Even if a person managed to recover somewhat and properly control of his or her True Qi, he or she would still have to consume the antidote on a daily basis. Otherwise, gradual changes would occur within the bones, causing the body’s foundation to wither. The body would curl up, paralyzed and unable to move. Eventually, the body would melt into a pool of mud.
Even more terrifying was that once the poison penetrated the bones, nothing could be done to extract it. The individual could only rely on long term treatment in order to survive. The poison would not flare up for the time being; instead becoming like a thread of carnal love, forever plaguing the victim’s body.
The poison was made up of a variety of materials, many of which could be replaced. Although the end product would be the same, the specific toxicity would change according to the person who concocted it, making the poison unique to its maker. Naturally, the antidote would also be unique. Only the person who manufactured the poison would be able to prescribe the correct antidote and suppress its toxicity. Even if others knew the method of making the Aromatic Coiling Silk, they would have no way of concocting an antidote specifically geared to combat the Aromatic Coiling Silk that someone else had produced.
This way, the poisoned individual’s puny life would be within the hands of the one who poisoned him. Unable to rebel or resist, the victim could only be obedient.
Doctor Mo racked his brain for any memories regarding the Aromatic Coiling Silk, filtering through his vast knowledge. He then understood the reason behind Han Li’s fearlessness.
Doctor Mo sneered in his heart, but his facial expression did not change. He indifferently asked, ”Is this your last trick?”
“Brat, it seems you have ran out of moves, so just obediently admit defeat!”
Han Li’s heart sank upon seeing no changes in Doctor Mo’s expression. At this point, Han Li was sure he had miscalculated something since Doctor Mo seemed to have entirely disregarded his threat.
Doctor Mo did not seem provoked in the slightest, making it seem that he truly paid no mind to the Aromatic Coiling Silk in his body.
Even more so, Han Li was clear that because of this, he was in a very disadvantageous position. It looked as if his opponent was greatly certain that he could seize Han Li.
Seeing Han Li remain silent, Doctor Mo laughed and deviously looked at him before saying loudly, “Iron Slave, capture him for me.”
Once Han Li heard this, he immediately remembered that after entering the house, he thought that he had forgotten something very crucial: Iron Slave. However, he had no time to mull over it. Instead, Han Li used the tip of his toes to hook the awl that was beside his leg. It automatically jumped into his hand.
In an instant, a large shadow rushed from the corner of the room with a fierce wind following close behind. Its speed was incredibly fast, and it appeared before Han Li in a second, rendering him unable to evade.
Helpless, Han Li could only use the sharp awl in his hand to stab towards the shadow’s lower abdomen. He hoped he would at least be able to resist for a while so that he could have a chance to retreat and recover his breath.
Stabbing the abdomen with the small awl was not the most optimal move, but Han Li had no other choice. His opponent was just too tall, and the weapon Han Li was using was only a few inches long, which made the abdomen the only area it was capable of reaching.
Han Li suddenly felt like he had just collided against some kind of monster. It was as if a large wooden object had smacked his extended wrist, directly dislocating it from his arm. Subsequently, his body fell back a few steps due to the impact. The awl in his hand seemed to have struck a rock and was sent flying, disappearing without a trace.
Han Li was unfathomably startled and angry. Just after barely stabilizing his body, the large figure appeared before him in the blink of an eye. Immediately, Han Li felt a sharp pain on both his shoulder as two large hands latched onto his shoulder blades tenaciously, pinning him down.
Han Li struggled with all of his might, but it was as if an enormous mountain were pressing down on his body, rendering him unable to move at all.
He was not able to do much in this kind of situation. In a moment of desperation, he lifted up his knee and aimed ferociously towards the weak point between the large shadow’s legs.
“OUCH!”
It was so painful that Han Li was constantly dripped with cold sweat. Upon unleashing an attack that would have normally been fatal on his opponent, he discovered that the giant shadow was incomparably solid. His kneecap broke into many pieces just like a the pieces of a hen’s egg cracking upon hitting the egg against a rock.
