“You have gotten too cocky. This child is extremely shrewd and clever, not as easy to deal with as you might think. You don’t even see success yet, but you’re already celebrating. In the end, you are playing in the hands of this child.” Suddenly, the voice of a man echoed in Doctor Mo’s head.
Doctor Mo’s face changed in an instant, like winter frost, and he coldly retorted:
“Yu Zitong, you are interrupting my business! I don’t need you to lecture me! If I succeed, naturally you will receive the benefits! Actually, it was you who gave me a technique that wasn’t appropriate in the first place, hoping that I would meet with disaster!” Doctor Mo did not bother to conceal his burning hostility and suspicion.
Apparently this voice sounded afraid of Doctor Mo. Hearing his menacing words, he hurriedly explained himself:
“How could you place the blame on the technique, when you didn’t even bother to test it on animals first? As for those who died, it was only because you were unfamiliar with it. Even so, their deaths shouldn’t hinder your plans.”
“Hmph! That’d better be true. It was a shame that I wasn’t able to practice more, otherwise I would’ve been able to get a better understanding of it.” After the voice spoke, Elder Mo recalled his experiments, and the suspicions he had were quickly swept away.
After he finished speaking, the voice that spoke earlier took in a deep breath, as if it learned its lesson [1]. He turned silent, leaving Elder Mo to nervously mutter to himself, the atmosphere in the room quickly becoming unnerving.
At this moment, Han Li was walking along the inner valley to a spot that was even more secretive and hidden than the spot he usually met with Li Feiyu at.
The path he was traveling was closed off by the two mountains which formed a single line and had both ends completely covered by the forest so that it was impossible to cross normally. Aside from using a rope to scale down the small opening, there was no way to arrive at this path.
There was also a large amount of thistles that grew all over the area, leaving only a small amount of open fields that Han Li was able to travel through. All throughout the valley, vines were constantly twisting and turning in every way possible. They even covered the sky, so he didn’t have to worry about anyone watching at him from above.
Han Li set down the items he had brought by a large stone and returned to the center of the area. Closing his eyes with a serious expression, he whispered, “It’s time to refine the softest of my cartilage to begin.”
From there, Han Li began his lonely path of cultivation.
He didn’t know that, not too far away from him, a single yellow bird was perched on top of a branch, observing him attentively. As Han Li was not trying to escape, it merely stayed still, with no intentions of flying away back to its master to give a report.
Time went by quickly, with only two of the four months left.
In this part of the inner valley, there wasn’t a single person in sight—not even Han Li. Only the little yellow bird could be seen, in its original spot with its beak slowly combing through its feathers. It had somehow lost track of its target after slacking in its watch, and had completely given up on its mission.
Suddenly, a grey bird flew down into the area, flying in a small circle. It finally perched on top of a yellow pile of wood to rest for a moment before flying off once more.
The little yellow bird twitched its head, staring down at the other bird with a haughty expression as if treating it with disdain.
This newcomer bird stood on one leg as it surveyed the area before spotting the other bird. Opening of its wings, it began to fly towards the other bird.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a yellow hand appeared, snatching the helpless gray bird out of the air.
At this unexpected turn of events, it could only cry out in shock and struggle with all its might. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to escape the grasp of the hand.
It was only at this moment that the bird realized that, underneath the pile of wood, there was a yellow-robed youth hidden away. This youth was very tan and had a mediocre looking face with big eyes. Other than his surprisingly clear eyes, there were no distinguishing features on him.
The youth smiled, clutching the bird in his hand. After waiting for it to tire, he loosened his hand and spoke clearly.
“Go on then, next time don’t be so foolish! Look well at this place and remember to never return.”
The moment the bird regained its freedom, it ignored the other bird and immediately scrambled to stretch its wings and fly away without another look back.
Watching the bird’s flight, the youth didn’t move at all for a while, before speaking to himself:
“It would appear that my breath control and camouflage technique are better than ever. Next up is to practice the secret assassination skill.”
Moving immediately after he spoke, he walked towards a small wooden house he had built. On the way, he passed by the little bird and lifted his head to look at it.
This little bird had been acting strangely ever since it had been discovered by him a month ago. It had always been perched on a tree branch near him and would observe him with eyes showing more intelligence than one might think.
From the first glance, Han Li had been curious about the intelligence of the bird, later growing fond of it.
He had attempted to turn it to his side by employing many strategies like tricking it, luring it, and even trapping it. But on each attempt, the bird had only looked at him as if he was stupid, causing Han Li to smile bitterly.
After a while, in anger, he tried to catch it by force, but Han Li couldn’t get close. It would immediately spread its wings and fly away from Han Li. Eventually, it would return to its original spot without Han Li being able to do anything.
Han Li could only feel resentful while trying to ignore it. Although, in his heart, he had already guessed where this bird came from and feared that it had something to do with Elder Mo. It was very possible that this bird was sent here to observe him and report to the Elder.
But Han Li didn’t care anymore. As long as Elder Mo didn’t personally show up, then what could this bird possibly do to him? Besides, he had really liked this bird and couldn’t bear to try and harm it through a despicable method like poison.
At this time, Elder Mo was in a stone room and was using the bones of a wild beast to draw a strange matrix. While constructing this formation, he was talking with another person, not realizing that Han Li had so easily realized that he was being watched.
—–
[1] Presumably to not mess with Mo.