In the small courtyard,
Silence reigned.
Ji Yuan stood frozen. The magic power surging wildly through his body went still in an instant.
Wine Immortal.
Those three words carried more weight than any oppressive aura.
Because Ji Yuan remembered something.
Years ago, in a mountain pavilion on Carefree Island, within the Water Dragon Sect of the Cangluo Continent, Hua Yaoyue had said to him over a drink, "If you ever have the chance to visit the Desolate Ancient Continent and run into trouble you can't solve, find someone called the Hanging Gourd Loose Immortal. Tell him you're Wine Immortal's disciple. He'll help you."
At the time, Ji Yuan had taken it as a contingency his master had mentioned in passing and thought little of it.
Even when Yun Qianzai and Feng Zhitáo ran into trouble this time, it had never occurred to him to seek out the Hanging Gourd Loose Immortal, whom he had never met.
Yet now, the old man with the gourds before him had spoken the words "Wine Immortal" the moment he opened his mouth.
Ji Yuan drew a deep breath and suppressed the stormy waves surging through his heart.
He raised his head and looked at the old man sitting cross-legged on the bluestone ground. His gaze fell on the two gourds at the man's waist—the left marked "medicine," the right "wine."
Hanging Gourd.
Wine.
After a moment's hesitation, Ji Yuan straightened his robe, cupped his hands solemnly, and bowed low. "I am Ji Yuan, your junior. May I ask if you are the Hanging Gourd Loose Immortal?"
The old man looked at him. A faint trace of amusement flashed through his clouded eyes.
"I am."
It really was him!
The man his master had spoken of all those years ago was sitting right in front