Mystic Skill route

Where Winds Meet Drunken Poet: Honest Merchant & Unlock Guide

The unlock is not a quest reward or a fixed bottle recipe. Find Hao Jiu in the location matching your story state, drink from inventory until both required statuses appear, verify ownership, then treat the illness.

Drunken PoetHao JiuAlcohol PoisoningRandom trigger太白醉月

Maintained byHeavenskiss

Pinned answer

The status pair matters; the bottle count does not.

checked 2026-07-17

six-step unlock route

Find Hao Jiu, the Honest Merchant, at Blissful Retreat or, after story progression, Harvestfall Village. Buy several wines, drink them from your inventory, and continue until both Wasted and Alcohol Poisoning appear. Then verify Drunken Poet in the Mystic Skill collection before curing the illness.

Merchant

Hao Jiu

Story locations

Blissful / Harvestfall

Unlock proof

Two status effects

Recovery

Evercare Clinic

Do not budget around exactly eight bottles. Eight is a common result, not a guaranteed threshold. Check the two statuses and the skill collection before spending more.

Before buying

Confirm which story location currently contains Hao Jiu.

While drinking

Watch status icons, not an assumed bottle counter.

Before leaving

Verify the learned skill, equip it, then seek treatment.

Merchant finder

Hao Jiu has two documented locations, not one broken spawn.

story-state split

Early Qinghe story

Blissful Retreat

Use the settlement around the old 不羨仙 map marker and look for Hao Jiu's merchant shop.

Later story progression

Harvestfall Village

Do not wait for Hao Jiu to return to the old settlement. His documented later location is Harvestfall Village.

The old guide says Buxianxian

Same early route

Buxianxian / 不羨仙 is the older label for the Blissful Retreat route, not a third merchant location.

Neither location shows the merchant

State check

Check both story locations, leave and reload the district, then verify the current map and quest state. Mode-switch workarounds are community reports, not a guaranteed spawn rule.

Older Chinese-client Qinghe map marking the wine merchant used to unlock Drunken Poet — Original Honest Merchant map
legacy CN image
The original route marks the wine merchant under the older 不羨仙 label. In the current Global client, this early-story area is Blissful Retreat; Hao Jiu later relocates to Harvestfall Village.
Open full image

What the old map can and cannot prove

It proves the original wine-merchant route at 不羨仙 and preserves the author's landmark. It does not prove current Global map text, Hao Jiu's later Harvestfall position, permanent shop stock, or a guaranteed spawn-refresh method.

Unlock route

Buy, drink, verify, recover.

six checkpoints

01
Find Hao Jiu in the location matching your story state
Check Blissful Retreat first during the early Qinghe story. If the settlement has changed and Hao Jiu is gone, look for the Honest Merchant at Harvestfall Village instead.
Checkpoint: The shop panel identifies Hao Jiu as the Honest Merchant.
02
Buy a practical batch of wine
Purchase several bottles from Hao Jiu. Around eight is a current common result, but the trigger is random, so treat that as a planning estimate rather than a guaranteed recipe.
Checkpoint: The wine is in your inventory, not merely selected in the shop.
03
Drink the bottles from your inventory
Open the bag and use the wine items one after another. Buying wine does not advance the unlock by itself; the game checks the intoxication states caused by drinking.
Checkpoint: A drinking animation and a status effect have appeared.
04
Keep going after Wasted appears
Wasted shows that the route is progressing, but it is not the full documented trigger. Continue drinking until Alcohol Poisoning also appears.
Checkpoint: Both Wasted and Alcohol Poisoning are present.
05
Confirm Drunken Poet in the Mystic Skill collection
The skill should unlock when the severe intoxication state is reached. If no toast appeared, open the Mystic Skill collection before buying more wine; ownership is stronger proof than the animation.
Checkpoint: Drunken Poet is listed as learned.
06
Equip the skill, then clear the illness
Place Drunken Poet in an available Mystic Skill slot. After ownership is confirmed, visit Evercare Clinic south of Blissful Retreat or use a player Healer in Multiplayer to remove Alcohol Poisoning.
Checkpoint: The skill has a combat slot and the illness is treated.

Purchase is not consumption

The merchant transaction only puts wine in your bag. Open the inventory and use each bottle; otherwise no intoxication state is applied.

Unlock is not recovery

Alcohol Poisoning is part of the route, then becomes a separate illness to clear. Verify Drunken Poet first so treatment does not erase your only visible trigger evidence.

