The incident happened so quickly that even Yu Yinyin didn’t manage to stop him.

She was a bit surprised; it seemed like the child had changed after leaving the Lin family. No, maybe it wasn’t a change—perhaps it was something that had always been there, just hidden, now starting to surface.

Since Lin Qinghen had already left, she saw no reason to stay inside either and hurriedly followed him out.

The Old Shopkeeper hadn’t seen him before, but when Yu Yinyin came out afterward, he had a guess as to who this was. The master had mentioned him previously. Clearing his throat, he introduced him to everyone present in the shop, “This is… our Die Meng Medicine Hall’s Young Master.”

Young Master?

Lin Qinghen felt a bit strange hearing this old man call him by such a title.

But he guessed it wasn’t exactly wrong.

Meanwhile, the two alchemists on the side started shouting furiously, pointing at Lin Qinghen with faces full of rage. “How dare you assault an alchemist?! Just wait until we report this to the association—no alchemists will cooperate with your shop in the future!”

“Oh? And so what?” Lin Qinghen was completely unfazed. “Scram.”

At this point, he didn’t even need other alchemists to work with him.

Even Yu Yinyin frowned. She didn’t particularly care about these two—they were just small fry. But alchemists had a strong sense of unity, and even though the cities of Bei Zhou were relatively chaotic, they still communicated with each other. If word actually reached the association, it could become a significant problem.

After all, Die Meng Medicine Hall would need to survive in the long term.

She began to wonder if Lin Qinghen had become a bit too reckless since leaving the Lin family. She was just about to step forward to pull him back when Lin Qinghen, as if reading her mind, turned to her, gave a small smile, and whispered so only they could hear, “Master, tell me, are alchemists the only ones who can refine medicine?”

Yu Yinyin’s first reaction was that he was joking, bringing up something irrelevant. But Lin Qinghen didn’t look like he was kidding and even added a gentle reminder.

“Did you forget, Master?” he said quietly. “The bottle of superior-grade medicine I had you deliver to Peak Master Chu of Su Ye Immortal Mountain—who do you think made that?”

Leaving the Lin family had indeed freed Lin Qinghen. Whatever restrictions he’d once been bound by no longer mattered to him.

Sooner or later, the medicine he produced would see the light of day.

Yu Yinyin froze.

True, back then, due to various reasons, she hadn’t asked further. Later on, Lin Qinghen didn’t explain; he’d just reassured her. Regardless, the outcome had been a good one, and with everything else happening at Die Meng, she’d been too busy to follow up on that bottle of elixir.

Now that he’d mentioned it, the question naturally rose back to the surface.

But she’d never imagined that Lin Qinghen could have been the one to make that bottle of medicine—he didn’t even have an alchemist’s essence!

At that exact moment, Yin Jiuxiao’s shadow was seated by a window on the second floor, catching every word.

So it was Lin Qinghen who’d caused the contract between Su Ye Immortal Mountain and the Lin family to fall apart.

He had only suspected it before, as he’d been unable to position his shadow near the Heavenly-level masters present then. But since the elixir came from Lin Qinghen, who else could have done it? No one else would have dared, and no one else would have been capable.

Now, hearing it straight from Lin Qinghen’s mouth, Yin Jiuxiao finally understood how he’d pulled it off.

He’d sent over a superior elixir. When Su Ye Immortal Mountain received something less than the best, they naturally erupted in anger.

While pondering this, Yin Jiuxiao noticed one of the two alchemists, failing to win the argument and, thoroughly enraged, charged forward. He seemed to intend to throw a punch at Lin Qinghen out of spite.

Yin Jiuxiao’s shadow instinctively tensed up, his first thought was to step in and protect Lin Qinghen.

This was his spouse, after all, his duty to protect. Someone as frail as Lin Qinghen couldn’t possibly withstand a blow.

But the point of his shadow’s stealth was its low spirit energy, nearly imperceptible, rendering him unable to use any techniques. Only when he moved forward did Yin Jiuxiao remember this limitation.

But Lin Qinghen handled it on his own.

Although not physically strong, he’d been bullied enough growing up that his instincts were sharp. He sidestepped the blow effortlessly.

How could this alchemist with no real strength be his match? Lin Qinghen simply kicked the man hard in the knee, sending him to the ground in an instant. The guy nearly burst into tears from the pain.

