As the sun set in the west, dusk descended.
Gu Qingfeng, swaying a white jade fan and sipping a little wine, walked out of the Peach Blossom Secret Realm with a leisurely and carefree expression. He glanced at the sky, shook his head, and then climbed the nearby mountain once more. On the mountain stood a Daoist temple named Taohua Temple. Unfortunately, the Taohua Old Daoist was still not in the temple.
To be honest,
Gu Qingfeng didn't miss the Taohua Old Daoist that much. What he truly missed was the Taohua Wine brewed by the old Daoist.
He still clearly remembered the delicious taste of Taohua Wine. It was a truly unique aroma—very light, yet lingering on the lips and teeth. Especially after getting drunk, it felt like falling into the rolling mortal world—very relaxed, very comfortable, very carefree...
It could make one relax completely, a very wonderful feeling, extremely memorable.
If he couldn't remember it, that would be one thing, but now that he recalled the feeling of Taohua Wine, Gu Qingfeng felt utterly uncomfortable, as restless as could be. Unfortunately, the Taohua Old Daoist had gone who-knows-where.
What to do?
Gu Qingfeng pondered for a moment and could only wait for the Taohua Old Daoist to return.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly stopped again, because he remembered something important.
He vaguely remembered that the Taohua Old Daoist seemed to have a wine cellar. No!
To be precise, it was a Cave Dwelling specifically used for brewing and storing wine.
And the entrance to that Cave Dwelling was right inside Taohua Temple.
Yes!
That's right!
It was definitely inside Taohua Temple. Gu Qingfeng also remembered that he had once come to Taohua Temple specifically to look for it, thinking at the time to snatch a few jars of Taohua Wine to satisfy his craving. Unfortunately, he hadn't found it that time. Not only that, but he had been caught red-handed by the Taohua Old Daoist in the end, and for that, he had been thoroughly tormented by that old Daoist for a long time.
Thinking of this, Gu Qingfeng hesitated no longer. He released his divine sense and carefully probed Taohua Temple. Soon, a smile curved at the corner of his mouth. He took a step forward and vanished, reappearing inside the Grand Hall of Taohua Temple.
The Grand Hall of Taohua Temple was very simple, with only a few meditation cushions and a table. On the table were some peaches. On the opposite wall hung a painting of a woman standing in a peach blossom forest. Gu Qingfeng didn't know who the woman was, nor could he tell what she looked like—only a silhouette from behind.
Gu Qingfeng had once asked the Taohua Old Daoist if the woman in the painting was his sweetheart, and as a result, he had nearly been beaten half to death by the old Daoist that year.
As for who the woman really was, the old Daoist had never spoken.
However,
Gu Qingfeng wasn't really interested in the woman in the painting. What truly interested him was the Taohua Wine.
"Old Daoist, oh Old Daoist...
Just because this lord couldn't find your wine cellar back then doesn't mean I can't find it now."
The present Gu Qingfeng was already far from what he used to be. Not to mention a small wine cellar Cave Dwelling, even if it were the hiding place of the Heavenly King himself, it wouldn't be difficult for him to find out if he wanted to.
Raising his hand, his five fingers pinched and moved, light flowing at his fingertips. Daoist spiritual techniques condensed and manifested—a thousand in an instant, then ten thousand more. With a series of crisp crackling sounds, he flicked his fingers, and thousands of spiritual techniques scattered like falling snowflakes into every corner of the Grand Hall of Taohua Temple.
Whoosh!
Light shimmered in the center of the Grand Hall, then swirled like a vortex in water—it was a teleportation array. And Gu Qingfeng dared to be certain that this array definitely led to the Taohua Old Daoist's wine cellar.
As he stepped forward and flashed into it, Gu Qingfeng condensed several more spiritual techniques. When his figure vanished along with the teleportation array, the Grand Hall returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.
The aroma of wine.
A light aroma of wine!
A familiar aroma of wine!
A delicious aroma of wine!
An aroma of wine like the mortal world.
When Gu Qingfeng arrived at a Cave Dwelling via the teleportation array, a rich aroma of wine instantly assailed his nostrils. Not only did it make his spirit jolt, but even his great, carefree, tranquil heart couldn't help but thump wildly.
In this lifetime, he had slain immortals, slaughtered demons, defied the heavens above, severed the earth below, and experienced all three thousand Great Daos. It was no exaggeration to say that there were extremely few things between heaven and earth that could make his heart flutter.
Only wine.
Only this kind of fine wine, imbued with countless memories, could stir his heart.
Gu Qingfeng took a deep breath, drawing in all the intoxicating aroma, and instantly felt refreshed and exhilarated. Then he opened his eyes, took a step forward, and appeared in the central hall of the Cave Dwelling.
The central hall was very spacious, but that wasn't important. What was important was that the hall was filled with jars of fine wine—hundreds of them. Without a word, Gu Qingfeng reached out, punched a hole in a jar, and the fragrant wine flowed out. Tipping his head back and opening his mouth, he gulped it down wildly.
After finishing one jar, Gu Qingfeng wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve and laughed heartily, "Taohua fine wine makes one think of beauties; drinking wildly, drunk in the rolling mortal world, hahaha..." As his words fell, he opened a second jar and drank wildly again, followed by a third, a fourth, a fifth...
Only after wildly drinking nine jars in one go did he finally stop.
Gu Qingfeng burped contentedly and said, "Old Daoist, oh Old Daoist, you've also come to this day! Back then, I almost lost my life just for a sip of your wine. Now that I'm back, I have to drink my fill, otherwise I'd really be letting down those days you tormented me!"
Bang!
He opened another jar and continued drinking wildly, thinking to himself: That fellow Taohua Old Daoist treats his Taohua Wine as more precious than his own daughter. If he knew I drank so much of his Taohua Wine, I wonder if that old codger would come looking for a fight.
But,
So what if he does?
Who's afraid of whom?
Gu Qingfeng had feared this strange old man back then, but the him of today did not.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a bit gleeful.
While drinking Taohua Wine, he walked towards the Cave Dwelling's Eye. What amazed Gu Qingfeng was that the Cave Dwelling's Eye of ordinary people mostly contained spiritual energy, but the one inside this Cave Dwelling was entirely filled with fine wine—and boiling fine wine at that.
No!
This wasn't fine wine; it was wine head, Taohua wine head.
Using the Cave Dwelling's Eye to brew wine wasn't a rare technique, at least not for a wine lover like Gu Qingfeng—he had seen far too many such methods. Comparatively, the Taohua Old Daoist's brewing technique wasn't too outstanding either. The only thing that struck him as strange was the peculiar seed inside the Cave Dwelling's Eye.
Moreover, it was a seed that was profoundly mysterious and wonderfully subtle. Gu Qingfeng could tell that the Taohua Old Daoist was probably able to brew such marvelous Taohua Wine thanks to that seed.
Hmm?
Gu Qingfeng seemed to sense something and murmured, "This seed seems to be closely connected to the Peach Blossom Secret Realm as well. Could it be..." He initially thought of fishing it out for a closer look, but after some thought, he decided against it.
Although the Taohua Old Daoist had tormented him back then, he had also shown him kindness. Gu Qingfeng figured that drinking so much Taohua Wine this time without giving prior notice was already somewhat impolite. If he went and peeked at the old Daoist's treasure on top of that, it would really be too much.
Of course, impolite or not, too much or not,
When Gu Qingfeng left, he still waved his hand grandly, deciding to go all the way, and collected all the hundreds of jars of sealed Taohua Wine from the Cave Dwelling's central hall into his possession.