Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments-Chapter 43: The Real Moonlight Wine

Storage Bags are different from ordinary Magical Artifacts. They possess a special layer of Restriction that binds them to a master upon activation.

To open one, you must repeatedly flush it with Magical Power to wash away the original Restriction.

This process usually takes several hours, but since Xiao Chen’s Magical Power recovered quickly, he managed to brute-force his way through the original Restriction in just one hour.

After reactivating it, the Storage Bag became his own.

"It’s this small?"

Xiao Chen could only stare in astonishment at his first glimpse inside the Storage Bag.

The Storage Bag issued by the Li Huo Sect was only three feet square—three feet in length, width, and height—with very limited capacity.

It could basically only hold a few commonly used items and couldn’t carry anything particularly large.

But he hadn’t expected this new Storage Bag to be merely one foot square. It was even more miniature.

The contents were visible at a glance: two small booklets, a Talisman Brush, a few stacks of Talisman Paper, a Token, two small jade vials, and six wine flasks.

He took the items out one by one.

He first looked through the two booklets. One was titled *Luotian Three True Wondrous Techniques*, and the other was *Transformation Talisman Scripture*.

Hmm?

Xiao Chen leaned back slightly. The title of the first book seemed a little grandiose. ’Is this something a late-stage Qi Refining Loose Cultivator should have?’

He immediately flipped it open and read it, discovering it recorded three different Attack Techniques.

They were the ’Luotian Profound Fire Crow,’ the ’Luotian Sea-devouring Python,’ and the ’Luotian Blood Centipede.’

The names of the Magic also sounded incredibly powerful and clearly came from the same source. However, judging by their Magical Power requirements, they were most likely Yellow-level Techniques.

In most cases, higher-level Magic tends to consume more Magical Power to cast. Therefore, one could use this to judge the grade of an unfamiliar technique.

But seeing this book of Magic, Xiao Chen was immediately reminded of the previous battle.

Although he had dealt with the two Tribulation Cultivators with relative ease, he had also clearly felt that his own arsenal of attacks was lacking.

If one more person had come, he would likely have been hit. If two more had come, he might even have been injured to win.

’This is too dangerous. If I run into a group of five Tribulation Cultivators, wouldn’t I be doomed!’

Speaking of which, Inner Sect Disciples were supposed to receive a new Cultivation Technique, which would naturally include corresponding Magic to protect them on their path.

But Xiao Chen’s Cultivation Technique was being deliberately withheld, clearly an attempt to hold him back. At this thought, he chalked up another mark against the Jiang Family.

’Jiang Jiquan from the Scripture Pavilion is the one holding back my Cultivation Technique. He’s already courting death.’

’But Jiang Jiquan is a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, after all. I’ll let him live a couple more days.’

Fortunately, he now had the *Luotian Three True Wondrous Techniques* to supplement his arsenal. Xiao Chen made up his mind to learn these three techniques right away and expand his capabilities.

He then flipped through the *Transformation Talisman Scripture* and saw that it was, indeed, a manual on Talisman Making.

Along with the Talisman Brush and stacks of Talisman Paper, these were all items used for Talisman Making. For now, they were useless to Xiao Chen, so he tossed them into his original Storage Bag to collect dust.

Next was the pitch-black Token, made of Yang Wood.

The front was engraved with the four words "Fair Trade" and "Mutual Support" against the backdrop of a bright moon.

On the back, the top was engraved with "The waxing crescent is the date; this token is your proof." Below, a location was engraved in small characters: "Three li southwest of Niu Village." The background was a pool of clear spring water.

’Interesting. Could it be a Black Market set up by a Cultivator from Quanzhou?’

Xiao Chen was more or less a local, so he had some impression of Niu Village. It was supposed to be a small hamlet southeast of the Li Huo Market.

If he remembered correctly, to the southwest of Niu Village was a large forest. With its many access routes, it was indeed an excellent location for a Black Market.

The Token had no name engraved on it, so he could take it to the Black Market and have a look.

However, the Waxing Crescent Moon could refer to two dates: the eighth and the twenty-third of the lunar month, and he didn’t know which day it specifically meant.

Xiao Chen calculated on his fingers. Today was already the twenty-sixth of the twelfth lunar month. If he wanted to go to the Black Market, he’d have to wait until the eighth of the next month, then go try his luck southwest of Niu Village.

He put away the Token and picked up the two small jade vials.

One vial contained red cinnabar, and the other seemed to hold Spirit Beast Blood, which had a strong, metallic smell. Both were used for Talisman Making, so they were useless to him.

All that was left were the six wine flasks. Four of them were empty, and the first three flasks had small paper notes stuck to them.

"It’s so hard to replicate the wine flasks. Adjusting the clay ratio to..."

"Stop wasting it! You know perfectly well that Moonlight Wine is only effective the first time you drink it, so why can’t you control your addiction? These last three bottles must be saved as gifts for the future."

"The pattern on this flask is the clearest and simplest. From now on, copy this design to make the fakes. Don’t get it wrong again."

The handwriting on the notes was elegant, seemingly written by the female cultivator.

Judging by the results—another bottle of wine was gone—it seemed the notes hadn’t been very effective.

’But based on the contents, they were using these flasks to counterfeit the wine. So, the remaining two bottles should contain the real thing, right?’

GLUG~ GLUG~ GLUG~

Xiao Chen downed a whole bottle in one go, then licked his lips. ’I’ll know if it’s real with one taste.’

But strangely, the Moonlight Wine was sweet on the palate, without a hint of harshness. After downing the whole flask, he felt nothing out of the ordinary.

"It’s been a Quarter Hour, why is nothing happening? Huh? Why is there a moon in my room?"

A bright moon hung high in the sky, looking like a... like a... glowing mooncake!

But the problem was, Xiao Chen was currently inside his room. The conclusion was obvious: "How did my roof disappear?"

Xiao Chen felt as if he’d become very light. Bathed in the moonlight, his whole body seemed to float up, higher than the clouds.

He saw moonlight spread over the fields like fine gauze, dyeing everything in a dreamlike silvery glow. He saw a clear spring gushing forth, its waters shimmering with countless specks of light, a breathtaking sight. He saw the wind blow, sending ripples across the water’s surface. And from within the spring, another bright moon rose, even larger and brighter than the one in the sky.

Suddenly, the sun appeared, blindingly bright.

Xiao Chen instantly felt himself plummeting from the clouds.

He struggled violently and found himself sitting up from the floor.

There was no moon, no spring, no clouds. He was still in his small cabin on Bishui Peak.

The early morning sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the window, telling him it was already the next day.

"How did I end up sleeping on the floor? Right, the Moonlight Wine!"

Seeing the wine flask on the floor not far away, Xiao Chen suddenly remembered what had happened last night.

The effects of the Moonlight Wine were clearly far more potent than he’d expected. He had passed out drunk without realizing it and had slept on the floor.

Despite the hangover, Xiao Chen didn’t feel any discomfort—no headache, no dizziness.

On the contrary, he now felt clear-headed and refreshed, better than ever.

Xiao Chen circulated his Magical Power to dispel the lingering effects of the alcohol, only to discover to his pleasant surprise that he had gained an additional strand of Magical Power in his Dantian. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"I broke through!"