Chapter 624: Meeting One's Match (Two-in-One)

The man wore a white robe with wide, flowing sleeves. A broad white sash wrapped around his waist, swaying gently and giving him an extraordinary immortal bearing.

With every step, his toes barely seemed to brush the floor, yet ripples bloomed smoothly across the ground.

At the outer edges of those swaying ripples, pale blue-white lotus flowers miraculously sprouted.

Boss Rat stared at the man, his tail twitching incessantly.

He recognized exactly who this was.

And he wanted out.

He looked at Yan Jing beside him and coughed loudly a few times.

It was an obvious signal; he was sure Yan Jing had caught on.

Yan Jing looked down at the violently coughing Boss Rat.

He nodded to show he understood.

"Excuse me."

Yan Jing raised a hand, looking toward Rose.

"Ah—coming!"

Rose scrambled out from behind the counter and looked at him.

The white-robed man had left her in a daze, and she only snapped back to her senses at the sound of Yan Jing's voice.

"A glass of hot water, please. My friend's throat seems to be bothering him."

His words nearly made Boss Rat jump out of his chair in pure anger.

"Right away."

Rose turned to fetch the water, not forgetting to inform the white-robed man that a game was available but required four players to start. Boss Rat raised his eyes and squeezed a voice from his throat:

"Let's go. That guy is the one from Immortal Anomaly—"

Tap.

Before he could finish, the man walked over and sat down right next to him.

Boss Rat went dead silent.

The man didn't speak either.

His posture was exceptionally upright. Sitting in the chair, he looked straight ahead with a faint smile, appearing as though he were lost in a daze, yet simultaneously immersed in cultivation.

Yan Jing didn't speak either.

He watched Rose work, his eyes crinkling in a smile as he quietly waited for his signature whiskey.

It was a rare moment of tranquility.

Under that quiet atmosphere, even Boss Rat slowly relaxed his guard.

He pulled a pair of reading glasses and a newspaper from his pocket and started to read.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

The clock on the wall ticked forward, second by second.

Yan Jing finally tasted his much-anticipated signature whiskey, sighing in appreciation that Rose's craftsmanship hadn't diminished.

Boss Rat finished the newspaper he hadn't had time for on the road, gaining a bit more insight into the recent situation in the Heavenly Kingdom.

And the man finally saw the arrival of the fourth person.

An entity from Chaos walked into the room. By the time he spotted the man and realized something was wrong, it was already too late. He had been locked onto by a surge of killing intent.

An ethereal, otherworldly killing intent.

Very faint.

But enough to freeze him in place.

The man didn't say another word.

He quietly waited for the game to start.

But as the minutes ticked by, Rose showed no intention of announcing the start.

The man considered his patience peerless, unbothered by mundane affairs, but this time was different.

This was a race.

If he stayed here indefinitely, some freak on the outside might finish the entire process first.

"When will the game start?"

He looked at Rose.

Rose blinked.

"We still need to wait for two more people."

The man froze for a moment, then asked,

"But there are already four of us here."

"There are indeed four people," Rose said, blinking again.

"But... these two never said they wanted to play."

The man was stunned and turned his gaze to Yan Jing.

Yan Jing smiled and raised his glass in a silent toast.

The man fell silent. He had jumped to conclusions, assuming Yan Jing and Boss Rat had already signed up just by sitting there.

"Sigh..."

He let out a long, soft breath.

"In that case, I must trouble the two of you to sign up."

He hadn't actually intended to fight, but the situation didn't leave him much choice.

An indescribable sense of oppression abruptly descended upon Yan Jing and Boss Rat.

It felt as if a hand were hovering right over their hearts, ready to crush them at any second.

Rose also felt the crushing pressure and looked at them with worry.

"Heh."

The corners of Yan Jing's lips curled up.

In the next second, streaks of thick ink slid from his shadow, manifesting into several figures.

One of them took a massive step forward, ripples blooming beneath its feet as lotus flowers fluttered up, and stared at the man in the chair.

The figure's appearance was exactly identical to the white-robed man.

Dead silence fell over the bar.

The man's face remained calm as he murmured softly,

"The world really has changed. To so casually bump into someone who would have been one in a hundred million in the old days."

"I was too abrupt."

"If you two gentlemen are willing to exchange pointers with this Wu, you may register. If not, I absolutely will not force you."

