What does my ancestor's pregnancy have to do with me, a mere servant?

Lin Yuan casually put the fragment of "Hundred Forging and Thousand Hammering Technique" left by Wen Yuci into his storage bag, without rushing to comprehend it.

The most urgent task right now is to turn all the remaining nine portions of Peiyuan Pill materials into tangible resources.

For the next half day, Lin Yuan stayed glued to the alchemy furnace, completing nine batches of Qi-Nourishing Pills in one go.

As the furnace lid opened and closed, eighty-one top-grade Qi-cultivating pills filled nine jade bottles, neatly arranged on half of a stone table.

"This assembly line work is inhuman," Lin Yuan thought to himself. He forced himself to take out a top-grade Qi Condensation Pill, threw it into his mouth, and quickly closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

The night was as dark as ink, and the stars were hidden.

Suddenly, a rhythmic fluctuation of spiritual energy emanated from the protective array outside the cave.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes and casually removed the defensive light barrier.

The stone door slid open, and Lin Feilu walked in slowly.

She was bare-faced tonight, wearing an extremely plain light blue fitted dress, her long hair casually tied up with only a wooden hairpin.

The coldness and resistance on his face from the past few days were gone, and he didn't utter any harsh words.

She walked straight up to Lin Yuan and suddenly reached out her hand.

He grabbed Lin Yuan and pulled him toward the bed.

……

After an incense stick has burned.

Lin Yuan stopped.

The key to profiting from loopholes lies in sustainable development; a steady and long-term approach is essential.

Just as he was about to get up, an arm, slightly sweaty, wrapped tightly around his shoulder.

A few strands of Lin Feilu's black hair clung messily to her cheeks, and her usually aloof phoenix eyes were now filled with a defiant blush.

She stared intently at Lin Yuan, showing no sign of backing down.

"What?" Lin Yuan glanced at her.

"Continue." Lin Feilu gritted her teeth and uttered two words, her voice slightly hoarse with suppressed emotion.

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

He carefully observed Lin Feilu's expression—it wasn't the cold and restrained demeanor he displayed during the transaction, but rather as if he were struggling with something.

Who are they competing with? Li Yang?

Lao Liu knew perfectly well what was going on, but he didn't say a word about it.

This ice queen is giving away gold coins; why not take advantage of it?

……

Two hours later.

The night was as dark as ink.

Lin Yuan leaned against the cold stone wall, his gaze sweeping over the small golden characters that had appeared in his eyes.

Available attribute points: 788

Although the physical exertion was quite significant, looking at the hundreds of attribute points he had gained, he felt that this was a huge win.

Lin Yuan grabbed an outer robe and put it on, then casually took out a heavy jade bottle from his storage bag and placed it next to Lin Feilu.

"A top-grade Qi-Nourishing Pill." Lin Yuan said in a casual tone, "After finishing this bottle, it will be enough for you to step into the mid-Foundation Establishment stage."

Lin Feilu didn't waste any words and simply put the jade bottle away.

Lin Yuan strolled to the desk and poured himself a cup of warm spiritual tea.

"The Saintess competition is about to begin. I need to refine a little gadget, so I need to ask my senior sister for help."

"What kind of busy?" Lin Feilu frowned slightly.

Lin Yuan put down his teacup, his expression turning serious: "I want to refine the Yin Sha Nine Nether Thunder Pearl, a top-grade magic artifact that can only be used once. It is extremely powerful."

He abruptly changed the subject, getting straight to the point: "I've prepared all the other materials, but the refining process requires absorbing extremely cold, yin energy from underground. The outer sect has absolutely no such substance. Do you know where within the sect such yin energy gathers?"

Lin Feilu fell silent, a deep sense of apprehension flashing in her phoenix eyes. After a moment, she spoke in a low voice: "Xuanming Valley."

"This is an abandoned forbidden area in the back mountain of the sect," Lin Feilu explained. "Deep underground, it connects to a top-grade Yin vein. It's where the sect exiles and executes serious criminals. Over hundreds of years, death energy and resentment have accumulated and lingered, forming an extremely dense Yin Sha Eye."

"However, the sect disciples exiled here are all vicious and wicked people, so it would be very dangerous to encounter them."

"Moreover, the entrances and exits are guarded by disciples of the sect, so ordinary people cannot get in."

"Can you go in here?" Lin Yuan asked Lin Feilu directly.

"My master should know the uncle who is in charge of this place. Wait for my news." Lin Feilu stood up, although her legs were trembling slightly.

"Okay, I'll get everything ready for you," Lin Yuan agreed readily.

Lin Feilu said no more and stepped into the deep night.

The cave returned to deathly silence.

Lin Yuan withdrew his gaze and took out the fragment of the "Hundred Forging and Thousand Hammering Technique" that Wen Yuci had given him.

Having found the source of the Yin energy, the next crucial step is to improve one's weapon-refining skills.

The requirements for the internal array patterns and the strength of the outer shell of the Thunder Bead, a dangerous product, are extremely stringent.

Lin Yuan placed the jade slip on his forehead and probed it with his divine sense.

Countless basic fire-controlling forging incantations and essential techniques for refining spiritual materials flooded into my mind. Although it was an incomplete text, it was sufficient as an introduction.

A moment later, the golden characters in Lin Yuan's eyes suddenly refreshed.

[Weapon Master: Novice: 0/10 (Points can be added)]

"Add some points!"

[Weapon Master: Rank 9: 0/100 (Points can be added)]

Remaining attribute points: 778

Lin Yuan's mind exploded. The muscle memory of tens of thousands of hammer blows and the insights gained from countless times controlling spiritual fire to extract the essence of minerals were forcibly etched into his soul like a flood. He developed an extremely terrifying intuition about the texture of materials and the conduction path of formations in metals.

