The God of Revelry, the Cult of the God of Wine!

Take Qinghe County Exile Fighter Wu Song this time, for example;

Wu Song realized there was something fishy hidden in Amber's wine. That "Exclusive Event" should be seeing through the drug slipped into the wine.

This was exactly like how he had detected the Methanol at Crossroads Slope. Wu Song's previous incarnation had even done the same thing.

Could those so-called "Exclusive Events" be reproductions of the card spirit's past heroic deeds—their legendary moments in history?

The more Lin Chen thought about it, the more convinced he became!

As an old saying from his previous life went: heroes were forged by the times.

The times could be understood as "Exclusive Events":

They included turbulent affairs, turning points of fate, fortuitous encounters, and calamities—all the things that shaped a hero's personality, cultivation, and achievements.

Cultivating a card spirit started from scratch;

so these glorious moments certainly had to be experienced all over again before the card spirit could be cultivated to its final form!

In a nutshell: retrace the epic road of a hero and awaken an unparalleled heroic skill!

Take Qinghe County Exile Fighter Wu Song, for instance. What had been reproduced was Wu Song during his exile at Chai Jin's manor, before he had reached his complete form.

After that came the Jingyang Ridge Tiger Subduing and the stage when he fought and killed Ximen Qing—the spirited "Captain Version Wu Song";

then the stages of causing havoc at Happy Forest and Blood Splashed on Mandarin Duck Tower—the revengeful and carefree "Felon Version Wu Song";

and finally the stages of traveling through Centipede Ridge by night and joining the outlaws at Two Dragon Mountain—the fully matured "Ascetic Version Wu Song."

Wu Song could advance into his later versions by combining materials and feeding them to him for cultivation;

or Lin Chen could accompany him in walking the "long march" of a hero's growth all over again, allowing him to temper himself and awaken through experience.

That explained everything!

Other card creators did not know the card spirits' past glorious events because the transmission of historical heritage had been severed. Some could not even summon card spirits with historical foundations.

As a result, it was extremely difficult for them to awaken their card spirits' latent traits. They could only rely on luck.

But Lin Chen had come bearing the answer. He knew the origins of his own card spirits like the back of his hand!

This perfectly satisfied Lin Chen's cultivation-game mentality. Who wouldn't want to accompany their Pokémon... their card spirit all the way through evolution and growth?

Then, as the next step, did he need to arrange a tiger for Wu Song to fight?

The author has come in person to beg for follows and votes! I got a recommendation in the previous round today, so the stats are extremely important. If they're lacking, there won't be any follow-up traffic!

This would satisfy the readers' cultivation-game mentality too. Who wouldn't want to watch the book they had invested in evolve and grow all the way?

Then, as the next step, did they need to give the author a monthly vote?

Chapter 26: The God of Revelry, the Cult of the God of Wine!

Lin Chen had been so caught up imagining Wu Song's advancement that he nearly forgot the problem with the wine had not yet been resolved.

Moreover, Chen Xiao Diao had taken a bottle of wine too!

He had to ask her what was happening on her end.

Lin Chen called Chen Xiao Diao on her communication bracelet and asked as soon as she answered:

"How's that bottle of wine?"

"I drank it."

"You drank it?! That fast! Are you all right!?" Lin Chen asked anxiously.

"What could possibly happen to me? I didn't drink it. Master Lu did."

Chen Xiao Diao answered, baffled.

Lin Chen was speechless. He had worried about her for nothing.

"Then what happened after Lu Zhishen drank the wine?"

"He just got drunk again, but luckily, he didn't go berserk this time."

Lin Chen asked doubtfully, "He didn't pass out? Or have any negative reactions?"

Chen Xiao Diao said, "No. Master Lu drank one bottle and still wanted more, so he told me to get more of this kind of wine!

But he's become picky too. He doesn't even like the ordinary wine I buy for him at the supermarket anymore."

Lin Chen knitted his brows tightly. Could I have been overthinking it?

But to be safe, Lin Chen still told Chen Xiao Diao that there was something wrong with the wine and asked her to come to his place;

he wanted her to take the unfinished bottle of wine to the Card Association Security Bureau's Department of Supernatural Affairs and have its ingredients tested.

Chen Xiao Diao trusted Lin Chen completely now, so she immediately took the wine to be tested.

