Tianyi and Daoyi continued their shopping, putting the matter of the conflict between disciples in the back of their minds.
Daoyi was interested in all sorts of jewelries, necklaces, rings, earrings, etc. When she saw a necklace that interested her she would stand in front of the stand and look at it, contemplating. But in the end she would refuse to buy it and move on.
The poor sacrifice, Tianyi, could only stand behind her and wait for her to finish looking.
“Junior sister, if you like it, I’ll buy it for you.” Tianyi said, after not being able to take it any longer.
“Senior brother, this is called window shopping, just by looking at the items, it satisfies the heart.” Daoyi replied, making Tianyi speechless. Could that even be called shopping?
“Junior sister, hold on for a second.” Tianyi said as he stopped and looked at a sword laying in a stand. Daoyi stopped and gazed at the sword at the stand as well.
It wasn’t anything like the usual swords used by cultivators. It was broader, and the hilt was long and thin.
“This friend, can you tell me where you found this sword?” Tianyi asked the stand’s owner, a loose cultivator by the looks of his clothes.
The loose cultivator saw Tianyi’s attire and immediately gave a business-like smile on his thin face. “This young master, it was by luck that I picked it up. The style and shape are completely foreign, so I took an interest, but after carrying it all these years I couldn’t find anything particular about it so I decided to sell it.”
Tianyi nodded as he asked to test it. The loose cultivator agreed. Tianyi unsheathed the sword and the silvery-white blade revealed itself. The blade tapered off towards the end and had a fuller in the middle. Although it was filled with cracks, the blade still displayed the aura of a Foundation Establishment realm artifact.
This is definitely a western-styled sword.
Tianyi bought it after serious contemplation. Even if it had no use, it was still a unique sword that was rarely seen in the Huang Realm. Although he didn’t know the original rank of the artifact, it shouldn’t be low. Even if he wasn’t going to use it, as an avid collector of swords Tianyi still would have bought it.
“How many swords do you have now, senior brother?” Daoyi asked smilingly at the side.
“Too many.” Was Tianyi’s succinct reply.
After this small episode, Tianyi continued to follow Daoyi on her window shopping. Along the way, Tianyi saw Daoyi pick up a singular crystal earring that shone like moonlight. It was an earring that was missing the other half of unknown rank, Daoyi obviously liked it but the price was too high for her, so she could only leave it.
After half a day of shopping, Tianyi and Daoyi decided to eat at a rather popular restaurant in the city. They sat on the second floor where it was less crowded. Daoyi gave Tianyi a strange look after hearing him order dishes that didn’t use any ingredients that have opened their spirituality.
Daoyi didn’t say anything in the end, and the dishes were soon served. Their peaceful meal was interrupted by a man who wore tattered rags and had a sword strapped on his back. With Tianyi’s experience in swords, he could gleam that the long sword strapped onto the man’s back was at least at the Unity realm.
“Little friends, do you have room for one more?” The man asked.
Tianyi saw that although the man was unkept and his hair was in disarray and his beard untrimmed, his features were noble and fine. If he tidied up a bit, he would look very captivating. Daoyi looked at Tianyi, and Tianyi made a “please” motion. Tianyi couldn’t detect the man’s cultivation, and he had a mysteriously good impression of the man despite having not met him before.
Besides, this was the Buzhou Immortal Sect’s domain. You had to be in the immortal realm to even think of causing trouble.
The man sat down without any hesitation and picked up Tianyi chopsticks and immediately dug into the food as if he hadn’t eaten for months. Tianyi was struck speechless by the man’s manners. Wanting to be the bigger man here, Tianyi simply called the server for another pair of chopsticks and a bowl while asking for a few more dishes.
“Youngsters, why didn’t you order any wine? Such food deserves good wine!” The man said.
Tianyi felt his lips twitch, but nonetheless made a motion to call for the server again but was stopped by the man.
“Don’t you have good wine there?” The man pointed at the gourd fastened at Tianyi’s waist. It was the gourd that he had picked up from the Immortal Court months ago. Tianyi instantly heightened his wariness towards this man. From the outside, the extraordinariness could not be detected at all. Yet this man was able to detect the wine scent from it.
