Chapter 12: Breaking the Bottle
Editor: Henyee
Peng!
Han Li tightly grasped the bottle with his hands, and with anger in his eyes, used his entire strength to smash the bottle against the table.
“If I can’t use my own body’s strength, then I shall use other means to break it open,” decided Han Li after thinking of numerous ways to open the vexing bottle.
Han Li had long since figured out that using brute strength and violence was not a solution.
This type of method, although simplistic and crude, was usually the most effective.
But the moment he thought of that beautiful bottle with its mysterious and intricate designs being smashed into smithereens, Han Li could feel a dull ache in his heart pulling him back, causing him to be extremely unwilling to let go of such a beautiful treasure. If there were any other methods to open the mysterious bottle, Han Li would choose those instead of using brute force.
If he asked the other senior disciples for help, they might be able to open it, but Han Li had unknowingly started to treat the mysterious bottle as a treasured item and was extremely reluctant to let others know of its existence.
The current Han Li was almost driven to insanity by his curiosity regarding the mysterious bottle. Although he knew that it might just be an empty bottle, he was still willing to bet that the bottle was protecting something precious!
The more he was unable to open the bottle, the more his curiosity grew.
If he couldn’t solve the mystery inside the bottle, then he would never be able to sleep well at night.
After he decided on his course of action, Han Li stealthily sneaked in a tool shed, selected a small iron hammer from the multitude of tools lying about there, and brought the hammer back to his residence. (TL: I know this might be confusing. Wielding a hammer requires body strength, and Han Li previously said he wasn’t going to rely on his body’s strength. However, wielding a tool is viewed differently from using one’s own strength because it adds a certain mechanical advantage that can accomplish what the body is unable to do)
Back in his house, Han Li pried half a brick from a corner in his room and placed the bottle on top of the brick.
Han Li raised the hammer with his right hand, and swiftly smashed down onto the bottle’s body!
Peng!
Afraid of using too much strength and accidentally smashing whatever was inside, Han Li used only a fraction of his strength in order to test the bottle’s hardness.
Only after inspecting the bottle and finding that it was undamaged did Han Li relax. He started increasing the amount of strength he used in each strike.
Peng! 50% strength.
Peng! 70% strength.
Peng! 100% strength.
Peng! 120% strength.
Han Li exerted more and more of his strength into each hammer blow. As the motions of his arms got more and more frantic, the speed of the blows grew faster and faster. Even after he had cracked the brick underneath, the bottle laid there innocently without a single scratch on its surface.
Han Li was dumbstruck, unable to comprehend the hardness of the bottle. Using his hands to feel its surface, there were no traces of damage. That glossy green surface remained unblemished without any signs of Han Li’s furious attempts.
This was completely beyond Han Li’s expectations!
Han Li was absolutely certain now that this bottle was made from an unusual material. There was a 90% possibility that this item was lost by someone of a high status. The owner may have already sent people to comb the mountainside in search for this mysterious object. If Han Li wanted to keep it, he had to be sure to hide it in an extremely secretive location and not let others know of its existence.
In his heart, Han Li followed the philosophy of “finders, keepers, losers, weepers.” As long as one did not obtain the item by stealing or robbing, to Han Li, the item obtained was his by right. If it was some ordinary item, Han Li might have been willing to return it back to the owner, but this mysterious bottle? Not a chance! Looking at the bottle, he surmised that this item had most likely been misplaced by either some rich kid from a big family or someone with a high status. Sadly, Han Li did not have any good impression of people from both of these categories.
Since childhood, Han Li was from an extremely poor family. Despite working very hard and living like dogs, they were often unable to afford to have a full meal. In the Seven Mysteries Sect, there were two types of people. The first type were those who threw their money about, wasting it on decadent luxury. They treated money as if it were water, spending it freely and without concern. Every time Han Li saw this, an uncomfortable feeling of rage would rise in his heart. The second type of people were those who looked down on the disciples who were born in rural villages. They would often abuse the less fortunate with scathing words and malicious actions. If there so happened to be any conflict between them and the villagers, however small the conflict was, the second type of person would usually form into groups and beat up the poorer kids. Han Li himself had his fair share of abuse. He had been beaten up by the rich kids until his face was swollen and he was unable to get up from bed. Han Li had to rest for a few weeks in order to fully recover.
As for those within the sect that possessed both money and status, Han Li also did not have good impressions of them. A good example was Protector Wang. Despite accepting his Third Uncle’s bribes, Protector Wang did nothing to aid Han Li when he was taking the test. Instead, Protector Wang had been biased towards Wu Yan. Despite the fact that Han Li did not have the chance to see many of the grand figures residing in the sect, their image had long been tarnished by the actions of Protector Wang.
Whenever these two types of people lost their belongings, Han Li had no intentions of returning the items. He would even prank them by hiding the items in obscure locations.
After thinking of this, Han Li decided to remove the pouch which always hung upon his neck. His mother had personally sewn the pouch out of water-resistant leather. Inside the pouch was a good luck charm made from the tooth of a wild boar. His mother hoped this would protect him from danger and illnesses.
Han Li open his pouch and hid the mysterious bottle alongside his good luck charm. He then swiftly sealed the pouch and placed it around his neck.
After doing so, he surveyed his surroundings; luckily, there was no one who had seen him or the mysterious bottle.
After taking so many precautions, Han Li felt more secure and threw away all of his concerns that the owner would discover the object and take it from him.
Han Li stealthily replaced the hammer in the tool shed and casually walked back to God Hand Valley. As he limped back to his residence, night had fallen.
