This Taiyan Cauldron is a top-grade magic treasure that’s the only one of its kind throughout the Five Continent’s mainlands. Usually, people living in the Five Continents would only be able to see spiritual-level treasures at best, so the number of people who can actually repair the Taiyan Cauldron could probably be counted on two hands.

　　And of those people, those who do manage to find a top-grade magic treasure would most likely be tempted to claim it as their own. If they don’t have that kind of temptation, then they would most probably already be quite well-known figures.

　　In this world, repairing the tools crafted by others is a hundredfold more difficult than crafting your own tools.

　　Craftsmen would be even less likely to attempt repairing this kind of top-grade magic treasure.

　　Famous craftsmen are especially fond of their plumage and wouldn’t easily lend others a hand in repairing tools. If they fail, they would have to bear the consequences of a decline in their reputation, and even their cultivation may be affected.

　　Ji Lanjun had searched all over the East Continent’s mainlands for a craftsman to repair the cauldron, but no one was willing to accept the job.

　　Yet Lin Xuanzhi only needed three years before he could repair it?

　　Lin Zhantian looked at Lin Xuanzhi as he wanted to see if he could find a trace of guilt on that outstanding face of his.

　　But all he saw was apathy and indifference.

　　This was the kind of calmness that only confident, but not conceited people could have.

　　Lin Zhantian’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed his saliva.

　　He had actually kept his mother in the dark about coming here. Originally, Ji Lanjun had accompanied him to their old yard to wait for Lin Xuanzhi so that they could offer their apologies to him together. But on their way over, Ji Lanjun was called away by Lin Yuhan’s personal maid who had rushed over to look for them. Lin Yuhan had accidentally touched the pill cauldron that Ji Lanjun uses for refining pills, so her whole body almost caught on fire. As of now, Lin Yuhan was lying on her bed and she couldn’t even lift a single finger.

　　Lin Zhantian heard himself ask, “Three years?”

　　He heard Lin Xuanzhi reply, “Three years.”

　　Lin Zhantian said, “If you fail, what then?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi answered, “So I’m asking you right now, do you dare to take a gamble?”

　　Lin Zhantian kept silent for a moment, then gazed into Lin Xuanzhi’s deep and unfathomable eyes before he said, “Do you have to take that drop of heart blood right now?”

　　A slight breeze blew by and a peach blossom fell onto Yan Tianhen’s head. Yan Tianhen jumped in shock as he thought that he was being attacked — this reaction made him look very cute.

　　Lin Xuanzhi raised his hand to pinch that peach blossom off his head and held it in his hand, then lightly said, “Within a month. After that, I won’t need it anymore.”

　　Lin Zhantian gritted his teeth slightly. He thought of his Meimei who would always hold his hand and say longingly, “I really wish I could bask in the sun”.

　　If a man was born with a Chiyang body, he would definitely be genius cultivator who had received the favour of the heavens. But if a girl was born with such a body, it would only be the most tragic kind of disaster.

　　If a drop of heart blood was taken out, his Meimei, could very well die.

　　But did he really want to let Lin Yuhan live such an uninteresting life forever, without ever seeing the light of day?

　　His Meimei would be turning 18-years-old soon!

　　But if Lin Xuanzhi fails, then his sister’s life expectancy would at least be cut in half because of losing that drop of heart blood.

　　“You can take your time to consider, I’m not in a hurry.” Lin Xuanzhi said.

　　Lin Zhantian took a deep breath, then solemnly looked at Lin Xuanzhi and said, “Okay, give me some time.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded and said, “If there are no other matters, then that’ll be all for today.”

　　Lin Zhantian clasped his hands and shot him a profound look, “You won’t get even with me?”

　　This was unlike how the Lin Xuanzhi who had displayed his dominance and ruthlessness today would act.

　　Lin Zhantian had thought that Lin Xuanzhi would have at least made him pay a small price.

　　“If it had been someone else, I might have made him regret it.” Lin Xuanzhi said calmly, “But, I can understand why you did what you did. After all, we both have someone we want to protect.”

　　Lin Zhantian’s whole body jolted, then he looked towards the Yan Tianhen that he had completely neglected. Yan Tianhen had sallow skin and an emaciated body that didn’t look the least bit healthy. Aside from possessing a terrifying appearance, he was even a cripple who had a broken leg. Everyone, including Lin Zhantian, had thought that Lin Xuanzhi would treat this brother that his father had adopted as a disgrace.

　　However…Lin Zhantian realised, that he had never truly understood Lin Xuanzhi.

