A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality - Chapter 26

Just as Han Li became convinced that the rain would be endless, the sun finally rose into the sky and cleared away the clouds.

Han Li had already discovered the potential of the bottle half a month ago, so he was naturally very impatient. On that clear night sky, Han Li saw once more the miracle from 4 years ago. Little by little, small orbs of light encircled the bottle before merging into one big sphere.

Upon seeing this miracle once more, Han Li raised his head excitedly. He once dreaded that the liquid inside the bottle could only be used once, but it seemed that it could be repeatedly used by producing more liquid.

After another 7 days of waiting, the bottle had finally become full with green liquid. When Han Li saw the contents of the bottle, his heart suddenly clenched, but he was also strangely happy. Now that he knew that he had a steady stream of precious herbs, he would no longer have to worry about his plan failing.

It is important to know that the degree of how precious an ingredient is is determined by its age. A medicinal herb grew bigger the older it was. At the same time, an ingredient that was more precious was naturally also harder to find. Some ingredients could only be found in the depths of the forest by the sheer cliffs. For those who didn’t risk their lives, they wouldn’t find these ingredients.

Although there were several common pharmacies, it was the experienced elders that specialized in cultivating these rare herbs. However, herbs were generally harvested so quickly that they never got a chance to grow very large, for they were in high demand. For that reason, most weren’t stupid enough to try and cultivate some herbs for a long period of time rather than harvesting as soon as possible.

Only some rich families afford to grow and cultivate rare herbs in order to stockpile in the case of a crisis. Since the herbs were not only rare strands but also planted for a long time, their effectiveness was many times greater than that of common herbs. There wasn’t a need for a specialist to cultivate the plants either! Not only did these families pass on their money from generation to generation, the herbs they had spent so much time on would be passed down as well. As a result, time was not an issue for these families. For centuries, these herbs would be cultivated in such a way. In the case of both money and rare herbs, common people had no access to such a stockpile.

Occasionally, rare ingredients would appear briefly on the market, only to be purchased by the richer families. This had thus slowly brought up the prices of herbs and ingredients to the point of some herbs being priceless.

Han Li hadn’t been too optimistic on getting Elder Mo to help him cultivate herbs, but now he didn’t have to worry. With this bottle, he would be able to create many ingredients in a short amount of time.

There was a strange feeling in his heart. In the past 10 days, he had been experimenting with the herbal medicine.

One time, he diluted the green liquid and sprayed it on some herbs. The result after two days was that the plant effectively grew two years. This was much better than the original product, and with this experiment, Han Li had learned an important rule.

On the next experiment, Han Li did not bother to dilute, letting a drop of the green liquid fall onto a stalk of ginseng. On the second day, Han Li had unexpectedly saw that the ginseng became virtually indistinguishable from wild hundred year old ginseng. This experiment had made Han Li happier than ever, not because he now owned a rare ingredient, but because he had confirmed the green liquid’s use.

Afterwards, Han Li decided to set aside some of the green liquid for experimentation, while the rest would be placed in other containers like porcelain, jade bottles and even silver bottles. However, he soon discovered that none of the bottles were able to contain the liquid for longer than a minute. After the liquid was taken out from the bottle, it needed to be used within a minute. Otherwise, it would slowly disappear without a trace. Even the diluted form of the liquid had the same result, albeit it could last for a longer amount of time. Even if other liquids were mixed together, they would only disappear without a trace afterwards.

After many attempts, Han Li gave up on in storing the liquid in any other container. It would appear that he wouldn’t be able to stockpile this mysterious liquid and could only use it to experiment on herbs.

Han Li brought out the green colored Three Black Grass and used the liquid on it. Almost immediately, it had turned into a hundred year old yellow colored Three Black Grass. Just from a single drop of the liquid, its age would increase by 100.

After seeing such an effect, Han Li made extensive use of the liquid for the next two months. Every time he was able to acquire more liquid within this bottle, he would drip it onto this strand of Three Black Grass. It gradually turned from a yellow color to a yellowy black color. In the end, it turned jet black, the result of becoming a thousand year old Three Black Grass.

After the success of this particular experiment, it would appear that with patience, the Three Black Grass would be able to be constantly aged and thus improved. However, there wasn’t much point to this. He was already satisfied to know that he was able to deliberately harness the liquid’s effect. Besides, he didn’t need such ancient ingredients; just about a hundred years old would be enough for him.

After this long series of experimentation, Han Li finally decided to take a break. It came to his mind that Elder Mo had been away from the mountain for quite a long time now.

Right now, Han Li was holding the thousand year old Three Black Grass in his hand while he sat back on his bed with a lackadaisical expression.

His eyes were looking at the Three Black Grass as if studying it. But if one were to look at the disorderly eyes of Han Li, they would know that he wasn’t paying attention to the Three Black Grass at all. Instead, he was staring off into the sky, thinking of anything else but the Three Black Grass.

He was no longer happy like before when he first created this ancient Three Black Grass. Instead, he was now thinking about the dangers this little bottle could bring to him, and what precautions he should take.

Han Li had seen time and time again in the books of Elder Mo’s library about people who suffered terrible fates as a result of acquiring a precious treasure. This bottle in his hand was definitely a precious treasure. If someone else were to discover the existence of this bottle, then he doubted that he would live to see the next day. For example, if a hall leader was to find out, then there was no way they would let this go. They would stop at nothing to seize the treasure and kill the owner, without letting anyone else find out.

“I cannot tell anyone of this bottle, and I must be careful of how I use it. The way how this bottle collected light was far too noticeable and could easily be discovered by anyone watching,” Han Li thought to himself. He had to keep his mouth shut about this in order to ensure no one would be able to find out his secret.

“However, I am in a position where I need to use herbs to cultivate. If I don’t use this bottle, it would be a terrible waste. I must find a way to get the best of both worlds.” He thought about his cultivation needs for a moment with some sadness. It went without saying that his cultivation was the top priority. Even Doctor Mo was aware that Han Li had barely made any progress in the past few years.