Chapter 63: Unconsciousness

How did he end up taking on such a disciple! Impulse truly is the devil; upon seeing this girl’s innate talent for the Way of Wine, he was moved by appreciation and took her under his wing. But when will she ever rid herself of this habit of sometimes being clever and at other times muddle-headed and making mistakes? Only after sensing that the little girl was not seriously harmed did he finally relax.

“Master, I’ll take Junior Sister back now,” Meng Jiao said ingratiatingly, fully aware that she was in for a punishment that she could not escape.

Nie Xingyuan nodded. Only after Meng Jiao led Ji Jiuxuan away did he turn his gaze to the depths of the wine cellar. There had clearly been some disturbance just now, but now all was calm. He investigated thoroughly, but in the end found nothing. As the system had said, encountering a Wine Spirit was truly a matter of luck. Even those who could walk the Way of Wine might not be fortunate enough to meet one.

Meng Jiao returned Ji Jiuxuan to Xuanheng Court, and only after tucking her in did she finally breathe a sigh of relief. She was actually rather puzzled; the Way of Wine trial was different from the others. If one couldn’t withstand it, it was impossible to proceed to the next stage, and the array would simply expel the participant. Earlier, when she couldn’t find her junior sister, she vaguely remembered seeing her emerge from the exit of the Way of Wine with her eyes closed.

At that thought, Meng Jiao couldn’t help but feel excited. Did little Jiuxuan actually make it through the Way of Wine? Had another practitioner joined this path?

She sat cross-legged, intending to cultivate while waiting for Ji Jiuxuan to wake, but try as she might, she could not calm her mind.

“Junior Sister, when are you going to wake up?”

Even this short wait left her unbearably anxious.

After a long while, Meng Jiao finally realized the gravity of the situation. Junior Sister had come out from the Way of Wine’s exit; who knew which vintage she had drunk? The older the wine, the stronger its effect. If it was too potent and she ended up sleeping till the end of time, that would be disastrous.

She hurriedly notified Nie Xingyuan.

Before long, Nie Xingyuan arrived at Xuanheng Court, striding quickly to the bedside. He extended his spiritual power and examined her once more. The result was exactly the same as his previous inspection in the cellar.

His brows knitted in seriousness. “You’re sure Ah Jiu came out from the exit of the Way of Wine trial?”

He knew his disciple was unreliable, but he hadn’t expected her to be this unreliable. That was the Way of Wine! One was strictly forbidden to take that path unless it was certain, and only those with the firmest will could manage it. Many had ended up tormented by the myriad illusions along the way and developed inner demons as a result.

Luckily, little Ah Jiu was unharmed; otherwise, he would never forgive himself.

He had thought Meng Jiao understood perfectly, and that she would only take the little girl for a stroll in the front section.

“Yes,” Meng Jiao answered, shrinking before her master like a quail. “I took Junior Sister through the first half, but then I had to go fetch some wine, and I worried the aroma would affect her. So I let her wander on her own. It was my oversight—I forgot to warn her not to go further.”

By the time she realized something was wrong, it was already too late. Her junior sister was already dead drunk.

“Double the punishment.”

Nie Xingyuan was like a living King of Hell in front of outsiders, but when facing this hopeless disciple, he felt helpless—she was so hard to teach! If little Ah Jiu had suffered any harm, he would have wanted to strangle this useless apprentice.

“Yes, Master!” Meng Jiao replied, quite relieved, for she thought the punishment was light and happily bowed.

Meanwhile, in her sleep, Ji Jiuxuan’s mind was constantly replaying the sword technique displayed by the Wine Spirit, and as she comprehended it, the taiji bagua diagram at her dantian grew ever clearer. Subconsciously, she practiced the swordplay faster and faster, and when she finally unleashed the sword, a massive taiji bagua diagram appeared behind her, the pressure within it terrifying to behold.

She didn’t know how long she had practiced—so long, in fact, that she began to wonder why the system hadn’t called a halt. Then she realized her surroundings were a vast, misty white. She felt no discomfort at all in this space.

When she examined her surroundings, she was shocked to discover she was inside her sea of consciousness! She tried hard to wake herself but found it very difficult. As she checked her own body, she was astonished to find her dantian had changed. Others’ dantians were gaseous before Foundation Establishment, only solidifying after that stage and forming a golden core in the end. But hers now was so viscous that even if she tried to stick a chopstick in, it wouldn’t go in at all—it would simply fall right off. This was not normal. The density was comparable to that of someone at the Foundation Establishment stage!

During her time on the Way of Wine, the environment had accelerated her cultivation technique, and that had not changed; her rate of absorbing spiritual energy was now even faster than before.

With tireless effort, she finally awoke, and by then the sun was already slanting low in the west.

Seeing Ji Jiuxuan wake up, Meng Jiao was so relieved she nearly cried.

Looking around, Ji Jiuxuan saw her maternal grandfather, her master, Second Uncle-Master, Little Uncle-Master, and Senior Sister Meng Jiao all present. Glancing at the sky outside, she said somewhat sheepishly, “I actually fell asleep.”

In her daze, Ji Jiuxuan had no idea that she alone had caused these calm, unflappable figures—who remained composed in the face of any danger—to worry themselves sick. Fortunately, after repeated checks found nothing amiss, they finally relaxed.

Meng Jiao, the most impatient, couldn’t help but ask, “Junior Sister, did you walk the entire Way of Wine?”

At first, she had been convinced, but from her own judgment, if someone had drunk any wine beforehand, there was no way they could make it through the Way of Wine. But if the wine was consumed near the end, with the effects of those later vintages, there was no way the little girl could wake up so soon. Every point seemed contradictory.

“I don’t know. I just walked with my eyes closed, and then I saw you, Senior Sister.”

Meng Jiao felt even more puzzled. “Then where did you drink the wine?”

Faced with the expectant gazes of those she trusted most, Ji Jiuxuan decided to tell the truth.

“Little Uncle-Master, there’s a Wine Spirit in your cellar—I saw it with my own eyes.”

This stunned everyone. Wine Spirits were exceedingly rare and could only be encountered by chance.

Nie Xingyuan was astonished and asked, “And then what happened?”

Ji Jiuxuan’s physical condition was not that of someone who had been transformed by a Wine Spirit, nor was she suited to enter the Way of Wine. Those who met and gained a Wine Spirit would have their constitutions altered, and the Way of Wine would be nothing to them after that.

“I heard Senior Sister’s voice and followed it out,” she said, using this as a convenient excuse—she couldn’t possibly expose the system. “I didn’t notice where the Wine Spirit went afterward. I didn’t actually drink any wine. It was just that the mist was so thick when I encountered the Wine Spirit, and there was the scent of wine in it. After I came out, I just fell asleep without realizing it.”

“It’s my fault for delaying Junior Sister. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have called for you. A Wine Spirit is so rare—if you could have obtained it, your cultivation would have soared.”

Meeting Meng Jiao’s deeply apologetic gaze, Ji Jiuxuan smiled and shook her head. “Senior Sister, I’m not suited to the Way of Wine.”

Then she added, full of regret, “I’d hoped to capture it for you, but then I remembered the records in the books—it can’t be taken out.”