Realizing what kind of silly thing she had just said, Li Lingyu blushed, but upon hearing her husband's reply, she couldn't help letting out a soft laugh.
"Pfft."
Then the two of them looked at each other, both breaking into hearty laughter. Until today they had been complete strangers, yet now they had reached this point.
As she laughed, Li Lingyu began to cry.
Seeing this, Chen Fan was reminded of what he knew about his wife's background—her life story was remarkably similar to his own. Both had lost their parents at an early age. Though they technically belonged to a family, it was a mere facade consisting of only two or three cats and dogs. And while she possessed a Spirit Root, it was practically useless, which was why she had been pushed out early on into an arranged match.
Indeed, it was essentially a marriage of convenience. If not for his status as an alchemy apprentice, how could the Li family ever have married Li Lingyu off to him? Furthermore, his wife was only in her twenties. Although both of them were mere scum in the realm of Qi Condensation, their lifespans were still higher than those of ordinary mortals, and they could expect lives free of illness and disaster.
Although the Li family grandly called themselves a clan, they numbered barely twenty people. Unlike Chen Fan, who at least possessed a specialized skill, Li Lingyu clearly held an even lower status within the family, or she wouldn't have been married off so hastily.
Thinking of this, Chen Fan couldn't help but feel a sense of shared misfortune. They were merely two weaklings huddling together for warmth.
After offering a few words of comfort to his weeping wife, Chen Fan spoke again: "Once we finish breakfast, you should rest early. There's no one here we need to serve tea to."
Yixin Village covered a vast area, and anyone in the entire village with a Spirit Root was qualified to build a house near the pseudo Spiritual Vein. Certain members of the Li family had seized the choicest plot of land; growing stronger by the day, it felt as though they would soon qualify to be called a real family. Yet for some reason, their members were scattered sparsely about, gathering only when an issue arose, just like ordinary mortals. Some wouldn't even show up then, bearing no resemblance to a clan at all. But none of that concerned Chen Fan.
Chen Fan's house was located in the most ordinary spot beside the pseudo Spiritual Vein, surrounded by ordinary folk at the Early Qi Condensation stage.
After letting Li Lingyu rest in the room, he headed out to a shop, intending to test out just how this system worked.
"I wonder if reputation is the most common trigger. Let's give it a try first."
......
Liu Qingfeng, the owner of this shop, was a well-known figure in the village. With the strength of Level 7 Qi Condensation and a mastery of low-tier talisman making, he was a prominent presence throughout the village. If he were willing to nod and take a wife, his doorstep would be trampled flat.
When Chen Fan arrived at the shop, he purchased some items he needed, glanced at Liu Qingfeng, and walked over.
"What is it?" Liu Qingfeng looked at Chen Fan and continued, "Why aren't you at home properly keeping your wife company, trying to make a big, fat baby with a Spirit Root—preferably a dual Spirit Root! What are you staring at me for?"
"Boss, I have something to tell you," Chen Fan said, looking around. "I have become a First-Tier Alchemist."
"What?" Liu Qingfeng asked, utterly astonished. "You actually... is this true?"
It was no wonder Liu Qingfeng was a bit surprised. Alchemy was the hardest discipline to master, requiring not only talent but also an immense expenditure of wealth. For this village, a First-Tier Alchemist was already an extraordinary figure. Considering that Chen Fan had been practicing alchemy for decades and was still only capable of brewing simple spiritual liquids or dispensing basic medicinal herbs, how could he suddenly break through just like that?
Moreover, making the leap from an alchemy apprentice to a First-Tier Alchemist—for people like them with so few resources—was a hurdle that countless individuals were stuck at, unable to break through for their entire lives.
After pondering for a moment, Liu Qingfeng asked again, "Chen Fan, did you really break through? Don't pull my leg just because you got married."
Knowing that further talk would be useless, Chen Fan decided to use the alchemy room in Liu Qingfeng's shop to brew a batch of the most basic Qi-Nourishing Pills on the spot.
