Rise from a Low-class Family to Martial Artist

Li’s Trading Company!

”Junior Brother Xiao, if you have any good items to sell in the future, feel free to contact this old man anytime. The price will definitely be higher than what other trading companies offer.”

Li Chongshan gave Lin Chen three golden cash vouchers, issued by the Thousand Mechanism Sect, each worth a hundred thousand Flame Coins, totaling three hundred thousand Flame Coins.

Lin Chen could understand why Li Chongshan was so enthusiastic. He had sold items worth three hundred thousand Flame Coins to Li Chongshan, who then put them up for sale in the shop, likely fetching at least four hundred thousand Flame Coins.

A price difference of a hundred thousand Flame Coins!

Li Chongshan was an Innate Second Realm martial artist. Martial artists of this level working as shopkeepers certainly did not earn merely a fixed salary but also received sales commissions, which could amount to several thousand Flame Coins for a difference of a hundred thousand.

For an Innate Second Realm powerhouse, several thousand Flame Coins was already quite a significant income.

”Alright.”

Lin Chen nodded in agreement. Before coming to Li’s Trading Company, he had checked with other trading companies, and indeed, their offers were slightly lower than Li Chongshan’s.

”Brother Xiao didn’t attend the last auction. There’s an Artifact Refining Competition in Hundred Refinements City three days later. If Brother Xiao is free, you might as well come to watch. This time, the judges are all Artifact Refining Masters. If you need, I can introduce you, Brother Xiao.”

Li Chongshan took out an invitation once again, and Lin Chen accepted it after pondering for a while, ”Alright, I’ll be there on time.”

Artifact Refining Masters were the term used by the Flame Dynasty to refer to some skilled artifact refiners in the Thousand Mechanism Domain.

The Thousand Mechanism Domain held an artifact refining competition organized by the Thousand Mechanism Sect, assessing alchemy, artifact refining, arrays... Titles were awarded based on rankings in the competition, with the highest being the artifact refining grandmaster, followed by master, then intermediate artifact refiner, and artifact refiner.

Every Artifact Refining Master was at least Innate Fourth Realm, but just being Innate Fourth Realm didn’t necessarily make one an Artifact Refining Master.

What attracted Lin Chen, however, wasn’t the realm of Artifact Refining Masters, but the unique expertise they possessed in the domain of divine souls, which was the real reason one could become an Artifact Refining Master.

For Lin Chen, being in the Thousand Mechanism Domain meant not missing the chance to understand divine soul techniques. Although he had secretly learned the Divine Control Record from the Thousand Mechanism Sect, he couldn’t openly perform it, and had to comprehend attack techniques by himself.

Perhaps watching this Artifact Refining Competition could provide some insights.

...

”Are you going to watch the Artifact Refining Competition?”

Walking out of Li’s Trading Company, Yin Yue asked curiously.

”I’m not watching.”

”Not watching?”

Yin Yue was puzzled. If not watching, why accept the invitation?

”I’m planning to register for the competition myself.”

Lin Chen smiled slightly. Besides the invitation, Shopkeeper Li also told him about the details of this artifact refining competition.

The Artifact Refining Competition was unique to the Thousand Mechanism Domain and attracted the most attention.

The whole competition was organized by the Thousand Mechanism Sect. Each city selects its artifact refiners. To ensure fairness, city-level artifact refining competitions were held, and large cities like Hundred Refinements City had ten spots, with the top ten qualifying for the finals in Thousand Mechanism City.

For the artifact refiners in the Thousand Mechanism Domain, standing out in the artifact refining competition was akin to making it to the Golden List, meaning various sects and families would offer resources and invite them as honored guests.

To encourage further advancement in artifact refining, the Thousand Mechanism Sect allocates resources to these cities based on the final rankings in the general competition from the refiners selected by each major city each year.

In this context, shining in the artifact refining competition represents not only wealth and fame but also glory for one’s family.

Each major city, for their own interests, would also provide generous rewards for the artifact refining competition. Lin Chen learned from Li Chongshan about the rewards prepared by the major families in Hundred Refinements City this time.

The top three prizes included divine soul techniques!

