Chapter 392 - 374: Monkey Wine

Wang Jian was suddenly choked speechless, his face flushing red again.

Although he was a genius of the Wang Family, he wasn’t from the core, direct bloodline. And even a direct descendant wouldn’t dare to be insolent in front of a major figure like Jiang Wen.

Right now, he could only lower his head immediately, suppressing the fury in his eyes.

’Damn it, damn it! Su Yu, I’ll remember you!’

’A little punk with Ape Tendons like you actually managed to become a Great Commander!’

’This Outer City really is a low-class, wretched place. If I hadn’t looked down on the Outer City as being beneath me back then and had just followed the family’s arrangement to take a post there, the position of Great Commander might have been mine long ago!’

The moment he thought of this, Wang Jian’s heart felt as if it were being clawed at, an unbearable torment.

He originally had the chance to take a post in the Outer City, but at the time, he felt that going there was akin to being exiled and made every excuse to get out of it.

But who could have expected that with the full integration of the Inner and Outer Cities, the once-inferior Public Security Bureau would suddenly leap up to be on equal footing with the Inspection Bureau!

This was equivalent to all those lackeys from the Outer City’s Public Security Bureau getting a massive, unearned boost in rank and power.

Just doing the math on this loss made Wang Jian so angry he felt like he could spit blood.

"Su Yu, my name is Chen Ling, from the Chen Family." As she was about to leave, Chen Ling didn’t actually threaten him. She just rubbed her red, swollen wrist, glaring at Su Yu with gritted teeth.

But at some point, a strange glimmer had appeared in her watery eyes. "Give me back my bell, or I swear I won’t let this go!"

Su Yu ignored them. He simply clasped his fist to Jiang Wen in a salute, then also left the tea pavilion and headed for the entrance of the City Lord’s Mansion.

Watching Su Yu’s departing figure, a thoughtful look flashed in Jiang Wen’s eyes.

’This kid’s Evil Qi is quite impressive. And just now, he was able to fight Wang Jian despite being two realms lower. He’s good stock... perhaps I can let him try.’

...

Su Yu arrived at the plaza outside the City Lord’s Mansion.

There were still a few hours until the meeting ended, and he couldn’t be bothered to go back inside the mansion, lest he stir up more trouble.

So, he leisurely strolled over to the Beast Residence on the side, looking over the mounts of the Inner City’s bigwigs with considerable interest.

Aside from the mottled White Tiger that was like a small mountain, the most eye-catching creature in the Beast Residence was a White Barbarian Rhinoceros covered from head to toe in Heavy Armor.

The White Barbarian Rhinoceros was a full four meters long and over two meters tall. Its body was clad in thick, bright white rhino armor that gleamed under the sunlight.

The long, sharp horn on its forehead was like a heaven-piercing spear. If it were to charge with such a terrifying body, it could probably smash through an ordinary city wall with a single blow.

Su Yu quietly activated his Divine Sense and swept it over the beast, discovering that this big fellow’s temperament was just as recorded in the ancient texts: seemingly ferocious, but actually gentle. An idea struck him. He casually took a piece of smoked beast jerky from his Storage Ring, walked up to the rhino, and offered it to its massive mouth.

The White Barbarian Rhinoceros slanted its large eyes, glanced at the jerky, then looked at Su Yu in a human-like manner. It snorted a puff of white smoke that smelled of medicinal herbs from its large nostrils, then disdainfully turned its head away, not bothering to pay him any mind.

"Oh-ho?"

Realizing he had just been looked down on by a mere beast, Su Yu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Most of these Exotic Beast mounts contained the bloodlines of High-tier Demon Beasts and were nothing like ordinary, herbivorous wild animals. Take his own Crimsonflame Dragon Scale Horse, for example—it ate prime meat for every meal. This White Barbarian Rhinoceros clearly had frighteningly high standards; it probably ate Treasure Medicine for dinner.

"You little rascal. It seems if I don’t show you a real treasure, you’ll actually look down on me."