　　Lin Zhantian took a closer look at Yan TIanhen’s face. He suddenly thought that the black and red cracks on Yan Tianhen’s face didn’t look natural; but more like it had resulted from a poison that crawled all over his face, or a formation that was buried deep within his body.

　　“Then, why do you want a drop of Yuhan’s heart blood?” Lin Zhantian couldn’t help but ask.

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled slightly, then said like he was trying to guard a secret, “Didn’t I just say, that both of us have someone we want to protect.”

　　So that really was the case!

　　Lin Zhantian was secretly shocked as he sighed. He didn’t expect that Lin Xuanzhi was actually doing all this for the sake of his younger brother — someone who he wasn’t even related to.

　　However, this did make Lin Zhantian admire and sympathise with Lin Xuanzhi even more.

　　“I will definitely consider it seriously.” Lin Zhantian clasped his hands together and said, “Within three days, I will give you an answer. I’ll take my leave now!”

　　Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Zhantian’s figure as he left, then said unhappily, “You’re letting him go just like that? Dage, he had almost killed you ah. If you hadn’t coincidentally awakened your craftman’s soulfire, Madam Bai definitely wouldn’t have let Dage off easily without the evidence that proved you were bullied by that wicked servant first!”

　　Yan Tianhen is an extremely insightful kid, so right now, he didn’t like Lin Zhantian one bit.

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at his fuming appearance and really wanted to pull him over for a kiss.

　　But, Lin Xuanzhi only thought about it, and didn’t actually do it.

　　“Ah Hen, the Lin family may need me, but I need the Lin family too.” Lin Xuanzhi sighed, “In this world, there is no strong person who keeps to himself and fights alone. The Lin family has thousands, or even ten thousands of people. There will be many times when we wouldn’t be able to handle everything by ourselves, and even though blood relations aren’t exactly reliable sometimes, they’re still more reliable than people whom you’re not related to. The Lin family will be our backing in the future, and if I manage to obtain a stable footing in the Lin family, we wouldn’t be bullied by others even if I were to turn into a good-for-nothing again in the future. Eventually, we would still need true friends whom we can rely on.”

　　Yan Tianhen’s eyes twinkled, then he lowered his head to ponder for a bit before raising his head back up to look at Lin Xuanzhi and said, “So what you’re saying is that Lin Zhantian is someone whom you want to be your teammate? But he had betrayed you before.”

　　“Weixiong knows.” Lin Xuanzhi said softly as he explained, “But he had a reason for doing so. He views his sister as his most precious person, and Madam Bai holds several spiritual plants that they need in order to refine his sister’s life-saving medicinal pills. Madam Bai threatened to cut off their supply of these spiritual plants if they didn’t hand the Recorder Mirror over, so if he hadn’t done as she wished, his sister would probably not be in this world by now. So I thought, if I was in his position today and someone was threatening to take Ah Hen’s life, I would have made the same decision as Lin Zhantian.”

　　When Yan Tianhen heard this, he was so delighted that even his eyebrows were curving more than usual. He smiled as he said, “So Dage is trying to say that I am as important to you as Lin Zhantian’s sister is to him?”

　　“Of course, Ah Hen is my most precious baby. I can do without many things in this world, but I can’t do without Ah Hen.” Lin Xuanzhi’s sweet talk casually escaped his mouth.

　　Yan Tianhen’s smile had turned a little silly.

　　Lin Xuanzhi lightly tapped his nose, then smiled as he said, “One more thing. Even though Lin Zhantian had his own reasons for doing what he did, when he came to offer his apology to me just now, he didn’t have the slightest intention of explaining anything so that he could absolve himself of guilt. That showed that he was truly remorseful for what he had done.”

　　Yan Tianhen suddenly saw the light and nodded, then said, “What Dage said is right. If Dage hadn’t mentioned his sister, I wouldn’t have known about their situation.”

　　Actually, Lin Xuanzhi had other reasons for letting Lin Zhantian off that he didn’t divulge to Yan Tianhen.

　　For example, he didn’t pursue Lin Zhantian this time not entirely because he was feeling particularly magnanimous, but because he needed Lin Zhantian’s grat.i.tude and subordination.

　　If he wanted to control the entire Lin family, he would definitely need to have people whom he could trust on his side. Lin Zhantian was capable and smart, and coupled with a loyal heart that was hard to come by, he was Lin Xuanzhi’s best candidate.

