As they continued onward, it really was just as Long Chen predicted. Everyone’s cultivation base was gradually stripped away from them. Feng Xiang and the others instantly grew uneasy, a touch of fear appearing in their eyes.
Yu Qingxuan was also a bit panicked, but she wasn’t as obvious as the others. Long Chen smiled and asked, “Are you afraid?”
“Not afraid, just not used to it. I trust that the Wine God Palace won’t harm us. Furthermore, I feel particularly safe with you beside me. You’ll protect me,” said Yu Qingxuan with a smile.
“No way. I’m hoping for you to protect me! To tell you the truth, other than bragging to scare people off, I don’t have any ability,” said Long Chen.
“I don’t believe you.”
Yu Qingxuan looked at Long Chen, and her smile did not falter. She really liked listening to Long Chen talking. It felt particularly interesting.
Furthermore, he was different from everyone else that she had met. Others were doing their best to show themselves off, but Long Chen was doing his best to cover himself up. It made her extremely curious. No one knew just how many things Long Chen was hiding.
His smile was something that she felt to be so sincere. It was warm like sunlight, making her feel close to him. It was like with him present, there was nothing to fear.
Seeing Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan talking and laughing, Zhao Mingxuan, Wu Yang, and the others were all envious. As for Feng Xiang, after being warned by Xu Zhuzi, he no longer appeared to be so angry.
Clearly, Xu Zhuzi had shown him the way. If he wanted to protect his position, he had to surrender to Long Chen.
He was very clear on his father’s character. What he said, he would do. If Feng Xiang couldn’t bring back that wine, his father would really give up on him. No one could change his father’s mind.
Although he was the most talented of his father’s sons, he was profoundly aware of just how unfathomable his father was. No one could see through him.
His father almost never looked after them. But this time, it seemed that Feng Xiang’s act of leaking the news of Long Chen judging the Pear Flower Wine to the Wine God Palace had drawn his father’s ire. In other words, if Feng Xiang didn’t deal with this matter properly, if he couldn’t give his father a satisfactory response, he would be abandoned by his family.
He was filled with hatred for Long Chen at the start, but now he had calmed down. If he put his jealousy aside and thought carefully, it seemed that Long Chen really was outstanding. Perhaps the humble him that he showed off right now was nothing more than a disguise.
Having woken up from his fury, Feng Xiang was gradually starting to feel that something was off. His father would not make him do this for no rhyme or reason. There had to be some deeper meaning.
“Brother Long, do you not feel any fear?” asked Feng Xiang. Hearing this, Zhao Mingxuan, Wu Yang, and the others were all stunned. Why did Feng Xiang’s tone suddenly change?
Long Chen was also a bit surprised. But seeing that Feng Xiang didn’t seem to have any malice, he indifferently said, “I am a very normal person with no halos of light like the rest of you. Even once people’s halos are stripped from them, I am still myself. The rest of you are all unrivaled heavenly geniuses who like that feeling of supreme power. If you lose that, you will naturally feel flustered. Your heart cannot be at ease after losing what you depend on. But as for myself, I would like to live an ordinary life. I don’t need others to revere me or look up to me, and I don’t need to trample over others to live. Thus, I don’t really feel any fear right now.”
“Only someone who can look up and feel no guilt to the heavens, look down and feel no guilt to the earth, look out and feel no guilt to man, look in and feel no guilt to the heart can possess such a magnanimous heart. Junior brother Long Chen, even at such a young age, you possess such a high realm. It’s truly admirable,” said Xu Zhuzi.
“Senior overpraised me. This little one simply likes the ordinary,” said Long Chen with a smile.
As they spoke, they passed through the lush forest. Up ahead was a small stone path winding through the grass. It was a peaceful and serene vision.
After a bit, they arrived at a gate. There were three large words, Wine God Palace, written on top of it. But it was askew and very ugly, like it was written by a child who didn’t know how to write.
“Junior brother, what do you think of these characters?” Xu Zhuzi paused and pointed at the characters above the gate.
Long Chen smiled. To Yu Qingxuan, he said, “Qingxuan, why don’t you take a look and see what kind of profundities you can see from these characters?”
Long Chen had actually tossed the question to Yu Qingxuan. Hence, Yu Qingxuan looked at the characters for a long time without seeing anything special. She then turned to Feng Xiang and the others.
“I can’t see anything. All of you are arrogant geniuses in your own right. You should be able to see some clues, right?”
Long Chen couldn’t help smiling. Yu Qingxuan was a quick learner. She had tossed the question to others as well.
Feng Xiang and the others were embarrassed. Those three characters were crooked and ugly, so they didn’t see anything special about them. If they had to say something special about those characters, it would be that it was particularly ugly.
But who dared to say such a thing? Wouldn’t they be expelled without even entering the gate then?
“Cough, fairy Qingxuan is peerlessly wise. If even you couldn’t see anything, then with our humble aptitude, we definitely can’t see anything,” said Feng Xiang, coughing a bit.
It went without saying that Feng Xiang’s reaction was quite quick. He turned the question back on Yu Qingxuan without embarrassing himself.
Yu Qingxuan smiled and looked at Long Chen. Long Chen also smiled. “If my guess is correct, these characters were personally written by the Wine God. Furthermore, it was done after he was drunk. The characters were written very ugly most likely because he was so drunk that he couldn’t even carry the brush steadily…”
For him to say that, Yu Qingxuan’s smile gradually vanished. This evaluation of Long Chen’s was a bit too impudent, no?
She listened as Long Chen continued, “The writing is clumsy, and there is endless wine intent merged inside of it. Is senior testing my alcohol tolerance? This little one doesn’t dare to try it.”
“Amazing. You are able to see it. This truly was personally written by the Wine God after he was drunk. At that time, he said: if the heart contains two things, it will lose focus on both. The Wine God focused so much on the wine intent that the characters he wrote are ugly. After writing these three characters, he passed out. Also, after waking up, he stared at these characters for a long time before recognizing what he had written.” Xu Zhuzi wasn’t the slightest bit angry with Long Chen’s evaluation. Instead, he smiled.
The characters that the Wine God had written, he himself didn’t recognize. Yu Qingxuan laughed. To tell the truth, if those three words were not hanging over this place, there really wouldn’t be many people capable of recognizing them.
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Suddenly, a startled cry rang out. Two of the people that had come with Feng Xiang and the others suddenly collapsed on the ground, their faces flushing. They began to snore as if they had drunk so much that they were dead drunk.
“It’s fine. They used Spiritual Strength to investigate these three characters and were affected by the wine intent. Don’t touch them. Let them sleep for two days and they’ll be fine,” said Xu Zhuzi.
Everyone was shocked. Fortunately, they had been too afraid of the Wine God Palace to use their Spiritual Strength. Otherwise, they would have collapsed just like these two.
Just glancing with Spiritual Strength resulted in sleeping for two days. That was too terrifying, no?
Everyone walked through the gates. After that, Long Chen instantly saw the Wine God’s statue, but he came to a sudden pause when he saw it.
