Originally, Han Li had no intention of preparing the last two types of drugs — the ones unrelated to his training. But after careful thought, he figured that no matter what, he was half a member of the martial world now. Who knew if some disaster or misfortune would befall him one day? Who knew if he might get dragged into the endless fighting and killing of the jianghu? It was better to prepare some antidotes and healing medicines in advance. If he were poisoned or injured and died simply because he had no good medicine, that would be far too tragic!
With that in mind, Han Li still prepared small quantities of the last two types of drugs, intending to keep them on hand just in case. After all, everyone only had one life, and Han Li had no desire to die young.
Although this would reduce the quantity of the other two spiritual medicines and slow his progress with the secret formula's cultivation, there was nothing he could do about it. The world never offered anything close to a perfect deal — sometimes a person simply had to make trade-offs.
On the very day the pills were completed, Han Li began taking them according to the instructions in the recipe, swallowing one "Yellow Dragon Pill" and one "Gold Marrow Pill." These two drugs truly lived up to their reputation as legendary sovereign medicines. Under the astonishingly powerful medicinal force, he broke through his bottleneck with virtually no effort, achieving the fourth layer of the secret formula that very night.
As soon as he reached the fourth layer, Han Li immediately experienced a sensation utterly different from anything before. His five senses surged to an incredible level all at once. Everything in his vision suddenly became so bright, so vividly clear. Things he could never have perceived before were now magnified and plainly visible — he could make out every single fine strand of spiderweb in the corners of his room. His hearing had likewise become extraordinarily sharp, with countless sounds — both ones he had heard before and ones he hadn't — flooding into his ears. The soft "shh-shh" of an earthworm burrowing through the soil more than ten zhang away, the faint buzzing of some unidentified insect flying past the door — these sounds seemed to ring right beside his ears, so real, so crisp. On top of that, strange scents that seemed to appear from nowhere informed Han Li that his sense of smell had changed dramatically as well.
Han Li was both startled and delighted. This was the first time since he began cultivating this secret formula that he felt his time had not been spent in vain. Such a unique sensation proved that the formula was not useless — it truly had something special about it.
The earlier layers had improved his five senses to a modest degree, but none had produced such a dramatic, transformative shift as the fourth layer. This was fundamentally a qualitative leap, as though he had become an entirely different person.
Beyond that, he felt his body was far lighter and more nimble than before, and his mental state had advanced considerably. Right now, going three or five days without sleep would probably pose no significant problem for Han Li.
He savored the things inside his body that felt completely different from before. Without moving a muscle from where he stood, he could perceive everything happening within several dozen zhang — big and small alike. This sense of total control over his surroundings intoxicated Han Li, and he was loath to let it go.
Only now did he understand that cultivating the formula to the fourth layer was what constituted a genuine, albeit modest, level of achievement.
He couldn't help but wonder — if the fourth layer already brought such unforgettable sensations, what marvelous experiences would the fifth and sixth layers hold?
Just after Han Li had grasped the wonders of his cultivation method, his nominal master — Doctor Mo — returned to the valley. And he had not come alone; he brought with him a mysterious figure.
The moment Doctor Mo entered Divine Hand Valley, Han Li heard the familiar sound of coughing from a distance. He had been sitting cross-legged in his stone chamber, cultivating and striving to advance another level as soon as possible. Upon detecting Doctor Mo's arrival, he hurriedly circulated his qi and withdrew from cultivation, stepped out of the chamber, and headed toward the valley entrance to greet the master he hadn't seen in nearly a year. He met Doctor Mo not far from the entrance.
At the sight of Doctor Mo, Han Li was shocked. It was the same person, but what greeted his eyes was a gaunt, ashen face stripped of almost all vitality. Doctor Mo had always been sallow and sickly before, but never to this extreme — his complexion had deteriorated to the point where it looked as though his appointed time had come and gone.
Even more astonishing to Han Li was the mysterious figure following behind the doctor. The stranger wore a black hooded cloak, and a voluminous green robe enveloped his entire body, concealing every inch of skin from view. The figure was extraordinarily tall and broad — a full two heads taller than Han Li himself — with a massive frame like that of a titan. But because of the hood, Han Li could not make out the person's features, only vaguely guessing that the face beneath was probably hideous and terrifying.
Han Li suppressed the questions welling up inside him, stepped forward to greet Doctor Mo with a proper bow, and then stood respectfully to the side, awaiting the doctor's words.
He knew perfectly well that Doctor Mo couldn't care less whether this disciple of his was polite or respectful. But as the disciple, he still needed to observe all the proper courtesies between master and student — he couldn't just cast them aside and give the impression of being insolent and defiant. That would only put him in an even worse position.
Based on everything Han Li knew about Doctor Mo, and judging by the degree of concern the doctor typically showed toward his progress with the secret formula, they hadn't met for so long that upon seeing him, Doctor Mo would surely start by asking about his cultivation progress to gauge how far he had come.
Sure enough, when Doctor Mo saw Han Li come out of the valley to meet him on his own initiative, he paused briefly, coughed twice, and then asked in a feeble voice:
"How is your cultivation of the secret formula coming along? Any slight progress?" His face immediately showed a look of anxious anticipation.
Han Li had already prepared his answer in advance.
"About the same as before — nothing much has changed." Han Li had no intention of telling the doctor the truth about his cultivation. There was no way to explain his miraculous progress — how could he have shot from the early stages of the third layer all the way to the fourth layer without any outside help?
"Extend your hand." Doctor Mo's expression turned dark, and his tone became abruptly harsh.
Upon carefully noticing this change in Doctor Mo's demeanor, Han Li felt his heart skip a beat, and a flicker of unease crept through him.
However, he was not afraid of Doctor Mo personally taking his pulse to examine the state of his true qi. After reaching the fourth layer, Han Li had discovered to his surprise that he could freely control the intensity of the strange true qi within his body. He could easily suppress it to the level it had been at during the third layer, deceiving the doctor completely — there was no need to fear Doctor Mo's direct examination.
(End of chapter)