Chapter 153:
Green Bamboo had never heard of anything called “Wine of Immortality,” so she was quite curious. “I’ve heard of Bamboo Leaf Green, Osmanthus Fragrance, Thousand-Step Drunk, Autumn Brew, and all sorts of spirit cellars, but never of a sect making a spirit wine called Immortality Wine. That name… feels a bit flashy. Could it be related to dual cultivation? Please enlighten me.”
Liu Xiaolou explained, “This wine is not wine. It’s born of yin and yang intertwining, nourishing one another. That is the wonder of dual cultivation. It can extend life, strengthen true qi, and so it is called Immortality Wine.”
Green Bamboo was puzzled. “Not wine?”
Liu Xiaolou said, “Channel your true qi to the tip of your tongue, press it against your lips and teeth, circle it thirty-six times to the left, thirty-six times to the right. That produces a measure of essence fluid. Do as I say…”
Green Bamboo: “Mm…”
Liu Xiaolou went on, “Focus your intent, swallow it down in small sips. Leave half a coin’s worth behind. Do as I say…”
Green Bamboo: “Alright…”
Liu Xiaolou went on, “What remains on the tip of your tongue… mm… that is the Immortality Wine. It has a warm yet cooling taste, like blazing fire and scorching sun… gulp… ah… don’t swallow. I only did because I was explaining while demonstrating, and I couldn’t hold it back. Let’s try again. Remember, if you swallow, all our effort is wasted.”
So the two of them remade the Immortality Wine.
When it was done, Green Bamboo: “?”
Liu Xiaolou wrapped an arm around her neck, lowered his head, and pressed close. Together, they shared the Immortality Wine.
Their eyes were practically touching, their noses pressed against each other. They glared at one another for a moment, until Green Bamboo finally couldn’t hold back. She pulled her mouth free. “And then? Gulp…”
Liu Xiaolou’s face flushed, looking slightly intoxicated. All of a sudden, he toppled backward.
Green Bamboo was startled and patted him. “What’s wrong?”
Liu Xiaolou could barely keep his eyes open. “Drunk…”
Green Bamboo blinked. “Huh? What?”
With the last of his clarity, Liu Xiaolou explained, “I forgot… your cultivation… too high… too much true qi… the wine’s too strong…” His eyes shut, and he fell sound asleep.
Green Bamboo sat in shock for a while, then shoved him out of her arms in exasperation. After brooding for some time, she suddenly burst out laughing.
Liu Xiaolou didn’t wake until the sun was high. When he opened his eyes, he saw Green Bamboo sitting at his side, focused on a Daoist scroll. On the cover, written in delicate plum-blossom seal script, were the words Essentials of the Golden Talisman Formation.
Noticing he was awake, Green Bamboo said, “You’re up?” She turned a page, read a little longer, then tucked the book into her sleeve.
Remembering what had happened last night, Liu Xiaolou felt terribly embarrassed. Scratching his head, he mumbled, “I’ll… go wash up.”
After washing up, Liu Xiaolou came back to find Green Bamboo staring at him with a half-smile. He quickly explained, “I really was drunk last night. It’s not that I couldn’t handle it… next time, just put in a little less true qi. Anyway… hungry? I’ll make us something to eat. Strange, I don’t know where that gooze fellow went. He didn’t even cook a meal…”
Green Bamboo pulled from her sleeve a box of crispy pork, a plate of bean sprouts, a bowl of lotus root, a dish of tofu, and a bowl of chicken soup.
Liu Xiaolou hurried to stop her. “Alright, alright, that’s plenty… What kind of treasure do you have in that sleeve of yours?”
She rolled up her sleeve, showing a bracelet coiled around her wrist. “The Miao-gold Landscape Chain. Refined on Mount Pingdu. You don’t have one?”
Liu Xiaolou looked on with envy. “That must be rare, right?”
Green Bamboo smiled. “I can’t give it to you though. Now eat!”
Once they finished their meal, Green Bamboo said, “Brother-in-law, take me around Wulong Mountain.”
Liu Xiaolou nodded and led her out, showing her Ghostdream Cliff, North High Slope, Twin Stone Pillars, and a few other sights near Ganzhu Ridge. He even told her the old story of Wei Hongqing running off after taking bribes, which made her laugh until she couldn’t stop.
They made a bamboo raft by the Wuchao River and drifted downstream together. The raft shot through rushing rapids, slipped between whirlpools and hidden reefs, glided beneath waterfalls like falling jade blossoms, and plunged into the still, silent darkness of underground currents.