　　Also, Lin Zhantian’s mother Ji Lanjun is an extremely amazing alchemist…

　　It’s difficult for a single tree to grow into a forest. In his past life, Lin Xuanzhi was skilled at exploiting the strengths of the people around him to achieve his goals.

　　In this lifetime, he intends to make even better use of this particular skill.

　　After he put aside his thoughts, Lin Xuanzhi said to Yan Tianhen, “Ah Hen, I’ll be going away for a few days to search for some materials, do you want to go with me?”

　　“Of course! It would be great if I could go out with Dage!” Yan Tianhen’s eyes lit up, then he blinked and asked, “But, what kind of special materials does Dage want to find this time? Does the Lin family not have them?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi replied, “I want to craft a container that can hold that drop of Chiyang blood. One of the materials required to craft this container is the Thousand Year Winter Silkworm’s frozen soul. In the whole of the East Continent’s mainland, Profound Sky Sect is probably the only place that has it.”

　　Moreover, this material is rarely seen and extremely difficult to obtain.

　　Logically speaking, Chiyang blood has the ability to burn everything in sight, so ordinary containers will definitely not be able to contain it. Only a container with special qualities and special materials would be able to hold it.

　　Thousand Year Winter Silkworm’s frozen souls can only be found in the North Bi Continent’s arctic, and only the clans there would know how to breed and preserve them. Coincidentally, Lin Xuanzhi’s fellow disciple in Profound Sky Sect is a descendant of an ancient clan that lives in that arctic, and Lin Xuanzhi had coincidentally saw the Thousand Year Winter Silkworm’s frozen soul in his hands.

　　Right now, Lin Xuanzhi needed to conceive a plan to obtain that precious Thousand Year Winter Silkworm’s frozen soul from him.

　　Or else, even if he did manage to obtain Lin Yuhan’s drop of Chiyang blood, it would all be for naught.

　　Yan Tianhen was somewhat puzzled and said, “But why is Dage so sure that Lin Zhantian will agree to give his sister’s heart blood to Dage?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at him, then lightly smiled and said, “Because his sister will definitely choose to do so. For someone who had never seen the sun and has to stay bedridden with a sickly body all year round, even if she only had a slight glimmer of hope, she would dare to risk her life for it.”

　　“Dage’s right.” Yan Tianhen nodded. His heart was filled with trepidation as he said, “Lin Yuhan is really too pitiful. If it were me, I would’ve felt like life wasn’t worth living a long time ago and died from all my pent-up frustrations.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan TIanhen’s small face that was covered with magic imprints, then thought, if a mighty power hadn’t used a formation to suppress Yan Tianhen’s Mingyin body, Yan Tianhen probably wouldn’t be able to live like a normal person like he’s doing now, and probably……would have lived a life even more miserable than Lin Yuhan.

　　Every time Lin Xuanzhi had this thought, he would feel extremely grateful to that mighty person for helping Yan Tianhen. He hoped that one day, he could meet that mighty person and repay him for his selflessness and grace.

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled as he rubbed Yan Tianhen’s head and said, “Since that’s the case, then after we obtain Lin Zhantian’s answer, we’ll immediately set out.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded excitedly and said, “That’s great!”

　　Yan Tianhen was happy to be able to stay in their old house again, but he also felt a bit upset. Because there were so many rooms in their new house, there was enough s.p.a.ce for the two tiger cubs to have their own little nests, so they wouldn’t randomly urinate on Yan Tianhen’s bed anymore.

　　Thus, Yan Tianhen no longer had a legitimate reason to sleep with Lin Xuanzhi.

　　Before he slept, Yan Tianhen stood in front of his bed and stared at how neat and tidy it was with a conflicted and distressed face. Should he go, or not?

　　If he went, would his Dage think that he’s weird?

　　After hesitating for half a day, he finally decided to lay down and sleep. But just as he was about to go to bed, Lin Xuanzhi knocked on the door, then entered Yan Tianhen’s room. Lin Xuanzhi had already taken off his outer robe and was only adorned in white, brocade underclothes1; his ink black long hair that had been let down flowed loosely behind his back. Evidently, he was ready to fall asleep.

　　1. Xieyi:

　　wtf it’s so hard to find men underclothes, google is filled with women ones. The male ones are something like this ^ but thinner↩

　　T/N: Pls pardon the grammatical errors in this chapter… I’m operating on 4hrs of sleep right now so I ended up spending an hour+ to proofread this chap fml TAT

　　“I can do without many things in this world, but I can’t do without Ah Hen.”

　　screams