Mage Adam-Chapter "368"

After getting Smoker’s assurance, Adam knew he had found his entry point. Next, all he had to do was follow the steps and begin cultivating that ridiculously named secret martial art — Drunken Flame Formula. Once he gained some ability to protect himself, he could then naturally bring up leaving the tribe and heading to the true Qianyuan Mortal Realm.

After speaking, Smoker clamped his pipe between his teeth, swayed his hips, and slowly left. Adam, meanwhile, walked into the group of little pandas. Using both his feet and hands, he flung them all away one by one before finally making it back to his dwelling.

The bamboo forest was vast, the tribe quite small. Adam had been given a bamboo hut to live in — not easily won, but secured only after rejecting the advances of more than a dozen overly affectionate panda mothers, thus gaining himself this hidden, private space.

Garfield leapt out from Adam’s mind and stood on his shoulder, wearing a bizarre expression — pain mixed with a twisted smile. Adam toyed idly with a few vines and flowers on the ground, not even looking at him, and said directly:

“If you don’t want to die, shut up. How’s the task I gave you?”

Garfield disassembled himself, scattering to suppress his urge to laugh wildly and mock, then after a moment re-formed into a shape — like the round ball he once was.

“This is the stuff. Those dumb bears call it Primitive Yeast. It contains a vast amount of life energy, but it’s very strange. Though it resembles the life energy of the Mage World, it can only be processed and stirred by their unique methods. It cannot be decoded through the mage system.”

“They use this Primitive Yeast to brew liquor, each kind of liquor serving a different purpose. As for how exactly it’s brewed — I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yeah. Their way of communication isn’t very clear. Seems they don’t even need written language, so I didn’t get more details.”

In the Qianyuan Realm, Garfield’s nanobot form was absolutely undetectable — at least within the Panda Tribe. The strongest among them were no more than Tier Two beings, incapable of discovering him at all. No wonder Sandy had said this world’s clans were obsessed with pedigree and guarded their inheritances fiercely.

“What about raw materials? Did you find any?”

“Mhm. These are the plants I saw.” Garfield shifted into several different plant forms in succession. “They all look ordinary to me. The key lies in the technique.”

Adam asked: “And those portions you infiltrated inside the elders’ bodies — did you find the routes of energy circulation?”

At this, Garfield’s voice turned pitiful: “Their energy is extremely repulsive. I didn’t dare merge too deeply to analyze. But master, what exactly is the race you reincarnated into? They don’t cultivate at all — completely laissez-faire. They just let energy wander around in their bodies at random, without guiding it in the slightest.”

Thinking of the Panda Clan’s pervasive philosophy of muddling through life and eating idly until death, Adam was speechless too. He could only say:

“Withdraw for now. Tomorrow I’ll undergo their secret inheritance. In the meantime, assist Lina and the others in the forest — search for these raw materials and gather as much as possible.”

Garfield nodded and dissolved like flowing mercury, vanishing. Adam then tapped the flowers and grasses beneath his feet and said: “You heard?”

The plants bent like people bowing, then Lina’s voice came through:

“Because we cannot use our own energy, we can only rely on innate abilities to control plants. Progress is slow. This forest houses not only the Panda Clan, but several other tribes with extraordinary powers. Beyond them, there are also solitary, powerful beings wandering here.”

Adam said: “You can slow the search for now. Do not clash with them. Once I obtain the inheritance, I’ll quickly work out a way for you to use energy here.”

It was an unavoidable problem. Their energy systems were fundamentally incompatible. Though his companions possessed great personal strength, they could not draw on it here. To provoke any tribe or creature now would be unwise. Adam even strictly forbade them from leaving the forest.

“And Sophia?”

Lina replied: “She’s merged herself with the forest’s waterways. No one can discover her. She’s helping us draw a map.”

“Call her back. Who can guarantee there aren’t higher-level beings in the water? We can’t take risks now. For the moment, shrink your search range to just around the bamboo grove. Follow the pandas when they go out. Everything else waits for my signal.”

“Your will, Master.”

Smoker’s words had diverged somewhat from Adam’s expectations. He had thought ascending realms would be extremely difficult, perhaps requiring some sort of bizarre Heavenly Tribulation. But it turned out to be only a trial. That meant the Qianyuan Realm actually encouraged ascension. But to what end?

Was it simply a mark of identity?

Or did the Martial Realm contain resources absent from the Mortal Realm?

Once one reached the standard for ascension, was departure mandatory or voluntary?

And what about the strange energy drifting through this space? If its essence was still the Aether generated from the Fourth Epoch’s Void, then what had altered it into this form?

Chewing on bamboo leaves, Adam pondered. As expected of remnants from a past Epoch — this place was far more bizarre than any mission world before.

A day passed in a blink. As dawn’s light approached, Adam left his hut and headed into the depths of the bamboo forest.

Once again, he felt the pandas’ scatterbrained nature. If not for the forest spirits pointing out Smoker’s location, Adam would never have found it.

Turning past a thick grove, he finally saw Smoker — on all fours, facing the sunrise with his back to Adam.

“You’re here.”

Adam, unsure what to say, simply replied:

“Uh… I’m here.”

Smoker turned, slammed a paw to the ground, shattering layers of rock, and revealed several barrels of liquor hidden beneath.

“To cultivate the Drunken Flame Formula, you must first drink. These three barrels are the Panda Clan’s secret Origin Wine. Drink them, and your body will produce its first wisp of Yuan Qi. If you can’t drink it down, it means you lack the qualifications to become a martial artist.”

Adam didn’t bother to ask why cultivation was tied to alcohol tolerance. Instead, he asked:

“What is Yuan Qi?”

“Yuan Qi is the foundation of martial artists in the Qianyuan Realm. Only with Yuan Qi can you be considered a warrior. Otherwise, you’re just an ordinary bear. Only once your body produces that first strand of Yuan Qi can you run the Drunken Flame Formula, condense a Martial Core, strengthen yourself, and unleash martial techniques.”

“What do I have to do?”

“Drink them as fast as you can. During the drinking process you must not release any waste — not a drop spilled. Even the slightest leak means failure. Nor can you pass out drunk. You must remain conscious at all times, feeling the burning of the Origin Wine within your body.”

“Burning?” 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Smoker sliced off a barrel’s lid. For the first time, Adam witnessed the release of a martial artist’s energy — Yuan Qi transmuted into flames, instantly igniting the Origin Wine.

“Like this. Now drink.”