But the results would not be available until the next day.

No matter how uneasy Lin Chen felt, he could only wait.

As usual, he finished making his daily offering to the Door God, then went to sleep uneasily.

The next day, Lin Chen slept in. There was no longer Chen Xiao Diao's knocking "alarm clock" to wake him.

He opened his messages and saw the test report Chen Xiao Diao had sent:

"This wine does indeed have hallucinogenic and addictive properties, but the level of harm is low and falls within the safe range;

the wine also contains a strong vitality and possesses a slight ability to heal the body, so it is classified as a healthy nutritional liquor."

There was no safety issue? It was even a nutritional liquor?

Unwilling to accept it, Lin Chen pressed further: "Does the wine contain any other strange substances?"

Chen Xiao Diao replied that it really did!

Apart from grape pulp, the wine also contained another kind of flesh.

Lin Chen felt that his suspicion had been right after all. There really was something fishy going on!

He did not hesitate to speculate with the greatest malice:

"That other flesh... it isn't human flesh, is it!?"

Chen Xiao Diao laughed. "Brother Chen, what are you thinking? The test says it's the meat of an even-toed ungulate, highly similar to mutton. It should be mutton from a highly spiritual sheep."

Lin Chen was left speechless for a moment before saying, "All right. Looks like I was just being paranoid."

Chen Xiao Diao said, "Then I'll stop chatting! The Binjiang Waterway is haunted again, and everyone in our Patrol Team is run off our feet!"

After ending the call, Lin Chen sank into self-doubt:

"Did I really imagine it all? Could there really be nothing wrong with Amber?

But I still feel like something is very strange!"

Lin Chen's obsessive-compulsive streak flared up. He had to recall and review everything he had seen and heard at the bar yesterday—

"Fresh, tender mutton," "wine," "an oil painting of a lustful banquet";

"a grapevine crown," "a two-handled wine jar," "the mysterious second floor," "a woman's unrestrained laughter";

"pleasure," "debauchery," "When joy is at hand, indulge in it; getting drunk is like being reborn"...

After gathering all the elements together, Lin Chen's thoughts became increasingly clear;

he suddenly rose to his feet and slapped the table. It was Dionysus, the God of Wine!

Every one of these elements was closely connected to the God of Wine in Greek mythology!

Dionysus, the God of Wine, was the Guardian God of grape cultivation and winemaking, the God of Revelry, and the God of Fertility;

he symbolized bountiful prosperity, the primitive and wild vitality of life, and uninhibited desire.

It was said that Dionysus had invented the process of making wine;

two-handled wine jars and pottery wine bottles were distinctive products of ancient Greece;

the grapevine crown was a classic ornament in depictions of Dionysus;

the sheep was a representative animal in the culture of the God of Wine;

revelry, drunkenness, and naked gatherings were all classic practices in Dionysian worship.

Everything matched!

"These elements were all far too obvious! How had I failed to notice them at the time?"

As a scholar of folk mythology, Lin Chen should have been highly sensitive to these elements.

"It was that bar!

The heavy scent of alcohol, the ambiguous atmosphere, the oil paintings thick with lust, and even Amber's enchantingly beautiful face had all been subtly influencing the minds of the patrons!

No wonder I didn't react at the time and was so easily tempted into going to the second floor."

Because the entire bar was a field that induced intoxication and intelligence reduction!

Therefore, Amber was a believer in the Cult of the God of Wine—perhaps even its priestess.

This world actually possessed a culture of the God of Wine highly similar to that of Lin Chen's previous life!

That meant the mythological and cultural systems of this world and his previous life were most likely parallel and interconnected;

no wonder Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Wu Song, and the other card spirits could all be successfully visualized and summoned by Lin Chen.

Because in this world's history, these figures had also once been worshiped and praised!

The Anomalous Invasion a century ago had severed the transmission of historical mythology. It was only from that point onward that history began to diverge from the history of Lin Chen's previous life.

Before that, the two should have shared the same lineage.

The truth was revealed layer by layer, and his previous conjectures were confirmed one after another.

But there were still more, even greater questions:

How, exactly, had history been corrupted?

Could so many divine faiths have survived in secret, just like the Cult of the God of Wine?

He could only investigate these questions gradually in the future.