Chapter 270 - Drinking Heartily

Qiu Haitang completely ignored the giant lumberman’s hostility. “If you lose, you know what your fate is, right?”

The giant lumberman growled and turned around powerlessly to face Li Qingshan.

At this moment, over a hundred jars of fine alcohol had been hauled over, placed to one side.

Nearby, a long stick of incense was planted within a censer.

“We’ll time it using the incense. Whoever drinks the most within two hours will win.” Qiu Haitang clapped her hands gently.

The giant lumberman basically lunged over. Reaching out with his large hand, he lifted up a jar of alcohol and glugged it down like he was trying to quench his thirst. The large jar was like a big cup to him. Immediately, the jar had been emptied out, which he then tossed aside.

Based on aura alone, the people who still thought Li Qingshan could get lucky now believed he would lose for sure.

Li Qingshan walked over unhurriedly, opened a jar, and sucked with his mouth. Like a whale taking in water, a clear stream of alcohol flew into his mouth, and before long, the jar had been emptied out.

He praised, “Fine alcohol!” There was a heavy flavour to it and the taste was sharp. It was not spiritual alcohol, but it was still some fine, rare alcohol. When the spirits reached his throat, it left behind a scorching satisfaction.

The giant lumberman glanced at him. He had already drank his third jar of alcohol.

Li Qingshan’s interest in drinking had been piqued. From the moment the black ox had taught him how to drink, he had fallen in love with this taste, but ever since he went to Jiaping city, numerous matters had constantly disturbed him, actually preventing him from drinking to his heart’s content. He found it to be quite a pity.

He could finally drink heartily tonight.

Li Qingshan sat down as if no one was watching. He placed a hand on a jar and said to Qiu Haitang. “Drinking without meat is just lacking some flavour.”

Han Qiongzhi was surprised. In a situation like this, other people would only be bothered by how small their stomachs were, yet he actually wanted to eat too.

Qiu Haitang said, “Hmph, what a fake act. Give it to him.”

A while later, a long table was brought before Li Qingshan. At the centre was a whole roasted goat and a roasted suckling pig, while around it were roasted chickens, roasted ducks, and cold pork knuckles. Basically all the meat dishes that regular people could think of were there.

Li Qingshan did not bother with chopsticks. He directly grabbed a cold pork trotter and bit down. It was fragrant but not greasy, melting in his mouth. He praised, “Delicious!” Wu Gen had said that the famous chefs of the Clear River prefecture were basically all gathered in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain. He really was not lying.

When Li Qingshan formally began to drink, the giant lumberman had already drunk his seventh jar.

So far, Li Qingshan had not glanced over even once. He ate and drank at his own pace, unlike the giant lumberman who downed alcohol jar after jar. Everyone could tell that he was enjoying this process. He would pick up another jar after he finished one. He was not forcing himself to drink quickly, but he just happened to drink extremely quickly.

A while later and a few jars of alcohol later, the roasted suckling pig had vanished into his belly.

The people who were not particularly hungry could not help but smack their lips as they began to drool.

Han Qiongzhi asked Hua Chengzan, “Can he win?” Influenced by Hua Chengzan, she had bet five hundred spiritual stones on Li Qingshan reluctantly, but she felt slightly pained afterwards. Five hundred spiritual stones were enough to buy a slightly worse high grade spiritual artifact.

Hua Chengzan said, “It won’t be easy. He has split open his sea of qi and his cultivation is slightly higher, but he won’t be able to refine the alcohol away fast enough. He’s nowhere near as large as the giant lumberman, so he’ll suffer because of that.”

Han Qiongzhi said, “Yet you still bet a thousand spiritual stones on him, even making me believe you had confidence in him.”

“It’s not me who has confidence, but him. Don’t you think he’s worth a thousand spiritual stones of trust?”

Han Qiongzhi looked at Li Qingshan again. He had unb.u.t.toned his garment, revealing his bronze chest. There was a slight smile on his chiseled face. He was not handsome, but he was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with masculinity and boldness. Even for her, she was slightly tempted. She gritted her teeth. “He’s worth it!”

This man was worth that much no matter what. To the side, she saw how Xiao An remained composed the entire time. She was entirely unfazed, only watching him silently. There was doubtless and unreserved trust in him.

She began to understand why Li Qingshan would be so protective of her, even bold enough to fight back against Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Ashes fell down and half of the incense had already burned away. Li Qingshan and the giant lumberman’s surroundings had already become filled with alcohol jars, while half of all the jars had already been emptied out by them.

The fragrant smell of alcohol wafted everywhere. Even from three floors away, they could smell it clearly.

The entire place had already fallen silent. There were plenty of people who drank heartily by taking advantage of their protective true qi, but even they were unable to drink like this.

“Brother Tian, they’re so impressive!”

“They’re just two gluttons,” said the young man in white, but he was slightly worried about his one thousand spiritual stones. However, he relaxed very soon.

Among the empty jars, the giant lumberman had already drunk thirty-three, while Li Qingshan had only drunk twenty-two. There was still a difference of a dozen jars.

However, Hua Chengzan noticed that the giant lumberman’s face had already begun to redden, revealing some tipsiness. He had begun to slow down too.

The true qi within the giant lumbermen circulated rapidly, dispersing the drunk feeling. It was no longer just a compet.i.tion of drinking now, but cultivation too.

Li Qingshan seemed even drunker, but as he drank and ate, he actually drank faster and faster. He purposefully did not use true qi or daemon qi to refine away the alcohol, as there was absolutely no need to.

