Ch181 – Birth of an Alchemist

Lin Xuanzhi reacted particularly quickly. As soon as he judged that the noise had originated from the adjacent room, he had already moved before his brain processed anything, rushing straight out of his room without even wearing shoes, and heading straight into Yan Tianhen’s room.

Even the door to Yan Tianhen’s room had been sent flying by the explosion, and half the walls had collapsed. Ah Bai and Hu Po were currently standing on the beam as they trembled in horror, evidently having suffered a huge shock.

Greatly alarmed, Lin Xuanzhi looked around and saw that underneath a broken table lay an intact Yan Tianhen.

“Ah Hen!” Lin Xuanzhi’s heart almost stopped beating. He flung the broken table away with his bare hands and pressed against Yan Tianhen’s neck, his face paling considerably as all the colour had drained from his face.

“Cough cough cough…” Yan Tianhen suddenly moved and started coughing like mad.

Lin Xuanzhi breathed a sigh of relief. He felt like he had made a trip to the gates of hell before coming back to life again.

Yan Tianhen got up from the floor with Lin Xuanzhi’s support. His face was covered in soot, and only his pair of big eyes could be seen.

Most of the hair on his head was even burnt.

Lin Xuanzhi’s heart ached greatly and he drew Yan Tianhen close to hug him tight. He spoke hoarsely, “Ah Hen, are you insistent on scaring Gege to death? You scared Gege to death, how could you scare me like that?”

Yan Tianhen had gotten a fright at first and hadn’t snapped out of his daze yet when he was suddenly frightened by Lin Xuanzhi’s reaction as well.

But this time, he quickly pulled back his mind, which was still wandering, and hugged Lin Xuanzhi back. He nudged against Lin Xuanzhi, “I’m okay, Dage, just that my furnace exploded. It didn’t hurt me much, these clothes blocked all of the impact…Dage, don’t worry.”

Lin Xuanzhi took a deep breath to calm the intense emotions of interchanging sorrow and joy he felt.

He held Yan Tianhen in his arms and didn’t let go, simply remaining silent such that no one knew what he was thinking.

Guests who were awakened were already crowding outside Yan Tianhen’s room. The inn’s boss rushed over with a few waiters as well, and called out–

“What’s the matter? What happened?”

“Aiya oh my God, how did the room become like this?”

“Did something go wrong during cultivation?”

Yan Tianhen could feel Lin Xuanzhi tremble almost imperceptibly and tears pooled in his eyes instantly. He sobbed, “It’s all Ah Hen’s fault, Ah Hen shouldn’t have tried to refine pills in secret, I shouldn’t have blown up the room, I shouldn’t have let Dage worry…wuwuwu…”

Lin Xuanzhi’s heart ached when he heard Yan Tianhen sobbing. He realised that he had overreacted, which influenced Yan Tianhen’s mood, so he immediately restrained himself and pulled Yan Tianhen’s small face. He took out a handkerchief and helped Yan Tianhen wipe off the pieces of gold and furnace dust from his face, then said quietly to placate him, “Ah Hen, don’t cry, Dage has no intention of blaming you.”

Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi with teary eyes and pursed his lips. “But I blew up the pill furnace you gave me.”

“The pill furnace doesn’t matter much, Dage will craft a few more for you. Ah Hen can blow up as many of them as you want.”

“But…” Yan Tianhen looked at the debris both within and outside the room, as well as the ruined walls and felt as if his heart got stabbed. “I blew up the room, but we were penniless in the first place, waahhh…”

Lin Xuanzhi took a deep breath. “The Lin family is rich, it’s okay.”

Lin Liuchun’s long hair was let down and cast a glance at the rest without any regard for his image. “What are you all looking at me for? The money is all with Lin Xuanzhi, anyone who wants compensation for the damages can go look for him. All right, I’m going to sleep, everyone’s dismissed, dismissed.”

Lin Xuanzhi closed his eyes, “Don’t refine pills anymore, Ah Hen, we won’t refine pills anymore.”

Compared to refining pills, Lin Xuanzhi only hoped that Yan Tianhen could stay safe and sound.

