The True Face

986 words

Han Li paced in circles for a long time before finally stopping.

“Whether or not to accept this deal… I’ll only decide when I truly have no other way to break the poison,” he thought, resigning himself to the dilemma for now.

Then he glanced at the giant man outside the room, recalling the cryptic final words of the letter. Curiosity stirred. He decided to attempt the method for controlling the giant.

Han Li crouched down and retrieved a small brass bell from the pile of items. The bell was not large—it could be held comfortably in one palm—but it was exquisitely made, with perfectly balanced proportions. A skilled craftsman had clearly forged it. The only unusual feature was a faint trace of bloodstains embedded in the bell’s surface, impossible to ignore.

Han Li examined the artifact, called a “Soul Summoning Bell,” and found nothing visibly formidable about it. According to the letter, this object could actually restrain a monster as terrifying as the giant—unbelievable.

He held the small bell in his left hand and a dagger in his right, then cautiously stepped out of the stone room, approaching the giant guardedly.

He stopped about two zhang away, unwilling to get any closer in case something went wrong.

The giant stood with his back to Han Li, motionless.

Dong!

Han Li struck the bell lightly with the dagger. A crisp chime rang out.

He frowned. The sound seemed no different from an ordinary bell. Could this really control the giant?

His confidence wavered. He lowered his stance slightly, preparing to flee back into the stone room at the first sign of trouble.

At the sound, the giant’s shoulders twitched, as if reacting. Han Li’s spirits rose, and he quickly struck the bell again.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The chimes rang out one after another. The giant’s body began to tremble violently. His steps faltered, and he could no longer stay on his feet. Finally, he collapsed face-first onto the ground, unconscious.

The impact of the giant’s massive body against the dry earth kicked up a cloud of dust. Caught off guard, Han Li coughed violently and sneezed several times, looking thoroughly disheveled.

But he had no time for minor annoyances. He rushed to the giant’s side and tore off the hood covering its head, revealing a face so swollen and grotesque that even Han Li felt a chill run down his spine.

Suppressing his revulsion, he did not dare to examine the face closely. He quickly drew the dagger across his own wrist, letting his blood flow freely onto the giant’s face. He painted the entire face with blood until it was thoroughly soaked. Only then did he press the wound shut, deftly tore a strip of clean cloth from his clothes, bound the cut, and stopped the bleeding. He then stepped back calmly, watching the giant for a reaction.

What happened next was astonishing.

The blood seeped slowly into the giant’s skin, vanishing completely without leaving a single drop on the surface. Han Li stared in disbelief, so stunned that he did not even notice he had pressed too hard on his wound, causing fresh blood to seep through the cloth.

When the absorption was complete, the giant opened his eyes.

He rose slowly to his feet. His expression was dull, his eyes empty—no trace of emotion.

But the moment the giant’s head turned and his gaze met Han Li’s—

Bzz.

An unfamiliar yet strangely intimate sensation flooded Han Li’s mind. It was as if something foreign had suddenly lodged itself deep inside him. The feeling was like a tame dog circling its master, nuzzling close, calling out with affectionate persistence.

Han Li was startled, but quickly steadied himself.

The giant’s face, once rigid and lifeless, now radiated obedience. Han Li understood instantly that he held absolute power over this being—life and death, total control. The sensation was uncanny.

Suppressing his inner excitement, Han Li gave a test command in a low voice.

“Demolish that stone door for me.”

Without a word, the giant strode to the stone archway, raised both fists clasped together like a massive hammer, and shattered the door in just a few blows. Then he turned back and stood near Han Li, awaiting his next order.

Han Li, who seldom indulged in great joy or great sorrow, could not help but grin from ear to ear. With a bodyguard this powerful at his beck and call, what ordinary danger could still threaten him?

As he excitedly imagined the pleasures ahead, he studied the giant from head to toe with increasingly fervent eyes.

The more he looked, the more satisfied he grew. Even the face, which had seemed unbearably ugly only moments ago, now appeared almost pleasing—and, strangely, familiar.

“Familiar?”

Startled by the thought, Han Li froze.

