Chapter 50: Entangling Fragrant Silk

At this moment, Doctor Mo recalled that when he first entered the room, Han Li had insisted on not letting him close the door. It seemed that even then, the opponent had already laid the groundwork to make use of the sunlight's reflection. For someone so young, to be able to think so comprehensively and set such a meticulous, vicious chain of traps, causing an old Jianghu hand like him to fall in headfirst and nearly be unable to recover—the depth of this person's scheming was truly inconsistent with his age and experience. Could this person really be a natural genius, a child prodigy reincarnated?

He thought back and forth, and the more he thought, the more he felt lingering fear, cold sweat breaking out all over his body.

After this setback, Doctor Mo's wariness toward Han Li grew even stronger. He faced Han Li cautiously, and for a moment, he didn't dare to strike rashly again.

As for Han Li, for some reason, he only glared at Doctor Mo, without the slightest intention of attacking. The two sides were at a stalemate, staring at each other.

After a moment, in the awkward atmosphere, Han Li suddenly opened his mouth and said something that left Doctor Mo dumbfounded, stunned on the spot.

"Old Mo, let's call a truce. Or how about I surrender? What do you think?"

After saying this, Han Li flicked his hand, decisively dropping the weapon in his hand at his feet. He revealed a set of white teeth and looked at Doctor Mo with a broad smile, looking exactly like a simple, honest village boy.

"Surrender?"

Doctor Mo initially thought something was wrong with his ears and he had misheard the opponent's words, but he immediately reacted. He looked at the iron awl discarded by Han Li, not believing it in the slightest, and asked back viciously:

"What kind of ghost scheme are you playing? Don't think I'll believe this ghost talk of yours. If you wanted to surrender, you could have done it at the beginning. Why wait until we've fought to the death before pulling this stunt?"

Han Li smiled and looked at Doctor Mo without speaking, seemingly tacitly acknowledging his accusation. The two fell into a stalemate once again.

After a short while, Doctor Mo seemed to have thought of something extremely ridiculous. He suddenly hunched over, clutching his abdomen with both hands, and burst into loud laughter. The laughter was very free and unrestrained, to the point that tears spilled from the corners of his eyes.

"Haha! Ha! Haha! Truly... truly interesting. I actually forgot such an important matter, and actually ended up... ended up trading blows with you with real blades and guns." Doctor Mo said in a slurred, intermittent voice amidst his laughter.

Han Li frowned, but then relaxed nonchalantly. He looked out the window, the smile at the corners of his mouth deepening, and he spoke unhurriedly:

"Old Mo, don't you think we've delayed for too long? It's time for it to end."

Doctor Mo was slightly stunned and stopped laughing.

He slowly straightened his body, stiffened his face, and looked at Han Li expressionlessly. After a long while, he replied coldly:

"I also think it's time for all this to end."

Both men suddenly felt confident and in control, as if in an instant, they had both found the trump card to subdue the other and force them to submit.

After a moment of silence, Han Li was the one to speak slowly first. He was full of confidence in what he held, believing it would make Doctor Mo back down and have no other thoughts.

"Old Mo, do you know that your life is already in my hands?" As soon as Han Li opened his mouth, it was shocking.

"My life is in your hands?" Doctor Mo sneered incessantly, his face full of disbelief.

"Don't you feel something unusual about your wound?"

"Nonsense, I clearly saw it carefully; your short sword didn't have any..." Doctor Mo retorted, but halfway through, his face changed drastically, remembering that what had wounded him wasn't the short sword, but the hidden sharp awl.

"It seems I don't need to say much more; Old Mo already understands what I mean." Han Li looked at the opponent with a grin.

"Even if that's the case, so what? Don't forget, your knowledge of medicine and poisons was all taught to you by me. What poison could there be that I can't cure?" Doctor Mo's face immediately returned to normal, and he said calmly.

"Hehe! I forgot to mention, what I smeared on my weapon is 'Entangling Fragrant Silk'."

"'Entangling Fragrant Silk'?" Doctor Mo gave a low exclamation; clearly, this was far beyond his expectations.

"Not bad. Old Mo must also know the power of this poison!" Han Li teased slowly.

"Nonsense, how could you possibly know how to concoct this poison? I clearly never leaked a single bit of the formula for it." Doctor Mo was still putting on a brave front, seemingly still not believing what Han Li said, but from the unusual feeling at the wound, he had already confirmed it by eighty or ninety percent in his heart.

Seeing that Doctor Mo still wouldn't admit defeat, Han Li sighed and had no choice but to explain.

"Old Mo, don't forget, your medical books were completely open to me back then. This formula was tucked away in an obscure medical book. If I hadn't looked carefully, I'm afraid I really would have missed it."

Only then did Doctor Mo recall that when he first obtained this poison formula, because the types of medicinal ingredients required for concoction were too numerous and the steps were very cumbersome, he was afraid he would forget something later. Thus, he had written down the method of production and the required ingredients in detail on a slip of paper and tucked it into a certain book. Later, because too many things happened, he had forgotten about this slip of paper completely. He hadn't expected that it would benefit Han Li today, bringing him such great trouble.

"Let's sit down and have a good discussion about calling a truce," Han Li said confidently.

With a snort, Doctor Mo ignored Han Li, his brain struggling to recall the method of production and the medicinal effects of "Entangling Fragrant Silk."

The name "Entangling Fragrant Silk" didn't sound scary at all; it even made people's imaginations run wild, conjuring up some amorous thoughts. But its medicinal power was like the lovesickness of a devoted woman—hard to endure, seeping into the bones.

===== CHAPTER 51 =====