"Stop talking, my mind is made up!" the tall Second Brother declared resolutely.
The young woman grew anxious, quickly turning to the youth and the elder for help.
After exchanging a glance, the youth remained silent, but the elder sighed and said, "Fifth Sister, let the Second Brother go. He's trying to atone for what happened earlier. Only by doing this will he feel better in his heart!"
"But, Second Brother, this way..." The woman tried to argue a few more words, but the Second Brother had already walked up to Han Li and calmly said, "Senior, let's begin. Use me for the experiment."
These words were rather solemn, but what happened next left these four people drenched in cold water, standing dumbfounded like wooden chickens.
"Did you all misunderstand something? When did I ever agree to remove the Blood Curse for you?"
Han Li's words were icy cold, making the Five Friends of Mengshan look at each other in bewilderment.
"If Senior doesn't intend to remove our curse, why did you study this curse on my eldest brother?" the Second Brother of the Five Friends asked in a panic after his initial shock.
"Did I say I was studying this Blood Curse to remove it for you? I was merely curious!" Han Li said expressionlessly.
Looking at Han Li's cold face and hearing his heartless words, these people were stunned on the spot!
"But Senior, you wanted to know about those people. Without removing the Blood Curse from us, how could we answer Senior's questions?" the youth asked hesitantly, his face full of anxiety, clearly unwilling to let go of the hope he saw before him.
Hearing this, Han Li glanced sideways at him a few times, then sneered a few times and looked up at the sky without speaking.
Such an obvious question still needed to be asked - Han Li felt disdainful enough to answer.
"Fourth Brother, stop asking. This Senior feels that the intelligence he can get from us is not worth our lives at all, so he's unwilling to take action lightly!" The dark-faced elder, worthy of being the eldest, had far more experience than the youth, and pinpointed the crux of the matter with precision.
"What exactly are Senior's conditions before you'll take action? Just say it directly. As long as you can truly remove the Blood Curse, we Five Friends of Mengshan certainly won't have any second thoughts." The elder continued calmly afterward.
"Good! If you had said this earlier, we wouldn't have needed to beat around the bush."
Han Li suddenly clapped his hands and smiled faintly, becoming all smiles and cheerfulness.
But in the eyes of these four people, it made them feel even more that Han Li was moody and unpredictable, unconsciously giving them a sense of awe in their hearts.
"The conditions are simple! If you can remove your life-threatening trouble, not only must you tell me everything you know, but from today onward, you must temporarily obey my commands. Help me deal with the attacks from this group of people. I estimate they won't let me off easily, and I also want to resolve them quickly."
"But don't worry about being outnumbered! I am a cultivator from Yellow Maple Valley, and I came to Yuejing only to handle some sect matters. As long as we hold out for this period of time, I will request reinforcements. Then we won't need to fear these rats."
Han Li calmly laid out the conditions and unashamedly waved the sect's banner - only this way could he make them completely devoted.
"Senior is a cultivator from Yellow Maple Valley!"
Although the elder had long guessed that Han Li's background should be within the Seven Sects, hearing him admit it personally still brought a smile to his face.
"Good. We will do everything as Senior says, and we certainly won't stand aside. After all, once the Blood Curse is removed, we'll definitely become targets of their pursuit. Staying by Senior's side would actually be safer!" The dark-faced elder agreed very readily.
The youth and the young woman, hearing the elder's words, also showed looks of joy and did not object! Clearly, they agreed with the elder's decision.
For them, the Seven Sects were naturally far more powerful than the forces that controlled them with the Blood Curse, so they could certainly join.
However, the tall Second Brother looked hesitant, seeming to want to say something but still wavering.
"If Senior's method of removing the Blood Curse is truly effective, we have one more request, hoping Senior can agree." The dark-faced elder suddenly said solemnly to Han Li after glancing at the Second Brother.
Seeing this, Han Li had a rough idea of what to expect, but still said indifferently, "What matter? As long as it's not too outrageous, I will try my best to accommodate."
At this moment, Han Li seemed remarkably easy to talk with.
"My fourth sister is still staying in a civilian residence in Yuejing city. Now that we've been captured by Senior, we don't know if she's safe. We hope Senior can help rescue her when the time comes." The elder said with a solemn expression.
