Lin Changheng's plan was simple: alternate between one mid-grade defensive magic artifact and two low-grade offensive magic artifacts.
Besides ensuring he had enough means to stay alive, this would give him a variety of attacks.
With the terrifyingly unpredictable Fireball Technique as well, his sense of security finally improved a little.
"This one."
Lin Changheng swept his gaze over the selection and pointed at a bamboo whip Xu Xuyang had brought out.
"You have a remarkable eye, Pill Master Lin. Though this Jade Bamboo Whip is primarily offensive, it can also bind and trap enemies-a fine balance of attack and control. And it costs only seventy Spirit Stones. An excellent choice..."
With such a generous customer before him, Steward Xu Xuyang was in excellent spirits, the corners of his mouth lifting high as he offered his praise.
Lin Changheng merely smiled, took out three hundred and thirty Spirit Stones, and put away the two magic artifacts. The steward escorted him all the way to the door, then watched him leave.
He returned straight to his courtyard and methodically began refining the magic artifacts.
The low-grade magic artifact was easy enough; he finished refining it in less than half a day.
The mid-grade magic artifact took two full days to refine successfully.
During that time, he even stopped midway to spend a day refining pills in the pill room before returning to finish.
When he opened the cauldron that day, the results confirmed his prediction: ten pills in one batch, two of them Premium Pills.
The fourth-tier Fire Crow's Fire-Control Art: True Ascension was astonishingly effective indeed.
Even a mid-grade Pill Master like Master Mo, who had immersed himself in the craft for years and worked with fire day and night, could not match his fire control.
Lin Changheng often ran into Master Mo when he visited the pill room, and they frequently chatted.
The old man was enjoying a comfortable life now. He was hale and hearty, in even better condition than before, and could focus entirely on refining pills without the pill shop's many managerial chores troubling him.
Half a month later.
Lin Changheng received a letter.
It came from Xu Fugui, who had answered the call for frontier reclamation and finally reached the entrance to the Savage Wastes.
Aside from pleasantries and complaints about his hardships, the letter mentioned only two matters.
First, after so many years of reclamation, their efforts in the Savage Wastes had reached deep waters.
Demon Beasts ran rampant there, venomous insects were everywhere, miasma filled the air, and perilous places lay hidden...
Though the work was now in full swing, progress was slow. They had advanced only twenty-odd li in all four directions, and cultivators occasionally staggered back howling, missing arms or legs, their bodies blue-black with deadly poison. Entire reclamation teams had also been wiped out twice.
Xu Fugui had never witnessed anything like it. His liver and gall trembled with terror, and though he barely held himself together, he still remembered to warn Lin Changheng in his letter: "Brother Lin, if you are summoned, you must not come. Find some other way to extricate yourself."
Second,
He explained that the Xu Family woman with a spiritual root he had recently married was now pregnant, thanks to his tireless cultivation of her fields.
If he perished out there, he asked Brother Lin to look after her and the others as far as his means allowed.
He begged him to ensure that the mothers and children would not be bullied.
He ended with the words, "I bow my head in heartfelt gratitude."
After reading it, Lin Changheng raised his brush to reply, only to pause.
Xu Fugui had entered the perilous Savage Wastes, where danger lurked on every side, yet he had not forgotten him and had written specifically to warn him. Such friendship truly moved him.
Yet he could not bring himself to write anything like, "Go without worry. I shall care for your wife and children."
Instead, he simply wrote, "Young children must not lose their father's shelter, nor wives and concubines their support. Take good care of yourself, and return to comfort your wife and children."
Then he took out two Miasma-Dispelling Pills whose quality approached that of Premium Pills, tucked them into a hidden layer, and sent them along with the letter.
Though these two pills were not premium quality, their potency was not far off. Taken to counter poison, they might produce extraordinary results.
This was the only thing he could do for now.
Time passed as Lin Changheng methodically refined pills and cultivated.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed since the Xu and Chen Families began their standoff in the Savage Wastes, and clashes on the front line continued.
