Chapter 6893 The Same Scene, Different Feeling
This statue wasn’t like the grand divine statues found at the foundations of god path inheritances. It stood just a few meters tall, looking rather small compared to those towering figures that reached into the sky.
The statue showed a white-robed man who appeared to be in his forties. With his long mustache and beard, he looked just like a wise immortal.
However, this immortal held a wine cup in his left hand and a wine gourd in his right. He leaned against a rock, the sword on his waist resting casually under him. He looked visibly drunk.
Even though he held a wine cup, he wasn’t using it. Instead, he drank straight from the wine gourd. His white robes were dirty, but he didn’t seem to mind.
The statue gave off a feeling of freedom—not just from external restraints, but from inner ones as well. It was as if nothing else in the world mattered except the world of wine he lived in.
There was poetry carved onto the platform beneath the statue. Long Chen had seen it before.
“Wine contains the great universe, and its jug contains the passing of time. All things are in motion, freely changing.
“Clear wine is tasteless like water; turbid wine is dense like soup. Primal chaos devolves into clearness and turbidness, and a hundred flavors brew within the sky.
“Wine allows one to escape the endless chase of fame and fortune. To become intoxicated is to dream of ten thousand Daos, to wake up is to see the world.”
This time, the poem was written in the original Jiuli immortal characters. However, the writing was almost impossible to read. Long Chen knew these characters well and had seen this poem before, but he could only recognize some of them from memory. If he saw the characters one by one, he wouldn’t be able to make them out from this chicken scratch.
All of a sudden, Yan Li collapsed to the ground.
“Yan Li!” Chi Yutong and Xin Yu cried out and hastily caught him.
“Please don’t worry. It seems this junior brother is holding onto heavy things in his heart. The Wine God’s Dao-charm has caused what is in his heart to float to the surface. He will be fine once he wakes up,” promised Zi Nuo.
The two women were confused. Suddenly, they noticed the smell of wine coming from Yan Li, and it kept getting stronger. At first, Yan Li’s body tried to resist, but soon he went completely limp.
“This person has destiny with the Wine God. After this drunkenness, the pain in his heart will be healed by the power of the Grand Dao. This is a great chance for him," said Zi Nuo.
When some of his subordinates appeared, Zi Nuo said, “Junior brother Yan Li is intoxicated and needs to rest. When he wakes up, his sudden increase in power will stabilize, and his foundation will be completely solid.”
Chi Yutong was startled. Zi Nuo had sharp eyes and could see that Yan Li’s power had grown quickly, making his foundation unstable.
By now, Yan Li’s power had grown so much that even Chi Yutong couldn’t sense its limits. Xin Yu also couldn’t see through his cultivation base anymore.
“Thank you, Brother Zi Nuo,” said Long Chen.
He didn’t have to be wary of the Wine God Palace. Moreover, Yan Li was lucky—this would save him a lot of time in stabilizing his foundation.
“Mister Long Chen, did you feel anything special when you saw the Wine God’s statue?” asked Zi Nuo.
Countless memories rushed through Long Chen’s mind: the Grand Xia Ancient Nation, the Wine God Palace, the nation’s protector general, Tu Qianshang, Xia Yunfeng, Xia Youluo, Li Wanji...
This was his third visit to the Wine God Palace. The first time, he went with Xia Youluo to trick them out of some wine. The second time, he went with Zi Yan and Han Wenjun to pay respects to the High Priest.
Now, the Martial Heaven Continent was gone. While the Primal Chaos Dragon Sovereign had moved everyone away, Long Chen wondered if they were still alright after all these years.
Back in the Four Nations Ancient Remnant, Xia Youluo had suffered a serious setback. Long Chen wondered if she had managed to recover from that trauma.
As these memories spun through his mind, Long Chen let out a sigh.
“It’s the same flowers and wine, but the feeling has changed. The years passed me by like sand slipping through my fingers.”
These words expressed sadness over the helpless passage of time. Each moment that went by was a moment lost. No matter how strong someone was, they could not wind back time.
“It seems Mister Long Chen has endless stories in his heart,” said Zi Nuo.
“If Brother Zi Nuo wishes to hear them, then as long as you provide endless wine, I can tell you endless stories!” Long Chen replied, smiling and patting Zi Nuo’s shoulder.
Zi Nuo was caught off-guard by Long Chen’s frankness, but he laughed magnanimously.
“Hahaha, I’m sure Mister Long Chen’s stories will be marvelous. I have plenty of wine, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to match your stories!”
Zi Nuo couldn’t remember anyone ever patting his shoulder before. After all, people usually kept a respectful distance from him. Now, Long Chen’s openness seemed to rub off on him.
The other disciples of the Wine God Palace felt uneasy upon seeing it. Zi Nuo was the future High Priest, and his status was very high. To them, Long Chen’s actions almost seemed disrespectful.
Still, they were well-mannered and didn’t say a word.
Chi Yutong and Xin Yu also thought Long Chen was being a bit too familiar with Zi Nuo, but Long Chen didn’t seem to care what they thought.
Long Chen glanced back at the Wine God’s statue. Seeing the Wine God’s eyes gazing into the starry sky, Long Chen suddenly had an idea and extended his hand toward the statue.
Seeing this, Zi Nuo looked shocked. The other disciples reacted quickly and were about to intervene, but Zi Nuo signaled them to hold back.
As Long Chen’s hand made contact with the statue, it transformed into astral energy. The surroundings dimmed, and starlight illuminated the entire Wine God Palace.
“What...?”
Everyone, including Zi Nuo, was stunned by this reaction. They had never seen such a thing.
As the starry sky appeared, the Wine God’s presence changed. He seemed like an immortal, chanting and drinking under the stars. Drunk, he looked up at the sky as if he wanted to speak to it.
Following his gaze, everyone could see nine large stars in a ring within the starlight.
At the center of that ring of stars was darkness. The Wine God’s gaze seemed to be on that black mist in the middle.
Suddenly, the starlight vanished, and the world became bright again. The Wine God looked like an ordinary drunkard once more.
But now, the Jiuli immortal characters carved into the platform beneath the statue were twinkling as if alive.
Zi Nuo’s heart shook. With a wave of his hand, he blew Chi Yutong, Xin Yu, and the other disciples of the Wine God Palace back so that they didn’t face the statue.
They didn’t even realize what was happening when they suddenly experienced a wave of dizziness that almost caused them to collapse.
“The Wine God’s writing has been activated! This power isn’t something we can absorb. We should leave and make sure no one looks at those characters!” warned Zi Nuo seriously.
“Yes!”
The disciples nodded frantically, not knowing what Long Chen had done to activate those characters. They were personally written by the Wine God and contained the essence of the Grand Dao.
It was a good thing Zi Nuo had acted quickly. They had barely glanced at it and almost fainted.
If they passed out from the Wine God’s Dao-charm, no one knew how long it would take for them to wake up. There was a story about a genius who accidentally activated one of those Jiuli immortal characters and ended up sleeping for eight thousand years.
After eight thousand years, even a genius would become ordinary. In the end, they died a mediocre death. There were several stories like this.
The seniors of the Wine God Palace had warned them many times not to force themselves to understand the Wine God’s writing. Thus, the disciples only looked at it from a distance every now and then.
“Mister Long Chen, we should really go to see the High Priest now,” said Zi Nuo.
He glanced back at those flashing immortal characters and had to use supreme willpower not to look at them more closely.
Long Chen stared right at them. Seeing the pulsing light between them, he nodded.
Zi Nuo formed hand seals, and a barrier rose around the divine statue, preventing anyone else from accidentally seeing the characters. He then brought Long Chen into the Wine God Palace.