Chapter 12 – Green Bamboo Wine is fragrant, Gu Master flaunts power
“Right now everything comes down to the Flower Wine Monk’s treasure. If I can find it, all my problems will be solved. If I don’t find it, all these issues will greatly slow down my speed of cultivation. If that happens I’ll lose out to people at my age in cultivating. I don’t understand! I’ve spent more than a week trying to attract the Liquor worm to appear, why do I still not see it?”
Fang Yuan frowned and racked his brains. It was like putting food into his mouth, but still not knowing how it tasted (1).
Suddenly there was a loud noise, interrupting his thoughts. Fang Yuan looked at the direction of the sound, realizing that the 6 hunters seated around the table at the middle of the hall were heavily drunk. The atmosphere around them was fiery and their faces were all red.
“Brother Zhang, come, drink another cup!”
“Old brother Feng, we brothers admire your abilities! You took down a black skinned wild boar alone, what a man! This cup of wine you must drink, or else you’ll be disrespecting us!”
“Thank you brothers for your sincerity, but I really can’t drink anymore.”
“Brother Feng can’t drink anymore, perhaps you dislike this wine because it’s not good enough? Waiter, come over! Give me some good wine!”
The noise was becoming louder; it was obvious that the group had drunk a lot. The waiter hurriedly went over and said, “Well good sirs, we do have good wine, but it is quite expensive.”
“What, you’re afraid we won’t pay up?!” When the hunters heard the waiter, quite a few of them stood up and stared at the waiter. They were either big and tall or thick and burly in stature, capable and vigorous in a threatening manner, each having the courage that mountain men possessed.
The waiter quickly said, “I would not dare to look down on you brave men, it’s just that these wine is really expensive, one jar costs 2 pieces of primeval stones!”
The hunters were stunned. 2 primeval stones was definitely not cheap – It was the sum of 2 months of the normal average household monthly expenses. Even though hunters earn more from hunting when compared to ordinary mortals, like how some times a black skinned wild pig could be worth half a primeval stone. However hunting was risky and a mistake could turn the hunter into prey.
To the hunters, using 2 primeval stones just to drink a jar of wine was just not worth it.
“Is there really such an expensive wine?”
“Boy, you aren’t trying to lie to us right?”
The hunters were shouting about, but their voices felt a little timid, unable to back out of the situation with grace. The waiter kept telling them he wouldn’t dare.
The hunter called brother Feng saw that the scene was not right, and he hurriedly said, “My brothers, let’s not spend anymore. I can’t drink anymore, let us drink this wine another day.”
“What, you can’t say that brother!”
“This is…”
The rest of the hunters were still shouting, but their voices started to fade away. One by one they sat back in their seats. The waiter was also a shrewd person. When he saw this, he knew that he was not able to sell the wine any more. However this situation hardly surprised him. As he was about to retreat, a young man’s voice came from the table at the dark corner. “Hehe, hilarious. Each one of them blindly shouting for nothing. If you can’t afford to buy wine, you should just obediently keep your mouths shut and go to the side!”
When the hunters heard this, one of them immediately retorted in anger, “Who said we can’t afford it? Waiter, bring over that jar of wine, I’ll give you the stones, two pieces of it!”
“Oh, give me a moment sir, I’ll get it!” The waiter did not expect such a turn of events. He hurriedly replied and turned to grab a wine jar and brought it over. This wine jar was as big as the common jar of wine, but the moment it was uncorked, in that very instant a refreshing and mellow fragrance filled the entire cafeteria. Even the old man sitting alone at the window could not help but turn his head over when he smelled the wine aroma, and he gazed at the jar of wine.
It was definitely good wine.
“Dear guests, its not bragging. This is the green bamboo wine; the entire village only has one inn, which is us. Smell the fragrance!” The waiter inhaled deeply as he said this, his facial expression full of satisfaction and enjoyment.
Fang Yuan was moved. This inn waiter was really not boasting.
In the Gu Yue Village there were 3 taverns. The wine sold there were the common rice wine, muddy wine and other similar common wine. In order for Fang Yuan to attract the Liquor worm, he continuously bought wine for 7 days; it was naturally that he was aware of the prices.
Several of the hunters looked at the wine jar before them. They were consumed by alcohol addiction. Each of them twitched their noses and swallowed. As for the hunter who bought the wine in a moment of anger, his expression was even more interesting; a layer of remorse and anger appeared on his face.
After all this jar of wine was the value of two primeval stones!
“I was too rash and bought the wine by impulse. This waiter is not too typical. He immediately brought the wine, now the cork is unsealed. Even if I want to return the goods it is too late.”
The more the hunter pondered, the more distressed he felt. He wanted to return it back, yet he was unable to do so in fear of being humiliated. At last he could only bang on the table and said with a strong smile, “Damn, this wine is good! Brothers please, drink all you want. Today this wine is on me!”
At this moment the young man at the table in the corner hissed, “How is this small jar of wine enough for six? If you have the guts then go buy a few more jars.”
The hunter was furious when he heard this and stood up in a rage, his eyes fixed on the young man who spoke. “Brat, you sure have a lot of words. Come, stand up and fight me!”
“Oh? Then I will stand up.” The young man got up from his seat as he heard the hunter’s remark, grinning as he walked out from the shadows. His body figure was tall and thin, his skin pale. He was dressed in navy battle robes, and looked clean and neat. His head wore a blue headband; his upper body had a jacket that showed his thin and weak shoulders. The lower body had long pants, the feet were covered in bamboo sandals and the calves were tied.
The most important thing about him was the green belt on his waist. The middle of the belt was a shiny piece of copper; on the copper plate was a black “One” word.
