My construction materials are weird

"You're Lin Fan?"

Sun Hui looked at the young man before him. The young man had sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes. His still-youthful face held a composure that seemed beyond his years.

Having learned of the young man's experiences, Sun Hui understood the reason for his maturity.

To lose both parents at just over ten years old, and still have a three or four-year-old sister to care for; it was already extraordinary that the young man had grown up at all.

"Grand Manager, I am Lin Fan."

"Grand Manager, you think too highly of me. How could I dare compare to you?" Lin Fan forced a flattering expression onto his youthful face.

"There's no need for that. Your past experiences are behind you. Martial artists should be neither arrogant nor humble. There's no need to belittle yourself like this. Since the Mystic Master imparted the Dao, our Martial Hall upholds virtue as its foundation and talent as its foothold. With both virtue and talent, there is no need to deliberately curry favor with anyone. Just display your talent and strive to cultivate and grow."

Sun Hui didn't criticize him excessively. Without experiencing someone else's suffering, one shouldn't jump to conclusions. Lin Fan was only acting this way due to the survival skills he had acquired through hardship.

He would change slowly.

"Yes, Grand Manager," Lin Fan stood a little straighter.

The Martial Dao Alliance was newly established, evolving from the Southern City Martial Hall. The Martial Dao Alliance didn't have a leader, because everyone recognized Xuan Huang as the leader.

There were also no positions like Deputy Leader. Who could compare to the Mystic Master?

Therefore, there were positions such as Grand Manager, Deputy Grand Manager, Hall Master, and Deacon.

Originally, they were going to call Xuan Huang 'Leader', but Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism strongly objected.

You can call the Mystic Master 'Leader,' and we'll also call the Mystic Master 'Master,' 'Buddha,' or 'Great Teacher.' We'll also create titles.

You can create classifications like 'Mystic Transformation,' 'Profound Connection,' and 'Cave Profound.' Any further, and the Mystic Master will be displeased.

The Mystic Master is the Dao Master of the world, imparting the Dao to all beings. You can't confine him to your Martial Dao Alliance.

Losing three to one, the Martial Dao Alliance accepted it.

Thus, Hall Master Sun became Grand Manager Sun.

Sun Hui always felt that this title wasn't quite right.

"You are the first, and also the first to be selected for the Martial Dao Alliance's Genius Program. Your only direction right now is to cultivate diligently. Our Martial Dao Alliance will provide all the necessary points. As the first person in the first batch, you need to set a standard for those who come after you. Therefore, it seems like there are no requirements for you, but there are actually very high requirements. Do you understand?"

Lin Fan was precocious for his age and naturally understood the meaning behind the words.

It seemed like there were no requirements, and they were even providing points, only asking him to cultivate diligently.

But this was the biggest requirement. As Sun Hui said, he was the first person in the first batch and needed to set an example.

This would implicitly require him to do his best, as his situation would be used to set the standards for future genius cultivation.

He had heard that Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism had also created Genius Programs, selecting the most talented youths and giving them the greatest support.

The only goal was to cultivate diligently.

This was not only a comparison with others but also a comparison with oneself—how one viewed oneself and how one achieved the goals one desired.

If he performed too poorly, it would be a disgrace to the Martial Dao Alliance and might even be recorded in the annals, leaving a bad name for millennia.

Future geniuses of the Martial Dao Alliance would be ashamed to associate with him and would say, "Look, that's Lin Fan, the first person selected for the Martial Dao Alliance's Genius Program. He's the one who brought shame to our Martial Dao Alliance."

Thinking of this, Lin Fan suddenly felt immense pressure.

And that was just what others would say.

What about himself?

He had struggled to survive, coming to Qingyun Mountain after countless near-death experiences, wanting to pursue the martial path in his heart. If he didn't work hard, would he be worthy of himself, worthy of the self that had struggled so hard to survive?

Therefore, Lin Fan solemnly said, "Grand Manager, I will work hard."

Beautiful words were unnecessary. No matter how beautifully they were said, they were useless. His future performance would speak for itself.

"It's good that you understand, but there's no need to put too much pressure on yourself. It's not yet time for you to hold up the sky. There's still the Mystic Master, and there's still us. You juniors need time to grow."

"Yes, Grand Manager."

Sun Hui waved his hand and said, "Go."

"Yes!"

Lin Fan walked out of Sun Hui's office.

He returned to his home, which the Martial Hall had provided. His younger sister, Lin Xiaocao, was at home.

When Xiaocao saw her brother return, she ran quickly into Lin Fan's arms.

