Han Li had never once experienced as long and bitter of a hardship as he did now, but now there were at most four to five months left to decide everything. Doctor Mo had laid all of his cards on the table and Han Li had to acquire a way to protect himself.
So he finally decided, he would only practice the simple techniques which he would be able to use at once. The more difficult ones would be placed off to the side until he successfully escaped this tiger’s den, when he would practice them again.
As such, he would cut down large amounts of the practice time that typically should have been required, giving him much more time to practice the simpler techniques.
Han Li understood that, in reality, even if he completely understood this technique, he would not be able to even compare to Doctor Mo’s strength.
If Doctor Mo didn’t lie previously about him once being an illustrious and famous martial artist, then Han Li knew that he would have many cruel and savage methods. In their last confrontation, none of these vicious methods had appeared. If Doctor Mo decided reveal his true ability, Han Li feared he would be utterly helpless.
Han Li thought of Doctor Mo’s demonic skills and could only tremble, extremely afraid of Doctor Mo.
He was very clearly aware that the time he had to practice was very limited. His threat towards Doctor Mo was incomparably small, almost to the point of nothing. But even with his hands tied, unable to do anything to resist, Han Li had no intentions of meekly submitting.
Han Li knew that, if there was ever another time when he could fight with Doctor Mo, his only opportunity would come while the other looked down on him. Only when Doctor Mo was truly careless and negligent would Han Li be able to stand a chance against him, catching him off guard.
By the next day, Han Li had finished reading all of the manuals of the Blinking Sword Art and had chosen a few techniques that he was going to practice. He started to research and polish these techniques so he would be able to practice them in the quickest way possible.
After a couple of days racking his brains, he suddenly gained insights into what to do! With great focus and determination, he was able to accomplish much in this short period of time, to the point which he felt pride in his efficiency.
In half of a month, Han Li had ensured that he had no other responsibilities to deal with. He did this to give himself ample amount of time to practice with neither interruption nor worry.
First, he took the original copy of all the books and returned them to Li Feiyu. Han Li also seized this opportunity to warn him about the encounter with the Feral Wolf Gang’s spies. Naturally, he also told Li Feiyu about the true identity of the kitchen steward.
After Li Feiyu heard this, he was very surprised but also very pleased. He put his arms around Han Li’s shoulders in a brotherly embrace and said, “Good Junior Brother!” For Han Li to send him so many opportunities to render great merits, Li Feiyu was of course very appreciative and was moved.
But he had no idea that Han Li was right now fighting for his own life, and so he could not spend the energy or time to catch the spy himself. As a result, he gave Li Feiyu this favor, who, of course, took this opportunity!
After hurriedly finishing his business with Li Feiyu, Han Li went to personally visit some of the blacksmith masters inside of the sect.
He ordered different types of small daggers and requested a few secret customizations to be made. Apart from this, he also had requested for some junk parts whose uses weren’t even worth mentioning, as well as a few small, exquisite iron bells. In addition, he specially requested and stressed that these orders be procured quickly, spending no small amount of silver, which caused him to have a bit of a heartache.
A few days later, Han Li received his purchases from the blacksmith. Seeing the bright dagger and small iron bells, he couldn’t help but praise the master blacksmith incessantly and felt that his silver was well spent.
That same night, after Han Li arrived at his residence, he disappeared without a trace, other than a small piece of paper at the bedhead saying:
“Elder Mo, you don’t need to worry or get angry. I am not trying to escape. I just feel that being in the valley for so long is too depressing. This isn’t good for my cultivation of the Eternal Spring Art. For this reason, disciple left to go into seclusion somewhere on the mountain and practice alone. Worry not; in exactly four months, I will return and we will meet again.”
Han Li wrote all of this respectfully.
——
Reclining in his Imperial chair, Doctor Mo held onto this slip of paper. After reading it, his face was covered by a dark look. On the other side of his desk, he had one more note. On that paper were the purchases Han Li had made not too long ago.
Inside the room, save for the sound of Doctor Mo tapping on the desk, it was deathly silent.
Suddenly, he coldly snorted and the paper in his hand disintegrated into fine powder, which slowly floated to the ground.
He agitatedly got up, paced back and forth across the room, and pondered before opening his mouth and speaking to himself:
“Little bastard, though I have no idea what you’re playing at, whatever toy or trick you might come up with is futile. You will never escape from the palm of my hand. You are the one necessary for my plan.”
After he said this, Doctor Mo suddenly turned around and walked towards the window. When he reached the window, he let out a long low whistle and a small yellow bird flew in. It circled the room a few times before settling in on his shoulder.
This bird struck a formidable figure, even as it rubbed its beak against Doctor Mo’s face affectionately before crying out sharply and piercingly.
“Good, I know you must be hungry. Here, this is your favorite food, Yellow Chestnut Pill.”
Doctor Mo looked at the bird and, seeing that it had an almost gloomy look to it, laughed a bit. With eyes like those of a doting parent, he procured some yellow bird food from his pocket and stuffed it in the bird’s mouth.
“Go, just like before, closely follow that person. Only if he leaves the mountain will you come back to me, and do so immediately.” Doctor Mo looked just like a toll keeper on a road.
After the small bird ate the food, it cooed and then flew around the room. Once it heard this request, it circled around one more time before flying out of the window and disappearing as it flew into the skies.
“Hmph! This bird has a reputation of being as sharp as an arrow and flying just as quickly. This Cloudwing Bird will monitor you. I will see every one of your tricks,” Doctor Mo sinisterly said to himself.
“Four months? I shall await your return on that day! The plan is almost complete! Anyone who stands in front of me that day to block me I will kill! If a god were to try to block me, I would kill them! If Buddha himself were to block me, then the world will have one less Buddha!”
“Haha! Haha!” Doctor Mo abruptly began to laugh wildly and a fanatical look appeared in his eyes.