"Good. But how could a discussion of the Dao be complete without a flask of fine wine?"
Sword Lord Xiaoyao swept his sleeve and casually produced a wine gourd.
The wine gourd was small and made of ordinary material, not even worthy of being called a second-tier spirit artifact. Yet its black surface shone, clearly polished by its owner's hands over many years. Sword Lord Xiaoyao pulled out the stopper, raised the gourd, and tipped his head back, letting the wine cascade into his mouth like a waterfall. Some trickled from the corners of his mouth and stained his robes.
None of the True Lords from the various sects found the sight unusual.
An ordinary sword cultivator behaving this way in public would most likely have been playing to the crowd.
But Sword Lord Xiaoyao was different. He was devoted to the Sword Dao, loved drinking, and aspired to carefree freedom. His drinking now was not a slight against Mirror Moon Sect Master Chen Zi'ang. Quite the opposite: in the eyes of the five sects' experts, although the title Sword Lord Xiaoyao suited Senior Li Xiaoyao exceptionally well, it was far less fitting than Immortal Wine Sword.
The reason was simple. Although Li Xiaoyao drank only ordinary mortal wine, drinking allowed him to unleash his carefree sword intent to its fullest.
It was no exaggeration to say that very few Nascent Soul True Lords in the Earth Evolution Realm could make Senior Xiaoyao drink before battle. That Mirror Moon Sect Master Chen Zi'ang was among them spoke volumes about how seriously Sword Lord Xiaoyao took him.
"Patriarch, who do you think will win?" Su Lanyue swallowed almost imperceptibly.
By rights, at her current cultivation realm, she should not have felt even a trace of nervousness.
Yet watching the two men