"Madam, this old man came today... for your son. The two Seven-Colored Poems he wrote yesterday carried a poetic spirit as though bestowed by the heavens and must not be buried. Yet he has never received guidance from a renowned teacher, and the road of the examinations remains difficult. Though I am untalented, I am willing to point him down the path."
Madam Lin was so delighted she nearly fainted. She knew her son possessed poetic talent, but she also knew how arduous the examinations were. That was why she had been so urgently squeezing her second son dry, stating outright that if the Provincial Examination was not passed within three years, she would hold him accountable.
Though his second brother had given him his full support, and her third son had a higher starting point than most, he was ultimately only a Scholar. She had spent half the night thinking, hoping to find him a better teacher—someone like a Juren.
She had never imagined that the moment she opened the door, a Renowned Scholar would arrive!
A genuine Renowned Scholar!
Mr. Bao Shan was a Presented Scholar!
He possessed a Literary Heart!
How could someone like that be merely a hundred times stronger than a Juren with a Literary Mountain?
Given the Lin Family's current wealth and standing, they were utterly unworthy of associating with any great figure who possessed a Literary Heart. They normally would not even have the chance to speak with one. Yet Mr. Bao Shan had come straight to the point and proactively accepted San Lang.
Ancestors, look upon this—the Lin Family truly had joyous news arriving one after another...
"San Lang, hurry over and pay respects to your benefactor and teacher!"
Lin Su took one step forward and arrived before his mother. He said respectfully, "Mother, Mr. Bao Shan is a Renowned Scholar and has never been bound by vulgar formalities. Mr. Bao Shan, isn't that so?"
Mr. Bao Shan looked at him with narrowed, smiling eyes, neither confirming nor denying it.
Madam Lin grew anxious. Why was this foolish son so impossible to teach? Why did he not hurry up and drop to his knees? He should turn raw rice into cooked rice first!
Lin Su simply extended his hand. "Mr. Bao Shan, I made several new dishes. Come and try them..."
Bao Shan finally lost his calm, detached air and was dragged away by him...
Drunkards were often foodies as well. That was the conclusion Lin Su had brought from that world.
The conclusion proved effective!
If Bao Shan had never tasted a bun before, Lin Su's food might not have drawn him in. But he had tasted one, and the flavor was simply incomparable. New dishes? Those words alone completely diverted his attention...
Of the ten buns, he ate eight!
And he swallowed them one bite at a time, leaving Lin Su speechless. Were you a Literary Way Genius of the human race or one of the Devil Race? How could your mouth be so huge?
He ate three bowls of noodles!
When half a bowl remained, he set it down. He could not eat any more at last, right?
Not at all. He took out a wine flask.
Lin Su could not help asking, "Mr. Bao Shan, you drink in the morning too?"
"With such fine food, how could there be no wine?"
Bao Shan picked up the cup Lin Su had used for tea, tipped it with a hiss, and poured out the tea before filling the cup with wine from his flask. The flask did not look large, yet after pouring three cups in succession, its mouth still remained tilted at precisely the same angle as when he began.
That was strange.
Bao Shan noticed his gaze and smiled faintly. "A treasure of the Literary Way contains a world within. This wine flask originally held three hundred jin of wine; now only ten remain. Ordinary people may forget about drinking even half a cup of mine!"
He took a sip of wine, then a bite of noodles, as though noodles made wine taste ever better with every drink.
"Let me taste your fine wine first, sir!" Lin Jialiang lifted the cup and took a gentle sip, then cried out, "Excellent wine! Of all the fine wines I have tasted in my life, this is the finest!"
Bao Shan gave him a look as though he had never seen the world, then turned his gaze to Lin Su. "You taste it too!"
Lin Su copied his brother, lifted the wine cup, and took a small sip. His expression turned strange. This was completely different from grape wine. Its strength was far higher, but why did it lack the wine's mellow fragrance? Instead, it had a strange flavor. This was called fine wine? Was this not clearly the counterfeit liquor blended with alcohol from Modern Society? It had that cold-water harshness. Damn, old man, you carried three hundred jin of low-grade counterfeit liquor around and drank it down to ten jin without dying?
"Well?" Bao Shan raised his cup and asked lightly, carrying the air of a humblebrag.
"It's... different from grape wine!"
"Of course it is. How could my strong liquor be compared to that old bastard Ding Hai's mere grape wine? Fruit wine is only for women. This is the strong liquor of real men!"
"That is true. Calling grape wine women's wine is already flattering it. It is basically sour plum soup..."
"Hahahaha..."
Bao Shan threw back his head and laughed heartily, full of high spirits. Then his smile suddenly vanished. "After drinking this wine, do you feel poetic inspiration?"
Yes! I want to write a poem exposing counterfeit liquor...
Naturally, Lin Su could not say that aloud. His mother was still watching this side closely. It would be bad if he made the old man flip the table.
Lin Su hesitated slightly. "Mr. Bao Shan, do you truly like poems about wine?"
"Of course! Everyone in the world knows that Mr. Bao Shan loves nothing more than what is in the cup, so naturally he also likes poems about wine." His second brother interjected. At this moment, he too hoped his third brother could cater to Bao Shan's preferences.
