Within the Seven Mysteries Sect, a groundbreaking event occurred.
The younger generation’s idol, Senior Disciple Li, displayed amazing perceptiveness as he, on the spot, caught two of the Feral Wolf Gang’s spies. They had been attempting to steal a list of names of disciples for some plot, but he, with ten or so other disciples, managed to capture the two of them alive, rendering themselves a large contribution to the sect.
Several days later, the Sect Leader publicly awarded Li Feiyu the position of Protector, giving him a formal step into the Seven Mysteries Sect and moving him into the middle-ranks. This caused a huge sensation as Li Feiyu’s reputation became even larger.
Han Li was completely ignorant of what was happening in the sect, because at that time he was in a sealed wooden cabin and was conducting special training. Besides going out to the kitchen once in awhile to get food, he hadn’t had contact with another human being for a while. Naturally, he did not know even the slightest thing about his best friend’s sudden rise in reputation.
Summer ended and autumn came, days passing quickly, until the promised day.
Inside of a ravine in the forest, a strange figure emerged. It moved like it was floating and even the most vicious of brambles did nothing to obstruct this figure, not even the slightest bit. Like smoke, it wove in and out of the thorn bushes with demon like speed, appearing briefly in one spot before abruptly appearing in another. Throughout the entire process, it was dead silent, but suddenly it began to take on a more human appearance of flesh, rather than some incorporeal body.
Afterwards, this person stopped in a tree, then stood up straight and started to survey the distance. This person was Han Li.
Right now, the clothes on his body were tattered and falling apart. They were ragged to the point where his bare skin was exposed. His crow black hair was disheveled, and his face had black and white lines streaked across it. It would be impossible to recognize him if you saw him. What was even more astonishing was that on his neck, arms, waist, thighs, and hips were those small, exquisite iron bells.
Seeing those bells and those movements, anyone would think that Han Li was a specter, an apparition. It would not be far-fetched to attribute his motions to the supernatural.
He was motionless, gazing in the direction of the Valley of the God’s Hand, then muttered to himself:
“Just in time. It is the final day, and it seems that my training with the Sifting Smoke Steps is complete, as well as that of many other self-preservation techniques.”
Although it was hard to see his face clearly, his joy was visible in his shining eyes. But other than that, his emotion barely showed.
After diligently training for the past few months, Han Li held in his hands no small amount of power. He had confidence in the techniques he had learned. Though he doubted that he could defeat Doctor Mo, he still had some faith in his ability to defend himself.
A light wind was blowing through, Han Li felt a slight chill. As he bowed his head and looked at his “outfit”, wondering what others would think if they saw him now, he couldn’t help but laugh bitterly in his heart.
He recalled first practicing of the Sifting Smoke Steps, still feeling a bit of fear. When he had traveled through the thorny ravine, making even one mistake could have cost him his life. In the beginning, when he wasn’t yet familiar with the skill, he would often land on the sharp, hard branches and become covered in cuts, bruises, and blood.
Fortunately he still had the Vitality Raising Pill so he wasn’t afraid of any injuries, for even internal injuries would be easy to treat. With a single pill, wounds would heal over and, by the second day, not even scars would remain.
At this, Han Li could only click his tongue. This medicine was excessively stronger than ones used to treat ordinary wounds. However, he didn’t know why this particular medicine was called the Vitality Raising Pill. To him, the names Scar-Be-Gone or Stop-the-Bleeding would be a better fit.
Han Li’s suggestions for a better name for the Vitality Raising Pill would cause experts to vomit blood. For such a jealously guarded miracle panacea to be compared to a generic household medicine like the Golden Skin Drug in terms of effectiveness, experts would go insane!
However, it was in such a dangerous situation that Han Li could bring out his true potential while practicing. In a short amount of time, the Sifting Smoke Step had reached a level of mastery at which Han Li could put it to practical use.
Plus, in regards to the Eternal Spring Art, in these few months, Han Li had reached the sixth layer without any trouble. This was the highest layer that Elder Mo had taught him about, though if it hadn’t been for the several bottles of wonder medicine he possessed, even if he were to try with all his might, he would never have been able to cultivate to such a level.
After several years of cultivation, Han Li had felt that he had learned much about the Eternal Spring Art. He recognized that it was highly unique martial art. Regardless of how it was used, in terms of both methodology and effectiveness, it was vastly different from any other martial arts style he knew of.
In the first place, Han Li believed that both success and speed of cultivation depended on the person. One had to look at natural aptitude to determine whether someone could make significant achievements.
His talent had allowed his path of cultivation to go unimpeded and smoothly. He had estimated that, even without outside help, he would be able to reach an even higher layer.
If his talent hadn’t been good enough, especially if he didn’t have any of the wonder medicine, he wouldn’t be able to advance a single step. Han Li estimated that he would be stuck at this layer for his entire life without taking another step forward. Even though he had reached the third layer without problems, the fourth layer would have been extremely challenging, with no hope of advancement.
But with such powerful medicine, the impossible suddenly becomes possible. One could break free from the shackles of talent and advance into the higher layers. It can be seen, martial arts relied on medicine, and enormously!
But in his case, he would eat the medicines as a snack twice a day. If no one were to disturb him, then he would be able to effortlessly cultivate to the 5th or 6th layer without the difficulty he had experienced with the 4th layer.
The sixth layer of the Eternal Spring Art bestowed Han Li vigorous energy along with a sharpened mind, but there were still more benefits that he didn’t completely understand. Oddly enough, when he practiced the Eternal Spring Art, he found while that his spirit, mind, and five senses had improved, there was little effect on his body other than minor increases in strength and agility. It also allowed him to form a flow of energy—Han Li decided to call it Pseudo True Qi. Although it flowed through his meridians the same way True Qi did, aside from a miniscule increase in sensitivity, there were none of the practical benefits that True Qi generally gave.
All in all, though he had undeniably reached the peak of the sixth layer of the chant, perhaps the usefulness of the later layers would be revealed in some time.
Thinking about that, he could only shake his head helplessly. As he swallowed a deep breath, he couldn’t even begin to imagine these later layers.
But he understood that these thoughts were pointless, so Han Li leapt to his feet and landed gently on the ground without a sound. Immediately, he took a few strides out of the house.
Tomorrow was the day he would meet with Elder Mo. Before that, he would need to make sure he could exploit his talents to the utmost degree. The plan within his head would need to be polished down to every single minute detail, in each step, and account for every case of danger with an appropriate response.