How the Hell Was He Supposed to Keep Playing?!

Once Zhuo Yifan finished speaking, the crowd below the stage swarmed forward.

Li Shouyi followed them in with the three women.

He had no interest in joining the Heavenly Sword Sect, but he wanted the rewards!

That bastard Wu Dalang could come knocking again at any moment.

How could he get by without a decent weapon or two at his side?

He led the three women between the two stone pillars. When he opened his eyes again, they were on an island.

How did he know it was an island? Because the cultivators who had entered before them were discussing how to clear the trial.

"Second Brother, should we recruit a few helpers?"

"I think we absolutely should. We're just three rookies in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Without help, we definitely won't even make the top fifty."

"At least three hundred people have come for this selection!"

Three men stood ahead of Li Shouyi's group of four, each with a very distinctive appearance.

One was cross-eyed, one had a limp, and the last was even more impressive.

He was bald.

As they looked the men over, the three men spotted them too. After exchanging glances, they walked toward Li Shouyi.

"You four, we're the East Lake Three Brothers."

"I'm the eldest, Ma Hua. This is my second brother, Ma Teng, and my third brother, Ma Yu."

The bald Ma Hua pointed to the other two, introducing them one by one.

At the sight of them, the corners of Li Shouyi's mouth twitched.

"Uh, you certainly have some distinctive looks!"

"What did you say, brat?"

The man with the limp caught the teasing in Li Shouyi's words, and his expression changed in a flash.

"Third Brother, don't make trouble."

The cross-eyed man had spoken. With a folding fan in his hand and a thin, parted mustache, he clearly relied on his brains.

After speaking, he struggled to focus his eyes on a single point and looked at Li Shouyi's group.

When he spotted Pei Zhujiu, he cried out in surprise, "Pei Zhujiu, the Wine Immortal?"

"What?"

The other two men's expressions changed as well.

Their reaction puzzled Li Shouyi.

He frowned. "You seem to know my disciple."

"She's your disciple?"

"That's right. I just took her in."

"We'll take our leave. Eldest Brother, Third Brother, let's go!"

The cross-eyed man turned to leave with the other two as soon as he finished speaking.

"Wait. First, explain why your expressions changed when you saw my disciple."

Li Shouyi's Golden Core aura erupted, instantly pinning all three men in place.

His aura pressed down on them until they could barely breathe. Veins bulging on his face, the cross-eyed man said, "Senior, please stop. We only heard the news One-Eye was spreading."

"He said that unlucky Wine Immortal had been taken in as a disciple by a Golden Core cultivator."

"But that isn't the important part. What matters most is..."

"One-Eye has been spreading the word everywhere that bad luck follows the Wine Immortal wherever she goes."

After hearing his answer, Li Shouyi withdrew his Golden Core pressure and turned to Pei Zhujiu. "Disciple, are you really that unlucky?"

Pei Zhujiu hastily defended herself. "Master, don't listen to their nonsense. I just like drinking, that's all."

Li Shouyi thought that made sense. No matter how useless someone was, surely they couldn't be useless to that extent.

When he turned back to question the three men further, he found they had already vanished.

Pei Zhujiu lowered her head. "Master, if you think I'm a burden, why don't you just pretend you never took me as your disciple?"

She felt certain she had caused trouble for Li Shouyi.

So she wanted him to give up on her.

"You two, go ahead and wait for your master."

Rather than answering Pei Zhujiu immediately, Li Shouyi first sent Lin Shuishui and Su Wan'er ahead to wait for him.

His manner made Pei Zhujiu tremble, her hands clutching the skirt Su Wan'er had just given her.

Su Wan'er also thought Li Shouyi intended to abandon Pei Zhujiu and wanted to persuade him otherwise.

But at his stern look, she could only let Lin Shuishui pull her away, feeling wronged.

"Here, take this."

Li Shouyi held a bottle out to Pei Zhujiu.

Then he continued, "This is a gift from your master. As for the trouble you mentioned, I don't care about that at all."

Pei Zhujiu instantly raised her head and looked at him with reddened eyes.

"Master..."

Li Shouyi raised a hand, signaling for her to keep listening.

"You don't need to feel burdened. Don't you want to drink?"

"I'll let you drink your fill every day."

"If cultivators avoid every trouble they encounter and dodge every enemy they meet, what's the point of cultivating?"

"Drinking is the same. Every sip is like life itself. Each mouthful of wine that passes down your throat is like traveling another stretch of road, with different scenery along the way!"

"Do you understand, my disciple?"

Li Shouyi felt his speech had been absolutely perfect.

He had made his point both openly and between the lines.

All you need to do from now on is drink.

After accepting Li Shouyi's wine, Pei Zhujiu's tears streamed down without stopping as she looked into his gentle eyes.

She wiped away her tears and nodded fiercely.

"All right, stop crying."

"Let's go find your senior sisters!"

Smiling, Li Shouyi took her delicate little hand and led her forward.

What he didn't know was that Pei Zhujiu had indeed taken his words to heart.

Only her understanding might have been a hundred and eight thousand miles from what he had intended.

When the two women up ahead saw Li Shouyi return with a tearful Pei Zhujiu, they hurried over to ask her what the two of them had just discussed.

After Pei Zhujiu explained, the three women began giggling and laughing behind him.

As she chatted with the other two, Pei Zhujiu sipped the wine Li Shouyi had just handed her.

Before long, her little face was as red as a monkey's backside.

Indeed, every sip of Li Shouyi's wine gave Pei Zhujiu a different experience.

The first mouthful was fiery on her tongue, but once she swallowed it, its lingering flavor seemed endless.

The second was wonderfully sweet and refreshing, yet burned fiercely as she swallowed.

That peculiar sensation reminded Pei Zhujiu of what Li Shouyi had just told her.

"Every sip of wine is a different stretch of life, a different view..."

And so Pei Zhujiu got drunk, collapsing into Su Wan'er's arms.

At first, Li Shouyi had been delighted to see Pei Zhujiu drinking.

This new disciple of his really was far more reliable than those other two walking disasters.

Besides, he refused to believe anyone could gain enlightenment just by quietly drinking wine.

If that happened, I, Li Shouyi, would right then and there...

He hadn't even finished making his solemn vow.

The system's voice rang out.

"Congratulations, host—mission failed."

"Congratulations, host. Your disciple has comprehended the Dao of Wine—Drunken Dream of Life and Death."

"Congratulations, host. Your mission difficulty has increased."

"Next time, you must recruit a useless disciple so rare that one appears only once every five hundred years to trigger a mission."

Li Shouyi: ??

At that moment, Li Shouyi wanted to ask the system just one thing.

Are you looking down on me, Big G?

He hadn't even finished his damn vow!

His newest disciple had gained fucking enlightenment too?

How the hell was he supposed to keep playing?!