shape of the sharp awl. This blade was merely a cover used to conceal the awl from his vision.
Because of this discovery, the rage that filled him was suddenly extinguished thoroughly.
Chapter 50: Aromatic Coiling Silk
Doctor Mo finally figured out why Han Li had been determined to keep the door opened the moment he entered the room. Han Li’s request foreshadowed his use of the sun’s glare. Doctor Mo’s opponent was of such a young age. How could he be this thorough? This meticulously calculated sinister chain of events made this old and experienced figure of Jiang Hu unable to fight back. Han Li’s profound schemes did not match his age and experience. Could it truly be that this person was truly a natural genius, perhaps even a reincarnated prodigy?
He pondered deeply. The more he thought about it, the more his fear grew. A cold sweat covered Doctor Mo from head to toe.
Enduring this frustration, Doctor Mo grew far more wary of Han Li. He cautiously and solemnly faced the youngster. For a short while, he did not dare to act again.
Han Li also did not know why Doctor Mo had was just staring at him without the slightest intention to attack. For a short while, both sides had silently decided to cease hostilities. They gazed at each other in anxiety.
After a moment passed within this awkward atmosphere, Han Li suddenly started speaking. His sentence would leave Doctor Mo dumbstruck and distracted:
“Elder Mo, why don’t we make peace? Or how about I surrender? What do you think?”
Saying this, Han Li swung his arms. He straightforwardly threw down his weapons and gazed at Doctor Mo with a smile, exposing rows of pure white teeth. Just like that, he donned the appearance of a simple and honest youngster from the countryside.
“Surrender?”
Doctor Mo originally believed that his ears had gone bad. However he immediately reacted. Looking at Han Li’s discarded awls, he did not have slightest degree of trust, so he fiercely asked, “What’s your plan? Don’t think that I would trust your false words. You want to surrender? You could’ve done that from the start. There was no need to wait until after we became irreconcilable adversaries. What else is up your sleeve?”
Han Li looked at Doctor Mo with a smile and did not speak. Instead, he seemed to tacitly agree to his criticisms. These two had once more sunk into confrontation.
After a short while, Doctor Mo seemed to think of an extremely funny matter. He unexpectedly lifted his body, put both hands on his abdomen and laughed at the top of his lungs. The laughter was unrestrained, and tears flowed out from the corners of his eyes.
“Haha! Ha! Haha! Truly…. This is truly interesting. I had actually forgotten such an important aspect. I had actually truly been…been the target of your traps,” said Doctor Mo in an ambiguous manner in between his disjointed laughter.
Han Li wrinkled his brow, but soon after, he smoothed it out. As he glanced outside the window, the corners of his mouth formed a strong smile, and he calmly said, “Elder Mo, don’t you feel that this delay has gone on long enough? It’s about time to finish this.”
Doctor Mo grew slightly distracted and stopped his hearty laughter.
He slowly straightened himself and stiffened his face. With an expressionless face, he stared at Han Li for a long time before coldly replying, “I, too, feel that it is time to conclude this.”
The two suddenly calculated their respective chances of succeeding. In that split second, they both thought of ways to force their opponent to reveal their cards.
After a moment of awkward silence, Han Li slowly opened his mouth. He held no other thoughts other than the confidence of being able to force Doctor Mo to concede.
“Elder Mo, did you know… that your life is already in my hands?” Han Li’s words could leave a person utterly astonished.
“My life is already in your hands?” Doctor Mo sneered; his face had an expression of distrust.
“Don’t you think that wound of yours is a bit peculiar?”
“Nonsense. I took a careful look at it. Your dagger doesn’t have….” Doctor Mo refused to believe his words, but halfway through his own reply, his expression greatly changed. He recalled that what had injured him wasn’t that dagger but rather that hidden awl.
“It seems I don’t need to say any more. Elder Mo already understands my meaning.” Han Li looked at Doctor Mo with a snicker.
“Even if I were poisoned, you forget. Your medicinal techniques were all taught by me. There is no poison I cannot remove,” Doctor Mo calmly said. His face immediately went back to normal.
“Hehe! I forgot to say. The poison that I applied on my blade was ‘Aromatic Coiling Silk’.”
“Aromatic Coiling Silk?” Doctor Mo let out a soft cry of surprise. This had greatly exceeded his expectations.
“Correct, Elder Mo surely knows how difficult it is to deal with this poison!”
“Nonsense, how could you possibly concoct such a poison? I didn’t divulge even an segment of its formula.” Doctor Mo’s appearance was still strong, and he seemed to be unconvinced of Han Li’s words. However,
from the strange sensation he felt from the wound, his heart was already certain that Han Li somehow managed to concoct the poison.
Seeing that Doctor Mo was still not admitting defeat, Han Li sighed. He would have to explain further.
“You have long forgotten that I was given complete access to your library. This recipe was slipped into an obscure medical book, but had I not been attentive, I fear that I would have missed it.”
Doctor Mo recalled this fact. Back when he had originally obtained this recipe, he casually slipped a detailed copy of the medicinal formula into a random book because he was afraid he would forget the convoluted procedure, which required too many ingredients. Later, he completely forgot about this piece of paper because he had far too many affairs to handle. He hadn’t expected this to benefit Han Li and cause him such a huge problem.
“We should take a seat and have a proper discussion. Let us shake hands and make peace!” Han Li confidently said.
Humph! Doctor Mo did not take notice of Han Li; his brain was hard at work remembering the effects of the Aromatic Coiling Silk.
Aromatic Coiling Silk. This name did not sound dreadful in the slightest. In passing thoughts, people even found that it sounded elegant and romantic. However, its poisonous strength was like the yearning of an infatuated woman: unbearable and bone-deep.
Chapter 51: Giant Man Displays his Might
Once the Aromatic Coiling Silk poisons the body, the toxin would enter the blood vessels and gradually spread throughout the entire body.
Ordinary mortals would not be in any danger, but to cultivators, this poison would be extremely fatal after a short amount of time. The cultivator affected by the poison could not recklessly disrupt his or her internal True Qi, or else the poison would flare up and cause the blood in the body to flow backwards, resulting in immense pain and suffering.
However, if one was poisoned for a longer period of time, the toxicity would penetrate the body, making the situation worse.
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