A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248
Page 182
“Then...”
Having heard this, Han Li recalled his spiritual awareness. Since he found out that the Rainbow Sect Master was in the Li Estate, he didn’t need to know anything else. Han Li then set down his cup of wine and put a few pieces of silver on the table, saying with a deep voice, “Waiter, I’ve paid the bill. Keep the change!”
With that said, he nimbly descended.
The waiter opened his eyes wide and repeatedly expressed his thanks.
After leaving the restaurant, Han Li gazed in the direction of the “Li Estate” with a trace of a sneer. The Rainbow Sect Master wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
Once night fell, he would pay a visit to the Li Estate. If there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators nearby, he would be able to easily take the life of the Rainbow Sect Master and fulfill his promise.
But since it was still day and he was short on time, he thought that he should take advantage of this opportunity to handle his other affairs.
With that in mind, Han Li disappeared into the bustling crowd.
……
Naturally, as Sun Ergou’s status was now completely different, no one would dare to address him by name. If anyone saw him now, they would address him as “Gang Leader Sun”.
The Fourth Level Gang was no longer located where it had previously been, over ten years ago. It had relocated to a more prosperous street inside the city.
As for the gang members, they were no longer impoverished luggage carriers from the docks. Instead of fiercely working to make a living, they created great profits from their territory and had even built a restaurant, pawn shop and other such businesses.
As a result, the Fourth Level Gang had become increasingly wealthy and Gang Leader Sun’s quality of life had improved in kind.
As a matter of fact, Sun Ergou had married his ninth young concubine, a famous courtesan in Jia Yuan City, during the last month.
This young concubine truly knew how to seduce. After this middle-aged Sun Ergou married her, he had lingered in her room every day and had forgotten to leave. As for his other concubines, they had long been placed in the back of his head.
When it was still day, Gang Leader Sun would joyfully head over to her courtyard.
With one thought of that coquettish young beauty, he felt a heat in his heart that couldn’t be quelled!
However, when Sun Ergou entered the fragrant room this day, he was immediately stunned!
As he entered, he unexpectedly saw a young man sitting in front of him. Once this man saw Gang Leader Sun Enter, he lazily said, “Sun Ergou, I hadn’t thought that you held such skill! The management of the Fourth Level Gang is quite good. It seems I had chosen the right person!”
Not only did this youth address him by his full name, he also spoke to him in a superior tone. This youth was Han Li who had secretly infiltrated into the Fourth Level Gang’s headquarters.
When Sun Ergou saw Han Li, he immediately recognized him as the person who had originally helped him that year. After all, Han Li looked exactly the same as he did ten years ago due to the fact that he had taken the “Face Setting Pill”.
This shocked Sun Ergou and caused a storm of perilous uncertainty to rage in his heart.
After a short moment of his expressions changing incessantly, Sun Ergou revealed a respectful appearance as he hastily stepped forward and saluted Han Li, “So it turns out that Young Master had arrived! Sun Ergou pays his respects to Young Master!”
This was quite difficult for the current Gang Leader Sun. He hadn’t spoken with a humble attitude for many years but was unexpectedly still able to do so quite skillfully.
Han Li raised his eyebrows and revealed surprise upon seeing Sun Ergou’s bearing. Quickly after, he faintly smiled and said with slight curiosity, “It’s alright! You’re a gang leader now. There is no need to be so courteous. My current visit is to see how you’ve grown. I’ll be leaving soon anyways.”
Sun Ergou immediately grew at ease. He had feared that he would have to hand over his authority! As he had held a high position for so many years, he knew a bit about cultivators and that mortals like him couldn’t hope to resist such characters.
Even knowing this, Sun Ergou was also aware that this person was extremely elusive. He had originally believed that Han Li had given him such great benefits because he would have to act as Han Li’s puppet. But he hadn’t thought that Han Li would release his grasp and conceal himself for so many years. As such, Sun Ergou got a taste of what it was like to be above others!
