The Primordial World lay beyond the East Sea.
On Golden Ao Island, purple qi surged and holy light rolled overwhelmingly.
Inside Biyou Palace, Saint Tongtian possessed a majestic frame and a heaven-shaking aura that captured one's soul.
"My Interception Sect focuses on the single word 'intercept'."
"The Great Dao numbers fifty, the heavenly evolution counts forty-nine, and humanity escapes one. We are precisely meant to intercept that escaped one..."
The saint spoke, and the sound of his dao discourse resounded. Celestial music drifted endlessly, evolving various astonishing phenomena.
Inside Biyou Palace, Duobao and the other eight personal disciples sat upright.
Outside Biyou Palace, however, over a hundred thousand outer disciples also focused single-mindedly, carefully comprehending the wondrous meaning of the Great Dao.
Yet at a certain moment, a voice shattered the tranquil and harmonious atmosphere outside Biyou Palace.
"Haha, good, truly good wine..."
"In life, one must enjoy themselves to the fullest; never let the golden goblet face the moon in vain!"
Although this voice was not loud, it seemed exceptionally grating amid an environment where everyone remained wordless to listen to the dao discourse.
A crowd of outer disciples frowned, then opened their eyes to look.
They saw a clear, handsome, and elegant figure standing behind the mass of outer disciples.
Yet while everyone else concentrated wholeheartedly on listening to and understanding the dao, he was instead carrying a wine jar and gulping down fine wine in large mouthfuls.
He even smacked his lips from time to time, emitting bursts of intoxicated sighs.
"As expected... Junior Apprentice Brother Gu Changqing is drinking heavily again."
"Hmph, this fellow really knows no time or place. In such a majestic and solemn place of dao discourse, he still dares to indulge himself in alcohol like this."
"He is finished. Junior Apprentice Brother Gu Changqing is truly finished."
Helplessness predominated among the words of the crowd.
Gu Changqing!
This name was widely known throughout the outer sect.
It was not because his cultivation was immensely profound, but because he truly did not resemble a saint's disciple.
Other disciples felt utmost gratitude upon being accepted into a saint's sect, cultivating diligently day and night without rest for fear of smearing the saint's orthodoxy.
Yet ever since entering the Interception Sect, this Gu Changqing had spent his days constantly drinking and remaining in a dazed, drunken state.
Normally that might have been fine, but who could have expected that he would still dare to act like this today while the saint was preaching the dao.
The crowd felt utterly speechless.
Inside Biyou Palace.
Duobao and the others possessed sharp divine senses and sensed this slight commotion outside as well.
"Alas... Only because my Interception Sect practices the teaching of all without distinction, and Master Tongtian possesses a lenient disposition, could we tolerate a disciple like Gu Changqing."
"Otherwise..."
Duobao sighed inwardly.
As cultivators, vulgar desires such as wine, wealth, and lust were things they dared not touch least they taint their cultivation base, let alone sinking entirely into them like Gu Changqing.
If it were within strict orthodoxies with rigorous rules like the Human Sect or the Chan Sect, Gu Changqing probably would have long since been expelled from the sect.
However, unlike Duobao.
On the other side, Golden Spirit Holy Mother, Wudang Holy Mother, and the Three Xiao possessed graceful figures and peerless appearances.
Yet the gazes they directed toward Gu Changqing held a trace of peculiar radiance.
"Junior Apprentice Brother Gu Changqing truly differs from ordinary people."
"The path of cultivation is terribly dull; Junior Apprentice Brother Gu Changqing is much more interesting by comparison."
To several of the women, the other disciples always maintained a trembling, rigidly conventional demeanor, which proved quite uninteresting.
By comparison, Gu Changqing's unconventional and unrestrained manner instead attracted their attention all the more.
Outside Golden Ao Island.
Gu Changqing acted as if no one else was present, finding joy in his own company.
He remained completely unaware of the inner complaints and sighs harbored by the crowd.
Even if he had known, he would not have cared.
Gulping down several mouthfuls, the fine wine in the jar was completely drained.
Only then did Gu Changqing burp contentedly.
At that exact moment, Gu Changqing's sea of consciousness violently stirred.
The power of divine sense churned like overturning waves and rolling billows.