However, Han Li’s move only provoked his opponent. The large hands above his shoulders suddenly increased their pressure. Han Li was in so much pain that he feebly collapsed to the ground, almost losing consciousness.
“Easy, Iron Slave. I still have use for this person,” Doctor Mo loudly commanded..
After those words were spoken, Han Li felt his shoulders lighten, and the pain was greatly reduced. In his heart, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief. For once, he thought that Doctor Mo’s voice was pleasant to hear. But after rejoicing for a moment, his creeping suspicions resurfaced in his mind.
From the very beginning of their fight, Han Li found that, for some unknown reason, Doctor Mo would become lenient towards Han Li at crucial points in the scuffle, afraid that Han Li might hurt himself. Naturally, Han Li knew that Doctor Mo was not the sort of benevolent person that would intentionally go easy on him. There was definitely some sinister affair going on that Han Li wasn’t aware of. Doctor Mo’s concern that Han Li would hurt himself was why Doctor Mo had been cautious when taking action against Han Li because he did not dare to attack violently. If not, the two would have been at each other’s throats.
Han Li secretly made up his mind to fully exploit this aspect when negotiating with Doctor Mo and then think of a way to escape his opponent’s evil clutches.
As Doctor Mo walked to the front of Han Li, he could see through everything that Han Li was thinking. He let a sneer flash across his face as he felt around Han Li’s chest and extracted a mirror. He couldn’t help but be somewhat dumbstruck at this object. As it turned out, it was this object that had protected Han Li’s chest from Doctor Mo’s strike.
Without saying anything, he slightly nodded his head and took out a rectangular yellow wooden box from his bosom. This box was remarkably exquisite, and its surface was engraved with a dragon and a phoenix. Anyone could see that it was a rare and precious object, and thus rarely seen by ordinary people.
Doctor Mo faced Han Li and solemnly opened the lid of the box, revealing a few strange, identical silver blades. They somehow resembled a combination between a dagger and a sword. The body of the blades were very peculiar; they were curved into half moons, their lengths similar to that of stiletto knives.
When Doctor Mo took out one of the silver blades, Han Li saw that, oddly enough, the sinister blade was as thin as a piece of paper. The cold light flashing on the blade’s surface was enough for Han Li to know that the blade was razor sharp. Using it to slice human flesh would be as easy as cutting clothes. The tip of the handle on the silver blade was even more bizarre; inlaid on the tip was an extremely ferocious and sinister-looking demon head, which had a pair of horns and eyes that were tightly shut.
Doctor Mo lifted this sinister blade and glanced knowingly at Han Li out of the corner of his eye.
This action left Han Li absolutely horrified. His inauspicious thought seemed to be true: Doctor Mo wanted to use the sinister blade to cut him.
Chapter 52: Seven Ghost Devouring the Soul
Han Li’s face started to turn green as he helplessly stared at Doctor Mo lifting the sinister-looking blade high up in the air. Under the beams of sunlight, the edge of the blade sparkled intensely, showing it’s sharpness conspicuously. His heart involuntarily began to panic, but his intellect told him that Doctor Mo was only intimidating him. Since Doctor Mo had expe
nded so much effort to capture Han Li alive, he definitely wouldn’t kill Han Li off so easily.
As the sharp blade was seen descending slowly from the sky, targeting to pierce through his body, Han Li still remained silent, forcefully maintaining an expression of resoluteness.
Just when the strange sinister blade was half an inch away from splitting his head that even the tip of his hair could feel the waves of coldness generated by the sinister blade, Han Li slowly closed his eyes as a hint of regret flashed through his mind.
“Could it be that Doctor Mo is really going to kill me? If I had known earlier, I would have begged for mercy, there might have been a sliver of hope for me to survive. I am still very young; I really don’t want to die like this. If the news of my death reached my parents, would they feel sad? Would they regret sending me to the Seven Mysteries Sect?”
At that fine line between life and death, all kinds of distracting thoughts arose in Han Li’s mind, threatening to overwhelm him. All of a sudden, Han Li’s seemed to have experienced all the joys and sorrows of life at this instant, gaining enlightenment regarding the matters of life and death.