"Brother, you're back? Are we going to move out of this beautiful house?"

Xiaocao had been told that this beautiful house was given by the Martial Hall and that her brother needed to work hard to live here long-term.

Xiaocao had been wandering with Lin Fan and had never lived in such a good house. She was very reluctant to leave, afraid of being driven out.

"Xiaocao, we won't be driven out. The adults of the Martial Hall value your brother. As long as your brother works hard, we can always live in this beautiful house," Lin Fan said with a smile, hugging his sister.

"Yay, that's great!" Xiaocao hugged Lin Fan tightly. "I know that Brother is a great hero, and the adults of the Martial Hall will definitely like you too, because Xiaocao also likes Brother very, very much."

"Yes, indeed," Lin Fan said with a smile.

At this moment, his heart was filled with endless motivation.

Not for the sake of others' opinions, but only for this beautiful home, for his younger sister.

His parents had named him Lin Fan, hoping that he would live a happy, joyful, and ordinary life.

His sister was not originally called Xiaocao, but after the resurgence of the strange, his parents hoped that she could live as strongly as a wild grass, so they renamed her Xiaocao when she was too young to remember.

With his parents gone, his desire to live an ordinary and happy life had become a pipe dream. He could only struggle to survive, and even if he was ordinary, he had to live an extraordinary life, taking his wild-grass-like sister with him.

The strong young man strengthened his resolve.

Xiaocao suddenly broke free from her brother's embrace and ran away excitedly, heading towards her small room. "I'm going to tell Mom and Dad that Brother gave me a beautiful home."

Xiaocao took out a tattered box from the cabinet in her room. Opening the box, there were two teardrop-like crystals inside.

These were the relics of her parents. Her parents had disappeared due to the strange, leaving only two teardrop crystals in the place where they disappeared.

Lin Fan had lied to his sister, saying that their parents had not died but had gone to a distant place, and that these two teardrop crystals were the gifts they had left for them.

With these two crystal teardrops, they would one day find their parents.

Seeing this, Lin Fan felt a pang of heartache. As his sister gradually grew up, she would eventually understand that he had lied to her.

But he didn't want to expose the lie, hoping that his sister would understand it as late as possible. One day later, at least his sister would have one more day of hope in her heart.

Having hope was always better than being disheartened.

"Brother, quickly tell Mom and Dad that we have a home, and it's a beautiful home. Xiaocao likes it so much!"

Xiaocao carefully handed the crystal teardrops to her brother, Lin Fan.

Lin Fan smiled wryly; he had intended to comfort his sister, but the tables had turned.

However, he could only comply.

"Dad, Mom, I…"

"Huh, that's not right."

"I won't be defeated. I still have my sister to take care of."

"Huff!"

Suddenly.

The moment he received the crystal tear, his heart suddenly stirred, a kind of indescribable bitterness arose, as if his heart was complaining, expressing endless sorrow.

The bitterness of life, the bitterness of survival, the bitterness of desire, the bitterness of the soul—in short, all kinds of bitterness oppressed him to the point of despair.

But as long as he endured these hardships and broke through them, his soul would instantly clear.

It was as if his heart had just undergone a period of tempering, and after the tempering, his will became stronger, while also making the visualization within his soul more solid.

After Lin Fan broke through all these kinds of bitterness, the three-tenths of the visualization diagram he had comprehended in his soul actually became even more solid.

Originally, Sun Hui said that comprehending three-tenths on his first attempt was genius.

Nothing wrong, a first, a first, a first in content, a look!

But Lin Fan knew that although he had comprehended three-tenths, it was because the first comprehension yielded the greatest progress.

In the future, he would be faster than others, but not as directly as three-tenths on the first try.

Moreover, his three-tenths were not yet solid and needed to be refined before he could continue to improve.

He didn't expect it to solidify directly.

"What's going on?" Lin Fan was puzzled.

He had picked up the crystal tear more than once, and there had been no reaction before. This time, because he had a visualization in his soul, a strange reaction occurred.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Xiaocao was startled.

"It's okay. Brother is talking to Mom and Dad. They're very happy that Xiaocao has a beautiful home and told Xiaocao to listen to Brother," Lin Fan said with a smile.

"Really? Xiaocao is the most obedient," Xiaocao happily jumped up.

After comforting Xiaocao, Lin Fan went to his room.

He carefully examined the two crystal tears.

His memories began to rewind to five years ago, nearly two years after the revival of the supernatural. Although Lin Fan's family had faced constant setbacks, they had managed to settle down.

