Love Is a Cup of Wine-Whoever Drinks It Is at Fault

Time seemed to freeze once more.

Xiao Yin was practically half-sprawled over Liu Erlong, his face less than an inch from her slightly parted red lips, close enough for them to feel each other's breath.

His right hand was still tightly gripping that soft mound, and perhaps from nervousness and the force of the impact, his fingers unconsciously curled tighter.

Liu Erlong's cheeks instantly flushed red like burning clouds, the color spreading all the way to her ears and neck!

A sensation she had never experienced before swept through her body like an electric current!

It felt so clear, so unfamiliar, so... shameful!

"You... let go!"

After a brief dead silence, an embarrassed, furious scream abruptly burst from Liu Erlong's mouth!

Like a mother dragon whose tail had been stepped on!

The phantom of the Fire Dragon Martial Soul that had been dormant around her instantly boiled over, and the pressure of a Soul Saint erupted uncontrollably!

Xiao Yin was jolted awake by the scream as well. He yanked his hand back as if electrocuted and sprang backward!

Seeing the mixture of shame and anger in Liu Erlong's eyes, as well as the clear creases left on her chest from his grasp...

"Um... sorry, I didn't do it on purpose."

Xiao Yin was unusually nervous. That astonishing sensation from earlier seemed to still linger at his fingertips.

"Shut up!!!"

Liu Erlong was mortified. She abruptly straightened up, instinctively crossing her arms over her chest, then felt that the gesture only made her seem more guilty. She trembled with rage.

She wanted to lose her temper, but when she saw Xiao Yin's innocent expression and recalled that it had indeed been an accident during their spar...

Her anger had nowhere to go, leaving her chest heaving violently, those proud curves becoming even more breathtaking.

In a valley within Sunset Forest, the setting sun stretched their shadows long.

One was a beautiful Soul Saint with a face flushed crimson; the other was an awkward, embarrassed youth.

An exceedingly strange yet ambiguous silence filled the air.

Liu Erlong glared fiercely at Xiao Yin, as if she wanted to swallow him alive. Yet deep in her eyes was a trace of panic and... something unusual that even she had failed to notice.

That grab just now... that feeling... damn it!

She abruptly turned around, presenting her back to Xiao Yin, her voice carrying a faint, imperceptible tremor.

"Get... get back to the city!"

With that, red light flashed around her, and she vanished into the sky above the forest in an instant.

Xiao Yin stood where he was, looking in the direction Liu Erlong had disappeared, then lowered his head to look at his right hand. That warmth and softness seemed to still linger on his fingertips...

He gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"I really didn't do it on purpose..."

The night in Heaven Dou City was lit by countless household lamps, prosperity mingling with the clamor.

Liu Erlong truly kept her word, leading Xiao Yin straight to the most famous Furnace Tavern in the city.

There was no refined decor here, only rough wooden tables and chairs and a thick scent of alcohol.

"Boss! The usual! Twenty jars of the strongest Heart-Burning Brew first!"

The moment Liu Erlong entered, she slapped the table and roared, her voice drowning out the surrounding noise and drawing many glances.

But once they recognized the notoriously fierce female tyrant of Blue Tyrant Academy, those gazes quickly withdrew.

The two found a corner and sat down.

"I said I wanted the most fragrant wine. Where exactly did you bring me?" Xiao Yin looked at Liu Erlong as though he had been swindled.

"Ah, relax. You'll know in a moment!"

Before long, twenty rough earthenware wine jars were heavily set down on the table.

Liu Erlong slapped open the clay seals, and an intensely pungent smell of alcohol instantly spread through the room.

She picked up a jar and raised it boldly toward Xiao Yin. "If you're a man, don't chicken out! Bottoms up!"

With that, she tilted back her slender neck and gulped it down.

Wine ran down her fair neck and into her collar. Under the firelight, she possessed a wild beauty that was utterly breathtaking.

Xiao Yin did not waste words either. He picked up a jar himself and drained it in one go.

"Hiss? That's spicy!"

