Whiskey

The night was quiet. Xiao Meng finally slipped back into his own side hall. He often vanished without a trace, and Xiao Zhan and the others had long grown used to it, so he did not have to worry about them searching everywhere for him.

It was already the latter half of the night. After fighting all day, he was truly exhausted and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The next morning, the sun rose, spilling forth rosy clouds brimming with vitality. The energy between heaven and earth was exceptionally pure. After taking a few breaths, he felt refreshed and invigorated.

Although he had gone to bed late last night, Xiao Meng still woke at the first opportunity.

"In a few days, it'll be the annual assessment again. Although I can now beat those turtle bastards like dogs, as a transmigrator, how can my vision be so short-sighted? Taking a bunch of insignificant nobodies seriously would simply be an insult to me." Xiao Meng raised his head toward the blood-red rising sun, his gaze turning profound, like that of an old man weathered by ten thousand years of frost.

In truth, he was worried that Xiao Yan would steal his protagonist's halo. Although the system claimed that he was the true protagonist, Xiao Meng had never trusted that damned system that loved striking him with lightning.

He had even secretly sworn vicious oaths many times that once he became strong enough, he would definitely dig the system out of his head and beat it senseless. Otherwise, he would be fucked senseless by countless beauties until he was left battered and broken.

After washing up, Xiao Meng grabbed lethal weapons such as a spatula and a slingshot before heading out for the back mountain.

Yesterday, he had received one chance to fish, and he planned to use it today.

Before long, he made his way deep into the back mountain with practiced ease. With a thought from Xiao Meng, a completely red fishing rod appeared in his hand.

According to the system, this was the lowest-grade fishing rod. There were many higher-grade ones afterward, but he was not yet qualified to use them.

Xiao Meng sat cross-legged beneath a tree and took a deep breath. Then he flicked out the fishing line, and the hook immediately sank into the earth. Xiao Meng promptly closed his eyes, and an image of the hook's journey appeared in his mind.

"Fuck, it's Earth again." Very soon, Xiao Meng saw a blue planet, one he was incomparably familiar with.

"Damn it, don't tell me I'm going to fish up condoms, bras, or something again!" Xiao Meng's mouth twitched violently, and he almost gave up this fishing opportunity.

"Buddha, Guanyin, Three Pure Ones, God Almighty, bless me. I hope I can fish up something normal this time." Xiao Meng prayed silently.

"Huh! Why are the buildings here so strange? Could this not be China?" The different architectural style surprised Xiao Meng. Most of the things he had previously fished up had come from the land he loved most. He had not expected the location to change today.

"This isn't that island nation, but I wouldn't give a damn about the stuff from that shitty place anyway. Hmm! It doesn't seem to be America either... I was planning to fish up a dozen or so powerful nuclear weapons..." Xiao Meng muttered to himself. In that brief moment, the hook descended above an ancient mansion, passed through the roof, and continued downward.

It passed through seven or eight floors.

"What?"

"Is that alcohol?"

Seeing what was on the hook, Xiao Meng was utterly speechless. He did not even like drinking, so why had he gotten this thing?

"Good heavens, this seems to be a very old wine cellar. The alcohol inside must be incredibly valuable." Xiao Meng used his thoughts to pull the fishing line back.

"Come quickly! Someone is stealing alcohol, hurry..." Just after passing through two floors, he encountered a group of towering, imposing security guards in uniforms, and an alarm immediately sounded.

"Fuck! Is this stealing? I clearly fished it up, alright?" Although Xiao Meng could not understand what they were saying, he could roughly guess. He was therefore extremely dissatisfied and wanted to swing the line, using the bottle hanging from the hook to smash their heads.

The mafia bosses he saw on television all liked to hold a beer bottle in each hand and furiously smash them over their opponents' heads. It seemed pretty satisfying.

The security guards roared and ran about in every direction, trying to retrieve the bottle. That bottle was simply too precious, its value impossible to estimate. Yet in the blink of an eye, it vanished.

In an instant, everyone was dumbfounded. They all thought their eyes were playing tricks on them. That bottle had actually passed through the floors without leaving even the slightest trace?

"Oh heavens! This is a method only gods could possess."

"My, my god..." [One hundred thousand words omitted]

Everyone knelt down and prayed and worshipped devoutly.

As for that bottle of alcohol... what was wrong with a god drinking a bottle? Whoever dared to talk shit, even if the president came, would get beaten to death.

Offending a god would bring about the destruction of the world. What was one bottle of alcohol worth?

"I am the God of Light!" Xiao Meng really wanted to roar those words.

Not long after, he pulled a bottle of alcohol out from beneath the ground.

"1494, whiskey... Fuck! More than five hundred years old?" Xiao Meng's eyes nearly popped out as he stood there stunned. How could Earth possibly still have alcohol that was more than five hundred years old?

Judging from those security guards' attire, he could be certain that it was definitely an era after the year 2000.

