A Nutcase?

Hearing his master's voice, Zhuo Yifan couldn't help swallowing. He hurriedly put on a serious tone. "Master, hear me out! Martial Uncle told me to steal the wine. I haven't drunk a single bottle!"

Once he finished speaking, he hastily tucked the wine in his hand into his spatial ring.

"All right, I'll settle that score with you later."

"For now, hurry up and activate the hallucinogenic drug in the Secret Realm. Knock them all out."

"Once the time is up, go bring them out."

His master wasn't pursuing the matter of the stolen wine!

Zhuo Yifan breathed a sigh of relief and hastily said, "Don't worry, Master. I guarantee no one will clear the trial this time."

"All right. Once you've sent these people away, hurry back to the sect."

"Yes, Master."

After ending the conversation with his master, Zhuo Yifan hurriedly took out the round formation disk that controlled the Secret Realm and fiddled with it a few times.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

What he didn't know, however, was that when he activated the mechanism that released the hallucinogenic mist, he had accidentally disabled all the dangers in the preceding stages.

Having taken care of everything, Zhuo Yifan took out his wine bottle again and began sipping.

Inside the Secret Realm.

Pei Zhujiu skipped merrily ahead.

She came to the edge of a cliff, where a rope stretched across to the other side.

Without the slightest hesitation, Pei Zhujiu hopped onto the rope and strolled leisurely forward.

Below the cliff, beasts crouched concealed against their surroundings.

Their scarlet eyes stared fixedly at Pei Zhujiu.

Under this stage's original settings, the beasts would attack from below as soon as a challenger stepped onto the rope.

But because Zhuo Yifan had just disabled the obstacle systems in every stage, the beasts' limbs were firmly pinned to the rock walls beneath the cliff.

These beasts also had another characteristic: they couldn't make a sound.

And so, dancing cheerful steps and singing festive songs of her own invention, Pei Zhujiu passed one stage after another and finally reached a raised platform.

Seeing a sword resting on the platform, she beamed and thought to herself.

A sword! Wonderful!

She had grown up listening to stories of the Wine Sword Immortal. Whenever she drank a couple of ounces of liquor with a few peanuts, she couldn't help reciting a few of that Wine Sword Immortal's bold declarations from the Cultivation World.

"On my sword, I ride the wind; across heaven and earth, I vanquish demons. With wine, I roam in carefree joy; without wine, I am wild all the same. One draught drains rivers and seas; another swallows sun and moon. A thousand cups cannot lay me low—none but I, the Wine Sword Immortal."

At the thought, she could no longer contain her excitement. Taking two bounding steps instead of one, she leaped onto the platform and picked up the three-foot sword.

The instant Pei Zhujiu picked up the sword, the entire Secret Realm began shaking violently.

It was as though an invisible hand outside its space was squeezing the entire Secret Realm.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Everyone inside the Secret Realm turned into a streak of white light and vanished.

"Master, wake up! Wake up!"

Li Shouyi felt as though his head had been struck with an iron hammer. He was dizzy all over.

When his vision returned, he saw his three fresh-faced disciples looking anxiously at him.

"Where am I?"

"Master, I did it! I came first!"

Seeing Pei Zhujiu's excited expression, Li Shouyi instantly came to his senses.

He remembered the system's assessment of Pei Zhujiu.

"She has tasted all the warmth and coldness of the world, and savored every facet of human life."

"A favored daughter of heaven rarely seen in a thousand years."

At the thought, he could no longer hold back his fury. He shot to his feet, grabbed Pei Zhujiu by the ear, and began scolding her.

"Explain this to me! Didn't I tell you to drink?"

"And you managed to dream up new tricks while drinking, did you?"

"Come on, tell me! What the hell did you comprehend?"

Li Shouyi's fury terrified Pei Zhujiu. She thought she had comprehended the wrong thing.

She burst into tears and said to Li Shouyi, "I'm sorry, Master! I know I was wrong!"

"What I comprehended was Drunken Life, Dreaming Death."

"Turn oneself into a furnace and refine all things beneath heaven."

Hiss...

Li Shouyi sucked in a sharp breath. By now, the arm he was pointing at her with wouldn't stop trembling.

But seeing Pei Zhujiu's tear-streaked face, like pear blossoms drenched in rain, he couldn't help softening. "All right, stop crying."

"Since you've comprehended it, cultivate it properly!"

After snapping those words, Li Shouyi slumped to the ground, looking as though he had nothing left to live for.

"Master, are you all right?"

Pei Zhujiu asked quietly. When Li Shouyi didn't respond, she grew terrified.

But Su Wan'er hurriedly pulled her aside and said, "Third Junior Sister, don't worry."

"Our master is fine. When Eldest Senior Sister and I comprehended our own Daos a while ago, he looked exactly like this."

"He'll be better in a couple of days."

"Not only will he get better, he'll also scold people fiercely. You'd better prepare yourself."

Pei Zhujiu's little mouth fell open, as though she had heard something unbelievable.

Then she began reasoning it out. "Senior Sister, do you think Master wanted us to comprehend his Dao?"

"What Dao?"

"Master's own Dao!"

"What Dao does our master have? He's just an ordinary Golden Core cultivator."

Whoosh...

Su Wan'er's words were like a sharp knife plunging straight into Li Shouyi's heart some distance away.

His face had been ashen, but upon hearing those words...

His eyes suddenly blazed with a fierce intensity as he looked at Su Wan'er. "An ordinary Golden Core cultivator, am I?"

"Scold people, do I?"

"If I don't roast you, you rebellious disciple, over a fire for half an hour today, my surname isn't Li!"

"Master, I was wrong!"

Seeing Li Shouyi bristle with rage, Su Wan'er looked startled, let out a shriek, grabbed Pei Zhujiu, and began running out.

As for why she had grabbed her third junior sister?

Did that even need asking? To use her as a shield, of course!

Li Shouyi had just summoned his Three Flavors True Fire when a figure blocked Su Wan'er, who had been about to flee.

"You two young ladies cannot leave."

The person standing in their way was none other than Zhuo Yifan, who had just sobered up.

At that moment, this genius of the Heavenly Sword Sect...

Looked as though his father had died.

He stared at the Shadow-Bearing Sword in Pei Zhujiu's hands and said, "Young lady, might I ask you to return our sect's Shadow-Bearing Sword to me?"

"Mine."

The moment Pei Zhujiu heard someone wanted to take her sword, she became unhappy.

"I understand, but you obtained it from our Heavenly Sword Sect."

"Mine."

Zhuo Yifan: "..."

He had never known how to deal with women, especially when faced with a young girl nervously clutching a sword and looking at him as though he were a bandit.

That left Zhuo Yifan feeling even more helpless.

Left with no other choice, he began calling his master.

"Master, there's a problem."

"A young girl cleared the trial."

"Most importantly, the Shadow-Bearing Sword actually didn't resist her."

Watching Zhuo Yifan talk to thin air, Su Wan'er and Pei Zhujiu exchanged a glance, nodded silently, and said in unison, "This guy must be a nutcase!"