The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 392: The Competition Begins

Long Yuyao gritted her teeth. At this moment, there was simply no way to send him any spiritual herbs, so she had no choice but to press on with her alchemy.

She knew that she was doomed to lose this round and could only pray that the Burning Heaven Ancestor would suddenly make a mistake, causing the pill refinement to fail.

As Long Yuyao began refining her pills, the other alchemists—each possessing even fewer spiritual herbs—could only force grim expressions on their faces as they stubbornly continued the process.

The allotted time for gathering spiritual herbs was far too short. Without resorting to killing or seizing treasures, most alchemists simply couldn’t collect enough herbs to fulfill even one pill formula.

Especially those who had given away nearly all their spiritual herbs to that same-surname genius alchemist were left with only a few obviously worthless, trash-grade herbs—barely even reaching double digits in quantity.

What could possibly be refined from that?

With resigned faces, they had no option but to toss the scant herbs from the table into their alchemy furnaces, preparing for a last-ditch, “break-it-all” attempt.

In truth, if one were to haphazardly throw a few assorted spiritual herbs into the furnace, a pill might still form. However, such a recklessly refined pill would have no medicinal efficacy—and it might even turn out toxic. For them, forming a pill was not the problem; it was the score that would never pass muster.

At this moment, everyone had already started their alchemy. Only Long Xuan, standing out like a peacock among chickens, sat there with his eyes closed in meditation. His incongruity with the others naturally drew the attention of all the judges.

All the judges furrowed their brows slightly.

“One glance at his spiritual herb count—it is far inferior to that of Feng Jiu and Qin Dan. He is doomed to lose this round,” one judge murmured.

Feng Tiancheng sneered coldly, “I hope he doesn’t fall asleep. The alchemy time is only one day; if he exceeds it, he’ll score a zero.”

“Only one day of alchemy time? You must be mistaken. They came out early—in fact, each person has three and a half days for refining their pills.”

“Since it’s still early, let him sleep a bit. He’s probably just tired,” Long Xiaoyao remarked, recalling that Long Xuan had earlier signaled he needed some extra time—his tone laced with mockery.

“Hmph! Even if we granted him an extra three days, what difference would it make? Three days might even allow him to amass more spiritual herbs, but I’m curious to see just how much of a turnaround he can pull off.” Feng Tiancheng’s disdain was evident as he turned to Long Xiaoyao and added, “Since you’re so confident in him, why don’t we place another wager?”

“Let’s wager five peak-grade Gu, as per our old rules. The alchemist with the highest score wins,” Long Xiaoyao replied.

Feeling assured of his own victory, Feng Tiancheng immediately proposed the wager. He knew that those who lose bets tend to double down in an effort to recover what they’ve lost—and he was determined to win back the five life-bound Gu he had previously lost.

However, recalling that Long Xiaoyao was unlikely to agree to a wager where he was certain to lose, Feng Tiancheng quickly added, “You should understand that in the medicinal world, unexpected circumstances can occur. Whether the alchemy time is set to three days or one day is all acceptable—the final say, of course, lies with me.”

“I suspect most judges wouldn’t be willing to wait a grueling three days. If you agree to this wager, then I will, albeit reluctantly, extend the alchemy time to three days.”

Long Xiaoyao glared at him in anger. Which part of his expression suggested confidence in this round? It was obvious that the Long clan was destined to lose this contest.

He truly knew how to seize an opportunity—proposing a wager in a round he was all but guaranteed to win. Did he really think I was so foolish as to accept such a bet?

Yet, recalling what Long Xuan had whispered in his ear earlier, Long Xiaoyao hesitated for a moment.

Even though Long Xuan’s chances of winning were extremely slim, the outcome of this alchemy contest was of utmost importance to the Long clan—it even affected the very survival of the entire clan. Even if the odds were less than one in ten thousand, he still wished to try everything possible. What if a miracle occurred?

After all, those five peak-grade Gu were not originally his—they had been won from his opponent. Even if he lost them again, he could simply return them without suffering any real loss.

Emboldened by this reasoning, Long Xiaoyao immediately decided to take the wager. He turned his head toward Feng Tiancheng and sneered coldly, “You still want to bet with me? You already lost five peak-grade to me earlier. Are you sure you still have peak-grade Gu? Don’t try to pull a fast one on me.”

Seeing that Long Xiaoyao had taken the bait, Feng Tiancheng’s eyes lit up with secret delight. “As the foremost alchemist in the nation, do you think I’m short on money? Refining more than ten life-bound Gu is nothing short of trivial,” he retorted.

“Not only me—you surely have more than ten Gu yourself. We are equals in reputation; my collection surely can’t be inferior to yours.”

Long Xiaoyao teased, “I’m well aware of your assets. But even if you’re flush with wealth, losing ten life-bound Gu would still render you a wreck, wouldn’t it?”

“I’ve heard you have plenty of enemies. When you’re reduced to a wreck, you’d best be careful when traveling at night.”

“Don’t trouble yourself with concern. Do you really think I could lose this round? I’m determined to at least break even,” Feng Tiancheng said as he clenched his fist. The thought of those five lost innate Gu pained him deeply.

In the Phoenix Heaven Empire, it was officially the Feng Emperor who was the strongest. Yet the Feng Emperor had grown old, he's remaining lifespan was short, he's Qi and blood long since depleted, and combat prowess had nearly vanished. In reality, the empire’s true top powerhouse was Feng Tiancheng. However, having wagered with Long Xiaoyao and lost five life-bound Gu, his fighting strength had taken a severe blow.

As fate would have it, at that very moment the Four Great Evils launched their attack. With his strength so compromised, he could hardly stand against the leader of the Four Great Evils.

