A Transaction

Chapter 62: A Transaction

Familiar and unfamiliar items, strange and oddly shaped, were pulled out one after another, sorted into two piles based on their level of suspicion and set aside.

Han Li began to feel a growing sense of awe. Doctor Mo had carried a surprising number and variety of odds and ends, many of which were obviously lethal.

A wrist-fired dart, poisoned for an instant kill.

A pouch of snake-venom-soaked sand.

Over a dozen razor-sharp throwing blades.

…

As the pile grew, Han Li’s breathing became a little more rapid. The more thoroughly he searched, the more alarmed he felt.

It was only now that he fully understood just how lucky he had been in his fight with Doctor Mo. If the man had been trying to kill him instead of capture him alive, he would almost certainly be dead.

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Han Li let out a self-mocking laugh. “Here I am, a living man, getting spooked by a dead man’s things.”

Once the search was complete, he began to examine the pile of suspicious items one by one.

“This little bottle… it smells terrible. Looks like some kind of antidote. Not important.”

“This strange weapon looks like a small wheel. No idea what it’s for, but it probably has nothing to do with the giant. Set it aside for now.”

“And this sachet…”

As he handled the items, Han Li talked to himself, wearing an expression of keen interest. In his hands, he was holding an ordinary-looking sachet made of plain white silk.

Ordinarily, such a common item would not arouse suspicion. But Han Li reasoned that while such a trinket might be natural for an ordinary man to carry, its presence on a man of Doctor Mo’s caliber—a true枭雄—was anything but ordinary.

He first weighed it in his palm. It was very light, clearly not holding anything heavy. He then pinched it, feeling a paper-like texture, as if it contained pages of some kind.

His spirits lifted. Opening the sachet, he found, as expected, several sheets of paper folded inside.

A quick glance confirmed the handwriting was Doctor Mo’s. With a bit more confidence, he read the contents carefully. His eyes widened in shock. It was a deathbed letter, addressed to him.

Puzzled and intensely curious, Han Li read through the several pages in full.

When he finished, he let out a long, heavy sigh. His brows furrowed deeply, and his expression grew troubled.

Clasping his hands behind his back, he began to pace like a little old man, moving without any conscious direction. After two steps, he stopped, lost in thought. Unable to reach a decision, he took two more steps, then stopped again to continue his deliberations.

And so, without realizing it, Han Li began to circle Doctor Mo’s corpse like a donkey turning a millstone. His face was a storm of shifting emotions—flushed red one moment, pale the next—revealing an inner turmoil he could barely control.

To see Han Li so unsettled… if Li Feiyu had witnessed this, he would surely have burst out laughing.

The reason for Han Li’s agitation was the terrible news and the impossible choice presented in the letter. The antidote to the Corpse Worm Pill was itself poisonous—a rare, insidious venom. According to the letter, the only known cure was his family’s heirloom, the “Warm Yang Jade.” There was no other way; even the legendary panaceas of the cultivation world were useless against it.

In these pages, Doctor Mo laid out his terms plainly. The poison he had administered and this letter were his final contingency plan, a backstop in case the possession went wrong. If the possession failed, the one most likely to survive was Han Li himself. To ensure his affairs were settled, the letter proposed a simple transaction, one that would benefit both parties. It would not only resolve his own lingering concerns but also bring Han Li great wealth and countless advantages.

As for the possibility that Yu Zitong would be the one to survive, Doctor Mo had not given it a second thought. In the letter, he dismissed Yu Zitong with contempt, calling him a cold-hearted, cowardly man with nothing more than a sliver of petty cleverness. Even as a cultivator, he would never amount to anything. He would never be the one to laugh last.

Reading this, Han Li could only smile bitterly. Doctor Mo, for all his scheming, could not have foreseen that he would ultimately fall into the trap of this man he held in such low regard. If Han Li had not concealed his true progress with the Eternal Spring Art, he would almost certainly have perished alongside Doctor Mo, leaving Yu Zitong to reap the benefits. It also showed that Doctor Mo’s mind had been clouded by his obsession with ascending to immortality. No matter what kind of cultivator, none should be underestimated.

The transaction Doctor Mo proposed in his letter was simple enough. He required Han Li to visit his home within a year or two at most. First, the poison Han Li had ingested would take effect within two years. Second, Doctor Mo had left behind a wife, concubines, a daughter, and a considerable estate. Before leaving, he had laid many smokescreens and precautions to cover his absence. But if he failed to return for too long, his unruly subordinates and his enemies would grow suspicious and pose a threat to his family. Han Li therefore had to get there before things turned bad, protect his wife and children, and settle them properly. Ideally, he would arrange for them to live a life far from the violence of the Jianghu, a life of comfort and anonymity.

As compensation for the trap he had set, and as payment for Han Li’s help, he was willing to betroth one of his daughters to Han Li. The dowry would consist of half of his entire estate, along with the “Warm Yang Jade.”

Before leaving, Doctor Mo had already entrusted the jade to his wife, specifically designated as a dowry for his daughter. To save his own life, Han Li would have no choice but to marry her whether he wanted to or not.

The letter also clearly stated that Doctor Mo’s enemies were powerful and his subordinates difficult to control. Given his current strength, Han Li would be ill-equipped to face them directly. To that end, he had prepared two false identities in a hidden compartment in his former residence, along with tokens and signed letters of introduction for verification. Han Li could choose the one that suited him best. The letter also included lists of trusted personnel, suspicious individuals, known enemies, and other crucial details that required careful attention.

Finally, as proof of his sincerity, he included the methods for controlling the “Iron Servant” and the “Cloud-Wing Bird” at the very end.

To Han Li’s mild confusion, the letter hinted that the Iron Servant was a soulless corpse—a walking shell of flesh and bone, whose original soul had long been reincarnated. There was no need to grieve for him. This left Han Li somewhat bewildered. Did he look like a man prone to sentimentality?

But even setting aside the matter of the poison, it would be a lie to say that the prospect of such immense wealth did not tempt him. Having always been keenly aware of the value of money, Han Li was genuinely intrigued by the deal Doctor Mo had laid out in life. As for marrying his daughter… Han Li was at an age when romantic feelings were just beginning to stir, and the thought stirred a strange sensation in his heart. After all, judging by Doctor Mo’s original appearance, his daughter was unlikely to be ugly.

But the risks involved were equally extraordinary. One misstep, and he could lose his own life. An enemy that Doctor Mo had considered a worthy opponent was not to be trifled with.

Doctor Mo had arranged his affairs with meticulous care, binding Han Li’s fate to the safety of his wife and children with an unbreakable chain of life, beauty, and wealth. It seemed that Han Li would have no choice but to grimly swallow this honey-coated poison pill.