With the thousand taels of silver he extorted from Wang Fu, Ye Fan returned home in high spirits.
With this money, the possibilities of what he could undertake multiplied.
Purchasing a mansion, refineries for bone tempering powder, and prepping healing baths to increase the cultivation speed of the children.
Ah, with money, problems vanish, what a relief!
After handing over the banknotes to Su Yan for safekeeping, Ye Fan opened the booklet given by Li Qian.
With an air of mystery about it, could there be something exciting within?
As he flipped open the booklet, four significant characters came into view.
"Simplified Explanation of Elixir Refinement"
???
A series of question marks popped up, causing Ye Fan to sit up abruptly.
Refining elixirs, if his memory served him right, wasn't that a technique used by cultivators?
Ye Fan didn't put it off, pulling out the booklet and immediately began perusing it.
The book was not lengthy, merely a dozen or so pages, so he was able to quickly read it to the end.
After reading it, Ye Fan sighed.
Indeed, this world was full of intelligent individuals.
Refining described in the book was not the elixirs refining technique used in the Immortal Realm.
But rather, it pertained to a special method involving a unique pill furnace and True Qi in the creation of elixirs.
While it wasn't the true form of Alchemy, the effects of the elixirs were significantly stronger in comparison to powders.
Furthermore, the difficulty of Alchemy was enormous, making it challenging to train a competent alchemist.
At this point, Ye Fan finally understood why Li Qian treated him with such politeness.
Li Qian had recognized his talent, believing that he could be one of the rare alchemists.
Inside the booklet, there was a recipe for Hundred Ginseng elixir and instructions for a technique called Thousand Dispersing Hands.
With Alchemy Dao at the first level, these contents posed no difficulty for Ye Fan.
The only thing Ye Fan was lacking now was a pill furnace and True Qi.
It seemed that to become a true alchemist, one's cultivation level had to reach the Postnatal Realm at least.
Unexpectedly, Ye Fan found himself a new goal - to become an alchemist first.
Social status was also crucial for a family.
While Ye Fan was learning Alchemy Dao, the world outside was in turmoil.
When the small clans learned that Ye Fan became a Guest Elder of the Duobao Pavilion, they retracted their previous plans.
The Duobao Pavilion held a unique position in Changhe Town, an entity they could not afford to offend.
At least openly, they dared not make any small moves.
The title of Duobao Pavilion's Guest Elder put the Ye family officially into the sight of other families in Changhe Town.
With money on hand, the initial plan was to buy a better courtyard house. But since a suitable property couldn't be found, the thought had to be temporarily abandoned.
Eventually, Ye Fan bought a shop on the street intending to open a drugstore for easy sale of the Boiling Blood elixir.
A single Boiling Blood elixir wouldn't suffice, Ye Fan planned to source a few other suitable powders, manufacture them, and sell these as well.
The shop was named Ye's Pharmacy by Ye Fan.
After a series of selections, Ye Fan chose two additional prescription formulas.
Golden Wound Powder, it accelerated wound healing.
Five Complete Power, with long-term consumption could nourish the body, extending life.
The last was the primary product chosen by Ye Fan, Ye's Medicine Soup.
Ye's Medicine Soup was a medicinal bath recipe, it could slightly enhance the speed of skin training in the early stage of body forging.
While it couldn't compare to body tempering powder, it had the advantage of being inexpensive. A tael of silver could buy two prescriptions, which would last for seven days.
The prescription used by Ye Jintian and Ye Jinhai was the same, but the efficacy was much better, something akin to an enhanced version.
For those who couldn't afford body tempering powder, this could serve as a substitute, mainly targeting the lower-end market.
The final product was the Boiling Blood elixir.
The day Ye's Pharmacy opened, many local families in the town sent their congratulations.
Even the Iron Armor Martial Arts Hall sent some gifts with the instructors of Ye Jintian and Ye Jinhai.
Everything was moving in a bright direction.
Under the effect of the medicinal bath and bone tempering powder, the roadblocks for Ye Jintian and Ye Jinhai were gradually loosening.
In the blink of an eye, three months passed.
Su Yan's belly had grown larger, and whenever Ye Fan had free time, he spent it with Su Yan.
In another month or so, the child should be born.
Over the span of three months, Ye Jintian and Ye Jinhai finally broke through to the fourth stage of body forging, and Ye Fan's cultivation level reached the sixth stage of body forging.
Just a step away from the later stage of body forging.
Ye Fan was now in a firm state of mind. The growth of a family and of strength wasn't accomplished overnight.
Ye Jintian and Ye Jinhai's cultivation levels were ultimately hindered by their qualification. If their qualifications didn't improve, making rapid progress would be challenging.
Although they managed to break through to the fourth stage of body forging in August, reaching the peak of mid-stage body forging would take at least two years.
This was with the dual boost of Ye Fan's bone tempering powder and medicinal bath. Otherwise, it would take even longer.
The most important thing right now, Ye Fan felt, was to buy a house.
Su Yan was about to give birth, and Ye Fan had hired two more maids to take care of her.
Three maids, plus the four members of the Ye family, soon to be five, were too many for a four-room yard. They clearly needed more space.
During this period, Ye Fan kept an eye out for the sale of larger courtyards, and finally received word today.
A three-section courtyard consisting of ten rooms was for sale at the price of three hundred taels of silver.
In a place like Changhe Town, this must have been a pretty good courtyard.
Ye Fan didn't hesitate too much and decided to buy it.
When he paid the money and received the deed to the property, a long-missed system prompt sounded in Ye Fan's mind.
"Congratulations Host. You have successfully acquired family territory. You can now claim the reward for the first stage of the long-term task of establishing a family territory: Ordinary Clan Estate (already completed)."
Seeing this system task, Ye Fan didn't feel happy but rather frustrated.
The previous courtyard had been rented. If he had known there was a system task reward for it, he would have bought a house much sooner instead of waiting until now.
This round, he'd taken a significant loss.
"Ah, System, claim the reward."
"Congratulations Host. You've received the family entry reward: Quality Improvement, cultivation aptitude increases by 50 (green)."
Seeing the reward, the qualification promotion reward that Ye Fan had been longing for finally arrived.
"Use entry."
"The Mediocre Qualifications entry has been unloaded. Quality Improvement aptitude entry has been loaded."
Only then did Ye Fan learn that only one entry of the same type could be loaded.
"System, is the unloaded entry now useless?"
"Host, the unloaded entry can be used to create a new entry when there are surplus entries in the future."
Saying this was the same as saying nothing. How could Ye Fan have surplus entries now? He could only wait for the future.
...
Inside the Iron Armor Martial Arts Hall, Ye Jintian and Ye Jinhai, who were engaged in cultivation, felt a continuous heat wave emanating from their muscles.
Their cultivation speed suddenly rocketed.
With the boost of the entry, their aptitude shot up by five times.
Such aptitude was already considered top-tier in Changhe Town.
There should be no roadblock to breaking through to the last stage of body forging, and reaching the peak of body forging was within their grasp.
Even reaching the Postnatal Realm was not a hopeless goal.
The future of the Ye family had once again brightened enormously.
Earning money, cultivating, the Ye family was moving in a better direction.
Although they hadn't soared into the sky like in those novels, Ye Fan was already very satisfied with their current speed.