A Record of A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Chapter Fifteen: Four Years Later

Doctor Mo was very pleased that Han Li devoted all his time to cultivation.

However, he still found Han Li’s progress in the nameless incantation too slow.

In recent years, Doctor Mo’s illness seemed to worsen. His coughing became more frequent every day, and the coughing spells lasted longer.

As his health deteriorated, Doctor Mo appeared even more concerned about Han Li’s cultivation progress. His repeated reminders clearly reflected his inner anxiety.

Doctor Mo clearly valued Han Li greatly. Not only did he give him much more silver than other disciples as promised, but the way he looked at Han Li was also quite peculiar—like gazing upon a rare treasure, full of care and protection.

But as Han Li practiced the incantation up to the third level, his senses became very sharp. Unintentionally, he noticed that behind Doctor Mo’s kind and caring gaze, there were occasional glimmers of something unsettling—greed and desire.

These expressions sent shivers down Han Li’s spine. He felt that Doctor Mo was not looking at him as a living person, but more like an object.

This puzzled him. What could he possibly have that Doctor Mo would want?

Of course, there was nothing, he reassured himself firmly.

Sometimes, Han Li even thought he was being a bit too sensitive from all the cultivation. Secretly, he scolded himself for being ungrateful to Doctor Mo.

Yet, for some unknown reason, deep in his heart he always harbored a sense of caution toward Doctor Mo, and this wariness only grew stronger over time.

Now, a major problem confronted Han Li—he had hit a bottleneck in his cultivation. Worse still, after these years of intensive practice and taking medicine, Doctor Mo’s precious supply of medicines was completely depleted.

It was obvious that Han Li was no prodigy. Without the aid of the medicines, his cultivation progress had come to a complete halt.

This made Han Li feel ashamed in front of Doctor Mo.

Doctor Mo had poured almost all his efforts and family wealth into him, creating the best possible conditions for his cultivation, yet Han Li could not meet his expectations.

This made Han Li find it difficult to face Doctor Mo and his constant eager inquiries.

Strangely, despite Doctor Mo’s high martial arts level, he could not discern the details of Han Li’s cultivation, only able to gauge some progress from pulse readings. Thus, he had been unaware of the difficulties Han Li was facing all this time.

Not long ago, feeling uneasy inside, Han Li finally confessed his cultivation status to Doctor Mo.

Upon hearing that Han Li hadn’t advanced in the incantation for a year, Doctor Mo’s sallow face paled, and his previously expressionless features became extremely grim.

Doctor Mo did not blame him but told him that he would leave the mountain for a while to gather some medicinal herbs, instructing Han Li to focus on training and not to slack off on the incantation.

Two days later, Doctor Mo departed alone from the seven mysteries sect, carrying luggage and medical tools.

After his departure, Divine Hand Valley was left with only Han Li.

Another senior brother and friend, Zhang Tie, had vanished suddenly two years earlier after reaching the third level of the elephant armor technique. He left only a farewell letter saying he was going out into the world to make a name for himself. This caused a huge uproar in the seven mysteries sect.

Later, it was rumored that Doctor Mo had intervened to prevent the repercussions from affecting Zhang Tie’s sponsors and family. Han Li found this very sudden and was saddened for several days. Later, he felt something was off, but being a minor with little say, no one asked him and the matter was buried.

Han Li guessed that Zhang Tie might have secretly fled because he feared cultivating the fourth level of the elephant armor technique.

After training for a few days in the valley with no results and feeling youthful impatience, Han Li left Divine Hand Valley and began wandering within Rainbow Cloud Mountain.