Brewing Wine

Wang Hong kicked the masked man and cursed, "Idiot! Couldn't you have stayed home? You just had to come out and court death? If anyone had an Immortal Elixir, wouldn't they swallow it at once? Why leave it for the likes of you to snatch? Pig! Even if I gave you immortal cultivation arts, could you cultivate them? If it were that easy, would there be so many mortals under heaven? No brains!" As he spoke, he kicked him again.

Only after venting did Wang Hong's heart calm slightly. During the fierce battle just now, his mind had been stretched taut, and all he had thought about was killing his opponent.

Now that he had calmed down, the sight of the corpse before him made him feel deeply unsettled.

This time had truly been too dangerous. If he had not succeeded in his sneak attack at the start, he would be the one lying on the ground now.

He found a piece of cloth and covered the corpse, then began tending to his own wounds. The wound on his chest was so deep that bone could be seen. Fortunately, he had gotten a bottle of White Jade Powder from World-Saving Hall last time.

He added a little salt to cooled boiled water and carefully washed the wound with the diluted saltwater. Though the pain made him bare his teeth and grimace, Wang Hong felt rather manly. What a pity there was no audience to witness his heroic bearing as he calmly peeled open his own wound to clean it.

After washing it once, he evenly sprinkled White Jade Powder over the wound, then wrapped it with boiled linen cloth. He mixed the remaining White Jade Powder with water and drank it.

Wang Hong considered that he ought to prepare some Healing Medicine for himself in the future, but he did not have any Medicinal Herb seedlings.

Truly good Medicinal Herbs were things one could encounter only by chance, not something that could be bought with silver.

The main ingredient of White Jade Powder was White Jade Ganoderma less than ten years old. This medicinal herb was extraordinarily picky about its growing environment and would generally wither and die before reaching ten years. Only under extremely special conditions could it grow beyond ten years.

After handling his own affairs, Wang Hong endured his nausea and discomfort and searched the masked man for a while. He found only a few taels of loose silver, along with another bottle of White Jade Powder. This White Jade Powder really was an essential miracle medicine for martial artists at home or on the road, whether killing people or robbing them of wealth.

He then removed the masked man's face covering and saw a pale, gaunt man around fifty years old. Wang Hong had never seen him before.

Wang Hong went to report the matter to the patrol and had them carry away the corpse. By the time he had finished, it was already late at night. Having lost quite a bit of blood, he felt somewhat dizzy, so he ate all the remaining meat soup before collapsing into bed.

The next day, Wang Hong asked Old Demon Feng, the military formation instructor, for several more days of leave and focused on recovering at home. He was currently steeping a pot of tea and drinking it slowly, with a very old book in his hand.

Just then, a "Knock! Knock! Knock!" sounded from outside. It turned out that Zhang Tiemao, Li Xiaoya, Hua Wenjue, and Lu Jingou had heard that Wang Hong was injured and had come specially to visit him.

Over this period, they had often trained in battle formations together. They were all children at heart and had few schemes, so they quickly became friends.

Wang Hong brought out a large platter of raspberries to entertain them. It seemed that the things in his space gradually mutated over time. These raspberries had once been only finger-sized, but now they were nearly as large as pigeon eggs. Eating them could also slightly increase one's cultivation, though the effect was nowhere near as obvious as the rice and wheat in the space.

Li Xiaoya picked one up and placed it in her mouth, gently pressing it with her tongue. The whole berry burst into sweet juice that flowed down her throat. Li Xiaoya gave a comfortable hum and asked, "Wang Hong, where did you buy these fruits? They're so delicious!"

Zhang Tiemao swallowed three berries in one mouthful and said, "These should be wild ones from the mountains. I used to pick this kind of raspberry in the mountains too, but they weren't this big or this tasty."

"I picked them in the mountains yesterday. Unfortunately, that tree was too small, and this was all there was even after I picked everything," Wang Hong said. He deliberately mentioned that he had picked them all, lest they ask him to take them there later.

As Lu Jingou stuffed berries into his mouth, he said indistinctly, "These fruits would definitely taste great brewed into wine. I used to pick wild grapes in the mountains and make wine from them. Wine brewed from these fruits should be even more fragrant and mellow than wild grape wine."

