CHAPTER 23: In The Tavern
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His fist had slammed into the wall with great force. And then… nothing happened. Absolutely nothing happened. Yin Zhe blinked. "Huh?"
He stared at the wall. There was no scratch, or dent. There wasn't even a single dust shaking loose.
Then he looked down at his own hands in confusion. He slowly turned his palm. Turn… turn. He expected redness or at least some sting. But he was surprised to find that there was nothing. No pain, discomfort. Or even a tingle.
Yin Zhe's eyes brightened with raw pride. "Hehehe… okay… okay… I like this."
He flexed his fingers. "I punched a wall with everything I had, and I felt nothing."
His grin grew a little wild. "So now nobody can stab me in the back! Nobody can hurt me! No sneaky nonsense!" He let out a very low, but rather strange laugh.
"Hehehe… hahahaha… yes… yes…"
He tilted his head to the side. "I'm a boss now…" The laughter echoed for a moment in the quiet room. Then his smile began to fade as reality came crashing in. Soon He had stopped laughing.
He stared straight ahead. "…Wait." A slow sigh escaped him.
"What am I even saying?. There are geniuses everywhere. People who had trained right from birth. People who use spirit essence like candy. If they punch me, even with this skin, I will still die."
He dragged his palm down his face. Flawp… "Dumb. Dumb. Dumb," he muttered. "I should calm down. I'm still weak. A normal cultivator can fold me like paper… I shouldn't feel invisible this early. If not. I might not even know how I died"
Yin Zhe tiredly dropped back on the bed. Ruffle. His eyes moved to the small bottle on the table just to the side of the bed.
The pill he'd sniffed earlier… the one that made his head float… it was the same one that Elder Zhen gave them so they could train through the night.
He reached out for the spirit essence pill. The moment he held it, his fingers brushed the side of it. Then He sniffed it lightly.
Sniff…
Yin Zhe's eyes suddenly softened. The scent washed through his nose and into his head. A warm, tingling sensation shot from his nose to his spine. "Haaah…" His voice trembled. "This thing… what is inside it… to be frankly speaking. I've cultivated using these kinds of pills back in the Yin clan estate.. it wasn't like this.. but it almost changed when I got the Nine Breath Circle Reactive technique. This technique increases the efficiency of pills and reduces wastage. It makes my cultivation faster but it makes my physic a bit sensitive for a period of time. Like cocaine"
He slowly blinked, as if the world moved in slow motion. His knees started to feel weak and he sat down on the bed again. Then he sniffed even more, unable to stop himself. "Additive"
Sniff…
A stronger wave of pleasure hit him. "Ahh—!" His back arched a little. His fingers curled. "Wait… wait… this…" His legs trembled and he fell onto his back. Thump. He spasmed and started to Twitch… He quickly grabbed the blanket and held on to it very tight as the strange pleasure rolled through him again. "Hhh, ahh… this isn't normal… F*ck"
He stayed like that for a short moment unmoving, Yin Zhe just waited in one position letting his body settle. He slowly breathed out and rubbed his forehead.
"This technique… these Nine Breaths… it makes everything feel too strong. Too intense. If I keep sniffing pills like this… I'll become addicted." He sat up again, forcing himself to stay clear-headed.
He shook his head sharply. Shake… shake… "No… no… I should use it properly. Enough sniffing"
He placed the pill on his palm. "This is how real cultivators do it. They eat it. They don't sniff it like some kind of fool." He raised the pill to his mouth.
He hesitated for one heartbeat. "Why am I hesitanting. This is how I've always cultivated back in the Yin clan Estate. I just have to chew the damn thing." Then he bit down.
Crunch!!!.
The pill cracked between his teeth the moment he bit down on it. A cold rush spread through his tongue. His eyes widened. "Ahh. it's tasty? Why is it tasty?" he mumbled with his mouth half-full.
He continued chewing. Crunch… crunch…
Blue powder melted under his tongue and the cold slid down his throat like melting ice. Yin Zhe's body shivered. He swallowed. Gulp. And then he felt it.
The medicinal power began leaking out of the cracks of the pill, then out his mouth and nose. He could feel it spreading out unevenly inside him. "Wait… no… no… I can't waste it," he whispered.
Yin Zhe quickly sat cross-legged, and sucked in a deep breath, while still using the Nine Breaths Circle technique. Whoosh.. The air shook faintly around him as the technique activated. Now he felt the leaking medicinal essence get pulled back together again and dragged straight into his core.
All of it. Every single drop of it. Suddenly His eyes rolled back. "Uhh— ahh—" Yin Zhe's spine trembled violently. He fell backwards onto the bed again. With a THUD.
Yin Zhe's hands tightly clenched the sheets. While His legs kicked slightly. His whole body shook, twisting like he had been tossed into freezing water, but at the same time feeling something warm.
The sensation surged up and clashed, bouncing through his nerves. "Aahhh—! Hhh—" His body jerked hard. He Spasm, Jolt and Twitch. All at the same time.
He felt like a fish that had been thrown out of water, wiggling and flopping again and again as his muscles reacted to the sudden rush of pleasure slamming into him. His jaws were clenching so hard that it hurt. Yin Zhe's chest quickly rose and fell. He curled his toes. Then His eyes rolled back again.
The tavern was a dim and noisy place, where Cups clinked in the background. Clink… clink… some Men arguing at the far tables. Someone laughed loudly. The lamp above the counter flickered like it was tired. Flick… flick… A tavern is like a bar.
At a quiet corner of the tavern, two old men sat close together.
Elder Han Zhen wore a wide straw hat that covered most of his facial features. Only his chin and a bit of his beard showed. He looked very calm, almost sleepy as he sipped from a small cup. Sitting Beside him was Elder Xuan Yi.
Xuan Yi wore a long alchemist robe. His hair was slicked all the way back. It was so neat that it looked stiff. His face was wrinkled, the kind of wrinkles that looked heavy. His eye bags drooped down like dark shadows, making him look like something that crawled out of a nightmare.
Even the waiter who passed by flinched a little when he saw him. Elder Xuan Yi leaned closer and tapped Han Zhen's shoulder. Tap. "Han Zhen," he said in a low voice, "why didn't you give them the pills?" His tone wasn't angry, but it carried weight, like he was demanding an answer.