[THE LIN FAMILY]
As the sun began to rise, signaling the start of a new day, as well as shining a light on the amount of damage and scale of the previous conflict, with barely few buildings still remaining intact, with most turning to rubble scattered all over, some covered in blood.
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
The Lin family members, despite having suffered a near extinction event, all the men could be seen bustling all over the place, carrying away the dead bodies for disposal, clearing away the smashed rubble, and rebuilding their various courtyards, with the boys helping them out, while the women and girls could be seen salvaging all the cooking instruments and searching for ingredients to begin preparing for breakfast.
Inside Lin Feng's rundown courtyard, despite having also faced damages, it somehow survived total destruction and was still livable. In the inner room, Lin Feng sat cross-legged in a cultivation stance. He, despite being a member of the clan, was not involved in the renovation of the clan due to the family rules, which say that the young master of the clan enjoys the same privileges as the elders of the clan, such as resources, authority, and is excluded from manual labor. So even if everyone is unhappy because he has no cultivation, the clan gathering has yet to take place and he has yet to be removed from his status. According to rules, he is still young patriarch, so he, like the elders, did not participate in the activities.
Suddenly, his eyelids trembled slightly. He opened his eyes and shook his stiff body while letting out a breath of turbid air. He began to investigate the results of his manual all-night healing. He applied the system perception function to check. Seeing the still several disfigured and swollen martial meridians, he furrowed his brows.
"How could it be? I have clearly been absorbing Qi and feeding it there—how is it still like this, system?"
[DING! YES, HOST.]
[THIS IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF FORCEFULLY USING THE DEVOURING ABILITY WITH YOUR LOW STRENGTH.]
[IT CHANGED AND RECONSTRUCTED YOUR CORE. IN FACT, THIS IS ALREADY THE BEST OUTCOME. IF NOT FOR THE SYSTEM FORCEFULLY CHANGING TO ACCOMMODATE THE POWER, FORGET ABOUT A BIT OF SWOLLEN AND REARRANGED MERIDIANS—I'M AFRAID THE HOST WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO KEEP HIS LIFE.]
Hearing the system's words, he suddenly realized he was lucky to be alive at all and was being ungrateful.
"I know, system. Thank you."
The system made a faint ding of acknowledgment.
"But how else do I heal?"
Then he clapped his hands as he remembered something.
"That's right, I can use alchemy pills to heal them. How did I forget?" he said excitedly. Then his next thoughts were like a bucket of freezing cold water poured on him.
"Although alchemy pills are good, they are very expensive. I would first have to acquire the materials, which are too expensive, and if the pill is of a higher grade, then corresponding materials could be very rare."
"Even if I manage to get these, I still have to find an alchemist willing to refine them for me. I heard alchemists can be very eccentric and have weird hobbies and may not necessarily ask for money as payment."
"What if I meet one that demands something weird for payment?"
He shuddered as if he had a cold at his train of thoughts. Then he took a breath to calm himself down.
"No, I must find a way."
He strengthened his resolve. Then he remembered something else again.
"Wait, system, is this a new day? Don't I have a sign-in opportunity?"
[DING! YES. THE HOST HAS A SIGN-IN AVAILABLE. WOULD HOST LIKE TO SIGN IN? YES/NO.]
"Is there a way to automatically sign in every day without me having to remember?"
[YES. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SET A 24-HOUR NOTIFICATION?]
"Yes."
He breathed a sigh of relief seeing the option available.
"Now sign in."
[SETTING COMPLETE. SIGNING IN NOW.]
[CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HOST FOR RECEIVING
REWARD: A CERTAIN GREAT ALCHEMIST KNOWLEDGE (PARTIAL).]
Seeing the rewards, he was stunned as though struck by lightning. It took him a few moments, then he recovered, laughing loudly, brimming with joy.
"Isn't this like wanting to sleep and someone provides a pillow?"
Then he completely recovered, frowning slightly.
"But is there such a coincidence? I need healing pills, then suddenly I get alchemy inheritance. System, did you do something?"
He questioned but got no reply.
He shrugged his shoulders. Seeing the system had no intention of answering him, he hurriedly checked the reward out.
[REWARD: A CERTAIN GREAT ALCHEMIST KNOWLEDGE (PARTIAL): PARTIAL KNOWLEDGE OF AN UNKNOWN LEGENDARY ALCHEMIST OF A GREAT ERA, INCLUDING ALL HIS SKILLS, PILL RECIPES, AND KNOWLEDGE OF GRADE ONE TO GRADE FOUR PILLS.]
After getting the description, Lin Feng couldn't help but suck in another mouthful of cold air.
"Even if it's just grade four, I heard even the president of the Qinghe Alchemist Association is only a third grade."
"So I'll be one grade ahead of him after receiving it. System, quickly fuse it—what are you waiting for?" he said impatiently.
[BEGINNING 10%...50%...70%...]
Hearing the system countdown reach full level, he instinctively clenched his entire body, preparing for an onslaught of pain, but instead felt an extreme pleasure wash over him.
"Hmmm!"
He moaned as every cell in his body trembled in ecstasy while receiving the information.
Fortunately for him, he was soon done with receiving.
"HUFF!" "HUFF!"
"Fortunately, it is over. Any longer and I would have had to change my robe," he coughed embarrassingly, then tossed the previous incident aside to check his gains.
According to the memories, alchemist pills of various ranks are divided into various grades: inferior grade, medium grade, superior grade, and top grade pills, with the pill ranks being 1 to 9, corresponding to the cultivation realms starting from Martial Warrior rank, with 1 being the smallest rank, with the one below rank one being an alchemy apprentice, which is not considered an alchemist at all. Also contained in the information were pill recipes such as Qi Gathering Pills, Qi Quenching Pills, and other pills of various applications. In short, although he previously had no knowledge of pills or how to refine them, he has a feeling he could now refine various top-grade rank 4 pills.
Feeling this change, he was even more ecstatic.
"Haha, it seems I've picked up a treasure this time," he thought, then frowned as he realized a problem.
"According to the memories, one requirement for becoming an alchemist is having fire and wood spirit roots. I have wood and lightning roots—how can I make pills?"
His previous ecstasy vanished at this moment. He thought for a while but couldn't figure out a solution, so he decided to ask the system.
"System, do you know of a way to fix this?"
[DING-