Peach Blossom Wine

"One million!" Long Guangsheng stared at Chen Hao in disbelief.

Although Long Guangsheng had been around Zhonghai City for a long time, making him cough up a million all at once would practically skin him alive.

But Chen Hao couldn't be bothered to consider that. He glared at him. "Can't pay up, huh?"

As he spoke, Chen Hao stood up, picked up the stick from the floor, and made as if to beat him.

Long Guangsheng's eyes widened at the sight, and he hurriedly pleaded, "Fine, one million! Can I pay in installments?"

Chen Hao was utterly exasperated. "Do you think I'm running a charity? I'm extorting you right now. Please take this seriously."

Long Guangsheng pulled a long face. "Fine, fine. Give me a few days, and I'll definitely get the money together."

Seeing how pitiful he looked, Chen Hao couldn't be bothered to argue. He tossed the stick aside and asked, "Forget it. Check how much you've got in your WeChat wallet. Just give me whatever's in there."

Long Guangsheng swallowed and opened WeChat with trembling hands. "Only a few tens of thousands."

In truth, Chen Hao had only been joking when he demanded a million. He knew Long Guangsheng couldn't produce that much money at once. Even if he did get it, he was genuinely worried these people would hold a grudge. It was better not to go too far; teaching him a little lesson would suffice.

"That'll do."

Chen Hao opened WeChat as he spoke, ready to have Long Guangsheng transfer the money.

Unexpectedly, his phone froze the moment he opened WeChat. As Long Guangsheng caught sight of names like Alchemy Boy, Old Immortal of the South Pole, and God of Wealth in Chen Hao's contacts, a bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

"What are you staring at? Hurry up and pay." Chen Hao opened his payment QR code and had him transfer the money.

Once the money arrived, Chen Hao got up and headed outside.

But when he stepped out of the warehouse, he found himself surrounded by desolation, with no idea how to get home.

"Hurry up and find a car to take me back," Chen Hao snapped at Long Guangsheng behind him.

Long Guangsheng didn't dare refuse. He scurried over eagerly to serve as Chen Hao's driver.

Once inside the car, Chen Hao hurriedly opened WeChat and discovered a whole assortment of new things in his Favorites: the Fly-whisk, the First-Level Qiankun Bag, the Monkey Hair, the Yellow Emperor's Book of Changes—everything was there.

Sitting in the back seat, Chen Hao couldn't help bursting into laughter. Long Guangsheng, driving up front, kept staring in bewilderment, wondering if Chen Hao had lost his mind.

Chen Hao tapped the Yellow Emperor's Book of Changes again and selected the option to learn it.

An enormous torrent of information then surged into his mind. It took over ten minutes before he finally recovered.

The instant he opened his eyes, they filled with indescribable delight. He realized that everything he had just acquired, from acupuncture and pulse diagnosis to medicine and pill refinement, far surpassed what an ordinary person could achieve. No, it completely surpassed the limits of anyone on Earth.

It even contained numerous methods of healing and saving lives that he had never seen before. Without exaggeration, if someone gave him a set of gold needles right now, he would feel confident enough to bring the dead back to life.

If the Yellow Emperor's Book of Changes were made public, it could surely advance humanity's medical knowledge by hundreds, even thousands of years.

After quite a while, Long Guangsheng finally worked up the courage to ask, "Hao, who exactly are you? Do you run a martial arts school?"

Chen Hao rolled his eyes at him and said nothing.

Just as they were about to enter the city, Long Guangsheng spoke again, nearly making Chen Hao laugh in exasperation. "Hao, are you still taking followers? How about I join you?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Chen Hao refused. "Get lost."

When Long Guangsheng dropped him off at his rented place, he shamelessly kept insisting that he wanted to follow Chen Hao and learn the Golden Bell Shield. Chen Hao kicked him straight back into the car.

The punishment Chen Hao's body had withstood over the past two days had probably gone far beyond anything Long Guangsheng could comprehend. He must have assumed Chen Hao possessed some extraordinary martial art like the Golden Bell Shield or Iron Shirt.

Back home, Chen Hao hurriedly opened the Qiankun Bag, took out some ash from the Eight Trigrams Furnace, and applied it to practically every wound on his body.

Sure enough, both the wounds and swelling on his face vanished within minutes. Even the skin around the injuries became softer and smoother than before, as though it had been born anew.

A faint smile curved Chen Hao's lips. That morning, he had still been utterly lost about his future, but with this stuff in hand, why would he ever worry about finding a way forward?

The night passed uneventfully. The next morning, Chen Hao got up and headed straight out.

He had only just reached the street when he saw Long Guangsheng rushing toward him with a gang of underlings.