He hadn’t expected that this young master would suddenly reveal himself; he had believed that Han Li had completely forgotten about him.
As he didn’t know Han Li’s objective, he grew truly apprehensive!
“Yi!” Han Li looked at Sun Ergou with surprise.
“Come over here and let me see your wrist!” Han Li wrinkled his brow and gave an indisputable command.
Sun Ergou was startled. After hesitating for a moment, he obediently walked over and extended his wrist.
Han Li impolitely grabbed his wrist and poured a bit of Spiritual Qi into his body, quickly circulating it through his meridians.
After a short moment, Han Li released Sun Ergou’s wrist with an indifferent expression and said a few words that left Sun Ergou pale from fright.
“A hidden poison has started to take effect in your body. At most, you have a month to live.”
Han Li’s voice was ice-cold and emotionless.
Chapter 334: A Strange Change
“Poisoned? That’s impossible. I am quite careful and have a specialist responsible for testing my food and drink!” After a moment of terror, Sun Ergou revealed an appearance of unease.
Hearing this, Han Li was too lazy to explain any further. With a wave of his hand, a streak of azure light flashed and flew into Sun Ergou’s body.
“Young Master! This is... wh-... what’d you...” Sun Ergou hadn’t dared to dodge, but was still alarmed.
“This is True Spirit Technique, it’s capable of visualizing the poison within your body. Go ahead and take a look in a mirror!” Han Li sat on a chair and played it down.
When Sun Ergou heard this, his heart dropped. Then he hastily ran to the corner of the room with a dressing table.
He hastily scoured the dressing table for a small mirror and then looked into the mirror with great caution. What he saw left him dumbfounded. He saw that his entire face was covered in blackish-purple Qi. From a single glance, he could tell he was severely poisoned.
“Young Master, please save my life! This one has remained faithful to Young Master this entire time and possesses no trace of disloyalty.” Sun Ergou rushed over to Han Li with an expression of fear and knelt while imploring Han Li to save him.
At this moment, he was almost entirely convinced!
As Han Li was a cultivator, it was impossible he would waste so much effort to deceive someone like Sun Ergou. If Han Li had truly meant him harm, he could’ve killed him with a flick of a finger.
After having seen this display of loyalty, Han Li faintly smiled and calmly said, “Be at ease. Although the poison is quite hidden, it’s toxicity is weak. It won’t be able to kill you in a few days. There is no need to be so fussed over nothing!”
Although Sun Ergou had calmed down a bit, he continued his pitiful pleas, “Young Master possesses great power. Please give this one a method to dissolve the poison so that I, Sun Ergou, may continue to serve you faithfully! If Young Master does not trust me then I can swear an oath under poison. This one...” Although Sun Ergou was now a gang leader, we was still very much afraid of death. Without even waiting for Han Li to speak, he took the initiative to swear his own oaths — much to Han Li’s amusement.
‘Serve me faithfully? It seems more like he has been receiving benefits without giving anything in return!’ Han Li thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
“This is a detoxification pill. After you take this, you’ll be fine but just make sure that your p
oisoning does not continue.” Han Li shook his head before tossing a blue medicine pill to Sun Ergou.
“Many thanks! Many thanks, Young Master!” Sun Ergou received the pill with great joy and repeatedly expressed his thanks. He then quickly climbed up from the floor and properly put away the pill.
“This poison doesn’t affect one so deeply after only one or two exposures. It should have taken at least several months for it to get to this point! I believe that you should be able to find the poisoner. Surely you can do that at least; isn’t that right, my dear Gang Leader Sun?” Han Li lightly chuckled and said half-jokingly.
“Young Master teases! However, as for who poisoned me, I do have a few suspects in mind.” Sun Ergou rubbed the back of his head with a smile.
As his life had been just saved by Han Li, he was naturally now even more respectful towards him.
