Published: July 11, 2025
Chapter 10: The Mysterious Bottle
Han Li slowly walked out of Divine Hand Valley, following the mountain path, habitually heading toward the faintly visible Red Water Peak.
He didn’t have anything important to do at the moment. These past few days, he had been running over to Zhang Tie’s place punctually every day just to watch Zhang Tie’s grimacing and contorted expressions while training under the waterfall.
This "elephant armor technique" was really not something ordinary people could endure. Just the first level alone inflicted such tremendous torture. By the time one reached the later levels, wouldn’t the practitioner have to shed several layers of skin?
“Zhang Tie is probably regretting it by now, huh? The ferocity of this elephant armor technique far exceeds what us kids could have imagined,” Han Li thought as he walked, casually kicking fallen leaves and branches on the ground with his foot.
“In a few days, the two of them will probably ask Doctor Mo for a favor together, hoping Zhang Tie can switch to another martial art to avoid this suffering.” Han Li felt a small surge of excitement at the thought that he might help his friend find a way out of his current hardship.
Han Li looked up at the trees lining the path. It was late autumn now, and all the branches were bare. The ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves and dry twigs, making the path soft and somewhat uncomfortable to walk on.
At that moment, from a nearby mountain peak, faint sounds of weapons clashing echoed, occasionally mixed with loud shouts of encouragement.
Hearing this, Han Li glanced toward the mountain peak again, and his recently lifted spirits sank once more.
It was the senior instructors from the Hundred Refinements Hall, training the newly admitted junior disciples in weapon combat.
Whenever Han Li saw the other disciples gathering to engage in real blade and spear training, he felt a pang of jealousy. He really wanted to pick up a real weapon and give it a good spin. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, ever since he officially became Doctor Mo’s disciple, Doctor Mo had strictly forbidden him from handling such weapons or learning other martial arts from those instructors, claiming it would interfere with the progress of his cultivation formula.
So Han Li could only longingly watch from the sidelines. Occasionally, he would borrow some weapons from a few close fellow disciples and practice a few swings in private just to satisfy his craving.
Damn it, what’s so good about the formula I’m cultivating? Even now, I haven’t seen any benefits. Other disciples who joined at the same time have been improving rapidly, their martial arts growing by leaps and bounds, but I’m stuck in the same place with no visible progress.
Even Zhang Tie, who has only been training the elephant armor technique for two months, has developed tougher skin, can take more hits, and grown much stronger.
But if I hadn’t been accepted by Doctor Mo, I probably wouldn’t have even passed the registered disciple test two months ago, let alone stayed on the mountain and sent so much money back home.
If I can’t learn anything else, then I just won’t!
Han Li grumbled quietly inside, trying to comfort himself.
He lowered his gaze from the distance, still muttering to himself, but his spirit grew more scattered. His dull eyes looked aimlessly at the sides of the path, not really seeing anything.
Suddenly, Han Li gasped, his expression turning strange, then his mouth almost stretched to his ears. Reflexively, he squatted down and tightly pressed his right big toe with both hands. Then, in pain, he half-lay down in the grass. The sudden sharp pain knocked Han Li down completely; his face turned a little pale, and a piercing pain radiated constantly from his big toe.
Looks like I accidentally kicked a very hard stone hidden in the leaf pile.
Han Li hunched over, holding his ankle with both hands. Instinctively, he blew hard on his injured toe through the cloth shoe he was wearing, while privately worrying whether the injury would be serious enough to cause bruising and swelling, affecting his daily walking.