A Storage Treasure!

“This is...”

“A storage treasure!”

Shen Xiuhan's breath hitched as he stared at the wine set on the stone table, his heart pounding violently.

He had seen it clearly. Just a moment ago, the man's palm had been completely empty.

With a simple flip of his hand and a brush of his sleeve, the wine pot and cups seemed to peel out of the void, landing steadily on the tabletop.

This was definitely no magic trick or cheap illusion.

Only the legendary “storage treasures” mentioned in plays and novels could explain this!

Ancient texts also recorded such items.

According to rumors, they were crafted by ancient cultivators using precious materials and secret methods. They contained a pocket dimension inside, allowing one to store items within them and carry them around without a trace.

Shen Xiuhan had thought they were incredibly rare, never expecting to see one with his own eyes.

The young man, however, seemed entirely unfazed by his reaction.

He lifted the wine pot, tilting his wrist slightly as amber liquid slowly poured into the two cups.

In an instant, a rich, mellow aroma of wine, mixed with the refreshing scent of plants and herbs, drifted throughout the courtyard.

Shen Xiuhan's nose twitched as he took a couple of light sniffs. A crisp, cool energy traveled down his nasal passages and straight into his lungs.

The blood qi that had been dormant in his body began to surge uncontrollably, as if drawn by some force, boiling and leaping with excitement.

“What domineering medicinal power... This must be spiritual wine!”

Shen Xiuhan was secretly astonished.

The young man pushed one of the jade cups toward him and gestured to the stone bench opposite. His smile was as gentle as a warm breeze.

“My real name is Zuo Muxian. You can just call me Brother Zuo.”

Shen Xiuhan repeated the name in his mind.

He looked at the man again.

Clad in a moon-white robe, handsome and otherworldly, with smiling eyes and an extraordinary bearing.

He possessed the pure, untainted aura of a banished immortal. He truly lived up to his name!

Shen Xiuhan lifted his green robe and sat down as invited. Taking the cup offered by Zuo Muxian, he took a small sip.

As the liquid entered his mouth, it felt slightly cool at first, but a warm heat quickly spread from his throat to his chest and abdomen, before diffusing into his limbs and bones.

Shen Xiuhan's eyes lit up!

Without any further hesitation, he tilted his head back and drained the spiritual wine in one gulp.

The wine transformed into a potent medicinal energy that surged through his meridians, merging with his blood qi and nourishing his internal organs.

Every pore on Shen Xiuhan's body opened up, leaving him feeling as comfortable and relaxed as if he were soaking in a medicinal bath.

This wine was definitely brewed from Precious Herbs. Its effects were so potent that they rivaled consuming a Precious Pill!

This single cup of wine alone caused a slight vibration around the Huiyin acupoint, one of the five acupoints in his body, giving his cultivation a minor boost!

Shen Xiuhan set down the cup and couldn't help but praise, “Excellent wine!”

“Haha!”

Zuo Muxian laughed heartily, a hint of pride in his eyes. He lifted the pot to refill Shen Xiuhan's cup.

“This wine is called Nine Bends Twin-Leaf Wine. I brewed it using nine types of spiritual grass, three kinds of Precious Herbs, and Twin-Leaf Fruits, fermenting them for three years. The taste isn't bad, right? Come, come, have another cup.”

He talked continuously as he poured, showing a very warm and sociable personality.

At the end, he added in a sincere tone, “By the way, your family's noodle soup has such a rich and savory broth. It goes perfectly with wine. It's so much better than the signature noodles at Zhangjinji in the prefecture capital...”

Shen Xiuhan understood.

He recalled Liang Xiuhe saying earlier that a customer from the prefecture capital was eating noodles. It turned out she had been talking about Zuo Muxian.

However, Shen Xiuhan was in no mood to keep drinking. Setting down his cup, he composed his expression and cupped his hands.

“Brother Zuo... The wine is indeed excellent, but drinking it with a heavy heart only ruins its true flavor, which would be a waste of such a treasure. Why don't we... discuss our main business first?”