Hua Wenjue elegantly picked up a berry and said, "You little brat, instead of learning properly, you spend all day learning to drink like adults."

"You're only one year older than me. Last time, I didn't see you drink any less of that grape wine," Lu Jingou hastily retorted.

The speaker had no intention, but the listener took it to heart. The raspberry tree in Wang Hong's space had originally been only half a person tall, but now it had grown taller than a man. The most troublesome part was that it could bear a batch of fruit every few days. If he did not pick them in time, they would fall to the ground and take root and sprout anew.

He had originally planted this raspberry tree merely as a daily snack for himself and his little brothers. Sometimes, when they could not finish eating them, Wang Hong stored them in several large jars. The raspberries in those jars would be perfect for trying his hand at brewing wine.

Wang Hong had discovered one advantage of the space: as long as something did not directly touch the ground, it could remain fresh forever and would not spoil.

But once it touched the ground, anything with even a trace of life left in it would take root and sprout. Earlier, Wang Hong had made a wooden rack and placed it in the space to store harvested grain.

Who would have thought that two days later, new roots would grow beneath the wooden rack, while fresh, tender branches covered its top? After that, every wooden rack Wang Hong put into the space was first dried in the sun and then roasted over fire.

The group played around for a while longer. During that time, they also reminded Wang Hong to be careful, saying that Qingyang Academy had been unsettled lately and that people often sneaked inside. When the masked man was mentioned, Wang Hong naturally could not resist loudly proclaiming his heroic deeds in fighting the masked man, embellishing the tale with oil and vinegar. He received worshipful gazes from Zhang Tiemao and Li Xiaoya, as well as doubtful looks from Hua Wenjue and Lu Jingou.

Before leaving, they invited Wang Hong to go hunting in the mountains with them after his injury healed. Wang Hong thought about how vast Qingyun Mountain was; once he entered the mountains, others would actually have a hard time finding him. He readily agreed.

North of the valley where Qingyang Academy was located stood an area of residential homes, where the academy's instructors and their family members lived.

In front of the family residential area was a short street. The side facing the residences was lined with small shops, while the opposite side was filled with stalls and peddlers.

Most everyday necessities could be bought and sold here. For larger transactions, people generally chose to go to the county town.

Wang Hong was currently walking along this street, looking with great interest at the shops and stalls on both sides. Whenever a passerby glanced at a roadside vendor's stall for even a moment longer, the vendor would immediately cry out energetically to solicit business.

Most of the vendors sold local specialties and mountain goods. Some were academy students clearing out spare possessions, or selling Medicinal Herbs they had gathered and mountain goods they had hunted while up in the mountains. The shops, meanwhile, carried everyday necessities for food, clothing, housing, and travel—oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, and the like.

Wang Hong found the Wan Family Wine Shop and walked straight inside. The moment he entered, the fragrance of wine rushed toward him. Before his eyes stood rows upon rows of large wine jars half a person tall.

Before Wang Hong could speak, a radiant young married woman came forward. "Young sir, are you here to buy wine? Our shop has all kinds of fine wines: ten-year-aged Jade Orchid Spring, twenty-year-aged Golden Jade Liquid, and freshly distilled Shao Daozi."

Wang Hong thought for a moment. "I want to buy some wine to make Medicinal Wine. Which kind would be better?"

The woman introduced, "Then use freshly distilled Shao Daozi. It has a strong kick and is reasonably priced—fifty coppers per jin."

Wang Hong agreed immediately. He ordered one hundred jin of wine, divided into ten small jars. He also asked the shopkeeper for some Brewing Yeast. The total came to five taels of silver, with the Brewing Yeast included as a gift.

Wang Hong returned to his small courtyard and dug up five forty-year-old Ginseng plants and five forty-year-old Purple Ganoderma plants. He soaked them separately in the wine jars, sealed the mouths with beeswax, then placed them in his space and buried them.

He then crushed all the remaining raspberries in the space, added Brewing Yeast and stirred everything evenly, then sealed the jar mouths. From then on, he only needed to turn and stir them once every few days.

In truth, berry fruits could be brewed into wine simply by crushing them, even without adding Brewing Yeast. However, compared to wine made with Brewing Yeast, it would contain more impurities and have a poorer body.