The milky white gas, enveloping the azure liquid, gently slid into his mouth.
A slightly sour sensation spread through his oral cavity.
It tasted a bit like apple cider vinegar.
This was Zheng Qing's first reaction.
The cool liquid continued to slide slowly backward along his tongue, unexpectedly bringing a mellow warmth; meanwhile, a astringent sensation gradually spread across the tip of his tongue where the liquid had passed. Zheng Qing felt as if the back half of his tongue was soaking in a hot spring, while the tip of his tongue danced on an ice cube.
This is truly a 'heaven of ice and fire,' Zheng Qing thought, hazy, as the idea surfaced in his mind.
The cool sensation continued downwards, all the way into his stomach, and then, like a burnt fuse, it ignited a fierce impact. Zheng Qing felt a wave of heat spread in his stomach, returning up the esophagus to his mouth, bringing a slight bitterness after the astringent sensation.
Opening his mouth and exhaling, Zheng Qing immediately took another sharp breath.
As if he had eaten a spoonful of mustard or drunk a large glass of cold cola, Zheng Qing felt a slightly stinging sensation spread through his nasal cavity, not painful, but a very comfortable stimulation.
"With one sip of wine, you should experience six sensations in your mouth: coolness, slight sourness, warmth, slight astringency, intensity, and slight bitterness, as well as the string of bee-sting-like aftertastes from drinking it and exhaling the first breath—only then is it complete," Duan Xiaojian said, narrowing his eyes, his throat moving. After a long moment, he slowly exhaled.
Opening his eyes, he solemnly told Zheng Qing, "mist wine gives you physical pleasure, but qing feng'er gives you more of a spiritual touch."
Duan Xiaojian was a scrawny boy, perhaps due to years of reading, his back was somewhat hunched. Whether sitting or standing, he always looked like he was looking for something on the ground. This also made him consistently give off a somewhat sleazy vibe.
"We are not Baiding; we are Wizards. We do not merely pursue a certain physical pleasure like Baiding," Duan Xiaojian seemed to have straightened up considerably, perhaps from drinking too much, and his tone became very serious as he spoke eloquently, "The body and soul are inseparable. If you drink, and only your body feels pleasure, but your soul is confused, then qing feng'er, made from mist wine, can not only please your body but also cleanse your soul."
Zheng Qing was still immersed in the intoxicating feeling brought by the cocktail just now, and listening to this guy's long speech, he could only nod repeatedly.
"Just like the Hundred Flower Brew from your Kunlun Mountains, it can also achieve this effect," Duan Xiaojian suddenly added.
Zheng Qing immediately looked up, sensitive.
The thin boy in front of him was nonchalantly swirling his wine glass, seemingly pondering how many swirls the mist wine in the glass could make.
Zheng Qing rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.
"I really am not a descendant of Kunlun," he sighed, a figure appearing in his mind, then he cheered up and asked, "Do you know Thomas? Thomas, an Assistant Teacher at First University! He was my interviewer; he knows I didn't come down from the mountain!"
Duan Xiaojian shook his head.
Zheng Qing lowered his head in frustration.
"Nicholas definitely knows," Duan Xiaojian seemed to have just remembered, stood up, and looked around, "He's been at the University for so long; he must know the Assistant Teacher you're talking about."
"Nicholas? He's here too?" Zheng Qing shook his somewhat swollen head, feeling like he was hallucinating, "What's he doing here? He's not in our class, is he?"
As he spoke, he brought his nose to the rim of the glass, trying to inhale the mist wine that enveloped the qing feng'er.
"Liu Feifei brought him. I ran into them both when I came in," Duan Xiaojian, who had been craning his neck searching for Nicholas, suddenly lowered his head and whispered into Zheng Qing's ear, "I think something's going on between them!"
His hand trembled, and the qing feng'er in the glass went into his nasal cavity. Zheng Qing coughed violently.
"Don't get excited, I also think it's impossible," Duan Xiaojian patted his back, comforting him, "Maybe I just drank too much, they just happened to enter the shop together… They've never even spoken in class, they barely know each other, how could they… Hahahaha."
"They knew each other earlier than you," Zheng Qing blew his nose, pulled a tissue from the table, wiped it, and mumbled.
"What?" Duan Xiaojian seemed a little surprised.
"They knew each other as soon as they entered the University!" Perhaps due to the violent coughing just now, Zheng Qing's voice was much hoarser, "Nicholas was our guide. He took us on a tour of the University… During the conflict with the merfolk by Linzhong Lake, Nicholas helped Liu Feifei."
"Oh! My goodness…" Duan Xiaojian stood up again, searching even more diligently around, "I seem to have discovered something incredible."
It truly was incredible.
The top-ranked Publicly Funded Student this year and the student who had repeated two grades were involved.
If this news got out, it would probably drop jaws.
In a daze, he looked around.
Not far away, Zhang Jixin, having eaten who knows what, was swaying as he leaned on the bar, blowing a string of smoke rings. A little further away, several girls sat giggling, holding high-stemmed glasses filled with mist wine, chatting and laughing merrily. Around a table in the corner of the hall, several classmates gathered, shouting loudly. There were also people uninhibitedly dancing a strange dance in the hall.
Everything was so familiar, everything was so similar.
The strong sense of déjà vu made Zheng Qing almost forget that he had now entered a Wizard University called First University. At this moment, Zheng Qing finally felt something in his heart settle down securely, re-connecting his life.
Although the connection in clothing was not yet so clear, Zheng Qing thought silently, looking at the Wizards in front of him wearing various garments such as robes, quju, and bofu.
Then, the image of that long, red wavy hair from not long ago appeared in his mind.
Ilena's attire was quite similar to the world he used to live in.
He couldn't help but look up, searching for that tall girl in the crowd. Not far away, Ilena was among several girls, shuffling her Tarot cards, seemingly giving them readings.
Zheng Qing stared at a strand of her long hair that fell on her fair shoulder, and he couldn't help but feel a bit dazed again.
Ilena seemed to sense something and looked up at him.
He quickly turned his head, pretending to be nonchalant, and took a big gulp of the cocktail.
He always acted like this when he saw pretty girls, so spineless.
Zheng Qing silently complained to himself.
After the liquid entered his stomach, the warm sensation that had been in his mouth gradually spread throughout his body.
Zheng Qing rubbed his somewhat numb cheeks hard, but the feeling of dizziness became more and more severe.
"Hmph!" A blurry voice said, seemingly from a very distant place, "Drunk so quickly?!"
Zheng Qing felt a pair of strong hands kneading his back, and he immediately felt much more comfortable.
As expected of First University, even the hangover cure is so refreshing. Zheng Qing lay limply on the table, his thoughts surprisingly scattered. Perhaps he should learn a skill, so he wouldn't have to worry about finding a job after graduation.
After resting for a while, although the dizziness had mostly disappeared, he still felt very uncomfortable, especially the bitter taste in his mouth, which lingered for a long time.
"How about a piece of candy to ease it?" Zhang Jixin appeared from nowhere, holding a wine glass and standing in front of Zheng Qing, pulling out a hard candy with a concerned look.
Zheng Qing took it with a grateful expression, tore open the red wrapper, and immediately popped it into his mouth.