“En! As a cultivator, I can’t be too involved in the affairs of you mortals. I’ll leave it to you! The reason why I came here was because I wanted to see Crooked Soul and take him away. Now that I have quite a bit of cultivation, I shouldn’t have any problem bringing him along. Do you have any complaints about this?” Han Li’s smiled disappeared as he said this with a deep voice.
“Young Master wishes to take Sir Crooked Soul away? But Young Master, Sir Crooked Soul is no longer in the Fourth Level Gang.” When Sun Ergou heard Han Li’s tone, he incessantly complained in his heart, but he still had to summon the courage to reply.
“What do you mean? You lost him?” Han Li’s face darkened and the temperature in the room dropped several degrees, causing Sun Ergou tremble in fright.
“Young Master, please calm down! It wasn’t that I had lost him, but that Sir Crooked Soul had run off on his own. Although he is not in the city, he is not too far away, at a nearby mountain forest. I had sent a few people to follow after Sir Crooked Soul!” Sun Ergou explained at great speed, fearing that Han Li would act on his anger.
“He ran off on his own? What going on? Explain it clearly. If it isn’t as you say, then don’t blame me for coming back to punish you!” Although slight astonishment had flashed across Han Li’s face, he still managed to respond with a relaxed expression.
It was good enough that Sun Ergou knew about Crooked Soul’s whereabouts. But since Crooked Soul was only a walking corpse, Han Li found it hard to believe that he could have run away on his own.
Seeing that Han Li wasn’t angry, Sun Ergou felt relieved. Not daring to neglect him, he hastily explained, “Ever since Young Master had handed over Sir Crooked Soul to me, I have followed Young Master’s instructions to only use him as a last resort and to not allow others to see him.
“But an anomaly occurred six years ago with Sir Crooked Soul. That period of time was a crucial moment of expansion for my gang and we were against a mid level gang with a great amount of experts. I had Sir Crooked Soul help me deal with them. During that battle, Crooked Soul had displayed great might and won our gang a decisive victory. But a few days after the battle had concluded, a subordinate I tasked with watching Crooked Soul suddenly came and reported that he had actually started talking. I was extremely astonished and rushed over with the ‘Soul Guiding Bell’. Then...”
Sun Ergou stopped there and bitterly smiled.
“What happened? Don’t tell me that Crooked Soul attacked you while still in possession of the Soul Guiding Bell?”
Having heard that Crooked Soul could speak, he was greatly astonished. But having seen that Sun Ergou had deliberately kept him in suspense, Han Li unhappily rebuked him.
Frightened, Sun Ergou continued, “He didn’t attack me. But before I entered his room, Sir Crooked Soul seemed to know that I had arrived; he suddenly broke the wall and ran away as if he was flying. I was completely unable to chase after him!” As Sun Ergou said this, he revealed an expression of helplessness.
“He ran away?!” With raised eyebrows, Han Li’s mind seemed to have wandered off into thought.
“That’s right, Young Master! Although Sir Crooked Soul has done this for several years, for some reason, he is still lingering at the boundary of the forest. Although I’ve tried several times to find Crooked Soul and bring him back with the aid of my gang’s experts, he was always unwilling to see me. Whenever I approached him, he would immediately flee. I had a few experts block his path, but nobody proved to be Sir Crooked Soul’s opponent. Two of my gang’s experts have even died.” Sun Ergou said, perplexed.
“It isn’t a great mystery! It’s likely because of the Soul Guiding Compass that you carry! Although I don’t know why control over Crooked Soul was lost, it seems the restrictions I originally put on him were still effective.” Han Li coldly laughed before saying this with an indifferent expression.
“So it was like that!” Sun Ergou had appeared to be convinced.
It seemed that he had previously come to that conclusion as well.
“Tell me about Crooked Soul’s whereabouts. I will deal with him later. As it seems that this matter isn’t your doing, I’ll have to personally go to see what had happened. Since you no longer have a use for the Soul Guiding Bell, give it to me.” After a moment of thought, Han Li said this calmly.
