The End of a Ruthless Hero
"How old do you think I am?" The muscles in his cheeks twitched several times, and he stiffly asked an unrelated question.
"From your appearance, I'd say you're a little over sixty. But since you've asked, your age surely doesn't match your appearance. Could you be much older, or much younger?" Han Li was somewhat surprised, but his tone remained unchanged as he spoke blandly.
"Tsk, tsk! You really are someone who's practiced the Eternal Spring Art. A little brat from the countryside has turned into such a quick-witted and intelligent young man!" Doctor Mo kept marveling aloud and began looking at him eagerly.
"You guessed right. I'm only thirty-seven this year." Doctor Mo uttered a number Han Li could scarcely believe.
"Impossible?" Han Li, who had remained calm all this time, was startled for the first time.
"Impossible! It certainly is impossible! Anyone who sees me would think I'm sixty, and even if I claimed to be seventy, I'm afraid no one would doubt it." Doctor Mo's voice suddenly rose to a shrill pitch. It sounded so grating and unpleasant to Han Li that it seemed to strike the most painful place in his heart.
"I, Mo Juren, was once a renowned figure in the martial world of Lan Province in Yue State. I made quite a name for myself and carved out my own domain with my bare hands. Heh heh! Back then, who in Lan Province had never heard of the mighty 'Ghost Hand'? Whether on the righteous or the underworld path, those who followed me lived, and those who opposed me died." Doctor Mo's voice returned to its usual pitch as he slowly recounted his story in a low tone. As he spoke, a gleam as sharp as swords and blades shot from his eyes, as though he had returned to those days when he was full of vigor and held great power in his hands.
Han Li was secretly astonished by Doctor Mo's words. He had never imagined that this nominal master of his had such an impressive background.
"Sadly, the good times didn't last. Just as I was entering middle age and preparing to spread my wings even further, I fell victim to a villain's scheme. Someone I trusted used a vicious method against me. Although my medical skills were good enough to keep the injury from flaring up, I couldn't cure myself. My martial skills also greatly declined, and I could no longer maintain a foothold in the north. For fear that my enemies would strike at me, I had no choice but to abandon the foundation I had built and my family and vanish without a trace. I searched elsewhere in Yue State for a good remedy, hoping to find a way to restore my former power." As he recounted what happened afterward, he became completely absorbed in the past. Both hands clenched fiercely into fists, his nails digging deep into his palms and drawing streams of blood. Yet he seemed utterly unaware of it, showing only a savage, teeth-gnashing expression. The vicious look was enough to send a chill through anyone who saw it. It seemed he hated the villain who had struck him down back then to the very marrow of his bones.
Hearing the unending hatred in his words, Han Li could not help feeling the hair rise all over his body, and a chill crept into his heart.
"Heaven has eyes. At last, in a certain mysterious place, I chanced upon a strange book. It was obscure and profound, and I only managed to grasp a little of it after expending the strength of nine oxen and two tigers. From it, I found a shortcut to restoring my power. I followed the method described in it, and the result..." Doctor Mo paused, not continuing at once, but his irritation was plain to see, mixed with a measure of regret.
"As a result, you ended up looking like this ghost you are now." Han Li coldly finished the words Doctor Mo had wanted to say but left unsaid.
"That's right. I never expected that after following the method in that book, my power would return, but I would begin aging rapidly, becoming this prematurely old creature, half man and half ghost." Doctor Mo nodded dejectedly, showing no anger at Han Li's mockery.
"You should have found the cause by now."
"I did something improperly and was invaded by Evil Qi. Now, living a single day costs me as much vitality as an ordinary person uses in ten. Every moment, I'm drawing heavily on my life. Fortunately, I'm well versed in the art of preserving health, and I also prepared a secret medicine according to the book. Only then was I able to slow my aging in recent years and hold on until now."
"What does the mnemonic I practice have to do with solving your problem?" Han Li went straight to the heart of the matter without the slightest pretense.
"Not long after I became like this, I studied the book and found a way to break it: the Eternal Spring Art you practice. As long as someone who has reached the fourth layer helps me by circulating Qi and massaging my body, using Eternal Spring Qi to stimulate my secret acupoints, I can escape my present predicament and recover the essence I've lost."
"Why did you have to find me? Couldn't you have picked anyone to practice this mnemonic?" Han Li pondered for a while, then asked a question that had been buried in his heart for a long time.
"Do you think just any cat or dog can learn the Eternal Spring Art? This mnemonic not only requires someone young to start practicing it from the beginning, but also requires the practitioner to have a Spirit Root constitution. Though I don't know what a Spirit Root is, I sought out several hundred children before you, and none of them could practice the Eternal Spring Art." Doctor Mo's face was full of irritation.
"Is that so?" Han Li was somewhat taken aback. He had not expected the requirements for practicing this mnemonic to be so demanding.
"In the years I had left, I thought it impossible to find anyone who could practice the mnemonic. I gave myself up to despair, posed as a wandering quack, and began roaming from place to place. Unexpectedly, I happened to meet Sect Leader Wang of the Seven Mysteries Sect, who had likewise been betrayed. Feeling sympathy for someone in the same plight, I reached out and saved his life. Then, at his invitation, I went along with the current and became an Attendant of the sect, intending to hide my name and spend my final days on the mountain. Heh heh! But a miracle did happen. At first, I was afraid all my medical skills and martial arts would be lost, so I brought you into the valley. I truly intended to take the two of you as disciples. But somehow, as if ghosts and gods were guiding my hand, I had you try practicing the Eternal Spring Art. Perhaps I was still clinging to a sliver of hope. In truth, even if you couldn't practice the mnemonic, I would still have accepted you and passed on some of what I had learned. But what I never could have imagined was that you actually responded to the art. Ha ha! Truly, heaven never seals off every path!"
Doctor Mo revealed the answers to all these mysteries in one breath, a sickly flush covering his face. He seemed very pleased with his good fortune.
"I haven't yet reached the fourth layer of the Eternal Spring Art. Why restrain me and lay all this out now?" Han Li finally asked the question that concerned him most at present.
"You have only yourself to blame for that. I've spent so much effort and care on you, yet you couldn't satisfy me and kept playing tricks on me. Now there's only this final step left, but you've been unwilling to advance another layer. I could have waited another two years for you, but on this trip down the mountain, an old enemy recognized me. After a bitter fight, I killed him, but I also exhausted what little vitality I had left, and my lifespan was greatly shortened. Even if I do everything in my power, I can only keep myself alive for one more year. How do you expect me to wait any longer?" Doctor Mo's pleased expression vanished without a trace, replaced by a fierce look, and at the end he roared at Han Li.
After listening, Han Li's expression remained normal, with no sign on his face that he had been affected in the slightest.
But waves surged in his heart. He was not nearly as confident and unruffled as he appeared.
Although he had long expected Doctor Mo to harbor designs on him, he had never imagined there was so much more behind it. The man's background, his experiences, and the mnemonic Han Li practiced all lay beyond anything he had imagined.