The Immortal Ascension

Chapter 23: The Test Rabbit

Perhaps it was the blessing of the God of Luck. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Han Li's mind.

He swiftly dashed toward the bag that had been thrown in the distance, covering the ground in a few quick strides. Bending down, he picked up the bag, opened its mouth in a few deft movements, and pulled out the talisman his parents had given him for protection.

As soon as the talisman touched his palm, a soothing sensation that penetrated both body and mind spread from his hand. Han Li's agitated heart immediately calmed down. The previous feelings of frustration and discomfort vanished without a trace, and all the abnormal phenomena within his body also disappeared on their own. Everything seemed to return to normal.

Now, Han Li no longer paid attention to the changes that had occurred in his body. Instead, he gently held the talisman in one hand, bringing it up to his eyes, while using his other hand to softly and slowly caress it, gazing at it with his full attention.

After a long while, Han Li finally sighed, stopped caressing the talisman, and shifted his gaze away from it.

Han Li did not know that the life-threatening trouble he had just encountered was not "Qi Deviation," but rather the "Heart Demon Invasion" that cultivators face. If he had not acted quickly and used an external object to expel the Heart Demon, he might soon have been invaded by the Heart Demon, which would have taken control of his Primordial Spirit, plunged him into an illusion, and caused his body to dance wildly until death. Of course, all of this was something he only learned later when he embarked on the path of cultivation.

Han Li circulated his Qi to inspect his entire body and found that everything was fine. To his delight, his cultivation had also improved significantly. Although he had not yet broken through to the fourth layer from the third, he had reached the peak of the third layer, and the fourth layer was not far off.

Due to this unexpected surprise, a faint smile appeared on Han Li's face, but he quickly suppressed his inner excitement. He feared that emotional instability might trigger another dangerous Qi Deviation, and he wasn't confident he could survive such an ordeal unscathed again. He took the leather bag containing the talisman, preparing to return the talisman, which had performed a great service, to the bag and store it properly.

"Huh!" Han Li unexpectedly discovered an item in the bag that he had forgotten about for a long time—a small mysterious bottle that had been stored there for several years.

The matter of this small bottle had long been completely forgotten by Han Li. If he hadn't seen it again now, he still wouldn't have remembered it.

Compared to four years ago, Han Li's knowledge and insight had greatly improved. Through extensive reading of the various books in Doctor Mo's room, he had gained much knowledge, and his mind had become much sharper due to practicing the chant. He could now easily judge from the various strange phenomena that had occurred with this bottle that it was undoubtedly a rare treasure in the world, possessing extraordinary functions.

What he needed to do now was to thoroughly uncover the value of this bottle and see if it could be useful to him. He couldn't let it remain hidden in the bag, wasting its mysterious potential.

Han Li took out the small bottle but did not open it hastily. Instead, he examined it again with the perspective of four years later, checking if there was anything he had overlooked before.Unfortunately, after carefully examining it several times, he found nothing new.

Han Li no longer wasted time needlessly. He cautiously opened the bottle cap, and the drop of emerald-green liquid inside remained quietly at the bottom of the bottle, unchanged from four years ago.

Han Li was well aware that all the secrets of the bottle likely lay in this tiny green liquid. This drop must have some special function he had yet to discover. To uncover the secret of this liquid, it seemed he would have to find some small animals and conduct some cruel live experiments.

It was nighttime, and it was too dark outside to conveniently search for live subjects. Moreover, after the events of the afternoon and the first half of the night, Han Li felt exhausted. Besides, even if he found something, under the dim light of night, if he couldn’t clearly observe the specific changes in the experiment, wouldn’t it all be in vain?

After considering all these factors, Han Li decided to get some sleep and rest properly for the night. Once he had replenished his energy tonight, it wouldn’t be too late to conduct the experiment tomorrow. Perhaps a big surprise awaited him after tonight, he hoped before falling asleep.

The next morning, after Han Li finished washing up, he first went to the large kitchen outside the valley to have a simple breakfast. When Doctor Mo was still on the mountain, he would instruct the kitchen staff to personally deliver meals to the Valley of Divine Hands. Han Li, benefiting from Doctor Mo’s influence, didn’t have to go outside the valley to eat, as the kitchen staff would also bring his meals. Now that Doctor Mo was no longer with the Seven Mysteries Sect, the kitchen staff naturally stopped delivering meals, which made Han Li sigh at the kitchen manager’s opportunism and lament the usefulness of power.

After breakfast, Han Li didn’t leave the kitchen immediately. Instead, he approached the kitchen manager and exchanged a few coins of silver for two lively gray-haired wild rabbits, which he brought back to the Valley of Divine Hands.

Back in the valley, Han Li tied the rabbits with ropes in a relatively spacious area of the herb garden, leaving them to bask in the sun.

When the rabbits were listless and parched from the sun, he fetched a large white porcelain bowl, carefully poured the green liquid from the bottle into it, and mixed it with some ordinary water.

The pea-sized green liquid easily dissolved into the water, turning the entire bowl into a vibrant emerald green. The sight of this green hue instinctively evoked a deep chill that rose from the depths of one’s heart.

Han Li picked up the bowl of diluted water and approached the thirsty rabbits, placing the bowl near them.

The parched rabbits eagerly crowded around the bowl, drinking the water in large gulps. Not wanting them to drink too much at once, Han Li removed the bowl after they had consumed about half of it.

Then, holding the porcelain bowl, he stood aside and patiently waited to see if the rabbits would show any interesting reactions.The passage of time was brief, merely the span it takes for an incense stick to burn, yet the rabbits began to hop about in agitation, their movements growing increasingly impulsive and violent. Then, astonishing changes began to occur on their bodies. Beneath their fur, bumps the size of eggs started to protrude, growing in number until they covered their entire bodies. These bumps eventually merged, making the rabbits' bodies appear as if they had inexplicably swollen, looking quite ridiculous compared to their tiny heads.

The plump bodies of the rabbits only maintained their size for a short while before they began to slowly inflate, and as time went on, the rate of their expansion accelerated. It was as if some kind of gas was continuously being pumped into them, causing them to stretch larger and rounder. In the end, their bodies resembled two large watermelons, inflated into two round, bulging spheres.

Witnessing the bizarre transformation of the rabbits, Han Li was taken aback.

Everything that was happening before his eyes was far beyond his expectations. If the unknown liquid were some kind of deadly poison or a Spirit Medicine that could enhance one's power, it would be nothing out of the ordinary and well within his imagination. However, he never anticipated such a spine-chilling scene—the rabbits' bodies had inflated as if someone had blown them up, becoming terrifyingly grotesque.

(End of Chapter)