This sequence of events allowed Black Mountain Elder to act without check, resulting in the Fenghuang being injured. Consequently, the Feng clan’s powerhouses were unable to withstand the onslaught of the Four Great Evils. In the end, they were utterly routed, their Gu Kings scattered all over the place, while the Four Great Evils laughed as they made their escape.

Had he been in his prime, it would have been far more difficult for the Four Great Evils to flee so easily.

Just the thought of this filled Feng Tiancheng with unbridled anger. His insides ached with regret as he silently cursed how gambling brings harm, misleads people, and even endangers a nation. This time, determined to recover his losses, he vowed never to gamble again.

…

At this moment, in Long Xuan’s spiritual world, he gazed at the sheet of paper—merely an illusion conjured by his art—that lay in his hand, uncertain of how to proceed.

He possessed very few materials; even if he devised his own alchemical recipe, the scarcity of ingredients left him feeling utterly at a loss. Even if he managed to create a new recipe, what then? Could the spirit pills refined from it truly be of greater value than those of his two rivals? Long Xuan’s heart was filled with doubt—he had not the slightest foundation.

The extent to which a spirit pill’s miraculous efficacy could defy the natural order was undoubtedly tied to the quality of its materials. With ordinary ingredients, no matter what, one could never refine a pill that defied the heavens.

He did have a collection of alchemical formulas capable of evoking extraordinary phenomena, yet in each one the primary material was no lower than tenth‑grade. Even the heaven‑defying pill that could attract a Thunder Tribulation had employed the one and only divine tree fruit of the heavens and earth as its material. Based solely on the spiritual herbs he had gathered, it was clear that he could never create an earth‑defying alchemical formula.

The problem lay precisely here: the spiritual herbs in the hands of the Burning Heaven Ancestor and Qin Dan were far more abundant, so the overall quality of the ingredients they selected during pill refinement would undoubtedly surpass his by a wide margin. Such a disparity in material quality was not something an alchemical recipe could easily compensate for.

After furrowing his brows and pondering for a long while—nearly driven to despair—a flash of insight suddenly illuminated his mind. His predicament stemmed from the significant gap in ingredient quality between himself and his adversaries.

What if he could bridge that gap? What if he could even ensure that the quality of his pill ingredients far exceeded that of his competitors? At that moment, his eyes lit up as he thought, “Who says one must always use spiritual herbs for pill refinement? Could I not refine pills without them? Naturally, what if I were to use pill medicines as the material instead?”

This idea was nothing short of brilliant—remarkably innovative. The quality of refined pill medicines would undoubtedly surpass that of spiritual herbs. If pill themselves could indeed serve as ingredients for refining new pills, then, influenced by innate factors, the resulting spirit pills would very likely be of extraordinary quality. It was entirely possible that they might even outshine those of the Burning Heaven Ancestor.

Thus, his concept was to first refine the spiritual herbs he possessed into various types of spirit pills, and then, using these spirit pills as ingredients, to refine an entirely new kind of spirit pill. He dubbed this method the “Pill Combination Technique.”

The idea of using spirit pills to refine new pills was absolutely unprecedented in this world—no alchemist had ever conceived of it before. In effect, he was blazing a historical trail.

If this method could be successfully realized—and if he could, by employing it, produce a pill in the open—it would undoubtedly shock every judge and dazzle all onlookers. Moreover, this breakthrough would send shockwaves throughout the world, giving rise to a new school of alchemy. Alchemical recipe that used spirit pills as ingredients would spring forth like mushrooms after rain, studied by every ingenious alchemist.

The prospect of such everlasting renown quickened Long Xuan’s breath. He silently marveled at his own cleverness—how could he have conceived of such an extraordinary method of pill refinement? Overcome with excitement, Long Xuan clapped his hands and immediately set to work…

...

Meanwhile, Outside in a Mountain Forest

“Pfft!”

Burial Demon Old Ghost clutched a massive boulder for support, violently spitting blood as terror filled his eyes.

“Damn it! How can this Burning Heaven Ancestor be so formidable! The four Great Evildoers combined, and yet we were utterly no match for him! Is this truly the combat prowess of the No. 10 Demon on the Wanted List?”

Burial Demon Old Ghost’s face turned deathly pale.

Just moments ago, the four of them had carved a path through a hundred thousand Imperial troops, moving freely in Pheonix Heaven City—a place teeming with mighty experts—and astonishing every onlooker with their heroic spirit. Yet, little did they expect that, scarcely having fled, the four Great Evildoers would be utterly crushed by the Burning Heaven Ancestor single‑handedly.

In that battle, two of the four Great Evildoers were slain while the other two sustained grievous injuries; the Black Mountain Elder and the White‑Faced Scholar fell on the spot, and only he and the Jade‑Faced Raksha managed to escape by a hair’s breadth. However, both survivors were severely wounded—he himself had lost an arm to heavenly fire, and most of his Gu were nearly incinerated. At this point, his combat strength had plummeted to a freezing point.

“Damn it! There are always those even stronger—how can a figure as formidable as the Burning Heaven Ancestor be ranked only tenth on the Gu World’s Wanted List? What might those occupying the top nine positions be like?” he fumed.

“And what about those top ten Supreme figures of the orthodox sect from the previous era? Compared to these true powerhouses, I was nothing but a frog in a well—I was indeed overly arrogant and ignorant.”

With a grave expression, Burial Demon Old Ghost glanced back anxiously. Seeing that the Burning Heaven Ancestor had not given chase, he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to endure the searing pain, and resumed running forward.

It was obvious that the Burning Heaven Ancestor refused to believe that the Enlightenment Tea Tree had been accidentally burned to ashes. If he could not locate the Enlightenment Tea Tree, he vowed that he would not rest until he had slain both of them.