"continue!"

Another hundred attribute points deducted.

[Weapon Master: Rank 8: 0/1000 (Points can be added)]

This time, what entered his mind was no longer the brute force memory of basic forging, but something more subtle—the subtle vibration frequencies emitted by different metals when the spirit fire cuts through the vein texture; the critical angle at which the spiritual power and the metal lattice meshed the moment the array pattern was engraved into the inner wall of the artifact blank.

With his eyes closed, his fingers trembled slightly involuntarily, as if he were holding an imaginary carving knife, carving lightning patterns stroke by stroke on the inner wall of a non-existent red copper bead.

The last trace of information dissipated. Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes, exhaled a breath of stale air, and fell into a deep sleep.

The midday sun had already shone through the cave window onto Lin Yuan's face.

Lin Yuan rolled over, and his bones cracked a series of sounds.

He rubbed his temples, sat up, and drank a pot of cooled spiritual tea before feeling his mind return to normal.

Lin Yuan deftly donned a black cloak and a wooden mask, suppressed his aura with the Formless Transformation Technique, and headed straight for the Pill Treasure Pavilion.

Second floor private seating area.

Today, Li Yang wore a dark purple fitted long dress, her hair loosely tied up with a jade hairpin, with a few wisps falling beside her ears. Her makeup was light, but it only enhanced her mature womanly charm.

When Lin Yuan pushed the door open and came in, Li Yang was looking down at a catalog of spiritual materials prices.

Hearing the sound, he looked up and his gaze lingered on the familiar wooden mask for less than a moment before naturally looking away.

"We're not too late," Li Yang said calmly, her voice impeccable.

But Lin Yuan noticed that she had deliberately changed into that high-necked, dark purple, fitted long dress today, the neckline completely covering her chin. It was a stark contrast to her intentional or unintentional alluring demeanor during their previous meetings.

Without exchanging pleasantries, Lin Yuan laid out the jade bottles from his storage bag in a row.

Eighteen batches of top-grade Qi-nourishing pills, totaling one hundred and sixty-two pills.

In addition to the remaining mid-grade Qi Condensation Pills.

Li Yang scanned the entries one by one with his divine sense, his face remaining expressionless, but he flipped through the ledgers two points faster.

"The Qi-Nourishing Pill is priced at 300 spirit stones each, and the Qi-Condensing Pill is priced at market price..." She flicked her fingers across the abacus a few times and announced a number, "which will just offset all the material debts you previously owed."

Lin Yuan nodded.

The money and goods are settled, and the accounts are cleared.

Li Yang put the last few jade bottles into the restricted storage compartment behind the counter.

"To be honest, I still don't understand how someone like you could have stayed in the outer sect farming for ten years."

Lin Yuan sensed the probing in her words.

"Farming is good, it's peaceful," he casually remarked.

Li Yang turned her head and her gaze fell on the wooden mask.

The Core Formation stage cultivator did not project her divine sense outwards, but her mature and alluring eyes churned with extremely complex emotions. Curiosity, apprehension, and something else indescribable were all mixed together.

She quickly looked away, picked up her teacup, and took a sip.

"There's something I can give you, consider it a bonus."

"Sima Duan recently acquired a 'Heaven-Burning Meridian-Continuing Pill' through external channels."

Lin Yuan paused in his movements.

"After taking this pill, a cultivator's internal mana can be continuously replenished within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, almost equivalent to unlimited spiritual power. The effects of the medicine will dissipate on their own after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, causing negligible damage to the meridians."

Li Yang looked up at him. "This kind of pill is extremely rare. Its main ingredients are the heart of a thousand-year-old fire spirit mushroom and the Nine-Turn Profound Yang Dew. This stuff is extremely precious."

"Since Sima Duan has gone to such great lengths, do I need to remind you who this pill is for?"

A stick of incense contains boundless spiritual power, plus high-level corpse refining and top-grade magic artifacts.

Lin Yuan quickly went through the combination of punches in his mind.

What does unlimited spiritual power mean? It means that Jiang Huaiyue can activate the corpse refining technique and unleash powerful magical weapon attacks without regard to cost, while maintaining full-power protective spiritual light.

This style of play has no weaknesses. In a head-on confrontation, Lin Feilu would undoubtedly lose.

Unless... within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, in a way that she wouldn't have time to react, she and her corpse are taken away in one fell swoop.

The blueprint for the Yin Sha Nine Nether Thunder Pearl automatically appeared in his mind.

It wasn't just one or two, but a saturation effect of several or more detonating simultaneously. Faced with overwhelming firepower, even infinite spiritual power had to kneel.

But the prerequisite is that he must first obtain enough Yin energy.

"Thank you, Steward Li." Lin Yuan stood up. "Also, I'll take the materials for another twenty batches of Qi Cultivation Pills and ten batches of Qi Condensation Pills."

Li Yang didn't ask any further questions and instructed his maid, Xiao Yu, to prepare goods in the storeroom.

The materials were packed into a storage bag, and Lin Yuan took it and weighed it in his hand.

As he turned to leave, Li Yang suddenly spoke.

"Lin Yuan".

She called him by his real name.

Lin Yuan paused slightly.

Behind me came the sound of a teacup being gently placed on the stone table.

"I've already taken the first Spirit-Seizing Pill." Li Yang's voice was low, as if stating a fact unrelated to her. "The cracks in my dantian are closing up. This is the first time in thirty years that there's been any sign of them closing up."

She paused for a moment.

"...Thank you."

Lin Yuan didn't turn around, waved his hand, and pushed open the door to go downstairs.