“Rest assured! After I absorbed that old Daoist’s blood essence, my backlash completely withdrew. So long as I am more careful in the future, no such accidents will again occur. Recently, I have also felt that my cultivation speed has been too rapid, so I myself have been considering not going there again!” the young person indifferently said.
“Good, as long as you know about it. However, although this old Daoist has been exterminated, the person who planted a Spiritual Qi seal in this person is still quite troublesome! You must not ignore him. After all, it’s best to think of a way to not leave any traces behind!
“En, your words sound pretty reasonable! However, I originally believed that anyone who would become friends with old Daoist Wu would also have extremely low cultivation bases. After preparing the trap, I asked those five friends from Meng to set an ambush, but who knew that a big fish would actually appear? Do you think that it was a group of low-layer cultivators or a single Foundation Establishment cultivator who took action?” The young person couldn’t resist asking the elderly figure behind him.
“Hehe! Based on my estimation, it was likely a single Foundation Establishment cultivator! After all, even if there were more Qi Condensation cultivators, once those four were set on fleeing, capturing them all at once is not that easily done,” the elderly man with a veiled face said without further thought.
“Since it’s like this, shouldn’t we temporarily avoid taking risks? When Sect Master comes out from closed-door cultivation, we can continue with some other plan; after all, Foundation Establishment cultivators are not to be lightly provoked!” the young man said with some hesitation upon hearing the other person so casually tossing out the identities of the five friends from Meng Mountain.
“Temporarily avoid? What is there to temporarily avoid? You don’t know yet? Sect Master just sent out a notice that he currently requires a few Foundation Establishment cultivators to serve as blood sacrifices. Since this person took the initiative to appear, we shouldn’t let this opportunity slip past us so lightly! After all, Qi Condensation cultivators are numerous and easy to capture, but isolated Foundation Establishment cultivators are extremely rarely seen!” the elderly person said with a cold laugh, his eyes revealing a killing intent.
The young person with a veiled face, upon hearing this, was slightly startled, but afterward, he still spoke somewhat awkwardly:
“But now, apart from the Sect Master’s four great blood servants, our sect doesn’t have any Foundation Establishment level experts here in the capital. They are all in different locations, taking care of various matters; we can’t call them back to the capital just for this, can we?”
“It doesn’t need to be so complicated! Right now, Sect Master desperately needs a Foundation Establishment cultivator; perhaps you could obtain an opportunity to enter Foundation Establishment just like his four great blood servants?” A greedy expression flashed across the eyes of the veiled elderly person.
When the young man heard this, his spirit was shaken, as if he had been completely swayed by the elder’s words.
“Okay, I will go back and prepare! We definitely must capture this person,” he viciously said.
Then, the two of them discussed something in low tones for quite some time before inconspicuously leaving the hills, heading for some unknown location.
Strangely, however, these two people never brought up how they would precisely find Han Li’s location in such a large capital. It was as if this was not even an issue to them.
……
Meanwhile, in a completely deserted area hundreds of kilometers away from the hills, Han Li descended in the Divine Wind Boat, then forced the four people off the magic tool.
Although these four individuals knew that what happened next would not be something good, they simply couldn’t stir up any rebellious intent and could only listen obediently to his orders, walking off the small boat.
Han Li, with his hands clasped behind his back, stood in front of the few silent people, coldly sizing them up. After a long while, he opened his mouth and said:
“Take off your veils! At this point, covering your faces is no longer of any use.” Han Li’s voice was completely void of emotion, causing the four people’s figures to tremble briefly before involuntarily glancing at each other.
“Take them off,” the Eldest Brother said helplessly.
Seeing this, the other three people could only take off their black veils one by one in a dejected manner, revealing their true, unconcealed appearances.
After Han Li glanced at their appearances individually, his outward expression did not change, but in his heart, he let out a sigh; as expected, it was those five friends from Meng Mountain.
As he was hovering in midair, listening to these people discussing things, he already felt that their voices were somewhat familiar. Adding on their cultivation method and layers, he naturally connected them to the five friends from Meng Mountain that he had seen just two months ago. All of them were here apart from that forty year-old or so female.
Although these people’s identities were exactly the same as he had guessed, Han Li’s head still began to hurt incomparably.
Without even thinking, he knew that the young prince in Prince Xin’s residence and Steward Wang should be the criminals behind the mass disappearance of cultivators.
He originally intended to do as much as he could to avoid this trouble, but he never expected that this problem would voluntarily come to him. If he had known that it would be this way, he definitely would not have allowed that old Daoist to spy on those two. This was something that had nothing to do with the people from the Devil Dao; rather, he had simply been too careful.
Anyhow, he never expected that old Daoist Wu would actually be that useless; he had only spied on them for a day before being discovered. He had not even been able to protect his life.
This caused Han Li to feel even more depressed and speechless!
If old Daoist Wu’s spirit was in the afterlife and he knew that Han Li was complaining about him like this, perhaps he would feel even more wronged! He hadn’t even begun to spy on the young prince before the young prince charged into his room and sucked out his blood essence for no reason; his death was truly treated unjustly!
