Chapter 2331: A Thousand Wine Cups, Gazing Upon the Human World

The person who sat down at the table was wearing a douli and a long sea-blue robe.

As if treading on flowing time, he sat down exactly ten breaths later.

He took the cup of wine and looked at Jiang Wang, who was sitting opposite him. "Why only one cup?"

"I don't drink," Jiang Wang said with a smile. "I can't be in a trance right now."

Drinking wine to the point of being just tipsy, but not in a trance, was uninteresting. Since he couldn't get drunk, there was no need to raise a cup.

The person who came lifted the cup and drank it all. "Pouring wine but not drinking yourself, this wine is very hard not to raise suspicion. It's only because you, Jiang Wang, are sitting here, otherwise who would dare to drink it?"

"Qianqiu," Jiang Wang said. "It's a very good wine."

"Rich fragrance, intoxicating," the person who came savored it for a moment. "Unlike our seaside wine, which is hidden with astringency and bitterness."

Jiang Wang thought of "Tianya Ku," said to be the wine that the Diaolong Ke often drank.

He had to thank him for having once seen those heroic aspirations, which in the erosion of the Heavenly Way still had edges and corners, hard to erase. It was an important emotion that supported him to persist until now.

"Many thanks, Brother Chen, for taking the time to come and working hard for me on this," he looked at Chen Zhibo, who was more visibly mature than before, and felt quite emotional.

Avoiding trouble, that was it.

Chen Zhibo originally wanted to say this, but in the end, he only said, "I might not be able to help."

Jing Country had helped Fishing Sea Tower a lot, so it was natural that Fishing Sea Tower would find it very difficult to refuse Jing Country's "request."

But the current Fishing Sea Tower truly had no ability to withstand storms. Caught between Qi and Jing, he, the Master of Fishing Sea Tower, found it difficult to advance or retreat. Expressing himself or not expressing himself was wrong.

Bo Wang Hou seemed to have foresight, and his letter arrived very timely.

Coming to Chang Country to see old friends was also a temporary escape from the quagmire.

Jiang Wang poured another cup of wine for Chen Zhibo, watching the wine flowers float up one by one. Then he picked out an immortal thought, threw it into the wine cup, like putting in a piece of ice to steady the wine. "Just now was drinking wine, this cup is drinking thought — please, sir, accept my sorrow."

Eating people's thoughts was truly a dangerous thing, moreover, it was the weak eating the strong.

But Chen Zhibo was very clear about what kind of choice Jiang Wang had made outside the Labyrinth War back then.

Without saying anything else, he raised the cup and drank.

After a roar that touched the soul, what Chen Zhibo saw before his eyes was already a boundless sea.

This sea was not as vast as the sea area he lived in, but the sky was so low.

The sky almost touched the sea.

People within it still had vast space, could maneuver without obstruction, could call the wind and summon the rain, but breathing was difficult!

Chen Zhibo simply couldn't breathe.

If in the sea, the sea was also boundless. If in the sky, the sky was also boundless.

Only standing alone between the sky and the sea, the sky and the sea were both collapsing walls, and people were helpless children in an alley.

People wanted to stand up, they had to go against all this.

Chen Zhibo finally knew what kind of pressure Jiang Wang was bearing.

To say a thousand jun or ten thousand jun was too light. If thought had ten thousand threads, then ten thousand threads all carried mountains.

Advancing was the supreme heavenly person, retreating one step was the permanent sinking of the Sea of Consciousness.

Both had great freedom.

Only the entanglement between the highest heaven and the sea was a step-by-step bitter drowning—and you knew the ending was unavoidable.

"How can 'a person' maintain themselves in this state?!"

"Huff huff! Huff huff!"

The diners, the smell of wine, the clamor... When all this re-entered his five senses, Chen Zhibo gasped for breath.

He felt himself wet, his clothes were very wet and heavy, but no matter where he looked, he only knew that his body was in the human world.

He looked at Jiang Wang opposite him at the wine table, his expression very shocked.

Bo Wang Hou had explained the cause and effect very clearly. Before he came, he already knew that Jiang Wang was going against the Heavenly Way. But even Chong Xuan Sheng didn't know that the Heavenly Way already had such a majestic display, and even less did he know that the Heavenly Way had already approached this point.

He was the Master of Fishing Sea Tower, a Great Sect Seal, his cultivation and insight were far beyond what they were in the past. But in just such a short time, he already found it hard to bear the bitterness. If Jiang Wang hadn't been watching by his side all the time and pulled him out in time, he probably would have drowned!

