A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality - Chapter 9

Thinking back to that time, Han Li couldn’t help but give a knowing smile.

In the half year that Han Li spent with Zhang Tie, because their personalities matched well with each other, the two had naturally became very close friends.

Han Li slowly moved from his crossed legged position and rubbed his calves. After meditating for a long time, his legs had become numb and some of his bloodstreams felt clogged.

After a while, his legs felt normal again after kneading them for some time. Standing up, Han Li dusted himself off as was his custom before pushing open the doors to walk out of the room.

Turning his head back to look at the cultivation room, Han Li couldn’t help but laugh at himself.

This room was completely made by granite while the doors were made of a giant piece of limestone. If someone wanted to break into this room, they would need to spend at least three hours hacking at the doors with an enormous axe.

This type of cultivation room, aside from the Seven Mysteries Sect master, elders and hall leaders, could not be freely accessed, even by disciples of the Seven Void Hall. This cultivation room was for practicing profound cultivation techniques in absolute secrecy and isolation. He didn’t know what methods Elder Mo had used, but the Sect had somehow granted him his own personal room, built into the side of the cliff of the Valley of the God’s Hand.

After the cultivation room was built, Elder Mo had assigned its usage for Han Li only. With such a decision like this, Han Li couldn’t help but feel humbled by this favoritism.

Elder Mo had treated his disciple in such a good way. Ever since Han Li had became his official apprentice, Elder Mo had personally dipped into his own inventory of herbs and created an unknown medicine broth for him. Although Han Li didn’t know what types of herbs that were used, but as he watched Elder carefully use those herbs, his normally impassive face revealed a hint of reluctance. Even Han Li could figure out that these herbs were extremely valuable.

Clearly these benefits were extremely useful to him, as Han Li’s cultivation speed had increased by several times over. The nameless chant given to him not too long ago had paled in comparison.

During his previous intense training sessions with that chant, his meridians had nearly ruptured at times and he had suffered from some moderate internal injuries. But thanks to Elder Mo’s healing, the injuries to his meridians easily repaired, and with the herbs he did not suffer from any serious, permanent damage.

After Han Li was injured, Elder Mo had felt nervous about Han Li and was very tense the entire time he treated him. It was only until when Han Li’s injuries lightened up did he let out a breath in relief.

The type of attitude Elder Mo had displayed went far beyond a regular master and disciple relationship, causing Han Li to feel a little uneasy about the situation. If it were not for his third uncle or the fact that one ever walked out from these valleys, then Han Li would have thought that Elder Mo was actually his long lost relative, based on the care that he had been showing.

Walking out of the cultivation room, Han Li slowly stretched his limbs and walked away from the area. After he had became an official disciple, Han Li and Zhang Tie had moved out from their original housing to their own personal rooms.

Passing by Zhang Tie’s room, Han Li shot a glance at it.

As it turns out, Zhang Tie wasn’t inside. Perhaps he was by the Crimson Water Peak’s waterfall cultivating.

Elder Mo continued to instruct Han Li to use the chant without teaching him any other martial arts. However, perhaps as a way to keep him satisfied, Elder Mo had freely instructed Han Li in the art of healing personally. Whenever Han Li had a question about medicine, Elder Mo had answered right away and had even allowed Han Li to look through the various books he had in his library about the topic.

And for Zhang Tie, Elder Mo had imparted a practical skill as he had promised.

The martial arts Zhang Tie had practiced was peculiar. According to Elder Mo, it was the rarely seen Way of the Armored Elephant that very few martial artists have witnessed. Even the name was rarely heard of, let alone the existence of practitioners.

Martial arts practiced by normal martial artists weren’t the same. Generally the cultivation progression ranged from easy to difficult, but the higher one cultivated, the more effort it would take to reach new heights. This martial art style was divided into 9 layers with the initial 3 layers being the area where it was extremely easy to cultivate. Starting from the fourth layer, the difficulty was increased to a monstrous level. Many martial artists were unable to endure this torment and so stopped there at that bottleneck. The 5th and 6th layers contained a torment that was almost many times more painful than the previous layers.

But those who broke through from the 6th layer into the 7th layer would find the difficulty of training to be much easier. However, those that made it past the 7th layer would begin to experience bouts of unbearable pain monthly.

This had intimidated many people who desired to cultivate to the heights of martial arts. As a result, the Way of the Armored Elephant was dying out.

This martial arts style was very peculiar. When it reached a high enough level, its strength would become truly astounding. It was said that those who reached the 9th layer had bodies as tough as gemstones. They were impervious to everything, and water and fire couldn’t touch them. Palms, fists, and even legendary swords wouldn’t be able to injure them.

But what made people most envious was their tremendous strength like an elephant. After reaching a high enough layer, their strength would be unbounded. They were capable of catching a wolf alive and ripping a tiger apart, as well as other unparalleled feats.

Those who had heard of this style both feared and adored it. Though there have been some who excelled at the style, its founder who reached the 9th layer and stood above them all. Legends had said that this figure was naturally born without the capability to feel pain and thus created this style and finessed it to a high degree.

Although Elder Mo had explained the benefits and detriments in its entirety to Zhang Tie, but Zhang Tie hadn’t cared about the harm it could bring to his body at all. He had only coveted the Way of the Armored Elephant and promised right away to practice in this style of martial arts. Without even looking for another style that could fit him, Zhang Tie had already reached the peak of the first layer in 2 months.

In order to break through the first layer of the “Way of the Armored Elephant”, Elder Mo had suggested that every afternoon he should go to the Crimson Water Peak’s waterfall and cultivate under the surging waters.

To Zhang Tie, this method would surely have a godly effect. The difference between the peak of the first layer to second layer was only paper thin, and as long as he worked hard, he would surely reach a breakthrough.