Spirit Wine

Trouble.

There was still one mandatory mission to complete within twenty days. His old injuries had only just healed when new ones were added.

In the end, he had been too careless. Dealing with Zheng Daoxing and his group had been too easy, leading his thoughts astray.

First, he had underestimated Bandit Cultivators and overestimated his own strength. Second, though he appeared to defeat opponents of the same level with ease, it was only because he relied on top-tier techniques; his own spells and magic tools were far too limited.

When facing enemies, there were basically two extremes: if he won, they could not escape; if he lost, neither could he.

After returning, he needed to refine his combat system. At the very least, he needed complete defensive and escape capabilities.

Finally, and most importantly, he needed to correct his attitude. Zheng Daoxing's group's resources had come too easily, giving him a gambler's luck mentality. He had hoped Bandit Cultivators would come rob him and had even entertained the notion of using himself as bait to fish for them. Those who often walk by the river are bound to get their shoes wet. If this continued, sooner or later he would stumble over it.

Fang Xiao felt that he absolutely needed to reflect on himself regularly. The Cultivation World was far too dangerous. One wrong step could condemn him to eternal ruin. Carefulness alone was no longer enough; if he wanted to live longer, he had to tread as if on thin ice and remain vigilant at every moment.

For three days, Fang Xiao remained inside the cave. After treating his wounds, they had stopped worsening. All he could do now was slowly recuperate.

Only now did he have time to inspect the two men's belongings. He immediately emptied everything from their Storage Bags onto the ground and sorted out the useful items.

No wonder so many people were willing to become Bandit Cultivators. Resources came far too quickly—if they lacked resources, they simply robbed others. The two men actually had over a thousand Spirit Stones.

Looking at the two Spirit Stones in his hand, Fang Xiao could tell that their spiritual energy concentration was on an entirely different level. They were Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

One Mid-grade Spirit Stone could be exchanged for a hundred low-grade Spirit Stones. However, Mid-grade Spirit Stones were more effective and had broader applications, so few people were willing to exchange them for low-grade ones.

With these Spirit Stones, if the two men had bought Top-grade magic tools, it would have been hard to say whether he could have won that battle. It seemed the two had put profit above all else and remained suspicious of each other.

After inspecting all the magic tools, he found four High-grade magic tools. He had already seen the hammer-shaped magic tool and the Bronze Bell magic tool. The former possessed immense offensive power; even after blocking it with the Earth Element Shield, he had been injured by its shock. When he inspected the Earth Element Shield earlier, it was already half ruined and could only be melted down and reforged.

The Bronze Bell magic tool could attack the mind, and its defensive power was no ordinary matter either. It had taken a nearly full-force strike exceeding the power of a Top-grade magic tool, yet its spiritual glow had merely dimmed. The materials used to make it must have been exceptional. If he had not knocked the magic tool away at the time, it might already have been destroyed in his hands.

The other two High-grade magic tools were a Spirit Boat and a flying sword. The jade-white Spirit Boat seemed to possess both defensive and concealment effects. He happened to lack a magic tool for long-distance flight.

As for the flying sword, it was an ordinary Top-grade Flying Sword. He could keep it as a spare.

The other resources were a motley assortment, apparently all plundered from others.

However, several items caught Fang Xiao's attention: four Jade Slips and several jade gourds. Opening one of them, he smelled a rich fruity fragrance mixed with the scent of wine. It seemed to contain some kind of Spirit Wine.

He opened them one after another, and each contained Spirit Wine. Aside from the initial fruity fragrance, there were milky aromas, herbal aromas, and even one with a faint bloody scent. Before figuring them out, he did not dare taste them carelessly.

He immediately picked up the Jade Slips and used his Spiritual Sense to read their contents.

The two green Jade Slips belonged to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer cultivator. They contained quite a bit of information: an introduction to spiritual herbs of the Cultivation World, as well as several Spirit Wine Recipes for the Qi Condensation Stage. This man was actually one of the rare Spirit Wine Masters in the Cultivation World.

Among the hundred arts of cultivation, only alchemy, artifact forging, talismans, and formations were widely circulated throughout the Cultivation World. Other crafts were either too obscure and had too few inheritances, or had already been lost. Spirit Wine Masters were a relatively obscure profession. Their nature was similar to alchemists', yet they were not as versatile, so the inherited Spirit Wine Recipes became fewer and fewer.

The other two Jade Slips came from the Qi Refining Seventh Layer cultivator. The yellow one recorded an Earth attribute cultivation technique called the Earth Subduing Technique, while the white Jade Slip contained cultivation insights and breakthrough essentials for the Earth Subduing Technique.

"This cultivation technique seems to come from the Five Elements Sect."

The Five Elements Sect, like the Tianlan Sect, was one of the Four Sacred Lands. Besides the Nanhua Sect, which excelled in alchemy, there was also the Xuanyuan Sect, which excelled in artifact forging.

As its name suggested, the Five Elements Sect's founding patriarch had been a cultivator with Five Spiritual Roots. It was said that this patriarch's Five Spiritual Roots had been perfectly balanced, and he had even created a cultivation technique that cultivated all five elements together. Its power was astonishing. In his later years, he had mastered a divine ability capable of breaking all five elements, somewhat similar to the Five-Colored Divine Light of ancient times, which could break all techniques.

Yet among the Five Elements Sect's later disciples, no Heavenly Talent capable of cultivating all five elements together had ever appeared again. It seemed that balanced spiritual roots could not be formed after birth.

