Chapter 197: Amalgamation of Fire and Ice, Like Walking On Air
Translator: OnGoingWhy Editor: Vermillion
Half of the imperial city was enveloped by the aroma of the wine. It was an extremely strong and bewitching aroma. With a wavelike motion, it silently spread out in a grand manner.
Somewhere close to the alleyway, both Ni Yan and Ye Ziling took a deep breath and their faces became bright red. When they turned toward each other, they saw the disbelief in each other's eyes.
"How could this wine be so fragrant?" Ni Yan muttered as she sped up and headed straight toward the location of the aroma's source.
...
Inside a luxurious inn within the imperial city, the Thirteen Bandits of Mozhou were merrily toasting each other. As they continued to drink away, their laughters incessantly resounded within the inn.
The interior of the inn was bustling with activity and was overflowing with the fragrance of food and wine.
Suddenly, an invisible wave, accompanied with an indescribable aroma, surged past the inn.
Clatter!
A loud clatter rang out. The thirteen bandits were all stunned. The wine jars in their hands dropped onto the ground and splattered wine all over the floor.
However, none of them was paying any attention to the spilled wine. They were subconsciously sniffing the air while narrowing their eyes. Their faces were filled with bliss as saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths.
"It… smells so good! Is this the aroma of a wine? It's simply irresistible… Brothers, let's go and find this wine!"
As the thirteen bandits recovered from their surprise, they were immediately filled with excitement. The wine's aroma was simply too enticing. As martial art practitioners, they were all wine lovers and the aroma of the wine had lured out the wine bugs in their stomachs.
With a shout, the thirteen bandits all charged out of the inn and headed in the direction where the aroma came from.
...
Xiao Meng was sitting in his study in the Xiao Manor. As a gust of cold wind blew in through the window, the flame of the candle swayed for a moment. He put down the ink brush in his hand and slightly rubbed his eyes with a frown...
As a bewitching wine aroma drifted into the room like a lover's caress, Xiao Meng's entire body shuddered for a moment. He opened his eyes and was filled with a sudden thirst for wine.
"What an aroma! Such a fragrance doesn't seem like something that exists in the mortal realm!"
Xiao Meng took a breath as if he wanted to inhale all of the aroma in the air. He then stood up and grabbed a thick overcoat with images of cranes sewn on it off the chair. After putting on the overcoat, he headed in the direction where the aroma came from.
...
Xiao Yue was sitting cross-legged in his room, while whitish sword energy surrounded him. As the sword energy violently surged, it unceasingly converged above his head. From time to time, the sword energy would interchange between a small sword and innumerable rays of sword energy.
Suddenly, the sword energy around Xiao Yue all dissipated with a poof. As he opened his eyes, he could not help but lick his parched lips.
"A wine… that's even more fragrant than the Ice Heart Jade Urn Wine! Oh my heavens!"
Xiao Yue's raspy voice was filled with indescribable astonishment.
As Xiao Yue inhaled the aroma in the air, he was unable to focus on cultivating anymore. With a single leap, he threw open the door with a hand gesture and flew out of the room while stepping on his sword.
"If there's such a fine wine around, how could I, Xiao Yue, be left out! Hahaha!"
...
Inside the Ouyang manor, thunder-like snoring was resounding within the room belonging to the three barbarians of Ouyang. The three brothers had a habit of sleeping together in the same room. Every night, it was as if there was a thunderstorm inside. In fact, none of the guards needed to stand guard there at night because the snoring was basically repelling burglars on its own.
Suddenly, the snoring that should have lasted for the entire night stopped and was soon replaced by the sound of lips smacking together. The eyes of the three brothers were wide open. Their nostrils expanded as they furiously inhaled the aroma in the air. Their current behavior resembled that of a dog that had just detected the smell of meat.
Bang bang bang!
The three brothers got up from their beds in complete sync with each other and put on their clothes. Saliva dripped from the corners of their mouth as they sniffed the air once more. Then, they stormed out of the room and ran straight toward the location of the aroma's source.
This night was a sleepless night for many people.
With half of the imperial city shrouded in the rich aroma, all of the wine lovers gave chase after the extremely enticing aroma.
...
As Bu Fang wiped off the beads of sweat on his forehead, a smile appeared on his lips. He looked at the liquid inside the jade jar and suddenly let out a sigh of relief.
The four different kinds of liquid were all filled with spirit energy. In order to perfectly blend them together, it was not just a matter of stirring the mixture. He first needed to use his true energy to harmonize them.
This was not just a qualitative improvement from a quantitative change but a sort of inherent improvement.
The fragrance emanating from the jade wine jar was extremely tempting. Bu Fang was feeling a little drunk just from smelling the aroma alone. It could be imagined just how intense the wine was.
There was simply no comparison between the aroma of the Ice Heart Jade Urn Wine with the fragrance of this wine. It was like the difference between a firefly and the moon.
Of course, this was just the difference between their aroma. The actual difference in taste was not that drastic. However, the difference in the spirit energy between the two wines was even larger.
Grabbing a green jade porcelain cup, Bu Fang filled it to the brim with wine. After blending the four liquids together, the color of the wine melded together into a faint green color. The puff of vapor lingering above the cup made the wine appear extremely ethereal, like the immortal's wine served in the celestial palace.
