Chapter 30: End of the Road for an Overlord

"How old do you think I am?" The muscles on his cheeks jumped a few times, and he asked a question that didn't fit.

"From the appearance, it's about sixty years old. However, since you asked like this, your age must not match your appearance. Is it much older or younger?" Han Li felt a bit surprised in his heart, but his tone didn't change, and he said in a flat tone.

"Tsk tsk! It's really not in vain that you practiced the 'Everlasting Formula.' A little brat from the countryside has become such a quick-witted and intelligent person!" Doctor Mo kept exclaiming in his mouth and began to look at him with a fervent gaze.

"You guessed right. I am only thirty-seven years old this year." A number that Han Li couldn't believe came out of Doctor Mo's mouth.

"Impossible?" Han Li, who had always maintained composure, was shocked for the first time.

"Impossible! It is indeed impossible! Anyone who sees me, let alone thinking I am sixty, even if I claim to be seventy years old, I am afraid no one would doubt it." Doctor Mo's voice suddenly became high and sharp, which sounded so harsh and uncomfortable to Han Li's ears, as if it had touched his most painful spot.

"I, Mo Juren, also had a resounding reputation in the Jianghu of Lanzhou, Yue Kingdom, in my early years, and created a piece of my own world. Hehe! At that time in Lanzhou, who didn't know the prestige of my 'Ghost Hand'? Whether it was the black or white path, those who followed me lived, and those who opposed me..." Doctor Mo returned to his original tone and narrated his story slowly. As he described it, a spirit like a sword shot out from his eyes, as if he had returned to the time when he was high-spirited and had power in his hands.

Listening to Doctor Mo's words, Han Li was secretly surprised. He didn't expect that this master of his in name had such a big background.

"Unfortunately, good times didn't last long. Just when I entered middle age and wanted to show my skills further, I was plotted against by a villain and was poisoned by a trusted person. Although I controlled the onset of the injury by relying on my high medical skills, I couldn't make myself recover, and my martial arts were greatly reduced, and I couldn't stand in the north anymore. In order to avoid being plotted against by enemies, I had to leave behind the original foundation and family and disappear, searching for a cure in other places in the Yue Kingdom, hoping to have a way to restore my original cultivation." When he narrated his subsequent encounters, he was completely immersed in the narration of the past. His hands were clenched into fists fiercely, and his fingernails were deeply inserted into his palms, bleeding, but he seemed completely unaware of this, only showing a ferocious and vicious look on his face. This vicious look made people shudder when they saw it. It seemed that he hated the villain who poisoned him back then to the bone.

Hearing the lingering hatred in his words, Han Li couldn't help but have his whole body hair stand up, and a chill of coolness remained in his heart.

"Heaven has eyes, and finally, in a mysterious place, I accidentally obtained a strange book. This book is strange and profound. I spent a lot of effort to understand it a little, and found a shortcut to restore my cultivation from it. I followed the method mentioned on it, and as a result..." Doctor Mo paused and didn't say it immediately, but the annoyed expression was clear at a glance, and there was also some regret mixed in it.

"As a result, you became the ghost look you are now." Han Li coldly replaced the words he wanted to say but didn't finish for him.

"Not bad. I didn't expect that after doing it according to the method in that book, my cultivation was restored, but the person aged rapidly and became the look of being old before being old, half-human and half-ghost now." Doctor Mo nodded dejectedly, not getting angry because of Han Li's sarcasm.

"You should have found the reason now."

"I was invaded by evil qi due to improper practice, and now I live one day equivalent to the energy consumption of an ordinary person living ten days, overdrawing my life every moment. Fortunately, I am proficient in recuperation techniques and prepared a secret medicine according to the book, so I could slow down the aging speed in recent years and support it until now."

"What does the formula I practice have to do with solving your trouble?" Han Li asked the core of the problem that had been buried in his heart for a long time.

"You think I have studied the 'Everlasting Formula' and found the solution. As long as there is a person who has practiced to the fourth layer, help me push and massage with internal energy, and use the Everlasting Qi to stimulate the secret acupuncture points, I can get rid of the current predicament and find back the essence that has been lost."

"Why must you find me? Isn't it okay to find anyone to practice this formula?" Han Li pondered for a while and asked back the question that had been buried in his heart for a long time.

"You think this 'Everlasting Formula' is something that any cat or dog can learn? This formula not only requires young people to practice from the beginning, but also requires the practitioner to have a 'spiritual root' physique. Although I don't know what a 'spiritual root' is, I have already looked for hundreds of children before you, and none of them could practice the Everlasting Formula." Doctor Mo had an annoyed look on his face.

"There is such a thing?" Han Li was startled, not expecting that the practice of this formula was so harsh.

"In the remaining years, I thought it was impossible to find someone who could practice the formula, so I gave up on myself and disguised myself as a Jianghu wild doctor, beginning to wander everywhere. Unexpectedly, I occasionally met Sect Master Wang of the Qixuan Sect who was also plotted against. In the situation of pitying each other, I reached out and saved his small life, and then at his invitation, I went with the flow and became a Guest Elder in the sect, preparing to hide my name and spend my last days on the mountain. Hehe! A miracle still happened. At first, I was afraid that my medical skills and martial arts would be completely lost, so I recruited you two into the valley. It was indeed to take you two as disciples, but I don't know what happened, I actually let you two try to practice the Everlasting Formula by a god's trick, probably still holding a fluke mentality. In fact, even if you couldn't practice this formula, I would still take you in and pass on what I have learned. But I never expected that you actually had a reaction to this skill. Haha! Heaven really doesn't cut off all paths!"

Doctor Mo revealed all these mysteries in one breath, his face full of sick blushes. It seemed that he was very proud of his luck.

"I haven't practiced the fourth layer of the Everlasting Formula yet. Why do you want to control me at this time and lay all this out with me?" Han Li finally asked the question he was most concerned about at the moment.

"This has to be blamed on yourself. I spent so much effort and heart on you, but you couldn't satisfy me and always played tricks with me. Now it's just this last step, but you have been reluctant to advance one layer further. Originally, I could wait for you for another two years, but when I went down the mountain this time, I was recognized by an enemy. After a bitter battle, although I killed the other party, I also exhausted the little energy I had, and my lifespan was greatly shortened. Even if I used all my strength, I could only make myself live for another year. How can you ask me to wait?" Doctor Mo's proud expression disappeared without a trace, replaced by a fierce look, and finally roared at Han Li.

After hearing this, Han Li's expression was as usual, without the slightest sign of being touched on his face.

But his heart was surging, completely not as calm and composed as it looked on the surface.

Although he had long expected that Doctor Mo had deep intentions towards him, he didn't expect that there would be such a big inside story. The other party's background, experience, and the formula practiced were all beyond the scope of his imagination.

===== CHAPTER 31 =====