One after another, peculiar objects—some familiar, some strange—were pulled out by Han Li and sorted into two piles based on their suspiciousness, then placed to the side.
He gradually grew astonished. Doctor Mo truly had a bewildering variety of items on him, many of which were clearly meant to be lethal.
A sleeve arrow tipped with a venom that could kill upon drawing blood.
A pouch of poison sand soaked in snake venom.
Over a dozen razor-sharp boomerangs.
…
As the number of items grew, Han Li’s breathing became somewhat hurried. The more carefully he searched, the more alarmed he felt.
Only now did he realize how fortunate he had been during his fight with Doctor Mo. If the other party hadn’t intended to capture him alive, he would have long since met his end.
Wiping the cold sweat from his face, Han Li laughed mockingly at himself:
“Here I am, a living person, being frightened out of my wits by a dead man’s belongings.”
Finally, having finished his search, Han Li began examining each item in the pile he deemed suspicious.
“The stuff in this small vial smells awful—seems like some kind of antidote. Probably harmless.”
“This strange weapon looks like a small wheel. No idea what it’s for, but it likely has nothing to do with the giant man. Set it aside for now.”
“As for this sachet…”
Han Li fiddled with the items while muttering to himself, clearly engrossed. In his hand was an ordinary sachet embroidered with simple white silk flowers.
Logically, such a common sachet shouldn’t arouse suspicion. But Han Li felt that while it might be normal for an ordinary person to carry one, it was highly unusual for a cunning figure like Doctor Mo to have it.
He first held it in one hand, gauging its weight. It felt light, unlikely to contain anything heavy. Then he gave it a gentle squeeze—it had a papery texture, as if it held pages of some sort.
Han Li’s spirits lifted. He opened the sachet and, unsurprisingly, found several sheets of paper inside.
A quick glance revealed Doctor Mo’s handwriting, which gave him some reassurance. But as he read more carefully, he was stunned—it was actually a suicide note left by Doctor Mo for him.
Puzzled and burning with curiosity, Han Li picked up the letter and read through it in detail.
After finishing, he looked up at the sky and let out a long, heavy sigh, then furrowed his brow, deep in thought.
Clasping his hands behind his back, he paced around like a little old man, lost in unconscious movement. Every few steps, he would pause to ponder something, hesitate, then take a few more steps before stopping again to continue his thoughts.
Unknowingly, Han Li began circling Doctor Mo’s corpse like a donkey turning a millstone, his face shifting between shades of red and pale white, reflecting the turmoil within him.
If Li Feiyu were to see Han Li in such a restless state, he would likely burst into loud laughter.
The reason for Han Li’s agitation was the suicide note, which presented him with terrible news and a difficult choice. The antidote for the “Corpse Insect Pill” was actually poisonous—a rare, insidious toxin. According to the letter, this poison could only be counteracted by his family heirloom, the “Warm Sun Jade.” There was no other cure, not even with legendary antidotes.
Thus, in these pages, Doctor Mo made it clear to Han Li that this suicide note and the earlier poison were his contingency plan for the worst-case scenario. If his soul possession failed and something went wrong, Han Li would most likely be the one to survive. To settle his affairs posthumously, he proposed a simple transaction in the letter—one that would satisfy both parties, free him of worries, and grant Han Li great wealth and untold benefits.
As for whether Yu Zitong might end up surviving, Doctor Mo didn’t even consider it. In the letter, he spoke of him disdainfully, describing him as cold-hearted, cowardly, and only somewhat clever. Even as a cultivator, he wouldn’t achieve much, and he certainly wouldn’t be the one laughing in the end.
When Han Li read this, he inwardly smiled wryly. Despite Doctor Mo’s cunning, he never expected to fall into a trap set by someone he usually looked down on. If Han Li hadn’t hidden his true progress in the Eternal Spring Art, he would most likely have perished alongside Doctor Mo, allowing Yu Zitong to reap the benefits. Of course, this was also because Doctor Mo had become blinded by his obsession with immortality—a reminder that no cultivator should be underestimated.
The transaction proposed in the letter was simple: Han Li was to visit Doctor Mo’s home within one to two years. Firstly, the insidious poison would activate within two years. Secondly, Doctor Mo had a wife, concubines, a daughter, and a considerable estate. Although he had made many arrangements and set up decoys before leaving, if he didn’t return for too long, his unruly subordinates and enemies would grow suspicious and pose a threat to his family. Thus, Han Li needed to protect his wife and children before things turned worse, relocating them to safety and ideally helping them leave behind the conflicts of the martial world to live ordinary, worry-free lives.
As compensation for plotting against Han Li and as payment for setting aside grudges to help, Doctor Mo offered one of his daughters to Han Li as a wife, with a dowry of half his entire fortune and the “Warm Sun Jade.”
Before leaving, Doctor Mo had already given the jade to his lawful wife, specifying it was to be part of their daughter’s dowry. So, for the sake of his own life, Han Li had no choice but to marry her, willing or not.
Of course, he also clearly pointed out that his enemies and opponents were powerful, and his subordinates were difficult to control. With Han Li’s current abilities, he would likely struggle to handle them directly. To address this, Doctor Mo had prepared two false identities for Han Li in a hidden compartment at his residence, along with tokens and handwritten letters of authentication, allowing Han Li to choose the suitable identity. He also included a list of trusted aides, suspicious individuals, enemies, and important precautions.
To prove his sincerity in leaving this suicide note, he appended methods to control and summon the “Giant Iron Slave” and the “Cloud-Winged Bird.”
Somewhat baffling to Han Li was Doctor Mo’s vague mention that the Iron Slave was a soulless corpse, nothing more than a walking dead man whose true soul had long since reincarnated, so Han Li need not grieve upon seeing it. This left Han Li scratching his head—did he really seem like someone with such deep emotions?
Even setting aside the poison, facing such immense wealth, it would be a lie to say Han Li wasn’t tempted. Always sensitive to money, he was deeply intrigued by the transaction Doctor Mo had proposed. As for marrying his daughter, Han Li, now at an age where romantic feelings began to stir, felt a strange excitement. After all, judging by Doctor Mo’s original appearance, his daughter was surely not ugly.
But the risks involved were no small matter. A single misstep could cost him his life. Enemies deemed worthy opponents by Doctor Mo would not be easy to deal with!
Doctor Mo, having meticulously arranged his posthumous affairs, used life, beauty, and immense wealth as interlinked traps to tightly bind Han Li to the safety of his wife and daughter. It seemed Han Li had no choice but to reluctantly swallow this honey-coated poison.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage