The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 396: Long Xiaoyao Visits Again

As soon as these words were spoken, Feng Tiancheng slumped into his chair, his face ashen.

A staggering score of 92 points, the highest in the competition, meant that Long Xiaoyao had won once again. As a result, Feng Tiancheng would lose five of his life-bound Gu insects.

Five life-bound Gu insects! Combined with the five he had already lost, that made a total of ten.

Losing ten life-bound Gu insects would drastically weaken his combat strength. He would be lucky if he retained even ten or twenty percent of his original power. Calling him a cripple would not be an exaggeration.

His face turned deathly pale, and his eyes filled with despair. Falling from the heavens to the depths of the abyss was an unbearable feeling.

He still couldn't understand how he had lost a seemingly foolproof gamble.

At this point, he was in such a daze that he couldn't even announce the results himself, leaving Long Xiaoyao to do it in his place.

Meanwhile, Ancestor Burning Heaven and Qin Dan frowned deeply. Long Xuan had scored 92 points—two points higher than them.

With the previous round included, Long Xuan was now ahead of them by three points.

A three-point lead was a significant gap. In a competition between geniuses, even a one-point lead was substantial, let alone three.

Both of them looked grim, finally taking the competition seriously. They had now decided not to hold back at all in the next round.

With a three-point gap, the only way to make a comeback was by refining Fourth-Grade pills—anything less simply wouldn't be enough.

At this moment, Long Xuan appeared disappointed.

Only 92 points? That was way too low.

Seeing the judges' crazy reactions, he had assumed he would get a perfect score.

But in the end, he was only awarded this? It had been a waste of his excitement.

And now, he wasn’t satisfied.

Since Long Xiaoyao had already called for the competition to disperse, Long Xuan had no reason to stay any longer. He turned and walked back towards the inn at a slow pace.

The onlookers made way for him, their eyes filled with awe and reverence. It was as if they had just witnessed the rise of an unparalleled alchemy genius.

Back at the inn, Long Xuan closed the door. But before he could even rest, Long Xiaoyao suddenly jumped in through the window, his face brimming with excitement.

"Brilliant work! I never expected you to win this round!"

"In the next match, you don’t even need to win—just tying with your opponent, or even scoring just two points lower, will still secure you the championship of this Alchemy Tournament!"

"Because of you, my Long Clan will gain an incredible reputation!"

"Thanks to your performance, I won another five life-bound Gu insects from Feng Tiancheng!

"With a total of ten lost, he’s now completely useless. You should have seen the look on his face—black as coal! Hahaha!"

As soon as he appeared, Long Xiaoyao laughed heartily, his face flushed with excitement.

Seeing him suddenly jump through the window, Long Xuan felt a headache coming on.

He couldn't understand why such an important figure refused to use the door and instead preferred jumping through windows. He had nearly scared him to death!

Long Xuan quickly composed himself and respectfully said,

"Senior, have you come today to explain the next round's rules?"

Long Xiaoyao, still in a great mood, waved his hand and laughed,

"No need for formalities! Your future achievements will surely surpass mine. Who knows, one day I might have to rely on you! We can address each other as equals."

Then, his expression turned serious, and he said gravely,

"I did come to tell you about the next round’s rules, so you can mentally prepare yourself."

His smile faded as he continued,

"There was an unexpected incident in this round. The Four Great Evildoers of the Sinful Lands attacked, breaking the barrier of the Medicine Realm."

"As a result, the formation that suppressed people's abilities lost its effect."

"With their powers restored, Ancestor Burning Heaven and other Gu Kings went on a killing spree, wiping out half of the competitors.

"Most of the remaining competitors were eliminated due to a lack of collected spiritual herbs, as they had to leave the field early."

"In the end, there were barely any competitors left. Even after we judges forcibly increased scores, only thirty contestants remained."

"The other seventy were all eliminated."

"The fourth round’s rules are as follows: The thirty remaining competitors will enter a palace and drink the Enlightenment Tea together."

"Using the power of the tea, they will have ten days to create an original pill recipe."

"The more extraordinary the pill formula, the higher the score."

"The ten highest-scoring contestants will advance to the final round."

Long Xiaoyao suddenly looked at him and smiled, saying, “You previously entered a state of enlightenment and created the method of refining pills using pills. It is quite impressive—enough to set off a revolution in the alchemy world.”

“From this, it’s clear that you are highly skilled in the path of self-creation. The next round plays to your strengths, and the game rules are very favorable for you.”

“You’d better score higher than the Ancestor Burning Heaven again in this round and widen the gap in points between you two.”

“If you manage that, even if he refines a fourth-grade pill in the finals, he may still not surpass your total score.”

Long Xiaoyao's expression suddenly turned serious as he solemnly said, “If nothing unexpected happens, given how much he’s trailing behind, the Ancestor Burning Heaven will definitely attempt to refine a fourth-grade pill in the finals. You need to be mentally prepared.”

Long Xuan nodded. This statement made him feel the pressure—he dared not be careless. He then asked, “Senior, can you estimate what level of pill recipe the Burning Heaven Patriarch might create after drinking the Enlightenment Tea? That way, I can have a better idea of what to expect.”

Long Xiaoyao shook his head and sighed. “Who could say for sure?”

“All I can tell you is that Enlightenment Tea can temporarily enhance a person’s intelligence and perception, allowing them to enter a state of enlightenment. However, what they comprehend varies from person to person.”

“Some may only create a worthless first-grade pill recipe after drinking it, while those with high comprehension and deep knowledge may create absolutely heaven-defying things.”

“But most alchemy geniuses, even after drinking Enlightenment Tea, can’t create a third-grade pill recipe, let alone a fourth-grade one.”

“Otherwise, the Phoenix Heaven Empire, which controls the Enlightenment Tea Tree, would have already flooded the world with fourth-grade pill recipe.”

“For you, the benchmark is to create a third-grade pill recipe. As long as you achieve that, your place in the finals is secured.”

Hearing this, Long Xuan furrowed his brows. Creating a third-grade pill recipe was effortless for him—he could do it even without drinking Enlightenment Tea. Yet, he didn’t feel at ease at all.

Just now, Long Xiaoyao had said that the effects of the tea vary depending on the person. Those with high comprehension and deep knowledge could create heaven-defying things, with no upper limit on how astonishing their creations could be.

And the Ancestor Burning Heaven, along with that Qin Dan, seemed to be precisely those kinds of people.

The progress indicator above Qin Dan’s head looked very similar to that of Duan Tianwu. If there were no surprises, he was Duan Tianwu.

Why was Duan Tianwu still alive, and why had he appeared here? Long Xuan didn’t know, nor did he care.

Duan Tianwu’s imaginative genius was in no way inferior to his own. According to Abbot, Duan Tianwu had created far too many heaven-defying inheritances and possessed an immensely deep reservoir of knowledge.

The terrifying Endless Battle Codex, Demon Devouring Gu Formula, Great Buddha Sword Technique, Little Strong Gu, Heart-Seeking Finger… all these heaven-defying techniques were his creations.

Even without drinking Enlightenment Tea, he had managed to create so many terrifying things. If he were to drink the tea, what then?

The things he would create next would be enough to scare people to death. A mere third-grade pill recipe wouldn’t be enough to stop him.

Just thinking about it made Long Xuan’s scalp tingle.

As for the Ancestor Burning Heaven, he was even more terrifying. He possessed the complete Evil Phoenix True Eye and was rumored to have secretly learned almost all the inheritances in the world. He had survived being hunted by countless forces dozens of times and still lived.

When it came to accumulated knowledge, who could compare to him? Even if Duan Tianwu had learned everything he could, it wouldn’t amount to one ten-thousandth of the Ancestor Burning Heaven’s knowledge.

If someone with such a deep foundation drank Enlightenment Tea, what kind of terrifying things would he create?

Long Xuan didn’t dare to imagine.

No doubt, a third-grade pill recipe wouldn’t be enough to stop him either.

With these two monstrous figures here to stir up trouble, Long Xiaoyao actually said that this round was in his favor?

What kind of advantage is that?

If he wasn’t careful, he might fall behind by ten whole points in this round! There was absolutely no way he held any advantage in this battle.