"Hahaha! Yes! With this, I can rebuild my foundation! I can tear those hypocrites from the Golden Cauldron Merchant Union apart!"
Shen Yu watched him with cold, impassive eyes, leaning his massive, fur-clad frame against the damp cave wall.
He raised his wine gourd, taking another slow, deliberate swallow.
"Don't waste time celebrating, Peng Kai. The Imperial Competition begins in a week. Start your breakthrough now, I'll guard you."
The reminder cut through Peng Kai's hysteria like a whip.
A frantic urgency replaced his laughter.
Without a single second of hesitation, Peng Kai bit down hard on the containment runes etched into the cork of the vial, using his sharp, demonic-corrupted teeth to shatter the sealing formations.
CRACK!
The moment the runes fractured, a dense, terrifyingly heavy shockwave of bestial aura erupted from the bottleneck.
