What is a Monster?

"Brother Chen is right. Then I'll accept them!"

Qing Tan thought it over, but in the end she still took the two spirit medicines, the Crimson Ginseng and the Golden Jade Branch. She had not forgotten how hard Lin Dong had worked before to break through. If he had had spirit medicines like these, it definitely would have been much easier.

She had not really cultivated before, so naturally she was a little worried that her cultivation aptitude might be terrible.

With spirit medicines like these helping her, she should be able to reach Body Tempering Stage Three very quickly, right?

As for when she reached Body Tempering Stage Four, they could talk about the rest then.

"Brother Chen, come on, come on."

By now, Lin Dong had already called his parents, Lin Xiao and Liu Yan, back from outside.

Lin Chen looked over and saw the people behind Lin Dong. The woman looked to be around thirty. She was gentle and warm, dressed rather simply, with a beautiful face and smooth long hair that had been neatly combed and draped over her shoulders, lightly covering her lovely back.

The man looked somewhat weathered, as if he had been through a great deal. He seemed to be in his thirties as well, dressed thinly, his face faintly pale. There was still a bit of sharpness between his brows, and from time to time he coughed twice.

The two of them walked quite quickly.

"Ah Chen, if I'd known you were coming, Third Uncle would've prepared in advance!"

Lin Xiao warmly came up to greet him and said, "This time, you can't be like the last few times. We finally made so much good food, and before you'd even had more than a few bites, you ran off."

Liu Yan covered her mouth and laughed softly, chiming in, "That's right. You have no idea—those few days, Dong'er and Qing Tan stared at all the leftovers until their heads hurt."

Lin Dong and Qing Tan both nodded in strong agreement at that moment.

Although Liu Yan had thought of many ways to turn those leftovers into all kinds of different dishes, and they had all tasted pretty good, there were only so many things going back and forth. It really had given Lin Dong and Qing Tan a serious headache.

"Third Uncle, Aunt, just keep it simple. There's no need to make such a big fuss. A few home-cooked dishes will be enough."

Hearing this, Lin Chen could not help feeling a little embarrassed, and he quickly greeted them.

"This time, I definitely won't run off."

No matter what, he had to stay here for at least one night.

He still had to study the Ancestral Stone together with Lin Dong, so naturally he would not leave so easily.

Besides, he himself was only an orphan.

The time he had spent with Lin Zhentian could be called long, but also short.

After all, the other party was the head of the Lin Family. The Lin Family had many businesses of all sizes in Qingyang Town, and he had to devote a lot of attention to them. So naturally, he did not have particularly much energy to spare for Lin Chen, and they had relatively few chances to meet.

Most importantly, it simply could not compare to the atmosphere here with Lin Xiao and Liu Yan.

"That's good, that's good."

Lin Xiao and Liu Yan exchanged a glance, and joyful expressions appeared on their faces. In that case, they really had to make more dishes this time.

After all, there had been quite a few good things happening recently, so they could use this chance to celebrate them all together.

"Dong'er, take good care of your Brother Chen. If anything happens, tell Mother right away, understand?"

After thinking for a moment, Liu Yan continued, "Your father and I will go get busy first. Once the meal is ready, we'll call you. Go play. Young people all have their own interests, and we can't really get involved."

Lin Dong had long been waiting for Liu Yan to say this. He quickly promised, "Don't worry, Mother. Even if Brother Chen wants to leave, Qing Tan and I won't let him!"

And so, with Lin Dong and Qing Tan pulling him along, Lin Chen was dragged into the room, without even enough time to leave behind a single sentence.

Liu Yan looked at Lin Xiao beside her and said softly with a hint of reproach, "That Dong'er... isn't he a little too impatient?"

"Maybe he's eager to discuss cultivation?"

Lin Xiao pondered for a moment, then continued, "I heard before that Ah Chen had already reached Body Tempering Stage Six. I wonder if he's gone even further now. The Clan Tournament is coming up soon, so Dong'er really does need to learn from him. If he has the chance to reach another level, that would naturally be excellent."

Liu Yan nodded and replied, "I hope so. Qing Tan has also been a little unusual lately, and that Lin Hong wants to use this Clan Tournament as an opportunity to propose marriage to Father. Who knows what we should do in the future?"

"Hmph!"

Lin Xiao raised his fist, as big as a sandbag, and said coldly, "If he dares, I'll beat him so badly he can forget about marrying anyone for the rest of his life!"

Inside the room.

"Brother Chen, is this how I start cultivating?"

Under Lin Chen and Lin Dong's gazes, Qing Tan had already begun cultivating with her legs crossed.

However, after closing her eyes for a while, she opened them slightly and secretly looked at Lin Chen and Lin Dong's reactions, afraid that she had done it wrong.

"Right, just cultivate according to this method."

Lin Chen had already taught Qing Tan the basic cultivation method.

For now, he was just letting her get started.

"As for this First-grade Spirit Medicine, the Crimson Ginseng, I checked your current physical condition. You can take it directly at Body Tempering Stage One. As for the Second-grade Spirit Medicine, the Golden Jade Branch, you can take it at the second stage, or when you reach the third stage. There's also a chance it will let you break straight through to the fourth stage."

Lin Chen explained in relatively careful detail the things she would encounter when first beginning cultivation.

Beside him, when Lin Dong saw this, he could not help clicking his tongue.

If he had had spirit medicines like these before, why would he ever have needed to worry about that Lin Shan?

Wouldn't he have killed him off in minutes?

However, he was already past the stage where he needed Crimson Ginseng and Golden Jade Branches, so he was not particularly envious.

The red liquid that dripped from the Mysterious Stone Talisman every five days was even more potent than a Third-grade Spirit Medicine, which meant Lin Dong did not need to worry about lacking cultivation resources for the time being.

At that moment, Qing Tan continued to persevere according to the method Lin Chen had taught her.

However, before long, she opened her eyes again and asked delightedly, "Brother Chen, Brother Chen, look, hurry and take a look. Have I reached Body Tempering Stage One?"

She stretched out her fair arm, only to see small patches of dead skin appearing on its surface.

"Ah! How could this happen? You can't look, you can't look!"

When Qing Tan saw this, the joy on her face instantly vanished. She hurriedly pulled her sleeve back down, and after seeing Lin Chen and Lin Dong staring straight at her, she quickly cried out in a delicate voice.

She had originally been thinking she might receive praise. But in the end, sob, sob, sob—this was so embarrassing.

Qing Tan covered her face, her spirits low.

"Qing Tan, you..."

Lin Chen came back to himself and said with a smile, "How is that Body Tempering Stage One? You've clearly already reached Body Tempering Stage Four!"

"Right, right! How did you do that?!"

Lin Dong was stunned. They were both cultivating in the Body Tempering Stage, and he had worked so hard, so how had Qing Tan, under Lin Chen's guidance, reached Body Tempering Stage Four in the blink of an eye?

She had shed her skin, making it tougher than wood or stone, and her physical condition had clearly improved. These were the signs of Body Tempering Stage Four!

"I... I'm already at Body Tempering Stage Four?"

Qing Tan froze for a moment, then lowered her head and lifted her sleeve. Seeing that after the shedding, her skin had become even fairer and more delicate, she asked in confusion:

"But I remember before, Brother Lin Dong had such a hard time going from Body Tempering Stage Two to Stage Three."

Lin Dong's face instantly flushed bright red. There was really no need to remind him like that.

Back then, his situation had just been rather special.

Special circumstances called for special treatment. No need to say more.

Lin Dong pretended not to hear and turned his head to ask Lin Chen:

"Brother Chen, what's going on with Qing Tan?"