The dog's broken hind-leg bones slowly fused under the nourishment of Pure Yang Water! At that moment, the dog felt an incomparable coolness and comfort, and closed its eyes in intoxication.
However, if the dog wanted to improve its essence, it still had to endure tremendous pain!
"Origin!"
A glint flashed in Zhang Han's eyes.
"Boom!"
A peal of thunder rang out. A green bolt of lightning shot from the Thunder Sun Tree.
This was the origin power of the Thunder Sun Tree. Although there was only a trace of it, one had to remember that it was a fifth-grade Spiritual Treasure!
What did a fifth-grade Spiritual Treasure mean? Even first-grade Spiritual Treasure Pure Yang Water could heal the dog's severed leg, so what about a fifth-grade Spiritual Treasure? One had to know that every increase in a Spiritual Treasure's grade was far more than merely doubling or tripling its power!
Just thinking about it was terrifying!
The green lightning struck the dog's body in an instant!
The dog was electrocuted into letting out an "Awooo!" Its body began to convulse violently.
It was heaven one moment and hell the next.
"Transforming your essence is difficult. I hope you can hold on."
Zhang Han lowered his head and looked at the Iron Clad Gold Earth Dog. Even he did not know whether it could endure.
If it held on, it would be reborn. If it could not, its life might end here!
The Heavenly Dao was fair. To obtain the extraordinary, one had to endure extraordinary pain!
Very few cultivators had a smooth path like Zhang Han. Yet even though Zhang Han had grown quickly back then, did he not ultimately draw down the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, which appeared only once in ten thousand years?
As for the Iron Clad Gold Earth Dog, after being struck by the green lightning, its entire body began to tremble, and even its eyes rolled back.
Its teeth chattered nonstop, making a clacking sound.
After chattering for less than five seconds, all its teeth actually fell out. Its somewhat dirty fur dropped off strand by strand, revealing tender white skin.
The dog's bones could be heard cracking constantly, as if firecrackers were exploding inside it.
Its body, originally about the size of a medium-sized Samoyed, kept growing larger.
It seemed slow, but was actually extremely fast. In only a minute, the dog's body had grown to the size of an adult Tibetan Mastiff.
Put simply, it stood over a meter tall. Standing upright, it could easily reach Zhang Han's shoulder—and Zhang Han was 1.8 meters tall!
Its four legs were thick, and its body looked like an enlarged version of its previous form. At the same time, its teeth grew back. It opened its mouth and panted painfully, and its sharp fangs could be seen through the gaps between its lips!
With teeth like these, it could probably eat anything and everything. It could even endorse a toothpaste commercial.
Soon, the dog's fur grew back. Its colors were the same as before, but its essence had changed.
The black fur on its body was as pitch-black as ink, and twice as long as before. The small amount of golden fur had become as brilliant as gold itself. Previously, it had been golden-white, but now it was pure gold.
The insides of its ears, the inner ends of its brows above its eyes, the lower half of its face, its chin, two small areas on its chest, and the lower halves of its legs were all covered in golden fur.
Its paws, however, were black. The black and gold intermingled, giving it a noble appearance!
After its fur had grown back, the transformation was complete.
The dog lay on the ground and whimpered twice, looking half-dead. But when it saw Zhang Han start to leave, it sprang up and ran and leaped around him.
Looking at its vigorous movements, how could it still be the Iron Clad Gold Earth Dog that had been at the mercy of others? Its current appearance made it a genuine prince of the canine world!
"From now on, I'll call you Xiao Hei." Zhang Han chuckled and reached out to stroke its head.
After learning that it had a name, Xiao Hei wagged its tail back and forth, looking extremely happy.
"It should be the smartest dog in the world now, right?"
Zhang Han pondered for a moment, pointed at the Meatball Grass in the distance, and said, "Go fetch one."
At his words, Xiao Hei shot toward the distance. It moved incredibly fast, bit off a Meatball Grass, and quickly ran back, sitting in front of Zhang Han as it waited for its next command.
"Eat it." Zhang Han shook his head slightly. Regardless of whether it could truly understand him, he said, "From now on, you're the little butler here. Guard this place well, and don't let anyone come up."
Zhang Han gestured a few times with his hands.
"Woof, woof..." Xiao Hei barked twice at Zhang Han, looking as though it understood.
"Let's see who's faster!" Zhang Han smiled faintly.
He circulated Spiritual Power through his legs. With a tap of his toes, his whole body shot forward like a sharp arrow. Up close, one would discover that Zhang Han's toes did not touch the ground at all. With a light tap on the grass, he moved forward!
If a martial arts master had been there, they would certainly have exclaimed in shock:
"Grass on Flying!"
Xiao Hei quickly followed. With every stride, it advanced three meters, keeping close behind Zhang Han. It ran with tremendous momentum, like a charging lion!
They ran all the way to the jeep at the foot of the mountain. Zhang Han opened the vehicle, took out a bottle of mineral water, and casually poured it onto the roadside. Xiao Hei only reached him after he had finished pouring.
After running a thousand meters, Xiao Hei was not even breathing heavily. Its stamina had improved tremendously.
"We'll run back. I'll let you start three hundred meters ahead. Go."
Zhang Han said this to test whether Xiao Hei could understand him.
Yet the moment he finished speaking, Xiao Hei turned and ran, leaving Zhang Han slightly stunned.