Whiskey was one of the world's most expensive liquors. This bottle of whiskey more than five hundred years old was likely the most precious alcohol on all of Earth, without question.

Xiao Meng was deeply shocked.

"Although I didn't like drinking in my previous life, I did drink horse piss. But I've never even drunk alcohol that cost more than a hundred yuan per bottle, much less world-famous liquor. Today, I actually get to taste a world-famous liquor that even rich people can't drink. All that effort yesterday wasn't wasted." Xiao Meng was extremely excited. Although martial arts flourished in the Battle Through the Heavens world, they really were not skilled at making alcohol. That stuff tasted even worse than horse piss, and only people from this world could drink it with such enthusiasm.

"Hiss!"

Xiao Meng quickly opened the cap, and a rich fragrance immediately wafted out, nearly intoxicating him on the spot. Xiao Meng felt somewhat dizzy, as though he were already drunk.

"Good heavens, it's actually this potent? I haven't even taken a drink, and I'm already drunk." Xiao Meng found it unbelievable. As expected of a famous liquor aged for five hundred years.

The bottle contained a thick, viscous liquid, crystal clear like amber, transparent and gleaming. Its fragrance was so rich that it seemed impossible to disperse.

Xiao Meng smacked his lips, then turned the bottle upside down. However, the liquor was too viscous. It took more than ten minutes for a single drop the size of a fingertip to fall into his mouth, but that tiny amount already felt like enough.

He swallowed it in one gulp. It was fragrant and lingering, with an endless aftertaste. But the next second, his expression changed drastically. His throat felt as if it had caught fire, causing unbearable pain. Immediately afterward, his entire body burned hot, and he suddenly became a man of flame. His clothes instantly turned to ash.

One second in heaven, the next in hell. That was exactly what this situation was like.

"Fuck, am I drinking alcohol or lava? I'm burning to death!" Xiao Meng screamed miserably, writhing in agony on the ground.

"No, if this continues, I'll be burned to death sooner or later."

Then he forcibly sat cross-legged and circulated the Eternal Undying Art to refine the boundless energy within his body.

Flames swirled around Xiao Meng's body, and his entire form shone brilliantly, radiating glowing light. His aura surged like a tide, making him look like a phoenix bathed in fire. The sight was astonishing.

"This won't do. The first realm has already reached its limit and can't advance any further. But what am I supposed to do with all this energy in my body?" One or two hours later, much energy still remained inside Xiao Meng, making his entire body feel miserable.

"Whatever. I'll just break through to the Heavenly Palace now." Xiao Meng gritted his teeth and immediately circulated his cultivation art, directing the remaining energy within his body toward his chest.

The Heavenly Palace was actually the Tanzhong acupoint, also known as the middle dantian.

"Come on!"

Xiao Meng let out a low roar. The energy within his body rapidly gathered toward the pit of his stomach, as if forming a venomous dragon drill that spun without pause.

"Hiss!"

However, the first attempt failed. Xiao Meng tasted sweetness in his throat, and a mouthful of hot blood surged out. He had only broken through to the Qi Transformation Realm a day or two ago and had not made any preparations to challenge the Heavenly Palace Realm. He was being forced into it, with no other choice.

"I refuse to believe it. Keep attacking..." Xiao Meng would not accept defeat. He pushed his cultivation art to its limit, determined to forcibly open the Heavenly Palace.

He attempted it three or four times, all ending in failure.

Yet Xiao Meng did not stop. Instead, each failure stirred up his unyielding nature even more.

After the tenth attempt, Xiao Meng finally saw hope. At the sharpest point of that energy vortex, a speck of light the size of a needlepoint appeared. It seemed like the entrance to a tunnel through time, leading to a mysterious world.

Xiao Meng felt as though he had opened up a universe and unlocked a hidden treasure. The sensation was wonderfully strange.

Once that point of light appeared, the energy within his body seemed drawn by some force and all surged into the Heavenly Palace.

At that moment, he changed. His vital essence surged into the sky, piercing the heavens like divine fire winding around him.

Xiao Meng's consciousness saw the scene within the Heavenly Palace. It was like a chaotic world, immensely vast and filled with hazy golden mist.

"The path of cultivation truly is wondrous," Xiao Meng could not help but sigh.

The human body held endless mysteries. Whether opening the Qi Palace or the Heavenly Palace, both were forms of exploration and breakthroughs.

However, only after opening a Qi Palace or Heavenly Palace could one be considered a true martial cultivator, because this was the foundation of cultivation.

The middle dantian was the foundation of life force and contained the essence and energy of the entire body. Once it was opened, the physical body would possess limitless potential for strength.

After breaking through to the Heavenly Palace Realm, Xiao Meng sensed the changes within himself. It was as though he had become a world the size of an egg, slowly growing and filled with limitless possibilities.

Xiao Meng's consciousness continued observing his Heavenly Palace. Suddenly, he seemed to see something else within it, brimming with life and shrouded in chaotic mist.

"What is that?"