Green Bamboo was soaked through, her long legs clearly outlined beneath her skirt, though she paid no attention. She was too busy shouting and laughing with joy.
They floated on until the river widened and green stretched thick along both banks. At last, they abandoned the raft and climbed ashore.
Green Bamboo threw herself back onto the grassy slope by the river, gazing up at the blue sky and drifting clouds, still grinning uncontrollably with excitement.
“Don’t act like some fool who’s never seen the world.”
“I’ve never played like this before. Aside from studying and cultivation, it was always tea with my sisters, talking Dao, at most a spring outing, some hunting, boating for lotus, watching dances and music, calligraphy, painting, chess, sword duels…”
“That’s not bad. Plenty of variety. Here on Wulong Mountain we don’t have all that, so we just make do with simple fun.”
“Simple fun is good too.”
“If you like it, next time I’ll take you up to Jade Maiden Peak for the sunrise and sunset, and maybe down into the hidden caves of Sky Drum Pit.”
“It’s a promise!”
A mist of vapor rose, and in an instant Green Bamboo’s soaked clothes were dry. Liu Xiaolou didn’t have that ability, so Green Bamboo simply tugged off his garments and dried them in her palm with true qi.
Back at Ganzhu Ridge, urged on by Green Bamboo, Liu Xiaolou held a spirit stone and cultivated for two hours. By the time the moon had risen high, he felt his energy restored, and turned to look at Green Bamboo, who had stayed at his side the whole time.
Green Bamboo put away the formation manual. “That enough?”
“The formation still won’t work. I’ll need two more days of cultivation to recover. But dual cultivation is fine now.”
“Alright then. You’re ready?”
“Yeah. We’ll start again with the Immortality Wine. But this time, don’t mix in so much true qi. If you get me drunk again, everything will be wasted.”
“Got it. Half as much as yesterday?”
“Thirty percent.”
“Then thirty percent.”
A moment later, their eyes met as they shared the Immortality Wine.
Green Bamboo savored the taste, already feeling a faint dizziness, when Liu Xiaolou withdrew his tongue and whispered at her ear, “Open the Heavenly Eye, let the fragrance of the Five Elements flow.”
He knew Green Bamboo didn’t understand the jargon, so he explained, “Focus your mind on your brow. Let the wine’s essence strike between your eyebrows. A window appears there, and when it opens you see white light. That’s the Heavenly Eye opening. The white light is the body’s crystalline glow. It's dim yet radiant, soft in form. Within it are the essences of the Five Elements: metal in the lungs, water in the kidneys, wood in the liver, fire in the heart, earth in the spleen… when the body is like this… the Heavenly Eye not only lets you see, it also lets you receive the fragrance of the Five Elements. Don’t you smell it?”
Green Bamboo nodded, then suddenly lost interest. She rolled over, jabbed a finger into Liu Xiaolou and toppled him, then leaned close to his ear and breathed softly. “Dual cultivation? What’s the point of dressing it up with all this fancy talk?”
Liu Xiaolou was startled. “Then you mean…”
“If you want to do something, just do it. Why bother finding excuses? Dual cultivation… ha.”
“No, really, this is a true secret technique of my sect…” Liu Xiaolou blinked, but the words trailed off. He could no longer see Green Bamboo’s expression as it drew closer and closer. The formulas of the Yin and Yang scripture scattered from his mind like smoke, leaving him only staring blankly at the stars glittering in the night sky.
Why did the heavens themselves seem to be swaying?
There was no need for further instruction. From deep within Green Bamboo rose a lingering, tangled melody of the Five Tones, laced with pain, urgency, fire, and release. Liu Xiaolou couldn’t help but sigh. Such beautiful Five Tones… what a waste.
When the starry sky finally stopped swaying, Green Bamboo, exhausted, rolled aside. Gazing at the quiet night bamboo grove, her voice was filled with satisfaction. “To tell the truth, brother-in-law, I’m not a virgin. But it’s the first time I’ve ever… how should I put it? Straightened out someone who was Little Joy. Feels like quite the accomplishment! Hahaha…”
“You even know about Little Joy?”
“Ha!” Green Bamboo turned over, patted Liu Xiaolou’s cheek. “I’ve been in far more circles than you can imagine. I wonder, when you head back to Shenwu Mountain in a couple of months, will Lady Xi thank me? Are you going to tell her?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Why not?”
“I think I finally understand what she feels. If she finds out I’m not bent, she’d probably hand me a dismissal letter. Besides… letting people believe I’m bent isn’t so bad, actually.”