Chapter Twenty-Four: Reunion with the Bar Girl

  In a bar, the bartender is always an object of admiration and adoration for many girls. They are often associated with romance, playfulness, decadence, and sentimentality, which are some of the characteristics that fascinate girls and women today.

  In books on food and drink culture, a large section is also used to introduce the profession of bartender and bartending skills. Zhang Huban was particularly curious about the book's use of beautiful language to describe bartenders, as well as how different wines can be combined to create different flavors, even expressing different emotions through cocktails. Therefore, when he heard that Shangguan Yun was a bartender at Western Paradise, Zhang Huban paid special attention to him. Several white wine bottles fluttered around his hands, head, and back like butterflies, drawing beautiful arcs in the air. With each rise and fall of the bottles, a layered, colorful cocktail magically "transformed" before everyone's eyes. Shangguan Yun's elegant bartending performance won applause from many people, while also attracting the attention of several young women, whose eyes were fixed on him with admiration.

  For Shangguan Yun's dazzling performance, although it was just a small trick in the eyes of Zhang Huban, a master who could turn clouds and rain upside down, it was still somewhat impressive that an ordinary person could use his skills so skillfully. As for Zhang Huban, Shangguan Yun's moves didn't even pique his interest, but he paid attention to his performance because the books had hyped up bartenders too much, and also because he wanted to observe Shangguan Yun's mixing methods, after all, which wines could be mixed together to create what kind of cocktail flavor, especially when those wines were all foreign. Although Zhang Huban was a master in the Yuan Ying period, he was still just an apprentice who didn't understand much about this aspect. As a top-notch master, Zhang Huban had long passed the stage of pursuing flashy and empty skills, and only pursued true, earth-shattering power. The same went for wine mixing - if the taste of the mixed wine wasn't good, then no matter how fancy the bottle was thrown, it didn't mean anything, as content was more important than form.

  Just as Zhang Huban was secretly learning the art of mixology, a whiff of fragrance wafted into his nostrils, and the familiar meatball pressed against him once again. This time, it wasn't his arm that was under attack, but his back. The sensation was even more thrilling, more tempting to commit a crime. Today, Zhu Yan didn't know why, but she particularly enjoyed teasing this young brother, perhaps because of Zhang Huban's unflappable challenge, or maybe because she was conquered by Zhang Huban's earlier brilliant performance. Anyway, Zhu Yan once again approached Zhang Huban, and this time more directly, more nakedly, pressing her entire body against Zhang Huban's tiger back, with her full breasts tightly pressed against his back. Then she leaned in close to Zhang Huban's ear and whispered: "Shangguanyun's performance is very impressive, right? He's one of the pillars of our bar, and many people, especially women, come just for him. Now he hasn't even shown off his true skills yet - his most powerful technique is fire-spitting, and he can simultaneously flip five open bottles. Shangguanyun is indeed an outstanding man; he was once the national vice-champion of cocktail-making. However, bartenders are all lechers, shamelessly saying that if they can't attract five or six women every night, they're not good bartenders. Your hands are so skilled - in the future, if you become a bartender one day, don't learn from them, okay?"

  Zhang Houban's soft hair occasionally brushed against his face, and the hot air blowing from behind made him feel even more uncomfortable. The seductive feeling coming from behind made Zhang Houban have a warm current rising up from his lower abdomen, which he forcibly suppressed. He wished he could shut down his six senses or keep his spiritual platform quiet at this moment. For someone of his level, it was easy to do so, but Zhang Houban was also enjoying the feeling and couldn't help himself. This was a stimulation he had never felt in a hundred years, and his physical body seemed to be extremely fond of this feeling. As a traditional Taoist, he should have been very particular about etiquette, but Zhang Sanfeng was an exception within the Taoist community - he was eccentric and did things his own way. Unconsciously, Zhang Houban had also picked up some of Zhang Sanfeng's habits. Since the contact with Zhu Yan felt so comfortable, he decided to ignore the rules of "non-action" and just go with it.

  As a high-ranking Daoist, he originally had an approachable feeling, although Zhang Huban deliberately hid his strength. However, when Zhu Yan got so close to Zhang Huban, the latter's immortal aura still subtly surrounded Zhu Yan, making her unknowingly forget that she was just teasing the young man beside her. Instead, she became slightly infatuated with the masculine atmosphere emitted by Zhang Huban, which was precisely the aura of an immortal man. Fortunately, the bar was a noisy place with dim lighting, and no one noticed the ambiguous posture of the two hotel staff members at this time. On the other hand, Liu Xijuan, who had been paying attention to Zhang Huban, saw the scene in the corner and inexplicably felt a bit sour.

