The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Long Xuan nodded and pondered, “The only thing that can tempt all Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing stage is the Breakthrough Pill.”

“From now on, everyone will focus on refining Breakthrough Pills. Also, I’ve already figured out the technique from the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique.’ I refuse to believe we can’t lure them in with a pile of Breakthrough Pills!”

A smirk appeared on Long Xuan’s lips as he handed a relatively thin book to the Fire Clone.

The idea of the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique’ came to him not long after he first crossed into this world. However, despite years of effort, he had not succeeded and even thought about giving up at one point.

But ever since he began cultivating the ‘Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art,’ everything came naturally, and the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique’ was completed in less than two days. He had casually worked on it during his free time, and it was nothing short of a miracle.

At that moment, he finally understood that to master the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique,’ one must split their soul and multitask. Without these capabilities, this technique would be impossible to complete.

This was because the Great Cauldron Pill required the ingredients for a single pill to be multiplied tenfold or even a hundredfold and placed into one alchemy furnace, which would result in ten or a hundred times the usual output of pills.

However, how could one person possibly manage such an enormous quantity of spiritual herbs at once? It undoubtedly required soul division and multitasking.

Thus, after practicing the ‘Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Divine Art,’ everything naturally fell into place, and he successfully developed the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique.’

With this technique, his clone only needed to dedicate a small amount of time each day to alchemy, without compromising too much on cultivation time.

However, the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique’ did have its limitations, as it couldn’t be used for all types of spiritual pills.

He could currently refine as many first-grade pills as he wanted with no pressure.

But if he were to challenge a heaven-defying pill like the Heaven-Mending Pill using this technique, it would be far beyond his control.

The least of the problems would be an explosion of the furnace. What he feared most was that the strange phenomena caused by the pill might change, potentially triggering a heavenly tribulation, which would be extremely troublesome.

The Fire Clone eagerly accepted the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique’ and began reading it enthusiastically.

Even the rabbit came over to join the fun, seemingly very interested in this miraculous alchemy technique. It hopped next to the Fire Clone and secretly observed, clearly fascinated.

There weren’t many words in the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique,’ so both the clone and the rabbit quickly finished reading it. Eagerly, they both pulled out large alchemy furnaces and began experimenting with refining Great Cauldron Pills.

At the same time, the other clones finally returned with large quantities of materials for the Sea Converging Pill.

Yes, Long Xuan had planned for the clones to refine Sea Converging Pill.

The Sea Converging Pill could improve the success rate of breaking through from the peak of Marrow Cleansing to the early Spiritual Sea stage by 5%. Though the rate wasn’t high, it was enough to drive every Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivator mad.

The recipe for the Sea Converging Pill was acquired by the clone when doing business at a pill shop.

In the world of Gu, there’s an unspoken rule when it comes to hiring alchemists: You must provide your own materials and pill recipe, and the alchemist takes a cut of the refined pills.

This trading rule is favored by all alchemists because they can gain a free pill recipe.

The recipe for the Sea Converging Pill was obtained through this method, but because it wasn’t an exclusive recipe of any particular clan, its medicinal potency was limited, only offering a 5% breakthrough rate for those at the peak of Marrow Cleansing. 𝘳

For Long Xuan, who possessed the Ten Absolute Body Physique, such weak medicinal power was utterly useless.

However, once the Sea Converging Pills were mass-produced, they would generate enormous profits for him—more than enough to fund the construction of a large ship.

It was well-known that among pills of the same grade, the Breakthrough Pill was always the most expensive, valued a hundred times more than other pills of the same grade, if not more.

Even hundreds of second-grade Spirit Enhancing Pills couldn’t be traded for a single second-grade Breakthrough Pill.

Despite both being second-grade pills, the price difference between them was absurd.

Thus, refining Breakthrough Pills was highly lucrative. If he used the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique’ to mass-produce Sea Converging Pills, he would be able to amass an incalculable amount of wealth.

Though the medicinal power of Sea Converging Pills was weak, there was an advantage to that: the materials needed for weak pills were generally easy to collect.

As long as he had enough money, he wouldn’t need to waste time gathering materials himself.

A single furnace could produce five Sea Converging Pills. With the ‘Great Cauldron Alchemy Technique,’ he could produce fifty pills per furnace.

When all the clones worked together to refine Sea Converging Pills, with their success rate, they would easily produce hundreds of pills within half a month. Such vast wealth would be more than enough to build a large ship.

To be honest, his alchemy furnaces weren’t large enough, nor did he have enough soul divisions. Otherwise, even ten times the current output wouldn’t be his limit.

To speed up the process, Long Xuan also joined in refining the Sea Converging Pills.

By using his soul splitting to simultaneously extract large quantities of spiritual herbs, his efficiency in alchemy was astonishingly fast. Extracting herbs, the most time-consuming step in alchemy, was now a breeze. His alchemy speed far surpassed that of an average alchemist.

Breakthrough Pills, however, were not easy to refine. One consistent characteristic of Breakthrough Pills was that their difficulty in refinement was high, and they required a large quantity of ingredients, making the process long and drawn out.

For this reason, Breakthrough Pills couldn’t be mass-produced. Factoring in the failure rate, even the best alchemists needed a long time to produce a single furnace of Breakthrough Pills.

Yet Long Xuan had forced the mass production of Breakthrough Pills and reduced the time-consuming process of refining Sea Converging Pills to less than half a month.

