Ye Jiuzhou Got Drunk

This torment lasted for three years.

Three years.

One thousand and ninety-five days.

Twenty-six thousand two hundred and eighty shichen.

Every single shichen was sheer agony.

Ye Jiuzhou realized he had changed.

In the past, when meditating and cultivating, he could sit for three days and three nights straight, his mind as still as stagnant water, completely motionless.

But now, he often found his mind wandering during meditation. Unbidden images would surface in his head: the silhouette of Ye Xuan squatting by a campfire roasting a chicken, the sound of Ye Xuan's laughter as he chased the waves barefoot on a sandy beach...

Then he would jolt awake from his trance, finding his heart racing to an unimaginable degree.

He became prone to losing his temper. He would release the oppressive aura of the Void Refinement realm just because an innkeeper was a quarter of an hour late serving food, terrifying all the diners in the hall into kneeling on the ground.

He would reveal murderous intent just because a passing cultivator accidentally glanced at Ye Xuan a second too long, his hand already resting on the hilt of his sword.

Ye Xuan saw all these abnormal behaviors.

Yet, he remained silent.

As silent as a brick wall.

Sometimes, Ye Jiuzhou felt that Ye Xuan's silence wasn't meant to punish him; the youth didn't have that kind of deep calculation. Ye Xuan's silence was more like a form of self-preservation.

Like a dog that had been kicked by its master.

It wouldn't hold a grudge against its master, but for a very long time, it would stop wagging its tail.

Not because it didn't want to wag it.

But because it was afraid of being kicked again if it did.

This analogy made Ye Jiuzhou feel like an animal.

But he was powerless to refute it.

Because he was an animal.

Late autumn of the third year.

They passed by an ancient city named Moonview City.

Moonview City was famous for its wine. There was a wine alley in the city, where both sides of the bluestone-paved road were lined with wineries and taverns. The air was perpetually filled with the strong aroma of liquor.

It was said that an underground river of spiritual spring water flowed beneath the city. The wine brewed from this spring water carried a very faint trace of spiritual energy. After drinking it, all the meridians in one's body would grow slightly warm, having the effect of relaxing the muscles and stimulating the blood.

After entering the city, Ye Xuan paused at the entrance of a tavern.

He looked at the old plaque hanging over the tavern's lintel. His lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing. He turned around and continued walking forward.

Ye Jiuzhou saw the moment he stopped.

He knew what Ye Xuan wanted to say.

Ye Xuan wanted to say, "Big brother, let's go in for a drink, yeah?"

Just like before.

Whenever they arrived at a new city, the first thing Ye Xuan would do was find a tavern.

He would pull Ye Jiuzhou to sit in a corner, order two pots of the strongest liquor, and chatter away as he drank.

His alcohol tolerance was astonishingly terrible. After three cups, his face would turn red down to the base of his neck; after five cups, his tongue would tie in knots; after seven cups, he would collapse onto the table and start speaking nonsense.

The nonsense he babbled after getting drunk was often what Ye Jiuzhou wanted to hear the least, yet also wanted to hear the most.

"Big brother... do you know... you are really... really amazing..."

"In my whole life... the person I admire most... is you..."

"Big brother... in the future... can you not always... stay by yourself... you have me..."

"I will... follow you forever... forever..."

Those drunken words echoed in the late-night tavern, mixing with the sharp tang of cheap liquor and the sun-baked hay scent that lingered on Ye Xuan's body.

Ye Jiuzhou would listen expressionlessly every time, carry the dead-drunk Ye Xuan back to the inn, and throw him onto the bed. Then he would sit on a nearby chair, listening to his snoring, his expression becoming so complex that even he couldn't decipher it.

But now, even that opportunity was gone.

Ye Xuan no longer drank.

That idiot who claimed to be "unfazed by a thousand cups but actually collapsed after three" had quit drinking.

Ye Jiuzhou didn't know why he had quit.

Perhaps he was afraid of saying things he shouldn't say after getting drunk.

Or perhaps he was afraid that getting drunk would strip away all his defenses, leaving his true heart laid bare once again before a man who had once pointed a Soul-Extinguishing Nail at him.

That night, Ye Jiuzhou went to that tavern, Drunken Spring Breeze, alone.

He ordered a pot of liquor.

Moonview City's strongest, Autumn Water White.

He sat alone in a corner, with two cups set before him.

One was for himself.

The other, he didn't even know who it was for.

He was not used to drinking. For a cultivator at the Void Refinement stage, with true essence circulating within his body, alcohol could hardly have any effect on him. Mortal wine was no different from plain water to him.

But today, he deliberately sealed off the circulation of his true essence.

He wanted to get drunk, just like a mortal.

The first cup.

The pungent liquid poured down his throat, burning his esophagus and stomach lining. Without the protection of true essence, the burning sensation was sharp and real, hurting enough to make his brows furrow slightly.

The second cup.

The third cup.

The seventh cup.

The twelfth cup.

His face slowly turned red. Not the kind of redness at the tips of the ears, but a flush that spread evenly across his entire face from jaw to forehead, as if dyed by the evening glow.

His gaze began to lose focus. Those eyes, forever as sharp as swords, became soft and hazy, like two pools of lake water steeped in twilight.

The other patrons in the tavern stole secret glances at him.

Even half-drunk, his face flushed and his hair disheveled, he remained the most dazzling presence in the entire tavern.

His beauty was not of the mortal realm; it was a beauty laced with divinity, keeping everyone at arm's length, a beauty that no one dared to profane.

When the first pot was finished, Ye Jiuzhou ordered another.

Halfway through the second pot, he was drunk.

Truly, thoroughly drunk.

He buried his head in the crook of his arm, his forehead pressing against the rough wooden table.

The clamor of the tavern, the sounds of drinking games, the laughter and curses surged from all directions—noisy yet warm, like a muddy river sweeping him entirely into its current.

Suddenly, he missed Ye Xuan terribly.

This longing came fiercely and unreasonably, like a floodgate bursting open. All the emotions suppressed for three years poured out like a flood, instantly drowning him.

He wanted to hear Ye Xuan call him big brother.

Wanted to see Ye Xuan grin at him.

Wanted to smell the scent of hay on Ye Xuan.

Wanted to eat the Beggar's Chicken Ye Xuan roasted.

Wanted to hear Ye Xuan tell those terribly corny jokes.

Wanted to see Ye Xuan's foolish look as he slumped on the table talking nonsense while drunk.

Ye Jiuzhou suddenly lifted his head.

He stood up from the table, his movements so abrupt that he knocked over the wine pot.

The clear liquor meandered across the table surface, reaching the edge and dripping onto the floor.

He paid it no mind.

He stumbled his way out of the tavern.

In the late autumn night of Moonview City, the air was permeated with the sweet fragrance of osmanthus and the strong scent of alcohol drifting from the wineries. A full moon hung above the corner watchtower of the city wall. Moonlight spilled like quicksilver, illuminating the bluestone-paved road with a cold, pale gleam.

Ye Jiuzhou staggered under the moonlight.

His footsteps were chaotic and unsteady, completely devoid of his usual flowing grace.

A patch of his white robes was soaked with wine stains, and loose strands of hair clung to his cheeks. The moonlight traced the slightly flushed contours of his profile.

He, a majestic figure at the peak of the Void Refinement realm. Possessor of the Heavenly Phoenix Sword Bone. Unparalleled in the world.

Was drunk as a dog.