Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

After Gou An put all sixty-four kinds of spiritual ingredients into the alchemy furnace, the fire in the furnace remained stable.

After Gou An made minor adjustments to the spirit fire, all the materials began to fuse together, eventually forming the prototypes of three spirit pills.

Having done all this, Gou An controlled the furnace temperature to a very stable level, and now all he had to do was wait for the furnace fire to slowly refine the product.

The group of alchemists watched Gou An's order of adding ingredients throughout the entire process, each with their own calculations in mind.

In their view, these three days of complacency would only involve slacking off and sleeping, and it would be impossible for them to truly comprehend the ancient elixir.

After all, Gou An was just a demon cultivator; his alchemy skills were nowhere near as strong as those of a human cultivator.

Among demon cultivators, the most skilled alchemist is the old fox of the Seven Guardians, but even he is not considered outstanding compared to human alchemy masters.

Gou An is either lucky or he has refined similar pills before, which is why he knows the correct order.

As long as you follow his order and combine it with your own experience in controlling the heat over many days of trial and error, you will definitely be able to refine a qualified Wan Yuan Gu Hun Dan.

Upon realizing this, the remaining alchemists stopped their furnaces and followed Gou An's instructions to add the ingredients in the same order.

Long Youzi's eyes narrowed, and he quickly memorized the order of each medicinal herb, a confident smile subtly playing on his lips.

Although the order in which the materials were added was slightly different from what I had figured out, it was generally correct.

You can succeed by simply adjusting the order of the elements.

After finishing all this, Gou An sat back down in his chair, yawning as he waited, while glancing at the others' alchemy process out of the corner of his eye.

Even after discovering that they were all imitating him, he wasn't worried.

After studying these medicinal ingredients, Gou An discovered that these sixty-four ingredients did not have a fixed order.

Gou An chose the order that was most suitable for him.

Their lack of precise control over the furnace fire actually increases the difficulty of refining.

as predicted!

Before long, many alchemists' furnaces began to explode continuously.

The medicinal herbs in the furnace clashed, and the furnace temperature was too high, resulting in repeated failures.

Subsequently, several more alchemy furnaces simultaneously unleashed their medicinal properties, sending black smoke billowing into the sky and emitting a foul, pungent stench.

Even Long Youzi's alchemy furnace suddenly exploded, spraying black smoke all over his face.

Everyone was completely stunned.

The feeding order is exactly the same!

The aroma wafts gently and intoxicatingly within the Gou'an incense burner, creating a harmonious and peaceful atmosphere.

Inside their furnace, the medicinal properties clashed directly, causing everything to explode!

Some people were unwilling to give up and tried to bake it again, but it still exploded.

Some people carefully adjusted the heat, but ended up with a batch of lifeless, useless pills, devoid of any spiritual energy.

"Why is that monster's alchemy furnace so stable?"

"Yes, it's clearly the same order."

"I think he's just pretending, using some kind of trick!"

"What do you mean?"

"That means he wasn't actually refining pills at all. The order in which he added the spiritual materials was just random. The furnace fire looked stable, but there was actually hardly any temperature inside."

"Without furnace temperature, the furnace won't explode, but this isn't alchemy at all."

"So that's how it is!"

After discussing it, the group of alchemists found that this was indeed the case.

After all, several hours had passed since Gou An closed the furnace door and waited for the furnace fire to automatically refine the product, but Gou An didn't even glance at the furnace.

This is not normal at all for a normal alchemist.

If it were ordinary pills, one could simply not pay attention to the state of the pill furnace.

However, this pill is extremely difficult to make, yet it is made so casually, which inevitably makes all the alchemists suspicious.

So in the end, everyone felt that Gou An was just bluffing, deliberately interfering with them and wasting their time.

In the end, the order in which Gou An incorporated the spiritual materials was abandoned by everyone, and he continued with his original research.

Only Long Youzi noticed something was wrong. If Gou An was just blind, how could his order of involvement be the same as his own?

The oven exploded just now, but it was just an accident.

When adding one of the spiritual ingredients, I forgot that it could cause the furnace fire to ignite, and I didn't cool it down beforehand, which led to the fire.

If you pay attention in advance next time, you can avoid it.

So Long Youzi began his new round of attempts.

This time, Long Youzi adjusted the heat every time he added spiritual materials.

It seems simple, but it consumes a great deal of the body's spiritual energy and physical strength.

He had only put in half of the effort when Long Youzi was already sweating profusely.

He was secretly alarmed. How did Gou An, this demon cultivator, manage to remain so calm and composed just now?

Although he couldn't understand it, Long Youzi didn't stop what he was doing and continued to put the ingredients into the pill.

During the refining process, Long Youzi discovered that refining the pills in the order that Gou An added them allowed the spiritual materials to blend together, thus enhancing the medicinal effects.

However, for alchemists, it requires an extremely strong ability to control the furnace temperature.

After he successfully put all the spiritual materials into the pill and watched them successfully merge and condense into a pill embryo, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At this stage, as long as the furnace temperature remains constant without any unexpected issues, there will be no problems.

Time passed slowly, and the fourth day arrived.

