The celebration within Mantleheim did not end after a single night.

Nor after two.

Or three.

In fact, nearly an entire week passed before the dwarves even considered slowing down.

And even then, most of them only stopped temporarily because they physically collapsed from drinking too much.

The revelation of Lin Mu’s age had left wounds upon the hearts of countless immortals and dwarves alike. Apparently, the only known treatment for such trauma was overwhelming amounts of alcohol.

Thus Mantleheim descended into an endless cycle of drinking.

Dwarves would drink until unconsciousness overtook them, collapse wherever they happened to be standing, sleep for several hours, wake up confused, remember Lin Mu’s age again, then immediately begin drinking once more.

It was horrifyingly efficient.

Entire streets were filled with passed out dwarves lying beside empty barrels and shattered mugs. Some slept atop tables while others somehow managed to fall asleep while still standing upright.

One particularly talented fireforge dwarf remained asleep hanging halfway out of a chimney for nearly two days before anyone noticed him.

Another rune dwarf apparently blacked out while activating formations and accidentally created floating illusions of tiny dancing Lin Mus all across the city.

No one bothered fixing it because the tiny illusions were strangely entertaining.

Lin Mu’s companions were not much better.

In fact, several of them were coping even worse than the dwarves. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Daoist Chu had gone through every possible emotional state over the course of the week.

At first he drank heavily out of disbelief.

Then he became philosophical and spent half a day muttering about the cruelty of heaven.

Then he started aggressively challenging dwarves to drinking competitions while yelling things like "Talent is temporary but alcoholism is eternal!"

After that he passed out beneath a table for sixteen straight hours.

When he woke up, he remembered Lin Mu’s age again and immediately resumed drinking.

Cattaleya handled things somewhat differently.

She entered what could only be described as a state of violent denial.

Every few hours she would point at Lin Mu accusingly and declare that he was lying somehow.

Then someone would remind her that even the Transcendent Dwarfs had confirmed it with special arrays before disappearing again.

Afterward she would down another barrel of liquor in silence.

At one point she even tried calculating Lin Mu’s cultivation speed manually using immortal arithmetic arrays.

The result caused her to stare blankly at a wall for nearly an hour.

Meanwhile Elyon had become strangely introspective.

The wolfkin sat quietly most of the time while sipping strong liquor and contemplating his entire life.

Occasionally he would mutter something depressing like "Perhaps rabbits were my true destiny."

Or.

"I should have cultivated faster instead of sleeping during winters."

No one knew how to comfort him.

As for Meng Bai, the young man had somehow become the most unexpected drinker among all of them.

Normally after his kidnapping experience and near death encounter involving alcohol, one would expect him to avoid liquor entirely or reduce it by a lot... which he did.

Instead the opposite happened.

The sheer psychological devastation of realizing his master was only twice his age while standing incomparably above him in every aspect had apparently broken something within the boy.

Meng Bai drank like a man attempting to drown reality itself.

At first he only drank weak ale.

Then stronger ale.

Then liquor.

Then dwarven liquor.

By the third day, several dwarves had adopted him emotionally.

"Drink, little fetus!" they would cheer while handing him mugs bigger than his head.

Meng Bai accepted every single one.

The young man now wandered around Mantleheim in a permanently dazed state while muttering strange things under his breath.

"Fifty years old..."

"Still a fetus..."

"Maybe if I drink enough I’ll grow faster... Or at least grow a beard."

At one point he stared at a wine barrel for nearly ten minutes before solemnly declaring:

"I think I understand alcohol now."

Daoist Chu immediately slapped his shoulder dramatically.

"The Dao of Wine approaches!"

Meng Bai looked genuinely frightened afterward.

Lin Mu himself simply accepted the situation with helpless amusement.

There was honestly nothing he could say to make things better.

Every attempt only made matters worse.

When he tried saying cultivation speed depended heavily on luck and circumstances, several dwarves started crying.

When he attempted to praise Meng Bai’s talent, the boy almost drank himself unconscious.

Thus Lin Mu wisely decided to remain mostly silent and simply enjoy the celebration.

Thankfully Shrubby and the twins remained perfectly normal.

Or at least as normal as terrifying beasts could be.

Shrubby spent most of the celebration happily devouring enormous amounts of roasted meat while occasionally nuzzling against Lin Mu affectionately. The beast seemed entirely unconcerned by concepts like age or cultivation speed.

To him, Lin Mu was simply Lin Mu.

The twins were even worse.

The little beasts found the entire situation endlessly entertaining.

They often perched atop Lin Mu’s shoulders while watching drunken immortals collapse emotionally around them. Sometimes they even imitated the reactions in exaggerated ways.

One of them would pretend to faint dramatically while the other pointed at Lin Mu in mock horror.

The surrounding dwarves loved it.

Thus the twins received endless snacks and praise for their performances.

Currently, Lin Mu sat near one of the larger stone tables overlooking the glowing lava rivers flowing through Mantleheim. Music still echoed throughout the city while fireworks occasionally exploded above the dark skies.

The air smelled heavily of alcohol, smoke, roasted meat, and molten metal.

Lin Mu slowly sipped from a cup of deep crimson wine while watching several drunken mountain dwarves attempt to arm wrestle Shrubby and the twins.

They lost badly.

One of them somehow ended up embedded halfway into a wall afterward when Xiao Yin flicked her tail too hard.

Lin Mu sighed softly before taking another drink.

Then suddenly, he felt a familiar presence appear beside him.

He turned slightly.

The Saintess sat there calmly.

Lin Mu blinked in surprise.

It was rare for her to appear openly around so many people.