Selling Beer

After returning to the martial hall, Su Yueli buried herself in the back courtyard and began tinkering with the business of brewing alcohol.

She sprouted the barley, dried it, crushed it, then boiled it over high heat in a large pot to produce sweet wort. Finally, she added an herb found at a pharmacy in Azure Province City, one with a slightly astringent bitterness, to replace hops.

Without modern equipment, everything could only rely on the most primitive methods and a martial artist's precise control over the heat.

For ten days straight, Su Yueli barely stepped half a foot out of the back courtyard.

During the day, she watched over the fermenting earthenware vats while guiding Tie Ling'er in practicing the breathing technique.

Though Tie Ling'er was afraid of pain and clumsy, she at least possessed an unyielding streak deep in her bones. After ten days, she could barely swallow a few mouthfuls of stiff, raw qi and blood.

As for Su Yueli herself, she had not neglected her fist training either.

Through those ten days of quiet accumulation and calming her mind, the fourth form Lu Chen had taught her, River Severing, had progressed from minor mastery to complete grand mastery.

Ten days later, at dawn.

Su Yueli lifted the lid of an earthenware vat, and a rich scent of wheat mixed with a crisp, faintly bitter fragrance rushed into her face.

She scooped out a little with a wooden ladle. A dense layer of white foam floated atop the amber-colored liquor.

Tilting her head back, she drank it down. The liquid rushed through her throat into her stomach. It lacked the fiery burn of baijiu and the sour astringency of rice wine; there was only an ultimate freshness.

"It's done."

Satisfaction filled Su Yueli's eyes. Rare things were precious, so earning some money would not be a problem.

At noon, after the martial hall disciples dispersed from the front courtyard, Tie Tu came to the back courtyard.

Over the past ten days, he had buried the grief of losing his closest friend deep in his heart. His emotions seemed to have steadied considerably, though the white at his temples had become even more conspicuous.

The moment he stepped into the courtyard, Tie Tu caught an unfamiliar fragrance of alcohol.

"Yueli, you haven't stepped outside for ten days. What have you been concocting?"

Tie Tu leaned over the earthenware vat and stared at the strange, bubbling liquid within, his face full of confusion. "This is wine? Why's there foam floating on top?"

"Uncle Tie, have a taste."

Su Yueli filled a large bowl to the brim and handed it over. "I brewed it myself. It's called beer."

Tie Tu accepted it, half believing and half doubting.

As a Fifth Realm martial artist, he had drunk countless fierce liquors from all across the land, north and south of great rivers, yet he had never seen wine of this color.

He raised his head and tentatively took a huge gulp.

"Burp—"

The instant the liquor entered his throat, Tie Tu let out a loud burp.

His eyes instantly widened as he stared at the porcelain bowl in his hand in disbelief.

This wine was extremely low-proof, not even worthy of being called strong liquor. Yet its ice-cold, thoroughly refreshing taste, carrying a faint bitterness while being incomparably thirst-quenching, was utterly novel.

"Refreshing!"

Tie Tu could not help but pour down two more great gulps, praising it without end. "There's a strange bitterness when it enters the mouth, but the sweet aftertaste is exquisite! It relieves fatigue and quenches thirst! This wine suits young and old alike!"

He laughed heartily and wiped his mouth, but just as the smile appeared, it unknowingly froze on his face.

Looking at the coarse porcelain bowl in his hand, a trace of desolation flashed through Tie Tu's eyes. He murmured in a low voice, "What a pity... If that stubborn mule Old Lu were still alive, how wonderful would it be for him to taste the fine wine brewed by his own disciple..."

The atmosphere in the courtyard instantly grew heavy.

The wind swept through the locust tree, and its leaves rustled.

Tie Tu realized he had misspoken and saddened the younger generation, so he hurriedly coughed twice to smooth things over.

"Ah, why bring that up?"

He set down the porcelain bowl and looked earnestly at Su Yueli. "Yueli, your wine may be good, but you're a young lady. What sort of thing is it for you to show your face in the streets and sell wine?"

"Since you're Lu Chen's disciple, you're my Tie Tu's own daughter. So long as I have a bite to eat at Ironbone Martial Hall, you'll never go hungry. Uncle Tie will naturally support you for the rest of your life, letting you live free of worries over food and clothing. You need only focus on practicing martial arts!"

His words landed with the weight of stone, carrying the most sincere righteousness of a martial man.

Su Yueli merely shook her head.

"Thank you for your kindness, Uncle Tie, but I still want to earn some money myself."

She could not remain in this small courtyard for the rest of her life.

She needed to track down clues about immortal cultivators, deduce the ultimate limits of the Martial Dao, and perhaps even face the colossal Azure Cloud Sect in the future.

The road to longevity was far too difficult. She had to possess her own confidence and means.

Money was one of the sharpest blades in the mortal world.

Seeing Su Yueli's resolute expression, Tie Tu knew that this girl had the same temperament as Lu Chen. Once she set her sights on something, not even ten oxen could drag her back.

"Fine. Do as you please, then."