One must know, Lin Xuanzhi wasn’t overreacting. A lot of alchemists would suffer grievous injuries while refining pills because of the explosion of their furnaces, and some may even die as a result. This was absolutely not a joke!

“But…” Yan Tianhen hesitated for a moment and relaxed his right fist that had been clenched from the start. He extended it towards Lin Xuanzhi and said, “I managed to refine a pill!”

Lin Xuanzhi looked at the smooth medicinal pill that was emitting a faint golden light and medicinal fragrance, actually becoming stunned for a moment.

The unhappy guests outside who had been startled awake in the middle of the night were also all stunned.

Had they just witnessed the birth of an alchemist?

Lin Liuchun, who was on his way back, paused, then turned around and strode back towards Yan Tianhen’s room.

With a wave of Lin Liuchun’s hand, the medicinal pill seemed to be pulled by an invisible string and hovered in the air before landing in Lin Liuchun’s hand.

Lin Liuchun’s eyes widened as he looked at it carefully, then received a shock and couldn’t stop himself from blurting out, “Primary-level medicinal pill, a first-class top-grade foundation stage pill!”

“First-class top-grade?”

“Foundation stage pill?!”

“Hss–” Someone sucked in a breath of cold air and couldn’t help but cry in surprise, “How could it be?! It’s impossible for alchemists who aren’t at the primary-level to refine foundation stage medicinal pills!”

Everyone could hardly tell if Yan Tianhen was an alchemist in the first place, let alone a primary-level one.

And if he was a primary-level alchemist, then so be it, but he managed to refine a first-class top-grade foundation pill so easily!

One must know, amidst the first-class, second-class and third-class primary-level medicinal pills, first-class is the best, whereas third-class is the worst; top-grade is the best, while low-grade is the worst. It was similar to crafting; for the alchemist path, first-class top-grade pills are the rarest, and first-class top-grade foundation pills are called “Primary-level Sacred Pills”.

Not only would one be able to reach their Foundation Stage with a 100% success rate after consuming ordinary foundation pills, but there would also be no side effects at all, and it could also remove all impurities remaining in the body. It was impossible to buy such a pill on the market.

The crowd was stunned. Lin Liuchun was stunned, and even Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t help but stare at Yan Tianhen in disbelief.

Yan Tianhen scratched his head and buried his head in Lin Xuanzhi’s embrace somewhat shyly. He wasn’t used to being watched by so many people.

Lin Xuanzhi rubbed Yan Tianhen’s head, feeling rather conflicted. He turned around to look at the surrounding spectators, “I apologise for today, please charge your bills for tea and drinks tomorrow to my account as my apology for today’s disturbance.”

He then turned to the innkeeper, who was dumbstruck, “Today’s losses will be borne by me.”

Right after he spoke, every guest who had snapped out of their dazes began expressing how they didn’t mind such a tiny accident at all one after another.

“Craftsman Lin, don’t mention it. It’s common for alchemists to blow up their furnaces after all.”

“Yeah, what money for tea and drinks? Saying such words would just be mocking us, we’re the ones who weren’t sleeping soundly enough and disturbed this small…alchemist in his refinement.”

“Yeah yeah, how may I address this small alchemist? I thought this small alchemist was unordinary a few days ago, and he really is an extraordinary person of exceptional talent.”

“No no, this room isn’t worth much money. Craftsman Lin is being too polite by saying that.”

Lin Xuanzhi just wanted to twitch his mouth. Aren’t these people overexaggerating their reactions a little?

Yan Tianhen was so frightened by the shower of sudden praises that his heart beat violently. He buried his head even deeper into Lin Xuanzhi’s embrace and even his ears turned red.

“Ya, the small alchemist is even turning shy, he’s so cute.” A female cultivator covered her mouth and laughed.

“From the looks of it, he’s still a child.”

“He managed to refine such an amazing medicinal pill even though he’s so young, I’m sure he will have boundless prospects in the future.”

“I’m afraid it won’t be long before this small alchemist becomes a big shot with a resounding reputation.”

