“Esteemed guest, please wait a moment! Your words of wisdom have greatly benefitted me. Please, you must accept this small, small gift.” That winemaker actually ran after them and took out a spatial ring.

“Your courtesy is admirable. But I don’t deserve such an immense gift.” Long Chen shook his head.

“You’re too modest. The wisdom you’ve given me makes me feel shame. Back in the day, I was a martial cultivator. Falling into a trap, my Dao-companion and I were besieged by multiple Soul Transformation experts and she fell at that time.

“I managed to flee, and after bitterly training in some strange arts, I killed the ones who caused her death one by one. But my lover was still dead and my heart-devil proliferated, driving me insane. Those days were incredibly bitter.

“Eventually, I had a fated encounter with the Wine God Palace and by devoting myself to the Wine God, I managed to shed my heart-devil. However, I still felt pain day and night as I missed her. I made wine in order to forget that pain.

“Your reminder just now was the flash of insight I needed. I was simply trapping myself in my mind, and now the sky has cleared. In the future, I will be able to shed my suffering and find peace. It’s all thanks to your blessing,” said the winemaker respectfully.

Hearing this person’s story, both Long Chen and Xia Youluo were shocked. This disciple of the Wine God Palace had once been a Soul Transformation expert?

“This spatial ring contains some mundane items I gained before I fled to the Wine God Palace. I’ve thought about throwing it away a long time ago to sever this karma, but my heart was never able to release it. Now, giving it to you can count as lifting a weight off my shoulders. Originally, other than wine, disciples such as I shouldn’t possess anything. The gifts we send are also just wine. So, in order to dispel any remnant thoughts, I must get rid of this ring. Please, don’t refuse,” said the winemaker sincerely.

Oh, it’s not wine. Why didn’t you say so earlier? Long Chen thought that the winemaker was giving him the self-brewed wine, which he didn’t need. But since the winemaker was sending him the treasures he had gained in the cultivation world, Long Chen naturally wouldn’t refuse.

“Then many thanks.” Long Chen received the spatial ring.

“I won’t hold you up from your stroll. If you have time in the future, please come visit me again.”

“When we have time, we’ll definitely come to disturb you and try out your fine wine,” said Long Chen.

Once they were gone from the small pavilion, Long Chen’s divine appearance vanished. He took out the spatial ring and took a look.

“I’ve struck gold!” Long Chen jumped in shock. This winemaker had definitely been a big figure in the past. This spatial ring had dozens of King items, as well as various medicinal pills, cultivation techniques, and secret arts.

Most importantly, he saw a huge mountain of yuan spirit stones. That was what excited him the most.

“Long Chen, what’s inside the spatial ring?” asked Xia Youluo curiously.

Long Chen directly handed it to her so she could see for herself. But she merely glanced inside and disappointedly said, “I thought there was going to be some treasure? Are these things useful?”

Long Chen rolled his eyes speechlessly. “Why do I feel like you’re someone who’s never been hungry and don’t know what it feels like? Perhaps a genius like you who has never been lacking cultivation resources will never understand the vexation of poor people like me. Do you know that each increase in resources for people with no background requires risking their lives?”

“Why would you risk your life? Aren’t you doing fine right now?” asked Xia Youluo.

Long Chen gave up explaining it to her. Looking carefully in the spatial ring, he saw that there were many items inside. But now wasn’t the time to take stock of them.

The two of them continued forward and quickly arrived at another pavilion. This pavilion’s doors were closed, and no one came out to invite them.

That was very normal. The Wine God Palace’s disciples spent most of their time making wine as their cultivation. They only occasionally waited outside their pavilions waiting for fated people to come and judge their wine.

After walking past three pavilions, they encountered a female disciple of the Wine God Palace.

This time, Xia Youluo took the initiative to greet her. This woman seemed to be very happy to have someone come and judge her wine, and she warmly invited the two of them in.

However, when Xia Youluo was asked to judge her wine, she could only say that it was a good wine. As for what aspect of it was good exactly, she was unable to express it.

Fortunately, there was a grand swindler like Long Chen who was proficient in the Pill Dao. In truth, there were many similar parts to winemaking and refining pills. No matter what kind of wine he encountered, he was able to say a few specific points about the winemaking process.

Other than that, he had an incredibly sharp spiritual perception from the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. He could clearly sense the realm contained within the wine and its effects.

He would make a few accurate comments, as well as a few harsh comments. Whatever flaws were contained in their wine, he would describe them clearly in just a few sentences, delighting these disciples.

It had to be known that the Wine God Palace’s cultivation was a kind of mental realm, and winemaking was their only method of cultivating.

The Wine God Palace’s disciples weren’t afraid of others being frank and criticizing their wine. What they were afraid of was that others wouldn’t be able to say anything specific about their wine, wasting it. As long as a person was able to accurately judge their wine, no matter how harsh their words were, they would be delighted.

They continued through dozens of the Wine God Palace’s disciples. Xia Youluo bore witness to Long Chen’s masterful abilities. Each one of the Wine God Palace’s disciples had unique styles of wine, and their characters were all extremely different.

Some were refined and scholarly, some were sloppy like beggars. Some were like fierce butchers, while some were like secluded hermits. To sum it up, there were all kinds and sorts.

