Elder Yang's face froze almost the moment the wine touched his lips, as if he was standing there in a daze. His normally reserved aura disappeared completely, replaced by a sudden flush that spread across his face.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed in his eyes, like two clusters of flames burning brightly. "Good, good! A flame should indeed burn from within the heart."
Boss Zhao nervously asked, "Elder Yang, how is the taste of this glass of wine?"
Elder Yang looked at him, an uncontrollable excitement showing in his eyes, "This is the most distinctive cocktail I have ever tasted, it also gave me the greatest shock. Because it truly made me taste the burning flame from the heart. Only after it is really drunk can you feel its uniqueness. If I had to give it a rating, then, I think there are two words that are most suitable." He paused here for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the many wine lovers around him, and then he said in a firm and strong voice: "Unrivalled."
As he spoke, Elder Yang finished his drink like someone might snatch it away from him. Immediately, a blistering enthusiasm surged up, the flames in his chest burned fiercely, so comforting that it seemed as if all his thirty-six million pores were opening up. After drinking this glass of wine, he felt as if his life had been wasted, and the word 'rubbish' used by the little beggar to describe Burning Passion now felt so apt. Yes! He had been drinking rubbish all his life.
No one would doubt Elder Yang's judgement. He was not only one of the oldest wine drinkers in Li Fire City, but also one of the most respected. Boss Zhao was stunned, the bartenders were speechless, and the customers were murmuring, their discussions spreading throughout the open-air venue.
Someone voiced a question, "Hey, where's the little beggar?"
Elder Yang came back to his senses, looked around, and found that the little beggar who had been behind the bar was gone. He quickly turned around and grabbed Boss Zhao, "Where is he?"
"Ah? I don't know!" Everyone's attention had been on Elder Yang as he savored the fine wine. The little beggar was skinny and didn't draw attention. In just a moment's time, he had disappeared.
Without bothering to speak with Boss Zhao, Elder Yang dashed for the bar entrance, disappearing like a red cloud.
The little beggar had left right after he handed over the wine to Elder Yang and left his remark. Wandering on the streets, he moved not-quite-hurriedly, but felt quite low-spirited inside.
There used to be a time when he was a Liquor God, but now, he had fallen to such a state. The little beggar, sighing heavily, shook his head helplessly. The look in his eyes didn't seem to belong to an eleven or twelve-year-old child. And indeed, it was not the case.
His original name was Li Jiedong, not of this world. In his original world, at thirty-two years of age, he was a renowned Liquor God. He created countless legends in the bartending and wine tasting industry. The highest honor in the wine tasting world was the five-star gold diamond badge, but for him alone, a six-star royal diamond badge was established. Because his achievements were unparalleled.
The Li Jiedong of the previous life never strayed from wine in his thirty-two years of life, and was obsessed with it. When he was invited to appreciate a newly unearthed millennium old wine from his country, he finally could not resist the urge within his heart and had a bite of the amber wine turned into paste, and hence he fell into a deep sleep.
Li Jiedong had no regrets. If he had a chance to do it again, he would still make the same choice. Even now, the taste of that paste-like vintage resonated in his mind. His last thought before he fell into unconsciousness was that it was worth even if he died.
However, he didn't die. Even he himself didn't know whether it was good luck or bad luck. When he woke up, he found himself no longer the Liquor God Li Jiedong but rather a little beggar who begged for a living. His name was also changed to Ji Dong, and he had memories of Ji Dong's simple and pitiful life burned into his mind. What was even more out of his control was that the entire world was different.
It's been a month since he arrived in this place named Five Elements Continent. Thanks to the memories of Ji Dong, the language was not a barrier. However, he, as the prestigious Liquor God, had to struggle for survival—something unimaginable in his past life.
Li Jiedong was never one to complain about his fate. In three days, he gradually accepted his new identity. He had to thank the heavens for giving him another opportunity to live. At least, his memories and obsession for fine wine weren't robbed from him. Now that he was in this new world, he was no longer the old Li Jiedong, so he decided to use the original name of the little beggar: Ji Dong.
The memories of Ji Dong were so simple that it was infuriating. There were no memories before the age of five, and after that age, he was begging on the streets. Apart from the red string around his neck with a White Jade Badge carved with the name Ji Dong, which looked worth a bit of money, he had nothing but a patched dress.
He ultimately didn't sell this Jade Tag because the memories of this body's original host seemed to treasure it. However, he needed to survive, he needed to eat. As a once-great Liquor God, he obviously couldn't beg for a living. Soon, he found the most famous bar in Li Fire City, the Burning Passion Bar.
In this month, apart from gradually understanding this world, Ji Dong spent every day observing around the Burning Passion Bar. His grasp of this world was still very limited. He only knew that this was a country at the southern end of the Five Elements Continent with a flame as its totem.
What Ji Dong found relieving was that the people here also liked to drink alcohol. For the time being, he sustained his new life on the dry and hard bread and some dried meat left by the original owner of this body under a bridge. Every day, he carefully observed the Burning Passion Bar.
Of course, Ji Dong's observation was not as simple as just looking. He was also sniffing and listening. What he wanted to observe first was the differences between the wine of this world and his previous one, as well as the taste and characteristics of these wines. Yes, as a little beggar, he obviously could not taste it. However, when he passed over to this world, one of Ji Dong's abilities was retained, that was his sixth sense, which was much more acute than normal people.
The International Wine Tasting Association awarded him the unprecedented six-star royal diamond badge because of his invention of the Six-sense Wine Tasting Method. According to Ji Dong's theory, wine tasting is not only done by taste. Smell, vision, hearing, touch, and feeling can also be used to taste wine. But in fact, in that world, he was the only one who could do this.