Eight Drunken Immortals!

When he regained consciousness, Donghai Lin found himself inside the same tavern sitting between the one and only female Immortal He Xiangu, and the old-looking man holding the Fish Drum.

"Oh my gosh! Is this for real?!.... I'm sharing a table among the Eight Immortal Pantheons. It feels so surreal." He yelled in excitement and also in surprise.

"Immortal He Xiangu, are you sure this is the right person we have been searching for all these millennia?.... Um, he seems quite normal to be true." Immortal Zhang Goulou, the older man holding the Fish Drum, started the conversation abruptly.

"Yeah, I can't agree more. This kid looks just like some nouveau riche of this period and nothing more," added Immortal Li Taiguai, the cripple.

All the other immortals other than two; the Scholar and the sole lady sitting around the roundtable show their agreement with the former statements of the two as they continued to down their wine and stared with total contempt at Donghai Lin's facial expressions.

"Ahh! Did I do something wrong?" Donghai Lin asked briskly, feeling the tension in the room directed at him, and also all those eyes that seemed to bore into his soul-body gave him a chill run down his spine, making him shiver with fright.

The beautiful lady beside him folded her hands around his left arm and said, "Nah, you are fine. Just chill, Master Lin! Those eccentric old fools are just playing with you and nothing much, just joking around in seeing a new face after all these times." This made Donghai Lin chill as if he was magically charmed by her words.

After saying that, the otherworldly beautiful virgin Immortal He Xiangu turned her attention toward the old-looking man with Fish Drum and answered his question with a bewitching smile. "Immortal Zhang Goulou, yes, I'm pretty sure Master Lin is the one… Plus, I double-checked his credentials, and for the record; it was your wine he gulped down first in one fell swoop as if it was like the water. Hah, your pride and joy in your life turned out to be the same as water to Master Lin. Then what did you have to say about it?"

Somehow her words or her disdainful look seemed to get the better of him. So, the old-looking Immortal, Zhang Goulou bellowed at her. "You little…."

"What-what-what? What are you going to do about it?... But it's a fact that your wine tastes like piss. Yikes!" Immortal He Xiangu, the sole lady said, further rubbing the salt into his wound.

She softened her voice, and further added padding to Donghai Lin's back. "Oh, oh, my poor Master Lin, you must be feeling extremely unpleasant to even taste that awful wine, right?... Tch, tch, tch(clicking her tongue), now I feel really sorry for you." And she winked at Donghai Lin.

Donghai Lin, who was still drunk from earlier drinks, understood what she was saying when she winked at him.

So he quickly played along with her as he spoke, "Right, Big Sister He Xiangu. I can't agree more with what you just said," "Hah, so you are the true culprit behind my first cup of wine. Argh!.... Did you even call that a wine? If it is, then even all the water and piss around the world will deserve to be called the best heavenly elixirs." And he scoffed.

"Bahahaha….." All of them inside the tavern burst into a peal of maniacal laughter as they point their finger at Old-looking Immortal, Zhang Goulou.

This was like adding insult to the wound. So, Immortal Zhang Goulou glared at Donghai Lin and said, "Little brat. Are you asking for a spanking until your behind is battered?"

"Oh, come on…. Don't be such a giant crybaby? He's stating the truth, anyway." added Immortal Li Taiguai, the cripple, while beaming from ear to ear.

"It's the same goes for you…. You, you, and you too." Donghai Lin pointed to all of them skipping only the Scholar and the lady beside him and further added, "After making those wines, you people called yourselves drunken immortals. Blurgh! (acting as if he pukes)... That name really reflects poorly upon the brands, considering your wines. Shame, shame on you all!"

"This kid is way more audacious than I thought… Everyone, what about teaching him a good lesson?" The Old-looking Immortal, Zhang Goulou suggested, and he almost stood up.

Then a ruckus happened within the room as everyone started shouting and cursing at Donghai Lin.

"Enough!" shouted the Scholar, who had been sipping the wine silently the whole time. With that, the room entered the second phase of tranquility. "Can we stop all of this squabbling and get this ceremony done once and for all?"

He then glanced at Donghai Lin for the first time and said, "You. Next time, never mention how horrible any wine is in front of brewers. And never tell a lie about it if you still want to hang out among us in the future, okay?"

Upon hearing him speak, Donghai Lin could only feel the positive aura that emanated from him, and he nodded in acknowledgment, thinking to himself: 'Truly admirable and noble you are sir…. So he is Immortal Lu Dongbin, the leader of this bunch with a sword on his back that is used to dispel evil spirits.'

Immortal Lu Dongbin further added, "Well. Then, Donghai Lin, listen. After drinking all of our wines, you have earned the right to become the next member…. But we need you to go through all the phases of a hard trodden path of your own until you have earned the strength of equal standing with all of us present here… So, look into all the eyes, of us eight one at a time in the order of the drinks you have and we will pass all of our martial arts and legacies just before we attained the immortality into your soul. Now start by looking at Immortal Zhang Goulou."

Next, Donghai Lin glanced at the old-looking Immortal and looked into his eyes, and the next thing he seemed to see was all the flashback memories; a video of a man riding a donkey in reverse order, but with a lot of pictures all at once. It ended within a second.

Donghai Lin then looked into the eyes of the Immortal with ambiguous gender and he also gained all of his memories too before the dude attained immortality.

Like that, he continued looking at each of their eyes one at a time and received all of their sealed memories into his head.

"Donghai Lin, we the eight give you our memories and sealed them inside your head… Use those memories and start your journey to become the next Drunken Immortal in your next life. Go!" Immortal Lu Dongbin said and the next thing his soul was expelled out from the mural and got back inside his mortal body, which was now only his head remains.