He seemed much smaller than the giant lumberman, but his actual size had already exceeded fifty feet. He was truly a huge monster.

During the time he spent in seclusion in Jiaping city, he would eat large handfuls of pills every single day. Regardless of whether they were Qi Gathering pills or Qi Ama.s.sing pills, he would refine it all into daemon qi. His height as a daemon rapidly increased too. If he transformed right now, his pair of horns might have been able to touch the ceiling.

If the giant lumberman treated the alcohol jars as large cups to chug, then they were tiny, mouth-sized cups to Li Qingshan. Not only was there no need for him to hurry, but he even wanted to carefully savour the alcohol so that it completely diffused into his body. If he refined away the alcohol as he drank, what would be the point of drinking?

When a third of the incense stick remained, the giant lumberman had drunk another ten jars, but Li Qingshan had drunk fourteen. Only eight jars separated them now.

The giant lumberman’s pale yellow skin had already reddened. He began to totter around as he stood there, forcing him to sit down like Li Qingshan.

On the other hand, Li Qingshan sat there firmly. It was quite difficult to see whether his face had become flushed due to his bronze skin, but he did seem even more drunk. However, he drank faster and faster too. This was the drinking style of getting into the groove.

Everyone could see who was winning.

Han Qiongzhi pulled Hua Chengzan’s shoulder and said excitedly, “He might be able to win!”

Hua Chengzan smiled. This kid sure was capable. He had almost forgotten that Li Qingshan was a Body Pract.i.tioner in the first place. Although drinking and eating at the same time filled up the belly faster, it was harder to get drunk. And, it would strictly control his drinking speed, allowing his true qi to gradually refine away the alcohol.

If he learned that Li Qingshan had not considered that at all, only savouring the taste of the alcohol even without refining it away, who knew what his expression would become.

Despite all of his smarts, he never would have imagined that right before him was a huge daemon.

Hua Chengzan’s gaze made contact with Qiu Haitang’s. Hua Chengzan bowed slightly, expressing his apologies. Qiu Haitang instead revealed hidden bitterness. Am I just unable to arouse any emotion in you?

The giant lumberman watched as Li Qingshan gradually caught up and panicked inside. He lifted up the alcohol and poured it into his mouth recklessly, but with that, he became even more drunk instead. His true qi was unable to refine it away in time anymore.

When there was still a tiny part of the incense remaining, there was a great boom, and the giant lumberman collapsed on the ground. The alcohol jar in his hand was smashed to pieces, and the remaining alcohol spilled all over the ground.

Li Qingshan stood up and belched. He gluggled down the last jar of alcohol and looked around. “Is that all?” It seemed like he was not satisfied yet.

The incense burnt out.

Silence.

“He’s won!” Han Qiongzhi raised her fist and broke the silence.

An uproar gradually developed everywhere, causing a racket. A giant lumberman had actually lost to a regular person in drinking. No one had been expecting that.

Many people yelled out, “This is rigged!”

There were not just bets on the overall outcome, but bets on the individual matches too. Many of them who originally wanted to make some quick spiritual stones instead lost all of the spiritual stones that they had laboured so much for.

Li Qingshan laughed aloud. His loud laughter drowned out all the objections. He said to Qiu Haitang, “Sect master Qiu, have I won this match?” The alcohol fueled his desires, so he fearlessly ogled at her body.

Qiu Haitang said, “I’ll let you have this one.”

Li Qingshan glanced at the drunken giant lumberman. “We might not be able to do the next match now.”

Qiu Haitang said frigidly, “Get to your feet!”

The giant lumberman shivered, and he crawled up from the ground in a tottering manner. Using his true qi, he sobered up extremely quickly.

Qiu Haitang took out a small cauldron from her hundred treasures pouch and tossed it into the air.

With a boom, the small cauldron expanded to ten times its size and landed heavily. Li Qingshan found the floor shake violently. The cauldron was already several tonnes in weight.

Qiu Haitang said, “Ancient strongmen are known to possess the strength to lift cauldrons, so the second match will be lifting this cauldron.”

Li Qingshan said, “You’re the owner of this cauldron. If you work against me secretly, wouldn’t I end up losing in absolute confusion?”

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Qiu Haitang frowned. “What do you want instead?” She was actually thinking about that. She completely refused to believe that Li Qingshan’s physical strength would be even greater than the giant lumberman’s.

Giant Lumberfolk were born with extraordinary physiques. After she had purchased him, she even taught him the arts of practising the body. In order to escape, he basically practised it day and night, developing startling strength. When she was not present, she had to shackle him up with chains to keep him from escaping. Even stronger Qi Pract.i.tioners would struggle to subdue him.

“Since I’m the eye witness, I’ll provide the cauldron.” As Hua Chengzan said that, he tossed out a three-legged cauldron too.

Qiu Haitang snorted, but she believed that Hua Chengzan would not work against her. She stowed her cauldron away. “There’s nothing that you can say now!

Li Qingshan arrived before the cauldron. The cauldron shone with light. It was a rare spiritual artifact. He extended his arm and grabbed the handle with one hand.

“Idiot! How is one hand enough?!” Han Qiongzhi called out.

Wu Gen sneered even harder. He said to Qian Rongzhi, “Li Qingshan has probably never seen an artifact smithing cauldron. They’re much heavier than cauldrons made of regular metal. Even I can’t lift it with one hand.”

Before he had even finished speaking, Li Qingshan had already lifted the cauldron over his head with a single hand. He casually tossed it at the giant lumberman, “Your turn.”

Wu Gen was speechless.