Chapter 142. Goblin.
Soon, the sounds of construction once again echoed across the shoreline.
With the troublemakers gone, the workers quickly returned to their posts.
After offering the workers a few words of encouragement, Lin Xuan left the construction site and made his way back as well.
The moment he stepped into his private courtyard, Lin Zhaoyue’s eyes immediately lit up.
Lin Xuan clicked his tongue.
"Tsk... you little goblin."
Lin Zhaoyue immediately caught the unfamiliar word.
She puffed out her cheeks into a pout.
"Goblin? What does that mean? I know you’re mocking me with that word."
Lin Xuan nodded without the slightest hint of guilt.
"Huh. You’re smart enough to realize your father is mocking you with foreign words."
"Hey!"
Lin Zhaoyue immediately protested.
"If we’re counting my life before the regression, I’m way older than you! You should stop treating me like a kid."
The words hung in the air and in an instant, the atmosphere turned awkward.
Lin Xuan let out a quiet sigh.
He had always known that Lin Zhaoyue was a regressor, but out of respect for her privacy, he had never asked about the life she had lived before.
There were some memories that were better left untouched until the owner chose to share them.
Trying to ease the awkwardness, he smiled and casually replied,
"Even if you’ve lived for a million years, if your brain never developed, you’re still a kid."
Lin Zhaoyue clicked her tongue but she chose not to pursue the topic any further.
Instead, she continued muttering the unfamiliar word under her breath.
"Goblin, goblin.... I’ll look it up in the family library later."
Lin Xuan sat back down before the alchemy furnaces.
As he guided the flames with his spiritual qi and began refining the next batch of pills, he initiated conversation.
"Yue’er, a group of people affected by a charm technique came to the harbor today and disrupted the construction."
Lin Zhaoyue’s expression immediately turned solemn.
"A charm technique?"
The moment those words left Lin Xuan’s mouth, only a single person came to her mind.
Qin Xishu, her master in her previous life.
The woman who had used the Beguiling Heavenly Maiden Art to throw the entire Tianhe empire into chaos.
Just recalling about her was enough to make Lin Zhaoyue flinch.
Her hands unconsciously clenched into fists as she gritted her teeth.
"I... I think it’s Qin Xishu."
She took a slow breath before continuing.
"She cultivates a charm technique."
The moment those words reached his ears, Lin Xuan’s movements came to an abrupt halt.
The Nascent Fire beneath the pill cauldrons quietly extinguished itself and the courtyard fell into pin drop silent.
The Qin Family... again?
Lin Xuan lowered his gaze, deep in thought.
What exactly does the Lin Family possess that has attracted the attention of such a colossal family?
If the Qin Family truly wishes to deal with us, why resort to these indirect methods instead of simply crushing us outright?
Could it be that the Qin Family is dealing with internal problems of its own, preventing it from acting openly?
Or is Qin Xishu the only one targeting the Lin Family?
"Father, father!"
Lin Zhaoyue’s voice pulled Lin Xuan out of his thoughts.
He blinked and looked toward her.
"Yue’er? What happened?"
Lin Zhaoyue pointed toward the pill furnaces, her expression slightly helpless.
"The furnaces."
The moment those words reached his ears, Lin Xuan’s expression changed.
Only then did he remember that he had stopped controlling the flames beneath the pill furnaces while lost in thought.
He immediately turned his attention back toward the twenty pill furnaces surrounding him.
The Nascent Fire that had extinguished was reignited in an instant, and his spiritual qi flowed out like a steady stream, restoring control over every furnace at the same time.
Still, the damage had already been done.
The momentary lapse in concentration had affected the refinement process, and even with Lin Xuan’s control over fire and spiritual qi, the quality of the pills could no longer be restored to their original state.
By the time the twenty furnaces were opened, the results were far from what he expected.
The majority of the pills were only low-grade, while a small portion had reached middle-grade.
Not a single pill had reached high-grade.
Lin Xuan stared at the finished pills in silence, his brows slightly furrowed.
"For twenty furnaces... and this is the result?"
A trace of disappointment appeared in his eyes.
To him, these pills were a failure.
However, beside him, Lin Zhaoyue’s eyes were shining. She carefully picked up one of the low-grade pills, examining it as if she had discovered treasure.
"These are amazing!"
Lin Xuan was speechless meanwhile Lin Zhaoyue’s smile grew wider.
"High-grade and peak-grade pills are too hard to sell. But low-grade and middle-grade pills are much more common."
She held the pill tightly, and excited continued,"These can actually be sold without attracting too much attention."
Lin Xuan looked at his daughter and then he clicked his tongue.
"Tsk... What a greedy goblin."
Lin Zhaoyue’s expression immediately darkened.
"Hey! Don’t call me that!"
She puffed out her cheeks and clenched her fists.
"I’m really going to beat you, you know?"
Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a faint smile.
"Haha. Let’s see you try."
The confidence in his voice only made her more annoyed.
Lin Zhaoyue clicked her tongue and looked away, clearly dissatisfied with her father’s teasing.
However, that annoyance lasted only for a brief moment.
The next second, her eyes lit up again as she looked toward the twenty pill furnaces.
"Father."
Her voice became filled with excitement.
"Let’s refine another group of pills again."
Lin Xuan paused.
Before he could respond, she continued with complete seriousness.
"And this time, you can continue thinking about random things in the middle of the refinement. Only then will the pills will be sellable!"
Silence filled the courtyard and Lin Xuan simply continued staring at his daughter.
For a moment, he did not know whether he should be concerned or laugh it away.