Chapter 10

Han Li walked out of Divine Hand Valley slowly, following the small path in the mountains, habitually walking toward Red Water Peak, which could be vaguely seen in the distance.

He didn't have anything important to do now. The reason he ran to Zhang Tie's place on time every day these past few days was just to see the strange look on Zhang Tie's face when he was practicing under the waterfall.

This "Elephant Armor Skill" really wasn't something an ordinary person could endure. Just the mere first layer required enduring such great torture. By the later layers, wouldn't it peel off at least a few layers of skin?

"I reckon Zhang Tie probably regrets it a bit now, right? The overbearing nature of this 'Elephant Armor Skill' far exceeds the imagination of these little brats." Han Li thought as he walked, kicking the fallen leaves and branches on the ground casually and absent-mindedly.

"When a few more days pass, the two of us will plead with Doctor Mo together to let Zhang Tie practice other skills to avoid suffering this living sin." Han Li thought this way, feeling a bit excited that he could find a way out of the current suffering for his friend.

Han Li raised his head to look at the trees on both sides of the road. At this time, it was already late autumn, and the branches of all the trees were bare. A thick layer of fallen leaves and dead branches was piled up on the small path, and walking on them felt soft and comfortable.

At this time, from a mountain peak not far away, several sounds of weapon clashes were faintly heard, occasionally mixed with a few loud cheers.

Hearing these sounds, Han Li looked at that mountain peak again, and his mood, which had just improved, turned bad again.

This was the senior brother instructors of the Hundred-Forging Hall conducting weapon combat training for the newly entered junior brothers.

Whenever Han Li saw other fellow disciples gathering together to conduct real sword and spear training, he felt a bit uncomfortable in his heart. He also really wanted to pick up a real sword or spear and play with it fiercely. Unfortunately, he didn't know why, but ever since he officially entered Doctor Mo's sect, Doctor Mo had strictly forbidden him from touching these things and did not allow him to go to other instructors to learn other martial arts, saying it would hinder the progress of his formula cultivation.

Therefore, Han Li could only dryly envy them. Occasionally, in private, he could borrow a few weapons from a few fellow disciples he was on good terms with and dance a few rounds to satisfy his craving.

Really, what was so good about the formula he practiced? Until now, he hadn't seen what use it had. Other disciples who entered at the same time were practicing their skills to become more and more powerful, with their martial arts advancing by leaps and bounds, while he was standing still, unable to see any change at all.

Even Zhang Tie, who had only practiced the "Elephant Armor Skill" for two months, had become thick-skinned and better at taking beatings, and his strength was much greater than before.

But if he hadn't been accepted into the sect by Doctor Mo, he might not have been able to pass the named disciple test two months ago at all, let alone stay on the mountain and be able to send so much money home.

If he couldn't learn others, then he wouldn't learn them!

Han Li complained in his stomach while comforting himself.

Han Li withdrew his gaze from the distance, still muttering in his heart, but his spirit became even more scattered. His unfocused gaze looked at the sides of the small path, not knowing what he was looking at.

Suddenly, Han Li gasped, his expression became strange, and then he almost stretched his mouth to the back of his ears. He reflexively squatted down, pressed his right big toe tightly with both hands, and then lay half-down on the grass in pain. This sudden, sharp pain knocked Han Li down at once. His face turned a bit pale, and a piercing pain came from his big toe from time to time.

It seemed he had accidentally kicked a very hard stone in the pile of leaves.

Han Li hunched his body, hugged his ankle with both hands, subconsciously blowing air into his injured toe through the cloth shoe he was wearing, while secretly worrying in his heart whether he would be seriously injured, whether his big toe would suddenly swell up with blood, thereby affecting his daily walking.

After a long while, Han Li finally got over this wave of pain. He raised his neck and scanned the pile of leaves near his feet, wanting to find the culprit that caused him to suffer such a great crime.

The fallen leaves scattered on the ground all around were the same monotonous color—withered yellow. He couldn't find his target from those messy piles of leaves at all.

Han Li frowned, grabbed a relatively thick and long branch from the ground with his hand, leaned on it, stood on his tiptoes, and stood up cautiously.

Then, as if unwilling to give up, he used the branch in his hand to rake hard through the thick piles of leaves all around.

Yi! Something the size of a fist was picked out by the branch.

Han Li sized it up carefully. This culprit that caused his glorious injury was a round, bottle-shaped object with a long, thin neck. The surface of the bottle was covered in mud, completely turning into an earthy gray color, unable to show any of its original color.

Originally, Han Li thought it was a small porcelain bottle, but upon holding it in his hand, he discovered the weight was wrong. It was heavy and very weighty.

Is it made of metal? No wonder this thing wasn't big, yet it made his foot hurt so much. However, bottles made of metal were rarely seen.

Han Li was now interested in this little bottle and forgot about the pain in his foot for a moment.

He rubbed the mud off the neck of the bottle with his hand, and the original color of the bottle was revealed. It was emerald green and very beautiful. There were also some exquisite, dark green leaf-shaped patterns on the bottle surface. The top had a small bottle cap that tightly sealed the mouth of the bottle.

Wouldn't there be something inside? He put the bottle to his ear and shook it gently, but couldn't feel anything shaking inside.

He put his hand on the bottle cap and twisted it hard, but it didn't move.

Han Li's curiosity grew even greater. Just as he was about to take the next step, suddenly, a sharp pain came from his foot.

Bad! How could he have forgotten that his foot was still suffering the adverse consequences after an intimate contact with this object.

He had suffered this injury, and it looked like he couldn't go to Zhang Tie's place. He should return to his residence first, apply some injury medicine, and then ponder this little bottle obtained by accident.

Thinking of this, to prevent being seen by others, Han Li didn't care that this object was too dirty, tucked the bottle into his bosom, turned around, and walked back limping.

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