Yan Jing's eyes held a smile.

"Since you've shown such sincerity, sir, how could we possibly refuse?"

"Excuse me, beautiful lady. Mr. Rat and I would like to sign up."

Boss Rat's mouth twitched.

He actually hadn't wanted to agree at all.

But Yan Jing had already spoken.

Rose nodded.

"Alright, now that we have enough people, welcome to the Rose Bar. Next, we will play a game exclusive to our establishment: the Never-Full Wine Glass."

"An empty wine glass will now be placed in front of you."

"Each of you will take turns pouring wine into it. After pouring, you must place the glass in front of the next person."

"If the wine inside the glass does not spill within five seconds of you setting it down, it is considered a success."

"If the wine spills during your turn to pour or place the glass, it is a failure."

"The loser will be imprisoned and must endure a single strike from each of the other three participants."

"If you are not eliminated, the game continues."

"Please note: from the moment the previous player sets the glass down until you finish pouring your wine, you cannot touch the glass with your hands. During another person's turn to pour, you cannot interfere."

"Is that clear?"

The rules of this game were the most complex Yan Jing had encountered since entering Old Sin City. But as he came to understand the current state of this city that had turned into a Dungeon, he felt this game perfectly illustrated Old Sin City's true situation.

As well as...

...exactly what kind of existence had transformed it.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The game began.

The first to pour was Boss Rat.

He looked at Yan Jing, who was next in sequence, picked up the bottle Rose had provided, casually tipped out a few drops, and helplessly placed the glass in front of him.

To him, the amount he poured was meaningless. Naturally, he didn't want to eliminate Yan Jing immediately, nor did he have the ability to do so, so he casually poured a little. But just as the wine glass came to a halt, before it even settled, a wind blade slashed over from afar.

Boss Rat's expression changed. Weird energy surged around him as he tried to pull the glass back.

The next second.

An identical wind blade slashed out from the inky figure behind Yan Jing, colliding directly with the incoming blade in mid-air. A cyclone of air scattered outward.

The glass swayed in the fierce wind, ultimately surviving the five-second count.

"My turn."

Yan Jing wore a faint smile.

The white-robed man looked on calmly.

That had just been a probe to see if the other side was truly that strong.

It seemed they were.

The man across from him was definitely not simple. He had no idea which Domain he hailed from, having never heard of him before.

Yan Jing picked up the bottle and, just as casually, poured a few drops into the glass.

This scene filled the Chaos entity next in line with wild joy.

The entity looked exactly like a teapot.

If they were in the outside world, many people would likely recognize its origins.

He was a Tenth Tier of Chaos.

[Magic Pot]

That was his title.

Like the Chaos Merchant Haiti, he was one of the rare entities in Chaos who remained active in the public eye year-round.

But he wasn't a merchant.

His hobby was brewing tea for people.

Rumor had it that when he approached someone he held in high regard, he would invite them for tea.

You could choose to drink or not to drink.

If you chose not to drink, both parties would part in peace—except the next time he met you, drinking would be your only option.

But if you chose to drink, you had to accept the uncertain consequences of whether it was good tea or bad tea.

If it was a good tea, it might extend your lifespan or cause your Tier to skyrocket, bringing endless benefits.

But if it was a bad tea, things became quite dire.

Once, a Ninth Tier exploded and died immediately after drinking a cup of tea from the Magic Pot. He hadn't even had the time to react before instantly turning into a pile of gore.

Because of this, many people on the outside viewed this Tenth Tier as a terrifying scourge.

While ordinary Tenth Tiers were terrifyingly powerful at most, and a Tenth Tier of Chaos like Haiti at least had a few likes and dislikes one could figure out, this teapot followed absolutely no rules.

Even he himself couldn't predict if his next cup of tea would be good or bad.

But right now, this widely renowned teapot felt his pressure multiply. He could barely hold his lid down; it kept rattling against his body, making crisp, clinking sounds.

There was nothing he could do. The pressure radiating from Yan Jing and the man from Immortal Anomaly was simply too massive, causing his movements to distort.

Upon seeing Yan Jing merely add a little wine to the glass so casually, he was instantly overjoyed.

In his eyes, this was undoubtedly an opportunity. The other party's target wasn't him, which was why he had been given this chance.

