An Urgent Matter for the Medicine Gang
After the visitor gave a brief account of the situation, Lin Ming couldn't help but smile wryly. However, Lin Ming didn't linger and soon arrived at the Medicine Gang's headquarters.
Upon seeing Lin Ming's arrival, everyone in the Medicine Gang breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment, they all had only one thought in their minds: the Medicine Gang's headquarters had been saved.
"Hehe, Lin Ming, you're back!" Zi Yan was just like Little Girl her age, with the same expression she had when she saw her brother return. She skipped and hopped over to Lin Ming's side, smiling and talking to Lin Ming with her big, dark eyes looking at Lin Ming.
"You!" Lin Ming could only say helplessly to Zi Yan's expression. Reaching out and patting Zi Yan's head, Lin Ming said, "Zi Yan, thank you for establishing my authority in the Inner Academy. This allowed me to enter the Inner Academy smoothly."
"Lin Ming, I told you not to touch my head, or I'll stunt my growth." Zi Yan's eyes were blurry with tears, and her voice was very soft, almost devoid of any intimidation.
Lin Ming knew that although Zi Yan appeared strong on the outside, she was actually very soft-hearted and longed for recognition from others.
This can be seen both from the original novel and from the time Lin Ming spent with Zi Yan.
In the original story, Zi Yan was the one who found most of the high-grade medicinal herbs in the Inner Academy. Part of the reason for finding these herbs was that Zi Yan needed to consume them to accumulate power and break through her limits, thus overcoming the fact that she had accidentally eaten an immature Form-Shifting Grass and was still unable to grow up. Even after so many years, she was still the same twelve or thirteen-year -Little Girl.
However, the amount of medicinal herbs that Zi Yan consumed herself was only a small fraction of the herbs she gave to the academy; the majority of the herbs were given to the academy.
Zi Yan did this because after giving the medicinal herbs to the academy, Zi Yan could feel the gratitude of those people towards her; it was a form of recognition for Zi Yan.
Zi Yan was brought to this forest by her father when she was a child. Zi Yan herself doesn't remember how long this has been, but it's definitely more than a hundred or two hundred years.
Living alone for so long, Zi Yan, who was still weak at the time, was often bullied by other Magical Beasts. It was only because of her talent ability to travel through space that Zi Yan was able to escape from those Magical Beasts stronger than her time and time again. Without this talent ability, Zi Yan would probably have become food for some high-level Magical Beasts long ago.
She lived alone like this for an unknown amount of time. More than ten years ago, Zi Yan accidentally ate an immature Form-Shifting Grass, which allowed her to shed her beast form and transform into her current appearance.
Not long after Zi Yan took human form, the Great Elder found Zi Yan while searching for medicine and brought Zi Yan to the Inner Academy, thus ending Zi Yan's solitary life.
After enduring an unknown period of solitude, and transforming into human form, Zi Yan no longer wanted to return to that lonely life. Instead, she longed for companionship and recognition from others.
This is also why Zi Yan chose to give most of the medicinal herbs she found to the Inner Academy.
In the original novel, after Xiao Yan gained Zi Yan's approval, Zi Yan followed Xiao Yan back to the Jia Ma Empire and went to war with the Misty Cloud Sect. At that time, when Xiao Yan was in the final stage of his power, he faced an attack from the Vulture Protector, who had reached the High-Rank Dou Zong. It was Zi Yan who risked her life to block this attack.
At that time, Zi Yan had not yet reached the Dou Emperor cultivation; she was still at the Dou King cultivation. For Dou King cultivation to withstand a blow from High-Rank Dou Zong would have been extremely costly, even for Zi Yan, who was a powerful Ancient Void Dragon among Magical Beasts. It's just that this wasn't mentioned much in the original story.
The higher one's cultivation level, the greater the difference, even if it's just one star. Let alone two levels, this is something like Lin Ming's current cultivation level.
Lin Ming is only at the low-level Da Dou Shi cultivation level. If he were to find someone with the Dou Practitioner Nine Star cultivation level, Lin Ming is certain that almost no one would be able to withstand a single move from him.
Lin Ming's current cultivation level is still considered low-level. Even so, no one can withstand a single move from Lin Ming Dou Zhe two levels lower than his, let alone withstand High-Rank Dou Zong at the Dou Wang stage.
In the original novel, it is written that Zi Yan successfully blocked the attack, but think about it, with the cultivation of Dou Wang, how much would it take to successfully block an attack from a high-level Dou Ancestor Cultivation?
Lin Ming simply didn't believe that anyone could do something like this without paying a price.
These traits, as seen in the original work, reveal that Zi Yan craves recognition from others and Zi Yan no effort in treating those who do.
In reality, through his interactions with Zi Yan over the past six months, Lin Ming has gained a thorough understanding of Zi Yan, further confirming that Lin Ming craves recognition from others for Zi Yan.
If Lin Ming initially approached Zi Yan because Zi Yan could bring Zi Yan a series of benefits, Lin Ming can now say with certainty that he Zi Yan as a friend and a younger sister, not for any other advantages Zi Yan might offer.
Even if Zi Yan loses her Yao Tian and is no longer the Ancient Void Dragon, Zi Yan father is just an ordinary old man, Lin Ming's treatment of Zi Yan will not change in the same way.
