A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 1-Chapter 200)

Every time Han Li was even slightly injured, Doctor Mo would become even more worried than Han Li himself. This worry manifested itself the entire time he treated Han Li, making Doctor Mo very tense. It was only when Han Li’s injuries began recovering that he let out a sigh of relief.

Doctor Mo’s concern went far beyond that of a normal relationship between master and disciple and caused Han Li to feel a little uneasy about the situation. If it weren't for his Third Uncle or the fact that no one ever walked out from these valleys, Han Li would have thought that Doctor Mo was actually his long lost relative based on the attention that he had been showing to Han Li. [3]

Walking out of the cultivation chamber, Han Li lazily stretched his body and walked away from the cliff. After he had become an official disciple, Han Li and Zhang Tie moved from their original quarters into their own personal house.

As he passed by Zhang Tie’s room, Han Li shot a glance inside.

As it turns out, Zhang Tie wasn’t inside. Han Li thought that he was probably by the Crimson Water Peak’s waterfall, cultivating his new martial arts technique.

After the examination, Doctor Mo instructed Han Li to continue practicing the oracular chant and refused to teach him any martial arts. However, in an attempt to pacify Han Li, Doctor Mo personally instructed Han Li in the art of healing without holding anything back. Whenever Han Li had a question about medicine, Doctor Mo would answer right away, even going as far as allowing Han Li to look through the various books in Doctor Mo’s library to find an answer to his question.

As for Zhang Tie, Doctor Mo fulfilled his previous promise and imparted a set of martial arts to him.

The martial arts Zhang Tie practiced was extremely peculiar. According to Doctor Mo, it was an extremely obscure branch of martial arts named the “Way of the Armored Elephant”. Even the name of this particular martial arts was rarely heard of, let alone the existence of practitioners who actually cultivated it.

It differed from the martial arts of regular practitioners in Jiang Hu. Generally, the progression of cultivation for normal martial arts ranged from easy to difficult. As the level increased, so would the difficulty. Thus, the higher the level, the more effort it would take for one to achieve a breakthrough. Zhang Tie’s particular martial art style was divided into nine layers, with the initial three layers being the easiest to cultivate, following the same principle as normal martial arts. However, starting from the fourth layer, the difficulty of breaking through was increased to a monstrous level in addition to suffering the excruciating backlash caused by practicing the Way of the Armored Elephant. Many cultivators of this set of martial arts could not bear such excruciating pain and would stop their progression at the fourth level. Not to mention the fifth level nor the sixth level, as the excruciating pain would only increase with each level! [4]

After breaking through from the sixth layer into the seventh, there would be no further bottlenecks, and cultivation would be much smoother. The only drawback was that the cultivator would need to suffer from monthly bouts of intense pain.

This intimidated many people who desired to cultivate the Way of the Armored Elephant. As such, this particular branch of martial arts was slowly dying out.

This martial arts style was very peculiar. When it reached a high enough level, one's strength would become truly astounding. It was said that those who reached the ninth layer had bodies as tough as gemstones. They were impervious to all weapons, even fire and water! Even palms strike, fist techniques, and legendary swords and sabers wouldn’t be able to injure them.

But what made people most envious was that after cultivating this branch of martial arts, practitioners would gain the tremendous strength of an elephant. After reaching a high enough level, their strength would be limitless. They were capable of catching live wolves and ripping tigers apart, as well as other unparalleled feats.

Those who had heard of this style both feared and adored it. Other than the creator of this martial art, there was no other individual who had managed to cultivate it to the ninth layer. Legend has it that the creator of this martial art was born without a sense of pain! That was the reason why he was able to create such a perverse martial art and execute it to its greatest potential.

Although Doctor Mo had explained the benefits and consequences in its entirety to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had no concerns about the harm it could bring to his body. He coveted the strength the Way of the Armored Elephant could bring him and promised right away to cultivate in this style of martial arts. Without even looking for another style suitable to him, Zhang Tie had already reached the peak of the first layer in two months.

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

According to Zhang Tie, this method really did have a godly effect. The difference between the peak of the first layer to the second layer was only paper thin, and as long as he worked a little harder, he would break through the bottleneck with relative ease!





Chapter 10: Mysterious Bottle


Han Li slowly followed the path from God Hand Valley out of force of habit. His steps automatically carried him towards the Crimson Water Peak.

He didn't have anything important to do at the moment, and as such, he followed his normal schedule and went to visit Zhang Tie, who was training at the Crimson Water Peak. There, he knew Zhang Tie would be grimacing in pain while allowing the impact of the waterfall to temper his body, as he cultivated the Way of the Armored Elephant.

Not everyone could withstand the torturous pain from cultivating this particular martial art. Even the first layer already required one to suffer excruciating pain. To reach the ninth layer, wouldn’t it require one to cultivate to the point of insanity, losing their skin in the process?

“Hmm, I wonder if Zhang Tie already regrets his decision. The excruciating torture one has to endure to practice the Way of the Armored Elephant is impossible to imagine,” Han Li thought as he walked, carelessly kicking the fallen leaves and branches that were blocking his way.

“Maybe after a few more days, the two of us will go and beg Doctor Mo for another martial arts skill for Zhang Tie so that he won’t need to suffer from such excruciating pain each time he practices.” Having absorbed himself in thought trying to think of methods to allow Zhang Tie to escape from this torturous path of practice, Han Li slowly roused himself to look at his surroundings.

Han Li tilted his head as he gazed at the line of trees by his side. Currently, the year was approaching the late stages of autumn. The trees' branches were all naked and devoid of leaves. Piles of sticks and dead leaves layered the small paths. Walking on them felt like walking on cotton, which Han Li found to be extremely comfortable.

In that moment, the sounds of weapons clashing drifted over from a nearby mountain peak, as well as the many loud cheers.

After hearing the noises, Han Li glanced in the direction of the mountain peak, annoyed that his good mood had been disturbed.

The noise came from disciples of the Hundred Forge Division. They were training the disciples selected to join their division in the various arts of weaponry.

Every time Han Li saw other sect members gathering and undergoing their training sessions, slight hints of jealousy surfaced in his heart. He wanted to wield a real weapon and demonstrate his skills as well. What a waste! After he officially became a disciple under Doctor Mo, he had been strongly forbidden from practicing such things. Doctor Mo strongly emphasized that Han Li was to devote all of his time to the nameless oracular chant.