Is he someone from the Immortal Court? Or is he powerful enough to detect the wine within the gourd, is that why he approached us?
“Senior has a good nose, may this junior know senior’s esteemed name?” Tianyi asked as he cupped his fist towards the man. Daoyi seemingly detecting the abnormality also looked at the man.
“Ha! You can call this old man Daoist Lu. I don’t expect youngsters like you to recognize me, I’m just a washed-up has-been.” There was a tone of self-depreciation. Tianyi furrowed his brows, not recognizing the aim. In the end, Tianyi decided to take a gamble. He unfastened the gourd bottle and handed it to Daoist Lu.
Daoist Lu took the gourd. He uncorked it and instantly the scent of wine instantly enveloped the whole floor. Just a whiff of the smell sent many of them into a drunken stupor. Tianyi was better off than most, but he still felt slightly dizzy. He hadn’t expected the wine scent to be so much powerful than compared to the time in the Immortal Court.
Tianyi looked at Daoyi who was a realm lower than him in worry. He became stunned as Daoyi looked perfectly fine. “Senior brother, are you alright?” She even had the spare attention to worry about him.
As if unknowing of the drunken frenzy he was causing, Daoist Lu reared his head back and directly poured a mouth of wine into his mouth. He unleashed a massive sigh of satisfaction, but the atmosphere around him became infinitely sullen.
When Tianyi turned to look at Daoist Lu, he was struck by the overpowering sorrow from the latter’s eyes, It appeared to drown the world in a heavy downpour of sadness. Tianyi released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding after Daoist Lu looked away.
“Much feeling- but it’s just as if there’s none,”
“I think behind my cup, but cannot smile.”
“The candle has a heart- it too hates parting,”
“In our place, it sheds a tear at dawn.”
There was an indescribable sense of sorrow at the words of parting. Daoist Lu’s eyes became glazed over as he looked at Tianyi and Daoyi who were sitting at the table with him.
“It’s just you two today? Our group just keeps getting smaller and smaller.” Daoist Lu seemed to have gone mad as his thoughts became muddy as if he was reliving his memories. “Come! Drink the sorrow away!”
Out of nowhere, Daoist Lu pulled out two exquisite wine cups and filled them with the wine from the gourd. Tianyi and Daoyi each had one.
The two looked at each other and then at Daoist Lu who was looking at them with half-crazed eyes. By now, all the other people on the floor had collapsed into unconsciousness. Unknown to the two, the second floor became sealed off from the rest of the world so no one discovered the abnormality.
After a moment of hesitation, Tianyi drank first. He had already realized that Daoist Lu was no doubt an immortal, and he had already used up all his immortal realm talismans against Monarch Soulfish. The best course of action would be to go with the flow.
Just a sip doused Tianyi’s inner body into wine. Inside his body, the vast space became blurry and the heavy scent of alcohol engulfed his whole body. Even the stars began to move in a drunken motion. Tianyi looked in worry at Daoyi. Daoyi was in complete contrast against Tianyi’s drunkenness. The only sign of any drunkenness was her flushed cheeks. Tianyi’s looked incomparably miserable with his whole face flushed red and his eyes unfocused.
“Hahaha brother Cao, you can’t even beat Sister He in your ability to drink, aren’t you embarrassed?” Daoist Lu took another swig of from the gourd and began to talk nonsense that neither Tianyi nor Daoyi could understand. But when he spoke, illusory lotuses would form from his words and gave off a sense of immortality and eternity.
When the wine cups were near empty, Daoist Lu would refill them. Both Tianyi and Daoyi struggled to drink as much as they could. The longer they could listen, the more they would benefit. Laughably, Tianyi fell unconscious first. Although he was in the Core Formation realm in two cultivation paths, his alcohol tolerance wasn’t as good as Daoyi who was only a spiritual Foundation Establishment Pupil.
