Divine Tang Era

In the dense forest, the trees stand tall and straight, and the grass is fresh and green.

A mountain stream flows by, its rushing water sounding like a pipa played by a beautiful woman from the Western Regions, adding a touch of joy to the tranquil mountain forest.

Xu Dan walked over from afar, stepping on the morning dew. He turned around and looked around. When he saw the gold-seeking grass standing tall by the stream, he immediately ran over, put down the basket on his back, took out the prepared tent, and set it up on the gold-seeking grass.

Having learned the Dingwei Sword Technique and the Mo Clan's Heart Sutra in the past few days, he began to work on the matter of mining gold here.

He made many preparations in case of any accidents.

First, make a tent. The tent can be pitched on the gold-seeking grass, so that even if gold or a gold mine vein is found below, no one will see it. If you dig directly, you risk being discovered, having the gold stolen (a minor issue), or worse, being murdered for your money.

Second, casting tools.

Although Shentang had iron shovels, it did not have the modern pointed shovels that were convenient for digging, so it specially had several made.

After preparing his things, he came to find the gold-finding herb he had discovered during his training. Whether he could find gold was up to fate. Clearly, fate was on his side. After setting up the tent and pulling up the gold-finding herb, Xu Dan took out a shovel and began digging diligently.

The soil by the stream was loose, and he was very strong, so he dug a big pit in no time.

Digging deeper, the roots of the gold-seeking grass were deep. After digging about a meter, the shovel suddenly made a "clang" sound, hitting metal.

Xu Dan, beaming with excitement, dug even harder, temporarily storing the excavated soil in his storage bag. The sound of the shovel striking metal increased, the soil diminished, and slowly, what lay beneath was revealed.

Xu Dan put down the shovel, cleared the surroundings, and suddenly a golden light appeared before his eyes.

This is a whole piece of gold, not a vein, and it's only just starting to show.

Xu Dan measured it; the exposed gold was about the size of an arm's length. The top alone was an arm's length; he couldn't imagine how big the bottom was. His heart pounded, his emotions surged—in both his lives, he had never been so excited.

Take a deep breath and calm your excitement.

He didn't rush to dig. Instead, he took out some soil to cover the gold, then lifted the tent flap and went outside to stretch his body and breathe in some fresh air.

The more critical the moment, the less you should rush. Many things go wrong because of the word "rush".

Xu Dan activated his double pupils and carefully observed his surroundings. Finding no one around, he crawled back into the tent and began digging again. The pit grew larger and larger, revealing more and more gold, until finally he unearthed a piece of gold with a diameter of approximately three meters.

"This should be considered a nugget of gold," Xu Dan thought, looking at the gold.

Although the gold is large, it doesn't amount to much when converted into spirit stones.

He didn't know the purity of the gold, or how much gold he would get if he melted it down. Xu Dan thought about it and felt that melting it down into gold wasn't worthwhile. Such a large piece of gold should be considered an auspicious item; if he packaged it up and sold it, many people would probably be willing to buy it as a family heirloom.

But if he were to sell such a large piece of gold, he would be like a firefly in the dark, a child carrying gold through a bustling market—too conspicuous.

After thinking it over, he decided to take the gold to Master Mingfeng.

They eat spiritual fruits and foods, and use rare items; they don't even care about spirit stones, let alone my little bit of gold. In this way, I don't have to worry about being swallowed up, or being murdered for money halfway through the sale.

But this trip will inevitably involve telling her legendary stories.

Wouldn't you call this like a lamb entering a tiger's den?

This matter needs to be resolved. After I finish telling the story of Xue Gang's rebellion against the Tang Dynasty, I'll make an excuse that I'm out of inspiration and stop. It's better to avoid telling stories every day; there's no comfort in staying home and sleeping than telling stories to others. Although she sometimes gives me spiritual fruits, foods, and tea, what are those small favors? Can I be bought off with just a few things? If it were a large amount, things might be different.

Xu Dan put the gold into his storage bag and then started digging around to see if there was any more gold.

As it turned out, he actually dug up two more, one big and one small, but neither was as big as the first one. One was the size of an ostrich egg, and the other was the size of two volleyballs.

After putting it away, he continued digging. This time he wasn't as lucky as before; he dug for a long time without finding anything, it seemed he had dug up the entire species. After digging for a while longer and finding no gold, he took out the soil he had previously used and filled the pit back into it.