Soon, the wine glass was sent his way.

He was just about to pick up the bottle and pour when a violent clatter suddenly erupted from the teapot resting on his head.

He looked back in horror, as if he were seeing a towering, pure white immortal mountain pressing down toward him.

He wanted to dodge, but could only watch helplessly as the manifested immortal mountain swept over his head and pressed down toward the wine glass.

Before he could even sigh in relief, the figure behind Yan Jing manifested a pitch-black immortal mountain of its own.

The black and white immortal mountains smashed into each other.

The man from Immortal Anomaly kept his eyes calm:

"You are extremely powerful, sir, but what is real is ultimately real."

As his voice fell, the towering white immortal mountain surged even higher, instantly smashing Yan Jing's black mountain to dust before plunging toward the wine glass. It was about to end.

The Magic Pot's eyes widened. That Exiled Immortal was simply too strong; he was going to suppress the enemy right before him.

But less than half a second after this thought surfaced—

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

In a flash, five identical copies of the white-robed man stepped out from the cluster of shadows behind him.

Rumble.

Five identical black immortal mountains manifested and collided with the white immortal mountain. With a deafening boom, all the immortal mountains shattered simultaneously.

The wine glass landed steadily right in front of the Magic Pot, perfectly still.

The Magic Pot gasped for air, a dense ring of steam and water droplets seeping out from under his lid.

It was as if he were the one who had just fought that great battle.

"Pour the wine."

The man spoke, snapping him out of his daze.

He looked at the man and clearly saw an emotion in his eyes that had never been there before.

It was a soaring battle intent. This man, reputed to be the reincarnation of an Exiled Immortal and unmatched among Tenth Tiers, had finally taken an interest in the opponent sitting across from him.

The Magic Pot tremblingly channeled his weird energy, lifting the wine bottle and trying to squeeze out a drop.

But beneath their intense stares, the bottle shook endlessly. Ultimately, not a single drop fell from the spout.

He couldn't do it.

He really couldn't do it.

Just the thought of that terrifying scene repeating the moment he finished pouring made his hands shake uncontrollably.

"Are you going to pour the wine or not?"

Yan Jing looked at the teapot as if putting pressure on him, though a clear smile lingered in his tone.

"I..."

The teapot looked at the two figures on his left and right. Gritting his teeth, he finally tipped the bottle, about to let a drop fall.

But another sentence drifted into his ears.

"Idiot."

He froze and looked at Papa Rat sitting across from him.

Papa Rat was looking at him with utter disdain, not bothering to hide his attitude in the slightest as he made it clear:

Those words just now had come straight from him.

A sudden surge of rage flared in the teapot's heart.

It was one thing for those other two monsters to mock him.

But a mere Ninth Tier actually dared to laugh at him!

He was instantly furious, but before he could erupt, two blasts of weird energy collided above his head and violently exploded.

The two powers canceled each other out with perfect tacit understanding, not interfering with his movements in the slightest.

Staring at this sudden display, a sliver of clarity finally flashed in his eyes.

One could not be interfered with while pouring wine.

And there was no time limit on how long the pouring could take.

As long as he controlled the speed at which the wine fell...

He could...

BOOM!!!

As if to serve as a warning, this time, the two men didn't restrain their weird energy. It surged right up to the Magic Pot's body. Only when that terrifying power physically crashed into him did the Magic Pot truly realize fear.

It felt as though two bottomless oceans were tearing at him simultaneously, trying to drag him into the abyss.

And they were pulling in entirely opposite directions!!!

Terrified, he frantically tipped the wine bottle. The moment the first drop of wine fell, both surges of weird energy abruptly vanished.

Yan Jing and the man stood up at the same time and walked toward the door.

Both looked incomparably calm. The man maintained his Exiled Immortal bearing, while Yan Jing wore a faint smile.

But the moment the two men stopped walking...

In the next instant, countless translucent immortal swords manifested, hanging in the air behind the man.

One sword split into three, three split into six... instantly packing the entire bar.

At the exact same time, countless streaks of ink spread around Yan Jing's feet, transforming into copies of the white-robed man.

One figure split into three, three split into six... and then, they summoned countless flying swords of their own!!!

The next second, the flying swords clashed.

Sword light rippled and flashed, dazzling like a plunging sunset scattering golden waves across the sea!