One Drunk Brews Courage in My Heroic Heart

Chapter 43: A Drunken Hero's Courage

The high-spirited Luo Qianshan did not remain high-spirited for long.

"Bottoms up! Are you going to drink or not?" Zi Bofeng held up a cup of wine, pointing it at Luo Qianshan with a look of disdain. "If you can't hold your liquor, don't try to act tough. Drink it all!"

Damn it, you scared me. I thought it was real high-proof liquor, but it's just low-alcohol swill around ten percent. It seems there isn't much distilled alcohol around here; it's all pressed wine. These poor guys who've never tasted high-proof spirits—look at me, I can down a case of beer without even blinking!

Zi Bofeng's alcohol tolerance in his past life was only average, but he didn't know if it was because his current body had been nourished by so much spiritual energy, but his resistance to alcohol had increased significantly. His drinking capacity was truly terrifying; even Luo Qianshan, who boasted of spending his days soaking in a vat of wine, had to admit defeat.

"I... I'll drink it..." Luo Qianshan swayed as he lifted his cup and gulped it down. More spilled out than actually went down his throat. Lao Guan, who was serving nearby, watched the fine wine go to waste and felt his throat twitch in agony.

"Cheating! Drink it properly!" Zi Bofeng stepped up, pinched Luo Qianshan's mouth, and helped him pour it in. Before he could finish, Luo Qianshan collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Who's next? Is there anyone else who wants to drink? Will you drink? How about you?" Zi Bofeng scanned his surroundings. Several soldiers had heard that a scholar with an incredible capacity for drink had arrived and had even drunk their general under the table, so they had come to watch the spectacle. Seeing Zi Bofeng's bleary eyes as he challenged everyone in sight, they shrank back one by one. It wasn't that they didn't want to drink, but they knew their place; they weren't qualified to drink with the General's guest.

"You?" Zi Bofeng pointed at Lao Guan, who was standing to the side. Lao Guan waved his hands frantically.

"You?" Zi Bofeng crooked a finger at the young soldier. "You, come here!"

"I... I don't know how to drink..." The young soldier was on the verge of tears. They said that when a scholar meets a soldier, reason is hard to come by, but now he couldn't tell who was the scholar and who was the soldier.

"Look at how timid you are... hic... bring me my mount, my epic-tier steed, Tauxue..." With the young soldier's help, Zi Bofeng swayed as he mounted Tauxue—and before leaving, he didn't forget to swipe a bottle of fine wine from the table.

"My precious Tauxue... come on, let's go." Zi Bofeng sat on the donkey, looking as if he might fall off at any moment—though he felt nothing of the sort, convinced he was sitting steady and majestic. He flicked the reins and shouted, "Giddy up!"

Tauxue let out two braying sounds, unsure if it was out of helplessness or a warning, but it couldn't defy Zi Bofeng and trotted off with a series of brays.

Riding the donkey and making a scene through the streets, Zi Bofeng arrived at Mengcheng Prefecture once again.

"Master Scholar..." The guards at the gate had changed shifts, but they all recognized Zi Bofeng. They were taken aback at the sight of him and asked, "Master Scholar, what is this..."

"Move aside, move aside." Reeking of alcohol, Zi Bofeng exuded an imposing aura. He waved a hand and said, "Feijianzi, where is Feijianzi? Come out here!"

In a secluded courtyard within Mengcheng Prefecture, Feijianzi was grooming the feathers of his White Crane.

Feijianzi still remembered when he first went up the mountain, back when he was at an age of playfulness and spontaneity. He would pester the White Crane all day, begging it to carry him as he soared through the sky. His laughter had echoed throughout the entire Bird-Mouse Temple.

But today, the White Crane was old and could no longer carry him; it even struggled to pull the Cloud Carriage. Yet, as his own deadline approached, he still hadn't managed to cross that threshold.

Thirty years had passed. He still possessed his youthful appearance, but his senior brothers had grown increasingly aged.

The spiritual energy in Bird-Mouse Temple had grown thinner and thinner. His senior brothers no longer practiced diligently, instead exhausting their energy on maintaining the Spirit Gathering Array.

His senior brother had completely let go of the path to immortality, and he no longer dared to hope for the glory of the sect. His senior brother had sacrificed too much for Bird-Mouse Temple, yet he still hadn't been able to make it flourish. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth was thinning, but the Bird-Mouse Temple had to carry on.

The hope lay with him.

Although his senior brother had never said it, Feijianzi knew.

His senior brothers were all growing old. His senior brother had once said that among the young disciples of Bird-Mouse Temple, only he, Feijianzi, perhaps held a glimmer of hope.

If one day his senior brothers were to ride the crane to the west, the sect would need him to support it, to strive, and to struggle. Before that, he had to do a good job of collecting the Jade Tax.

If he couldn't even handle this small task, how could he face the expectations of his senior brothers?

Feijianzi, you must not fail the expectations of your senior brothers!

Just as Feijianzi was silently encouraging himself, a clamorous noise erupted outside: "Feijianzi, come out! Come out here!"

The commotion grew closer until it reached Feijianzi's door, followed by a loud thumping on the wood.

Feijianzi frowned, walked to the door, and opened it, only to be stunned.

Zi Bofeng.

He remembered this youth clearly—the boy overflowing with spiritual energy who seemed unlikely to live past twenty.

At this moment, the spiritual energy on him seemed even denser, as if one could squeeze water out of it just by grabbing a handful. He held a bottle of wine in one hand, breathing out alcoholic fumes and hiccuping, swaying as he stood at the door. Every time he wobbled, the little donkey beside him would nudge him back upright.

