Gulp.
A stream of glowing red liquid splashed into Wei Kun's mouth. Its sourness tickled his taste buds before plunging down his throat. It's cold energy drowned many painful memories into his stomach, leaving only a warm sensation budding in his blood vessels.
Countless incredulous eyes stared at the dark skinned youth who looked no more than twenty. His entire body was covered by a thick layer of fur that made him look like a skinny bear in human clothes. If it weren't for his martial robe and the standard saber on his waist, they'd have thought he was a barbarian that had escaped the Wildlands.
Fortunately, that was not the case. T. Then the only explanation for this incredible scene was that this young man was a heaven-shaking genius. The talent they referred to was not his drinking ability but his unique physique.
On normal days, drinking had nothing to do with a good physique and one could even drown an entire drum based on drinking experience. The same, however, could not be said for Cloud Chasing Wine because this was a spiritual wine, and only required a sour tongue and a stern expression. However, that was not the case for spiritual wine, which contained Qi. One had to use his internal energy to refine this qi into a more docile form before he could consume it.
For a mortal without a cultivation base to drink it as if it were breast milk and show no sign of bloating or collapse was simply a miracle that they had to witness in person, and so the crowd continued to increase.
Even though countless eyes were on him, Kun continued to drown himself in the fragrant wine. His hairy cheeks had already turned rosy, and his stomach was swelling, and yet the chugging did not pause. By the time he swallowed the remaining mouthful, his hands were already on another sealed jar.
"Impossible, he's opening another one!"
"That's the sixteenth jar already!" Said an old man, pulling his whiskers.
"Just who is this kid? At this rate, he might just attain the Dao of wine and ascend to heaven with another swig", an outer court deacon of a renowned sect laughed. He never imagined he would find such a great seedling in this remote town. If he wasn't wrong then this strange occurrence should be the famed When was his luck this good? Thinking back to the potency of the wine, his mind couldn't help but trail cultivation legend.
The heavenly physique! Only that thing could possess such heaven-defying refinement ability.
Surely, he wasn't the only one having these thoughts as more experts swarmed into the buildingmore experts swarmed into the tavern and soon the tavern was back to its peak days.
Meanwhile, the young man who had just made a bet with Wei Kun was now sweating bullets. He had joked that he'd pay for all the jugs that Wei Kun could drown.
Now his bill had already exceeded a thousand gold coins, and it was still climbing. His clenched fists trembled at the sight of Wei Ku,n who continued to drown the wine as if he were a horse at a watering hole. His saber hummed. He wanted to stomp this presumptuous and ignorant mortal to death, but the frenzied crowd that was now calling him a miracle genius would not let him have his way.
This time, after returning to the sect, he will have to complete tens of missions to re-earn his wasted savings. At this point, the thought of whether the wine had been purposefully diluted surfaced in his mind.
But that damp fragrance… was, without doubt, Cloud Chasing Dew.
While the young disciple was regretting, the star of the show, Wei Kun, was already in another dimension. His thoughts had slowed down. He could no longer hear or perceive the outside world.
"Cloud, Chasing. Chasing the clouds," he murmured. He had left the mortal world, hoping to find a way to fight the so-called immortals, but it was only after arriving here that reality slapped him away from his dreamland.
What heavenly physique? Here, cultivators could not only move mountains but could even pluck stars and overturn the moon; trying to go against them with the force to slaughter a pig was no different from chasing clouds.
At this moment, the alcohol in his blood diminished, and his eyes had a moment of clarity and caught a metallic glint in his line of sight. It was a shiny silver sword hanging from a youth's waist.
At its sight, the buzzing in Wei Kun's ears stopped, and the fog in his eyes cleared. He moved the wine jar away from his lips and tried to suppress the memory forming in his mind. However, that shiny sword was like a fishing hook, slowly pulling that memory to the surface.
Soon enough, his vision turned crimson, and his ears were flooded with rustling fires and wails of women and children.
Then the scene in front of him fully transformed, and before him now stood rivers of blood and mountains of mutilated flesh. The smell of burnt thatch assaulted his nostrils as he took a deep breath. Around him was charred debris from fallen buildings.
Crack!
His grip on the wooden jar tightened.
Though his appearance mirrored that of a young adult, he was way younger – twelve years old. If this news got out, then this place would be flooded by cultivators, thinking he was some supreme genius.
No one could have imagined it.
After all, his height was almost twice that of an average adult, not to mention that he even had a 'beard' growing on his cheeks. However, that was just hairy. A trait common to wildlanders.
A group that secluded itself from normal civilization and resided in the wilderness. Living off wild beasts, fruits, and other edible plants.
It was like this for countless generations. They never left the green plane of the Kunlun fields or waged wars against foreigners.
One could call them a peaceful race. That was until…
Bang! He dropped the half-filled jar and let out a deep breath before emptying what was left. Flooding his mouth with wine was the only thing keeping him from cursing out loud.
Otherwise, he might just blurt out his real identity. He was no genius like the crowd thought, and was instead a wildlander or what they called them: savages. If this news ever got out, Buddha knows how many righteous cultivators would swarm the place, wanting to protect the Dao and eliminate all demons.
Pr-gh-bastd-urgh-gg(Pretentious bastards)
His actions, which would have aroused suspicion on normal days, were simply taken as him struggling to swallow. It was only normal that the wine was now taking effect after drinking that much. Otherwise, if he continued unfazed then he'd no longer be a genius but an utter monster.
His logical actions stirred the crowd once again. Yet, their noise could no longer reach him, who was already back in the past.
Ash blew into the eyes of Wei Kun as he hid behind a bush. He stood still, not daring to blink and relieve himself of the itch.
In the distance, a group of soldiers covered in a glowing hue stood amid his previous home. Their posture resembled an immortal army.
He who had just returned from his isolation witnessed the last moments of the massacre. No cat or dog had been spared.
Had he not been away, he'd have suffered the same fate.
His unrefined physique and scholarly behavior had turned him into an anomaly in the tribe. While other boys his age were already either pot-bellied or jacked and competing with trees for air space, he remained a frail dwarf.
Wei Kun would be resting in the trees, analysing the world around him and keeping a scholarly appearance. Compared to those brutes, his hairy arms were slender and carved of jade.
Yet, he who was considered a weakling was the last one standing.
Was this poetic justice? He mused.
Ting.
The sound of the doorbell rang in his ears and pulled him back to the present. Then a sound came from behind him.
"Young Kun!" The voice sounded like thunder and quickly covered the entire tavern. Many wails of toddlers could be heard from a distance.
This was no ordinary man. Then a realization struck him. That voice, he could never forget that voice.
"Squad leader!" Wei Kun saluted while hurrying to his feet. The earth seemed to escape his feet as he stumbled around the tables trying to find balance.
He almost collapsed onto the floor, but with the help of his 'fans', he was able to regain his footing and stand on his feet. His back stood straight while facing the man before him.
Bai Kun, Squad Leader of the Clawed Tiger Battalion.
Upon recognising him, the tavern quietened down, leaving only whispers and hushed gossip in the air.
Clawed Tiger Battalion was part of the national army, and all their squad leaders were once geniuses whose fame resounded throughout the country. Each one held a cultivation base above the ordinary martial artist.
These members were rarely seen, and one could only spot them at the demon border, guarding the kingdom against demonic beasts and energy.
Naturally, such heroes were revered by all practitioners.
Except for one person.
Wei Kun.
Because this person was the one waving the imperial flag while the army slaughtered his kinsmen.