Mr. Bao Shan said, "What little Jialiang says is correct. I do indeed like what is in the cup, and I also like poems about wine. But do you know why I like them?"
Why?
Did a drunkard need a reason?
Lin Su frowned...
Lin Jialiang did not understand either.
"Do you know what my Literary Root is? It is rather interesting, truly. My Literary Root looks exactly like this..."
He picked up the wine flask from the table.
Lin Su's eyes widened. Damn! Your Literary Root was actually a wine flask?
I thought my own Literary Root was already bizarre, but yours was even more bizarre?
"My Literary Root is not high-grade. For those without high-grade Literary Roots, the Extreme Realm is hard to seek!" Mr. Bao Shan said. "I have stood at the peak of the Literary Heart for a full ten years, yet I have been unable to glimpse the mysteries of the Extreme Realm."
Lin Su's eyes flickered. "Do you need to comprehend the Dao?"
"Comprehend the Dao? Though that wording is novel, it is fitting." Bao Shan said, "Back then, Deng Xianchu observed an Exotic Painting from Beyond the Heavens, and inspiration burst forth before he stepped into the Extreme Realm. His Literary Root was painting, and in the end, he entered the Dao through painting. Is that not similar to a Daoist Cultivator comprehending the Dao?"
Deng Xianchu's Literary Root was painting. By finding a good painting, he had broken into the Extreme Realm.
Old Bao Shan's Literary Root was a wine flask, so...
Lin Su pondered for a moment. "So you wanted me to write poems about wine for you because you hoped to comprehend some new artistic conception from them?"
"After receiving your poems yesterday, I studied them for half the night and felt the bottleneck that had not stirred in ten years loosen somewhat. It truly is a wonder unheard of through the ages."
That was why he had come today. He hoped to obtain more poems to help himself enter the Literary Heart Extreme Realm.
The Literary Heart Extreme Realm was an exceptionally special checkpoint. Though overall it was still only a minor level within the Literary Heart tier, it blocked the vast majority of great figures of the Literary Way.
As the saying went, a Literary Heart was easy to obtain, but the Extreme Realm was hard to seek.
The Extreme Realm was more like a grand examination of qualifications. Only after passing it did one qualify to step onto a literary path. What was a literary path? One's own path!
Those with Literary Hearts could be found everywhere under heaven, yet fewer than one in ten could forge a literary path. It was this mysterious checkpoint of the Extreme Realm that forcibly blocked more than ninety percent of them.
Lin Su had to admit that he did not understand comprehending the Dao at all. He did understand that poetry could produce poetic inspiration, but could such illusory poetic inspiration truly open the Literary Heart Extreme Realm of a top-tier master? Why did that sound so unreliable?
As Lin Su pondered, Mr. Bao Shan sipped his wine, seemingly unconcerned. Yet his manner of drinking showed that he cared deeply, because he was drinking without making a sound. Ordinarily, when he drank, one could hear the glugging from thirty feet away...
Lin Su slowly raised his head. "Mr. Bao Shan, have you considered another possibility?"
"What?"
"Perhaps what you need is not poems about wine, but truly good wine."
His Literary Root was too bizarre—a wine flask. And the Extreme Realm of the Literary Way, as its name implied, meant bringing everything from head to toe into a perfect state. With only a wine flask and no good wine, how could it be complete?
Mr. Bao Shan said, "Naturally, I know that. That is why I have traveled throughout the world for the past ten years. The wine before you flowed out from the Holy Land of the Demon Race."
Lin Jialiang said, "Legend says that the Yaochi Holy Land in the Western Heavens possesses true Jade Nectar of Heaven and Earth. I wonder whether you have sought some, sir."
"I went three times, but all three times I was unable to enter. With the help of an old friend, however, I was fortunate enough to taste it once in the end. But that was wine for cultivators, filled with wondrous things of heaven and earth. It was meant more to improve a Daoist Cultivator's cultivation and differed from mortal wine."
He had truly tasted it. Lin Jialiang sighed in admiration. The path of a great figure of the Literary Way was beyond anything he could imagine. He could no longer offer any insight...
Lin Su said, "Give me some time. I will try brewing a batch of wine for you, sir."
Lin Jialiang was astonished. Only yesterday, he had said that a gentleman should stay far from the kitchen. A gentleman should stay even farther from a wine workshop. So among scholars, who could brew wine? His third brother had not even drunk more than a few cups, yet he wanted to brew it?
Mr. Bao Shan's eyes lit up. "You know how to brew wine?"
"A little."
"Can you brew wine better than this Demon Race Fine Wine?"
Lin Su lifted the wine in his cup. "Mr. Bao Shan, do you want to hear something very cruel?"
Cruel?
Bao Shan burst into laughter. "Let's hear it!"
"Your Demon Race Fine Wine is, to put it politely, not very good."
Bao Shan's eyes bulged. "And that is putting it politely? What if you were not polite?"
"Without being polite, this wine... is more than one level worse than the tea you poured out just now! I would rather drink ten jin of tea than drink this one cup of wine..."
That was the truth.
Before you continue