Ka cha! The sound of the sinister blade piercing a human body sounded out.
Han Li’s body shuddered slightly, but surprisingly, he did not feel any pain from that.
“What is happening?” Han Li opened his eyes in surprise.
The moment Han Li opened his eyes, he was shocked.
Unexpectedly, he saw that the sinister blade was lodged in between Doctor Mo’s shoulder blades and penetrated deeply into his body to the extent that only the handle of the blade remained on the outside, trembling slightly. There was no blood despite the grievous wound, revealing that the edge of the blade was exceptionally sharp While Han Li remained bewildered by the sight, Doctor Mo, against all sanity and reason, actually started to praise Han Li.
“Excellent! you little brat. You do have some guts indeed! Not crying out for mercy even when you were half an inch from death. Excellent! Hahaha”
“When i was out journeying in Jiang Hu in the recent past, I met plenty of heroes who claimed that they were not afraid of death. But the moment they landed in my hands, just under the slightest bit of pressure, they instantly turned from a proclaimed hero into a coward, falling to their knees and begging for their lives.
Han Li froze. He stuttered incoherently, unsure of what to reply.
Previously, he almost gave in to the pressure and soiled in his pants. Only by gritting his teeth and forcibly enduring it did he manage to not to cried out. It was also because in his heart he believed that Doctor Mo would not have killed him just like that and thus he luckily passed this “test”. Moreover, Han Li also has his pride as a man and he was unwilling to change his stance to beg Doctor Mo for mercy.
Facing the praises from Doctor Mo, Han Li of course would not correct him. But countless contradictions arose in his heart, uncertain whether should he be happy or disappointed.
Just as a multitude of thoughts swam around in Han Li’s mind, Doctor Mo swiftly grabbed the rest of the sinister blades and proceeded to impale every part of his body deeply, only leaving the demonic heads of the sinister blades exposed.
After Han Li recovered from his state of shock, he realised that there was a total of 7 sharp blades impaled in Doctor Mo’s body. The blades are inserted in both of his shoulders, both of his legs, his lower abdomen and rest of the blades were embedded in front of his chest. When looked at from afar, Doctor Mo gave off the impression that his body was hacked apart and dismembered in the midst of chaos.
Han Li didn’t know whether he should he be happy or terrified by Doctor Mo’s self mutilation. Could it be that method was a prelude to a very powerful martial art? Could Doctor Mo be using the powerful martial art to deal with Han Li?
After Doctor Mo finished impaling himself, he entered into a state of meditation, no longer speaking a word and ignoring all distractions.
Han Li’s heart shuddered slightly. He felt that this was a divine opportunity to escape. Just when he wanted to make a move, however, he abruptly stopped, appearing to have realised something.
Han Li smile bitterly. How could he have forgotten the giant fellow not far from Doctor Mo’s side? That giant fellow had always been observing Han Li’s movements, how could he have the chance to escape!
It appeared that before entering his meditative state, Doctor Mo had already planned out everything meticulously. He was unafraid of any tricks that Han Li might have up his sleeves. This strange giant fellow named “Iron Slave” seem to have originated from some place mysterious. His body was the same as Doctor’s Mo “Demonic Silver Hands”, the toughness of his body was such that even the fatal weakness of the male species (groin area) was impenetrable by sword or spears. All of Han Li’s plans to escape was destroyed by the mere presence of this man.
As Han Li was silently cursing the giant fellow in his heart, a change that seemed demonic in nature occurred in front of him.
Doctor Mo’s facial features started to twitched, followed by violent trembling of his whole body. His facial features contorted grotesquely, as if he was bearing tremendous pain. Along with the sinister blades impaled in his body, people observing would not help but be terror-stricken, as if that they could feel that there was an emergence of a extremely chilled air rising in the room Doctor Mo was in.