In that extremely oppressive sky-sea, he had a very clear feeling—he would soon sink, he would inevitably assimilate into the deep sea of the Heavenly Way, an unremarkable drop of water.

That was unavoidable, an inevitably descending fate.

But Jiang Wang had already borne it for so long, and now he was still sitting here, existing as a concrete, calm "person."

Truly admirable!

At first, he, Jiang Wang, and Fu Yanqing represented three sides leading their armies, traveling together in one realm. He repeatedly felt the gap. Now looking again, the gap had not narrowed, but instead had been stretched by time...

Being in the same generation as this kind of person, in a sense, was a great misfortune!

"If you want to seal this heavenly person state, what ideas do you have, Brother Chen?" After Chen Zhibo's emotions had slightly eased, Jiang Wang spoke and asked.

"I don't know," Chen Zhibo shook his head blankly. "This is impossible to do."

"If it were something easy to see as possible, I wouldn't have thought of Brother Chen. Only the difficulty of sealing and suppressing the highest requires the most talented one for sealing and suppressing, which is you," Jiang Wang said slowly. "Among all the cultivators of the same generation I have seen, your attainment in the path of sealing and suppressing is unique, unparalleled."

Chen Zhibo was silent for a long time. "Talent in the path of sealing and suppressing...?"

He would never forget in this lifetime the mistake he made that year. At that time, he indeed thought he possessed astonishing talent in the path of sealing and suppressing, and his master and elders also gave him enough trust. He hosted and promoted his original sea beast sealing and suppressing technique to specifically strengthen the control over sea beasts, strengthen the cohesion of the Town Sea Alliance, and elevate Fishing Sea Tower's influence on the sea... The result was instead a setup by Gao Ji. From beginning to end, his sealing and suppressing technique had not truly controlled those sea beasts, not even as good as just taking an iron chain and locking them there!

Finally, the sea beast disaster was welcomed, to the extent that the Star Bead sank and Huai Island overturned.

Did he really have talent in this aspect? Did he really have such ability?

Could he really help Jiang Wang?

"If I say that I want to borrow a little inspiration from this impossible sealing concept, I can only think of Brother Chen," Jiang Wang said seriously. "Among the same generation, I can't think of a second person."

Chen Zhibo closed his eyes with some pain. "I need a little time, I currently have no idea at all."

Jiang Wang took out a key and placed it on the table. "The courtyard opposite the wine house is owned by a friend of mine. Everything inside is prepared. You can go live there for a few days, no need to rush, just treat it as relaxing."

Chen Zhibo was stunned and asked, "Then what about you?"

Jiang Wang smiled. "I'll properly look at this human world."

Jiang Wang was truly "looking at the human world."

Grandpa Left's "Ping Town" card was there, neither high nor low. He himself gained inspiration from the Nine Towns of the Long River. Limited by his own attainment in sealing techniques, it was always just an outline, difficult to advance an inch.

Chong Xuan Sheng collected ten carts of secret records of sealing techniques. He memorized them all, but fully understanding them was not something that could be done in a short time.

To say that Chang Country had fierce sealing technique inheritances, looking at the streets full of wine ghosts, it was also very hard to be convinced.

Chong Xuan Sheng had already communicated in advance. Jiang Wang also went to the Chang Country technique library to browse some, but now he wanted to look at the customs and practices here, which were different from other places.

Enriching the human path, that was going against the Heavenly Way.

Chang Country had a widely circulated passage, "I have three drinks"—

Drink when there are joyous matters, for their joy; Drink when there are funeral matters, for their sorrow; Drink when there are no matters, for the pursuit of pleasure in life.

While waiting for Chen Zhibo, Jiang Wang invited many people to drink wine, exchanging stories over a meal.

The stories of wine ghosts couldn't be called thrilling or full of twists and turns, but they were also segments of life.

Now that Chen Zhibo had shut himself away to think hard, Jiang Wang continued his "Qian Zun Wine," inviting a thousand people to drink wine and listen to a thousand people's past events.

Actually, once the Ear Immortal was summoned, all secrets could be heard. But he had to exchange face to face and feel that kind of strong emotion.

In Dukang City, where people were born in dreams and died drunk, many people knew that during this period, there was a "strange person"—

His appearance was always unclear, his voice was forgotten upon hearing. Only it was clear that he always asked people very uninterestingly why they got drunk.

