The Mystery in the Wine

"Madam, I am here today for your son. His two Seven-Colored Poems yesterday were as divinely inspired as if bestowed by a sage, and they should not be wasted. However, he has not yet received guidance from a master teacher, and the path of the Imperial Examinations will be difficult. I am not talented, but I am willing to offer him some guidance on his journey."

Madam Lin was so overjoyed she almost fainted. She knew her son's poetic talent, but she also understood the hardships of the Imperial Examinations. That was why she had been so urgently pressuring her second son, explicitly stating that if he failed the provincial exam in three years, she would hold him accountable.

Although her second son was helping wholeheartedly and her third son had a higher starting point than most, her third son was still just a Xiucai. She had thought for half the night, hoping to find a better teacher for him, perhaps a Juren.

She never expected that upon opening the door, a renowned scholar would appear!

A true renowned scholar!

Mr. Bao Shan was a Jinshi!

He possessed a Literary Heart!

A person like him was more than a hundred times stronger than a Juren with a Literary Mountain!

Given the Lin family's current financial resources and status, they were not worthy of any expert with a Literary Heart, nor could they even strike up a conversation. Yet, Mr. Bao Shan, getting straight to the point, voluntarily accepted San Lang.

Ancestors, look! The Lin family truly has one joyous occasion after another...

"San Lang, hurry over and pay your respects to your teacher!"

Lin Su stepped forward, reaching his mother's side, and said respectfully, "Mother, Mr. Bao Shan is a renowned scholar of the world and has always disregarded conventional etiquette. Mr. Bao Shan, wouldn't you agree?"

Mr. Bao Shan smiled at him, neither confirming nor denying.

Madam Lin grew anxious. Why was this foolish son so unteachable? Why wasn't he kneeling down immediately? To make the situation a done deal?

Lin Su directly extended his hand, "Mr. Bao Shan, I've made some new fresh dishes. Would you like to try some..."

At this, Bao Shan finally lost his composure. He was pulled away by Lin Su...

Drunkards are often foodies too. This was Lin Su's conclusion from his previous world.

The conclusion was valid!

If Bao Shan hadn't tasted a steamed bun before, he probably wouldn't have been attracted by his food. But he had tasted one, and the flavor was incomparable. Fresh dishes too? Just this sentence alone completely shifted his focus...

He ate eight of the ten steamed buns!

And he ate them one after another, leaving Lin Su speechless. Was he a Literary Way Genius of the Human Race or of the Demon Race? His mouth was too big!

He ate three bowls of noodles!

He put down the last half bowl of noodles. He couldn't eat any more, right?

Not at all. He took out his wine pot.

Lin Su couldn't help himself, "Mr. Bao Shan, you drink in the morning too?"

"How can such exquisite food be without wine?"

Bao Shan picked up the teacup Lin Su had been using, poured out the tea with a ch sound, and poured the wine from the pot into the cup. The pot didn't look large, but after pouring three cups, the mouth of the pot maintained the same tilt as when he started pouring.

This was peculiar.

Bao Shan noticed his gaze and smiled slightly, "A treasure of the Literary Way, containing its own universe. The wine in this pot originally contained three hundred jin, and now only ten jin remain. Ordinary people cannot even dream of drinking half a cup from me!"

He took a sip of wine, then a bite of noodles, as if the noodles were a perfect accompaniment to the wine, making the drinking more enjoyable with each sip.

"Sir's fine wine, I'll taste it first as a toast!" Lin Jialiang lifted his cup, took a gentle sip, and exclaimed, "Good wine! Of all the fine wines I've tasted, this is the best!"

Bao Shan gave him a look of feigned surprise, then his gaze fell on Lin Su's face, "You taste it too!"

Lin Su, imitating his elder brother, lifted the wine cup and took a small sip. His expression was strange. This was completely different from grape wine. The alcohol content was much higher than grape wine, but why did it lack the mellow aroma of wine? Instead, there was a strange taste? This was called good wine? This was clearly fake liquor mixed with modern alcohol! It had a cold, watery feel, damn it! You old man are amazing, carrying 300 jin of inferior fake wine and drinking it down to 10 jin, and you're still alive?

"How is it?" Bao Shan asked nonchalantly, lifting his wine cup, exuding a "humblebrag" aura.

"It's... different from grape wine!"

"Naturally. How can my strong liquor be compared to the mere grape wine of that old scoundrel Ding Hai? Fruit wine is merely women's wine. This wine is the strong liquor of men!"

"That's true. As for that grape wine, calling it women's wine is flattering it; it's basically sour plum drink..."

Hahahaha...

Bao Shan threw his head back and laughed heartily, full of spirit. Suddenly, his laughter ceased, "After drinking this wine, do you feel inspired to write poetry?"

Yes! I want to write a poem exposing fraud...

Of course, Lin Su couldn't say that aloud. His mother was still watching them intently. If this old man flipped the table, it wouldn't be good.

Lin Su hesitated for a moment, "Mr. Bao Shan, do you truly enjoy poetic verses about wine?"