"Big Brother!"
The tall Second Brother heard this and his face was full of gratitude.
"Alright, since you're temporarily following me, I naturally will rescue your companion. But right now, let's hurry and expel the poison from your bodies. Within an hour or two, you'll be dead, so don't even talk about curse removal!"
Han Li readily agreed, but then his tone shifted, saying something that made these four people tremble with fear.
"What deadly poison? We should only have the Blood Curse on us!" The youth's face changed, asking with some panic and some suspicion.
Seeing the youth doubting his words, Han Li didn't get angry, but simply straightened his face and said, "When I was examining the Blood Curse earlier, I discovered that your eldest brother's body, besides the Blood Curse verbal curse, was also poisoned with a deadly toxin. This poison is not only extremely potent but also very unstable, and I estimate it will soon flare up. Fortunately, I have some experience in detoxification, and removing it is just a trivial matter, so you don't need to worry too much about this. Of course, if you don't believe me, you can wait an hour or two and see if you really die from the poison!"
After Han Li said this, these four people believed most of it.
"So that's how it is. No wonder the person who ordered us to do things suddenly insisted we share a drink with him before we set out. The wine must have been poisoned. We all thought that since we already had the Blood Curse, they wouldn't do anything else, so no one paid attention to it. Their methods are truly vicious!" The tall Second Brother said with an ugly expression.
The youth and the young woman finally showed looks of realization, while the elder looked grim, apparently having already thought of this.
Since Han Li had decided to recruit the Five Friends of Mengshan as his helpers, he naturally wouldn't procrastinate until these people's poison flared up. He immediately reached into his storage pouch and took out two porcelain bottles, one white and one green, tossing them to the dark-faced elder.
"Take one pill from each of these bottles, and it will expel most of the poison. Later, you can slowly circulate your energy to force out the remaining toxins." Han Li said simply, and the dark-faced elder immediately followed his instructions, distributing the pills to the other three, and without any suspicion, took the pills first.
It seemed this elder knew very well that if Han Li wanted to harm them, he wouldn't need to tamper with the antidote, so he swallowed them without worry.
Not long after taking Han Li's pills, these people felt a violent stomach pain.
After the young woman's face reddened, she suddenly stomped her foot and reluctantly flew up on her weapon, heading toward a nearby small hill. However, with the restriction Han Li had placed on her, her flying speed was really slow.
The other three men, seeing this, also felt embarrassed and each found a hidden place to expel the poison from their bodies.
After a while, these three returned to Han Li with awkward expressions.
A moment later, the woman also flew back, though a blush still lingered on her face.
"Good, now let's begin removing the Blood Curse! Who goes first?" Han Li said directly without delay.
"Of course it's..."
The Second Brother had just spoken and was about to step forward when a thin, withered hand grabbed his arm!
"Second Brother, you still have Third Sister! My old bones can't achieve Foundation Establishment and won't live much longer, so let me go first. After all, the child in Third Sister's belly still needs you to take care of!" The dark-faced elder said calmly.
"Big Brother! This won't do, how can we let..."
The tall Second Brother shook his head vigorously, refusing no matter what.
And the youth and the young woman, seeing this, also spoke up to risk themselves first!
"Stop arguing, let your eldest brother go first. After all, I just examined his body, so the chances of success are higher!"
Although the sworn brotherly affection shown by these four people was very touching, after all, it wasn't his concern. Han Li had no intention of feeling touched by it. He was eager to find out if he could truly remove the Blood Curse. If not, all his previous efforts would have been wasted, and he'd have to make other plans.
Since Han Li said this, there was nothing more to argue about. The elder walked over with a solemn expression.
The other three looked at each other and could only watch the elder's actions with worried gazes.
"Bang, bang..." Six or seven sounds rang out in succession.
Han Li raised his hand, and several soldier puppets the size of real people appeared in a flash of white light behind him, weapons in hand.
"While I'm dispelling the Blood Curse, I can't divide my attention to fight enemies. These puppets serve as a warning measure. Anyone who enters within ten zhang of me will be attacked by them! You'd better stay back!" Han Li's words made no effort to hide the fact that he still couldn't trust them, forcing the three to retreat helplessly.