After digging for a long time, even with his strength, he was a little exhausted, so he went out of the tent and took out the food he had brought to eat.

Today I ate big steamed buns, which I just bought this morning and put in my storage ring. They were still warm when I took them out.

When he came out, he asked Yunniang to make a pot of golden lily beef soup. Now, he took it out, drank the soup, ate the golden lily beef, ate a big meat bun, admired the beautiful scenery of the mountains and forests, listened to the melodious sound of the stream, and breathed in the fresh air. He felt incredibly happy.

It felt as if my whole being had been cleansed, shedding my mundane nature, and my soul had been elevated.

Suddenly, a cool breeze blew from behind, making my hair stand on end.

Xu Dan instinctively rolled to the side. When he came to a stop, he looked up and saw a monstrous demon leap out of the forest. Staring at him, its face was ferocious, drool dripping from its mouth, exuding savagery. The demon glanced at him, then buried its head in the bowl of golden lizard beef and began to devour it.

Good heavens, how dare they steal his food!

How can we tolerate this?

Xu Dan took out the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer and strode forward. Gui Zheng didn't expect that the plump, tender two-legged sheep in front of him would dare to resist, and roared as he pounced. Xu Dan stomped his foot, his body flying off the ground, and swung the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer in his hand like a wheel, delivering a powerful blow that felt like splitting a mountain, as heavy as a thousand pounds, pressing down from mid-air.

The overwhelming momentum and the resounding hammer blows did not deter the demon.

The demonic claws slammed onto the hammer's body, using the force to propel it forward, and opened its blood-red maw to bite at Xu Dan's neck.

Xu Dan remained fearless, his hammer slicing slightly upwards, like a giant spirit carrying a tower. With awe-inspiring power and imposing force, the hammer struck the most vulnerable part of the demon's abdomen.

With a single thrust, the sharp, lotus-bud-shaped hammerhead pierced through the spine.

The demon's mouth was still biting down, but it didn't land on Xu Dan's neck in the end, and its eyes gradually dimmed.

Xu Dan drew the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, and the Ghostly Beast fell heavily to the ground. A wisp of ferocious beast soul floated from its head and was quickly pulled into the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer. Xu Dan, who had not activated his Double Pupils, did not see any of this.

"Since you're eating my food, then I'll eat you," Xu Dan thought to himself.

So he took out an iron pot from his storage bag, washed it with stream water, filled it with some water, hastily built a makeshift stove with stones, and gathered firewood from the forest to start a fire. Before the water got hot, Xu Dan took out his Eight-Degree Sword, cut open the skin of the Ghostly Beast, and sliced ​​off a piece of flesh from its spine.

He only knew the name Gui Zheng, but didn't know where Gui Zheng's meat was delicious.

But no matter what kind of animal it is, the meat on its back is lean meat that is not fatty and contains no fascia.

Xu Dan sliced ​​the Ghostly Ferocious meat, didn't marinate it, and put it directly into the boiling stream water to cook. He picked up a slice and tasted it; the delicious flavor immediately filled his mouth. It was so delicious! He wondered why such a delicious thing was given such a strange name as Ghostly Ferocious.

The Ghostly Meat was incredibly delicious. Xu Dan wanted to eat more after finishing his first bite, so he cut off some more.

He ate about 30 kilograms before he was full, and he felt that he could eat more and more.

After eating, with nothing to do, I leaned against a rock by the stream to digest my food.

Suddenly, the demonic flesh he had just eaten transformed into a surging essence, exploding within his body. He felt waves of swelling, and his strength gradually increased, to the point of discomfort. This couldn't continue, so Xu Dan quickly took out the Crimson Flame Giant Shield and activated the Establishing Cauldron Sealing Furnace Technique.

The essence of the demonic flesh instantly transformed into blood and qi, surging into the illusory image of the golden cauldron.

Thanks to the surge of vital energy, the golden cauldron phantom changed three times in an instant, from nothing to something, from illusory to real.

"boom"

With a deafening roar, another golden cauldron solidified. Xu Dan now possessed seven golden cauldrons and seven thousand units of immense power within his body. The essence of the Ghostly Beast's flesh had not yet been fully refined and was still raging within him. The sudden surge of power was almost unbearable for Xu Dan, so he raised the Crimson Flame Shield slightly to suppress the monstrous force.

Within the center of the body, another golden cauldron materialized from nothingness.

Boundless qi and blood surged in, and the phantom of the golden cauldron quickly took shape.