Tie Tu sighed, then abruptly changed the subject, his expression turning serious. "But if you're going out and showing your face, Uncle Tie needs to test your foundation first."

"Old Lu's fist arts only taught killing moves. Come, attack me with all your strength. Let me see just how deep your Third Realm Blood Exchange foundation truly is!"

As he spoke, Tie Tu sank slightly at the knees and assumed a stance, suppressing his realm to the same Third Realm level as Su Yueli.

"Uncle Tie, forgive me."

Su Yueli happened to want to test her own strength as well. Since beginning martial arts training, she had never truly fought.

Her eyes lowered slightly. In the next breath, the bluestone slabs beneath her feet exploded with a thunderous crash!

Her entire body shot forward, and her opening move was the first form's pure, brutal violence—Mountain Splitter!

Bang!

Fist and palm collided, and a wave of air rippled through the courtyard.

Tie Tu steadily caught the punch and was just about to offer some guidance when Su Yueli flipped her wrist, changing her fist into fingers and viciously slashing back toward his throat.

Second form, Bone Entangler! Third form, City Crusher!

Su Yueli's offensive was like a raging storm, move after move, leaving not the slightest room for defense. Every strike went straight for a vital point.

The more Tie Tu fought, the more alarmed he became. As expected, they were the same pure killing techniques as Lu Chen's!

If not for the deep foundation of his Fifth Realm and his combat experience forcibly neutralizing them, an ordinary martial artist at the same realm would likely have been torn to pieces by this girl long ago.

"Hah—"

At the instant Tie Tu deflected an elbow strike, Su Yueli took a deep breath, and the qi and blood throughout her body suddenly flowed in reverse.

Her right arm carried the terrifying explosive force of severing a river, and her fist smashed toward Tie Tu's chest.

Fourth form, River Severing!

The punch even produced a sonic boom in the air.

Tie Tu's pupils contracted slightly. At last, he no longer suppressed his realm. The heavy qi and blood of Fifth Realm Martial Awakening instantly burst from his body, forming an invisible wall of qi before his chest.

"Boom!"

The dull blast shook the fallen leaves in the courtyard to pieces.

Su Yueli was forced back three steps by the Fifth Realm's rebounding force, her qi and blood churning slightly.

Tie Tu did not retreat even half a step, but the right arm that had received that punch head-on still went numb.

"Grand mastery?!"

Tie Tu withdrew his stance and looked at Su Yueli as though she were a monster, his face full of disbelief. "You've even brought this fourth form to complete grand mastery?!"

Su Yueli steadied her breathing and nodded. "I only broke through a few days ago."

"Old Lu... raised a monstrous genius."

Tie Tu drew a deep breath and sighed with a complicated expression. "With such comprehension and that ruthlessness in your bones, it's no wonder you entered the Third Realm at this age. Yueli, Uncle Tie will speak honestly: aside from having a higher Martial Dao realm than you, I truly have little left to teach you in fist arts or actual combat."

In this world, talent truly was utterly unreasonable.

"Father! Sister Yueli! What are you doing?"

At that moment, Tie Ling'er came running down the corridor with a plate of fruit. She had happened to see Su Yueli force her normally imposing father into using Fifth Realm qi and blood.

The little girl's eyes instantly lit up like stars. She ran over with a face full of worship and hugged Su Yueli's arm. "Sister Yueli, you're amazing! I saw it all just now. That punch of yours was so impressive!"

Turning her head, Tie Ling'er did not forget to make a face at her own father. "Father, don't you always brag that hardly anyone in Azure Province City can take three of your moves? Why were you forced into defending by Sister Yueli today?"

Tie Tu's old face reddened, and he glared at his daughter. "Nonsense! I was afraid of hurting your sister, so I went easy on her!"

Watching this lively father-daughter pair, a trace of warmth passed through Su Yueli's eyes.

"Uncle Tie's foundation is profound. I do not compare to even one ten-thousandth of it." Su Yueli smiled faintly.

After resting for a moment, Su Yueli found several clean wooden barrels and divided the fermented beer among them, sealing them tightly with wooden lids and red cloth.

She then brought over a single-wheeled handcart used by the martial hall to transport stone locks and loaded the barrels onto it.

"Uncle Tie, Ling'er, I'm heading out first."

Su Yueli dusted off her hands and grasped the handcart's handles.

Tie Tu watched those large barrels of beer emitting their enticing wheat fragrance, and his Adam's apple bobbed twice.

"Cough... Well."

Tie Tu dry-coughed, a rare hint of embarrassment appearing on his face. Rubbing his hands together, he said, "Girl, since today's the first day you're taking this wine out to sell, Uncle Tie will give you an auspicious first sale."

"Leave one barrel for me. I'll have it with my drinks tonight."

At this, Su Yueli's lips curved upward. She unloaded one of the barrels and placed it on the stone table.

"Take your time drinking it."

With that, she pushed the handcart out through the main gate.

The blazing sun hung overhead as Su Yueli pushed her cart directly to the entrance of Eastern Market, Azure Province City's busiest district. Finding a fairly spacious patch of shade beneath a tree, she unloaded the beer barrels.