Yin Yue understood Lin Chen’s purpose but still frowned, ”Your divine soul is indeed strong, but artifact refining isn’t that simple. You haven’t learned artifact refining, and three days may not be enough.”

”The competition starts in three days, but the whole competition lasts for seven days. I can learn while participating. For now, I should buy some jade scrolls related to artifact refining.”

Lin Chen chuckled. After his divine soul reached level 10, his comprehension reached level 7 as well. With level 7 comprehension, learning artifact refining wasn’t a daunting task.

”Do you know why I named myself Xiao Yan?”

”Why?”

”This name was born for alchemy.”

Yin Yue: ...

Looking at Lin Chen’s confident smile, Yin Yue was a bit speechless. During her time with Lin Chen, she noticed that while Lin Chen was usually rational, he sometimes said or did things she couldn’t understand—like what Lin Chen called a ’chuunibyou’ moment.

He occasionally had chuunibyou moments!

Yin Yue thought about it and still advised, ”If you’re just aiming for the divine soul techniques, there’s no need to choose alchemy. Pills related to the martial path are needed by every martial artist. Among artifact refiners, those choosing the path of alchemy are the most numerous, and the competition is also the fiercest.”

Spirit soldiers, various weapons, treasures... could enhance a martial artist’s strength, but advancing in realm was most important for a martial artist.

After advancing in realm, not only did strength increase, but lifespan did too. Therefore, most martial artists urgently needed pills, which made alchemists most sought after. Even major powers prioritized nurturing alchemists and only pursued other disciplines when resources allowed.

Of course, truly reaching the master level was desirable in any discipline.

But most artifact refiners were self-aware, knowing it was hard to reach the master level. Choosing alchemy could yield returns sooner, whereas artifact refining and arrays... required significant investment not feasible without a family or faction’s disregard for cost.

”No Xiao Yan, no alchemy.”

Lin Chen chuckled without further explanation. He wasn’t truly having a chuunibyou moment; rather, he was considering his actual circumstances.

He possessed Innate Fire. While Innate Fire could be useful in other areas of artifact refining, it was used far more in alchemy. When he initially went to the Ten Thousand Flames Sect, he heard their disciples say every martial artist with Innate Fire was a quasi-alchemist.

...

Half a two-hour period later, after purchasing a dozen pill formulas and alchemy materials from some pharmacies, Lin Chen and Yin Yue returned to the courtyard.

There were alchemists in the courtyard. After exchanging a few words with Yin Yue, Lin Chen went straight into the alchemy room.

Three two-hour periods later.

Several pill furnaces opened, revealing formed pills emitting a medicinal fragrance, and Lin Chen’s face showed a satisfied smile.

Qi Gathering Pills, Essence Enhancing Pills, Body Tempering Pills...

He successfully refined these pills for upper-grade martial artists on first attempt, and simultaneously refined five furnaces of different pills.

”According to the shopkeepers, past initial rounds of the artifact refining competition in Hundred Refinements City required the simultaneous refining of three furnaces of pills for upper-grade martial artists. Looks like passing the initial round won’t be a problem for me.”

Lin Chen’s eyes shone brightly. If others knew someone refining pills for the first time succeeded in simultaneously refining five furnaces of upper-grade pills, they’d certainly exclaim he was a prodigy. But Lin Chen knew his situation well; his success relied more on the aid of a powerful divine soul and Innate Fire.

A mighty divine soul allowed him to perceive the pill’s formation level, and Innate Fire could precisely control the temperature, removing impurities in the ingredients.

”Pills below Innate level pose no challenge to me. Time to start refining Innate-level pills.”

”Let’s choose the Profound Celestial Pill.”

Innate-level pill formulas were extremely valuable, scarcely shared by pharmacies. Lin Chen obtained the Profound Celestial Pill formula because it was publicly available by the Thousand Mechanism Sect, designed to help alchemists without background access advance their alchemical skills.

One two-hour period later!

Upon opening the pill furnace’s lid, twelve intact, jade-green pills appeared inside. Even Lin Chen was astonished this time.

Could he really have a talent for alchemy?

Refining Innate-level pills successfully on first try.

In the Thousand Mechanism Domain’s terms, this was a one-in-a-million alchemical prodigy.