In just a short moment, his sea of consciousness expanded more than tenfold compared to before.
Gu Changqing felt entirely satisfied.
Others laugh at my madness, while I laugh at them for failing to see through it!
Only Gu Changqing himself knew that constantly drinking wine was his true path of cultivation.
Two thousand years ago, Gu Changqing awoke and transmigrated into the Primordial World, becoming an ordinary outer disciple of the Interception Sect.
Fortunately, amidst the void, he fused with the Great Dao of Wine.
He grew stronger simply by drinking!
Fine wine entering his throat not only steadily increased his cultivation level, but also allowed him to comprehend various great divine arts and the rhyming essence of the Dao.
For two thousand years, in everyone else's eyes, he only knew how to binge drink, stay intoxicated, and neglect his cultivation.
Little did they know, every single sip of wine was equivalent to a spiritual root or immortal herb for Gu Changqing, granting him astonishing benefits.
How could he improve without drinking?
Gu Changqing also felt quite helpless...
As his voice trailed off, Gu Changqing did not hesitate at all. With a flip of his hand, he produced yet another jar of fine wine.
Thump!
He slapped away the mud seal on the jar with a single palm.
Instantly, a refreshing and intoxicating fragrance of wine permeated the air.
Gu Changqing continued drinking to his heart's content, completely immersed in his own world.
The few outer disciples closest to Gu Changqing twitched their noses, finding it somewhat difficult to calm their minds and focus amidst such wine aroma.
The crowd shot sideways glances of exasperation at Gu Changqing, naturally displeased at having their listening of the Dao disrupted.
Only out of awe for the majesty of Saint Tongtian did they dare not act out.
Yet, while the group of outer disciples gritted their teeth and endured, someone grew intolerant of Gu Changqing at this moment.
A stream of light flashed, and in the blink of an eye, a figure arrived from Biyou Palace and descended right before Gu Changqing.
"Gu Changqing, put away that dissolute and unrestrained look of yours."
"The Saint's lecture on the Dao is the most solemn event of our Interception Sect; it does not allow for such willful and reckless behavior from you."
"Furthermore, wine is an unclean substance of mortal beings that defiles cultivation. It must not appear here either."
The newcomer had a stern expression and spoke in a tone reprimanding Gu Changqing.
What caught people's attention was that his entire head of hair was actually cyan in color.
Witnessing this scene, the expressions of the outer disciples turned solemn.
"Senior Brother Qiu Shou Xian?!"
"Hmph, this matter has already alarmed Senior Brother Qiu Shou Xian. Let's see if that Gu Changqing still dares to be so unrestrained."
"Qiu Shou Xian is one of Master Tongtian's Seven Attendant Immortals, naturally holding immense authority."
Indeed!
The newcomer was none other than Qiu Shou Xian, whose true form was an enlightened green-haired lion, and he was one of the Seven Attendant Immortals serving by the side of Saint Tongtian.
Although he was not a personal disciple, his status was special, and on ordinary days he was universally respected by all Jie Sect Disciples, who dared not treat him lightly.
More importantly, Qiu Shou Xian was not a broad-minded person.
Relying on the favor of Saint Tongtian, this fellow had frequently oppressed outer disciples on ordinary days; he was extremely harsh and held grudges for the smallest grievances.
Even this person had appeared to reprimand Gu Changqing.
Today, the latter was bound to suffer a bitter ordeal.
The crowd thought this to themselves.
Who would have thought that upon hearing Qiu Shou Xian's words, Gu Changqing showed no trace of fear.
He merely cast a bleary-eyed glance at Qiu Shou Xian, then lowered his gaze once more.
"Senior Brother Qiu Shou Xian?"
"Why aren't you listening to the Dao by Master Tongtian's side instead of coming over to mind my business?"
Gu Changqing felt not the least bit guilty, letting out a drunken hiccup that fully displayed his heroic, unrestrained, and untamed nature.
Hearing these words, Qiu Shou Xian's eyebrows instantly spiked upward as anger surged in his eyes.
A mere outer disciple dared to treat him, one of the Seven Attendant Immortals, like this?
How could Gu Changqing dare?
Qiu Shou Xian's tone abruptly turned bone-chillingly cold.
"Gu Changqing!"
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