A month later, Zhou Xun returned to Qingyue Square and went straight back to his cave mansion.

Outside the cave mansion, a middle-aged man dressed as a farmer, in his forties, was managing the medicinal herbs in Zhou Xun's medicinal field.

"Greetings, Alchemist Zhou!" Seeing Zhou Xun return, the middle-aged man greeted him respectfully.

"And you are?" Zhou Xun asked, puzzled.

"I'm Wang Yutian, ordered by the Song Family to tend to these spirit grasses!" the man answered honestly.

It turned out that after Zhou Xun left, worried the medicinal herbs outside his cave mansion might be ruined, and to build a good relationship with this alchemist, Song Zhishu specifically reported to the patriarch and arranged for a low-grade spirit plant cultivator to care for these spirit grasses.

"The Song Family is considerate!" Zhou Xun nodded.

Then he entered the cave mansion.

Everything inside the cave mansion was as usual.

Walking into the Quiet Chamber, the spirit liquid nurturing had become thin, but the Profound Armor Armadillo Beast Egg showed some changes.

Occasionally, there was a slight tremor, which might have gone unnoticed if Zhou Xun's divine sense was not strong.

"At the fastest, it could hatch in half a year, or at the slowest, a year. This Profound Armor Armadillo is about to hatch!"

The trembling of the beast egg indicated there was a live embryo inside, showing signs of hatching.

Zhou Xun was very satisfied, then took out some spirit liquid from his storage bag and added it to the groove.

Just then, his favored disciple Zhou Jingsong came to visit, so Zhou Xun left the Quiet Chamber and went to the hall.

Over the past six months, Zhou Jingsong had been flourishing.

Since he became Zhou Xun's apprentice, his status among his peers immediately rose to the top.

Meanwhile, matchmakers were lining up at his door.

Among them were even shop owners and shopkeepers from small stores in Qingyue Square.

However, Zhou Jingsong's father, Zhou Jimin, tactfully declined all proposals.

"It's a major event that my son is apprenticed to Alchemist Zhou, naturally, anything like this should be decided by Alchemist Zhou."

Yet, the shop owners did not give up; some even started to treat him as a brother.

Zhou Jimin knew clearly that he was just an ordinary spirit farmer and that in the past, he and those with businesses in Qingyue Square belonged to two different worlds.

They treated him this way only because his son was Zhou Xun's only disciple.

They were paying respect to Middle-Grade Alchemist Zhou Xun, not spirit farmer Zhou Jimin.

He instructed his son that when Alchemist Zhou returned, he must visit as soon as possible and be respectful daily.

In dealing with Zhou Xun, he should be more respectful than with his biological father.

Zhou Jingsong listened earnestly to his father's teachings, nodding constantly.

He then arranged for his younger brothers to keep watch at the market gate, so when there was news of Zhou Xun's return, they would quickly inform him.

"How do you know I have returned?" Zhou Xun asked his eager disciple, a bit puzzled.

Zhou Jingsong honestly relayed his father's instructions and his own approach.

Zhou Xun smiled at this and said nothing.

"If Zhou Jimin had better talent in spiritual root, he might have become a formidable figure!"

Strangely enough, his favored disciple did not inherit any of Zhou Jimin's wisdom. Instead, he was extremely honest, more like an old farmer.

He then began to test his disciple on the past six months' work.

After a while, Zhou Xun finished the assessment.

"Well done, well mastered!" Zhou Xun did not expect his favored disciple to have grasped the basics of alchemy theory on his own.

It seemed he truly had some talent in alchemy, which made Zhou Xun regard him a bit more seriously.

Then he demonstrated the procedure for refining a Grain Avoidance Pill once more.

Afterward, he sent him back.

Soon after Zhou Jingsong left, Song Zhishu and his brothers, Shi Jingfeng, and Zhou Xun's subordinate Shopkeeper Huang, among others, came to visit upon hearing the news.

Zhou Xun, naturally, was hospitable.

After some pleasantries, the visitors bade farewell.

Afterward, Zhou Xun returned to his daily routine of cultivation, talisman making, alchemy, and body refinement.

...

Time passed, and six months flew by.

On this day, Zhou Xun was drawing talismans inside the cave mansion.

This was a Middle-Grade Fire Rain Talisman, and he had failed several times. At this point, he was preparing to break through to a Middle-Grade Talisman Master.

At that moment, Song Zhishu brought two letters.

After some chatting, he saw Song Zhishu off.

Zhou Xun opened the letters, which were sent by Lin Xueying and Wang Erniu, respectively.

Wang Erniu talked about his life after returning, and also mentioned a joyous event: after returning, he had another pair of twins, both sons.

Generally, it's difficult for cultivators to have offspring, and this difficulty increases with cultivation levels.

Wang Erniu's having fathered two more sons within a few years hinted that he might have a special talent in this regard.

Lin Xueying explained the current situation of the Lin Family.

After the Lin Family's downfall, they scattered and fled.

Lin Xueying's father, the Patriarch of the Lin Family, unfortunately was caught and killed by the Foundation Establishment Perfection Wu Zongdao, which devastated Lin Xueying after she learned the news upon returning. It took her several months to recover.

In the meantime, the Third Elder, tasked with guarding the Fire Element Stone Vein, was also besieged and killed.

Lin Zhishan was also among the fallen. To stall the forces of Wu, Sunx, and Li families, he held on for a day with the formation of the Pill Treasure Pavilion, ultimately dying from spiritual power exhaustion.

Other than the Lin Family members, the remaining alchemists in the Pill Treasure Pavilion joined the Sunx Family.

With the Lin Family's return, they reckoned with everything, expelling those without cultivation from Red Leaf Square.

The fate of an Alchemy Master who has lost cultivation in this world is self-evident.

The reason for the resurgence of the Lin Family was also addressed in Lin Xueying's letter.

It turned out that the Lin Family had a key ingredient for refining the Crystal Condensing Pill, the Nascent Ganoderma.

During the family's downfall, Lin Xueying's father arranged for his uncle, Lin Anshu, to secretly take it away.

Eventually, Lin Anshu met with Grand Elder Lin Yuanru, and based on Lin Yuanru's decision, they offered the Nascent Ganoderma to Master Fengyue of the Cloud Light Sect, who was at that time at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.

In return, they gained Master Fengyue's support for the Lin Family to reclaim Red Leaf Square once she reached Core Formation.

A year later, after Master Fengyue formed a Middle-Grade True Pill, the Lin Family successfully returned to Red Leaf Square and became its true masters.

Following her return, Lin Xueying joined Master Fengyue's sect as a direct disciple.

Today's Lin Family holds more power than before, but sadly, due to the previous chaos, over sixty percent of the clan was killed.

Currently, they are in dire need of manpower. If Zhou Xun returns to Red Leaf Square, he could undoubtedly make great strides.

The letter concluded with Lin Xueying expressing her longing for Zhou Xun and even hinting that if Zhou Xun were willing to return and become her partner, they could potentially reach Foundation Establishment together in the future.

As Master Fengyue's direct disciple, she is a crucial link maintaining the relationship between the Lin Family and her master.

Hence, her words do carry significant weight within the family, and her offer to Zhou Xun was indeed genuine.

The offer was understandably tempting, and Zhou Xun found himself somewhat moved.

Alas, he was committed to the Spring Condensation Scripture and could not stay with Lin Xueying day and night to be together, so he had to decline her kind offer.

After writing the reply, Zhou Xun visited Song Zhishu,

and leveraged the Song family's connections to send the letter to the Lin Family.

Then Zhou Xun returned to the cave mansion to continue working on the Middle-Grade Fire Rain Talisman.

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