The reason for their loss of composure just now was twofold. Firstly, the Gu wine that Li Changting refined was actually a medicinal wine for assisting in cultivation, which she rarely brought out to drink with others. This wine required many precious heavenly materials and earthly treasures and several rare Gu-insects to be refined into medicinal wines of different properties. Only those who were extremely close to Li Changting knew she had this kind of wine; for someone like Li Yan, it was a coincidence. Secondly, whether one was afraid of Gu-insects and directly swallowing them were two completely different things. Gu-insects were extremely poisonous things of the world, and their forms were terrifying. Not being afraid of them only meant you had the ability to avoid or kill them; it didn't mean you could directly swallow them into your stomach without any reservations.
In their wine bowls now, the wine was amber-colored, exuding a rich aroma. Without looking closely, it was hard to notice the extremely fine, thread-like things swimming inside. These threads were much finer than a strand of hair, and their bodies were a pale yellow, almost the same color as the wine. If not for a cultivator's eyesight, it would be very difficult to spot them. Gong Chenying and Miao Wangqing, with the characteristic meticulousness of women, had noticed the difference the moment they picked up the wine. The difference was that Gong Chenying had only hesitated for a moment. Seeing Zhao Min drain it in one gulp without any hesitation, she had no more reservations and drank it directly. Miao Wangqing, on the other hand, was left standing there in a daze.
However, everyone knew who Li Wuyi was. How could he let Li Changting act recklessly? It was only after some people had drunk it that they knew the wonderful use of this wine. But whenever they recalled the densely packed, fine, thread-like Gu-insects in the wine bowl, their sharp heads and tails, their bodies covered with fine, barbed little thorns, swimming around in their bodies like miniature, thorny maggots, they couldn't help but feel their scalps tingle. But they all knew that this was just their imagination. Those Gu-insects should not be able to survive after entering the body; they should have turned into a part of the medicinal power. They just didn't know what means Li Changting had used to keep these thousands of Gu-insects alive in the wine, and then in the end, turn them into a great tonic without harming the human body at all.
In fact, this Gu was the extremely rare "Roving Thread Gu." It was itself extremely poisonous, liked to live in groups, and spent most of its life in a dormant state. Only when stimulated by the outside world would it attack in a swarm like a tide. In a visible formation, tens of thousands of them would drill into the enemy's body through pores and acupoints, and then swim around randomly inside. Wherever they passed, they would use the barbs on their fine thorns to directly break the enemy's capillaries and inject venom. In fact, if just one "Roving Thread Gu" drilled into an ordinary adult's body, they would die immediately within an hour and a half. Even a Qi Condensation cultivator, without an antidote, could be killed by three to five of them.
After Li Changting had managed to obtain the "Roving Thread Gu" eggs, she had spent a great deal of money to cultivate them. Then she had pestered her aunt, Li Yuyin, for a long time to get a secret refining method. Finally, she had spent several thousand spirit stones to buy six precious medicinal materials and, using the secret method, refined these "Roving Thread Gu" into the wine. These "Roving Thread Gu" were originally extremely sleepy creatures, but under the stimulation of those few medicines, they swam in the wine day and night, continuously releasing their own venom. This venom was then absorbed and neutralized by the medicine. And because these "Roving Thread Gu" had been soaked in the medicine for a long time, not only was the venom in their bodies absorbed, but their body structure also changed. As long as they left the medicinal wine and their environment changed, they would die immediately, and their bodies would instantly collapse and turn into juice, flowing with the wine.
So, for Li Changting to bring this out to drink with everyone this time, she had really spent a fortune. This wine had to be fermented and neutralized for at least ten years before it could be drunk. Otherwise, with such a large amount of potent poison inside, a single touch would mean instant death. Its preciousness was such that if a single jar were to be sold outside, to someone who knew its value, it could easily fetch seven or eight thousand spirit stones.
"What's wrong? Afraid to drink?" Li Changting's face fell. She stared at the few of them, her gaze finally landing on Li Wuyi and Li Yan. Li Yan, being looked at by her, said sheepishly, "Drink, drink..."
Li Wuyi looked at the moving things in the wine bowl as if they were crawling all over his body. His face couldn't help but turn pale. "Drink, why wouldn't I drink? It's just that the wine is too strong. Can I drink less? Didn't old Wei the second say he wanted to share more of the burden for his senior brother?" He first glanced at Wei Chituo. This one glance made Wei Chituo's blood rush to his head, and for a moment, his face was red, and he couldn't speak.
