chapter 12 – smashing bottles

　　”Boom!” Han Li clenched his hands and slammed one of his fists hard on the tabletop.

　　”Smash the bottle with a tool.” This was Han Li’s decision after further thought.

　　Adopting a violent method to open it was a method that had long been thought of and was not a solution.

　　This approach, though, was both simple and straightforward, as well as straightforward and good. But the thought that such a strange and beautiful bottle could no longer remain intact, Han Li felt a burst of flesh pain in his heart and was very reluctant. If there could be other ways to open it, Han Li was saying nothing to adopt such a crude method.

　　Calling other senior brothers to help might be able to open it. But in his heart, Han Li had long unconsciously taken this object as his own treasure, and was extremely unwilling to let other outsiders know about it. Besides, everyone on the mountain could be the owner of this object, if they knew the bottle was here, what if they wanted it back? This vial was so beautiful and interesting that he could never give it back now.

　　Han Li was now completely intrigued by the mysterious item contained in the bottle. Although he knew that it was probably just an empty vial. However, he was still willing to take a gamble that the item contained within the bottle would be more interesting than the bottle itself.

　　The more he thought about it, the more itchy Han Li’s heart became. He wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully at night if he didn’t solve the mystery contained within the bottle.

　　With his mind made up, Han Li sneaked into the house in the valley where the miscellaneous items were piled up, selected a small, heavier hammer from the many tools, and brought it back to his room.

　　Back inside, he found half of a discarded hard green brick from the corner of the house, and picked out a relatively flat depression inside the house, placing the brick flatly here, and then resting the bottle steadily across the brick.

　　Han Li raised the small hammer with his right hand, and the head of the hammer paused slightly in the air before it landed decisively on the bottle’s most protruding part – the bottle’s stomach.

　　”Boom!”

　　Because he was afraid that if he exerted too much force, he would destroy what was contained in the bottle, so the first blow only landed lightly on it, testing the hardness of the bottle. Seeing that there wasn’t the slightest trace of cracking, Han Li lowered his heart, and it looked like he could use a bit more force to smash the bottle.

　　”Boom!” Five points of force.

　　”Boom!” Seven points of force.

　　”Boom!” Ten points of force.

　　”Boom!” Twelve points of force.

　　Han Li used more and more force, the amplitude of his arm swinging more and more exaggerated, and the speed at which the hammer fell was also faster than one at a time. Even the last one, half of the bottle body was smashed into the green brick, but the bottle still remained intact through and through, with no sign that it would be smashed in half.

　　Han Li stunned, still not dare to believe with his hand touched the bottle was smashed by the hammer to the place, there is not a trace of the smashing marks remain on it, green, the entire bottle surface still maintains a clean.

　　This is too out of Han Li’s expectations.

　　Han Li was truly certain at this time, this vial is definitely an extraordinary good thing, will never be abandoned on purpose, nine times out of ten is the owner of the object accidentally lost. Now, perhaps the owner is looking for this item all over the mountain, if he wants to keep this item, he must collect it properly and not let outsiders see this vial again.

　　In Han Li’s mind, as long as he wasn’t actively stealing or robbing, the things he picked up from the ground were of course his own. If it was something ordinary, he might have returned it to the owner, but this bottle was so mysterious that he feared it was lost by the children of those rich families or people with status in the mountains, and Han Li didn’t have too favorable an impression of either of these people.

　　Han Li’s family had been poor since he was a child, and the entire family often didn’t have enough for one meal even after a busy day. Within the Seven Mysteries Sect, he often saw the first type of people spending money lavishly, eating and drinking extravagantly (Seven Mysteries Sect disciples who were unwilling to eat ordinary meals could shell out extra money to specialize in better meals), and spending money without treating it like money. Whenever this happened, Han Li felt uncomfortable in his heart. In addition, these rich children, usually rejected and looked down on them, these disciples from poor places, often use words to ridicule, insult them, and even the two also started a few small clashes with each other, the children also fought a few times between the group fights. Han Li also took part in one of these fights, but unfortunately, he was beaten up by those rich disciples who had practiced martial arts, and was unable to go out and meet people. Later, he rested for several days before recovering.

　　As for the people with some status and identity on the mountain, they didn’t leave Han Li with anything too good of an image. From Protector Wang receiving Uncle San’s bribe of silver, to Ma Yan relying on Vice Sect Master Ma’s power to directly enter the Seven Extinction Hall. Although he hadn’t met many of the big shots on the mountain, the great image of the big shots that used to be in the minds of small children had pretty much cracked.

　　For the things that these two types of people had thrown away, Han Li not only didn’t want to return them, he also wanted to mischievously hide them.

　　Thinking of this, Han Li immediately removed a small leather pouch hanging around his neck. This leather pouch was specially sewn for him by Han’s mother from a piece of animal skin when he came out of his home, capable of being waterproof and moisture-proof, and was used to hold a peace talisman made from a boar’s tusk for him, in the hopes of blessing him with it for peace and safety and freedom from illness.

　　Han Li loosened the mouth of the leather pouch, put the bottle and the peace talisman together, tightened the mouth of the pouch again, and then hung the pouch back around his neck.

　　After doing this, he looked around and after no one was there, he straightened his chest and patted the bag that was slightly bulging on his chest, feeling that it wouldn’t attract any more attention from others.

　　It was at this point that he felt much more solid in his heart, not afraid of any further accidents where the bottle would be found and claimed back by the owner.

　　Han Li quietly placed the hammer back in its original place and acted as if nothing had happened, slowly wandering around the Divine Hand Valley for a while until it was completely dark before dragging his injured foot back inside.