Su Yu chuckled, at a loss for words. He wasn’t actually going to take out any Treasure Medicine.

He casually untied the Qingling Transformation Gourd from his waist and took out a white jade wine bowl from his Storage Ring.

*POP!*

The moment the stopper was pulled from the Qingling Gourd, a rich, almost tangible aroma of wine instantly spread out.

This was the Spirit Wine he had brewed using Monkey Fruit. The wondrous space and Primordial Qi inside the Transformation Gourd had brought out the light fragrance and heavy body of the Monkey Fruit to their absolute peak, making it a masterpiece among mortal creations.

On a normal day, those two picky eaters, the Little Crocodile Dragon and Qingyuan, would shamelessly pester him for a few sips.

Sure enough, as the clear, amber-like wine SPLASHED into the white jade bowl, the aroma spread wantonly.

The eyes of the once-arrogant, heavily armored White Barbarian Rhinoceros suddenly went wide and round. It let out an urgent "RUMBLE RUMBLE" sound and forcefully exhaled a gust of scorching air.

As the wine continued to pour and the rich fragrance filled the air, the heavily armored White Barbarian Rhinoceros’s eyes widened even further as it snorted another blast of hot air.

The next moment, its massive mouth lunged impatiently for the wine bowl in Su Yu’s hand.

A Great Tendon in Su Yu’s body twitched, and with a clever burst of energy from his feet, his figure blurred like an afterimage, instantly shifting several feet to the side to easily evade its lunge.

"Hey, none of that! If you’re going to snatch it, you won’t get a single drop."

Su Yu held the wine bowl high with one hand, his wrist tilted slightly as if he were about to pour it onto the muddy ground, a grin on his face as he watched the rhino.

The heavily armored White Barbarian Rhinoceros seemed to understand Su Yu’s threat. It snorted twice and quickly reined in its aggressive behavior. It then brought its enormous head over ingratiatingly and nudged it carefully against Su Yu’s shoulder.

’Quite the clever one.’

Su Yu nodded to himself. Not only was this White Barbarian Rhinoceros enormous, but the speed it had just burst forth with was, by a conservative estimate, comparable to a Martial Arts expert at the Muscle Forging Realm.

"Open your mouth!"

The White Barbarian Rhinoceros understood the command and obediently opened its huge maw. With a flick of his wrist, Su Yu sent the entire bowl of Spirit Wine down its throat like a small waterfall.

*HSSSS—*

As the Spirit Wine went down its throat, the heavily armored White Barbarian Rhinoceros shivered with pleasure, its Scale Armor trembling slightly as it let out a long, contented cry. A faint, drunken red haze appeared in its eyes. It stared with its wide, bell-like eyes, fixated on the wine gourd at Su Yu’s waist, its tail wagging like a fan.

This reaction was all within Su Yu’s expectations. He smiled and patted the White Barbarian Rhinoceros’s rough, warm head, then poured it several more bowls in a row. After a few bowls of the potent liquor, the normally majestic White Barbarian Rhinoceros became incredibly cheerful, circling around Su Yu inside the Beast Residence.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

Its massive, heavy body stomped on the gravel-covered ground, causing the entire plaza to shake slightly.

In the distance, by the city gate, a few patrolling soldiers from the Public Security Bureau who were leaning against a stone pillar and chatting heard the commotion. They craned their necks to look over, smirking.

"Isn’t that Pavilion Master Liu’s heavily armored White Barbarian Rhinoceros? Why’s it so rowdy today? Should we go take a look?"

"Look at what? When that beast gets a temper, one jab of its horn could send you flying. Just let it be. The masters will be done with their meeting soon anyway."

"But who’s that kid standing so close to the White Barbarian Rhinoceros? Does he have a death wish?"

Su Yu’s Divine Sense quickly picked up on the soldiers’ discussion. To avoid attracting attention, he took a couple of steps back, pretending to be frightened by the White Barbarian Rhinoceros’s ferocity and shaking his head in fear.

Seeing this, the soldiers let out a few jeers. When they saw him back away, they looked away and paid no more attention.

