As the adrenaline faded, Chen An looked at the corpses strewn across the ground and gradually began to feel a sense of unease.
In the thirty-some years since he had transmigrated here, he had always been amiable, never provoking conflicts, and had never been associated with the act of taking a life.
Today was his very first time killing someone.
And not just one—six at once.
Had he not witnessed too many tragic and horrifying scenes over the years, he probably would have vomited by now.
"Hoo—"
Chen An took a deep breath, fighting down his psychological discomfort. He stepped forward, squatted down, and began looting the bodies to see what spoils he could find.
After searching and taking inventory, his harvest was as follows:
7 low-grade spirit stones.
5 Rank 1 Advanced pills.
6 ordinary iron weapons.
"So poor."
Chen An shook his head with some disappointment.
Without delay, he dragged all the corpses to a corner of the courtyard and buried them in a pit.
Originally, he had thought of dragging them outside to some remote spot to dispose of them.
On second thought, however, what if there were still enemies lurking outside the house?
To be safe, it was better not to go out.
……
Chapter 8: The Little Wife is Pregnant
After dealing with the bodies, Chen An immediately returned to the bedroom to check on his wife.
Well, just as he had expected, his little wife was lying soundly asleep on the bed.
After all, she had been far too active during the day and her body was exhausted, so by nightfall, she inevitably fell into a deep sleep and wasn't easily awakened.
Leaving the bedroom, Chen An went to the bathroom to take a hot bath and wash away the stench of blood.
Leaning against the side of the wooden tub, he looked at his glowing golden fingers, still finding it quite unbelievable even now.
The lethality of this Golden Finger was simply too high.
As long as he could get close, it was basically a matter of poking whoever he wanted to die.
The only prerequisite was that the gap in their cultivation realms wasn't too vast.
"And this is just at the Entry level, possessing such formidable power. I can only imagine how exaggerated the strength of this Golden Finger will be once I break through to the Proficient realm."
Chen An looked forward to it eagerly, resolving to start diligently raising the proficiency of his Golden Finger tomorrow.
He would strive to break through to the Proficient realm as soon as possible and see just how powerful it truly was.
……
The next day.
Chen An awoke from sleep to find his little wife cuddling him like an octopus, her sweet little face fast asleep.
The sun was already high in the sky, yet she was still lying in bed sleeping without a thought of getting up to work.
Such a lazy little wife really needed a proper lesson.
The space of an incense stick later.
[You engaged in a deep exchange with your wife Song Huaying, making efforts to spread your branches and leave descendants. Alchemist experience +1.]
After getting out of bed, Chen An simply washed up, grabbed whatever was at hand to fill his stomach, and soon headed out to the courtyard to practice his Golden Finger.
He poked everywhere, poking at whatever he laid his eyes on.
In the blink of an eye, over ten days passed.
During this period, Chen An poked thousands of holes into the ground, turned tree trunks into beehives, and reduced stones to powder.
Yet when he opened the progress bar, he was utterly disappointed.
[Golden Finger: Entry (3/100)]
Having practiced continuously for 13 full days, and doing so intensely 24 hours a day, the result was a mere 2 points of proficiency gained.
At this rate, when on earth would he ever break through to the Proficient realm?
Chen An was beside himself with worry.
Only now did he finally understand why a spell with such terrifyingly formidable power as the Golden Finger had been sold for a mere 100 low-grade spirit stones.
With cultivation this difficult, it would be a miracle if it was worth anything at all.
"Forget it, I won't practice this anymore. With the effort it takes to practice this damned Golden Finger, I'd be much better off refining more pills to make money, so I can buy more pills that actually boost my own cultivation realm."
Chen An shook his head.
Afterward, he returned to the bedroom to find solace from his frustration with his little wife.
[Alchemist experience +1]
[Alchemist experience +1]
[Alchemist experience +1]
[……]
After an unknown length of time, Chen An flipped over and lay flat on his bed in an outstretched posture, a look of utter satisfaction on his face.
Having no worries about food or clothing, with a house and a wife.
Compared to his past life, his life in this world was simply blissful beyond words.
The only fly in the ointment was that this world was fraught with danger and particularly unkind to low-level cultivators, making it hard to guarantee one's safety.
Ah, let's set a small goal: to break his alchemy realm through to Rank 1 Advanced as soon as possible.
That way, his income from alchemy would increase significantly, and he should have the means to move into the core district to live.
To think of a thing is to do it.
Chen An immediately dressed, got out of bed, and headed to the alchemy room for some high-intensity pill refining.