The alchemical furnace remained brightly lit, and the elixir was still slowly taking shape.

Based on this level of preparation, it needs to be maintained for another five hours to fully take shape, and then baked at a low temperature for several hours to stabilize the medicinal properties before it can be taken out of the oven.

But in that case, we've reached the final stage.

Even if others imitate me, they are one step behind. Even if they can refine the exact same one, they won't have enough time, and the quality of the pills won't be as good.

Therefore, Gou An knew he was safe.

At this moment, although the other alchemists had also reached the final step, Gou An twitched his nose a few times and smelled the aroma from their alchemy furnaces.

None of them are good enough to fight!

Only the aroma from Long Youzi's alchemy furnace was barely comparable to his own, but he lacked the time and control of the heat, resulting in inferior pills.

On the last day, in the last half hour of the sixty-hour period.

The Demon King then reappeared and took his seat on the high platform.

All the alchemists stood by their respective furnaces, waiting for the pills to be ready.

Normally, elixirs are most effective when they are freshly made.

The longer it is left outside, the slower the medicinal effect will diminish.

So none of them were released first.

As the last quarter of an hour approached, the crowd around the square grew larger, all eager to see the final result.

The white crane soared into the sky and announced to the group of alchemists: "The third round of alchemy is over. We will now begin the furnace inspection."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the old fox led the three hall masters of the Pill Hall to the square and began to examine the pills one by one, and the square instantly fell silent.

As each furnace door was opened and the pills were taken out, the results were somewhat unsatisfactory, with the quality of the pills varying considerably.

The old fox led the three hall masters to inspect each furnace, and they all shook their heads.

Two alchemists even produced pills with dull surfaces; they were more like balls made from a mixture of unidentified substances than actual pills.

The elixir not only lacked the fragrance of elixir, but also had a burnt smell.

Other alchemists may produce pills with a medicinal fragrance, but they are mediocre at best, containing only half the medicinal power of the original pill. Such pills can only be described as inferior.

Some are slightly better, producing about 20% of the medicinal potency, but that's still the limit.

When they reached Long Youzi's furnace, the old fox spoke up: "Fellow Daoist, you may open the furnace now!"

Long Youzi nodded slightly, then walked to the furnace door.

The moment the furnace door opened, a fragrant aroma of medicine wafted out, invigorating everyone present.

"It smells so good!"

"This should be a success!"

"Wow, that's amazing! He was the first one I saw."

Amidst everyone's exclamations, Long Youzi took two finished pills from the furnace and placed them on the jade plate.

The old fox's eyes lit up as he stepped forward, picking up a pill between two fingers to examine it closely, while the three hall masters surrounded another pill, analyzing and studying it.

After a moment, the old fox put down the pill and nodded slightly: "Not bad. So far, the Myriad Origin Soul-Stabilizing Pill you have refined can be said to be the most successful. It seems that you have refined it to achieve 60% of the original medicinal effect."

Long Youzi cupped his hands slightly: "If you give me more time, I will definitely be able to perfectly replicate this ancient pill."

The old fox nodded, then walked towards Gou An.

At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Gou An.

The reason why Gou An was the last to test the pill was because when Gou An chose the pill furnace, he chose the one that was furthest to the side and the most inconspicuous.

The pills refined by the first nine people have been inspected, and their rankings have been basically determined.

Currently, Longyouzi Danyao is of the highest quality and has basically secured the top spot.

In the eyes of other alchemists, Gou An certainly hadn't produced any good pills.

It might even be the worst one.

After all, Gou An only refined one batch from beginning to end.

Moreover, the furnace was never opened to check from beginning to end, so no one knew what the pills looked like.

The old fox walked up to Gou An and said, "You're the only one left. Let's start the furnace!"

Gou An nodded and gently opened the furnace door.

Instantly, an exquisite medicinal fragrance wafted out from the furnace door, and in a flash, the aroma swept across the entire square.

The monsters standing on the outskirts of the square smelled the aroma and were all intoxicated with enjoyment.

When the elixir was taken out of the furnace, it was golden in color and its surface shimmered with golden light.

Everyone was stunned by what they saw.

Even Long Youzi's expression froze when he came to take it. Compared to the pill he had refined, it was worlds apart.

The old fox originally claimed that his concoction had 60% potency, but now, in comparison, it probably doesn't even have 30%.

"Good heavens!" The old fox's hands trembled as he held the pills.

Even the demon king, who was sitting on the high platform, was surprised and stood up, flying down to the square to pick up a pill to examine it himself.

"How is this pill?" the Demon King immediately asked the old fox.

"Your Majesty!" the old fox hurriedly reported, "This pill is rich in spiritual energy and has a mellow fragrance; its medicinal effects are even stronger than that ancient pill that was preserved!"

"Great!" The Demon King was overjoyed and said to the old fox, "What are you waiting for? Find a bottle and put it in for me."

The old fox nodded hurriedly, immediately took out an empty porcelain bottle, put the three Myriad Origin Soul-Stabilizing Pills refined by Gou An into it, and handed it to the Demon King.

The Demon King, holding the bottle, immediately took to the air and transformed into a black gust of wind, drifting away as if he had some urgent business to attend to.