A wave of icy cold seeped from some hidden depth within his heart, flowing steadily through Han Li’s entire body, jolting him awake from his stupor.
As soon as he regained consciousness, Han Li felt his head was immensely heavy, a dull ache throbbing within. Every part of his body felt soft and weak, devoid of strength, like the lingering misery after a severe illness. He struggled to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt like leaden weights, refusing to budge even a fraction.
In a daze, Han Li recalled everything that had happened before he lost consciousness.
A violent shudder ran through him, and his mind cleared somewhat. He immediately began to assess his physical condition.
"Huh?" It seemed his body hadn't been seized. Though he couldn't open his eyes, the pervasive, uncomfortable sensation throughout his body was real proof that his entire form was once again under his control.
"Could Doctor Mo's procedure have failed?"
This was the only explanation that made sense, and the unexpected delight struck Han Li like a blow.
Suppressing the surge of excitement, Han Li patiently waited until he recovered a modicum of strength. Then, with great effort, he managed to pry open his eyelids just a crack, allowing him to see the world beyond.
The moment he did, he saw a face right before him—covered in white hair, gaunt, emaciated, and incredibly aged. It was Doctor Mo’s elderly visage, yet it seemed more than a decade older than before, now the face of an old man so decrepit he couldn’t possibly be older.
At this moment, Doctor Mo’s eyes were wide open, staring at Han Li with a look of sheer terror.
Startled, Han Li’s muscles tensed instantly throughout his body. The feeling of weakness was hurled to the farthest corners of the sky. His first instinct was to strike preemptively—to seize the initiative.
Having learned his lesson the hard way, Han Li vowed never again to let himself be so easily controlled.
But then, Han Li noticed something odd. The other’s expression was frozen, utterly motionless, with no sound of breathing, as if he had been truly dead for a long time.
Han Li furrowed his brow but didn’t let his guard down. He fixed his gaze intently on the other’s face, searching for any telltale signs of deception.
After a full half-quarter of an hour of careful observation, Han Li had to admit that the figure did not appear to be alive.
Hesitating for a moment, he still cautiously approached the other, reaching out to grasp his wrist while placing his other hand beneath his nostrils. After testing for a while, he detected no movement.
Only then did Han Li finally relax completely, feeling an immense lightness in his heart. The heavy stone that had been pressing down on his very soul was finally lifted.
Even now, Han Li could scarcely believe it. His great enemy in his mind, the cunning and ruthless Doctor Mo, had simply perished without a sound, dying so inexplicably and so easily.
He reached up to touch his forehead. That so-called "Soul-Stabilizing Talisman" had vanished without a trace, seemingly gone who knew where. There was no sign of it nearby, which struck Han Li as strange. Later, after he learned the art of talismans, he recalled this moment and understood that the yellow paper talisman must have exhausted its contained magical power and turned to ash, which was why he couldn't find it anywhere.
With his spirit now relaxed, Han Li began to cast his gaze around, beyond Doctor Mo’s corpse, hoping to find some clue about the other’s death.
The oil lamps and candles surrounding them were still burning, indicating that he hadn't been unconscious for too long. Not far away, the several pieces of green jade had turned ashen and dull, their quality seemingly dropping several grades in an instant, becoming utterly unremarkable.
As his vision shifted, something in the corner of the stone room caught his eye—a shape that was dodging and hiding, desperately trying to avoid Han Li’s line of sight.
This object was no stranger to Han Li. It was precisely the green light orb he had fought in his dream, the enemy that had slipped from his grasp, now reduced to about two-thirds of its original size after being partially devoured.
At this moment, it was desperately trying to burrow into the corner of the wall, seemingly terrified of Han Li and attempting to hide itself.
Han Li was initially surprised, but then he fell into thought, resting his chin on one hand and lowering his head to ponder for a moment.
After a short while, Han Li stood up and walked over to the light orb.
Only when he was within half a zhang of it did he stop, speaking slowly and deliberately: "I think we should get acquainted. You must be Yu Zitong, correct?"
The green light orb trembled slightly, its radiance flickering uncertainly. Upon hearing Han Li call its name, it dimmed for a good while before flaring brightly once more.
"You've guessed correctly. You truly are worthy of being Mo Juren's disciple, just as troublesome and difficult to deal with as he was." The light orb seemed to resign itself to its fate, actually beginning to speak in a human voice—the voice of that very young man.
It offered no denial, directly admitting to Han Li’s deduction.
"Then shouldn't you give me some explanation? Tell me everything—the whole story from beginning to end." Hearing that this was truly one of the culprits behind his attempted murder, Han Li showed not a flicker of anger, his tone still slow and measured.
Yet Yu Zitong, seeing the other's unnervingly calm demeanor, felt a chill rise in his heart inexplicably, a premonition of great calamity.
In the recent battle of spiritual sense, he had just experienced the formidable power of this fiend, losing a portion of his Primordial Spirit and most of his Magical Power. The remnants of his power now only allowed him to cast a few minor illusions, lacking any offensive capability whatsoever. Facing the real person in the flesh, and possessing no means to protect himself, he naturally felt an indescribable fear.
"What do you want to know?"
He knew the other had just narrowly escaped death, and his emotional state was likely highly unstable, posing a great danger. Despite the other’s outward appearance of calm, beneath the surface, a volcanic fury might be brewing.
Since he had already been discovered, the best course of action was to cooperate. He had no intention of challenging the other’s patience with his words and thereby meeting a confused and untimely end at the hands of the other’s impulse.
"First, tell me exactly who you are. Then, explain how you came to know Doctor Mo, and what your original plan was. Leave nothing out. I have plenty of time now; I can listen to your story at my leisure." Han Li spoke with an expressionless face, as if wearing a mask, showing no trace of emotional fluctuation.