Ch129 – Received a Huge Blow

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　　Although refining souls is a process that’s both dry and painful, it is still a path everyone must take.

　　And what Lin Xuanzhi didn’t lack the most, was patience.

　　He had two reasons for not rapidly raising his cultivation level within a short span of time: firstly, he was slowly working on the accumulation of his foundation; secondly, it was because being too prominent would easily attract people’s attention. He had already tasted all sorts of hardship, so now, all he wanted to do was to cultivate at a steady pace.

　　He can never be too rash and attract unwanted attention until he was strong enough to be free of worries.

　　Within the《Arabian Crafting Manual》, there wasn’t a lack of high-level crafting hand seals and crafting recipes. Lin Xuanzhi was very familiar with the kind of pill furnace he should make, so, while he advanced through his soul stages, he used his soulfire and forged stones to refine the Flaming Cloud Stone at the same time. Aside from the Flaming Cloud Stone, Lin Xuanzhi had already prepared all the other necessary materials for crafting the pill furnace in secret; everything that concerns Yan Tianhen are matters that he takes very seriously, which are also ranked first in priority in his heart.

　　Three days passed in a flash.

　　Lin Xuanzhi opened his eyes and looked at the fire-like pill furnace in front of him; a multitude of emotions surged through his heart.

　　Throughout both lifetimes, this should be considered the first time he truly did something for Yan Tianhen.

　　Lin Xuanzhi stood at the door of Yan Tianhen’s small stone room for awhile, and after he sensed that the Qi inside it subsided, he knocked.

　　Yan Tianhen opened the door quickly, because he knew that aside from Lin Xuanzhi, it was unlikely for anyone else to come find him.

　　As for Lin Yan…he was currently devoting himself wholeheartedly to cultivating, so he wouldn’t have much time to find him either.

　　“Dage, you’re here.” Yan Tianhen grinned.

　　“Your complexion has been getting better and better every day.” Lin Xuanzhi scrutinised Yan Tianhen, then walked in.

　　It might be because putting two Yins together could end up affecting Yang, and extremes could turn into their opposites when pushed to the limit; ever since Yan Tianhen started practicing《Imperial Corpse Technique》, the gloomy and cold Qi on Yan Tianhen’s face was actually dispersing more and more each day.

　　Yan Tianhen touched his face, thought about it for a bit then said, “It‘s probably because I’ve been soaking in the tub with Ah Gu every night ba.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi paused. Soaking in the tub together?

　　He felt that even though Ah Gu was just a corpse, he still needed to pay attention to it.

　　But Yan Tianhen didn’t realise that there was anything wrong with it, and instead said to Lin Xuanzhi like he was bragging, “Dage, when I went to look after Ah Gu last night, I found out that one of his fingers moved. On the《Imperial Corpse Technique》, it said that the earlier a corpse can move, the better the quality and talent of the corpse. Ah Gu is really amazing.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi didn’t feel too well. In the past, he was the one that Yan Tianhen had always worshipped and praised. But now, that corpse had caused Yan Tianhen’s thoughts to wander.

　　Lin Xuanzhi lightly said, “It’s but a mere corpse. You need not expend so much effort on it, the path of an alchemist is the proper one.”

　　Yan Tianhen said with some grievance, “But, that’s the corpse that I personally carried home, so I have to treat him well. I need to be responsible for him.”

　　Olc Wejchtl, “….”

　　Be responsible your ass. His heart clutched even tighter.

　　“Dage, you’re done crafting it already?!” Yan Tianhen’s eyes widened as he caressed that pill furnace adoringly.

　　There were three openings at the top of the pill furnace that could allow three fires in different positions to enter at the same time. For an alchemist, this was the simplest pill furnace design, and although one wouldn’t be able to refine high level medicinal pills with this, for a newbie, this furnace was more than enough.

　　Yan Tianhen could feel the Qi coming from the top grade magic tool.

　　He couldn’t help but sigh and stared at Lin Xuanzhi, “Dage, aren’t you too amazing? This is a top grade magic tool!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s furrowed brows relaxed. He nodded, “If it isn’t a top grade magic tool, I wouldn’t haven’t given it to Ah Hen.”

