Running Beneath the Setting Sun-That Was My Lost Youth

Chapter 29: Running Beneath the Setting Sun—That Was My Lost Youth

But in those final few failed steps, I had completely relied on my own intuition to refine it instead of following the pill formula step by step!

So did I count as having succeeded, or failed?

Song Shuhang pinched his chin and stared at the medicinal liquid for a long while.

Should I give it a try? No matter what, this was the fruit of more than three and a half hours of hard work.

He hesitated for a moment before making up his mind.

His anticipation of proving that cultivation truly existed overwhelmed his fear of the unknown medicinal liquid.

At worst, I can go to the hospital and have my stomach pumped.

Of course, Song Shuhang was no reckless fool.

He first pulled out his phone and brought up the call screen for his roommate Tubo's number. If anything went wrong, he only needed to move his finger to call Tubo.

He had originally wanted to bring up the emergency number, but he was afraid he might be too weak to speak by then. If he called but couldn't say anything, the emergency operator might think it was a prank, and then he'd really be doomed. So it was better to call a familiar roommate. If something went wrong, even if all he could do was scream a few times, they would immediately understand.

"Let's give it a try. Just one mouthful... I shouldn't die from that, right?" Shuhang thought to himself.

Finally, he scooped up a spoonful with a soup spoon and blew on it to cool it. How tragic. Forty-five kinds of medicinal ingredients had gone in, yet only around five spoonfuls of medicinal paste remained.

The value of these five spoonfuls of medicinal ingredients was probably more than ten thousand gold, right?

"This is sesame paste. This is sesame paste." He hypnotized himself, closed his eyes, held his breath, and swallowed it in one gulp.

Unexpectedly, although the medicinal paste stank horribly, it actually carried an indescribable medicinal fragrance once it entered his mouth.

However, right after that, two sensations surged through his throat... pain and heat!!!

It was a blazing sensation beyond words. The medicinal paste had clearly been blown cool before entering his mouth, yet the instant it slid down his throat, it seemed to explode, releasing boundless heat as though it were about to blow Song Shuhang's throat apart!

I'm screwed. I'm going to need my stomach pumped.

Shuhang grabbed his throat with one hand and pressed the call button with the other, preparing to call Tubo!

Before he could move his finger, the explosive sensation in his throat suddenly vanished!

More precisely, the exploding medicinal liquid transformed into a mass of warm energy and surged into his stomach. He only felt a warm, comfortable sensation in his abdomen, so comfortable that he wanted to let out a moan.

But how disgusting would it be for a grown man to moan? He forcibly held it back.

That wasn't the end. With Song Shuhang's lower abdomen as its center, the heat spread through his meridians to all four limbs and the rest of his body. At first, there had only been a warm, comfortable feeling in his stomach. Now, every part of his body was filled with this extreme comfort.

Song Shuhang finally couldn't hold back. He opened his mouth, wanting to moan—it felt far too good.

But when he opened his mouth, he felt as though it had been blocked. He couldn't make a sound; not even the slightest noise came out!

Yet at that moment, he felt as though he had to release it or burst.

So he gathered all his strength, opened his mouth wide, and tried to force the sound from his abdomen up through his throat!

He held it in and held it in for a long time.

Pffft~~

What a loud sound—but it hadn't come from his mouth. It had come from below. After holding it in for so long, all he had managed was to let out a fart.

Fortunately, once the lower passage opened, the upper passage opened as well. Shuhang opened his mouth and let out a huge belch.

That belch seemed to release all the heat inside his body.

Everyone knew that after reaching adulthood, as all kinds of acquired toxins accumulated inside the body, people often felt as though a ball of fire were trapped in their hearts. Sometimes, even breathing made their throats feel dry and hot.

But at that moment, after Song Shuhang belched, he felt as though his internal organs had been washed clean. They were cool, clear, and incomparably comfortable! Every breath felt as though he were in a forest at dawn, wisps of cool air entering through his mouth and nose and nourishing his lungs and organs.

