Chapter 48. Venerable
One hundred and fifty cups of wine were placed on the table. Gray mist wafted upwards, turning into a rich aroma that lingered at the tip of the nose.
They all smelled the same, but Xia Feng could clearly sense that ten of them were fake Calamity Force wine.
Of the one hundred and fifty cups, one hundred were for the competition, and the remaining fifty were for the double card, which Xia Feng had to drink additionally.
“Stop observing, they’re all the same. Just pick any cup,” Yan Xujia said, subconsciously feeling annoyed by this Spade Person for some reason.
“It’s fine, let him take his time.”
The gaunt man chuckled and turned his head, “Your name is Yan Xujia, right? Since you just evolved into a Calamity Eater, you probably can’t handle much Calamity Force. I’ll drink twenty cups later, and you can have ten.”
Xia Feng ignored the conversation between the two and picked up a cup of Calamity Force wine with anticipation. However, after just a sip, he felt disappointed.
The concentration was too low. It was like a drop of Evil Dragon Calamity Force liquid diluted billions of times and brewed into wine, with hardly any flavor.
He lost interest in savoring it and began picking up cups one by one to his lips. The bronze mask was not a physical entity, so it didn’t affect his eating or drinking.
As Xia Feng downed eight cups in a row, Yan Xujia and the gaunt man consciously paused their idle chat, frowning.
The bartender reminded them, “Attention, the difference between the two sides is ten cups. The match will end immediately, and the winner will be declared. The loser will be eliminated.”
The two were startled and quickly started drinking.
But the Spade Person, as if unafraid of death, downed cup after cup, regardless of whether it was real or fake wine, as if he didn’t need to digest it at all.
One had to know that even for beings like them, who were half-human and half-nightmare, devouring Calamity Force, while it could increase their strength, still required time for digestion. Otherwise, their sanity would rapidly disappear, and they would turn into monsters.
“Damn it, are you crazy!” The gaunt man’s face changed drastically as he saw Xia Feng down thirty cups. However, he didn’t dare to stop, and also frantically guzzled the wine himself.
Yan Xujia clutched his forehead, his face pallid. He was lucky to have picked up two fake cups in a row. But after downing five cups of real Calamity wine, he was already feeling unwell, with countless faint and eerie whispers echoing in his ears.
The gaunt man sensed something was wrong and quickly looked at the Jester for help.
The Jester shook his head, “Don’t worry, I’ve investigated. This guy is indeed a pure human. Even if his Spirit Pressure reached the limit of a fifth-stage transcendent Spirit Master, he could only handle around forty cups. As long as he’s not at the Venerable realm, there’s nothing to fear— Fear? Huh?”
As the Jester spoke calmly, Xia Feng downed his forty-first and forty-second cups in quick succession.
“Shit!” The gaunt man’s scalp tingled. He no longer had time to think and went completely berserk!
Fifty cups.
Sixty cups.
And when Xia Feng raised the seventy cup.
Yan Xujia was stunned. Will I die here? He was terrified and mechanically downed his tenth cup, buzzing—
He felt a tingling sensation in his scalp, and the inexpressible, faint whispers in his ears became more vivid. From the corner of his vision, six or seven terrifying female corpses with pale faces and disheveled hair crawled out, their green eyes watching him.
This indicated that his mental state was already on the verge of collapse.
“Wait, wait! Hold on!” The gaunt man’s face was ashen. He grabbed Xia Feng’s arm, “Brother, you’re my real brother, stop drinking.”
He was truly at his limit. If Xia Feng drank seventy cups, he and Yan Xujia would have to drink thirty-five cups.
But twenty cups were already his limit, and he didn’t even have time to digest them. If he drank any more, he would truly die.
Xia Feng’s motion paused.
The Jester, who had been silent for a long time, looked solemn and asked in a deep voice, “Mr. Spade, are you a Venerable?”
Venerable was a realm above the fifth stage. Every Venerable in the Empire was famous. Before invading District 51, God’s Calamity Society had investigated, and there were no Venerables guarding District 51!