　　Yan Tianhen’s ears were slightly tinged with a red colour.

　　When Lin Xuanzhi saw this, he smiled, “Ah Hen will have your own pill furnace from now on. Use those spiritual plants you have at hand first. If you run out, just let Dage know.”

　　Yan Tianhen quickly nodded, “It’s enough, it’s enough. It’ll probably be enough to last me for a long while.”

　　When Lin Xuanzhi heard that, he smiled, “Just try it out first ba.”

　　Yan Tianhen patted his chest and said confidently, “Don’t worry, Dage. For the past few days, I’ve been practicing the alchemy hand seals in Yuyang Gege’s book, and I’ve basically perfected them by now. I might even be able to deliver a few medicinal pills to you later!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen’s small face that was full of vigour and felt comforted 一 no one will know the price he paid just for that smile.

　　Yan Tianhen has always been interested in alchemy, but because his body was restricted by his cultivation level, he could only ever look and sigh from afar. But now that everything was ready for him, Yan Tianhen couldn’t wait to start after he got the pill furnace

　　Lin Xuanzhi didn’t disturb him. When Yan Tianhen kept glancing at the pill furnace adoringly from time to time, he knew that he had to give Yan Tianhen some time to be alone.

　　After Lin Xuanzhi left, Yan Tianhen happily placed the pill furnace in the center of the stone room. He sat cross-legged on a hassock, and according to the alchemy hand seals and skills to control his alchemist fire on the《Divine Jun Alchemy Arts》, he threw a few kinds of the simplest spiritual plants for healing wounds into the pill furnace.

　　An alchemist fire burned and the pill furnace clattered. A moment later, an unpleasant burning smell emitted from the pill furnace.

　　Yan Tianhen, “…”

　　Yan Tianhen uncovered the pill furnace’s lid and saw the dark, sticky mass of suspicious matter inside. When he thought about his bold words from before, his cheeks started to hurt.

　　“It must have been an accident.” Yan Tianhen scrunched his face and made a second attempt.

　　That night.

　　Yan Tianhen knocked on Lin Xuanzhi’s door.

　　When Lin Xuanzhi opened the door, he saw a crestfallen youngster.

　　Lin Xuanzhi paused for a moment, then revealed a faint smile on his face. He rubbed Yan Tianhen’s head, “Received a blow?”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded, “Not one was made.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi didn’t mind that and said, “If you managed to craft a true medicinal pill in less than half a day, that would have truly been an impossible task.” Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi.

　　“Why don’t you start with medicinal liquid first?” Lin Xuanzhi said unhurriedly, “Creating pills has a certain process. For you now, it is still a bit difficult.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded with some distress, “Okay.”

　　Three days later, Yan Tianhen had destroyed all the spiritual plants in his hands. He then hung his head low as he went to seek Lin Xuanzhi’s help.

　　But Lin Xuanzhi didn’t say anything, and just took Yan Tianhen straight to the Lin family’s commercial street and exchanged all of their remaining family contribution points for the most basic spiritual plants.

　　Yan Tianhen began his arduous alchemist life with his storage bag that was stuffed to the brim.

　　Ten days to half a month passed within the blink of an eye.

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s cultivation speed was not considered the fastest, but he didn’t mind that at all and just steadily continued with his own cultivation.

　　The next day, a loud bang came from the stone room next door, and the surrounding spiritual Qi all converged towards the same place. Lin Xuanzhi, who was currently refining his own meridians and acupoints, opened his eyes in slight surprise and thought, that Lin Zezhi actually broke through to his Foundation Stage.

　　The other Lin family pupils had left their rooms one by one.

　　“Zezhi Tangxiong is already at his Foundation Stage.” Lin Yurou said in slight disbelief.

　　“That should be due to the《Burning Sky Palm》ba.” Lin Dong said, full of envy, “If I could have gotten a cultivation method of that level, I would have been able to advance within a short period of time too.”