Although Han Li was somewhat wrong about old Daoist Wu’s death, he didn’t know that the young prince and Steward Wang did not know about Old Daoist Wu’s plans to spy on them; even more, they did not know at all that their identities had been revealed to Han Li.
But this didn’t affect the fact that both sides had sounded an alarm and were aware of enemies within their midst!
Han Li’s thoughts were very heavy at this moment.
After all, of the cultivators who had recently disappeared, a few Foundation Establishment cultivators were also included in that mix. If the opponent that he provoked was extremely frightening, perhaps he would follow in the footsteps of the others who had disappeared if he wasn’t careful.
Normally, since this place was so dangerous, he would naturally flee far away; after all, a wise man foresees and mitigates risks! There really was no need for him to fight to the death with this group of people; the further he could get away from this place, the better.
But what posed him some difficulty was that he still had the mission of protecting the Qin Clan.
If, the people from the Qin Clan were to suffer some misfortune during his absence, he would have no way of accounting for it when he reported to Li Huayuan!
He could not say that he fled because he had felt that Yuejing had suddenly become extremely dangerous.
As Han Li thought this, his expression began to appear indecisive, causing the four hostages in front of him to feel extremely uneasy.
They originally thought that since they had been brought to this place with no one else around, the other person was definitely going to press them for information. However, they didn’t expect that this Foundation Establishment youth, after seeing their expressions, would
fall into deep thought. His expression became somewhat strange as well. Could he be thinking of some vicious method to torture them?
After making these random guesses, these individuals felt cold sweat forming on their back, and their mental states became even more unsettled.
“How does your esteemed self plan on dealing with us?” the twenty-something year-old young woman suddenly asked, becoming impatient.
Hearing these words, Han Li recovered from his deep thinking; after glancing at the woman, he coldly said:
“Do I need to deal with you? If I were to hand you over to the families of the missing cultivators and say that you are some of the criminals behind the scenes, I trust that they would treat you very well.”
Han Li spoke these words expressionlessly, causing the four people to have no doubts that Han Li would have no qualms about doing this; they couldn’t help but reveal terrified expressions.
“We never kidnapped those cultivators, not even once! We only did a few......?”
“Stop speaking, Fifth Junior Sister! He is trying to trap you with his words!”
The dark-faced old man suddenly barked out severely, abruptly interrupting the woman’s next words. This caused Fifth Junior Sister’s heart to feel shocked, and she couldn’t help but viciously glare at Han Li.
“Set a trap for you with my words? You regard yourselves too highly!” Han Li indifferently chuckled with a mocking smile.
Chapter 300: Blood Curse
"Hmph! As our senior, you have no need to humiliate us in this way. If you have any methods to torture us with, just use them!” The tall, skinny Second Brother of the Five Friends from Meng Mountain suddenly yelled at Han Li; he did not seem to be afraid that his life hung in Han Li’s hands.
This greatly shocked the other three! In their hearts, this second eldest brother was someone who would think before acting; he was not an impulsive person!
The thirty year-old youth, who felt that Han Li seemed somewhat familiar, thought for a moment; He suddenly seemed to recall something and immediately turned towards the tall, skinny man, yelling at him with anger and fright, “Second Brother, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to purposefully enrage this Senior and cause him to kill all of us in his anger?”
As soon as this sentence left his mouth, even Han Li was slightly shocked, not to mention the dark-faced elder and the young woman; he had no idea why this youth would say these things.
In an instant, the Second Brother’s face became incomparably pale and didn’t say anything to defend himself.
“Fourth Brother, you’re mad! How could Second Brother want us to die?” When the young woman heard this, she angrily defended the tall, thin man.
Then the woman turned her face toward the dark-faced old man to say something. However, she truly hadn’t thought the old man would look so gloomy.
“Second Brother, is it because Third Sister still remains in their grasp that you thought to have everyone die so that Third Sister may live!?” The dark-faced old man coldly asked.
“Forgive me, Eldest Brother, but you of all people should know his methods. From the hidden meaning behind his words, Third Sister will be certain to suffer a hundred torments under his hand and live a life worse than death. It would be better to have one’s soul fly away and be scattered than to suffer that fate!” The thin, tall Second Brother eventually explained with a face of shame.
When the young woman heard this, her face became incomparably pale. Her lips moved several times, but no words were able to come out.
“Humph, even if Third Sister is your Dao Companion, you actually have the nerve to use our three lives in exchange for her own?” The thirty year-old youth resentfully yelled at the second brother.
“Second Brother, although Fourth Brother speaks somewhat bluntly, he is not without reason! When we swore our oaths as sworn siblings that year, we promised that we would all live and die together. But now for your selfish ideas, you wanted to deliberately kill everyone. This is unjustifiable!” The dark-faced old man’s voice was filled with disappointment.