“That’s it?” Lin Qinghen sneered. “If you don’t scram, I’ll have you thrown out the second-floor window. Did you hear me?”

The two alchemists no longer dared do anything. Supporting each other, they left, but not without throwing a few spiteful remarks, essentially threats of revenge.

But Lin Qinghen couldn’t care less. These minor characters weren’t worth his time.

When that guy had tried to punch him, Lin Qinghen had briefly felt a strange aura in front of him, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, like a hallucination.

Without knowing it, Lin Qinghen had now looked Yin Jiuxiao in the eyes many times, including at that moment.

Yin Jiuxiao’s shadow couldn’t lend a hand just now but stayed behind, unseen by everyone else.

Once outside, Lin Qinghen instinctively put on his leather mask, obscuring his eyes.

Yin Jiuxiao didn’t like him wearing a mask. To him, Lin Qinghen’s birthmark was insignificant; he wanted to see those eyes, especially now.

Most of the time, Lin Qinghen put on a façade of calm and ordinariness. A habit by now, perhaps. But now, just a hint of his fiery nature showed in those bright eyes.

Yin Jiuxiao wasn’t worried like Yu Yinyin; he just thought that if Lin Qinghen wanted to vent his anger, he could go ahead. Not to mention these two petty characters—what was even the Alchemist Association of Lei City in his eyes?

Meanwhile, the Old Shopkeeper had mixed feelings about the new Young Master.

“You…” He didn’t know what to say and sighed. “Without those alchemists, how will we run the medicine hall?”

Yu Yinyin, still processing Lin Qinghen’s earlier words, seemed to realize something. She gave him a thoughtful look and reassured the Old Shopkeeper, “Your Young Master has his reasons for doing this. Old Xie, don’t worry.”

Lin Qinghen had already planned his next steps before arriving. After whispering a few words to Yu Yinyin, she stayed behind while everyone else left for the moment.

If he was going to build his business starting with this shop, some things couldn’t stay hidden; it was better to come clean.

This wasn’t like being in the Lin family, where he had to be so careful. Now, he and his Master needed each other, and revealing part of the truth was only fair.

“Master, I have the medicine,” Lin Qinghen said, “and a way to get it done.”

No one was going to monopolize the trade in front of him.

Knowing words wouldn’t explain it, he grabbed an empty box nearby.

Then, Yu Yinyin witnessed one of the most unbelievable scenes of her life.

One by one, bottles of medicine rolled from Lin Qinghen’s hands, quickly filling the large box halfway to his height. Even then, more bottles spilled out, scattering around the box.

“One thousand one hundred thirty-two bottles,” Lin Qinghen finished and gave her the tally. “Each bottle contains between twenty and twenty-five pills. Taking an average of 22 pills per bottle, that’s over 25,000 pills.”

The batches varied: the first batch hadn’t used any suitable mid-grade medicinal bases, the second hadn’t included the Bee Crystal Butterflies, and the third batch was the highest quality, but still only Four Star.

The System categorized its products, and Lin Qinghen had noticed earlier that he could differentiate batches by bottle color.

Yu Yinyin stared at him, utterly silent for a long time, as if trying to confirm whether she was dreaming.

Finally managing to speak again, she couldn’t help but stammer, “You… Qinghen, I…”

It wasn’t just Yu Yinyin—Yin Jiuxiao’s shadow was also stunned.

Seeing this scene before him, the Demon Emperor Sword Master almost felt like his own rebirth was nothing special.

Lin Qinghen had pulled out over a thousand bottles of medicine all by himself? How long had he been working on this?

“Master, don’t be so shocked,” Lin Qinghen said matter-of-factly. “I can only make medicine with Red Round Wheat for now, nothing else. I’ve only researched that one.” His calm demeanor made it seem like it was no big deal. “But if Red Round Wheat can reach Four Star, nothing’s impossible. Alchemy follows a set of principles—I’ve explained this to you before.”

As for the System itself, there was no way he could explain that, nor did he intend to, so he’d have to improvise.

Yu Yinyin, already partly prepared for surprises from him, tried to follow his reasoning.

