Chapter 3 – The Hidden Wine Gourd
The thunderstorm swallowed the mountain.
Bolts of light split the clouds, shaking the forest until even the stones groaned.
Rain fell so hard it blurred the world into silver.
Long Tan ran through the mud, breath ragged.
Each flash of lightning turned the ground white; each crash seemed to strike closer.
He leapt across a fallen log—
then the next bolt hit beside him with a roar that split the earth.
The shockwave hurled him forward.
He rolled down the slope, striking rock after rock until he stopped against a tree.
Pain surged through his shoulder.
Beside him, his wine bottle shattered, spilling its golden contents into the soaked earth.
Blood from a cut on his arm ran into the same pool, mixing with the spilled wine.
Another flash—pure white—filled the world.
Wine, blood, and thunder met for a single breath.
A golden ripple rose from the ground and vanished straight into his body.
Long Tan gasped, clutching his chest.
The air was heavy with smoke and wet earth, but the storm had begun to drift away.
He forced himself upright.
His arm burned, his robe hung in tatters, yet his bones were whole.
He was alive—barely, but alive.
He steadied his breath.
Something inside him pulsed—slow, warm, steady.
A faint rhythm from his dantian that wasn't his own.
> "What… is that?" he whispered.
Closing his eyes, he sank his consciousness inward.
Within his Qi sea floated a small wine gourd—bronze, weathered, perfectly ordinary to the eye, yet faintly glowing under the surface.
When he touched it with his spiritual sense, a rush of alien memory filled his mind:
> Spirit Spring Wine Gourd.
Formed of wine, blood, and lightning.
Can condense spring water that aids in breaking through minor bottlenecks between small realms.
Cannot help with major realm breakthroughs—those depend on comprehension alone.
Houses several internal chambers for storing or brewing wine.
More may appear as its master's cultivation deepens.
The flow of information faded, leaving silence.
Long Tan opened his eyes slowly, the rain washing down his face.
> "So that's what you are…"
His voice was quiet, almost disbelieving.
A treasure—not a weapon, not armor, but a wine gourd.
An artifact that could guide him through the barriers that had trapped him for fifteen long years.
He touched his abdomen again, feeling its gentle pulse.
> "Not broken, just plain on the outside."
"I should test it once I'm home—see what those chambers really are."
He hid the gourd deep within his dantian, sealing its aura.
Then, tightening his grip on his saber, he masked his Qi and started down the mountain path.
The forest steamed with rain; thunder rumbled far behind him.
Each step ached, but his eyes held quiet resolve.
For the first time in years, the road ahead no longer felt hopeless.
Deep inside him, the simple bronze gourd glimmered once—
soft, steady, waiting to be understood.