At that moment, Xiao Yin only felt a scalding liquid roll down his throat like magma before exploding into a blaze in his stomach.

He seriously suspected this was Liu Erlong's revenge!

"Refreshing!"

Liu Erlong wiped the corner of her mouth, her eyes startlingly bright. The awkwardness from the forest during the day seemed to have been completely washed away by the fierce liquor.

She opened another jar and clinked it against Xiao Yin's.

Xiao Yin, meanwhile, naturally took his time drinking.

After several rounds, more and more empty jars piled up on the table.

Two vivid crimson clouds had long appeared on Liu Erlong's fair cheeks. Her eyes became hazy, as if covered by a moist gleam.

Her voice also grew louder, carrying the boldness of intoxication.

"Xiao Yin! You brat... not bad!"

She forcefully patted Xiao Yin's shoulder, with astonishing strength.

"I've been in the Soul Master world for so many years... and I've never seen anyone as talented as you! Especially... especially..."

She let out a drunken burp, her gaze drifting. "Especially that body of yours... hard as a lump of iron..."

Xiao Yin had also drunk quite a bit, yet his mind remained clear.

Maybe it was the effect of the Purple Heart Jade Bone Orchid!

"Burp... do you know how hard it was... for me to establish Blue Tyrant Academy?"

Liu Erlong's voice suddenly dropped, carrying a trace of grievance and exhaustion that was difficult to detect. "Those noble lords... their noses are practically pointed at the sky!

They look down on an academy founded by a woman like me... sabotaging me openly and in secret... recruiting students is hard... getting sponsorship is even harder... they all fucking think I'm easy to bully!"

She abruptly took a large gulp of wine, and the pungent liquid seemed to suppress her surging emotions.

"And... and that bastard family..." Her voice grew quieter, filled with resentment and... a trace of hurt.

"When they need you, they sweet-talk you to death... when they don't, they toss you aside like worn-out shoes... hypocritical! Disgusting!"

She heavily slammed the wine jar onto the table, producing a dull thud. Her eyes seemed to have reddened slightly.

Xiao Yin listened quietly without interrupting, merely lifting the wine jar and silently refilling both hers and his own.

He knew that Liu Erlong needed an outlet to vent at this moment.

"You think... I want to be this fierce?"

Liu Erlong suddenly turned her head and looked at Xiao Yin through misty, drunken eyes, her gaze full of confusion and vulnerability.

"If I'm not fierce... not ruthless... if I don't make myself seem more manly than men... how can I hold the place together? How can I protect the academy? How can I... how can I..."

Her voice choked, and the rest of her words seemed too difficult to say.

Alcohol had completely torn down her defenses.

The intense physical contact in the forest during the day, that brief yet unforgettable closeness, seemed to have opened some emotional floodgate.

Now, under the catalyst of alcohol, all the grievances and unwillingness she had buried deep within her heart and never spoken of to anyone poured out like a flood.

"And... Yu Xiaogang... that coward!"

She finally cried out that name with even deeper pain, as though she had suppressed it for far too long.

"He... what does he understand?! All he knows is his theories! His avoidance! He doesn't even... even have the courage to admit it! He left me alone... to face all of this..."

At last, tears poured out uncontrollably, mixing with the wine as they ran down her cheeks.

She collapsed onto the table, her shoulders shaking violently. She was no longer the fiery Soul Saint academy headmaster from daytime, but merely an ordinary woman left bleeding from the wounds of love.

Xiao Yin looked at Liu Erlong silently crying against the table and sighed faintly in his heart.

Yu Xiaogang, huh? The next time we meet, I'll definitely slap you hard again!

He reached out, hesitated for a moment, then finally rested his hand lightly on her trembling shoulder.

"Enough..." he called softly, his voice carrying a rare gentleness.

As though startled awake by that touch and voice, Liu Erlong abruptly raised her head.

Through tear-filled eyes, she looked at Xiao Yin.

The tavern's dim, flickering light cast shifting shadows across his sharply defined face.

Under the influence of wine and lamplight, those deep eyes possessed an indescribable... allure.