As for Long Chen, he was able to recite poetry back to the scholar, he could discuss life with the beggar, he could play a coarse finger-guessing game with the butcher, and he could speak about Buddhist allegories with the hermit. No matter who it was, he would be able to get them to give him their wine.

The thing that shocked Xia Youluo the most was when Long Chen drank wine with the butcher. In the end, they drank so much that they were cursing coarsely, their spit flying everywhere. And in the end, the butcher gave Long Chen all of his best wine.

It wasn’t just the butcher. All those whose wine Long Chen drank, whether they were man or woman, old or young, were plundered by Long Chen.

What made Xia Youluo want to prostrate herself toward Long Chen was that he didn’t even need to open his mouth and ask for their wine. They would take the initiative to give it to him, as if not doing so would make them ashamed for a lifetime.

As for Long Chen, he would always make a tactful refusal at first, but in the end, when the other side was about to get angry, he would reluctantly accept their gifts. This pattern made Xia Youluo want to beat him.

After a long stroll, Xia Youluo had also gained a large pile of benefits. But she didn’t know that what she had obtained was not even a sliver of what Long Chen had received.

These people gave Long Chen spatial rings filled with wine. After speaking with Long Chen, they felt like the clouds had parted. It was like they had transcended. At that time, Long Chen would subtly remind them that they had entered a new era and they should abandon all their old achievements. That was the only way to give them the courage to advance without looking back.

It was unknown if those people really had transcended, but Long Chen definitely had. His primal chaos space was now filled with a mountain of wine jugs.

Each time he obtained a spatial ring, he would use the primal chaos space to pull the wine jugs in and leave a tiny amount.

Long Chen was truly immoral. He would then split that tiny amount with Xia Youluo evenly. Xia Youluo didn’t even suspect him. Seeing Long Chen split his spoils evenly with her made her feel full of gratitude toward him, and she even forgot about all her previous displeasure.

When the sky darkened, Long Chen and Xia Youluo left, completely satisfied. Xia Youluo didn’t even cause any fuss. She was smiling brightly, saying that when she got back, she would give her father and mother a pleasant surprise.

Even in the imperial family, if they wanted to drink this kind of wine, they had to personally go to the Wine God Palace. Furthermore, the disciples’ characters were odd, and they refused to sell their wine even to the emperor.

On the way back, Xia Youluo held Long Chen’s arm happily, almost making Long Chen feel flattered. When this girl wasn’t being foolish, she was quite charming.

Only once they left the Wine God Palace did Xia Youluo let go of Long Chen’s arm and return to the palace with the guards.

Those guards were surprised to see the two of them smiling so brightly. When they had entered, they had appeared hostile to each other, just shy of actually fighting. The guards looked at each other silently. It seemed that whatever wine those two had drunk was definitely good wine. It was no wonder the Grand Xia’s people always said they couldn’t be lacking wine when trying to make relations.

“Long Chen, I really admire you. You know far more than my imperial tutor.” Looking at the hundreds of jugs of wine in her spatial ring, a worshipful expression appeared on Xia Youluo’s face.

She could not be more excited. Any of these jugs of wine was enough to stun people. Right now, she was impatient to start showing them off.

“Hehe, if you muddle along with me, I guarantee you’ll have enough to drink for a lifetime.” Being worshipped by a grand princess made Long Chen feel very refreshed inside.

“Alright, then the next time you go, remember to bring me along. I won’t accompany you to my brother’s place. I’m going home!” Xia Youluo pulled a cute face and then vanished like a wisp of smoke.

“Hmph, how disloyal. But I suppose she hasn’t experienced the world yet. If I asked her to hold back showing off her wine, she’d probably explode.”

Long Chen followed the guards back to Xia Yunchong’s residence. Although it was also part of the imperial palace, it was heavily guarded with countless formations. Without someone leading the way, he would constantly have to go through checkpoints.

“Brother Long, how were your gains today?” Xia Yunchong had long since been waiting for him. As soon as he sensed him, he rushed over to meet him.

“Haha, I made plentiful gains.” Long Chen gave Xia Yunchong a gesture of victory. He had truly gained much today.

“Youluo has started to form a favorable opinion of you?” Xia Yunchong was delighted.

“Uh…” Long Chen was struck dumb. Looking at Xia Yunchong’s delighted expression, Long Chen suddenly realized he had misunderstood. The gains the two of them were talking about were not quite the same. He had been so excited over his gains today that he had completely forgotten about the mission Xia Yunchong had entrusted him. He awkwardly said, “I suppose it can count as taking one step in that direction.”

“That’s fine, that’s good. We can’t rush this. That girl is extremely defensive. Right now, I don’t even dare to mention anything about the Grand Han around her or she explodes. Since you’ve only just met her, you should first gain her trust and temporarily not raise any sensitive topics. We don’t want her to also feel defensive toward you,” sighed Xia Yunchong.

Long Chen bitterly smiled inside. She had already started forming defenses around her. And she hadn’t exploded just once today…

“Come, brother Xia, I gained countless fine wines today. Have a taste.”

Long Chen took out jug after jug of wines marked with special symbols in front of Xia Yunchong’s stunned gaze. Seeing those special marks, his eyes almost popped out.