  "Bartenders can only attract those ordinary fans, but for beauties like Yan Jie, they want to chase you and see if you give them a chance. If Yan Jie stands at the door, she will definitely be a unique landscape of the hotel, a top-notch pillar. Since Zhang Huban decided not to resist the temptation of beauties anymore, he simply learned to enjoy this feeling, and it's clear that bantering with beauties is also a very enjoyable thing."

  "Keke" the twin peaks on her back shook up and down with Zhu Yan's uncontrollable laughter, once again making Zhang Huban feel overwhelmed.

  "I really didn't expect that you, who looked like a wooden person just now, would actually be able to make people happy. I'm not even the main attraction in this bar, our boss is the real beauty and the main attraction. Many people come here just for her." As she spoke, Zhu Yan naturally glanced over at Liu Huizhen's direction, although the lighting was dim, Zhu Yan could still feel that Liu Huizhen was looking over at them, and couldn't help but blush slightly, hastily leaving Zhang Huban's back.

  Zhang Huban naturally felt the gaze of Liu Xijun, and even more inexplicably, he felt a faint sense of loss in her eyes. Zhu Yan deliberately kept a certain distance, making Zhang Huban feel a slight sense of loss, but in fact, Zhu Yan was no exception. The sudden departure made people feel that the originally casual close movements had become ambiguous, and the two were extremely embarrassed to stare at each other. However, Zhang Huban was after all a high-ranking official, and he quickly recovered his quick thinking, secretly sighing that human thoughts and emotions were indeed so complex and subtle, and the master's decision was indeed wise. Practicing in the world not only allowed him to learn about human science and culture but also promoted the cultivation of Taoist heart through interpersonal communication. In fact, Zhang Huban overestimated Zhang Sanfeng, who would never have thought that secular scientific civilization could also help with spiritual practice. As for another aspect, Zhang Sanfeng knew that Zhang Huban had been practicing alone in the immortal realm, and no matter what, his Taoist heart could not be improved further. Only by experiencing the joys and sorrows of the mortal world could he better solidify his Taoist heart. Without mentioning Zhang Huban's inner thoughts, to avoid embarrassment, he asked: "What other pillars do we have in the bar?"

  "Zhu Bo's band, their lead singer is called Ouyang Zhenhua, he plays the guitar very beautifully. And there's also a saxophonist named Jack, but he only comes once a week on Wednesdays. He plays the saxophone really well, usually performing in Shanghai. I heard that the boss knows him from New York, so he's doing the boss a favor by coming once a week. I heard many bars in Hangzhou offered high prices to invite Jack, but couldn't get him, so Jack is also one of our shop's specialties.

  Zhu Yan has also been crawling around in the red-light district for 7 or 8 years, although she still feels a strange feeling in her heart and her heartbeat is racing, but she quickly recovered and replied as if nothing had happened."

  Just as Zhang Huban was about to ask more questions, a burst of applause and high-pitched screams erupted from the bar counter. It turned out that Shangguan Yun had brought out his true skills. He clasped his hands together, took a light breath, and then began to expertly flip the wine bottle and glasses up and down. At first, it was clear - sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes up, sometimes down. But soon, all that could be seen were the wine bottles and cups with different flames dancing around him like dragons, in front of and behind his body. To outsiders, the bartender seemed like a wizard who had mastered alchemy, with countless mysterious bottles and jars, along with various colored and flavored potions, in a dimly lit environment, which was somewhat eerie. Shangguan Yun, now in the zone, stood inside the bar counter, waving his hands and feet without stopping, stirring up the emotions of those around him, bringing one surprise after another. The ignited bottles were continuously tossed into the air, exchanged hands, reignited, and added more bottles, finally even spitting out a ball of flames from his mouth. The onlookers with high noses and blue eyes jumped up and down, screaming.

  As for Zhang Hupan's performance of spitting fire, he really couldn't bear to watch it. The bartender's technique of spitting fire was just a trick that relied on the powder in his hand and quick eyes. For cultivators, as long as they entered the realm of guiding qi, they could use their true yuan force to emit fire, and those who had reached the golden elixir stage could even emit samadhi true fire. So in Zhang Hupan's eyes, Shangguan Yun's performance at this time was too much like a show-off, pretending to be something he wasn't, unlike earlier when it was purely based on skill. Perhaps only Zhang Hupan would think this way, but the atmosphere on site had already become extremely high-pitched, even Zhu Yan beside him had an expression of appreciation and intoxication, making Zhang Hupan feel inexplicably sour in his heart.

  As a master of the Xiu Zhen realm, Zhang Huban would not be bored enough to compete with Shangguan Yun for attention. After briefly observing the foreign wine used by Shangguan Yun while mixing drinks, Zhang Huban went about his own business, but secretly thought that if he were to show off his bartending skills, he wondered what kind of expression Zhu Yan would have.