Han Li watched the rabbit before him keep growing, swelling bigger and bigger.
A flash of wrongness hit him. Suddenly remembering something, he flung the porcelain bowl — which he now regarded as something venomous — into the nearby herb field, then turned and bolted. He ran until he was more than thirty feet from the rabbits before finally stopping.
Just as he was about to look back, two explosions rang out almost simultaneously, one right after the other. Han Li shuddered violently and turned around. Sure enough, the two rabbits had burst apart, blown into several pieces, with flesh and blood splattering across the ground. Where the rabbits had been tied there were now two craters, surrounded by scattered remains — blood and chunks of meat everywhere. The scene was truly ghastly.
Han Li let out a long breath and dropped to the ground, sitting down hard. If his reaction hadn't been so quick this time, he could easily have been caught in the blast. He might not have been seriously injured, but being drenched head to toe in rabbit blood and gore was nobody's idea of a pleasant experience.
Once he had calmed down, Han Li stood up and walked over to the craters.
He looked at the gruesome scene, then glanced at the shattered porcelain bowl lying in the herb field. He was speechless.
He had hoped to discover some kind of miraculous elixir from the green liquid. Instead, he had found something terrifying. A poison was one thing, but one that killed this horribly? There was no way he was touching that stuff now. It was far too frightening. It wasn't as though Han Li had never encountered deadly poisons — under Dr. Mo's tutelage over the years, he had seen all manner of lethal substances that could kill with a single drop of blood, yet none of them produced a death so horrific as this.
Fortunately, Han Li had a fairly strong constitution and was able to stay composed despite the surroundings. He lingered for a while longer before finally deciding to leave.
It was almost noon, and he still needed to deliver the prepared secret medicine to Senior Brother Li. As for everything here, he would deal with it after making the delivery.
With that thought, Han Li didn't spare another glance at the site of the explosion. He left all the trouble for later and headed back to his quarters. After resting briefly, he picked up the medicine and set off for the entrance of Divine Hand Valley.
Han Li was punctual. When he arrived at the valley entrance, it was exactly noon. Li Feiyu, however, had clearly been waiting there in a state of anxious anticipation for some time.
He was standing alone at the exit of the valley, now wearing a white brocade robe, with that long saber still strapped to his back — the same one that had left such a deep impression on Han Li. When Han Li arrived, Li Feiyu's face held a trace of urgency as he peered anxiously toward the depths of the valley.
Only when he spotted Han Li approaching did the anxious expression fade, the corners of his mouth curl upward, and a smile break across his face.
"Junior Brother Han, you're really something with your punctuality! You said noon, and sure enough you show up at the crack of noon. I've been waiting for ages," Li Feiyu said, half-joking and half-complaining.
"Sorry about that. I was preparing the medicine so long yesterday that I ended up sleeping late and got up a bit slow this morning. By the time I finished everything, it was already noon." Han Li's reply was equally half-truthful.
"Junior Brother Han, the medicine — that medicine... have you prepared it?" Senior Brother Li was so anxious he had grown flustered, and his speech came out slightly stammered.
Han Li didn't answer the question directly. With a calm smile, he slowly produced a palm-sized packet of medicine from inside his robe and tossed it to Li Feiyu.
"Each time before you take the Marrow Extracting Pill, dissolve one spoonful of the powder from this packet in a cup of cool boiled water and drink it. It will reduce the pain you suffer."
"Thank you, Junior Brother Han! Thank you!" Senior Brother Li was ecstatic. Anything that could alleviate even a tiny fraction of the pain was an enormous blessing to him. The agony of taking the Marrow Extracting Pill was enough to make him shudder at the mere thought. He had tried many painkillers before, but none had ever worked. Since this Junior Brother Han knew all the characteristics of the Marrow Extracting Pill and had even taken it himself, perhaps this medicine really would do the trick.
"Don't thank me in a hurry — wait until you've confirmed it actually works. Besides, this is only a year's supply. I've used up all the medicinal ingredients I had on hand. Once I've gathered more, I'll prepare a few more batches for you," Han Li said bluntly.
"Don't worry about it. This is a full year's worth — more than enough for now. Regardless of whether the medicine works or not, I, Li Feiyu, truly appreciate Junior Brother Han's kindness." Having obtained what he wanted, Senior Brother Li's composure returned to normal. He dropped all pretense and stated frankly that he now owed Han Li yet another great favor.
Han Li gave a faint smile, said nothing more, and took his leave.
Li Feiyu, clutching the medicine packet, was eager to go back and test its effectiveness, so he didn't try to keep Han Li any longer. The two parted ways with mutual farewells.
After returning to the valley, Han Li first went to the herb garden to clean up. He swept the rabbit remains, blood-stained soil, and broken porcelain into the craters, then shoveled dirt over the two newly formed pits until they were level. The place now looked more or less as it had before the experiment.
Han Li patted the dust from his hands with satisfaction and looked around to see if he had missed anything.
When his gaze fell on the spot where the porcelain bowl had shattered, he couldn't help but fall into contemplation.
He remembered clearly that when he had thrown the bowl away, all the diluted water from inside had splattered onto that small patch of herb field, wetting several plants there. This made him hesitate — would these herbs become poisonous after absorbing the water? And if someone later consumed these poisoned herbs, would they suffer the same fate as the rabbits? Should he uproot them right now? A chain of questions popped up in Han Li's mind all at once.
After deliberating for a long while, Han Li decided to wait and see. He would observe them for a while longer, treating it as yet another small experiment. If the herbs truly did become poisonous within the next few days, he could always remove them then.
Having made up his mind, and with nothing else to do, he headed to the stone chamber to continue his cultivation. He hoped to achieve a breakthrough on top of the progress he had already made.
Han Li no longer questioned the specific purpose of the cultivation technique. Practicing it had become an instinct — a reflex. Without it, he had no idea what he would even do with his time on the mountain. Pursuing the next level of this technique had become the entire goal of his current life.
After an afternoon of focused cultivation, Han Li discovered with frustration that he was truly no genius. Although he could feel that the fourth layer was tantalizingly close — as if a single finger could push through — he had made absolutely no progress, wasting an entire afternoon of bitter effort.
It seemed he simply couldn't do it without the aid of external medicine. Otherwise, he might be stuck at the third layer forever, unable to advance a single step further.
Han Li began to earnestly hope that Dr. Mo would return soon, and that he would be lucky enough to find a sufficient supply of medicinal ingredients to help him break through his current predicament.
(End of Chapter)