All of a sudden, Doctor Mo stopped trembling. However an extremely weird low-toned roaring noise emitted from deep inside his throat. This sound has the feel of a savage primal beastiliy. At that instant, Doctor Mo appears to be no longer an old man but rather a terrifying primordial beast from the wilds!
Following which, a even more horrifying thing happened. The ghostly mist that appeared on Doctor Mo’s face a year ago, materialized again.
Compared to a year ago, the ghostly mist that appeared now was distinctly different. Other an increase in the volume, the colour of the mist now was blacker than black. When it appeared on Doctor Mo’s face, it was akin to him wearing a pitch-black mask obscuring his original features.
Shadowy tentacles also started to emerge from the ghostly mist. In addition to this, the ghostly mist underwent a earthshaking change. Amidst the shadowy tentacles, the black fog seemed to have gained texture, becoming shiny and velvety. It seemed to have a will of its own, expanding and contracting uncontrollably, giving the appearance of it dancing madly on Doctor Mo’s face.
Both hands of Doctor Mo assumed the lotus hand gesture, contorting into a strange position. His lips were moving slightly, as if he were muttering some spell incantations, only that his voice was too low that Han Li could not catch what he said.
Alongside of Doctor Mo’s strange gesture, the ghostly mist on his face seemed to be extremely agitated. Just like pouring ice cold water on a boiling hot pan, the ghostly mist started to surge and seeth, creating a lot of small tentacles that were writhing threateningly in the air. It seemed that they wanted to stop Doctor Mo from doing something..
Just as the black fog was at its most saturated point, Doctor Mo suddenly opened his eyes. Despite the intense blanket of black fog, Han Li could still see Doctor Mo’s eyes were full of vitality and concentration.
“Seven Ghost Devouring the Soul!”
Doctor Mo roared out the name of the secret art that he is planning to use on Han Li.
Chapter 53: Handsome Man
As Han Li heard the name of the skill, his heart involuntarily shuddered. What happened next left an everlasting impression on him. It reminded him that there were still a lot of things in this world that were unknown.
As Doctor Mo roared, the seven sinister blades embedded in his body started to tremble. A buzzing sound was emitted from the demonic heads of the blades, getting louder and more acute by the second as if they were coming to life.
As Doctor Mo witnessed the sinister blades vibrating, he mumbled something fervently. Han Li could not catch what he said but he knew that it could not be anything good.
; Doctor Mo stood up, circled around the room, and finally stamped his foot in anger. He reluctantly raised his index finger and stuffed it into the mouth of one of the demonic heads.
An incredible and inconceivable thing happened. That demonic head that was supposedly dead actually opened its mouth and chomped down on Doctor Mo’s index finger, as if it was enjoying some heavenly delicacy.
Doctor Mo’s body slightly shuddered, as if he was forcibly suppressing the intense pain. Because of the black fog that was obscuring his features, Han Li could not see Doctor Mo’s expression but he guessed that surely it would be hideous.
In the time it took to brew a cup of tea, the hunger of the demonic head was finally sated. Satisfied, it opened it’s mouth to release the finger while the buzzing sound started to abate.
Next, Doctor Mo began to feed each of the demonic heads in succession before unwillingly withdrawing his finger.
After completing this, Doctor Mo resumed the lotus hand gesture from before, mumbling the spells incantation and shouting out “Seven Ghost Devouring the Soul!” again.
This time, the seven sinister blades did not start vibrating. Strangely enough it seemed that nothing inconceivable was going to happen. However…The eyes of the demonic heads all shot open at the same instant! Revealing pairs of blood-red eyeballs, together with their mouths that were stretched wide open, they appeared to be trying, in futility, to suck something from the air.
The ghostly mist on Doctor Mo’s face begin to convulse and expand, as if it could sense the danger of an imminent threat. The movements of the tentacles got increasingly intensive and violent but to no avail.
Seven extremely fine lines of black threads appeared on the top of the ghostly mist, weaving beautiful arcs in the air. Following an unseen energy, the lines of black thread accurately seeked out and were devoured by the mouths of the demonic heads that appeared to be eagerly waiting.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 27