Back in the Beast Residence, after completely winning over the White Barbarian Rhinoceros with a gourd of fine wine, Su Yu was about to return to his Dragon Scale Horse.

But just then, a heavy, oppressive rustling sound came from behind him.

Su Yu turned around to see that the five-meter-long, flawlessly silver-white White Tiger had, at some point, padded up behind him. Its golden tiger eyes held a human-like arrogance.

Sensing no hostility from it, Su Yu immediately understood what it wanted.

"Want some?"

Su Yu shook the gourd, poured out a bowl of wine, and offered it.

The White Tiger instantly lowered its head, allowing Su Yu to pour the amber-colored Spirit Wine into its mouth.

One bowl, two bowls, three bowls...

After it had drunk more than ten bowls in a row, emptying Su Yu’s wine gourd, the White Tiger finally showed signs of drunkenness and lay back down, satisfied.

Su Yu smiled, casually hung the empty gourd back on his waist, and returned to his Crimsonflame Dragon Scale Horse.

The Monkey Wine brewed in the Qingling Transformation Gourd had a powerful kick, and even Exotic Beasts found it hard to resist its intoxicating effects. Although this White Tiger was terrifyingly strong, after drinking more than ten bowls, it would probably need to sleep off the effects for a good while.

Meanwhile, the heavily armored White Barbarian Rhinoceros was also lying on the ground, its eyelids heavy, snoring loudly.

’This Monkey Wine really seems to be a rare treasure. Any Exotic Beast with a hint of Spiritual Energy simply can’t resist the dual temptation of Spiritual Qi and fine wine,’ Su Yu schemed to himself.

The results of this experiment had exceeded his expectations.

’In the future, I might be able to put this Monkey Wine to more use.’

’For example, getting familiar with these two powerful Demon Beasts. After all, the owners of such beasts are most likely big shots themselves.’

’Another example: if I encounter a powerful Demon Beast in the future, I can use this Monkey Wine as a greeting gift. It’s a great way to build a connection.’

’I still don’t have enough Monkey Fruit. I’ll have Brother Li help me get another batch later to brew some new Monkey Wine.’

’The Qingling Transformation Gourd has space inside. One Monkey Fruit is perfect for brewing two jars of fine wine. But if I add a few more Monkey Fruits and pour in a few more jars of wine, that would also work; it would just take longer to brew.’

...

After waiting for less than half an hour, Pang Xuan finally came out of the City Lord’s Mansion.

"Su Yu, what are you doing out here at the entrance? Is something wrong?"

"It’s nothing. I was in the tea pavilion for a long time and just came out for a walk."

"Alright. Let’s go, then. Come with me to the main Pang family estate."

The two of them mounted their respective steeds and galloped off toward the distant Pang family residence.

Not long after they left, another figure walked out of the City Lord’s Mansion’s main gate.

The woman had a beautiful, glamorous face, but it was set upon a shockingly tall and sturdy frame.

She was over two meters tall and clad in a set of red Profound Iron armor. With every step, the heavy plates of the armor clanged and boomed. Slung across her broad shoulders was a Fangtian halberd over twelve feet long, radiating a murderous aura.

As she walked, the Silver Armored Imperial Guards lining the road all wore solemn expressions. They bowed their heads low, greeting her with respectful attitudes:

"Greetings, Pavilion Master Liu!"

This person was none other than one of the Vice Mansion Masters of the Inspection Bureau, a Profound Bone Realm expert who had long been famous in the Inner City—Liu Longyu!

Liu Longyu’s expression was impassive as she walked straight to the Beast Residence. At that moment, the heavily armored White Barbarian Rhinoceros was lying on the ground, its snores thundering.

She didn’t think much of it; her mount was often in this state of deep, lazy slumber on any given day.

With a push from her long, powerful legs, her tall body leaped as lightly as a feather, landing steadily on the White Barbarian Rhinoceros’s broad back.

"Stop sleeping. Let’s go, back to the mansion!"