Chapter 3 - Becoming Drunk, On Water?

"Server, one more over here!!"

A loud shout of a young boy echoed in the small bar.

What followed after was a large burp.

One of the three lady servers in the small bar strutted over to the table the youth was sitting at. She placed a knew full wine jug in front of him and took away the two empty ones on the table.

The youth who looked no more than thirteen, shakily poured the contents of the wine jug into a small cup, before he raised it to his lips and swallowed everything with one gulp.

His already flush face became even redder as he smacked his lips and said, "Good, good, good."

Licking his lips, the youth poured himself another cup and gulped it down.

The occupants in the small bar just ignored the youth as if this was a regular occurrence.

However, a quite burly fellow who was on a stool in front of the bar's counter, couldn't help but frown upon seeing such a scene. The space between his brows had righteousness written all over it and seeing the bar willing to sever such young child wine made him feel disgusted.

Turning to the male bartender and current owner of the bar, the burly fellow said with condemnation dripping from his lips, "Mister Chen, is this really what your establishment promotes? How can you serve such a small child wine, are you that greedy for money to do such a despicable thing?"

Mister Chen who was behind the counter absentmindedly cleaning a cup with a cloth, was taken aback by the scolding words of the burly man.

He glanced at the burly man, before looking at the youth, who was raising another cup to lips.

Mister Chen looked back at the burly man and began to chuckle.

This reaction from mister Chen angered the burly man even more. Just when he was about to curse out this greedy old man, mister Chen finished chuckling and said, "Big Dong, this is the first time you visited my bar since last week, right?"

Hearing mister Chen's question, the burly man called Big Dong frowned, but he nodded nonetheless.

Mister Chen chuckled again before he said, "That little kid over there isn't drinking wine, it's just water with coloring in it."

Upon hearing mister Chen's words, Big Dong became dumbfounded. Then, as if realizing something, his expression became angry again and he said, "Mister Chen, do you take me for a fool? The boy is obviously drunk from drinking your wine, look how flushed his face is, he can barely even sit straight on his chair."

Both men looked in the youth's direction to see him on the edge of his seat almost about to fall off, along with a completely red face. Clear signs of someone highly intoxicated.

Mister Chen only shook his head and said, "I've never heard of someone getting drunk from drinking water with coloring in it, have you?"

Hearing mister Chen's refusal to admit his wrongdoings, Big Dong couldn't help but become enraged.

Realizing Big Dong was about to fly off the handle, mister called over the server who had just taken the empty jugs from the youth's table.

"Here."

Mister Chen placed the two empty jugs in front of Big Dong.

Big Dong took up one of the jugs from the counter and with an angry expression still on his face, he place it under his nose and sniffed.

As Big Dong sniffed, one could his expression turn from anger to confusion. He quickly took up the other jug and sniffed it like the previous one, but his expression only become stranger.

The two jugs didn't have the smell of wine in them, just a hint of coloring.

Big Dong saw when the server took them from the table, and he was confident she didn't switch them with different jugs somehow.

Big Dong place the two jugs back onto the counter and looked at mister Chen.

Mister Chen had an amused smile on his face as he saw Big Dong's strange expression.

"Do you believe me now?" mister Chen asked Big Dong.

Big Dong could only smile wearily and say, "Mister Chen, I hope you can forgive me for questioning your morals. As an apology, I'll purchase a jug of your high-quality wine."

As Big Dong said that he gulp down the last bit of wine he had in the cup in front of him.

Seeing Big Dong being so straightforward and apologizing, mister Chen couldn't help but admire him.

Despite his brutish appearance and blunt way of speaking, he was still a righteous man who was willing to admit when he was in the wrong.

After Big Dong finish his cup, he turn to mister Chen and said, "So, what's with the kid? His clothes aren't something normal people could afford, is he from one of those affluent families?"

Mister Chen shook his head and said, "No idea, he just came in here one-day last week and order a jug of wine. The kid looked like he was still wet from his mother's milk, so I just poured some coloring into a jug of water and handed it to him. Thought he wouldn't know the difference."

Mister Chen then put on a weird expression before he continue to say, "But I didn't think he would start acting like he was drunk. As a matter of fact, you're not the only one who had reacted like that when they first saw him. Now everyone just pretends as though they didn't see anything."

Mister Chen shook his head at the absurdity of the situation.

The youth both men were speaking of had a completely flush face, while he was sprawled on top of the table, hiccupping ever so often.

Picking up the jug in front of him, he poured the last remaining 'wine' into his cup. Just as he was about to lift the cup to his lips and drink its content, a plump brown cat suddenly hopped on top of the table and began licking the wine in the cup.

The youth frowned and shoved the cat away while saying, "Bad little Tai, this is daddy's wine, it's not for you."

The plump brown cat let out a hiss as it was shoved off the table by the youth.

The people at the tables next to the youth, couldn't help their expression from becoming weird after hearing the cat's name, some even had amused expressions on their faces.

"Meow"

Another cat, who was smaller and had white fur, appeared by the youth's foot, clawing at it while purring.

The youth looked down and asked, "Little Snow, what are you doing here too?"

As the youth said that his expression suddenly changed as shouted,

"Wait!"

The youth suddenly sat up, his fake drunkenness vanishing.

As soon as the youth sat up, a loud swooshing sound could be heard coming from outside of the small bar.

Everyone in the bar became stunned upon hearing such a loud sound.

The youth, however, had a look of panic on his face.

As quick as lightning he stood up from his chair, and like a specter, his body moved towards a window.

His leg movements were strange and erratic but if someone with a cultivation level were here to see this, they would become stunned upon seeing such an exquisite movement technique. The obscure profundities with it were numerous, but the way this youth executed the technique was smooth and flawless as if it was nothing more than breathing to him.

The very instant the youth made for the window, the swooshing sound appeared at the bar's entrance.

The source of the loud sound turns out to be a handsome young man in his early twenties. Looking at the dazzling and luxurious clothes of the young man, everyone in the small bar took a large gulp. The pressure this man emanated made them feel as if the world around them were collapsing.

As soon as the young man enter the bar, he let out a cold snort before he stretched out his hand in the direction of the youth, who was in the middle of leaping through the window.

Immediately afterward, a translucent golden hand materialized out of thin air in front of the young man and then pierced the void appearing behind the youth.

The golden hand instantly began to wrapped its five fingers around the youth's waist, however, the youth's specter-like body suddenly evaporated like smoke and the hand grabbed nothing but empty air.

A laugh then echoed from another window in the bar. The youth's figure appeared there with a grin plaster across his face.

"Stupid elder brother, I'm definitely not joining the Celestial Academy!!"

Before the echo of the youth's voice could fade away from the bar, he was already out the window.

The young man who the youth had called elder brother had a frown on his face, but deep within his eyes there was a look of amusement.

His body suddenly vanished from the bar, along with the translucent golden hand.

Everyone in the bar who just saw the series of events play out had mild looks of shock and horror on their faces.

"Those were legendary cultivators, right?! I can't believe I just saw two of those legendary cultivators with my own eyes, am I dreaming right now?!"

A shout suddenly echoed in the silent bar.

Mister Chen and Big Dong were staring at each other in astonishment.

If it wasn't for the golden petal that was floating where the young man was, they both would've assumed they we seeing things.

The golden petal in question, was about to touch the floor, but before it could, it suddenly began breaking apart piece by piece until it was completely gone.

*******

~Fun Fact~

Tai in Chinees can be translated as 'great extreme', or 'big'.