Ye Bufan drank it down without a second thought, immediately feeling as if his body was being enveloped by something, a faint aroma of alcohol emanating from him.
Before long, the old man, Li Zheng, walked in from outside.
Upon entering, Li Zheng scanned the tavern with his spiritual energy but found no trace of Ye Bufan.
"Oh my, a newcomer. Please, come in." Ye Qingyi spoke to Li Zheng as he descended the stairs, gesturing for Li Zheng to take a seat.
"Have you seen a young man of this height?" Li Zheng gestured to indicate Ye Bufan's height as he spoke to Ye Qingyi.
Ye Qingyi smiled slightly and said, "My guests come from all directions, how could I possibly remember so many? Besides, our vast Kyushu land has so many people, and countless more of this height. If you just say 'this tall,' who can you possibly be referring to?"
"Exactly, exactly, the proprietress is right. Old man, searching like this is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Meng Jiang, the Mountain Descending Tiger, chimed in with a jest.
"I'm looking for Ye Bufan," Li Zheng stated openly to Ye Qingyi.
"Then you've come to the wrong place. If you're looking for Ye Bufan, you should go to the Underground City in the capital. Coming to a small tavern like this, you'll probably never find him, even in your next life," Meng Jiang continued.
Hearing this, the old man suddenly fell into thought, his face flushing considerably.
"The restrictions of the Underground City are too strong. I tried to break through, but I couldn't get in," the old man said.
"What?" Meng Jiang, the Mountain Descending Tiger, exchanged glances with his brothers. Meng Jiang then asked, "Old man, may I ask what your cultivation level is at the moment?"
Meng Jiang found himself unable to sense the old man's cultivation, and the old man possessed a very mysterious aura, all of which pointed to one possibility—this old man was a master.
"Core Formation stage," Li Zheng replied.
Immediately after, Li Zheng turned to Ye Qingyi and asked, "Do you have any good wine in your tavern?"
"The wine at Qingzhu Tavern is all good wine. If your tolerance for alcohol is high, you can try them all," Ye Qingyi replied.
Li Zheng heard this, cast a glance at Ye Qingyi, then looked around Qingzhu Tavern, and said, "Alright, then bring me one of every wine you sell. I'd like to see if your wine is as good as the wine from my hometown."
Ye Qingyi smiled and clapped his hands. Xun'er walked out from inside, holding a wooden tray with nine porcelain bottles, each containing a different wine sold at Qingzhu Tavern.
As Xun'er brought out these nine bottles of wine, the cultivators present cast envious glances, their eyes also holding a sense of anticipation for the spectacle.
Li Zheng looked at the nine porcelain bottles and asked in confusion, "Just these nine bottles?"
Ye Qingyi nodded and said, "You can try them first."
Without a word, Li Zheng picked up the first bottle and drank it. The clear wine, upon entering his mouth, instantly refreshed him, and he felt a sense of spiritual energy enveloping his entire body.
"Not bad!"
Li Zheng proceeded to drink the second and third bottles, becoming more animated as he drank, saying, "No wonder your tavern does such good business. This wine is indeed excellent. For an ordinary person, they'd probably be finished after two or three bottles."
"How many bottles can you drink?" Ye Qingyi asked with a hint of amusement.
"Since you said all of them," Li Zheng continued drinking. After finishing the wine from the nine porcelain bottles, he entered a state of hazy confusion, drunk yet seemingly not entirely so.
"Hmm? What's going on?" A hint of doubt suddenly arose in Li Zheng's mind. Since becoming a cultivator, he rarely got drunk, and the true energy within his body would help him dissipate the effects of alcohol.
But now, Li Zheng found himself drunk, his senses becoming increasingly blurred, and the entire world seemed to be spinning.
"What kind of wine is this?" Li Zheng asked.
"This wine of mine is a specialty of our Qingzhu Tavern, called 'Nine Cups Down.' It means that no one can endure more than nine cups under its influence," Ye Qingyi explained to Li Zheng.
Upon hearing this, Li Zheng collapsed onto the floor and fell into a deep sleep.
Ye Bufan slowly descended the stairs and said to Ye Qingyi, "How did you manage to make this 'Nine Cups Down'?"
"What? Little brother, are you trying to challenge my 'Nine Cups Down'?" Ye Qingyi looked at Ye Bufan with a mischievous smile.
"No! Even he couldn't endure it, I definitely won't be able to either. I know my limits, I won't challenge it," Ye Bufan quickly waved his hand, refusing Ye Qingyi.
"My tavern, sister's tavern, people who come to drink never dare to drink too much; they savor it little by little. No one has ever ordered more than three bottles. This old man came and ordered nine bottles all at once; he'll be sleeping for three days and three nights."
Ye Qingyi glanced at Li Zheng, then said to Xun'er behind him, "Xun'er, throw this old man into the woods outside."
"Yes!" Xun'er, stifling a laugh, dragged Li Zheng out into the woods behind Qingzhu Tavern.
"Alright, nothing else. I'm leaving now," Ye Bufan said to Ye Qingyi. "Those overseas cultivators should be making their move soon."
Ye Qingyi nodded and said, "The long sword you refined from the ancient tower has already made those people restless. They should be discussing how to probe whether the City Lord of the Underground City, Yu Xing, is still around."
"Then, it's time to make them pay a price and suffer a loss," Ye Bufan said with a wicked grin.
Returning to the Underground City, Ye Bufan went directly into the City Lord's mansion.
Ye Qingcheng's brows were tightly furrowed. Ye Bufan, seeing this, asked Ye Qingcheng what had happened.
"Those overseas cultivators are also learning from the cultivators of Xiong Ying, preparing to move out of the Underground City and live outside," Ye Qingcheng said. "This will greatly increase the difficulty of surveillance by the major sects. Moreover, they are all experts at the Core Formation stage, with cultivators from almost every country being in the mid-Core Formation stage."
"I see. It seems they truly can't sit still any longer," Ye Bufan said.
"What?" Ye Qingcheng looked at Ye Bufan.
"Tell those sect members to stop watching. At this point in time, watching is useless," Ye Bufan said. "If nothing unexpected happens, they will soon come looking for Yu Xing's presence."
"Looking for the City Lord?" Ye Qingcheng looked at Ye Bufan, then shook her head and said, "Forget it. Since you're back, I'll listen to you. You and my sister have been planning this all along, and I still don't know what you're up to."
"You'll know soon enough," Ye Bufan said enigmatically.
...
On the other side, the overseas cultivators had rapidly moved out of their guesthouses in the Underground City. Simultaneously, they dispersed their delegation members in secret, hiding them within the Underground City.