A Record of A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Chapter 23: The Test Subject Rabbit

Perhaps it was the blessing of the god of luck. Suddenly, a flash of spiritual light passed through Han Li’s mind.

He quickly rushed toward the bag that had been thrown far away. In just a few strides, he reached it, bent down, and picked it up. With a few swift moves, he pried open the leather pouch and pulled out the protective talisman his parents had given him.

The moment the talisman touched his palm, a wave of calming energy spread through his body and mind. Han Li’s restless heart immediately settled; the previous feelings of depression and discomfort vanished without a trace. The various abnormal sensations within his body also quietly disappeared, and everything seemed to return to normal.

Now, Han Li no longer paid attention to the changes happening in his body. Instead, he gently cupped the talisman in one hand, holding it right under his eyes, while the other hand softly and slowly stroked it, focusing all his attention on it.

After quite a long time, Han Li sighed, stopped stroking, and shifted his gaze away from the talisman.

Han Li didn’t know that the trouble which had almost cost him his life was not “qi deviation” but rather an “inner demon invasion” — something cultivators dreaded. Had he not acted quickly, using an external object to dispel the inner demon in time, it’s likely that soon the demon would have invaded his primordial spirit, taken control of him, and trapped him in an illusion, forcing his body to dance wildly until death. Of course, all this was something he only learned after embarking on the path of cultivation.

Han Li circulated his cultivation power to inspect his entire body and found no problems. To his surprise, his cultivation had increased significantly. Though he had not yet broken through from the third layer to the fourth, he had reached the peak of the third layer, with the fourth layer now within reach.

A faint smile appeared on Han Li’s face at this unexpected good fortune. But he quickly restrained his excitement, afraid that unstable emotions might trigger another dangerous qi deviation. He couldn't be sure he'd be as lucky the next time. He held the leather pouch containing the protective talisman, ready to put the talisman back safely.

“Ah!” Han Li suddenly noticed an item in the pouch that he had forgotten for a long time — a mysterious little bottle, a collectible he had stored for several years.

He had completely forgotten about this little bottle until now. If he hadn’t spotted it again, he might still not have remembered it.

Compared with four years ago, Han Li’s knowledge and insight had grown tremendously. Having read many books in Doctor Mo’s room and cultivated his mind through practice, he was now much smarter. With his current perspective, he easily deduced from the strange phenomena surrounding this bottle that it was an extraordinarily rare treasure with unusual powers.

What Han Li needed to do now was to fully uncover the bottle’s value and see if it was useful to him. He couldn’t just leave it forgotten in the pouch, wasting its mysterious potential.

Han Li took out the bottle but did not rush to open it. Instead, he examined it carefully with the sharp eyes of four years later, checking for anything he had missed before.

Unfortunately, after scrutinizing it repeatedly, he found nothing new.

Not wanting to waste more time, Han Li carefully opened the bottle cap. The drop of emerald-green liquid inside remained quietly at the bottom—unchanged from four years ago.

Han Li knew well that the bottle’s secret probably lay in this small droplet. This green liquid must possess some special properties he hadn’t discovered yet. To figure out its secrets, he would need to find some small animals and carry out some cruel live experiments.

It was nighttime, and it was too dark outside to conveniently search for live creatures. Besides, after the afternoon and early evening’s ordeal, Han Li felt exhausted. Even if he could find some, it would be pointless to conduct experiments under dim lighting at night, unable to clearly observe the changes.