Picking up the cup of wine, Bu Fang could not help but lick his lips as he looked at the liquid inside. He had to forcefully suppress the urge to immediately drink the wine.
A fine wine needed to be slowly savored. Bu Fang knew the logic behind "more haste, less speed" as well.
Bu Fang carefully brought the cup to his lips and softly took a sip of the wine.
The moment when the wine passed through his lips, a cool and refreshing feeling immediately spread in his mouth. As the liquid ran down his throat, it erupted like a volcano and a burning feeling coursed through his body.
Bu Fang's eyes widened. He felt as if all of the pores throughout his entire body had expanded.
As the wine entered his stomach, Bu Fang felt as if an entire ocean had surged up and completely engulfed him. The spirit energy surged violently within his stomach like an explosion. After three times in a row, Bu Fang could not help but let out a burp.
The refreshing feeling that instantly coursed through his body caused Bu Fang to narrow his eyes and slightly bare his teeth.
"How refreshing! What a fine wine!"
Without saying, this was definitely a fine wine. It was a wine that not even the Ice Heart Jade Urn Wine could compare with. No matter the taste or the aroma, it was the superior wine all-around.
After taking another sip, the invigorating feeling of coldness mixed with scorching heat gave Bu Fang an urge to exhale steam from his nostrils.
"Amalgamation of fire and ice, it almost feels like I am walking on air!" Bu Fang praised before taking another sip. In three sips, the green jade porcelain cup was completely emptied.
Slightly shaking his head, Bu Fang was feeling slightly tipsy. He only drunk a single cup of the wine and yet he was already getting drunk… The new wine's intensity was truly terrifying.
Bu Fang used his true energy to disperse the alcohol in his body and managed to sober up a little. As he ran his tongue across his lips, he stared into the jade jar with eyes burning with desire.
According to his estimation, he could probably only brew three jars of this wine in total. If he was going to put the wine on sale, he would most definitely not sell them on a per jar basis.
After all, the intensity of the wine was too strong. Even Bu Fang was almost knocked out after drinking a single cup.
After mixing part of the remaining liquid, he concocted two more jars of wine.
The rest of the liquid was then poured into Whitey's stomach. In response, Whitey only scratched its bald head while its eyes flashed for a moment.
...
"This is… I knew the aroma was coming from Owner Bu's place! I was wondering who within the imperial city could have produced such an aromatic wine... Who else other than Owner Bu could have done this!"
Ni Yan followed after the aroma of the wine and arrived before an alleyway. When she saw the familiar alleyway entrance, a sudden realization dawned on her and a sweet smile appeared on her peerless face. However, the smile soon disappeared and was replaced with a frown.
"Hmm… Owner Bu's store isn't open for business during the night. Doesn't that mean I will have to wait until tomorrow morning?!"
Just when Ni Yan was hesitating, a series of footsteps echoed in the empty street.
Ni Yan turned around in surprise and saw a group of people heading in her direction. The corners of her mouth twitched for a moment… This line-up was a little terrifying.
The thirteen bandits were at the very front. As they ran, they were vigorously sniffing the aroma in the air.
Right after the thirteen bandits was a bunch of elders. The aura emanating from these elders were extremely powerful as well. Some of them were even seventh grade Battle-Saints.
A man dressed in red was sniffing the air while running with his hands held behind his back.
An white-bearded elder carrying a longsword on his back was walking toward the store with large strides as well.
Saliva was drooling from the corners of the three barbarians of Ouyang's mouths as they walked toward the store with heavy strides, while General Ouyang Zongheng and the elderly Ouyang Qi were following behind them...
The drunkards of the Ouyang family were all present.
A light flashed past and Xiao Yue arrived on his sword. Xiao Meng, who was following after the aroma of the wine, came as well.
This was a terrifying line-up. As the group of people arrived before the alleyway entrance, they looked at each other with odd expressions on their faces.
Xiao Meng was feeling even more dumbfounded. Like he had expected, the aroma was indeed Bu Fang's handiwork. Other than Fang Fang's Little Store, he could not imagine where else the aroma could have came from.
The seventh master's complexion had turned ashen pale. This was a place that gave him unforgettable bad memories.
The group of people looked each other in the eye and started nodding toward each other as a show of friendliness. None of them said anything since they were all feeling embarrassed. After all, they were all people with high social status and yet they were chasing after the aroma of a wine in the middle of the night. Furthermore, they even ran into each other. It would be a lie to say that they were not embarrassed.
As they continued forward and stepped into the alleyway, they soon saw the tightly shut entrance of the store. The rich aroma was steadily drifting out from inside.
Everyone was astonished. It was said that the aroma of a fine wine could travel for ten miles. However, the aroma coming from the store was practically… enveloping a radius of hundreds of miles!
"What an aroma, this old man can't stand this anymore. I shall go ahead and have a taste first. My fellow friends, please feel free to take your time."
The white-bearded elder with a longsword on his back was the first to lose his patience. With a laugh, he started walking toward the store with quick strides.
"The grandmaster of the Void Sword Pavillion, Tian Xuzi!" Xiao Yue's pupils constricted for a moment. This was an expert in the path of the sword, a seventh grade Battle-Saint!
However, Xiao Yue's expression soon became odd and a derisive smirk appeared on his lips as he looked at Tian Xuzi's back figure.