Chapter 13: Strange Phenomena
Editor: Henyee
Because Han Li’s leg was injured, Zhang Tie personally delivered the food to Han Li’s house and accompanied him for dinner.
Looking at the clumsy Zhang Tie in his house, moving the chairs and setting the table, Han Li couldn’t help but find it funny. Zhang Tie’s care caused traces of warmth to enter his heart.
After the table was set, both of them joked around as they ate, pushing food in their mouths while asking about their individual cultivation progress.
The moment Han Li brought up the Way of the Armored Elephant, Zhang Tie sighed dejectedly.
Currently, Zhang Tie had only managed to cultivate the martial skill to its first layer but was already half tortured to death by the immense pain. He had to soak himself in foul-smelling herbal baths every night as well as suffer beatings from Doctor Mo designed to toughen his body and strengthen his bones.
This method of boorish cultivation had caused Zhang Tie many sleepless nights. Because his entire body was swollen from the beatings, the moment his skin touched his bed, he would grit his teeth in pain.
To him, cultivating the Way of the Armored Elephant was nothing but a nightmare.
With regards to Han Li’s cultivation of the nameless oracular chant, Zhang Tie could not help but feel envy in his heart.
He felt that Han Li only needed to spend his time peacefully in meditation like a monk. Hearing Zhang Tie’s emotions, Han Li had nothing to say in his defense. He was also aware that his cultivation was much easier when compared to Zhang Tie’s arduous labor.
Han Li could somewhat understand Zhang Tie’s fear towards the Way of the Armored Elephant. As he progressed through the nine layers of the Way of the Armored Elephant, he would have to bear unimaginable pain.
Despite the difficulty, Zhang Tie had persisted, refusing to give up. Han Li could not help but admire and respect Zhang Tie for his unyielding personality.
If Han Li were in Zhang Tie’s shoes, he would never have chosen to practice such a domineering skill. Even if the skill could turn him into a world-shaking expert overnight, he would still reject it.
The two of them had almost finished dinner as they were talking excitedly about martial arts. Once the meal was over, Zhang Tie cleared the bowls and bid his farewell. Before leaving, he still reminded Han Li to take care of his injured foot and to go to sleep early.
Standing at the door, Han Li watched as Zhang Tie left and quickly returned back to his house, closing all the windows except for a slight opening in the skylight to allow some air to flow through before taking out the mysterious bottle from his leather pouch.
Han Li was only a ten year-old child with a short attention span. After studying the bottle for a short period of time, he quickly got bored. With his foot injury, Han Li also felt somewhat tired out by today’s turn of events. Unknowingly, he fell asleep on his bed with his hand holding onto the bottle.
Time passed by. Just when Han Li was sleeping soundly, he suddenly felt an icy cool feeling flowing from his hand.
Han Li involuntarily shivered, and he forcefully opened his heavy eyelids, gazing at his hand in a daze.
“Oh!” He immediately sat up with his mouth open from shock, to such an extent that saliva dripped down from his gaping mouth. He no longer felt sleepy; instead, his attention was fixed on the strange sight in front of him.
Rays of white light could be seen beaming through the gap from the skylight. The beams concentrated around the bottle Han Li held in his hand, forming many rice-sized white dots of light on the surface of the bottle. It gave the impression that the bottle was enveloped by the rays of white light.
The rays of light looked extremely gentle, not menacing at all, and that icy cool feeling originated precisely from the rays of light!
Han Li swallowed a big gulp of saliva and finally turned his eyes away from the bottle. As if it burned his hand, he quickly threw the bottle to one side before scrambling to the other side of the room.
After a moment of vigilance, he realized that nothing was wrong and slowly inched towards the mysterious bottle.
The mysterious bottle enveloped by the white light, other than looking beautiful, seemed to possess an aura that was not of this world.
Han Li hesitated for awhile before using his finger to poke the bottle a few times. Seeing there was no reaction, he cautiously picked up the bottle again. Putting the bottle on the table, he laid on the nearby bed and closely examined this never-before-seen phenomenon.
Han Li focused his full attention on the mysterious bottle for about an hour and a half without even blinking before he finally realized some of the secrets that the mysterious bottle was hiding.
The mysterious bottle was incessantly absorbing the rice-sized beads of white light surrounding it. No, not simply absorbing; it was as if the beads of white light had a will of their own and were fighting with each other in order to be the first to enter the bottle.
Han Li viewed this extremely bizarre event and used his fingertip to touch a bead of white light.
It felt icy cold! Other than this, there was nothing special about it.
Han Li inclined his head and looked upward.
The rays of white light were still beaming through the gap in the skylight as if they had no intention of stopping.
Han Li surveyed the interior of his room to make sure the doors and windows were all closed before inclining his head to look at the skylight once more.
Han Li was suddenly hit by a thought. He lightly pushed open the door, popped his head out and peek at his surroundings.
Luckily, it was the middle of the night; other than insects, there was no one else.
Han Li returned back to his room, grabbing the bottle and putting it back inside the pouch before hurrying outside again.
He ran towards a remote location before stopping.
Surveying all four directions and ensuring there was no one nearby, Han Li cautiously removed the bottle from his pouch and placed it gently on the ground.
While the mysterious bottle had been sealed in his pouch, the white rays of light had disappeared.
However, Han Li was not worried.
As he expected, after waiting for a while, rays of white light began congregating around the bottle from all four directions. This time round, the rays were much denser than the rays produced in his house. They tightly enveloped the mysterious bottle in a shroud of white light, forming a ball of light the size of a human head.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
2 Power
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