"Yu Zitong, I'm only going to remind you one last time—if something goes wrong with me, you won't fare any better either."
"Your Primordial Spirit in its current state won't be able to endure much longer. Without me finding you a suitable physical body, you'll likely dissolve and dissipate completely. So if there were any gaps or falsifications in the technique when you passed it to me, now is the time to correct yourself and tell me. It won't be too late, and I'll bear no grudge. I can even swear a terrible oath right in front of you."
Doctor Mo still wouldn't let up, continuing to laboriously persuade the young man.
"The Body Seizing method I passed on to you hasn't been altered in the slightest. If I've deceived you, may all my clan members meet divine punishment and die wretched deaths, and may the entire clan be extinguished from this day forth." Yu Zitong didn't pause for even a moment before delivering another ironclad oath. It was clear he understood Doctor Mo's concerns all too well.
"Furthermore, after you use the Seven Ghosts Soul Devouring technique, although it will grant you a certain amount of Magical Power in a short period of time—enough to cast some simple spells—it is ultimately done by offering your body to feed ghosts, at the cost of your vital essence. Can the residual vital essence still remaining in your body even allow you to use this technique next time?" After swearing his oath, Yu Zitong spoke again, cutting off Doctor Mo's retreat.
Once these words left his mouth, the stone chamber fell silent once more. The only sound was Doctor Mo's restless pacing back and forth.
Han Li prayed silently in his heart. He, who had never believed in gods, found himself making a wish to whatever passing deity might be listening—hoping that the other party would grow frightened and abandon his sinister intentions. Even though he knew it was absurd, a kind of self-deception, it was the only thing he could do at this moment.
"Fine. When you employ someone, don't distrust them; when you distrust someone, don't employ them. If I'm going to pursue such a great benefit, taking on a bit of risk is only natural." Doctor Mo finally steeled his resolve.
The moment these words came out, Han Li's heart sank into despair. Had his face still been capable of expression, it would surely have been deathly pale, his features etched with utter dejection.
Yu Zitong, on the other hand, seemed quite pleased, his voice brimming with excitement.
"That's how it should be! Think about it—you were originally a mundane person with no Spirit Root, with absolutely no path into Cultivating Immortality. But once the procedure succeeds, everything changes. With this body that possesses a Spirit Root, you could easily seek out a family or sect that practices cultivation and pledge yourself to them. From then on, you'd have a chance to break free from birth, aging, sickness, death, and the cycle of the Five Elements. At the very least, you'd live far longer than any mortal."
"Heh heh, then I'll thank you for those auspicious words first. Rest assured—I,
"Then many thanks, Big Brother Mo! After it succeeds, I absolutely won't hold anything back. I'll hand over every single cultivation technique to you, one by one." Yu Zitong was equally cunning and slippery, seizing the opportunity to close the distance and build a rapport.
Han Li, listening from the side, heard every word clearly and was so furious that smoke could have poured from all seven of his orifices. These two were truly birds of a feather—utterly shameless, treating his body as though it were already in their possession, without a shred of regard for the owner's opinion. But right now, he was truly powerless to do anything about it.
Doctor Mo, having cast aside his misgivings and made his decision, no longer intended to delay.
From somewhere he produced several thin golden needles and deftly inserted them into the secret acupoints at the back of his own head. His face flushed with ruddy vitality, his energy surging, ensuring he would have enough stamina to cast the spell without error.
Then he walked over to Han Li, propped his body up, and arranged it into a seated, cross-legged posture on the ground. He then sat down directly opposite, arms crossed and hands gripping his own shoulders tightly.
Doctor Mo formed a hand seal, flicked his wrist, and a streak of red light shot from his palm, striking the pattern beneath Han Li. Immediately, several jade stones surrounding them blazed to life with brilliant light.
Then, a low, droning chant began to issue slowly from Doctor Mo's mouth, like an incantation of dark magic, filling whoever heard it with drowsiness and a heavy urge to sleep. As the incantation reached Han Li's ears, his consciousness gradually blurred, sinking into overwhelming drowsiness.
"Not good—" Han Li knew something was terribly wrong. He understood clearly that this was deliberate—the prelude to seizing his body. Unwilling to simply sit and wait for his fate, he fought against the sound with every ounce of strength he could muster.
But it was futile. If he could still control his body, he could have bitten his tongue or twisted his own flesh to stay awake through the pain. But now, all he could do was passively endure.
Under the powerful hypnotic pull of the incantation, Han Li quickly lost all awareness. Just before slipping into unconsciousness, he caught a hazy glimpse of Doctor Mo's face—that once impossibly handsome face—now twisted into something hideous and terrifying in the dim lamplight, stripped of all its former charm.
"You've gotten so ugly!" These were the last words Han Li wanted to say before losing consciousness—the final, helpless curse of a man who couldn't even bring himself to swear.
In the endless darkness, Han Li had a most peculiar dream.
In the dream, he was a fist-sized sphere of green light, possessing his own little world, which he roamed freely and with boundless joy.
But before long, a yellow sphere of light barged in. It was only about the size of a thumb—several times smaller than Han Li's green sphere—but it came charging forward with vicious intent. The moment it spotted Han Li, it lunged savagely, opening a gaping mouth to bite him. Han Li, naturally, refused to back down. He conjured a mouth of his own and fought back ferociously.
In just a few moments, the yellow sphere was easily devoured by Han Li, who leveraged his superior size to end the battle with little effort.
Flush with victory, Han Li savored the taste of his spoil. Just then, another intruder arrived from outside. This time, the newcomer was a green sphere of light just like his own, except it was more than a size larger. Its glow, however, was dim and feeble, nothing like Han Li's radiant brilliance.
This new enemy, upon seeing Han Li's green sphere, was visibly startled. It paused, seeming to hesitate.
But Han Li had just tasted the exhilaration of devouring other light spheres and had no intention of letting this one go. Without considering the disparity in strength, he charged straight ahead. The other sphere had no choice but to engage, and the two began tearing at each other.
The enemy sphere was slightly larger than Han Li's, but weak and powerless—clearly nothing more than a hollow shell. It lasted only a little longer than the yellow one before crumbling and attempting to flee.
Han Li refused to let it escape and gave chase immediately. But the enemy was cunning; whenever it was caught, it would simply detach the bitten portion of itself and continue fleeing. In this way, it actually managed to escape, though it had lost fully a third of its original size.
After these two battles, this territory remained Han Li's exclusive domain. His sphere of light eagerly awaited other invaders that might come knocking. But sadly, none ever arrived again.
As time stretched on, he stopped caring. He continued to drift along happily on his own, and a very, very long time passed—as though this solitude would continue forever.
(End of Chapter)