Under Li Changting's gaze, Li Wuyi gritted his teeth, picked up the wine, and drained it in one gulp. Then he quickly picked up a piece of demonic beast meat and ate it in large mouthfuls, as if this piece of meat was like a giant mountain that could crush those Gu-insects.
Wei Chituo, on the other hand, had lost his earlier bravado. Hearing Li Wuyi's words, he gritted his teeth even more. At this moment, looking at the densely packed worms in the wine bowl, he could no longer smell the aroma of the wine. He only hated that his eyesight was so good. The hand holding the wine bowl began to tremble uncontrollably.
Li Changting swept her eyes over everyone one by one, making everyone except Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, and of course, the meditating Yun Chunqu, feel extremely embarrassed. But the gaze she directed at Miao Wangqing was different from the others. When she looked at Miao Wangqing, Li Changting raised her eyebrows, a hint of contempt on her lips. Then she casually picked up her wine bowl, gently raised it to Li Wuyi, who was furiously devouring demonic beast meat, and drained it in one gulp. Li Wuyi, his mouth full of grease, could only drink another bowl with a bitter face. This action instantly made Miao Wangqing's small face turn pale with anger. Before everyone's eyes, she drank the wine in her hand without the slightest hesitation. Then she picked up the wine jar and filled it again. Under Li Wuyi's somewhat desperate gaze, she also raised her bowl to him as a sign and, without pausing, drank it all in one gulp. But her face grew even paler. Li Wuyi could only pick up his wine bowl with a trembling hand...
Next, a strange thing happened. The Eldest Senior Brother, who had always had a high tolerance for alcohol and whose magical power had reached the fake-Core realm, actually got drunk and collapsed to the ground after drinking three bowls in a row and devouring more than ten jin of demonic beast meat. No matter how people pushed or pulled him, he wouldn't wake up. Even when Li Changting and Miao Wangqing, for the first time, cooperated very well in pinching, kneading, kicking, pulling, and dragging him... he was still unconscious.
This so angered Li Changting that she glared fiercely at her other junior brothers, making Wei Chituo, Wen Xinliang, Lin Daqiao, and Li Yan's hearts turn cold, afraid that this Eldest Senior Sister would suddenly fly into a rage. One by one, they began to force themselves to drink the wine and eat the food, all while wearing smiles...
Gong Chenying and Zhao Min, however, drank their wine in silence from beginning to end, their gazes only occasionally meeting.
The night was as cool as water. All gatherings must come to an end. Amidst Lin Daqiao's swaying, Wei Chituo's liver and gallbladder about to split, Yun Chunqu's seeming extreme satisfaction, and Wen Xinliang's cowering, the crowd dispersed, leaving only a messy courtyard and Li Yan's lonely figure.
After everyone had left, Li Yan looked at the places where Gong Chenying and Zhao Min had just sat. The images of the two of them drinking just now appeared in his mind. With their almost identical personalities, it was fitting that they hadn't spoken much. But Li Yan had felt a difference from before. The two of them seemed to be drinking calmly, but it was as if they were both recalling their shared past, every drop of it, as if it had turned into a flowing stream in the wine, carried away, far away...
Li Yan couldn't understand Zhao Min's thoughts, but he could feel that she was even more silent today.
During a break in the gathering, Gong Chenying had gone out of the courtyard with Zhao Min alone for a while. Amidst Wei Chituo, Lin Daqiao, and Wen Xinliang's arm-in-arm camaraderie, and Miao Wangqing's drunken, charming laughter, it seemed no one had noticed. But when Gong Chenying and Zhao Min returned, Zhao Min's face seemed a few shades fairer under the swaying moonlight through the bamboo shadows. Her gaze seemed to intentionally or unintentionally drift to Li Yan, a new complexity in it. And Gong Chenying also had a somewhat awkward look on her face. After coming back, she sat there silently, occasionally draining a bowl in one go, but did not look at Li Yan again, just staring blankly at her wine bowl.
This was seen very clearly by Li Changting. She looked at the two of them with some doubt. Even the drunken Li Wuyi seemed to have slightly raised his eyelids.
After that, Zhao Min became even more silent. Sometimes she looked at the frolicking crowd, sometimes at the moonlight, her eyes filled with a hazy look.
Who thinks of the west wind, alone and cool? Over here one sings, while another hesitates...
But this atmosphere was soon broken. Already slightly drunk, her pretty face flushed pink with wine, Miao Wangqing came over with a charming smile. She took Gong Chenying and Zhao Min's hands and started talking. The two of them could only smile and make small talk with her. For a time, the coolness seemed to have temporarily left the small courtyard.