She recalled the explanation Lin Qinghen had given her earlier about the research process for the Red Round Wheat. She hadn’t understood much—something about genes or whatever—but here was the proof in front of her. She had no choice but to believe.

As for the medicine flowing from his hand, that was easier to guess.

Many spirit tools had storage functions, not uncommon in the Spirit World. Lin Qinghen had once lived fairly well in the Lin family, so he might have kept such a tool from then.

After all, she hadn’t paid too much attention to Lin Qinghen over the years, offering only casual guidance, never delving too deeply into him as a person.

With something this shocking right before her, she wasn’t about to overthink lesser details.

“This will help keep the medicine hall afloat…”

“But, Master,” Lin Qinghen replied, “I’m thinking even bigger. With the rat infestation looming, the alchemists abandoning their duty, and the Yin family low on medicine supplies, Die Meng has a chance to take on this responsibility.”

Yu Yinyin thought Lin Qinghen was daydreaming again.

Sure, over a thousand bottles were a lot, but with the rat infestation expected to last another month, with so many people on the frontlines, how would this small amount be enough?

But Lin Qinghen had already done the math.

Bei Zhou had years of experience dealing with Biting Tooth Rat infestations, and when prepared with ample supplies, combating the rats was less a disaster than an opportunity for profit.

In response, the leading teams wouldn’t fight aimlessly but follow a specific structure.

Each squad was led by a Spirit Master, with high-star Yellow-level Martial Masters as members, ten people to a team—these would be at the very front.

Lin Qinghen had overheard Yin Hengxie mentioning there were sixty such teams, ten of which belonged to the Yin family, while the rest were composed of local adventurers forming their own squads.

These frontline teams would strategically dismantle large rat nests, then drive the Biting Tooth Rats into prepared cages using a specialized smoke.

Inside the cages, a high concentration of tranquilizing fumes would knock the rats out, allowing their fur and claws to remain intact.

What these fighters required was mid-grade Yellow-level wound medicine, and each team member wouldn’t need an entire bottle daily; an average of eight pills per person was enough.

Yin Hengxie’s remaining stock of pills was only sufficient to support the Yin family’s ten teams for about a month, leaving him unable to meet the needs of others.

Lin Qinghen had calculated it all—his stash of over 25,000 pills could support 500 people for six days.

While it might seem like a drop in the ocean, in those six days, his System would keep producing pills, with production time steadily decreasing.

Lin Qinghen’s current production time was 14.2 minutes per bottle, yielding roughly 100 bottles per day. Each bottle reduced the production time by 0.05%, meaning that the next bottle’s production time was 99.95% of the last. It wasn’t hard math.

In other words, after six days, Lin Qinghen would have produced about 700 extra bottles of Homeostasis Powder, with his production time down to around 10 minutes per bottle.

This additional 700 bottles would last another three and a half days.

If the cycle continued, it would only take about ten days, by which point, with production time down to seven and a half minutes per bottle, he’d be making 192 bottles a day, fully sustaining 500 people’s needs on his own.

Naturally, he didn’t need to get into System details with Yu Yinyin; he simply told her not to worry, assuring her he could keep up the pace. Die Meng would negotiate with Yin Hengxie to sell the medicine at a fair price.

But Yu Yinyin still had concerns.

“The frontline squads may only number 500, but there are thousands—tens of thousands more behind them, and they’ll need medicine too. It’s less dangerous in the rear, so low-grade Yellow-level pills will do, but that demand is massive. What will we do?”

Lin Qinghen couldn’t possibly downgrade and make low-grade pills, nor would he be able to keep up with that volume.

The difference between supplying hundreds and thousands upon thousands was enormous.

Sure enough, the bulk of people would be following behind the frontlines. Every frontline squad had about a hundred support staff trailing behind.

They were mainly responsible for processing the sedated rats or capturing the ones that slipped through, performing cleanup tasks.

At only Yellow Level Two Star, the Biting Tooth Rats weren’t hard to handle unless they appeared in large numbers.

Many people, either unwilling to risk the frontlines or with weaker talents, would instead pick up stragglers in the middle and rear, getting their share of the hunt without taking on as much danger. 

Even Martial Masters without alchemist essences could participate, as long as they wielded weapons, with Yellow Level Four or Five stars being enough.

Lin Qinghen had, of course, taken these people into account.

“I can supply them too.”