When tired of practicing in bed, he would go to the alchemy room; when tired in the alchemy room, he would return to the bed.
Working on both fronts in an endless loop.
That way, his alchemy realm could advance even faster.
"Husband, it's still early, why don't we lie down for a little longer?"
Seeing her husband getting up to leave, Song Huaying immediately tugged at his arm with a soft, spoiled voice.
Hearing this, Chen An felt his legs grow somewhat weak. Believing that moderation was key in all things, he intended to refuse his little wife's excessive demand.
Suddenly, however, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he remembered the spell 《Golden Finger》 he had learned not long ago.
"Ying'er, your husband recently learned a very formidable spell that can easily pierce through trees and shatter stones."
"Husband, what kind of spell is that?"
"I'll demonstrate it for you right now."
"Tap, tap, tap..."
[You cast the ultimate spell Golden Finger for your wife Song Huaying, opening her eyes to unprecedented joy. Affection +1, Golden Finger proficiency +1.]
What was going on?
Chen An was momentarily stunned as he looked at the notification message that had suddenly flashed across his eyes.
Soon, however, it was replaced by uncontainable excitement.
So this was the correct way to unlock the proficiency of the Golden Finger!
He had been poking all the wrong things the past few days!
It really was a case of treading iron shoes in fruitless search, only to find it effortlessly without a second thought!
"Husband, just now I felt as though I saw an immortal. I want to see it again..." Song Huaying said, her face flushed red with a mix of excitement and anticipation.
Chen An looked at his little wife, then at his own two fingers, and immediately channeled his full spiritual power. Once again, his fingers blazed with a brilliant golden light, transforming him into the immortal of his little wife's heart.
[Golden Finger proficiency +1]
[Golden Finger proficiency +1]
[Golden Finger proficiency +1]
[……]
Time flew by.
A few days later, Chen An sat on a slightly damp bamboo bed, looking at the notification message popping up before his eyes.
[Golden Finger: Entry (39/100)]
[Alchemy: Rank 1 Intermediate (256/500)]
[Wife: Song Huaying]
[Attribute: Recompensing a drop of water with a spring of grace]
[Affection: 1 Star (95/100)]
[Alchemist experience provided: 247]
[Golden Finger proficiency provided: 36]
"In just a few days, the proficiency of the Golden Finger has increased by 36 points. As expected, my previous method of practicing was entirely wrong; I wasn't poking the right things."
Chen An looked at the Golden Finger proficiency in the notification, then at his own glowing golden fingers, and finally at his little wife lying satisfied on the bed. A wave of bittersweet laughter welled up inside him.
People sometimes simply lacked a bit of luck.
Soon, his gaze shifted to the other notification messages.
The progress bar for his alchemy realm had passed the halfway mark; he would break through in a month or two at most.
His affection level was also not far from 2 stars; just 5 more experience points would raise it.
The future was indeed promising.
At that moment, a knock sounded from outside the door.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
"Alchemist Chen, business is here!"
"Big business!"
Hearing this, Chen An quickly put on his clothes and got out of bed, coming to the window to discuss business with the visitor outside.
It truly was big business.
The client wanted a great many pills refined.
By his estimation, it would take at least a full day of refining.
The processing fee alone would amount to a hefty 20 low-grade spirit stones.
"By the way, Alchemist Chen, have you heard? Recently, six fellow cultivators in our area have gone missing. One of them was even a Qi Condensation 4th Layer cultivator. Now, there's neither hide nor hair of them, dead or alive, and it's got everyone feeling quite panicked."
The customer outside the window suddenly said.
Chen An replied with a calm expression, "Perhaps they went out to hunt blood demons."
The customer waved a hand. "That's impossible. Although our area is just the cheap zone of the Bamboo Leaf Forest, everyone has to register coming and going."
"According to the steward in charge of registration, those six fellow cultivators stayed right here in the Bamboo Leaf Forest the whole time and never left."
"Alchemist Chen, I suspect someone in our area has evil intentions. Maybe they couldn't afford the rent and decided to target their own kind, committing murder and silencing them for their wealth."
As the customer spoke on and on, he even began to frighten himself a bit.
Chen An merely smiled without a word.
After finalizing the remaining transaction details with the customer, he turned and walked into the alchemy room, beginning high-intensity pill refining to make money.
……
The next day, early morning.
Standing a respectful distance away by the window, Chen An exchanged goods for cash with yesterday's customer, pocketing 20 low-grade spirit stones.
Before he knew it, his savings were growing substantial once again.
He now had a full 108 low-grade spirit stones.
On average, he could earn about 6 low-grade spirit stones a day.