　　“The Burning Sky Palm is amazing, it’s one of the most powerful fire elemental cultivation methods of the Lin family.” It was rare for Lin Cheng to reveal some envy as he said, “Looks like Zezhi Tangxion had obtained a fated opportunity.”

　　At this moment, Lin Zezhi, the one who was currently being discussed, walked out from his stone room.

　　The pressure of a Foundation Stage cultivator exuded from his body from head to toe, and for a moment, people outside who weren’t on par with his cultivation level were struck by an impulse to submit and kneel down to him.

　　Within the stone room, Lin Yufan, who was immersed in her own cultivation, frowned with much displeasure and thought, that Lin Zezhi, he’s really become presumptuous after advancing to the Foundation Stage. He’s deliberately releasing the pressure within his body and clearly doesn’t care about the other people who are in the cultivation room in the least, like he’s afraid that others wouldn’t know that he had reached his Foundation Stage.

　　Lin Yurou smiled, “Zezhi Gege, you’re a Foundation Stage cultivator now. You should be doing quite well with the Burning Sky Palm ba?”

　　Lin Zezhi couldn’t restrain the smile and arrogance on his face. He nodded, “Naturally so. Although it’s not the most amazing, compared to some other people who are in their Foundation Stage, my combat strength is definitely much stronger than them.”

　　Lin Yan had walked out as well, and when he heard this, he sneered. Then he turned around and walked back into the room.

　　When he saw this, Lin Dong revealed a disdainful expression, “That Lin Yan kid must be thinking about how sour the grapes are after he didn’t manage to eat them.”

　　Lin Yurou nodded as well and said softly, “Tangge, don’t bother with those types of people. I heard that he lost his parents from a young age, so his upbringing wouldn’t be any good. He’s probably just a wild child ba.”

　　“Why would I bother with him?” Lin Zezhi felt superior to the rest and had a lot of pride, so he was very concerned with the division between children of the main wives and those of concubines; the side branches are even less likely to enter his field of vision.

　　At this time, Lin Zezhi felt as pleased as if he had just taken revenge.

　　Lin Zezhi’s heart was filled with joy now and thought, even though Lin Yan managed to get a profound-level manual, what’s the use? In any case, he doesn’t have a single person who can back him up.

　　But, when he thought of those two fire elemental profound-level cultivation methods, Lin Zezhi’s heart couldn’t help but jolt as he really wanted to claim them as his own.

　　However, that would happen sooner or later, so he wasn’t in a rush.

　　Lin Zezhi looked at Lin Xuanzhi’s stone room, but there were no signs of activity in it.

　　Lin Zezhi felt a little regret; he had stirred up quite a bit of noise just now and didn’t conceal his Foundation Stage pressure so that everyone would know that he was now a Foundation Stage cultivator.

　　However, as a Foundation Stage cultivator himself, Lin Xuanzhi wasn’t influenced by his pressure at all.

　　And perhaps, Lin Xuanzhi could be at a critical juncture of his cultivation right now and wasn’t even aware of what had happened outside.

　　After a long time passed, right before night fell, Yan Tianhen came out of his room and walked into Lin Xuanzhi’s room next door.

　　The stone room wasn’t very big, but it looked extremely spacious.

　　There were several black beads placed in front of Lin Xuanzhi that had been crafted not too long ago.

　　Yan Tianhen asked out of curiosity, “Dage, what are these?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “It’s called Thunderballs, they’re usually used when one is running for their lives.”

　　Yan Tianhen said with some distress, “Dage, did you ever realise that most of the equipment you craft are to be used when one is running for their life? Why is it that everytime I see these magic treasures, I always feel like I’ll have to flee and become a fugitive sooner or later?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi, “……”

　　Well, isn’t it because they aren’t strong enough now?

　　However, how could Lin Xuanzhi admit such a thing?

　　Fortunately, Yan Tianhen had just mentioned it casually before continuing, “Dage, Lin Zezhi has already become a Foundation Stage cultivator.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded, “I know. It would have been difficult not to know with all the disturbance he caused.”