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

"Okay, I'll go right away!"

Gou An immediately agreed, then got up and straightened his robes.

Upon arriving at the main hall of the General Alchemy Hall, the old fox and the original three hall masters... or rather, the current three elders of the General Alchemy Hall, were already seated.

The old fox sat in the center, with the three elders lined up on the other side.

The group chatted and laughed, showing no trace of the awkwardness they had displayed during the merger of the Pill Hall yesterday. Clearly, the old fox had given them generous compensation and promises in private.

Otherwise, who would be willing to confiscate their assets accumulated over many years for nothing?

Besides the few newly recruited alchemists from yesterday, all the registered alchemists from the original three alchemy halls were also gathered in the hall.

"Please, everyone, take your seats wherever you like," the old fox said.

Everyone responded and took their seats nearby.

Gou An intended to habitually shrink into the back corner, but was spotted by Master Wenxu at a glance and was pulled to sit down next to him.

"Fellow Daoist, please sit here!" Master Wenxu said with a warm smile.

Gou An had no choice but to let Master Wenxu pull him to sit down on the side.

The old fox, whose Taoist name is Cangxuan Shangren, is the third of the seven guardians under the Demon King.

He is in charge of the alchemy system of the Ten Thousand Demon City and all internal affairs within the city. Although his combat strength is not top-notch among the seven guardian states, he wields immense power.

Once everyone was seated, the hall fell silent.

The old fox slowly spoke: "Today, I have gathered you all here because it is the first day that the main alchemy hall of my Ten Thousand Demon City is officially established."

"All the original alchemists of the Three Pill Hall, plus the new cultivators who joined the hall yesterday, total thirty-nine people."

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and took out an old, yellowed booklet. The booklet contained individual pages with densely written characters, exuding an ancient charm.

"This book contains fragmented ancient alchemical formulas that I have compiled and copied from ancient alchemical repositories."

"I have gathered everyone here today for only one matter!"

"That means in the time to come, I need everyone to deduce the incomplete ancient pill formulas they have, try their best to complete the pharmacology, straighten out the heat, try to deduce the complete pill-making method, and successfully refine the pills."

After saying that, he handed the ancient alchemy manual to the Xuan Ding Zhenren beside him.

Master Xuanding immediately understood, took the booklet, and randomly distributed the incomplete prescriptions to everyone, giving each person several.

Gou An took the few pages of the handwritten incomplete prescription and casually flipped through them.

The handwriting on the paper was ancient and obscure, the pharmacology was abstruse, and he had never heard of the names of the pills recorded on it.

Many of the materials on the scroll were unfamiliar to me, and because it was an incomplete scroll, the number of spiritual materials listed in the recipe was clearly insufficient.

Just as everyone was studying the fragments of the pill formulas they had received, the old fox spoke up: "Restoring these ancient pill formulas is very difficult and requires some luck."

"However, as long as you can restore it, even if it is only 30% of the original recorded efficacy, you will be rewarded with spirit stones."

"Of course! The better the effect of the restored pills, the greater the reward."

Upon hearing this, Long Youzi was the first to ask, "How many spirit stones will be awarded?"

The old fox smiled slightly when he saw it was Long Youzi: "If it's 30% of the medicinal power, the reward is 5,000; 40% 8,000; 50% 10,000; 60% 20,000; and 70% 30,000!"

"If the medicine can be restored to 80% of its potency, then I can get 50,000 spirit stones in one go."

Upon hearing that they could receive so much, everyone immediately perked up.

"Ninety percent, what about one hundred percent?" Long Youzi continued to ask.

"Hahaha!" The old fox laughed heartily. "It's not that I look down on you all, but this is not a complete formula, but a fragment. The records of spiritual materials are incomplete. I'm afraid there are very few people in the world who can restore it to such a state."

Gou An nodded slightly after hearing this; what the old fox said was indeed true.

The reason I was able to restore the Soul-Stabilizing Pill was because the formula was complete.

However, the pill formula in everyone's hands was incomplete, which made it extremely difficult.

For example, even though Long Youzi was a skilled alchemist, he could only restore about 40-50% of the original pill when he had the complete formula during the competition.

"However..." the old fox suddenly changed the subject, continuing, "If any of you could truly recreate 90% of the efficacy of any pill from an ancient pill formula fragment, or even a perfect pill!"

"Starting at 100,000 spirit stones!"

Although this goal was difficult to achieve, it still excited the group of alchemists.

The old fox was satisfied with everyone's reaction, and then continued, "In addition to the ancient pill formulas I've given you, you also need to follow the pill-refining arrangements of the three elders on a regular basis."

As he spoke, he pointed to the Venerable Wenxu, Venerable Xuanding, and Venerable Heijiao standing to the side.

"They'll assign you alchemy tasks. If you want more spirit stones each month, just refine more pills!" the old fox chuckled. "In the City of Ten Thousand Demons, the capable are rewarded with more work!"

After saying this, the old fox suddenly stood up: "That's all for now. I have other things to do. From now on, you will follow the arrangements of the three elders."

After saying this, he strode out of the main hall, and with a flicker of his body, he flew away.

