Making wine wasn't necessarily complicated for Lin Mu, but when it came to Immortal wine, things became a bit complex.
When there was Immortal Qi involved, one couldn't just crush an immortal fruit and squeeze out its juice to be fermented. Doing that directly would only lead to the Immortal Qi leaking out and the wine turning into normal wine.
If one wanted to make Immortal wine, they needed special equipment for it. This came in the form of various jars, barrels as well as gourds. Similar to the preservation formations on the pill boxes and bottles, wine making equipment also had them.
But in addition to that, they also had temperature regulation as well as several more formations that promoted the formation of wine.
But all this was just for the most basic immortal wine. If one wanted to make different flavors and variants, they would have to adjust the different pentameters on their own as well. There was a reason why a master immortal wine brewer took thousands of years to learn.
Making a single batch of Immortal wine might take years if not decades, only after which one would know the results of their work. And the longer a wine was left, the better it would age and its taste would change too.
This affected the properties of the wine too, making it more potent.
To immortals, mortal and spirit wine couldn't get them drunk. To them it may as well be water at that point. Thus in order to get the same effect they would need immortal wine that would have to be aged for at least a few years.
There were other immortal wines that were aged for a hundred or even a thousand years that had great effects. At that point, they may as well be on the same level as that of pills.
One might think if high grade wine was the same as high grade pills, why didn't more people make it even if it was simpler?
The reason was the need for time.
An alchemist might be able to make hundreds of high grade pills in a span of a decade and yet a wine brewer might not even be able to finish one batch of wine.
Because of this the two occupations had their own benefits and could compare on certain levels. Wine was good for occasional use and employment while pills were better for regular use
Having thought all this, Lin Mu decided to make some immortal wine too.
'I might not be able to make good quality wine right away, but making some light fruit wine shouldn't be a problem. I do have plenty of Immortal apples anyway.' Lin Mu reckoned.
The Saintess had no idea, that a few of her words had made Lin Mu start on his journey as a Wine maker.
They continued their meal and once it was done, Little Shrubby cleaned everything up. Lin Mu went to his room to cultivate for a bit and also look over the map to find out more about the city.
After all, it was massive and with the Mirror map, he could see what kind of establishments and organizations there were in the entire capital region. Then there was also the banquets that had been mentioned by the map shop's owner.
'Considering I'm near several of the noble's mansions, they might be organizing them too.' Lin Mu decided to look out for them.
After spending a while looking through the map, Lin Mu finally decided to contact the person who supposedly had the Tyrant Bull Marrow.
~HUU~
"Here goes nothing…" Lin Mu held the Jade Slip and contacted the person.
He waited for a few minutes as the response didn't come right away.
"Hmm… let's try again." Lin Mu contacted the person again but still didn't get a response. "Perhaps they are occupied. I'll wait a bit more." He muttered.
Lin Mu continued to cultivate while waiting for a response to come on the jade slip. Time continued to pass and night time arrived after which Lin Mu had nearly given up on it.
"Are they not intending to give it now or something?" Lin Mu wondered.
There was no saying if the person had changed their mind.
"Or they already have someone they gave it to." Xukong chimed in.
"Ah yeah… I didn't consider that." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "But that'll make things difficult for me."
~HUMM~
Shortly after he said that though, Lin Mu felt the Jade Slip hum. He immediately picked it up and discovered that the one contacting him was none other than who he was waiting for.
"You are looking for the Tyrant Bull Marrow?" The person asked.
"Yes, I am. I heard you are willing to give it in exchange for a task?" Lin Mu replied.
"Yes. If you wish to attempt it, you can meet me in two days time." The person stated directly.
"Very well." Lin Mu agreed and was given an address to go to in two days time.
With that done, the connection was stopped and Lin Mu didn't receive any more messages from the person.
"Hmm… let's see what this address is." Lin Mu opened up the Map Mirror and searched for the address that he had been given.
He reckoned knowing where to go in advance would be good.
"Huh? This…" But when Lin Mu looked up the address he was surprised. "Is this correct?" he was doubtful.
Lin Mu checked it again and realized that it really was correct.
"Within the Grounds of the Imperial Palace… just who is this person?" Lin Mu was shocked by this.
The address that the person had given Lin Mu was one of the man buildings within the Imperial palace grounds. The area was huge and multiple people levied in it along with the Imperial Family.
"At least it isn't the Grand Palace itself… that would be unnerving." Lin Mu muttered.
From what Lin Mu could see on the map, the building seemed to be located on the outer periphery of the Imperial Palace Grounds. It was definitely not someone that was a direct member of the Imperial Family at least.
"It should be an official or something." Lin Mu reckoned.
If it was someone like that he was still fine with meeting them.
'I guess I just have to wait for two days.' Lin Mu thought to himself and decided to do some other tasks in this time.
He laid down and entered the Sleepscape.
"I may as well get started on the wine." Lin Mu said to himself and went to the Formation Pavilion.
There, Lin Mu took out a couple of Gourds that were originally used for storing pills.
"I should be able to re purpose these for wine." Lin Mu reckoned.
Next, he checked the formations on them and tried to see if they could work for wine too, but realized that they weren't all useful. He would also need to add several more formations to them to make them properly work.
But if he's doing all that, Lin Mu would have to remove the older formations anyway as they would not mesh well with the new ones.
"Let's start from clearing it out. The gourd is of a good base material so I should just make new formations on it." Lin Mu decided.
He first unraveled all the formations that were on the gourd and then did the same with the second one too. Once that was done, Lin Mu started to add new runes to it, starting from the most basic preserving formation.
Then he added an Immortal Qi containment formation and then a Qi isolating formation on top of that to make it extra strong.
Lin Mu also consulted with Xukong on what formations would be the best for the gourd. After all, while there were many types of formations there were also several variants of the same formation with each having slight difference.
Thus knowing which one to choose was also an important task.
And it just so happened that Xukong seemed to be a little too knowledgeable about making wine.
Lin Mu found it a bit strange, as Xukong had never shown interest in wine before this. He didn't mind it though and just went with the flow, following the advice of the spider.
Thankfully all these formations were rather simple to Lin Mu, and he finished making all of them in just a day's time.
"There we go. Barely any mistakes." Lin Mu said while feeling pleased at his work.
With the two gourds ready, all that was left for Lin Mu to put fruit juice in it.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
"Time to get started on that." Lin Mu took out the Immortal apples and began separating them.
There were two types after all, one was the normal Immortal apples and the other was the Wood Elemental Immortal apples. Lin Mu didn't want to mix them together as he didn't know what the outcome would be.
Plus the number of Wood Elemental Immortal Apples was also less.