Blood and Wine Beneath the Wind-Tossed Tavern Banner

“Wine Banner Wind” was once the liveliest tavern along the northern frontier road. Its owner, Feng Jiuxiao, served bowls of fiery liquor beneath a boldly fluttering wine banner, making it a warm way station in the hearts of travelers journeying north and south. Then the barbarian cavalry trampled that peace into dust. The tavern was burned, Feng Jiuxiao was slain in a spray of blood, and barbarian soldiers impaled his head on a spear to display it. The young Feng Lie survived by hiding beneath a pile of corpses. All he took with him was half a bloodstained corner of the banner and his father’s secret recipe for Shaochun liquor, strong enough to burn through a man’s throat.

Burning with hatred and an obsession with raising the banner again, Feng Lie lay low among the ruins for three years. When a tattered banner soaked in old blood rose once more at the tavern’s former site, its drifting wine fragrance carried a chill killing intent, and just as he had expected, it lured in the arrogant barbarian vanguard. Feng Lie hosted them with poisoned Shaochun and urged them to drink with a smile. “This is my father’s finest brew. Three bowls and you’ll be out cold.” As cups passed back and forth, every barbarian soldier drank himself to death. After a bloody battle with the remaining enemy troops, Feng Lie, wounded from head to toe, finally climbed the towering flagpole and proclaimed to the world the words he had written in blood: “Han wine is strong. Barbarians, keep your filthy snouts out!” The tattered banner was red as blood, the fierce wind sharp as a blade. It announced the return of an undying soul.