Maybe lady luck was smiling at him, but a sudden thought flashed past his mind.
He quickly rushed towards the leather pouch which he had discarded and with a deft movement, took out the good luck charm that was hidden inside neatly and quickly.
The moment his palm brushed against the good luck charm, a refreshing feeling was emitted from it, calming his mind. His previous frustrations and melancholy all disappeared without a trace, and his Qi and blood stopped surging, returning back to their normal state.
Currently, Xu Su had no interest in discovering the root of the problem that occurred earlier. Holding the good luck charm in his palm, he brought it and pressed it against his face. Gently caressing it, Xu Su focused all of his attention on it.
After a long while, Xu Su heaved a sigh of relief, diverting his attention away from the good luck charm.
Xu Su didn't know that the phenomenon that happened to him just now was not because of "Qi Deviation" but rather because he suffered from an "Inner Demon" that all cultivators would eventually face. Luckily, he discovered it in its early stages and fought it off by focusing on an object that was familiar to him. If he hadn't, the Inner Demon would have entered his soul and controlled his body from within, causing him to bleed to death from his meridians. Of course, Xu Su wouldn't learn about this until after he truly stepped onto the path of cultivation in the future.
Xu Su circulated his Qi throughout his whole body and found there was nothing abnormal about his condition. What made him gasp in astonishment was that instead of suffering injuries, his cultivation level had unknowingly increased by a great extent! He didn't make a breakthrough to the fourth layer yet, but because of his struggle against the Inner Demon, he had reached the peak of the third layer earlier than expected and was only a hair length away from breaking through to the fourth!
Because of this unexpected stroke of luck, Xu Su had a smile on his face. However, he forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart. He was afraid that his unstable emotions would lead to another attack, and he was uncertain whether he would be able to survive if it happened again. With that in mind, he took the leather pouch, preparing to place a good luck charm that had saved his life back inside it.
"Yi!" Xu Su realized then that there was an object long forgotten by him inside the leather pouch. An object that had been left lying about in there for a few years – the mysterious bottle!
Xu Su had completely forgotten about the mysterious bottle. The moment he saw it, he remembered what happened back then.
The current Xu Su was an archive of knowledge and wisdom that far surpassed the Xu Su from four years ago. In these four years, he had read all the books in Physician Wu's residence and gained a great amount of knowledge. He also cultivated the nameless oracular chant, which effectively sharpened his mind. From the phenomena that the bottle had displayed in the past, he could easily deduce that it was an extraordinary item with incredible abilities.
What Xu Su needed to do now was to delve into and unravel the bottle's secrets, and see if it could be of use to him. There was no way he would continue to just leave it lying around in the leather pouch and waste such a mysterious object.
Xu Su took out the bottle and inspected its entire surface as if he were trying to look for something that he had missed out on during his inspection four years ago.
But no matter how much he inspected it, there were no new discoveries.
Xu Su stopped wasting time and opened the cap of the bottle. Floating inside of the mysterious bottle was the jade green droplet of liquid that had manifested four years ago, appearing no different than from when it first appeared.
However, Xu Su was certain that the secrets of the bottle lay in the jade green droplet of liquid. To test his theory, he would need to find some small animals to perform a few cruel, live experiments.
It was midnight though, and the sky was pitch black outside. The darkness made it simply impractical for him to hunt for live animals right now, and after experiencing the attack of the Inner Demon earlier, Xu Su was already somewhat exhausted. Even if he could catch a live animal, how would he be able to see if there were any changes to the test subject if it was pitch dark? Any actions Xu Su could make would be a waste of effort.
After contemplating, Xu Su decided to rest and replenish his energy before experimenting the next day. He told himself that there would be a big surprise waiting for him tomorrow, and with that thought, he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Xu Su did some washing up before going to the kitchen outside the valley for a normal breakfast. Back when Physician Wu was on the mountain, he had instructed the people in the cafeteria to bring the meals to the valley, and by virtue of being Physician Wu's disciple, Xu Su's meals were also brought to him, so he didn't have to go out of the valley to eat. However, now that Physician Wu wasn't in the Seven Clouds Sect, his meals naturally weren't being delivered to him anymore, leaving him to lament his own lack of power and influence.
After eating breakfast, he didn't immediately leave. Instead, he went to speak to the head of the kitchen, procuring two lively gray hares for a few taels of silver from him before returning back to the valley.
After he returned to the valley, Xu Su chose a more spacious location inside the herb garden and tied the rabbits to a stake, making them stay outside in the blazing sun for a long period of time.
After the rabbits were dizzy from the heat and were almost dying of thirst, Xu Su took out the mysterious bottle and poured the mysterious jade green droplet of liquid into a bowl before diluting it with water.
The mysterious droplet of liquid was about the size of a bean and easily dissolved in the water, causing the whole bowl of water to turn into a jade green color.
Xu Su placed the bowl near the rabbits and waited for them to drink from it. Being out in the blazing sun for so long, the rabbits scampered up and drank the water in the bowl in big gulps. Xu Su was unwilling to allow the rabbits to drink the entire bowl of diluted water though, and after half of the water was gone, he removed the bowl from the rabbits' reach.
After that, he stood to the side and observed them, patiently waiting for any reactions from the rabbits.
After a short time passed, about the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, the rabbits started to frantically jump about, their actions becoming more and more agitated and ferocious. Their bodies then began to undergo an astounding mutation. Their fur and skin started to protrude lumps the size of chicken eggs, and the lumps multiplied until they covered the rabbits' bodies. The lumps caused the rabbits to grow bigger by a single size, swelling up until both of the rabbits grew to the size of watermelons.
Looking at the rabbit's mutation, along with their tortured shrieks, Xu Su felt truly shocked.
What just happened before his eyes was completely outside of his expectations. If the mysterious liquid was a potent poison or a miraculous medicine to increase cultivation, he wouldn't have been so shocked. However, he didn't expect that the rabbits would actually grow lumps all over their bodies and expand to such a size, becoming grotesque beyond belief!