"Of course! Everyone in the world knows that Mr. Bao Shan's greatest pleasure in life is the contents of his cup, and naturally, he also enjoys poems about wine." His second brother chimed in, hoping at this moment that his third brother could cater to the master's taste.

Mr. Bao Shan said, "Young Jialiang is right. I do enjoy the contents of my cup and poems about wine, but do you know why I like them?"

Why?

Does a drunkard need a reason?

Lin Su frowned...

Lin Jialiang didn't understand either.

"Do you know what my Literary Root is? It's quite interesting, my Literary Root looks like this..."

He picked up the wine pot on the table.

Lin Su's eyes widened. What the heck? Your Literary Root is a wine pot?

I thought my own Literary Root was weird enough, but yours is even weirder?

"My Literary Root is not high grade. For those without a high-grade Literary Root, achieving the Extreme Realm is incredibly difficult!" Mr. Bao Shan said. "I've been at the peak of the Literary Heart for a full ten years, but I haven't been able to glimpse the mysteries of the Extreme Realm."

Lin Su's gaze flickered. "Does it require enlightenment?"

"Enlightenment? That's a novel term, but it's quite fitting," Bao Shan said. "In the past, Deng Xianchu, after observing an Exotic Painting from Beyond the Heavens, had an epiphany and stepped into the Extreme Realm. He used painting as his Literary Root and ultimately entered the Dao through painting. Isn't that similar to a Daoist cultivator's enlightenment?"

Deng Xianchu's Literary Root was painting. By finding a good painting, he broke through to the Extreme Realm.

Old Man Bao Shan used a wine pot as his Literary Root, so...

Lin Su pondered for a moment. "So, you want me to write wine poems for you because you want to gain some new artistic conception from the poems?"

"After receiving your poem yesterday, I studied it all night. I felt the bottleneck that had held me back for ten years begin to loosen. This is truly a marvel of the ages."

So, he came here today hoping to receive more poems to help him enter the Literary Heart Extreme Realm.

The Literary Heart Extreme Realm was a very special hurdle. Although it was still a minor level within the overall Literary Heart tier, it obstructed the vast majority of highly accomplished literary cultivators.

It was said that the Literary Heart was easy to obtain, but the Extreme Realm was hard to achieve.

The Extreme Realm was more like a qualifying examination. Only by passing the Extreme Realm did one have the qualification to enter the Literary Path. What is the Literary Path? It's one's own path!

Those who possessed a Literary Heart were as common as the stars in the sky, but only one in ten could forge their own Literary Path. It was this mysterious hurdle of the Extreme Realm that blocked over ninety percent of people.

Enlightenment, Lin Su had to admit he had no clue about. But he understood that poems could generate poetic sentiment. Could this ethereal poetic sentiment open the Literary Heart Extreme Realm for top-tier cultivators? How unreliable did that sound?

As Lin Su pondered, Mr. Bao Shan sipped his wine. He appeared nonchalant, but his drinking posture revealed his intense focus. He was drinking so quietly that normally, one could hear the gulping from ten feet away...

Lin Su slowly looked up. "Mr. Bao Shan, have you ever considered another possibility?"

"What is it?"

"Perhaps what you need isn't wine poems, but truly good wine."

His Literary Root was too bizarre – a wine pot. And the Literary Dao Extreme Realm, as the name suggested, was about achieving a perfect state throughout one's entire being. With only a wine pot and no good wine, how could it be complete?

Mr. Bao Shan said, "I naturally know this. That's why I've traveled the world for the past ten years. This wine I have here is from the Holy Land of the Demon Race."

Lin Jialiang chimed in, "Legend has it that the Yaochi Holy Land in the Western Heavens has true Jade Nectar of Heaven and Earth. Have you ever sought it, sir?"

"I've been there three times, and each time I was unable to enter. However, with the help of an old friend, I was fortunate enough to taste it once. But that was wine for Daoist cultivators, filled with exotic heavenly materials, meant more to enhance their cultivation. It's not the same as wine for the mortal world."

He had actually tasted it. Lin Jialiang sighed in admiration. The path of a literary master was beyond his comprehension. He couldn't offer any further insights...

Lin Su said, "Give me some time. I'll try brewing some wine for you, sir."

Lin Jialiang was astonished. Just yesterday, he had said that a gentleman stays away from the kitchen, and even more so from the winery. So, who among scholars could brew wine? His third brother had barely tasted a few cups of wine, and now he wanted to brew?

Mr. Bao Shan's eyes lit up. "You know how to brew wine?"

"A little bit."

"Can you brew wine that's even better than this Demon Race Fine Wine?"

Lin Su lifted the wine in his cup. "Mr. Bao Shan, would you like to hear something rather harsh?"

Harsh?

Bao Shan burst into laughter. "Go on!"

"To put it politely, this Demon Race Fine Wine you have is not good."

Bao Shan's eyes bulged. "That's your polite assessment? What if you weren't being polite?"

"If I weren't being polite, this wine... is worse than the tea you just poured out, by more than just one level! I'd rather drink ten pounds of tea than this single cup of wine..."

This was the truth.