Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

Long Chen brought Yu Qingxuan to the next house to pay a visit. What Yu Qingxuan hadn’t expected was for every cultivator inside the Wine God Palace to have entirely different characters.

Xu Zhuzi was like a scholar who had achieved the Dao. He was modest and open-hearted, with a graceful bearing. It made others naturally feel close to him.

However, the others were different. The next house that they knocked on contained a sloppy old beggar.

Long Chen drank dozens of cups of his wine, not paying the slightest attention to how his wine cup was covered in dust. Long Chen then said a few words about this wine, causing the old beggar to be wild with joy. He treated Long Chen as a close friend.

This person had been alone his whole life and had relied on begging to survive. One day, he encountered someone from the Wine God Palace who gave him pointers, and with a flash of enlightenment, he became immersed in the Wine Dao.

When Long Chen drank the beggar’s wine, he fully explained the mental realm within this wine. As a result, this old beggar was very moved. It was like an expert painter that finally encountered someone who could understand his paintings.

Hence, Long Chen gained another large batch of fine wine from this beggar. This time, it wasn’t Long Chen who asked for it but the old beggar who gave it to him. Furthermore, it was the kind where the beggar refused to let him not take it.

“Dogs are loyal, while scholars are heartless. As expected, these ancient words did not deceive me.” Once they left the beggar’s house, Long Chen sighed. This senior was someone with his own story. He had lived a life of loneliness and yet was so generous.

“If senior Xu Zhuzi heard you say that, he might beat you,” warned Yu Qingxuan, covering a smile. Long Chen was clearly saying that Xu Zhuzi was stingy with his wine in comparison.

Long Chen acted shocked, as if he had never thought of that before. He then carefully looked at Xu Zhuzi’s house. Seeing no reaction, he relaxed. This thief-like act made Yu Qingxuan laugh.

At the third house, a peerlessly beautiful woman opened the door, causing both of their eyes to brighten. She was tall and slender. Her snow-white neck in particular made people think of a beautiful crane.

She smiled at the two of them and warmly invited them in. After that, she treated them to some fruit wine.

Yu Qingxuan was also a peerless beauty, but she couldn’t help staring at this woman. She was attracted to her noble temperament.

In the end, other than the wine that she treated them to, she also gave them many jugs of wine. As a result, Yu Qingxuan was overwhelmed with favor. It had to be known that all the wine had previously been given to Long Chen and not her.

“Senior, I don’t understand wine. For you to give this wine to me, isn’t it a waste of heavenly treasures?” said Yu Qingxuan, feeling a bit at a loss.

“How could that be? You are both kind people. This young man in particular has shown kindness to my Spirit race, having the blessing of the Spirit race on him. As long as you like it, you can take all the wine I have here,” said the woman.

“So you’re from the Spirit race?” Yu Qingxuan was startled. She was unable to sense any aura from her.

“After receiving the pointers from a senior of the Wine God Palace, I used wine to achieve the Dao. I experienced a hundred flavors of human life. Naturally, my aura has become imperceptible due to that. There’s no need to feel surprised,” said the woman of the Spirit race with a smile.

She was very warm to them. It was just like a gentle mother, making them feel particularly comfortable.

Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan stayed a while with her before they reluctantly left.

Once they left, Yu Qingxuan looked at Long Chen in confusion. “Long Chen, why didn’t you help that big sister by evaluating her wine? Or does this mean that her wine has reached the realm of perfection?”

Long Chen shook his head, walking as he said, “This world does not contain perfection. I didn’t evaluate her wine because what she pursues is different. The Spirit race’s lifeforms are all kind-hearted, and they don’t have wild ambitions or worldly desires. Making wine is a kind of pleasure for her. If she makes good wine, then that’s good. If she makes bad wine, then that’s good as well. She will be happy and content either way. This is the so-called ‘those who have no desires reach the Heavenly Daos’. This senior is actually the person closest to the Heavenly Daos, and her kindness is like water. Water benefits the ten thousand races but asks for nothing. It is precisely because it does not ask for anything that it can clearly see the things that we can’t. You want me, someone whose eyes are clouded by desire, to judge a wise sage who has no desires? Although my face is thick, it’s not that strong!”

Yu Qingxuan couldn’t help laughing. “How can someone as wise and cool-headed as you be clouded with desires?”

“I naturally am clouded by desires. My goal was to loot all of her wine, but she actually took the initiative to give them to me! That actually made me too embarrassed to ask for any,” said Long Chen, almost sounding vexed.

Seeing that depressed appearance of his, despite knowing that he was doing it intentionally, Yu Qingxuan still laughed.

When looking at her smile that was like a flower blooming, Long Chen’s heart warmed. If he could make her so happy every day, perhaps he would feel a bit less guilt.

Seeing Long Chen just foolishly looking at her, Yu Qingxuan’s face reddened slightly. She didn’t quite dare to look at his eyes, but she did feel a certain warmth inside her heart.

Upon seeing her blush, Long Chen stopped staring at her. What he wanted was for Yu Qingxuan to feel his emotions, but an excessive display would make her feel pressure.

Long Chen had sworn to himself that this time, he would treat her properly. He wouldn’t let her come to any harm or suffer under any pressure. He only hoped for her to always be happy.

Long Chen then brought Yu Qingxuan to the next house. This time, it was a stern old pedant. Although he took out wine, his face was so stern it was like he was a teacher teaching students. After Long Chen drank it, before he could give any judgment, that elder spoke.

He directly critiqued Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan for everything, from the way they held the winecup, to the position of their fingers, how their heads weren’t tilted right, and how they put their cups down.

Hearing this, Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan exchanged a glance. Was this wine tasting? Why did it feel more like a class instead?

When Long Chen gave his criticism, the elder refused to accept it and directly retorted against his criticism, leaving Long Chen speechless. This was different from what he had expected. This old fellow was too stubborn and didn’t allow others to point out his flaws. It was the kind of stubbornness that would rather perish than repent.

In the end, Long Chen told him, “If you are so wrong that you use vinegar as ink, then even if you write for half a lifetime, it will still be sour.”

As expected, they were kicked out. Once Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan were out of the elder’s house, they exchanged a glance and suddenly laughed. They didn’t know why they were laughing, but they couldn’t help it.

Suddenly, the door was kicked out, causing the two of them to jump. They hastily put away their smiles. Seeing how furious the elder was, they thought that he might turn hostile.

Unexpectedly, he tossed out a pile of wine jugs at them, and without saying a word, returned to his house and slammed the door behind him.

After a moment of silence, Long Chen pointed at those jugs of wine and asked, “Do you think that he’s giving them to us?”

“Probably?” Yu Qingxuan also couldn’t be sure. That old fellow’s character was too strange.

“Hehe, success. Let’s go to the next one!” Long Chen laughed and directly put the wine away. He brought the giggling Yu Qingxuan to the next house.