“It’s a Rank One Gu Master?!” The hunter clearly understood what this manner of clothing represented. He drew in a deep breath, the anger on his face dissipating, replaced by alarm.
He had never imagined that he actually provoked a Gu Master!
“Didn’t you want to fight me? Come on then, hit me.” The young Gu Master walked slowly towards the man, a playful smile on his face. But the hunter who had challenged him earlier had become frozen like a sculpture, unable to move from his spot.
“Maybe you guys can all come at me together, that works too.” The young Gu Master slowly walked to the hunter’s table, casually speaking.
The expressions on their faces had changed. Some of the hunters who had drunken red faces had gone pale suddenly. Each of their foreheads was drenched in cold sweat, and they felt restless, too afraid to even breathe heavily.
The young Gu Master stretched out a hand, picking up the green bamboo wine jar. He put it under his nose and sniffed, smiling. He said, “It sure smells good…”
“If my lord likes it, then please feel free to take and drink it. It is an apology from me for offending my lord,” the hunter who provoked him earlier hurriedly replied and cupped his hands together before his chest, pushing a smile to his face.
Unexpectedly the young man’s facial expression changed fiercely; with a loud crack the jar fell into pieces on the ground. The Gu Master looked cold as ice, his gaze sharp like a sword. He hissed angrily, “You think you have the right to apologize to me? You bunch of hunters must be really rich, even richer than me, since you guys spent 2 primeval stones to drink wine?! Do you have any idea, how upset I am over primeval stones right now! You actually dare to show off your wealth in front of me at this time! You mortals can even compare to me?!”
“We wouldn’t dare, we wouldn’t dare!”
“To offend my lord, it is a heinous crime!”
“We mortals did not mean to offend you, these are our primeval stones, please accept lord Gu Master.”
The hunters quickly got on their feet and took out the primeval stones they had. But how could these mortals have money, all they pulled out was just bits and fragments of primeval stones, the biggest fragment piece was no bigger than a quarter of a primeval stone.
The Gu Master did not accept these primeval stones, but he did not stop sneering. He used his hawk-like gaze and swept past the entire cafeteria. The hunters that he scanned over lowered their heads. The old man who sat at the window watching the scene also quickly turned his head to avoid the Gu Master’s gaze.
Only Fang Yuan watched quietly, void of hesitation.
The clothing that this young Gu Master was wearing was the uniform that only formal Gu Masters could wear, so Fang Yuan was not qualified to wear it. Fang Yuan would only receive it from the clan after he graduated from the academy.
The word ‘One’ on the copper piece on the belt of the young Gu Master was to indicate his position as a Rank one Gu Master. However he was already around 20 years or so, and the aura of primeval essence that his body emitted seemed to indicate that he was Rank one upper stage.
Starting cultivation at 15 years of age and only reaching Rank one upper stage at around 20 years of age, this showed that the young Gu Master was only of D grade talent, which was a grade worse than Fang Yuan. There was a high possibility that this man was only a logistics Gu Master, not even counted as a battle Gu Master.
However even if that was the case, when facing these six brawny hunters it was more than sufficient.
This was the gap of power between a Gu Master and a mortal human.
“With power, one can be at the top. This is the nature of this world. No, actually any world is also the same, the big fish eats the small fish and the small fish eats the shrimp. It’s just that this world shows it even more openly,” Fang Yuan mused secretly.
“Alright Jiang Ya, you already taught them a lesson. Let’s not further embarrass these mortals. If it gets out, even if you are not embarrassed, I would be,” the other young person sitting in the corner voiced out.
When everyone heard the voice speak, they realized that this young person was a woman.
The young Gu Master called Jiang Ya stopped sneering as his female companion chided him. He did not even bother looking at the fragments of primeval stones that the hunters had taken out; these stones were not even the sum of two primeval stones, he was definitely not interested in it.
He flicked his sleeve and walked back to his original table. As he strode back he said maliciously, “If you think you have the guts to continue drinking, then go and drink green bamboo wine. I want to see, who still dares to drink this wine?”
The hunters all lowered their heads, acting like six obedient sons after being scolded.
The strong aroma of wine filled the entire cafeteria. The hunter who bought the wine felt his heart aching as he smelled the fragrance. After all he had spent 2 primeval stones on this wine, yet he never got to drink even one mouthful!
Fang Yuan put down his chopsticks; he had eaten enough. As he sniffed in the wine aroma his eyes flashed for a moment, then he took out 2 primeval stones and put them on the table. “Waiter, give me a jar of green bamboo wine,” he said indifferently.
The whole scene froze.
The young Gu Master called Jiang Ya instantly stopped in his footsteps. The corners of his mouth twitched and he exhaled. He had just finished his warning, yet right after he was done Fang Yuan wanted the wine. This was like specially stepping over him and slapping him in the face.
He turned around and narrowed his eyes, shooting a cold glare at Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan calmly stared back, his face indifferent and void of fear.
Jiang Ya’s eyes flashed and the coldness in his gaze slowly disappeared; he felt the aura of primeval essence on Fang Yuan’s body. After realizing Fang Yuan’s identity, he lit up with a smile and said warmly, “Ah, it’s a junior brother.”
Everyone else came to the realization and the looks they shot at Fang Yuan changed.
No wonder this young teenager was not one bit afraid of a Gu Master, it was because he was also one. Even though he was still attending the academy, his position was already different.
“Lord Gu Master, your wine!” The waiter scurried over, smiling all over his face. Fang Yuan nodded at the young Gu Master and took and jar of wine and walked out of the inn.
(1) I believe it means that he is putting in effort, yet he cannot see the results.
TN Note: It’s 7am now, I’m going to sleep and translate another chapter later if I’m not called to go to work.