This Earth Subduing Technique was one of the introductory cultivation techniques of the Five Elements Sect's Earth Vein.

Fang Xiao had no intention of specializing in a cultivation technique, so he did not plan to keep reading. However, a piece of information in the Earth Subduing Technique's breakthrough essentials caught his attention.

The Five Elements Sect possessed a method to transform spiritual roots and help cultivators break through bottlenecks. Though he did not know the details, Fang Xiao planned to visit the Five Elements Sect and investigate when he had the chance.

After sorting and putting away all the items, he kept one gourd of Spirit Wine. According to the Jade Slip, the Spirit Wine inside was called Golden Wind Wine and could aid the recovery of injuries.

He took out a jade cup and filled it. The wine was a clear jade-green. He raised it to smell it, then drained it in one gulp. It was slightly bitter at first, followed by a lingering sweetness. Fang Xiao was not a lover of wine, yet even he had to praise it as good wine.

After drinking the Golden Wind Wine, his body began to heat up within only a few breaths. The warmth gradually flowed toward his injured shoulder, and he felt an itch there.

"This effect—good wine."

The first time he praised it as good wine, he had been praising its flavor. The second time, he was praising the Spirit Wine's effects.

Whenever the effects of a cup faded, Fang Xiao poured himself another. The gourd possessed storage properties, and there was still quite a bit of Golden Wind Wine left. In a single day, he drank six cups.

"If I pair it with medicinal pills, even if I cannot fully recover, at least my injuries will not affect my strength while carrying out missions."

Though Spirit Wine did not have as many varieties as medicinal pills, the Spirit Wine Recipes stated that brewing Spirit Wine was unlike refining pills, which required strictly following the spiritual herbs listed in the pill formula. The ingredients used to brew Spirit Wine could be substituted and did not require such rigid medicinal-property ratios. Spiritual herbs could even be brewed alone. More importantly, Spirit Wine would not produce pill resistance or pill toxins.

He looked through the spiritual herbs he had obtained and found that the Spirit Wine Master had not brewed his Spirit Wine in strict accordance with the recipes either.

Yet the Spirit Wine's effects were exceptional, so he took out the other three types as well, intending to experience them.

The herbal-scented one was Golden Wind Wine, which had miraculous effects on healing injuries. The fruity one was Azure Origin Wine, the milky one was Spirit Milk Wine, and the one with a bloody scent was Essence Blood Wine.

Azure Origin Wine was brewed from Azure Spirit Fruit. Its color was clear and bright, and it was cool and sweet upon entering the mouth. Spiritual energy immediately surged up from his abdomen. As he circulated his cultivation technique and slowly refined it, both the quality and quantity of the spiritual energy surpassed Qi Gathering Pills. According to the Spirit Wine Recipe, if the age of the spiritual herbs were increased, the Spirit Wine's effects could be improved as well.

After refining the spiritual energy, he switched to Spirit Milk Wine. Spirit Milk Wine had many possible formulas; plant milk, beast milk, and even stone milk could all be used. The wine was milky white. As he slowly drank it, a rich milky fragrance filled his mouth. Feeling the changes within his body, Fang Xiao found that the Spirit Milk Wine produced only a small amount of spiritual energy, while the rest of its power dispersed throughout his body. In an instant, he felt his meridians and Dantian being nourished by that power, and his foundation became even more solid.

"This wine actually has the effect of strengthening one's foundation and replenishing one's essence."

With just these two cups of Spirit Wine, his cultivation, which had already passed more than half of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, firmly reached the peak of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer. He made only a brief attempt, and the bottleneck was like window paper—pierced with a single poke. Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

An hour later, he stopped circulating his cultivation technique. His cultivation had already stabilized at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

Fang Xiao could scarcely bear to put the Spirit Wine down. Misfortune had turned into fortune for him, and his cultivation had risen another layer.

Eagerly, he took out the Essence Blood Wine, preparing to see what miraculous effects this wine possessed.

Unlike the other wines, Essence Blood Wine was brewed from the Essence Blood of demonic beasts. The stronger the demonic beast, the better the effect. Looking at the Spirit Wine, which resembled ordinary blood, he poured it into his mouth. The heavy bloody stench mixed with the wine's fiery pungency assaulted his mouth. When he swallowed it, his throat felt as though he had swallowed red-hot blades. It was even stronger than the high-proof liquor from his previous life.

Soon, his entire body burned, and even his wounds began to ache faintly. After half an hour, the sensation started to fade, replaced by a feeling of utter comfort throughout his body. It felt as if every pore had opened. Sensing the spiritual energy around him, he found that his cultivation speed in absorbing spiritual energy had increased by more than double. However, this lasted only half an hour. Its effects did not end there—upon carefully sensing his body, he noticed that his physical body had strengthened slightly. Essence Blood Wine actually possessed Body Tempering effects.

However, Essence Blood Wine stimulated one's qi and blood too intensely. Since he was currently injured, he could not drink too much of it.

"Truly good wine. Being a Spirit Wine Master does not seem so lacking in prospects after all."

Fang Xiao was tempted. He had never disliked drinking to begin with, and now that he had experienced the benefits of Spirit Wine, he planned to experiment with spiritual rice after returning to the Outer Court and see whether he possessed a talent for brewing wine.

"This cave cannot truly guarantee my safety. It is not far from the sect's Outer Court, and my injuries have temporarily stabilized. I should return to the Outer Court first."

After settling everything, Fang Xiao activated the Jade Boat, identified the direction, and shot into the sky toward the Outer Court.