Why get drunk?

But seeing him always generously invite wine and share, when they met, they would rack their brains and say some regrets from who knows what year or month, maybe they wouldn't remember when they woke up.

Who they once loved, who they once hated, who they once missed.

Truly strange.

Someone always cried.

In Dukang City's Jiucheng Street—there was truly an extraordinarily lively wine spring here, where wine guests paid silver, held a ladle, and drank themselves—separated by only one wall was "Gan Quan Alley," where the most vagrants in Wine Country gathered.

Because the dregs of the wine spring would be poured into the "drainage pool" here.

Vagrants couldn't afford wine, so they ate the dregs to comfort their greedy stomachs. Over time, it became a gathering place.

Jiang Wang invited a vagrant here to drink a meal. As a vagrant, he also naturally ate two more steamed buns and three sauced elbows.

This was an occasional encounter in life.

Jiang Wang patiently listened to the vagrant finish his regrets, used a clean handkerchief to help him wipe away his tear stains, and left after he fell asleep.

Gan Quan Alley was only an extremely narrow road. People sat, lay, or leaned on both sides, full of vagrants. Living in a half-alive, half-dead state, they successively lifted their heads upon hearing movement, looking towards Jiang Wang listlessly yet hopefully, only to droop one by one like street lamps gradually extinguishing when they saw him walk forward without stopping.

These people had no attachment to life, but were full of longing for wine.

Jiang Wang walked and walked, then stopped.

At the end of the alley stood an old man with a high crown and wide belt, his head full of silver hair and a rosy face. It was unclear when he had stood there, as if he ought to have stood there.

Behind him was a rising bright moon. Bright, clear, distant.

His posture was very upright, his crown, belt, and ornaments were in perfect order, and his Confucian robes were spotless.

The moonlight fell on his body and stopped at his body. He was outside Gan Quan Alley and absolutely did not take a single step into Gan Quan Alley. As if there was an invisible boundary line dividing him from this place.

Just one line separating them were two worlds.

"Why do you resolve one person's hunger and thirst, and abandon a hundred others?" the old man asked.

"We are exchanging, not giving alms," Jiang Wang said. "He exchanged his past events for wine."

The old man asked again, "You are also moved by his story, also feel for his life, why do you only provide him with one meal and drink?"

"Books say that compassion does not aid laziness, and kindness does not save poverty," Jiang Wang continued to walk forward. "It is that he chooses to live such a life, not that he can only live such a life."

Although Chang Country was not a large country, and had never been prosperous, its wine industry was prosperous and it enjoyed long-term peace, making it quite affluent. Citizens with hands and feet could find a proper job to support themselves, which was not difficult.

The vagrants gathered in Gan Quan Alley were all people who had given up on life for various reasons.

Perhaps they could be saved from hunger once, but not from the self-loathing of this remaining life.

"Using this method to obtain emotions, when will you gather enough?" the old man said. "You should have a more effective way."

Jiang Wang said, "I want to feel, not to seize."

"Is there a technique in the heart?"

"Just walking on the road."

The old man beckoned with his hand. "You seem to be inviting people to drink wine everywhere, aren't you planning to invite this old man to drink a pot?"

Jiang Wang said, "This old mister's story, I have already heard."

One person stood still, one walked forward, just like this they met at the end of Gan Quan Alley.

Jiang Wang continued to walk forward.

Just as he crossed past, the old man spoke. "Recently, I was walking in the East Domain and heard that Bo Wang Hou is always collecting sealing technique materials related to Yang Country—I thought you would come to find me."

He really wanted to hear Chong Xuan Sheng explain how his handling of affairs was not to cause a city-wide uproar—how even Yan Sheng knew?

Jiang Wang stopped, bowed, and said, "What the mister seeks, I cannot give. What I seek, then I will not ask whether the mister can give."

Yan Sheng was about to speak, but suddenly he raised his head, looked at the top of the alley wall ahead, and frowned, saying coldly, "Eavesdropping, is this the behavior of a gentleman?"

After Yan Sheng spoke, Jiang Wang then detected movement.

A man with a dignified appearance and a burly figure suddenly sat on top of the alley wall, one foot placed on top, one foot hanging down, holding an opened jar of sealed wine in his hand. Amidst the overflowing wine fragrance, he laughed heartily and looked over here. "You old man, how unreasonable! I'm sitting here openly under the sun and moon. You two swagger past here chatting idly, how is it me, Gu Shiyi, who is eavesdropping?"