Until the very end, Zhao Min had not said a single word to Li Yan. And Gong Chenying, as she was leaving, passed by Li Yan's side and sent him a voice transmission in a low voice. "Wait for me tomorrow morning. Don't leave the courtyard."
These words left Li Yan confused for a moment, but he couldn't help but think a little more. 'Is this for a private, secret talk?' At this thought, his dark face actually turned red. After a while, he looked at the small courtyard, and the fluctuations in his heart gradually disappeared. He just stood there in the courtyard, motionless.
Looking at the place where Zhao Min had sat before, that stunningly beautiful and pale face appeared in Li Yan's eyes again. For a long, long time, Li Yan let out a long sigh.
A cool night, half a sky of starlight. Li Yan sat cross-legged in the courtyard until dawn.
"Senior Sister Li's wine is truly potent. In just one night, that medicinal power has given me the potential to break through the early stage of the tenth layer of Qi Condensation."
Li Yan did not try to break through, but forcefully suppressed that medicinal power. What he lacked now was comprehension of the realm. He could not blindly seek breakthroughs. This medicinal power, after he compressed it, slowly transformed into spirit power. He needed to continuously compress and polish his spirit power in the early stage of the tenth layer of Qi Condensation, to carefully savor the artistic conception of that realm. Finally, as his artistic conception improved, his spirit power would be continuously compressed and condensed, forming a purer spirit power before he would try to break through again.
As the sun rose in the east, Li Yan tidied up the courtyard. Breathing in the morning air that seemed to carry dew, it felt as if the morning's quiet could take away some of his troubles.
Standing in the courtyard, Li Yan looked up at the dark green bamboo leaves above. He watched the dewdrops between the leaves reflect the blue of the sky, as if he was looking at a faint ink wash painting. In the painting, the fresh scent of bamboo leaves and the morning air permeated everything. Was the person in the painting, or was the painting in the person?
Just as Li Yan was somewhat lost in thought, the restriction at the courtyard gate churned with white mist. The sect token at Li Yan's waist was flashing with a red light. Li Yan swept it with his Divine Sense, and a cold voice came from the token. "Li Yan, I'm outside your courtyard."
Hearing this voice, Li Yan's heart involuntarily sped up a lot. He took a deep breath, and with a wave of the token in his hand toward the courtyard gate, the white mist churned and separated to the two sides, revealing a small path. Under Li Yan's watchful gaze, a beautiful figure slowly walked in. Her ear-length short hair and wheat-colored skin were like the morning sun, exuding vitality everywhere, a burst of youth. A pair of beautiful eyes were also looking up at Li Yan, meeting his gaze head-on. The originally cold gaze instantly became somewhat flustered, even showing an intention to dodge, but then it still looked at Li Yan.
Li Yan couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart. It seemed this young woman refused to admit defeat no matter what. It was just a casual glance from him, yet she had to meet it without retreating.
"Oh, Senior Sister Six, good morning!"
For a moment, Li Yan didn't know what to say. Having left the secret realm, a place where danger was ever-present, this was the first time the two of them had been alone. Although they had been alone for a period of time in the secret realm, at that time, they were more concerned with how to survive. Although their relationship later became self-evident, they rarely had the mind to think too much about it.
Now that they were back in the sect and everything had calmed down, meeting in this quiet environment always felt a bit romantic.
"Mm, good morning!" After hearing Li Yan's words, Gong Chenying lowered her head slightly and hummed in agreement. Then, as if preoccupied, she didn't look at Li Yan and walked straight to the stone table in the courtyard. Li Yan looked at that graceful back, a faint fragrance lingering at the tip of his nose as she walked. He could only rub his nose, then waved the token in his hand at the courtyard gate. The small courtyard was instantly isolated from the outside world. Then he also followed her.
Until she reached the stone table, Gong Chenying had kept her head slightly lowered. It was only after she sat down that she looked at Li Yan, who had already sat down opposite her. Her jade-like hand lifted as if brushing away a light breeze, tucking her short hair behind her ear. That beautiful face was presented even more clearly before Li Yan's eyes. Although she was just sitting casually, that stunning figure was like a mature peach tree had been added to the courtyard, making Li Yan, who was looking at her, feel a bit unnatural.
She pursed her rosy lips. "In the future, in private, you can just call me A Ying." After saying this, a rosy blush already bloomed on her pretty face.
Hearing this, Li Yan reached up and rubbed his nose, not knowing how to reply.