Hearing this, Zuo Muxian also set down his cup. The faint smile remained in his eyes as he looked at him.

“You... your personality is truly impatient. You're just like A'nan...”

“A'nan?”

Surprised, Shen Xiuhan subconsciously asked, “Who is A'nan?”

“Oh, she was a big black cat my younger sister raised when she was a child.”

Zuo Muxian spoke casually, a smile still playing on his lips.

Shen Xiuhan's face instantly darkened.

The serious atmosphere he had worked so hard to build was completely ruined by this single sentence.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but felt that anything he said would sound off.

After holding it in for a long moment, he squeezed out a single sentence from between his teeth:

“...You must be joking, Brother Zuo.”

“Hahaha! Fine, fine, I won't tease you anymore.”

Zuo Muxian laughed merrily. He lightly swept his fair, slender hand about three inches above the stone table.

The white porcelain wine set vanished into air like a popped bubble, as if it had never existed.

Immediately after, the smile faded from his eyes. He sat up straight, his gaze deep and dark as a pool as he looked at Shen Xiuhan.

“Speak. What are your terms?”

Such directness actually caught Shen Xiuhan off guard. He pursed his lips and said in a low voice,

“Help me fight twice. The opponents... are of the Huajin Rank!”

“That's it?” Zuo Muxian raised an eyebrow.

“That's it.”

“Deal!”

Zuo Muxian agreed without a second thought. All his previous warmth and friendliness vanished, making him seem like a completely different person. His tone carried no hint of emotion as he asked,

“Where are... that father and son now?”

“His son, Gao Nian, was killed by my hand half a year ago.”

Shen Xiuhan lowered his gaze slightly, then raised it again.

“I learned about this from his own mouth. As for his father, Gao Fu... he is currently at Chenjian Dock, serving as the newly joined fifth chief.”

“Dead...”

Zuo Muxian narrowed his eyes. His fair, slender fingers tapped unconsciously on the stone table as he muttered,

“He got off too easy!”

After a moment of silence, he looked up at Shen Xiuhan and said,

“Chenjian Dock...”

“Is the person you want me to deal with from Chenjian Dock?”

“Yes...”

Shen Xiuhan nodded and spoke honestly,

“It is the First Chief of Chenjian Dock, Duan Xiao. He... broke through to the Huajin Rank a few months ago and should currently be at the early stage.”

“Why do you want to deal with him?”

Zuo Muxian suddenly asked, tilting his head with a look of curiosity in his eyes, like a child eagerly asking for the rest of a story.

“...”

Shen Xiuhan fell silent for a moment.

Then, he took a deep breath and hid nothing. He explained how the Bai family kidnapped young children to refine human pills, how Chenjian Dock secretly aided and abetted them, how Bai Qingcang had gone to Guangwu Prefecture while Duan Xiao secretly stayed in the Bai mansion to guard it...

He even told him about how he and a group of like-minded companions intended to infiltrate the Bai mansion at night to eliminate the evil, but were held back by their wariness of Duan Xiao, laying out all the complex details.

“Refining grand pills with living humans... demonic evil cultivators!”

Zuo Muxian's eyes instantly turned freezing cold. A cold snort escaped him, his voice carrying undisguised disgust.

“Well, that is a coincidence!”

“I, Zuo, hate these demonic heretics more than anything in my life. Since I can slay my enemy to avenge my family and rid the world of this great scourge at the same time, this trip is well worth it, even if I have to risk getting injured!”

With those words, he abruptly stood up. From his posture, it looked as if he was about to charge alone into Dongyi Island, the headquarters of Chenjian Dock!

Shen Xiuhan was stunned for a moment and instinctively grabbed him.

“Brother Zuo, you...”

“Hahaha! I knew you, little ca—cough, little brother, were a thoughtful one. You definitely wouldn't let me charge into the dragon's den alone.”

Zuo Muxian turned back, the coldness in his eyes instantly melting away as he returned to his playful, casual self.

“Come, come! We brothers shall charge over side by side. We can look out for each other on the way.”