A Good-for-Nothing Steals Wine in a Nighttime Visit to the Kitchen

First, he went to the kitchen to borrow a jar of wine.

Clutching the wine jar, Li Zhexian vaulted over a low wall. Just after he landed, a light shone on the spot.

The disciple on night duty was so startled that he took two steps back.

"Senior Brother Li, what are you holding?"

"Wine from the sect."

"Did you take it from the kitchen?"

"You're asking very detailed questions."

The disciple on night duty looked at the wine jar, and his tone changed.

"This is wine the sect master sealed himself. There's still a seal over the mouth, and the words 'for Titled Douluo only' are carved into the jar."

"All the more reason not to waste it."

The disciple on night duty tightened his grip on the lamp handle.

"You're planning to sneak a drink of wine reserved for Titled Douluo?"

"I'm testing it for poison on the sect's behalf."

"Why do you have to take the whole jar to test it for poison?"

"The poison is very potent. I need to find a place where no one can see me."

The disciple on night duty opened his mouth.

That didn't sound right.

"If drinking it really does cause you trouble, who's supposed to take responsibility?"

"You're responsible for keeping a record."

"A record of what?"

"Whether I can still walk after I finish drinking."

Li Zhexian turned around with the wine jar in his arms and left.

"Senior Brother Li, don't run!"

"I'm not running. I'm going to test for poison."

"Stop right there!"

"Put the lamp down first. It's not very convenient to chase someone while carrying a lamp."

The disciple on night duty glanced down at the lamp in his hand.

By the time he looked up again, Li Zhexian had already vaulted over the wall on the other side.

"That's the back mountain!"

"There are fewer people on the back mountain."

"Sword Elder doesn't allow you to drink!"

"He only said I couldn't drink when I was six."

"You can't drink now, either!"

"I'm already twelve this year."

The disciple on night duty chased him to the wall.

Li Zhexian was already carrying the wine jar along the mountain path toward the back mountain.

The disciple on night duty had no other choice.

He could only go back and call for others.

At the edge of a cliff on the back mountain.

Li Zhexian set the wine jar down by his feet.

The medicine's effect had begun to fade, and the number in his sea of consciousness changed again.

Suppression rate: 92%.

Suppression rate: 93%.

He tore the seal off the mouth of the jar. A strong aroma of wine rose from within, and hot vapor wafted out against his face.

"Wine for Titled Douluo really is different from ordinary wine."

Li Zhexian sat cross-legged on the ground and took a small sip first.

The wine entered his stomach.

The wine struck the golden shield in his chest, and the suppression rate began to fall again.

93%.

92%.

91%.

Li Zhexian reached out, grabbed the Azure Lotus Sword, and stood to thrust it at a nearby tree.

The sword tip veered off course.

It left only a white mark on the bark.

"My Soul Power has recovered, but my body hasn't adjusted yet."

When he thrust the sword a second time, the wine made his feet slip. The blade grazed past the trunk, bringing a shower of branches and leaves down to the ground.

Li Zhexian looked down at the blade.

Then he took another sip of wine.

A third thrust followed.

A fourth.

A fifth.

His sword movements no longer followed any fixed moves, and his footwork no longer followed its usual pattern either.

The wine's potency entered his meridians.

The Soul Power that had already drawn back in began to circulate on its own.

A line of white text appeared in his sea of consciousness.

The Azure Lotus Sword Martial Soul is resonating abnormally.

Traces of a Second Martial Soul detected.

Current conditions are insufficient to complete a full cycle.

Li Zhexian's sword hand stopped in midair.

"A Second Martial Soul?"

The white text quickly disappeared.

Li Zhexian watched his sea of consciousness and waited a while.

"Explain yourself clearly."

His sea of consciousness gave no answer.

He looked down again at the wine jar by his feet.

"You're not going to answer me either?"

The wine jar couldn't answer him.

Li Zhexian picked up the jar and tipped his head back to take a large gulp. Wine ran down his chin and onto the front of his robes.

He stepped over the loose stones underfoot.

He walked toward the top of the cliff.

The poems he had possessed in his previous life.

The sword he held in this life.

When he had named himself Li Zhexian, he had only wanted to preserve a little something of his own in this body.

No one regarded him as Zhexian.

Nor was anyone willing to hear him speak of what had happened in his previous life.

All these years, he had endured.

Having endured until today, he had finally gotten the chance to let out the breath pent up in his chest.

Li Zhexian raised the Azure Lotus Sword and spoke to the shadows of the trees across the mountain.

"What leaves me behind—the days of yesterday cannot be made to stay."

His sword movements grew faster.

"What troubles my heart—the days of today are full of sorrows."

The Azure Lotus Sword passed between the branches.

Many leaves fell to the ground.

The sword light reached the waterfall and cleaved a gap in the curtain of water.

In the space behind the waterfall.

A very smooth stone wall was revealed.

A soft sound rang out deep in his sea of consciousness.

Ding.

It sounded like a wine pot striking a stone table.

Li Zhexian drew his sword back half an inch and cocked his ear to listen for a while.

"Who's there?"

No one answered him.

Ding.

The sound rang out a second time, from inside his chest.

Li Zhexian lowered his head and looked at his palm.

"Are you inside my body?"

A golden light shone on his chest, and the number on the shield kept flickering.

The suppression rate fell from 91% to 89%.

Then another force pulled it back up to 92%.

The wine in the jar began to spin on its own.

Fine ripples appeared on its surface.

Li Zhexian raised the Azure Lotus Sword and slashed at the waterfall.

The sword light passed through the curtain of water.

An ancient-looking wine pot appeared behind the rock wall.

The wine pot was only the size of a palm, with a red cord tied around its mouth.

Li Zhexian reached out to grab it.

But the wine pot turned into a mist of wine and retreated back into the rock wall in the blink of an eye.

"Why are you running?"

Li Zhexian chased after it with his sword.

The mountain rock beneath his feet suddenly split open.

A striking sound came from the shield on his chest, like chains colliding deep within a seal.

Red text appeared on the panel in his sea of consciousness.

Unknown Martial Soul detected awakening.

Li Zhexian gripped the wine jar tighter.

"You're finally willing to come out?"

A disciple's shout came from below on the mountain path.

"Senior Brother Li, don't drink any more! Sword Elder is already here!"

"Uncle Jian is already here?"

Li Zhexian looked at the wine jar in his hands, then at the rock wall behind the waterfall.

If Uncle Jian came here, he probably wouldn't even be able to keep the wine jar tonight.

He had come at a very bad time.

The red text in his sea of consciousness still hadn't disappeared.

Unknown Martial Soul detected awakening.

Li Zhexian raised a hand and wiped the wine from beside his lips, then hugged the jar a little tighter.

"Then hurry up and wake up."