“Yes, Young Master. My subordinates reported of Sir Crooked Soul’s whereabouts two days ago. He is currently in the west side of...” Sun Ergou respectfully gave directions to a place about a hundred kilometers outside of Jiayuan City. He then carefully took out the “Soul Guiding Bell” magic tool and offered it to Han Li with both hands.
Han Li nodded his head and examined the magic tool for a moment. He then placed it in his storage pouch, having found that it was in good condition.
“In addition to Crooked Soul, I came here because I also had a few questions to ask you about the Rainbow Sect. You must answer me honestly!” Han Li’s face suddenly grew stiff; his voice once more becoming cold.
Han Li’s change in tone had clearly stunned Gang Leader Sun. After a short pause, he repeatedly nodded his head like a baby chick pecking grain.
“What kind of person is the current Rainbow Sect Master? What family does he have? Have any outsiders recently appeared in the Li Estate and have any of them remained?” Han Li fired these questions off with a stiff expression.
Sun Ergou felt his heart tremble, but he answered without the slightest hesitation, “As for the Rainbow Sect Master, this one truly doesn’t understand what sort of person he is. This one had only previously seen him at a distance and I only understand that his martial arts are unfathomable. With regards to family, he has two sons and a daughter; all of whom are married. I’ve heard that his eldest son is presiding over at the Rainbow Sect’s previous headquarters. His second son has followed the Rainbow Sect Master to the Li Estate and is presiding over that. I’ve also heard...”
Sun Ergou gave a very comprehensive explanation. It was clear that he regularly put forth great effort into gathering intelligence on the Rainbow Sect.
As Han Li calmly listened, he unconsciously placed his hand on the table and started to tap; it appeared he was digesting the information.
When Sun Ergou saw Han Li stay silent for a moment, his heart stirred and he carefully asked, “Could it be because of that matter with the Mo Estate several years ago that you wish to act against the Rainbow Sect?”
Once Han Li heard this, his brow wrinkled as his face became gloomy.
“You speak too much! Don’t randomly ask about matters you have no right to know! Even more so, do not guess. You wouldn’t want to tragically become one of those poor souls who have lost their memories, right?”
Han Li’s ice-cold voice caused Sun Ergou’s expression to drop and he immediately begged for forgiveness.
Han Li snorted, letting the matter drop. One couldn’t afford to be polite when establishing authority.
Chapter 335: Astonishment
Seeing that Sun Ergou’s face had broken out in a cold sweat, Han Li knew that his limit had been reached and prepared to give a few benefits to him.
As Han Li said this, he took out a sheet of common blank talisman paper. Swoosh. He clearly tore it in two and handed one half to Sun Ergou while putting away the other.
When Sun Ergou first heard Han Li’s words, he first appeared astonishment. Soon after, he appeared rapt with joy and knelt down in front of Han Li; he sincerely kowtowed, knocking his head three times against the ground. He then raised his head and earnestly said, “Many thanks for Young Master’s great kindness! Young Master, please be at ease. My Sun Clan shall revere Young Master for many generations and will never renege on this agreement. Else, my clan may face extermination and calamity.” With that said, Sun Ergou kowtowed, knocking his head against the floor once more before standing up with a respectful appearance.
Han Li was somewhat startled from seeing this!
His original intention was to coax Sun Ergou. But he hadn’t thought that with a mere promise, that he would be rendered grateful to the point of tears.
But after a moment of thought, Han Li came to a realization.
In the mortal world, the continuation of one’s bloodline along with their clan’s prosperity were most important! As such, it was natural for Han Li’s guarantee of the prosperity of Sun Ergou’s later generations to be met with sincere servitude.
After all, Han Li hadn’t given Sun Ergou any unreasonable orders these past years. As such, he felt that having his descendents continue to serve Han Li was best.
With that figured out, Han Li felt quite happy. Having Sun Ergou handle his affairs sincerely instead of half-heartedly would be of much greater effect.