CHAPTER 1294 THE MERGING FORCE

There were a few people in the small tavern.

The sandstorm stopped abruptly in front of the building. When Merle pushed the door open and

entered, the few customers, who were drinking, stopped and looked at him.

"Greetings, sir. What can I do for you? Take a seat!"

A beautiful woman with her body more exposed than covered flew over and stopped beside Merle.

"Bring me a bottle of wine,"

Merle replied as he scanned the four people in the room.

Two low-level Celestial God Realm cultivators were sharing one table.

Each of the other two cultivators, who were at the middle-level of the Celestial God Realm, occupied a

table.

Now that Merle had detected their cultivation levels, he decided not to behave rashly. He was unsure of

whether he could deal with all four singlehandedly.

"Sir, what kind of wine would you like to drink?"

"Whatever you decide."

"All right." Mischief danced in the woman's eyes as she covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.

"I'm going to serve you the strongest wine we have. Let's see if you dare to drink it."

Buzz!

The air rippled as the impatient Merle released his god's power.

"Go ahead!"

"Ah, sir, you've got a temper. You scared me to death!" the woman exclaimed. She patted her chest to

calm herself, but there were no traces of fear on her face.

"Come on. Take a seat," she said to Merle before turning and ordering, "Serve this guest with our best

wine!" She then swept her gaze over Merle. An imperceptible sneer danced at the corners of her lips.

Soon, a large jar of wine was placed on the table.

Merle didn't bother to pour the wine into a bowl. Instead, he lifted the jar and drank straight from it.

The wine was so strong that it left a trailing burning sensation as it ran down his throat into his

stomach. Soon, the feeling spread all over his body.

But he kept a straight face as he secretly motivated the bead in his elixir field.

The wine went through his stomach and straight into his elixir field.

With the essence bead's help, the wine turned into a flaming aura and flowed into his meridians.

Gradually, the flaming aura merged with his light golden meridians, making them more flexible.

All Merle wanted was to find relief from the burning sensation brought on by the wine. To his pleasant

surprise, it enhanced his meridians. He was so thrilled that he couldn't stop grinning.

"A hundred jars," Merle ordered as greed flashed in his eyes.

His words aroused the curiosity of the other customers, and they raised their heads to look.

The wine was strong, and normally, one jar was more than sufficient for a cultivator. To their

astonishment, this young man had asked for a hundred jars. They had never seen that before.

"Young man, don't be greedy. You can't handle so much wine," one of the customers gruffly cautioned

Merle.

Merle, however, remained silent.

"Sir, are you sure that you want a hundred jars?" The beautiful landlady smiled spuriously as she flew

over to Merle.

"Yes," Merle said and ignored her presence.

"Oh, you've surprised me. This is the first time that someone has ordered a hundred jars of this wine

since I opened this tavern. This is a new experience, even for me! Bring him the wine!

Boy, let me speak candidly. If you can't finish these hundred jars of wine, you have to pay double the

price. Will that help change your mind then?" The landlady told him the tavern's rules.

"I won't change my mind. Serve the wine." Merle appeared even more impatient.

"Let me drink with you!"

At this time, a burly man, who had been drinking alone, came over and sat next to Merle.

Merle cast the stranger a cautious glare but did not remark. As he was unhappy with the intrusion,

killing intent rose in Merle's heart.

A moment later, a hundred wine jars were placed on the table.

Merle silently reached forward, grabbed a jar, opened it, and poured its contents into his mouth.

With a haughty look, the man beside Merle also lifted a jar and drank straight from it. He was even

faster than Merle.

They finished one jar after another until each of them had emptied the twentieth jar. By now, the man's

skin had turned red, and his body temperature reached tens of thousands of degrees. If it weren't for

the array protecting the house, the man's body temperature would probably have been enough to burn

the tavern to ashes!

The man's eyes were lusterless, and he seemed to be drowsy.

"Fuck! You're cheating!"

the man shouted when he noticed that Merle hadn't been affected by the wine.

"Sir, this young man didn't invite you to drink with him. You came uninvited to his table. Even if you

have to stop here, it's none of his business. Why do you blame him? Don't you fear that the others will

laugh at you?"

remarked the landlady.

"Bullshit! Is it possible for me to lose to him if he weren't playing tricks?" The man slammed his big,

round hand on the table, and it shattered. A screeching sound echoed through the tavern as he pushed

his chair back and stood.

The landlady's face darkened, and a black shadow flashed in the corner behind her.

However, after a moment, she smiled and said, "Sir, don't be angry. Please ignore my words. I wasn't

thinking clearly. Please go on."

The man tore his gaze from the landlady and fixed it on Merle. A fierce light flashed through his eyes as

he spoke, "How dare you cheat me? I'll kill you!"

Then, without warning, the man attacked Merle.

Merle frowned and retreated out of the tavern and into the desert.

"Humph, you want to run?"

The man followed him. The wine had gone to his head, and he couldn't think beyond the urge to kill the owns this.

person who had offended him.

Merle's physical strength had reached the low-level of the Celestial God Realm, while the man was at

the Celestial God Realm's middle-level. He had a slim chance of winning.

However, Merle was familiar with the effects of the wine. It was not only strong, but it also restrained a

cultivator's god's power.

The man had drunk twenty jars of wine, which was far beyond his limitation. Thus, he was unable to

apply his god's power now.

"Go to hell!"

The bulky man rushed toward his opponent and swung a hard punch.

Fortunately, Merle was not as intoxicated as him. It was quite easy for him to dodge the incoming blow.

The man dashed forward, unable to tell in which direction he was headed. It was indeed, comical to

watch the big man hammering wildly at a dune.

Merle circled the man, looking for an opportunity to attack.

However, it had to be said that even though the man's god's power was suppressed, it was still difficult

for a cultivator at the middle-level of the Celestial God Realm to reveal a flaw.

Merle, on the other hand, knew that if he were punched, his body would explode. He had no choice but

to be patient.

"Show yourself! Get on your knees!"

The man staggered as he tried to target Merle.

Merle flashed in front of him and then immediately stepped aside, trying to confuse the man further.

The man launched a hard punch, but missed his target and fell into the sand. Half of his body was

buried in the sand.

Merle's eyes grew cold. His chance had finally come!

He rushed over quickly and gathered his physical strength to its maximum.

He raised his hands and hacked at the man's back quickly.

"Ah!"

The man roared as he was split in half.

Even so, he was not necessarily going to die. Therefore, Merle moved quickly. He rushed forward,

smashed the man's head with a palm, and stomped on his heart.

Only then was Merle certain that the man was dead. Even though he had taken advantage of the man's

inebriated state, joy coursed through Merle at the thought that he had killed a cultivator at the middle-

level of the Celestial God Realm!

Without any delay, Merle triggered the essence bead and released the Merging Force.

When the Merging Force was used on the man's corpse, Merle would inherit the dead man's strength.

A shadow condensed where the man had died and gradually floated toward Merle.

Once this shadow entered his body, Merle would ascend to the middle-level of the Celestial God

Realm. He was so excited that he couldn't breathe!

Crack!

Just as the shadow was about to reach Merle, a streak of thunder suddenly fell from the sky's depths.

"No!"

Merle roared as he turned to glare at the sky.