Once again, the future was promising.
Chen An put away the 20 low-grade spirit stones, turned, and walked into the bedroom to show affection to his little wife.
[You gave your wife Song Huaying a full-body massage, Affection +1.]
[You showed your wife the immortal, Golden Finger proficiency +1.]
[You engaged in a deep exchange with your wife Song Huaying, making efforts to spread your branches and leave descendants, Alchemist experience +1.]
[You... Golden Finger proficiency +1.]
[You... Golden Finger proficiency +1.]
[……]
[Seeing that your wife Song Huaying's culinary skills have greatly improved, you praised her and ate three full bowls of plain white rice, Affection +1.]
[You... Golden Finger proficiency +1.]
[You... Alchemist experience +1.]
[……]
Once this affection-building started, it inadvertently continued for several days.
Late one night, Chen An held his little wife in his arms in bed, his mind stirring as he pulled up his various progress bar stats.
[Golden Finger: Entry (55/100)]
[Alchemy: Rank 1 Intermediate (286/500)]
[Wife: Song Huaying]
[Attribute: Recompensing a drop of water with a spring of grace]
[Affection: 2 Stars (101/500)]
[Alchemist experience provided: 276]
[Golden Finger proficiency provided: 52]
"Heaven does not disappoint those who try; after so many days of hard work, the affection level has finally reached 2 stars."
Looking at the tier behind the affection column, Chen An was filled with a profound sense of accomplishment.
Eager to verify whether the affection level was indeed linked to the amount of alchemical experience gained after each union of water and fish, he lowered his gaze to the little wife nestled in his arms and said in a gentle voice:
"Ying'er, let's go take a mandarin duck bath together later."
"Mm, I'll go heat the water right now."
With that, Song Huaying first planted a dragonfly-light kiss on Chen An's cheek, then dutifully and virtuously got out of bed to head to the kitchen and heat the water.
Before long, the water was ready.
Chen An carried the wooden tub, filled with water adjusted to the right temperature, into the room, intending to bathe together with his little wife inside the tub.
Once they were both inside the tub, Chen An had his little wife sit in front of him so he could scrub her back, letting her also enjoy the wonderful feeling of being tended to by her lover.
Since they were husband and wife, things should go both ways; only one person shouldn't be doing all the serving.
As he scrubbed, Chen An had his little wife join him in the wooden tub to work on a "proof."
The space of two incense sticks later.
[You engaged in a deep exchange with your wife Song Huaying, making efforts to spread your branches and leave descendants, Alchemist experience +2.]
Just as he had guessed, once the affection level rose to 2 stars, the alchemical experience gained after each union of water and fish increased along with it.
While Chen An was still immersed in the joy of having his hypothesis proven, another notification message suddenly popped up before his eyes.
[You have successfully made your wife Song Huaying pregnant, taking the first step in spreading your branches and leaving descendants. Reward: one formula for the Passion-Severing Pill.]
……
Chapter 9: Ordinary Days
Chen An was stunned. His little wife was pregnant?
Before he could even react,
the very next second, a surge of unfamiliar memories violently rushed in, violently thrusting into his brain and stirring rapidly within...
It was the memory regarding the formula for the Passion-Severing Pill.
The alchemy materials were very common, easily bought at any apothecary in the market, and inexpensive.
The refining method was entirely conventional, with zero difficulty.
The effect of the pill was to clear the mind, refresh the spirit, and suppress romantic desires, with absolutely no side effects.
"This system certainly goes to great lengths."
Chen An gave a bitter laugh.
Judging from the effects of the Passion-Severing Pill, he guessed that this wife-getting and child-bearing system was simply afraid that he wouldn't be able to restrain himself while his little wife was pregnant, and that an insistence on intimacy might harm her fetal qi.
As for preventing himself from sneaking out to taste forbidden fruit while his wife was pregnant...
Chen An felt that option could be directly ruled out.
After all, judging from the phrase "spreading branches and leaving descendants" in the past notifications, he could tell that this wife-getting and child-bearing system was dying for him to form dao companions far and wide and have a house full of children and grandchildren.
"Husband, what goes to great lengths?"
Hearing Chen An's murmurs, Song Huaying asked with a curious expression.
Chen An held her delicate body from behind, pressing his cheek close to her ear, and said softly:
"Ying'er, shall I tell you some good news?"
"What good news?"
"You're pregnant."
"Ah?"
Song Huaying was slightly startled at first, and then a wave of immense joy welled up in her heart.
I am going to have a child for my husband!