“Correct! I wanted everyone to die but what other method do I have? My own flesh and blood is within Third Sister’s stomach. I can’t have my Li Clan become extinct here! Otherwise, who else would take the initiative to seek death? A wretched life is preferable to a good death!”
As his expression alternated between red and white, the thin, tall man couldn’t help but yell this with gripped fists.
These words immediately caused the old man and the young woman to be slightly stunned and reveal shock. For a moment, they actually didn’t know what to say.
The woman had her mouth wide open with an expression of complete shock.
“Are you all finished? If you are, then I will speak!” Han Li, who had been detachedly observing from the start, suddenly said this in a cold voice.
When they heard this, the three were immediately startled, and they suddenly recalled that the one who was actually in charge of their lives was actually the Foundation Establishment cultivator before them.
Their resentment immediately disappeared without a trace, and they once again looked at each other in dismay.
“I don’t care if you are all seeking death or if you’re putting on a play! I only want information on those behind the scenes. If you truly want to die, you will only be able to do so after you tell me information. Did you still think that you had control over your life and death?” Han Li’s emotionless words caused the fours’ complexions to greatly change.
“We don’t know much of what you want. Furthermore, we have a blood curse restriction on our bodies. We aren’t able to leak any important affairs to outsiders, else we would immediately activate the restriction and our hearts would rupture.” The dark-faced old man gritted his teeth and then said this. He seemed to have already given up.
“Blood curse? That’s a bit interesting. Let me inspect it!” Han Li grew very curious and said this with some interest.
When the dark-faced old man heard this, his spirit slightly shook. After some hesitation, he took the initiative to walk forward and extend his arm, holding onto a thread of hope.
He had hopes that Han Li would be able to remove the calamity hidden within him. However, he felt these hopes weren’t very likely.
Those who put the blood curse on them were extraordinarily confident that no cultivator with a blood curse would divulge their secrets. Those who divulged secrets, regardless of whether it was deliberate or not, would die on the spot.
At this moment, Han Li grabbed his wrist and slowly circulated spiritual power through the old man’s body. At this moment, his expression changed and became incomparably respectful.
The other three of the Five Friends of Meng Mountain stared at the two with great attention. They hoped this expert Han Li would truly be able to remove the blood curse.
After the time it took to make a cup of tea, Han Li let go of the old man’s hand and lowered his head in contemplation.
After a short moment, he raised his head and asked the old man with an unchanged expression, “When they laid the curse on you, did they chant any strange incantations or say some strange words?”
Han Li’s question caused the four to all reveal an appearance of shock mixed with a trace of happiness.
“They said…they said a few strange words we didn’t understand. It seemed as if the incantation came from some sort of ancient dialect. We’re certain we’ve never heard those words before. Also, it was a Foundation Establishment cultivator who laid the curse on us.” Without waiting for the dark-faced old man to respond, the thin man excitedly replied first.
“Furthermore, after they finished these words, they took a bowl of some unknown black blood and put a few peculiar pattern on all our arms. It is incapable of being washed off.” The old man promptly added on. He then exposed his entire arm, revealing a strange black and indistinct symbol.
After Han Li stepped forward and took a careful look, he nodded his head. Then
he again lowered his head in thought.
Not long after, Han Li suddenly raised his head and mysteriously smiled toward them, saying, “I was right! It seems I figured out what this blood curse is!”
“Are Senior’s words true?” The dark-faced old man said, trembling. The other three didn’t dare to believe Han Li’s words.
This blood curse was like a sharp blade at their necks. They had no choice but to follow the orders they were given. If Han Li could truly remove the great danger that resided within their hearts, they would be able to recover their freedom and wouldn’t need to obey their captors any further.
“This so-called blood curse is actually a kind of oral curse! What created the restriction should be that strange incantation. It has absolutely nothing to do with the black blood mark drawn on your upper arm; that was only a deception!” Han Li indifferently explained. It appeared as if he was greatly prepared.
However, he inwardly sighed from the fluke.
Fortunately, back when he was looking for information on the Greater Displacement Medallion, he had come across this oral curse technique in a very peculiar book. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have known the slightest thing about it.
“Is it possible for Senior to remove the curse?” The young woman couldn’t help but ask.
“I don’t know.”
Han Li’s cold reply caused everyone’s heart to drop. The wild happiness they previously revealed was instantly deflated.
“What is the meaning of Senior’s words?” The dark-faced old man hastily wore a smile and carefully asked this.
At this moment, with the curse removal lying in Han Li’s hands, he didn’t dare to offend Han Li in the slightest.
“There are two methods for removing an oral curse. One method is by knowing the curse’s dispel chant. So long as I have the chant in my hands, I can read it aloud with spiritual power and safely break it. The other method is to use my spiritual awareness to enter your spiritual awareness sea and forcefully wipe away traces of the oral curse. This method requires the spiritual awareness of the one removing it to be greater than the one who cast it. In this way, the imprint can be removed. But if I fail, the oral curse will be triggered. You should clearly know what would happen afterwards,” Han Li wrinkled his brow and said this harshly.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 162