He remembered that, starting from some unknown time, his parents, who had always appeared strong in front of their children, began to sigh all day long.

They even couldn't control themselves and would tell Lin Fan about their sorrows.

At that time, Lin Fan, who was still young, didn't know what changes had occurred in his parents.

He only remembered that a gaunt ascetic monk had come to their home to ask for alms. The kind-hearted parents, despite their own hardships, had given alms to the ascetic monk.

It seemed that after that time, his parents changed from their previous strength and smiles.

Their bodies slowly became thinner, their smiles disappeared, and the strength that supported their children vanished, replaced by a look of bitterness.

The ignorant him once heard his mother say, "That sea has already passed her knees," and his father said the same, "It's passed his knees."

Until a few days later, he secretly saw his mother crying in his father's arms, saying that the sea had passed her chest, that she was so uncomfortable, and that she couldn't bear this kind of suffering.

But with his father's comfort, and the fact that they had two children, his mother had to hold on.

In short, his parents disappeared less than a week after that.

They disappeared on an ordinary morning.

That morning, he woke up and found no trace of his parents. He called out a few times, but no one answered.

He clearly remembered that when he pushed open his parents' room, he found the bed in their bedroom in a mess, as if there had been a violent struggle.

And on the bedside table, there was a sentence written in blood by his father.

"Lin Fan, you must live strong and take care of Xiaocao…"

The handwriting was very scrawled and fragmented, as if it had been written during a violent struggle.

Only two crystal teardrops remained on the messy bed—the only things left behind after his parents disappeared.

From that day on, his home was gone. Soon after, strange events occurred around his home, and he and his sister, Xiaocao, were evacuated by government personnel. After that, they lived in a resettlement area prepared by the government and martial arts hall.

Even now, Lin Fan didn't want to recall that past.

His parents' disappearance was defined as a supernatural event, and they were never found.

Until today, this sudden experience opened the floodgates of his memories.

"What exactly is this thing?"

"It's the only thing left behind after Mom and Dad disappeared, but why does it have a promoting effect on my visualization diagram?"

Lin Fan couldn't understand.

Just at the moment of contact, all kinds of bitterness pressed upon his heart, like a thick mountain, wanting to destroy his psychological defenses.

There had been no such signs before; it was a change that occurred after he had the soul visualization diagram.

"Is it a change that occurred after comprehending the visualization diagram?"

"But why is there this kind of change? It's like the Trial of the Bone Pagoda they talked about, but the Bone Pagoda is aimed at the destruction of the flesh to temper the will, while the crystal teardrop is using the test of the heart to temper the will?"

"Where did Mom and Dad go, and why would they leave behind two crystal teardrops after they disappeared?"

All kinds of confusion made Lin Fan frown.

But it was certain that this crystal teardrop was a treasure.

The magic treasures refined by Xuan Masters can temper the will through the flesh, while his crystal teardrop can temper it through the heart.

This meant that he had two treasures for tempering his will.

As long as he applied for the Bone Pagoda, the Martial Arts Alliance would prepare points for him. Coupled with his crystal teardrop, he could improve twice as fast.

One was physical tempering, and the other was mental tempering. In this way, he would improve even faster.

"I heard that after completely comprehending the visualization diagram, there are two ways to improve: refining the law and merging the law. Merging the law doesn't require too strong a self-will; engraving inscriptions can enhance it with the help of Xuan Masters' instruments."

"Currently, the adults of the Martial Arts Alliance and other forces are all doing this: first enhancing their strength, and then making up for the will tempering of refining the law."

"Now that I have the crystal teardrop, I can improve both by merging the law and refining the law. Xuan Masters say that to reach a high level, willpower is essential. In the early stages, I can rely on Xuan Masters' instruments, but at a certain level, I need my own willpower to be strong enough."

Lin Fan recalled the words of Xuan Huang that the martial arts hall instructors had conveyed to him, and he made a decision.

"I want to become a true powerhouse like a Xuan Master. I need to refine the law."

"Moreover, merging the law also requires a strong will, and I still need better control. With the crystal teardrop, my will will be stronger, and my control will also be stronger."

Memories cannot be returned to; memories will only make him sad.

Since that's the case, he would turn his parents' misfortune into motivation and turn their only legacy into firewood to make himself stronger.

Just like his father's last words written in blood, he would live strong and live on with Xiaocao.

"Don't worry, Mom and Dad. I will become the person you hoped for, living an ordinary and unrestrained life."

Lin Fan decided to temporarily keep the crystal teardrop as his secret and would not reveal it until he had a certain level of strength.

……