Xu Su didn't meet many people on the way back except for a few senior disciples who were curious at why Xu Su was limping his way back. But because he didn't say anything, they didn't pay much attention to him.
As he returned back to his room, the pain in his toe got increasingly unbearable. Xu Su sat on his bed and took off his shoes to examine his injury.
The swelling was incredible! His right toe had an impressive bulge on it, while the cuticle on his toe turned blood red and resembled a big chili.
Xu Su quickly took out a bottle of herbs from beneath his pillow. Concocted meticulously by Physician Wu, this medicine could treat bruising, swelling, and bleeding at an astonishing degree. Physician Wu didn't easily give away medicine of this caliber. It was originally meant for Zhan Yue, who would inevitably suffer an injury while practicing the Way of the Armored Rhino, and Xu Su didn't think that he would be the first to use the medicine.
Opening the medicinal bottle, a strong herbal fragrance filled the room. He applied a small amount on his injury and immediately felt a relaxing sensation. Just as Physician Wu had said, it had an immediate effect; Physician Wu's medicine truly was amazing!
Xu Su took a clean cloth and wrapped up his foot before putting his shoes back on.
Excellent! The pain was slowly subsiding.
He began to take small steps, as if testing his pain threshold, nodding in satisfaction as he felt that moving was easier than before.
This bottle wasn't all that big, and a single hand could wrap around the entire length of its neck. It was actually smaller than the bottle that contained Physician Wu's medicine. The bottle had a shiny green luster and was engraved with dark green leaf patterns that seemed almost alive. When Xu Su felt the contours of the designs on the surface of the bottle, it was almost as if there were actual leaves embedded onto the bottle itself.
Weighing the bottle in his hand, Xu Su had no idea what type of metal was used to make it, or if it was even porcelain. The bottle didn't have a cold, metallic feeling to it, nor did it have the gloss of porcelain.
Xu Su had observed the bottle for a good while, and the only thing he could be certain of was that he didn't know what material was used to make it. The shade of green seemed intrinsically part of the material itself, not a color that was added after it was made.
Now, it was time to solve the enigma posed by the mysterious bottle that had caused such an injury to him.
Xu Su took out the bottle from his robes and wiped it clean to restore its natural luster.
Seeing how tightly the bottle was sealed, Xu Su naturally became curious. Eyeing the bottle, he strongly desired to see whether or not there was something inside.
Once more using his strength, he tried to pry open the cap of the bottle.
One try, two tries, three tries… It was as if the cap of the bottle was fused into the neck. It was almost as if it was refusing to budge.
Xu Su was astounded; back when he first picked up the bottle, due to waves of pain assailing him, he couldn't use his full strength to open it and didn't realize how stubborn the bottle was. But now that Xu Su had finished tending to his foot and was using his full strength, he was surprised that he still couldn't pry the bottle open.
Xu Su tried to twist the lid once more until his arms began to ache, but there was still no success, so he had no choice but to stop.
He stretched and loosened his arms, moving his wrist about. Just now, he had expended a large amount of energy to open the bottle, and his efforts had strained his wrist.
Holding the bottle under his eye, he began to inspect it even closer. Unfortunately, there was no secret mechanism under the lid that would allow him to easily open it.
This made Xu Su frustrated. He wasn't able to open the bottle, so how would he know if there was something inside or not? If it was sealed up this tightly, then there was definitely something precious inside.
Xu Su held the bottle tightly in his hand, looking at it with a vacant look. In the end, he had decided that he would let Zhan Yue, who was many times stronger than him, give it a try and see if he could open it. He knew that the current Zhan Yue could easily lift over 10 buckets of water up and down the mountains as if it was nothing. These days, it was Zhan Yue who refilled the water in the huge water tank every day.
After making this decision, Xu Su headed towards Zhan Yue's place, hoping that he would return soon.
Waiting for someone was truly unpleasant; Xu Su felt that time was passing by extremely slowly. Finally, after waiting for a long time, a creaking sound was heard as Zhan Yue pushed open the door.
Looking up, Xu Su saw that Zhan Yue was wearing only a thin piece of clothing. His entire body was steaming as he perspired freely. Xu Su knew that this was the result of his cultivation, so he didn't find it strange.
Seeing as Xu Su was already in his house waiting for him, Zhan Yue was stunned. But before Zhan Yue could say anything, Xu Suimpatiently thrust the bottle towards him.
"Brother Zhan, please lend me your assistance and help me open this bottle."
"Where did you find this? It looks rather nice!" Zhan Yue remarked as he took the bottle.
Zi! Zi! Zi!
"Ai! This bottle is so tightly sealed. It's so hard to pry it open! What was used to make this?" Zhan Yue cut straight to the chase: he wasn't able to open the bottle either.
"Gah! I can't do it; this bottle won't open! Why don't you find a senior disciple to help you?" Zhan Yue shook his head apologetically and handed the bottle back to Xu Su along with the suggestion.
"Even you can't open this?" Xu Su was getting more anxious and couldn't help but pace around the room.
"Ai! What happened to your leg?" Zhan Yue inquired as he noticed Xu Su's foot.
"It's nothing; I kicked a rock on the road." Xu Su didn't know why but he didn't want to tell Zhan Yue about his surprise encounter with the bottle just yet. Right now, he wanted to keep the bottle his own personal secret.
Xu Su was feeling very disappointed in his heart. He didn't want to sit around and chat with Zhan Yue at the moment, and after briefly asking about how his cultivation was progressing, Xu Su immediately left the room and returned back to his own place to think of a way to resolve his personal problem.
Returning back to his room, Xu Su put the bottle on the table and stared intensely at it. At the same time, his mind was trying to think of solutions to open the mysterious bottle.