“Hahaha, brother Cao, you looked ridiculous. Come sister He, forget about that drunkard, let’s toast to our five fallen brothers and sisters!”
Daoyi wasn’t actually that better off than Tianyi. Her mind was in a daze and unable to formulate any complete thoughts. Her body just moved according to the flow, and she clinked her wine cup against the gourd before downing it in one gulp.
Daoist Lu seemed to be stunned by Daoyi’s action before laughing loudly and taking another swig from the gourd. Daoyi soon also drifted into unconsciousness after a few more cups. With both Tianyi and Daoyi unconscious, Daoist Lu seemed to have regained his clarity as he looked at the two unconscious mortals with a mournful expression. Two trails of tears streamed down his face as he stood up.
“It’s not the same. Not the same!” Daoist Lu’s figure disappeared as if he had never existed. The only evidence of his presence was the floor of drunken people and the gourd that was no longer fastened to Tianyi’s waist.
When Tianyi awoke, a never before experienced hangover assaulted his mind to the point that he couldn’t even stand up. Everything was a blur, Tianyi just wanted to keel over and sleep the hangover away, but he still had an inkling of where he was. He blinked away the blurriness in his eyes. To his surprise, he discovered that he wasn’t at the restaurant but in his room. He looked around to see if anything was there, but he saw no one. But he soon realized why he was back when he saw Daoyi walking in with a tray.
“Senior brother, are you alright?” Daoyi said as she set the tray down and propped Tianyi up with pillows.
Tianyi rubbed his temples. “Not so loud, my head still hurts. What happened?”
“I woke up earlier than you and everyone else. Everyone at the restaurant was shocked at the scene, haha.” Daoyi giggled at the faces of the restaurant owner upon the scene of countless drunkards on the second floor.
“I don’t think anyone realized that Daoist Lu was there, so I brought you back here before reporting to the Sect Master.” Tianyi abruptly glanced at his body, before releasing a sigh of relief. It was still the same clothes he wore.
“Daoyi do you not have a hangover?” Tianyi asked, envious of Daoyi’s healthy physique at the moment.
“No, it seems my alcohol tolerance is really good. I woke up even before some of the Nascent Soul Grandmasters.” Daoyi said, a proud smile on her face.
Tianyi wasn’t having such a good time though, he didn’t even want to think how Daoyi carried him to his room. He lost all face as a senior brother. “What did Sect Master Xia say?”
“Sect Master Xia said that it should be a secluded immortal. We don’t have to pay attention to it. Senior when you awoke, do you have a new technique in your head?” Daoyi asked and Tianyi froze.
His head still pulsed, but there was indeed a new technique in his head. “Evil Purifying Jade Bestowment, it allows me to bestow attributes to a vessel to give it evil slaying properties, it can be considered something of a karmic spell. What about you, Daoyi?”
Daoyi brought the teacup that she carried on the tray to Tianyi’s cracked lips. “Drink this sobering tea first, senior brother.”
Tianyi drank the sobering tea in the cup in one gulp. He made a grimace at the bitter taste but said nothing.
“I awoke with the Flying Moon Vibrations, it’s a technique I can use with string instruments.” Tianyi tried to crack a smile. At least one of them got something that they wanted. Truthfully, the Evil Purifying Jade Bestowment wasn’t that useful to him.
Tianyi continued to rub his forehead. “Daoyi, who do you think Daoist Lu was? He shouldn’t be an unknown immortal.”
Daoyi shook her head. “Sect Master said nothing, perhaps he’s an immortal who completed his path eons ago? It seems that his friends had long perished though, and he is stuck in the memories of his past.”
Tianyi nodded, but he felt that Daoist Lu’s companion didn’t perish in a normal way. Suddenly he had a thought. “Damn! I should have dragged Xi Ri too today!”
“Yeah, it would have been good for brother Ri to receive an impartation too,” Daoyi said while nodding her head.
“What? No! If I’m going to suffering through this hangover, I want him to suffer with me as well!” Tianyi said, his face forming a pout he didn’t know he had.
“…” Daoyi.