But what was going on with this mysterious person in front of them? The Jester stared intently at the Spade Person, filled with doubt. If he were a Venerable, the Calamity Force wine wouldn’t have much of an impact on a Spirit Master of that realm. After all, a Venerable’s life level was no longer within the scope of humanity, so drinking seventy cups was naturally not a problem.
In response to the Jester’s doubts, Xia Feng smiled slightly, put down his wine cup, and said casually, “If you think I am, then I am~”
The Jester’s expression was not good. He glanced at the bartender.
The bartender, Mino, also looked solemn, shook his head, and murmured, “His Spirit Pressure state is very strange and inscrutable. This is indeed an ability only Venerables possess. But it’s different. Venerables’ Spirit Pressure states are inscrutable, but he himself is inscrutable.”
Isn’t that even more terrifying?! The Jester’s lips twitched.
Investigating the target’s Spirit Pressure was one of Mino’s abilities, and he hadn’t failed in hundreds of years, unless he encountered a Venerable-level expert.
Thinking of this, Mino wanted to curse the heavens at this moment.
He originally thought this Spade Person was just an ignorant and foolish mortal. He welcomed foolish mortals, but a Venerable…
Get lost, Venerables! Why would such a powerful figure come to my Calamity Realm? Is it for a picnic? Mino maintained a stiff smile on his face.
However, he had indeed heard that some Venerables, tired of life, liked to play games of disguise and humor.
They were the kind of perverts who specifically disguised themselves as low-level Spirit Masters, endured humiliation, and then gradually revealed their strength to kill third-stage powerhouses.
The one that left the deepest impression on him was a pervert codenamed ‘Bei Ming’ thirty years ago.
Initially, he claimed to be weak and couldn’t drink much Calamity wine, but as he drank, he unknowingly downed over a hundred cups, killing everyone. Then, with a surprised and affected tone, he said, “Huh? Why have you all collapsed?” His lingering memory was still vivid.
This Spade Person was undoubtedly very much in line with the behavior pattern of such shameless perverts.
Xia Feng watched their changing expressions from the side, knowing that these guys might have misunderstood something. However, it suited him perfectly. Pretending to be a big shot was his specialty!
“So, are we still competing?” he asked them, raising his cup and speaking calmly.
The bartender shook his head, “The rules are absolute. Even I cannot violate them. The game can only end when one side dies or their sanity hits zero. Only then can the remaining people leave the Calamity Realm.”
The gaunt man’s face turned pale, and he anxiously looked at the Jester for help again. His puppet incarnation was already dead, and this was his only true body. If he died now, he would be truly gone.
“Bang—”
Suddenly, a figure rushed forward fiercely. Before the gaunt man could react, two cups of wine were forcibly shoved into his mouth. He tilted his head back, his eyes wide, gurgling—
“Go to hell, you idiot!” Yan Xujia tightly gripped his jaw and grinned sinisterly, “As long as one person dies, it has to be you, brother.”
“Urk— Urk—” The gaunt man covered his mouth and retreated repeatedly, his eyes splitting with rage.
One minute later, he lost his sanity in madness, and his physical body collapsed into a puddle of mud. The scene was extremely bloody.
“Game over. Esteemed guest, this is your prize.”
The bartender opened a pocket watch and placed it in front of Xia Feng, a smile of utmost respect appearing on his face. “Please check it.”
Inside the pocket watch lay 2g of Boundless Stone.
“Guest, what attribute of stone-cracking do you want?”
Xia Feng paused and said casually, “Water.”
Mino also placed a water-blue round stone into the pocket watch. The stone emanated a faint blue light, mysterious and extraordinary.
However, Xia Feng’s attention was drawn to the pocket watch containing the Boundless Stone. After thinking for a moment, he looked up and asked, “May I ask a question, where did this pocket watch come from?”
Mino was stunned by the question and instinctively looked at the Jester.