Zi Yan wanted to take Medicinal Pill made from high-grade medicinal herbs, Lin Ming still willing to refine them for her, even though Lin Ming himself had to provide the herbs.
Lin Ming actually felt quite lucky to have met so many people who spared no effort in caring for him. When he was young, he had Ya Fei, who accompanied Lin Ming through the most difficult period, and now he had Zi Yan.
To others, Zi Yan is a Brute Force King, but to Lin Ming, Zi Yan's just a gluttonous little sister. And Zi Yan can show her most genuine and relaxed side when she's with Lin Ming. For example, when Zi Yan said that Lin Ming touching his hair would stunt his growth, it means that this isn't the first time Lin Ming has done something like this.
But even now, Zi Yan and Lin Ming still have a very good relationship. If anyone else dared to touch Zi Yan's head, they'd probably be dead by now.
The members of the Medicine Gang were all stunned and speechless upon seeing Zi Yan's appearance. After all, none of them could have imagined that this Brute Force King, who could injure someone ranked in the top ten with a single punch, would have the expression of a Little Girl.
Aside from being shocked by Zi Yan's current expression, the members of the Medicine Gang also reached the pinnacle of their admiration for Lin Ming in that instant. Even if the Great Elder were standing before them now, the person they respected most would still be Lin Ming.
"Alright, Zi Yan, let's go upstairs and make you some Medicinal Pill! I've come up with a new flavor this time, I guarantee it'll taste even better than the previous ones." Lin Ming said with a smile, ruffling Zi Yan's purple hair.
"Mmm, okay." Zi Yan nodded, Zi Yan smile still bright even with her eyes misty with tears in them.
He led Zi Yan into the house, and then they arrived at Lin Ming's room.
After bringing Zi Yan to his room, Lin Ming told Zi Yan to find a place to sit. Lin Ming then went to an empty spot, and with a flash of his Storage Ring, a crimson Medicinal Cauldron with gold gilding appeared on the empty spot.
"Zi Yan, bring me the medicinal herbs you want to refine," Lin Ming said. Immediately, a Storage Ring flew towards Lin Ming.
After receiving the flying Storage Ring, Lin Ming looked at the medicinal herbs inside, took a few that were useful to him, and then stretched out one hand, placing his palm on one of the fire holes of the Crimson Flow Gold Cauldron. He circulated his Dou Qi, urging the Flaming Flame Gold Earth Heart Fire to travel along his meridians to his palm, and then enter the Medicinal Cauldron.
Within the Red Gold and gold Medicinal Cauldron, a flame rose, its core golden and its outer flame blue.
After the flame appeared, the temperature inside the Crimson Flow Gold Cauldron was rising rapidly, and in no time, the Medicinal Cauldron reached a level suitable for alchemy.
Lin Ming hadn't expected the Crimson Flow Gold Cauldron to reach a stable level for alchemy so quickly. Although he knew that the Flame Gold Flame had improved in all aspects after mutating into the Flame Gold Earth Heart Fire, the fact that the Medicinal Cauldron could reach a stable level for alchemy so quickly was still beyond Lin Ming expectations.
The Flame Gold Earth Heart Fire is performing better than Lin Ming expected. However, this is a good thing after all, and Lin Ming is naturally happy to see this situation, so he didn't hesitate and directly took out one of the medicinal herbs that Zi Yan needed to refine, put it into the Medicinal Cauldron, and began to refine it.
After refining the medicinal herb to near completion, Lin Ming took out a pale purple fruit from his Storage Ring. Although the fruit did not contain any energy, it tasted quite good. When eaten, it first had a minty coolness mixed with lemon flavor, followed by a burst of icy sweetness. Even Lin Ming found the fruit quite delicious.
The fruit Lin Ming took out was one he had encountered during the previous Fire Energy Hunt Competition. Lin Ming had picked some of it then, intending to use it to help Zi Yan refine Medicinal Pill later.
Lin Ming then added the fruit to the Medicinal Cauldron, mixing it with the medicinal herbs he had just refined. Lin Ming then channeled his Soul Power into the Medicinal Cauldron, condensing the mixture of herbs and fruit into a shape resembling Sugar Pill. The medicinal herb was then successfully refined and extracted from the Medicinal Cauldron by Lin Ming, who placed it into Jade Bottle.
Two hours later, Lin Ming refined all the medicinal herbs that Zi Yan had brought into Medicinal Pill of various flavors, and then placed the Jade Bottle into Zi Yan's now empty Storage Ring.
Upon seeing that Lin Ming had finished refining the pills, Zi Yan could no longer resist her craving for the delicious Medicinal Pill. She immediately went to Lin Ming's side, gazing longingly at the Storage Ring in Lin Ming's hand filled with Medicinal Pill.
"Take it!" Lin Ming handed the Storage Ring to Zi Yan and said.
"Hehe, Lin Ming, you're so great!" Zi Yan took the Storage Ring, eagerly took out the new flavored Medicinal Pill, put one in her mouth, and mumbled something indistinctly.
"Zi Yan, from now on I will cultivate in the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower for five days, and then come out to rest for two days. Zi Yan, next time you come to me for medicine refining, please choose the time when I am resting. Don't think like you did today and scare the people of the Medicine Gang." Lin Ming said to Zi Yan at this time.
The Medicine Gang treated Lin Ming very well, so Lin Ming also considered their needs.
"Okay, I've got it." Zi Yan nodded her little head like a chick pecking at rice.