"Looks like... its brain evolved quite well."
Zhang Han was somewhat surprised.
Different breeds of dogs had different intelligence levels. For example, Golden Retrievers, which ranked fourth in intelligence, had the intelligence of a seven- or eight-year-old child once they reached adulthood.
Earth dogs were not as intelligent, but after being transformed by Pure Yang Water and a trace of the Thunder Sun Tree's origin power, Xiao Hei's intelligence had likely risen by several levels.
After running all the way back beneath the Thunder Sun Tree, Zhang Han stroked Xiao Hei's head. He then placed both hands on the trunk of the Thunder Sun Tree, released Spiritual Power through his body, and directed the tree to absorb the Pure Yang Water in the cavern below.
After this first transformation, the Spirit Water in the ring-shaped cavern was plentiful. Even the pond above, as well as the pools for the poultry and pets, was filled with Spirit Water.
There was a lot of Spirit Water, but Pure Yang Water was extremely scarce.
There was only a little over nine liters in total, less than ten liters. Xiao Hei alone had used more than a liter of Pure Yang Water.
About nine liters remained. Zhang Han filled a mineral-water bottle with six hundred milliliters, intending to give it to Mengmeng.
Pure Yang Water could improve a person's constitution. However, drinking beyond the point of fullness would simply be wasteful. The human body could absorb only a limited amount of energy, and Mengmeng could not finish an entire bottle. Zhang Han planned to give the rest to the child's mother.
After all, she had suffered through ten months of pregnancy to give him a child.
After filling the bottle with Pure Yang Water, Zhang Han headed down the mountain. At the edge of the forest, he waved to Xiao Hei, telling it to guard the territory, then drove away.
By then, the sky was gradually darkening, and Zhang Han drove to the restaurant first.
The interior was still undergoing renovations in full swing. In a single day, half the first-floor tiles had been laid, most of the kitchen wall tiles were finished, and the second-floor flooring had been completely installed. They were currently repairing the walls and adding the other decorations and fixtures.
Back on the first floor, Zhang Han circulated Spiritual Power into his nose and used Treasure Sniffing Nose.
He sensed that the floor tiles, wall tiles, and jade television wall were all genuine, and finally felt at ease.
It seemed Zhao Kai was an honest businessman.
After saying a few words, Zhang Han left and found a nearby hotel to stay in. That night, he received a call from Ziyan. She spoke briefly, only telling Zhang Tian that they would meet at the entrance of Ocean Park at ten the next morning.
The night passed uneventfully.
The next morning, at nine o'clock.
"Feifei, does this outfit really work? What if someone recognizes me?" Ziyan asked somewhat nervously as she looked in the mirror.
As a celebrity, she could not go out casually. She remembered that when she had been popular, someone had recognized her while she was shopping at a mall, causing the place to be blocked for over an hour.
Although things were different now, Ziyan still instinctively worried.
"Come on, Sis Yan, don't you trust my disguise?" Zhou Fei said listlessly. "I guarantee no one will recognize you in this outfit. If I ran into you on the street, I wouldn't even recognize you, let alone anyone else."
"Really?" Ziyan examined herself from head to toe through the mirror.
She had short golden hair in a bob cut. It was a wig she was wearing, with her own glossy black hair pinned up beneath it. No one would notice unless they looked carefully.
She wore an ordinary white short-sleeved shirt on top and denim shorts below, revealing two long, fair legs. Sports shoes covered her feet, with a hint of cute pink socks peeking out.
This outfit was worlds apart from the unattainable aura she had onstage. It gave her a touch of wildness and a bright, sunny charm.
As for her face, Zhou Fei had forcibly added two moles to her fair cheeks, one in the center of each side. Her eyelashes were long, the eyeliner at the corners of her eyes tilted slightly upward, and her clear, large eyes had been made to look somewhat sharp at the outer corners.
She wore blue contact lenses, while her willow-shaped brows had been drawn thicker and changed into straight brows.
"Feifei, these two moles are way too ugly. How about taking them off?" Ziyan said awkwardly.
Zhou Fei rolled her eyes and said, "If you don't want to be recognized, this is the best look."
"But, but..." Ziyan hesitated. Although this outfit gave her a different charm, it was still a little uglier!
Women who loved beauty naturally liked dressing up beautifully.
"But what? It's settled. Let's hurry and set off." Zhou Fei curled her lips, looked toward the bedroom, and called, "Mengmeng, come on! We're leaving!"
"Coming, coming!" Mengmeng ran out happily.
She had just been drinking milk in the bedroom, and a drop of milk still hung from the corner of her mouth.
Little Princess was dressed fashionably too. She wore white fashionable capri pants, small sneakers, and a light-blue short-sleeved shirt. She ran over, hugged Ziyan's long legs, and called, "Mommy, carry me."
Ziyan bent down and picked up Mengmeng. Little Princess now weighed thirty pounds. With Ziyan's delicate strength, carrying her for a while was fine, but carrying her for long would make her tired.
After they went downstairs, Zhou Fei drove to Ocean Park. After dropping off the mother and daughter, she planned to go to the company for work.
"Where's Daddy?"
There were people coming and going at the entrance of Ocean Park. Mengmeng looked around, hoping to find Daddy in the crowd.
Before you continue