One looked up, one looked down. One stood, one sat. Two peak powerhouses looked at each other, neither yielding.

Jiang Wang slightly shifted his body a step, bowed to Yan Sheng, and also bowed to Gu Shiyi on the alley wall, saying, "You two chat, I have matters to attend to, I'll leave first."

He had seen too many powerhouses during this period, each with their own complex past. He was unwilling to stain their stories, only wanting to live his own life well...

He only wanted to still have "life" now!

Whether it was "Big Brother Gu" or "Old Mister Yan," Jiang Wang was polite, but in his heart, he was impatient, unwilling to have miscellaneous things come up at such a juncture.

"Wait! Old Brother Jiang!" Gu Shiyi leaped down from the wall, truly like a great roc spreading its wings. "Don't be afraid, no need to walk so fast. With me here, no one can bully you!"

Yan Sheng took a step forward, perfectly blocking Jiang Wang, blocking Gu Shiyi. "What do you want with him?"

Gu Shiyi raised the wine jar and said boldly, "That depends on what you want with him!"

Yan Sheng chuckled, "What I want with him, what does it matter to you?"

Gu Shiyi raised his head and said, "I don't care what your origin is, what your background is. Jiang Wang is my little brother. If you want to force him to do things he is unwilling to do, I, Gu Shiyi, have to intervene."

Yan Sheng lifted his sleeve in front of him, squinting proudly at Gu Shiyi. "Then you also listen carefully—no matter what scheme you have, what big game of chess you want to play, and collect your petty calculations. Jiang Wang is the successor of my Yang Country's eldest princess. Today, if you want to oppose him, this old man will break you here!"

"Laughable!" Gu Shiyi laughed heartily. "How could I oppose Old Brother Jiang?"

Yan Sheng raised his head even higher. "How could I, Yan someone, ever force anyone!"

Jiang Wang was unable to leave for a while and sighed. "Since both of you are doing this for my good, why not take a step back—each go back to their own home, how about that?"

He looked at Gu Shiyi, then at Yan Sheng. "Time is limited. I only need quiet now and cannot narrate idle feelings. Please understand!"

Yan Sheng looked at him deeply, then took out a thin book from his sleeve. "This is a little insight this old man has gained in sealing techniques over the years. It is also specifically for your situation, I have made some technique style deductions... It should be of some help to you. Take it."

He handed it over and said to Jiang Wang again, "There are no conditions, no need for you to do anything. Life and death are before you, strive to survive yourself, don't be pretentious."

Jiang Wang silently accepted it.

But, why?

Yan Sheng seemed to hear this question and looked at him, saying, "The eldest princess was by your side the last time. This old man doesn't want the world to forget Yang Country."

These words were very hard not to make people sentimental, and Jiang Wang was also melancholy for a while.

"Old Brother Jiang!" Gu Shiyi also handed over a book. "This is 'Fenghou Balian Tu' which I picked up by the roadside. It's not worth anything! Sealing and suppressing techniques and array methods have quite a bit in common. In ancient times, these two paths were not separate families. Fenghou used the Balian Tu to suppress and kill demon clans back then. Perhaps reading it can help you suppress and kill that old thief heaven—take it. This is my intention. You don't need to return anything, and it won't make you do anything against your heart. Do you trust this old man from who knows how many years ago more than your Big Brother Gu?"

How had he reached this point, where the mountains were heavy and the waters were complex, hesitant to advance, and yet there were so many beings he had never thought of, abnormally and proactively offering help?

Lord of the Long River Dragon, Yan Sheng, Gu Shiyi...

All of them were giving forcefully, only giving and not seeking.

Could it be that he was truly the protagonist of heavenly fate, that his time had come and his luck had also arrived, that heaven and earth were all in the same force, and a good wind would send him up to the blue clouds?

The Heavenly Way might still be pinching his neck!

This human world, Jiang Wang had looked at it somewhat, but still couldn't fully understand it. The people of the human world, the matters of the human world, were all lines of a thousand threads and ten thousand strands.

He understood that what he gained today, he would certainly repay someday in the future.

"Then many thanks, Big Brother Gu!" Jiang Wang didn't hesitate at all and raised his hand to accept this "Fenghou Balian Tu."

Just as Old Mister Yan said, life and death were before him, he had to strive to survive himself, he couldn't be pretentious.

The premise of being pretentious was also to have "Qing."