[Your wife Song Huaying has learned that she is carrying your flesh and blood. Affection for you +1+3+1+4+5+2+0...]
……
In the days that followed,
Chen An forcefully restrained himself from touching his little wife, allowing her to properly focus on resting and nurturing the fetus.
As for himself, he poured all his energy into refining pills to earn spirit stones.
Withstanding the loneliness and possessing the patience, he didn't even need the Passion-Severing Pill.
However, he still intended to refine the Passion-Severing Pill anyway.
Because a few days prior, he had tried refining a small batch to sell and discovered that the market demand for the Passion-Severing Pill was massive.
The largest customer base consisted of male cultivators who had houses full of wives and concubines.
The reasons were mainly twofold:
First, with too many delicate wives at home, a single man couldn't handle them all, necessitating the suppression of their desires.
Second, sometimes they needed to go out hunting for extended periods to earn spirit stones, and they feared their delicate wives at home would be seduced by the neighbor next door, making the suppression of their desires necessary.
As for the remaining customer base, they were rather miscellaneous, coming from all walks of life.
Yet their reasons for buying the Passion-Severing Pill were largely the same: whenever they needed to focus completely on a task, they would pop one to refresh their minds and clear away distracting thoughts.
While Chen An focused on alchemy, Song Huaying, as his wife, found herself with rather too much time on her hands.
Ever since she had married him, spending intimate moments with her husband every day had become almost the most important part of her life.
Now that it was off-limits, her free time suddenly expanded exponentially.
Aside from cleaning, doing laundry, and cooking, she had no idea what to do with the remaining hours.
Sometimes, when she grew truly bored, she would sit alone by the window and gaze blankly outside.
Watching the grass and trees sway in the wind, watching the birds occasionally flash past, and watching the pretty female cultivator from the household opposite come out to empty her chamber pot.
In short, it was terribly boring.
One day, when Chen An emerged after finishing a batch of alchemy, he saw his little wife sitting motionlessly by the window, staring blankly outside. Curious, he stepped forward and asked:
"Ying'er, what are you looking at?"
"Husband, I'm watching the fairy from the opposite household come out to empty her chamber pot."
"Is there anything interesting about that?"
"Husband, I always used to think immortals didn't need earthly sustenance. I never expected that even a fairy would need to pee just like a mortal."
"If one's cultivation isn't high enough, one cannot completely detach from mortal ways; eating, drinking, and relieving oneself all still remain."
"Husband, that fairy who was emptying the chamber pot is so pretty."
"She's certainly pretty, but compared to my Ying'er, she still falls a bit short."
Chen An smoothly delivered a piece of sweet talk.
With that, he pulled up a chair to sit beside her, chatting with his little wife and whispering sweet nothings.
They talked about their pasts, their present, and their future.
Every time he emerged from the alchemy room, Chen An would, as always, come find his little wife for a chat.
After all, women needed companionship.
Especially when there were only two people left in the house and neither could go out to relax their minds, that need for companionship became all the greater.
……
Days passed one by one.
Chen An spent almost every day busy refining pills, working from dawn till dusk.
Gradually, his family's financial situation grew prosperous once again.
The number of low-grade spirit stones he owned climbed back into the triple digits.
As many as 108 of them.
And this had taken less than a month in total.
"Keep up this earning speed, and the Bamboo Leaf Forest core district is practically right in front of us."
Sweat dripping from his forehead, Chen An sat in the alchemy room, looking at the freshly refined Passion-Severing Pill before him as he silently pumped himself up.
Before starting a family, he had felt it didn't matter where he lived; as long as he was full, the rest of the family wouldn't starve—since he was alone.
Ever since he had his little wife, however, the idea of moving to the core district had taken root in his mind.
Especially now that his little wife was pregnant, that thought grew heavier day by day, almost turning into an obsession.
He had set a minimum goal for himself.
Before the child was born, he had to save enough spirit stones to move into the core district to live.
"Husband, I've boiled some sweet soup. Is it convenient for you to come out and drink some now?"
Song Huaying's voice rang out from outside the alchemy room.
Nowadays, when conversing with Chen An, she no longer used the humble self-appellation "this concubine"—a request Chen An had made of her.
"Coming!"
Chen An responded, taking the towel draped over his shoulder to wipe away his sweat, and quickly rose to push open the door.
Song Huaying ladled out a bowl of sweet soup for her husband—it was mung bean sweet soup.
This was something her husband had taught her to make; not only was it simple and delicious, but it also helped cool the heat during these scorching summer days, making it very suitable for a husband who cooped himself up in the alchemy room all day.
"Bang, bang, bang!"