Chapter 1: Alchemy Cannot Save the World of Battle Through the Heavens, but Forging Can!
"First Stage of Dou Qi!"
In the bright morning sunshine, on the open grounds within a medical hall in Qingshan Town, a monument capable of measuring Dou Qi stood upright. A handsome and determined-looking young boy looked at the scale displayed on the stone and exclaimed with surprise in his eyes, "Dou Qi! I have Dou Qi now!"
Inside the inner courtyard filled with herbs and flowers, a white-clothed girl who was drying various herbs rolled her eyes helplessly at the boy who was nearly jumping with joy beside the Dou Qi monument. She pouted and said, "A-Lin! Stop yelling! You're not a kid anymore. Getting to the first stage of Dou Qi is enough to get you that excited? Even the most average child in Qingshan Town has a higher cultivation than you! Aren't you ashamed?"
Jiang Lin turned to the girl under the eaves and scratched his head with a smile. Then he looked at the calm and gentle middle-aged man watching from a loft on the other side and said, "Mr. Yao! I can cultivate Dou Qi now!"
Although Jiang Lin was already a spirited ten-year-old boy, he had only been in contact with Dou Qi cultivation for half a year.
To be able to have Dou Qi enter the body in just six months—well, calling that talent "very poor" would be too harsh, but it was certainly just average.
Mr. Yao, the owner of the Wan Yao Pharmacy upstairs, merely smiled gently at this and offered his blessing warmly: "No need to be too demanding. Cultivation is about finding joy in the path."
"Hahaha! Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Yao!" Jiang Lin immediately laughed and gratefully thanked the man who had saved his life. Then, ignoring the eye-rolls from the other clerks in the pharmacy, he sprinted toward a small courtyard behind the loft.
"Mr. Yao, aren't you going to do something about him?" The white-clothed girl looked up helplessly at the tea-drinking and supervising owner above, after laying out the cleaned herbs in the sunlight.
"Xian'er, everyone has things they love. You enjoy herbs and medicine, but that doesn't mean everyone does." Mr. Yao replied slowly, his voice unhurried. As he gazed at the distant Magic Beast Mountains beyond the town, it seemed as though a memory of the first time he saw the boy surfaced in his eyes.
"What's your name?" Mr. Yao, carrying a bamboo basket on his back, looked at the ragged boy in a mountain valley. The boy's eyes were bright and clear—not the foolish clarity of a child, but a clarity that transcended his age.
"Lin. Jiang Lin."
"Don't be nervous. Actually, I knew your mother." Mr. Yao explained as he looked at the vegetable and herb gardens in the valley. He sighed slightly in his heart, realizing how this child had survived all these years.
"Your mother was a mysterious and powerful alchemist. Sometimes, she would come to me to buy basic herbs," Mr. Yao elaborated, hoping to ease the boy's wariness.
Mr. Yao wasn't lying. He did indeed know the boy's mother, and part of Wan Yao Pharmacy's success was thanks to her, the alchemist.
"I received a rather aged blood ginseng and wanted to bring it to your mother."
"I've heard of you. You're called Mr. Yao... but my mother left three years ago."
"I know. I saw the note she left me on the way here." Mr. Yao's expression turned complex as he looked at Jiang Lin. That note must have been left three years ago… yet he had only just now seen it. Fortunately, the child of his benefactor hadn't starved to death in the valley.
"Your mother wanted you to come with me. It won't stay safe here in the mountains." To reinforce his point, Mr. Yao pulled out a pale yellow jade ring from his robe and handed it to Jiang Lin. This was indeed a token left by Jiang Lin's mother, left for Mr. Yao alongside that note.
"...Mr. Yao, do you know who's hunting them?"
"If I did... I wouldn't be here right now." Mr. Yao looked at the unsmiling boy before him and sighed internally.
"Those who are ignorant have no fear"—perhaps that phrase best described himself.
Clearly, this family had run into serious trouble, and he, foolishly, had gotten involved.
"Your mother said you have great talent in alchemy. But she didn't want you to walk the same path she did." Mr. Yao couldn't understand—why not use an alchemy talent when so many people in the world would beg to be alchemists?
Still, he chose to respect the decision of the person who once gave him such a great opportunity.
Alchemy talent—perhaps it was a rare gift for others, but for a family fleeing enemies, it could be a disaster. Mr. Yao reflected silently.
"...I understand. Mr. Yao, the books about alchemy inside the cabin... do you want them?" Jiang Lin pointed to a cave in the valley where some basic books on alchemy were hidden. There were also signs of his various experiments inside.
Upon hearing that, a flash of struggle passed through Mr. Yao's eyes, but he finally shook his head: "Forget it. Neither I nor Xian'er have the talent for alchemy. What heaven does not grant, forcing it only brings disaster. Just take the herbs inside. From now on, follow me and become a doctor. I'll teach you to cultivate Dou Qi and let you live a peaceful life. That will repay the kindness your mother showed me."
"I see. Then let's burn them." Jiang Lin looked at the signs of activity in the valley, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes before he firmly nodded.
"...Why?" Mr. Yao was quite shocked.
"To completely say goodbye to the past."
It was hard to imagine such words coming from a nine-year-old child.
But what shocked Mr. Yao even more was what Jiang Lin said to him next.
At the time, Mr. Yao asked: "Aren't you afraid you'll regret it?"
Jiang Lin shook his head: "I won't."
"Mother was always so kind. Father too… although I've never seen him."
"But during the three years I lived in the valley, I finished reading all the books Mother left behind. And what I saw between the black ink on white pages were only two words: man-eating."
"This is a world where the strong prey on the weak. That lofty status of alchemists? It only makes them prey."
"Just like Mother—when crisis struck, no one cared if she was an alchemist."
"So..."
"Alchemy cannot save the world—but forging can!"
"Alchemy cannot save the world, but forging can..." Mr. Yao looked at Little Doctor Fairy, who was sulking beside him on the loft, and smiled slightly. "Let the boy have his fun. Who knows, maybe he really does have talent in that area? After all, even at his young age, his blacksmithing skills aren't any worse than the old masters in town."
"You're just spoiling him!" Little Doctor Fairy pouted and glared at Mr. Yao, then went downstairs to open the clinic. She could now handle common illnesses on her own, and only turned to Mr. Yao for difficult cases.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Jiang Lin entered his private forge and began his brand-new attempt at forging.
"Next step, Dou Qi weapons…"
"Or rather—low-tier Yellow Rank weapons!"
(END CHAPTER)
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