"What is the meaning of this?" Seeing Zi Bofeng, Feijianzi frowned immediately. "Drinking in broad daylight, so arrogant and indulgent—I must have misjudged you."

What are you acting so high and mighty for? Do you think you're Hua Wuque? Looking at the dashing and handsome Feijianzi standing in his robes at the gate, Zi Bofeng felt an inexplicable surge of jealousy... I'm still Xiao Yu'er!

Feijianzi was dazed for a moment, his gaze falling on Tauxue beside Zi Bofeng.

Nourished by Zi Bofeng's Monster Raising Art, Tauxue also showed faint traces of spiritual energy. Although they seemed worlds apart, in truth, Feijianzi's White Crane was only at the second stage, Enlightening the Stubborn Stone. Only by crossing this second stage and entering the third, Breathing Spiritual Energy, could one truly be considered to have crossed the threshold of a monster; before that, they were merely mortal beasts.

But having been nourished by the Monster Raising Art, its spirit and vitality were already vastly different from an ordinary donkey. Feijianzi couldn't help but praise, "A fine donkey!"

"You're the fine donkey!" Zi Bofeng thought Feijianzi was insulting him and flew into a rage. "Feijianzi, I ask you, by what right did you come down the mountain to collect the Jade Tax?"

Zi Bofeng's boisterous arrival had drawn many onlookers. Even the Prefect had been stirred; he stood in the shadows with the Chief Clerk and others, watching. Seeing Zi Bofeng reeking of alcohol, he shook his head, but upon hearing him drunkenly question Feijianzi about the Jade Tax, he couldn't tell if he should be impressed or helpless.

"This Zi Bofeng, his scholarly air is a bit too thick," the Chief Clerk remarked, shaking his head. "In this world, some things can be reasoned with, but some things cannot."

Zi Bofeng had argued his case and faced Hu Caijun in court because the imperial bureaucracy had laws and procedures, and with reason and evidence on his side, he could be invincible.

The Prefect had used the same method to push back the tax increase in Quzhou Prefecture for the same reason.

But the immortals coming to collect the Jade Tax were not people one could reason with. Trying to reason with the unreasonable was not just playing the lute to a cow; it was asking for trouble.

The Prefect shook his head, unsure if he agreed or disagreed with the Chief Clerk's opinion. He merely instructed those around him to keep a sharp eye out: if Zi Bofeng went too far, they were to pull him back, and if he were in danger, they were to protect him.

"Where is Qianshan?" The Prefect was puzzled. Zi Bofeng had arrived, but Luo Qianshan had not. Although the two seemed like fire and water, they were actually quite close. If Zi Bofeng was here, shouldn't Luo Qianshan be with him?

"This... General Luo is drunk... Young Master Zi was just drinking with the General."

"Qianshan is drunk, and Bofeng is still awake?" The Prefect clicked his tongue in wonder.

"He is not awake; he is clearly as drunk as one can possibly be." The Chief Clerk shook his head, for in his eyes, this move by Zi Bofeng was truly insane.

"He is merely using the wine as a pretext for his madness." The Prefect shook his head lightly. His understanding of Zi Bofeng far exceeded that of the others, so he could see that while Zi Bofeng had indeed borrowed a bit of liquid courage to confront Feijianzi, it was nonetheless his true intention.

It was just that some things were better said while drunk than sober.

"The Bird-Mouse Temple protects the peace of Meng City, and Meng City provides the jade required for the Bird-Mouse Temple's cultivation; this has always been the custom."

"Custom? The custom is a Jade Tax once every thirty years, and it was already paid ten years ago." Zi Bofeng sneered. "What kind of custom requires it every ten years? If I pay this year, and you come back next year demanding another three thousand pieces, is that also a custom?"

"Extraordinary circumstances cannot be treated with the same logic!" Feijianzi was rendered speechless by Zi Bofeng's words. He knew he was in the wrong, but even without reason, he had to argue his case forcefully.

"A moment ago you called it a custom, and now you say it cannot be treated with the same logic? So when does the logic apply? Could it be that you are always the one in the right?" Zi Bofeng let out a cold laugh. "Very well, I will ask you again. You claim the Bird-Mouse Temple protects the peace of Meng City; tell me then, which peace have you protected? To say nothing of the rest, in the ten years since the last Jade Tax was paid, there were three years of great drought—did your Bird-Mouse Temple ever set up an altar to pray for rain? There were two years of great floods—did your Bird-Mouse Temple ever dredge the river channels? In these ten years, bandits have run rampant—did your Bird-Mouse Temple ever fly your swords or perform rites to uphold justice?"

The Prefect smiled bitterly and said, "He isn't just slapping Feijianzi in the face; he is exposing my own shortcomings."

Listening to Zi Bofeng's summary, the Prefect felt quite defeated; it seemed he had achieved absolutely nothing of note.

"To say nothing of the rest, you, Feijianzi, came from the west on your sword and had your fill of showing off, but do you know how many civilian houses were collapsed by the shock of that boulder you blasted apart? I'll tell you: thirty-one! How many people were injured by the flying debris? I'll tell you: over three hundred! You, Feijianzi, are noble, cold, and aloof, with such high-and-mighty airs. If you had kept your word and truly protected this land, I, Zi Bofeng, would respect you from thirty miles away and offer the jade with both hands. But have you ever even glanced at these people? Did you never even think of them at all? They are merely mortals, nothing more than ants, is that it? And what do you amount to, Feijianzi? Do you truly believe that just because others respectfully call you an Immortal, you are actually one? You are nothing but a petty cultivator. Who are you better than, who are you greater than, and what are you being so arrogant about? Who have you protected? You are merely living in your own delusions."

Record of Raising Monsters