Although it was his first time refining elementary pills, his techniques were as smooth as those of a master immersed in the craft for many years, executed countless times over. Controlling the flame, adding herbs, and condensing the medicinal liquid—he successfully brewed a cauldron of pills in one go. Even on this first attempt, the finished pills were of exceptionally high quality.
Even if they hadn't formed properly, Liu Qingfeng had watched the entire process from the sidelines. Judging by the techniques Chen Fan had just used, he was already a genuine First-Tier Alchemist. As the owner of this shop, Liu Qingfeng considered himself fully capable of discerning a First-Tier Alchemist.
Looking at the high-quality Qi-Nourishing Pills with very few impurities emerging from the Pill Cauldron, Liu Qingfeng was speechless for a moment. How had this person of ordinary aptitude, who had loafed around here for decades, suddenly had a sudden flash of enlightenment?
"Could it really be that getting married matures a person and opens up their mind? Should I get a wife too?" Liu Qingfeng wondered wildly to himself.
After handing the pills to Liu Qingfeng, Chen Fan walked out the front doors of the shop.
Returning home, Chen Fan saw Li Lingyu waiting for him, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart.
Hearing the sound, Li Lingyu hurriedly turned her gaze toward Chen Fan.
Chen Fan met her gaze, smiled faintly, and nodded at her.
Li Lingyu's pretty face instantly flushed red, and a bright smile bloomed across her face as she looked at him.
*Ding.*
Your family reputation has increased. You have obtained 10 skill attributes, which can be allocated by the system for you or added manually.
Hearing this sound, a smile appeared on Chen Fan's face.
"Sure enough, just as I guessed. It seems this really is the most common type of system for boosting immortal cultivation skills—the kind where any skill can be raised to Great Completion."
With a small smile, Chen Fan thought to himself: "I just don't know whether it's purely reputation rewards, or if growth in various aspects of the family will also trigger rewards from the system. That still needs to be tested."
After pondering for half the day, Chen Fan decided to refine some pills first.
Having broken through to a First-Tier Alchemist, he could now refine pills independently without needing to go to town to play errand boy and helper as an alchemy apprentice for others. His income should naturally increase, since he was no longer in a state where "once a man is fed, his whole family is full."
The thought of increasing his income brought a smile back to Chen Fan's face.
In the past, working hard for a month could net him 4 Spirit Stones, plus another 4 from his job as an apprentice in town, totaling 8 Spirit Stones. Sometimes, when he was lucky and brewed a good batch of spiritual liquid that someone bought, he could make significantly more that month, but even so, his harvest topped out at ten Spirit Stones per month. Add in the spiritual rice he grew and the occasional lucky catch of a few spiritual fish from the river, and that was the extent of it.
Now that he had become an elementary alchemist, his other earnings would remain the same, but as an elementary alchemist refining pills, his profit margin would increase dramatically—he could easily make twenty more Spirit Stones per batch! That would bring his total to thirty. If the pills he refined turned out with superior finishes, the profit might be even higher.
Coupled with the fact that he no longer needed to go to town to work as an apprentice for others, he could afford the time to clear more spiritual fields, increasing his yield of spiritual rice, and he could spend his free time catching more spiritual fish in the river.
Careful calculation showed that his earnings alone would multiply several times over, not to mention the other benefits of refining pills for others. His living standard would instantly transform from scrambling for Spirit Stones to generating them right where he stood. More importantly, his personal time would increase, and he could now even attempt to charge at the bottleneck of his cultivation realm.
With this thought, Chen Fan felt the bottleneck of his Level 4 Qi Condensation loosen even further.
Guided by this feeling, Chen Fan took out some previously saved spiritual liquid and drank it down. As his cultivation technique circulated, he successfully broke through to Level 5 Qi Condensation.
Sensing Chen Fan's breakthrough aura, Li Lingyu looked at him with stars in her eyes. After all, she was now married to Chen Fan, and their honor and disgrace were bound together. Only when her husband grew stronger could she live a better life.