At the sight, Chen Hao's expression changed. Apparently, that bastard Long hadn't learned his lesson yesterday and still dared to bring people to make trouble for him.

I'll teach you all a proper lesson today. Otherwise, you'll keep clinging to me like ticks, and I can't have that.

His fists tightened slightly. Just as he was about to strike, Long Guangsheng and his underlings called out to him, "Morning, boss!"

Dozens of men shouting "boss" together in the street immediately startled the surrounding pedestrians.

Chen Hao was completely bewildered too. What the hell was going on?

Long Guangsheng's eyes were also full of shock and confusion. He had personally inflicted the wounds on Chen Hao's face, so how had he become perfectly fine overnight?

Still, he didn't ask. His admiration for Chen Hao only grew stronger. "Hao, from now on, we're following you."

"Get lost!"

Chen Hao shouted at him without the slightest courtesy and charged straight out of the crowd.

The whole gang followed Long Guangsheng in pursuit, making quite a spectacle in the street.

Chen Hao wanted nothing to do with these people. Pointing at Long Guangsheng, he shouted, "I'm warning you. Stop following me, or don't blame me for getting rough."

With a sheepish grin, Long Guangsheng could only stop.

But when he saw Chen Hao about to leave again, he stepped forward and followed.

Furious, Chen Hao raised a hand as if to hit him.

Instead, Long Guangsheng held out his phone and gestured for Chen Hao to look. "Don't hit me, Hao! Look at this video. It's gone viral—hundreds of thousands of views already."

Chen Hao frowned despite himself and took a closer look. Wasn't the video showing him saving that Audi A4 the day before yesterday?

"What the hell does that have to do with you? I'm warning you, stop following me. I'm not your boss either." With that, Chen Hao left again, leaving the disappointed group behind.

After hailing a taxi, Chen Hao checked his phone and saw a mass of messages in the Heavenly Court Chat Group. Without reading much of them, he opened the message from the Old Immortal of the South Pole.

"Fellow immortal Little Charlatan, this Wuliangye of yours is simply delicious! So rich and fragrant, ten thousand times better than the wine I have here! Do you have any more? Any more? Hurry and send me some!"

Reading the Old Immortal of the South Pole's message, Chen Hao replied, "Naturally, I have more wine. But might you have some fine wine of your own that we could exchange and sample?"

He watched the Old Immortal of the South Pole's chat window with eager anticipation. If he could get some Heavenly Court wine to sell here, wouldn't Wuliangye, Moutai, and all the rest have to step aside?

Before long, the Old Immortal of the South Pole replied, "Fellow immortal, I do have wine, but it falls far short of yours."

How could Chen Hao possibly turn his nose up at Heavenly Court wine? He hurriedly replied, "Not a problem, not a problem. Please send some over for this humble immortal to try."

Ding-dong! You have received a jar of Immortal Wine from the Old Immortal of the South Pole.

"Holy crap, a whole jar!"

Chen Hao hurriedly opened his WeChat Favorites. "Peach Blossom Wine: brewed by the Old Immortal of the South Pole using heavenly court peach blossoms. Average flavor. Its only effect is to prolong life; it has no other effects."

After reading the effects of the Peach Blossom Wine, Chen Hao nearly sprang out of his seat. Holy shit! Its only effect is to prolong life, and it does nothing else? You immortals might look down on it, but I don't! Hahahaha!

Amid his excitement, a plan gradually began to take shape in his mind. He now held two powerful treasures: first, the Eight Trigrams Furnace ash, which could rapidly heal external injuries, and second, this Peach Blossom Wine.

If he could market these two things, he would surely make a tidy fortune. Then he would make everyone who had looked down on him see him in a whole new light.

He recalled meeting Sun Jiaqi's parents and the cold remarks and disdain they had heaped on him. Hadn't it all been because he came from a poor family and had no money?

Now, with these immortals helping him, Chen Hao believed he could soar to success and stand at the very top of the world.

After getting out of the taxi, Chen Hao walked toward a towering building with a smile on his face.

Now that he had a goal and was preparing to register a company, he wanted to share the good news with his girlfriend, Sun Jiaqi.

But as he passed the café beneath the office building, a familiar figure suddenly caught his eye.

Today, Sun Jiaqi was once again dressed in a proper black business suit. Her ponytail and delicate features made her a pleasing sight.

The corners of Chen Hao's mouth lifted slightly. He was just about to go inside and greet her when he saw a familiar man approach Sun Jiaqi with two cups of coffee.

Initially assuming he was one of Sun Jiaqi's coworkers, Chen Hao thought nothing of it. But when he clearly saw the man's face, he froze.