Trigger checker

Use your current state to decide whether to drink, verify, equip, or heal.

six-state table

What you see	What it means	Next action
Wine is still in the bag	No unlock progress has been rolled.	Use the bottles from inventory. Purchasing them is only preparation.
Wasted only	The intoxication route has started but is not complete.	Continue drinking until Alcohol Poisoning also appears.
Wasted + Alcohol Poisoning	The documented unlock condition has been reached.	Open the Mystic Skill collection and verify ownership before spending more Coins.
Blackout or dream scene	A dramatic drinking result occurred, but the scene is not the ownership screen.	Check the Mystic Skill collection. If Drunken Poet is absent, recover, reload the area, and retry the status route.
Drunken Poet learned, no combat button	This is a loadout problem, not an unlock failure.	Open Mystic Skills and replace an occupied slot with Drunken Poet.
Skill learned, illness remains	Unlock and recovery are separate states.	Visit Evercare Clinic or ask a player with the Healer profession in Multiplayer.

Why guides say 8

Current references describe roughly eight as typical. It is an observed center, not a fixed unlock formula.

Why old guides say buy all

Buying the whole stock was a simple way to carry enough wine in the older route, not proof of a shop-wide requirement.

What to trust

Trust Wasted, Alcohol Poisoning, and the learned-skill screen in that order. Do not trust bottle folklore over your save state.

Do not mix this with the Raging Tides wine trial. Drunken Poet uses an intoxication trigger. Nine distinct wines, 8/9 counters, Sect mail, and the 100-jar condition belong to the separate Raging Tides joining guide.

Stuck fixes

Most failures are a location, status, ownership, or treatment mix-up.

9 checks

Hao Jiu is missing from Blissful Retreat.

Main-story progress can relocate the Honest Merchant. Check Harvestfall Village before waiting, changing the clock, or treating the shop as permanently missable.

Hao Jiu is not obvious in Harvestfall Village.

Confirm you are looking for Hao Jiu / Honest Merchant rather than a generic tavern vendor. Reload the district and recheck the current merchant marker. The exact spawn-refresh behavior is not stable enough to promise a universal mode-switch fix.

I bought the wine and nothing happened.

Open your inventory and drink it. Shop purchase, wine ownership, intoxication, skill ownership, and slot equipment are five separate states.

I drank eight bottles and still do not have the skill.

Eight is a common estimate, not a fixed requirement. Check whether both Wasted and Alcohol Poisoning are active, then buy more only if the second state has not appeared.

Wasted appeared, but Drunken Poet did not.

Wasted alone is an intermediate checkpoint. Continue until Alcohol Poisoning appears as well, then inspect the Mystic Skill collection.

I have Alcohol Poisoning but saw no unlock toast.

Open the Mystic Skill collection before retrying. If Drunken Poet is absent despite both documented states, preserve your remaining wine, cure the illness, reload the area, and repeat rather than assuming a specific bottle count failed.

I entered a strange dream or blackout scene but got no skill.

Treat the scene as a drinking outcome, not final proof. Check the collection. Community reports differ on the surrounding animation, while current route references agree on the two status conditions.

Alcohol Poisoning will not disappear.

Go to Evercare Clinic south of Blissful Retreat for treatment. A player with the Healer profession can also treat illnesses in Multiplayer.

Drunken Poet is learned but cannot be cast.

Equip it in the Mystic Skill loadout and make sure the active slot is not occupied by another skill. The unlock does not automatically choose a combat slot for you.

Name bridge

Current Global names and the older route describe the same skill.

six term matches

Current Global	Older source term	Use on this route
Drunken Poet	太白醉月 / Taibai Zuiyue	The current Global skill name and the original Chinese skill are the same unlock.
Hao Jiu, Honest Merchant	美酒商人	The named Global NPC replaces the generic wine-merchant wording in the older route.
Blissful Retreat	不羨仙 / Buxianxian	The legacy map image points to the early-story Blissful Retreat location.
Harvestfall Village	Later merchant location	Use this after story progression moves Hao Jiu away from Blissful Retreat.
Wasted	醉酒 state	The older article describes becoming drunk broadly; current route proof separates Wasted from Alcohol Poisoning.
Alcohol Poisoning	Severe intoxication result	This illness is the second documented unlock state and must be treated separately afterward.

After the unlock

Use Drunken Poet as a committed sequence, not a one-button promise.

bounded combat notes

Single-target punish

Drunken Poet is an offensive single-target burst skill. Use it when the target is committed, staggered, or otherwise unlikely to leave the short close-range sequence.

Limit: Do not spend the full chain into an incoming boss mechanic just because the skill can be repeated.

Repeated strike sequence

The skill enters Intoxicated and supports repeated follow-up casts. One press does not represent the whole move, and every extra strike competes for Vitality.

Limit: Stop the sequence when movement, defense, or resource state makes the next hit unsafe.

