Divine Tang Era

The mountain where Xu Dan's treehouse is located is to the west, and there are more mountains beyond that, so there's no need to look in that direction to the west; you can look there later.

The mountain faces east, and he will be traveling eastward in the future, so he will not go there for now.

As for the north, there is an endless grassland, while to the south is the place where the clouds of fortune were seen earlier, which were like clouds and had a jade-colored radiance.

Xu Dan thought for a moment and decided to go south first to see what those cloud-like things representing good fortune were. So after descending the mountain, he headed south. The grassland scenery was indeed beautiful, with a clear blue sky and endless greenery constantly entering your field of vision in various ways.

If the time, the place, and the method were different.

Xu Dan would love to stop and appreciate this beautiful scenery, perhaps even build a house here and live here for a lifetime, savoring this rare tranquility and peace. Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in life.

There is a poem called "Fragment":

You stand on the bridge admiring the scenery, while someone in a building admires you.

The bright moon decorates your window, and you decorate other people's dreams.

Many people find this poem interesting, and Xu Dan agrees. The person upstairs imagines themselves as carefree as you, traveling everywhere, appreciating beautiful scenery, tasting local delicacies, and experiencing different customs and cultures. But their heart is bound by constraints, ultimately preventing them from achieving true freedom.

While you may be enjoying the scenery, you might not be without envy for the people upstairs.

Because after so many years, you've grown tired of this wandering, aimless life, and you want to find a harbor to settle down in, and someone to be the one you cherish for the rest of your life.

The bright moon appears only at night for 365 days a year, working tirelessly 24 hours a day, yet it never stays in one place.

She might not have wanted to stop, but she was powerless to do so. The window, on the other hand, had been fixed there since birth, exposed to wind, rain, and sun, and before it even reached adulthood, it had already developed an aged appearance. So much so that it had to be repaired again and again.

Everyone has their own ideal self, but reality presents too many constraints.

Xu Dan walked around, looking around, trying to find some information about his location.

Because this type of alpine meadow landform only exists on the plateau surface and high mountains in the eastern part of the Qingzhang Plateau, as well as the Pamir Plateau, Tianshan Mountains and Qilian Mountains, I don't know where I am.

Whatever you do, don't do it abroad, or you'll be in trouble.

However, it's impossible to say that it's abroad, because both the Eight Degrees Sword and the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer are written in seal script.

Seal script only circulated in the early Han Dynasty and earlier dynasties; it was rarely used after the early Han Dynasty. Could it be that he was living in one of those eras? With so little useful information, Xu Dan couldn't figure out his own place, no matter how hard he racked his brains.

Looking around, the vast open fields and boundless grasslands make one feel broad-minded.

"Um"

He suddenly realized that this alpine meadow terrain was perfect for digging for cordyceps. Cordyceps, ah, that's a good thing, supposedly good for the kidneys. Whether it's actually good or not, he didn't know, but it certainly made a delicious soup, because he'd had it before.

"Huh?"

It wasn't that he was startled; rather, he had discovered something interesting—a glittering golden object in the grass on his left was quite dazzling.

The word "gold" flashed through Xu Dan's mind. He immediately rushed over and fell to the ground. He saw a small, round stick, slightly larger than a match, protruding from the ground and hidden among the grass.

"This is really gold! This is a steal! We've struck it rich!"

Xu Dan reached out and gently pinched the small round stick, but then felt something was wrong.

Because the small round sticks resemble plant stems and have no metallic texture at all.

Feeling curious, he took out the Eight-Degree Sword and started digging. However, when he was about to dig, he was afraid that the sharp blade would damage the "gold" itself, so he put the Eight-Degree Sword away and dug with his hands instead. Fortunately, the soil was loose, so digging was not difficult.

Soon after, the "gold" was dug out.

But when he saw the "gold" itself, he was completely stunned, speechless, and incredulous.

This isn't gold at all; it's a golden cordyceps. Yes, a golden cordyceps. He'd never seen anything like it before, not even in his previous life.

