The Lin's Patriarch is weird.

Chapter 149: 149.

By the time the sun had fully risen above the horizon, Lin Xuan had already returned to his private courtyard.

He sat before the alchemy furnaces and took the Asteroid Stone out of his storage pouch.

Holding it in his hand, he quietly examined its rough surface.

After a moment of silence, he spoke,"Artifact, do you think I should crack this stone open?"

The system immediately responded.

[Yes. Cracking open the Asteroid Stone will reveal the fragment concealed within. However, the current host is too weak to damage the Asteroid Stone.]

[I recommend waiting until you possess sufficient strength.]

Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow.

"...Too weak? I’m a Nascent Soul cultivator though.... How can that be weak?"

He muttered the words to himself.

Across the entire Loushi Kingdom, he doubted there was another cultivation family with a Nascent Soul expert.

At most, only the royal family might possess one.

Yet even someone of his strength had just been described as too weak.

The comment bruised his pride more than he cared to admit, fortunately, the childish feeling did not last long.

He soon calmed himself.

Compared to a Myth Grade artifact, perhaps a Nascent Soul cultivator truly was insignificant.

Without dwelling on it any further, he placed the Asteroid Stone aside.

Since there was nothing he could do with it for now, he decided to return to pill refinement.

Previously, with the system’s Myth Grade Pill Refining Talent, he had been able to refine twenty furnaces simultaneously without the slightest concern.

Now that his greatest advantage had been taken away, he no longer intended to be so reckless.

This time, he would refine them one furnace at a time.

And for the first pill, he decided to begin with the Body Tempering Pill.

Body Tempering Pills were the most easy to acquire and refine.

With a wave of his hand, three different types of herbs floated out from his storage ring.

After taking several slow breaths to steady his mind, he ignited the Nascent Fire beneath the furnace.

The refinement had barely on began when, all of a sudden the furnace exploded without warning.

Fragments of metal scattered across the courtyard.

Lin Xuan stared blankly at the wreckage.

"...Huh?"

The system calmly answered his unspoken question.

[Host, it appears the furnace could not withstand the spiritual qi contained within a Nascent Soul cultivator’s fire.]

Lin Xuan’s eyes widened.

"...Huh?! Then why didn’t I have any of this problem before?"

The system’s reply came almost immediately.

[Tsk, tsk. You mere mortal will never understand the greatness of ’I’, a Myth Grade artifact.]

The corners of Lin Xuan’s mouth twitched.

[But since the host has asked, I shall explain.]

[Alchemy equipment follows the same hierarchy as Martial Spirits. The ranks are Mortal, Earth, Legend, Divine, and Myth.]

[This classification applies to every alchemy tool, including furnaces, cauldrons, pill flames, and other refining equipment.]

[The higher the rank of the equipment, the greater the quality of pills it can support. Likewise, higher-ranked equipment can endure greater amounts of spiritual qi and more intense flames.]

[However, every rank also carries a corresponding requirement for its user. A Qi Refinement cultivator cannot operate a Legend Rank equipment, let alone Divine or Myth Rank equipment.]

[Attempting to forcefully use equipment beyond one’s cultivation will either fail or consume spiritual qi far beyond what the user can sustain.]

[Likewise, powerful cultivators using equipment of insufficient quality will eventually exceed the limits of that equipment.]

Lin Xuan’s gaze instinctively shifted toward the shattered remains of the furnace scattered across the courtyard.

"So that’s what happened..."

[Correct, your Nascent Soul Fire contains far more spiritual qi than a Mortal Rank furnace was designed to withstand. Previously, I continuously stabilized the furnace while you refined pills.]

[Without my assistance, the furnace merely returned to its normal limits.]

No wonder he had never encountered such a problem before.

[Host, your current cultivation has already outgrown the quality of your alchemy equipment. If you wish to continue refining pills efficiently, obtaining a higher-ranked furnace should now become one of your priorities.]

Lin Xuan looked at the shattered remains of the furnace before shaking his head.

"...Nah. I only tried refining a pill to see whether I still remembered how to do it."

He lightly tapped his forehead.

"After refining so many batches before, I was wondering if I’d developed enough muscle memory."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

At least the test was successful.

The loss of his Myth Grade Pill Refining Talent had not erased his knowledge.

His techniques, experience, and countless hours of refining were still his own.

Only the unnatural perfection granted by the artifact had disappeared.

With that thought, he casually swiped the system screen away.

Lin Xuan stretched his stiff limbs before retrieving a practice spear from the weapon rack.

Soon, the quiet courtyard became filled with the sounds of a spear cutting through the air.

He repeatedly practiced the Lin Family’s Trojan Spear Technique over and over again.

Several hours quietly passed and only after his spiritual qi had been thoroughly circulated through his body did he stop.

Planting the practice spear firmly into the ground, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Artifact, bring up information on pill flames."

The response appeared almost immediately.

[Host, pill flames are independent flames that are very helpful for alchemy. Unlike ordinary fire or the Nascent soul fire, pill flames actively assist in the refinement process.]

[They continuously remove impurities from medicinal ingredients while breaking them down into their pure medicinal essence, greatly increasing both efficiency and the quality of the finished pill.]

[Pill flames also follow the same ranks as—]

"Yeah, yeah."

Lin Xuan waved his hand impatiently.

"I get it already, stop repeating it all the time."

He had already heard enough about the ranking system.

Compared to pill flames, something else occupied his mind far more.

"Bring up Zhaofeng’s information instead."

The system immediately complied.

———————————————————

Name: Lin Zhaofeng (???)

Realm: Tenth Layer of the Qi Refinement Realm (currently attempting to break through)

Martial Spirit: Second-Grade Earth Rank

———————————————————

Lin Xuan’s gaze locked onto the final line.

"...Second-Grade Earth Rank? Wait... wait, it’s really a Second-Grade Earth Rank Martial Spirit?"

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