Divine Tang Era

There was some milk in the hollow, which Xu Dan drank in one gulp, but it wasn't even enough to fill a fifth of his stomach.

So he turned his gaze inwards to the inside of the stone wall. If the golden liquid seeping from within, when mixed with the water outside, had such a powerful effect, then wouldn't the golden liquid itself be even stronger? Thinking this, a surge of excitement welled up within him.

He wished he could pierce through the stone wall with his sword and drink his fill.

But things can't be done that way.

It's easy to stab someone with a sword, but it's hard to clean up the mess afterwards.

So, he first went down and cut some stalactites to make a basin for collecting water and several covered water containers. One end of the basin had a notch, allowing the water to flow into the containers. He originally planned to make a pipe and faucet and install them on the stone wall, then use the pipe to channel the golden liquid down below. That way, he could drink it whenever he wanted, without having to go through the hassle of running back and forth every day.

Unfortunately, while the idea was wonderful, the technology didn't allow it, so all we could do was make a simple basin and tank to store the golden liquid and take it back.

In addition, he also used the old tree heartwood he brought back from the Mushroom Forest to make a short stick with a pointed tip, and paired it with mushroom skin to make a plug, which he planned to use to block the hole that would be cut out of the rock wall later.

Xu Dan checked that everything was ready, then took his short sword and began to cut into the crack in the stone wall.

First, cut a protruding opening on the outside of the crack so that a basin can be placed underneath to catch the flowing golden liquid. Then dig a hole to let the liquid flow out.

He moved very gently, afraid that a slight exertion would pierce through the stone wall. Fortunately, the stone wall was thick, and that did not happen.

After a while, the short sword pierced through, and a viscous liquid flowed out along the sword.

"roar"

In a daze, Xu Dan seemed to hear a mournful cry from a giant beast that resembled a bull, a tiger, and an elephant. Illusions appeared before his eyes, and a burst of light shot out from the stone wall. The cracked patterns on the outside turned into scales, flashing with a brilliant light. The golden liquid inside turned into dense and taut flesh and blood, while some jagged parts at the top of the stone wall transformed into wildly flying dragons.

The beast's mournful cry caused its scales to open, and the flesh that transformed into them trembled violently, making the stone wall look like a living behemoth.

No, it wasn't a giant beast, but a real dragon that Xu Dan had only ever seen in books and paintings before.

Xu Dan swallowed hard, unable to believe what was happening before his eyes. He quickly rubbed his eyes, afraid that he was just imagining things.

Strangely enough, all the strange phenomena disappeared after he rubbed his eyes.

Xu Dan breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed those earlier were indeed hallucinations. The golden liquid had already flowed out from the short sword. He quickly grabbed the prepared basin to catch it and pulled over a water tank to place beside it. The liquid had appeared golden inside the stone wall, but as it flowed outside, it miraculously changed, no longer golden but golden with a hint of crimson.

Crimson red like blood, combined with a golden hue, it belongs to the most noble of colors, golden red.

Xu Dan didn't think that much about it; he was just wondering how it tasted and whether it was as effective as Diru.

The golden-red liquid flowed out at a considerable rate, and soon both storage tanks were full. Seeing that it was almost full, Xu Dan used a prepared stopper to plug the small hole he had dug. After waiting a while and finding no further signs of the golden-red liquid flowing out from inside the stone wall, he took the two storage tanks back to the stone house.

He had considered storing more of the golden-red liquid, but he didn't know if it had an expiration date, so he decided to store two jars first.

Besides, everything tastes best when it's fresh; if it's left out for too long, it won't taste good.

Back in the stone house, after setting down the water tank, Xu Dan eagerly took out a stone bowl and poured it full of a golden-red liquid. He first licked it to taste it; it was sweet, without any fishy smell, and delicious. He then drank it all in one gulp.

"Um"

For some reason, Xu Dan suddenly felt dizzy and quickly lay down on the stone bed covered with mushroom-skin sheets.

Then, she fainted.

Within his body, the golden-red liquid transformed into a surging torrent, crashing against his narrow meridians, fragile internal organs, and the marrow, bones, muscles, and skin. Drops of blood seeped from his pores, making his body appear bloody and terrifying. Xu Dan winced in pain, and a golden-red hue gradually appeared beneath his originally black pupils in his eyes.

Just then, the colorless lotus located in the heart stirred.

The surging torrents that ravaged their bodies seemed to be guided, rushing towards the colorless lotus.

"roar"

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed from the raging torrent. A dragon-shaped phantom, unwilling to be swallowed by the colorless lotus, leaped out of the torrent and fled out of the body.

The golden lotus quietly bloomed, radiating countless rays of light, creating the most beautiful scene in the world. The dragon-shaped phantom, illuminated by the light, vanished instantly, leaving no trace.

The colorless lotus was originally colorless, but after absorbing earth milk, it slowly gained color.

Now, the torrent that swallowed the golden-red liquid has changed color again and again, rapidly jumping from white to yellow to orange to green to blue to cyan to red to gold to purple, finally turning into a purple-gold color.

The purple-gold color refers to the lotus itself, while the radiant glow it emits gathers the most beautiful colors in the world.

As the rosy light reached, Xu Dan's meridians, internal organs, marrow, bones, muscles, and skin, which had been damaged by the surging torrents, were rapidly repaired, becoming stronger and more resilient.

The golden-red color under Xu Dan's black pupils was not washed away by the sunset glow, but instead was stained by the color of the purple lotus, turning into purple-gold.

It's as if there's an extra pair of pupils in my eyes, making them double pupils.

After an unknown amount of time, Xu Dan woke up, feeling refreshed and as if he had inexhaustible energy. He tried punching the stalactite, breaking it in two. Then he tried chopping at the broken wood, splitting it in two with a single blow.

Oh my god!

Have I become more capable?

Xu Dan looked at his hands, as if he couldn't believe it. With this kind of strength, he wouldn't have needed to do anything in the past. He could have made a fortune just by posting videos on Douyin and doing live streams, without having to work himself to the bone.

In the end, they couldn't come up with anything worthwhile and ended up owing more than 10,000 yuan to online banking.

"Brother, you've arrived too late," Xu Dan thought with a regretful expression.

But what just happened? How did I pass out? Looking at the jar containing the golden-red liquid, Xu Dan thought for a moment, poured some into a bowl and tasted it, only to find that he felt perfectly fine. After examining it for a while, he felt that he must have drunk too much, like being drunk on this stuff.

Perhaps it's easier to understand with another word: it was overdone.

I used to drink diluted milk powder, which had many benefits such as filling my stomach, warming my body, and giving me a lot of energy. Now, this concentrated liquid is even better.

Xu Dan regretted drinking too much earlier. He should have only drunk a little. Luckily, he was fine, otherwise he probably would have been dead.

With a full stomach, Xu Dan had no desire to drink any more, so he closed the open jar and set it aside. The dead wood he had brought back from the Mushroom Forest hadn't been chopped yet; he needed to find some time to stock up on firewood before catching the dragon salamander.

With the liquid inside the transparent stone wall, he has no intention of eating the dragon salamander for the time being.

But a person who does not plan for the future will have trouble in the present. Those liquids will eventually run out, so he wanted to prepare some food.

Now that we have a stove and firewood, we can catch some dragon salamanders to make smoked or roasted jerky for later use.

With hope for the future, Xu Dan was full of confidence and began to chop wood diligently.