With that belch, the medicinal energy and heat inside him completely erupted. It battered every part of his body, and an endless stream of strength surged forth!

The medicinal energy inside his body was still erupting, erupting!

Song Shuhang's entire body began to itch, while the fatigue produced by refining medicine for three and a half hours had long since vanished without a trace.

"This Body Tempering Liquid is real!" Song Shuhang was now certain that the black medicinal liquid he had swallowed was unquestionably the genuine Body Tempering Liquid.

The strength in his body continued to fill him. The heat still exploded, flooding his body until it overflowed without stopping, almost as though it would burst Song Shuhang apart.

At that moment, Song Shuhang suddenly had a wild idea. He remembered that in xianxia novels, whenever the protagonist took some divine medicine, he would always practice some kind of cultivation art or martial technique to dissolve and digest the medicinal power.

But he didn't understand any martial techniques at all.

Although his elementary school teacher had once taught the students Tai Chi when he had nothing else to do, Shuhang only vaguely remembered, "One big watermelon, cut into two halves. One half for you, one half for him."

Besides, he was highly suspicious of the version of Tai Chi taught by his elementary school PE and math teacher. Perhaps it had been the bound edition of Tai Chi from some XX Publishing House.

"I have to release this medicinal energy. Otherwise, I might end up exploding from the medicinal power just like in those xianxia novels!" Song Shuhang felt that he had to move around a little.

"Should I go out for a run?" Looking at the blazing sun outside, Shuhang felt that this was definitely not a good idea. But the endless strength and energy surging through his body gave him the feeling that he had to vent it somehow.

He gritted his teeth and ran toward the school track.

He ran and ran, and Song Shuhang's speed grew faster and faster along the way. The more he ran, the more comfortable he felt, until even his legs seemed to float off the ground.

He reached the track at almost a sprint.

In weather this hot, people were roasted like dogs. Even students with plenty of energy chose to play basketball or something similar. Absolutely no one would come to the track to run laps under the blazing sun.

The broad track was empty except for Song Shuhang. He cast everything aside and charged wildly around it like a mad horse breaking free of its reins. Faster, then faster still!

By the end, he felt that his feet were almost beyond his control.

Every time he rounded a bend in the track, he felt as though he were drifting!

Without expending much effort at all, he had already run three full laps—1,200 meters—at a sprint. Yet his body showed not the slightest trace of fatigue. Instead, as the ball of heat in his abdomen dispersed, he felt his body growing lighter and lighter, the running becoming easier and easier.

Under such intense exercise, even the Ice Pearl against his chest could no longer maintain Song Shuhang's body temperature. Sweat poured from every pore of his body, quickly soaking his clothes.

But it felt so good!

With every drop of sweat that flowed out, he could feel his body becoming a little lighter. Every puff of stale air he exhaled while running made him feel cooler inside.

The Body Tempering Liquid wasn't something that could temper the body simply by drinking it and lying down for a nap. Whenever cultivators drank Body Tempering Liquid, they would have a cultivation art or martial technique to help digest the medicinal liquid, allowing its effects to reach their peak.

Song Shuhang had no such martial technique or cultivation art. At this moment, the most suitable thing for him was running—charging wildly!

Lap after lap, Song Shuhang felt no fatigue.

At first, he had still counted how many laps he had run, but later, there was no need to count anymore.

Given his current condition, as long as the medicinal energy inside him continued to erupt, he felt that he could run laps around the entire earth.

In any case, he would sprint wildly around the track again and again until the medicinal energy stopped overflowing.

Thinking this, he didn't even know how many laps he had run. Thirty? Forty? Perhaps even more.

Song Shuhang finally stopped.

Even after running for so long at a sprint, his breathing remained steady, without the slightest hint of fatigue.

Fortunately, the medicinal energy that had been erupting inside him gradually calmed down. The remaining energy settled in Shuhang's lower abdomen and began gently strengthening his body.

His clothes were soaked with sweat, so Song Shuhang simply took them off and held them in his hand.