Breakthrough protection

Later breakthroughs add cast protection through damage reduction and Tenacity. That makes the sequence harder to interrupt, but it does not make every incoming attack safe to ignore.

Limit: Exact percentages and tier values remain tooltip checks because balance patches can change them.

Dragon's Breath interaction

At the relevant breakthrough, Drunken Haze can interact with Ignition from Dragon's Breath. Intoxicated also supports using both skills without repeating the original wine-consumption route.

Limit: This is a conditional skill interaction, not a universal best rotation for every mode or build.

Old animation-cancel tutorials need a fresh test

The official May 28 Version 1.7 balance notes moved the first-stage cancel point earlier, shortened its resulting Stagger, and delayed the third-stage cancel point. A pre-1.7 video may still show the idea of the sequence while giving you obsolete timing.

FAQ

Drunken Poet questions that usually appear between the shop and the skill screen.

direct answers

Where is the Honest Merchant for Drunken Poet?

Hao Jiu appears at Blissful Retreat earlier in the Qinghe story and later relocates to Harvestfall Village. Check the location matching your story state.

Why is Hao Jiu missing from Blissful Retreat?

The most likely reason is story progression. Check Harvestfall Village before assuming the merchant or Mystic Skill is unavailable.

How many bottles unlock Drunken Poet?

There is no guaranteed fixed count. Current references commonly report around eight, while independent runs can take more. Use Wasted plus Alcohol Poisoning as the real checkpoint.

Do I have to buy all of Hao Jiu's wine?

No current route requires a literal shop buyout. The older article used buy-all wording; the current trigger is reaching both documented intoxication states.

Does Drunken Poet require a specific type of wine?

The current route identifies wine sold by the Honest Merchant but does not prove a single mandatory bottle name. Do not confuse this unlock with separate nine-wine or faction objectives.

Why did buying wine not unlock Drunken Poet?

The bottles must be consumed from your inventory. Purchasing the stock does not apply Wasted or Alcohol Poisoning.

Is Wasted enough to unlock Drunken Poet?

No. Wasted is the first visible checkpoint. Continue until Alcohol Poisoning appears, then check the Mystic Skill collection.

Does the blackout or dream scene prove the unlock?

No. Treat the animation as a drinking result and verify Drunken Poet in the Mystic Skill collection. Ownership is the reliable final check.

How do I cure Alcohol Poisoning?

Visit Evercare Clinic south of Blissful Retreat, or receive treatment from a player with the Healer profession in Multiplayer.

Why is Drunken Poet learned but missing from my controls?

It still needs a Mystic Skill slot. Open the loadout and replace an occupied slot if all active positions are full.

Is Taibai Zuiyue the same as Drunken Poet?

Yes. Taibai Zuiyue is the romanized older name for 太白醉月; Drunken Poet is the current Global English name.

Do I need Dragon's Breath before unlocking Drunken Poet?

No. Drunken Poet has its own wine trigger. Dragon's Breath becomes relevant later as a combat interaction, not as an acquisition prerequisite.

Sources and next routes

Current trigger rules first; original map preserved as route evidence.

four reference lanes

current EnglishCurrent Drunken Poet referenceCurrent Global name, both Hao Jiu locations, random trigger, Wasted, Alcohol Poisoning, Evercare Clinic, role, Intoxicated, repeated strikes, and breakthrough interactions.legacy CNOriginal 太白醉月 routeOriginal Chinese identity, 不羨仙 wine-merchant route, buy-and-drink method, old skill description, and the source map retained on this page.route cross-checkTrigger and recovery cross-checkIndependent route check for the random bottle range, consecutive drinking, story relocation, and Evercare Clinic recovery.official GlobalOfficial Version 1.7 balance notesOfficial current terminology, changed first- and third-stage cancel points, Stagger adjustment, and the later indirect-damage stat fix.

Continue from your actual problem

Dragon's Breath unlockComplete the related fire skill and its Journal claim.Mystic Skill slotsFix a learned Drunken Poet with no active combat button.Blissful Retreat ledgerSeparate the old 不羨仙 map state from later collection work.Healer professionUnderstand the player-treatment route used in Multiplayer.Raging Tides joiningHandle nine-wine and 100-jar requirements separately.Mystic Skill name glossaryMatch Drunken Poet, Taibai Zuiyue, and 太白醉月.Unlock indexFind the next current Global Mystic Skill route.Mystic Skills boardReturn to the full skill system and evidence directory.

The map image retains its original watermark and is labeled as older Chinese-client evidence. It supports the Blissful Retreat route identity, not current Global UI, Harvestfall coordinates, fixed merchant stock, or a guaranteed bottle count.