If he had previously harbored a sliver of hope, wondering if it was possible for him to live in modern times.

The appearance of the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer and the golden Cordyceps shattered this dream.

Fortunately, I was mentally prepared and didn't take it to heart.

Xu Dan held the golden cordyceps in his hand and examined it from top to bottom and left to right. Not satisfied with that, he also broke the rare golden cordyceps in half and carefully examined it from the inside out. He found that the golden cordyceps still looked like cordyceps inside and out, but the color had changed, and there was a blood-like red line in the middle.

"Tsk tsk"

Xu Dan had never seen this kind of cordyceps before, and didn't know what it tasted like or what its effects were.

Is it because it tastes better, has more vitality, or is more potent? I must make some soup tonight to try.

After observing for a while, Xu Dan put away the golden cordyceps and continued on his way. For some reason, after digging out the golden cordyceps, the grassland was now covered in cordyceps, densely packed. It was usually the kind of winter cordyceps he'd seen before, but even further away, golden cordyceps were scattered here and there.

Has cordyceps become so rampant? Xu Dan was dumbfounded.

As the saying goes: If you don't take what Heaven gives you, you will suffer the consequences.

With so many good things right in front of you, it would be a shame not to dig some out.

But he had no tools, and he was afraid of damaging the cordyceps with a sword, so Xu Dan had no choice but to dig with his hands. He didn't dig randomly, though, since they were everywhere, and he didn't know how long he would have to dig if he just dug randomly, so he only dug up the big ones.

Generally, the higher the cordyceps emerges from the ground, the larger and thicker its club-shaped head becomes, and the larger the cordyceps' body will be.

After digging a few times and gaining experience, he started to specifically look for this kind of cordyceps, completely disregarding the others.

He was quite pleased with himself for digging up a pile of them when he remembered he still had things to do. He quickly packed up and continued on his way. He didn't forget to dig up some more as he left, but he no longer dug for ordinary cordyceps; he only dug for the golden cordyceps.

Although he didn't know what this golden cordyceps was used for, judging from its distribution range, it should be more useful than ordinary cordyceps.

Based on the recent pattern of digging for Cordyceps militaris, there is only one Cordyceps militaris plant within a ten-mile radius.

Near where it grows, common cordyceps are rare, and even if they are, they generally don't grow very well.

Xu Dan wondered if the growth of the golden cordyceps had robbed other cordyceps of their vitality and spirit, which was why this was the case. Of course, this was just his personal thought. The specifics were still unclear.

Even though there's only one golden caterpillar fungus every ten miles, Xu Dan still managed to dig up quite a few across this vast grassland.

He plans to go back and stew two different types of cordyceps in soup to see how they taste.

Unfortunately, I'm still too young and small to do it properly, otherwise I could have tried to see how energetic this thing is.

The aura of fortune he had seen earlier, resembling clouds and radiating a jade-like light, seemed close, but was actually quite far away. Xu Dan dug as he walked, reaching the destination after digging up ten golden cordyceps in a straight line. This thing, like the cordyceps, was hidden in the grass. Without the aura of fortune guiding his direction, he truly wouldn't have found it.

Following the guidance of the cloud of fortune, we arrived at the bushes.

Just as he was about to crouch down to look, suddenly, a green light flew out from the grass and shot straight towards him.

Xu Dan instinctively dodged, and when he turned around, he saw a small green snake about the thickness of a chopstick.

The small green snake missed its target, then sprang up to bite again. It was aggressive and utterly rampant. Xu Dan was prepared; he sidestepped and slashed down with his sword. The green snake's body was sliced ​​in two, yet it remained alive, stubbornly clinging to life. Its upper body still flicked its tongue, hissing as it lunged at him.

Seeing its arrogance, Xu Dan picked up the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer and smashed it to pieces.

Unbeknownst to him, a snake shadow was being absorbed into the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, and the seal script in the middle became noticeably clearer.