“A craftsman and an alchemist, and they are even of heaven-defying levels. The Lin family will be exhibiting their impressive might this time ah.”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone started to look at those from the Lin family respectfully.

The Lin family pupils, who were still somewhat upset at having been awakened in the middle of the night, suddenly turned into the objects of envy by everyone else, so all of them suddenly felt pleased and proud in an instant.

And where did this sense of honour from being part of the Lin family come from?

“I envy you guys so much.” A pupil who was also from a third-rate family sighed, “With such reliable backers, it would be strange if the Lin family didn’t launch a strong counterattack.”

When Lin Zezhi heard this, he suddenly felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

He seemed to understand what Lin Xuanzhi meant when he talked about the family’s honour.

It’s only when the Lin family becomes powerful that the Lin family pupils can truly stand upright and obtain respect and even better treatment.

The Lin family pupils looked at one another in succession, all of them with more or less the same thought in mind.

Lin Dong felt a bit guilty, “I bad mouthed Yan Tianhen quite a bit before and regarded him as a useless trash who only knew how to ride on coattails. I didn’t expect him to be a sage who kept himself well-hidden ah.”

Lin Cheng, who was usually quite reticent, said, “Yan Tianhen is a part of the Lin family after all, why bad mouth one of our own?”

“Yeah, don’t judge a book by its cover.” Lin Yao sighed as well.

“Alright alright, let’s all go back to our rooms.” Lin Liuchun spoke to the Lin family pupils, “All of you are to support Lin Xuanzhi in his competition tomorrow, so wake up earlier. If anyone dares to be absent, I’ll mark it down in my little book.”

Everyone from the Lin family, “…”

A few Lin family pupils who hadn’t reached their Foundation Stage kept glancing at the precious medicinal pill in Lin Liuchun’s hands.

Lin Liuchun raised an eyebrow, “What are you looking at? There’s only one pill. Go and fight amongst yourselves, and this will be given to whoever wins. Or you could talk nicely to Tianhen and see who he’s willing to give it to ba.”

Due to this eagerness to talk privately with Yan Tianhen, Lin Xuanzhi said, “We’ll talk about matters regarding the medicinal pill tomorrow. It’s late now, so everyone should go back and rest first.”

The surrounding spectators looked reluctant to leave as they kept staring at Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen — was he joking? If they didn’t try to suck up now, were they supposed to wait until everyone left and the matter was blown over before they tried to get close to them again?

They probably only had this one chance to stay in the same inn as these two. By the time they saw these two again, they would probably have to wait for a crowd to be cleared before they could seek another audience with them!

“Craftsman Lin, I’m the Young Master of the Fang family from the South Continent’s Blowing Fire City… would you like to do business with us?” A young man with delicate features took the lead and asked an expectant gaze.

Lin Xuanzhi cast a glance at him and remembered that this person was the first third-rate family young master who had responded to him at the gates of Sky Peak City, so he nodded, “Young Master Fang, we can do business together of course, but let’s talk about it tomorrow.”

After getting Lin Xuanzhi’s verbal promise, Young Master Fang instantly felt elated. He smiled as he clasped his hands, “Then I won’t disturb the two of you from resting.”

He turned around to say to those from the Fang family around him, “Brothers, follow he’s calling himself their grandfather hahaha back. No one’s allowed to leave until the cocks crow tomorrow; those who do so will be disciplined accordingly.”

“Yes!” Those from the Fang family followed their young master obediently back to their rooms.

Lin Xuanzhi, “…”

Yan Tianhen, “…”

They couldn’t tell that the delicate-looking Young Master Fang could be so imposing in dealing with affairs, and even called himself a ‘Ye’.

“Tsktsk, you truly can’t judge a book by its cover!”

After the Fang family got a promise, the other families naturally wanted to get close to Lin Xuanzhi as well. The lure of a first-class top-grade foundation stage pill was truly too great.

The Foundation Stage can be said to be a demarcation line on one’s cultivation path. It’s only when someone successfully reaches their Foundation Stage that they could be truly considered to have entered Dao, and it’s only when one stabilises their Foundation Stage that they could walk even farther on their path of Dao in the future.

—