How could he possibly find a face he had never seen before so familiar?

Haunted by this question, he began to study the giant’s features closely, trying to find the source.

Gradually, he realized something.

If he mentally restored the swollen features to their original proportions, shrank each one down, and reassembled them… this face was not actually ugly. It was even rather honest-looking. It was a face Han Li knew intimately.

His complexion turned pale.

For a long time, he said nothing. Then he slowly raised both hands and gently touched the giant’s face.

“Brother Zhang… is it really you?”

His voice was very low, eerily calm.

The reassembled features bore an uncanny resemblance to Zhang Tie, his long-vanished friend. Combined with the cryptic final words of Doctor Mo’s letter, Han Li was ninety percent certain.

This giant must be deeply connected to Zhang Tie. Could it really be as the letter had said? That the body before him was merely Zhang Tie’s physical shell, reforged into this form, while the soul was long gone? But then, how had his body grown so monstrously large?

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Reading Guide Decoding

The Cost of a Servant

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Soul Summoning Bell (引魂钟): A ritual artifact used in cultivation fiction to summon or bind an entity’s spirit. Unlike ordinary bells, these are typically inscribed with blood or spiritual symbols to establish a resonance with a soul without a body. The bell’s plain appearance in this chapter highlights a recurring theme: the most terrifying tools often look the most ordinary.

Blood-binding control: The act of using blood to control a soulless body draws on the Chinese folk concept that blood carries a person’s life-force (精血, essence-blood). By smearing his blood onto the giant’s face, Han Li effectively grafts his own spiritual signature onto the shell, establishing a master-servant connection. This mechanic sidesteps the need for complex formations or high-level cultivation—it’s brute-force soul engineering at its most pragmatic.

Body transformation (躯体改造): The giant’s enlarged, swollen features are not random mutations but signs of extreme alchemical or external-force tampering. The idea that a human body could be “expanded” into a giant form without breaking suggests that Doctor Mo used marrow-altering medicines or forbidden bone-growth techniques, reinforcing the novel’s recurring theme that the physical body is just another material to be refined.

Chapter Overview

Chapter 63 delivers the long-awaited payoff to one of the earliest mysteries in the novel: the fate of Zhang Tie. After months of dread and speculation, Han Li finally confirms that the silent, iron-skinned giant is built from the body of his childhood friend. For a rare moment, Han Li’s iron composure softens—but only long enough to process a horror he cannot reverse. The chapter is a masterclass in mixing triumph with tragedy: the joy of gaining an invulnerable servant is instantly poisoned by the cost of obtaining it.

Key Plot Points

After prolonged hesitation, Han Li decides to test the control method described in Doctor Mo’s letter, using a brass “Soul Summoning Bell” to command the giant.
The bell proves effective—the giant collapses unconscious when struck, and Han Li uses his own blood to complete the binding ritual.
The blood is absorbed completely into the giant’s skin, and a strange mental link forms between them, granting Han Li total control over the giant’s body.
Han Li tests the link with a command, and the giant obediently demolishes the stone door.
Elated by his new asset, Han Li examines the giant’s features more closely and realizes the swollen face, when mentally reconstructed, is unmistakably Zhang Tie’s.
The chapter ends with Han Li silently processing this truth—his friend is gone, reduced to a soulless, transformed shell.

Reading Guide

This chapter is the emotional payoff for readers who have been waiting since Chapter 26 for Zhang Tie’s fate. Don’t brush past the last paragraph—Han Li’s silent recognition of his friend is one of the few moments in the entire novel where his mask cracks. It’s not dramatic; it’s quiet, because that’s how Han Li processes grief.

Pay attention to the progression of Han Li’s emotional state: curiosity, caution, surprise, elation, satisfaction, dawning horror, then silence. The chapter’s power lies in the final pivot—the discovery turns a victory into a loss. This is the Mortal Stream’s core philosophy laid bare: every advantage comes with a wound.

Also note that Han Li does not name the giant yet. That will come in a later chapter. For now, the body is simply “the giant,” and the tragedy is that it no longer deserves a name.