The atmosphere within the clan grew increasingly polarized.
The frightened were terrified and hoped the clan would exercise restraint to preserve stability for the time being.
The belligerent, meanwhile, seethed with indignation. They believed the Chen Family was snatching food from a tiger's jaws-furtively encroaching on the Xu Family's interests in ordinary times, then coveting the Spirit Land already in their grasp during reclamation. They saw this as contempt and bullying, and demanded that the clan attack the Chen Family's encampment directly to teach them a lesson and vent their fury!
Lin Changheng offered no comment and simply focused on refining pills.
After finishing a batch, he emerged from the pill room full of vigor, without the slightest trace of fatigue.
"Pill Master Lin, the steward wishes to see you."
Someone had already been waiting at the entrance for some time and immediately delivered the message upon seeing him.
Seeing Lin Changheng's condition, the attendant privately marveled. During his long wait, he had seen several Pill Masters emerge from the pill rooms looking utterly exhausted, as though they had been hollowed out.
Lin Changheng was entirely different. No wonder the steward valued him so highly.
"Very well. Let us hurry. We mustn't keep Brother Xuzhong waiting."
As though something had occurred to him, Lin Changheng felt a surge of delight and immediately set off at a brisk pace, walking like the wind.
Xu Xuzhong, steward of the General Affairs Hall, had grown even closer to Lin Changheng. Once, after drinking too much at a banquet, he had lamented that they had not met sooner and insisted that they address each other as brothers.
Unable to dissuade him, Lin Changheng had no choice but to comply, calling Xu Xuzhong-who was nearly twice his age-"elder brother."
"Yes."
The two made their way to a side room in the General Affairs Hall. There, Lin Changheng saw Xu Xuzhong bent over his work behind a desk, with ten long wooden boxes stacked high to his right.
He knew those boxes extremely well. They were the very ones used to hold pills.
"Did you call for me, Elder Brother?"
"Changheng, you're here? Sit to the side and have some tea. Rest a little while I finish this urgent business."
Xu Xuzhong looked up, revealing a dark, grave expression, and forced a smile. After those brief instructions, he bent over his desk again. By then, the attendant who had led the way had already served Spirit Tea.
"Important matters must come first, of course. There's no hurry."
Noticing his mood, Lin Changheng answered at once, suppressing his eagerness for the Essence Blood in the Defective Pills.
Only when the sun sank in the west and Xu Xuzhong sent someone to deliver the documents did he put down his brush. He apologized, then turned to the matter at hand and gave Lin Changheng all the long wooden boxes.
As expected, they contained failed and Inferior Miasma-Dispelling Pills.
Moreover, he had handed over the clan's entire supply in one go.
Unlike before, none had been shared among several recipients.
Lin Changheng put away all the rectangular boxes, expressed his thanks, and exchanged a few pleasantries before taking his leave.
"Wait..."
As though something had occurred to him, Xu Xuzhong suddenly called him back.
"What is it, Elder Brother?"
Lin Changheng turned with a faint smile, only to find Xu Xuzhong looking as though he wanted to speak but could not.
His thoughts immediately stirred. Could this have something to do with the urgent business he was handling earlier?
Outwardly, he remained composed.
A strange silence fell over the side room. After a long while, Xu Xuzhong sighed softly and spoke again.
"When you return this time, make sure you devote more thought to the Pill Dao and improve your pill-refining skills..."
"Trust your elder brother. It will benefit you. Mm, off you go..."
These words, with neither head nor tail, left Lin Changheng unsure what to make of the situation. He could only answer, "Yes," before leaving with his doubts.
But on further reflection, Xu Xuzhong held both senior standing and a considerable position within the clan. Anything that even he found himself unable to speak of might truly be no simple matter.
"I'll do as he says. Improving in the Pill Dao can only help, not hurt."
Back in his courtyard.
He brushed his palm over the ten boxes of Defective Pills.
Whoosh!
Above the Origin Cauldron, a new emerald-green treasure seed slowly took shape.