THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Wine Cups Part 5

"You swallowed half of my Age-old Rattan Cup down, how could it not hurt?" Zu Qianqiu grinned. "The age-old rattan is as hard as steel. There's no way you are going to digest that. You'd better take a lot of cathartic and hope you can get it out of your system. If that's not gonna work, then you'd have no choice but to ask Killer Doctor Ping One-Finger to cut open your belly and take it out."

A thought suddenly emerged in Linghu Chong's mind, "Something has gotten to be seriously wrong with those eight wine cups of his. After Root Fairy swallowed that Age-old Rattan Cup, even if the rattan were really that hard to digest, he should have suffered no more than some stomachache. Why would he get the burning sensation? Hum, a true man will look death calmly in the face. The more lethal his poison is the better. What am I afraid of?" At that thought, he slammed another cup of wine down his throat.

"Big apprentice brother, don't drink any more of those wines! They are probably poisonous." Yue Lingshan suddenly spoke out. "You blinded all those people with your sword, better be careful. It's very likely that they would plot against you for revenge."

"This Mister here is a man of the forthright kind. I am sure he won't be plotting against me," Linghu Chong said as a sad smile flashed across his lips. Deep in his heart, he actually wished that the wines were poisonous, so that they would kill him right after he drank them. "Would little apprentice sister feel the slightest sorrow when she sees my dying body right in front of her eyes?" he wondered as he drank another two cups of wine. The wine in the sixth cup tasted sour and salty, together with some kind of a stinking odor. The taste was not only far from the taste of great wine, it didn't even qualify the taste of wine. He couldn't help but frown.

Watching Linghu Chong drinking one cup after another by the side, Trunk Fairy was bursting to give it a try himself. "Let me have these two cups!" he pleaded and reached out for the seventh cup.

Zu Qianqiu waved his folding fan and smacked it at the back of Trunk Fairy's hand.

"Patience! Patience!" he urged with a grin. "You'll have to wait for your turn! Everyone will have to drink all eight cups in sequence to really appreciate the ultimate true taste of wine."

Trunk Fairy could tell that the smack from Zu Qianqiu's folding fan had carried a tremendous amount of force. If it had landed on the target squarely, the force probably was powerful enough to smash his bones. Flipping his palm over, he grabbed at the folding fan and shouted at the same time.

"I'd rather drink this one first! What are you going to do about it?"

Zu Qianqiu's folding fan had been folded into the shape of a short stick, but when Trunk Fairy's hand was just about to touch the fan, it suddenly opened up abruptly, and the edge of the fan shot swiftly toward Trunk Fairy's index finger. That caught Trunk Fairy by complete surprise. He drew his hand back hastily and the shot barely missed his finger, but numbness still came from his index finger as the force carried by the fan swept by. Crying out loud in shock, he took a step back.

"Brother Linghu, hurry up with those last two cups of wine!" Zu Qianqiu urged hurriedly.

Giving it no more thoughts, Linghu Chong also drank up the last two cups of wine. Neither of the two cups of wine had that stinking odor. But one was so spicy that it almost felt as if someone was slicing Linghu Chong's throat with a knife, while the other one had a very strong smell of herbal medicine. How could these be called wine when their flavors were even stronger than the strongest medicinal herb in the world?

Seeing the strange expression on Linghu Chong's face, the Peach Valley's Six Fairies burst with curiosity! "How does it taste after you drink all eight cups?" they asked eagerly.