His method of making money was nothing short of robbery.

Thus, half a month later, the five main clones each refined two furnaces, failing one furnace each and producing a total of 250 pills.

Long Xuan refined two furnaces, both successful, yielding 100 pills.

As for the rabbit, it refined two furnaces and failed both, producing nothing. Long Xuan harshly scolded it afterward.

In the past half-month, Long Xuan had refined a total of 350 Sea Converging Pills. It's important to note that these are all breakthrough pills, and the sheer number of them is quite staggering.

Today is the day when the Marrow Cleansing Stage Trade Fair begins.

After placing the 350 Sea Converging Pills into individual pill bottles, Long Xuan suddenly remembered something. To avoid being scammed during the trade, he pulled out the Integrity Gu from the World Tree Seed and hid it inside his clothes, near his stomach.

With the Integrity Gu as his safeguard, Long Xuan finally felt at ease and confidently headed to the trade fair.

[TL: Xinghai City from now on will be referred to as Starsea City]

The trade fair was held in a private estate in Starsea City, covering a vast area. Hundreds of Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators attended.

Only well-known and powerful Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators were eligible to participate in the trade fair. In short, you had to be wealthy—poor, rogue cultivators were definitely not qualified to attend.

Since Long Xuan was the top alchemist in Starsea City, his fame was immense, and his wealth was unquestionable, so he naturally received an invitation to the trade fair.

The invitation was from the owner of the estate, Mo Bufan, the eldest son of the Mo family, who held significant power in Starsea City and was hosting the event.

When Long Xuan arrived at the estate gate, he was stopped by two peak Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators. He presented his invitation, and the Gu cultivator on the right glanced at it before allowing him to pass.

"Oh, it's Master Ye. Please come in!" The two Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators at the entrance immediately made welcoming gestures, full of enthusiasm.

Long Xuan nodded and entered.

"Ye Xuan" was his alias. Whenever he used a false name outside, he would always use the surname "Ye"—not for any special reason, he just thought it sounded cool.

After entering the estate, Long Xuan was about to find a quiet corner to wait for the trade fair to start, but he was immediately surrounded by a group of Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators with smiles on their faces.

Long Xuan revealed a helpless expression. There was no escaping the downside of being too famous.

Because he was the top alchemist in Starsea City, everyone wanted to curry favor with him and form connections.

Never underestimate the title of Starsea City’s top alchemist. If he so much as raised his arm and called for a fight, there would immediately be a crowd of people rushing to be his enforcers. This was the terrifying influence of an exceptional alchemist.

Many people believed that his future, at the very least, would see him as a third-grade alchemist, with the possibility of reaching fourth grade. Naturally, countless people would be eager to build relationships with him. He was definitely seen as a valuable investment with great potential.

Long Xuan now fully understood why he had become the top alchemist in Starsea City.

There were third-grade alchemists in Starsea City—more than one, in fact—but people seek to rise higher, and water flows downward. Once famous, many people no longer wanted to stay in small places like this and would move to larger areas for better opportunities.

Most alchemists in remote regions, once they reached third grade, would choose to join a powerful organization called the Alchemy God Palace.

The Alchemy God Palace was one of the top ten forces in the entire Gu world, with influence spanning across all regions.

Its power was so great that it dared to determine the rankings of alchemists worldwide, even creating its own standards to assess all alchemists.

In other words, an alchemist's rank was determined by the Alchemy Palace. After advancing in grade, each alchemist had to go to an Alchemy Palace branch to be assessed, then obtain their alchemist badge and uniform. Any alchemist without an official badge was considered untrained.

The Alchemy God Palace was just that domineering.

However, the world recognized the standards set by the Alchemy Palace, and it became the dream of every alchemist to join, viewing it as a sacred place. Joining the Alchemy Palace was a lifelong ambition for many.

At the Alchemy Palace, one could learn more pill recipes and easily collect rare spiritual herbs, significantly boosting their growth. Plus, they'd have access to the broader central regions.

Thus, any third-grade alchemist with even a bit of ambition would choose to join the Alchemy Palace and wouldn't stay in their impoverished hometown. This was only natural.

Of course, Elder Long, who lacked ambition, was an exception.

After passing the assessment for third-grade alchemists at the Alchemy God Palace's branch, he took his third-grade alchemist badge and simply returned to his family.

Then, he casually tossed this badge, which all alchemists regarded as a symbol of honor, onto his desk like trash.

His life's goal was to work for the development of his family, and he had no intention of abandoning them to pursue greater prospects elsewhere.

As for Long Xuan, he had no interest in traveling far to the Alchemy Palace's branch for an alchemist rank assessment. Why would he need someone else’s certification for his alchemy skills?

Instead, he used the Heavenly Eye to analyze the components of the third-grade alchemist badge Elder Long had casually left on the desk, then perfectly forged a replica of the badge.

After all, since he had fabricated a mysterious alchemist master, this third-grade alchemist badge might come in handy when he impersonated that master.

Thanks to the existence of the Alchemy God Palace, it was difficult to find a third-grade alchemist in most less affluent areas. If you did encounter one, it was likely someone with poor talent, whom the Alchemy God Palace didn't want.

Yet, Long Xuan was invincible among second-grade alchemists, so wherever he went, he would be recognized as the top alchemist of that region.

It was no surprise that he had become the top alchemist in Starsea City.