Chapter 569: Each One's Blood Brew

In the silent banquet hall, the Saint's pressure oppressed everyone. If not for the special nature of the Night Manor and the God's deliberate restraint, the only one who could sit here now would probably be Xia De.

"I understand, God. Thank you for allowing me to attend your wine party."

Xia De nodded, speaking pretty words about not wanting gold pounds, while his peripheral vision glanced at the other five people at the table.

These five had come here voluntarily due to their own wishes, hoping to achieve goals unattainable by mortals through attending the wine party, so they were not surprised by the instructions given by the God.

"But they actually dared to seek help from an Evil God. Are the people of the Fifth Era all so courageous?"

Xia De thought silently in his heart.

After a snap of fingers, a glass goblet appeared beside everyone's hand.

"Unexpected guests seem unable to stay long at the wine party. So this time, let us first taste the blood each of you brought, then listen to your stories; this will surely be very interesting. Next time, I will provide my blood brew for you to taste, and after you have tasted it, give your own thoughts. As for the final time, we can taste the three types of blood brought by the unexpected guests. If you can survive, then naturally you will receive my grace."

After He finished speaking, He paused for a moment and looked at Xia De:

"You are the same."

Except for Xia De, the other five each took out their own sealed containers they had brought.

In the hands of the middle-aged, half-bald king was a smooth silver bottle, its mouth sealed with tin; the armored old man produced a somewhat worn leather waterskin, tightly corked with wood; the Witch produced a pure gold cube. Xia De recognized this; Miss Feliana's notebook had mentioned it, an alchemical item used to seal and preserve precious materials; as for the two little girls, they jointly produced a porcelain bottle.

The God waved His hand, and the silver bottle in the king's hand opened by itself. A foul-smelling scarlet liquid flew out, finally falling evenly into the seven glass wine cups. Xia De estimated that the liquid level in everyone's cup was exactly the same height.

"So, what is your story?"

The Saint lifted the wine cup and swirled it gently, as if aerating the wine. And as He swirled it, Xia De noticed that the color of the blood seemed to have changed slightly.

So he also picked up the cup beside him and swirled it gently. Although his technique was not skilled, the blood in the cup indeed changed. The color became lighter, the bloody smell obviously weakened, and Xia De even smelled the scent of alcohol.

The wine cup given by "Blood-Sucking Duke Loir" could actually turn ordinary blood directly into blood brew.

"Is it a Relic?"

【The cup itself did not sense any Whisper elements, only Blasphemy elements.】

"It is the power of the Evil God."

Xia De and the others looked together at the half-bald king. The latter nervously lowered his head, staring at the table, and stammered:

"I... I am the King of Xapar in the Western Continent. My nation is about to perish. Those greedy knights want to carve up my land, my property, and my family. I want to defeat them, hang them all, and use their heads to decorate my castle. I know You, the great God of the Blood-Sucking Race, Duke Loir. I know Your greatness."

Just as Xia De had done, he picked up the wine cup beside him and swirled it gently. Although his hand shook terribly, the cup itself did not let a single drop of liquid go to waste:

"I found the Witch living in the forest and exchanged a huge amount of gold for this. This is Dragon Blood, the blood of a pure-blooded Dragon."

"No, this is the blood of a hybrid Dragon kind. I think that Witch deceived you."

The Saint said calmly. For a moment, Xia De thought the half-bald king would raise his head in surprise, but he controlled his instinctive desire:

"What... I... This... I did not mean to blaspheme..."

His voice grew lower and lower.

"It doesn't matter. A clown like you is enough to open the wine party. But the blood you brought is not good enough. Even if you survive until the end, what you receive will only be of equal value to what you brought."

The God downed the blood brew in His hand in one gulp. The mortals on the other side of the table swirled their wine cups, then glanced at each other. Finally, the other five actually all looked at Xia De, obviously wanting to see what this seemingly extraordinary fellow Xia De would do.

Xia De brought the cup to his lips, frowned, and took a careful sip.

【There is poison, but it is negligible for you. It does not contain any curses itself.】

Having poison was normal; Dragon Blood itself is toxic, not like in fairy tales where drinking it makes people stronger.

"It's poisonous."

He simply told the others, then downed the bloody drink in one gulp. Although it had turned from blood into blood wine, that bloody taste still existed. Xia De frowned, endured the nausea, and drank the blood brew, yet still felt an urge to retch. This was absolutely not something humans should drink.

The Witch, unconcerned about the poison, downed the blood brew just like Xia De; the old man in cloth armor took out another wooden bottle, drank the potion inside which seemed to be a Magic Potion, and only then drank the blood brew; the two little girls frowned and sipped the contents of their cups little by little; the middle-aged king hesitated for a moment, glanced at the old man, saw he had no intention of sharing the Magic Potion, and then imitated the little girl opposite him, sipping little by little.

After the third sip, he convulsed all over and fell from his chair. The armored old man sitting beside him widened his eyes and looked:

"He's dead."

The corpse melted into a pool of scarlet bloodstain on the floor, then seeped into the ground, as if it had never appeared.

Including Xia De, no one commented on this. But Xia De glanced at that pair of twins again. He and the Witch endured it directly; the gray-haired old man had prepared a method to counteract the poison in advance; but these two girls who were not Witches could actually drink the impure Dragon Blood directly. That was somewhat strange.

Next, the blood in the leather waterskin brought by the armored old man was evenly distributed to everyone. Under the gaze of the crowd swirling their wine cups and the God, he also lowered his head and told his story:

"This is the blood of Ice Crystal Butterflies I hunted in the far north of the Northern Continent, taking an entire winter. For the Witch, this is a top-tier Magic Potion material. It has nothing to do with power; only the best hunters with the most patient methods can capture them. As for my purpose, my friend, the poet Mr. Von Krietz, died during an expedition in the Northern Continent. I want to know who exactly killed him."

While speaking, he was the first to down the blood brew in his hand in one gulp. The Saint also squinted and drank that cup of blood:

"Although not delicious enough, at least this chill is quite nice."

Just as before, Xia De brought the wine cup to his lips and took a sip.

A very faint bloody scent rushed into his mouth. The extreme chill emitted by the liquid staining his lips made Xia De shiver all over.

Having taken just one sip, he felt his scalp go numb and his hands and feet completely frozen stiff. It was as if what was in the wine cup in his hand was not blood wine at all, but ten-thousand-year-old ice stored under the polar ice cap.

He had never heard of the creature "Ice Crystal Butterfly," not knowing if it had changed its name in the Sixth Era or was already extinct. But he could still endure this chill, so he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, lifted the wine cup to his lips, and then suddenly drank a large mouthful.

The liquid entered his throat from his mouth, then slid down his esophagus into his stomach.

The temperature that seemed capable of freezing blood made Xia De clearly perceive the entire pathway of the ingestion process for the first time. For a moment, he thought his body was starting to freeze and he might never see Xiao Xiao Miya again, but then he realized only a layer of frost had appeared on his skin surface.

After the numbness that left his entire body unable to move passed, and as his body temperature returned to normal, Xia De felt his body comfortable as if it had been soaked in warm water.

He tried to clench his fist and found his body was perfectly normal. Only the numbness caused by the cold made his body react a bit slower, but the effect was minor and recovering rapidly:

"What happened to me?"

【Specifically, your cold resistance may have increased a bit.】

This blood brew was even more precious than Xia De had thought.