Immediately afterwards, Master Wenxu stood up and said to everyone, "There are no other alchemy arrangements for today. Everyone, come forward and receive the Demon King's Mansion token."

As he spoke, he took out a storage bag from his sleeve and pulled out a golden token with exquisite patterns and three large characters engraved on it.

Demon King's Palace!

In addition, next to the three large characters "Demon King's Palace," there is a line of smaller characters.

Alchemist of the General Alchemy Hall.

"Each of you will receive one piece, and from now on you will be free to enter and leave the Demon King's Palace." Master Wenxu said to everyone, "However, although you can enter and leave freely, the Demon King's Palace is heavily guarded. Apart from the General Pill Hall, you must not go anywhere else."

After everyone received their tokens, Master Wenxu said, "Everyone, please go back and rest for two days to familiarize yourselves with the new environment and the new alchemy furnace. In a few days, we will begin alchemy."

After hearing this, the group of alchemists dispersed and prepared to return to their respective courtyards.

Gou An was about to leave when he was stopped by Master Wenxu.

"Fellow Daoist Gou, wait a moment!"

Gou An stopped, puzzled, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"

"I've prepared food and drinks, let's have a get-together!" Master Wenxu said with a fawning expression.

Gou An couldn't refuse, so he agreed.

Following Master Wenxu, we arrived at a large courtyard next to the General Pill Hall. This was Master Wenxu's residence in the Demon King's Mansion.

On the stone table under the tree in the courtyard, demon servants had already prepared wine, food, and spirits.

"Fellow Daoist, please have a seat!" Master Wenxu politely extended his hand.

Gou An sat down and said, "Master, just say what you have to say."

"Hehe!" Master Wenxu smiled slightly and said, "Actually, it's nothing much, I just wanted to get together with fellow Daoists."

"After all, with the loss of Master Jiu Lu and the others in our Wan Dan Hall, you and I are the only ones left who have the best relationship."

"Is that so!" Gou An smiled ingratiatingly. "Come to think of it, that makes sense."

"So, this is just a reunion. Although I am now an elder, with your talent and abilities, you will surely be able to stand on equal footing with me in the future, or even rise to a higher level!" Master Wenxu laughed heartily.

The two ate and chatted, as if they were catching up.

After several rounds of drinks upon arriving on the island, Gou An was slightly tipsy when Master Wenxu seized the opportunity to speak, seemingly casually asking, "Fellow Daoist, although you had some skill in alchemy before, it's worlds apart from what you have now."

"It's only been a little over half a year since you left the City of Ten Thousand Demons. What happened to cause such a drastic change in you?"

Upon hearing this question, Gou An was slightly taken aback, and immediately sobered up a bit.

Clearly, this was the real reason why Master Wenxu had invited him to come and reminisce.

After all, just over half a year ago, Gou An was merely a novice demon who had just entered the path of alchemy.

However, after following Lord Chiyan Mountain to explore the so-called secret realm, upon returning, not only did his cultivation level increase significantly, but his alchemy skills also rose dramatically.

It was even better than his own alchemy combined with that of the Nine Furnace Master.

It should be noted that the three hall masters studied the Myriad Origin Soul-Stabilizing Pill for several months, and only managed to restore 60% to 70% of its original efficacy.

However, the pills refined at the Gou'an Conference were extremely perfect, and their effects were much better than those of well-preserved ancient pills.

This is the difference!

"Actually, it's nothing!" Gou An sighed and shook his head, feigning a sigh. "I went with Lord Chiyan to a secluded secret realm in the snowy region."

Seeing that Gou An was about to get to the point, Master Wenxu immediately pricked up his ears to listen, afraid of missing anything.

I originally wanted to ask Gou An about it when I saw him last time, but Gou An changed the subject with other topics.

"There is a tower in the secret realm, with nine floors!" Gou An continued, recounting the events in detail without concealing anything.

After all, the other cultivators and demon cultivators who entered the ancient tower together knew about this matter.

They only had half of their cultivation drained; they didn't die.

Upon hearing Gou An's account of his ascent through the tower, Master Wenxu repeatedly expressed his amazement.

"After they were all drained of their cultivation and sent away, I was the only one left in the tower!" Gou An said, shaking his head helplessly, "The road ahead is one I must walk alone..."

"...Later, I was trapped in the Soul River on the eighth floor of the ancient pagoda and couldn't find a way out."

"Moreover, the flow of time inside is different from that outside. I was trapped inside for decades and couldn't find the exit."

"So, having nothing to do, I could only study alchemy on my own and slowly improve my cultivation, which led to my current situation."

Gou An's later words were half true and half false.

They were only trapped in the Soul River for a few years, but in the current description, it has become several decades.

In this way, his improvement in cultivation and alchemy can be explained.

He was not a genius, but after being trapped in the Soul River, he had no choice but to slowly hone and improve himself, without any treasures to assist him.

Faced with Gou An's answer, Master Wenxu had no doubts and seemed to find it a reasonable explanation.

"And what about the ninth floor? What's on it?" Master Wenxu suddenly asked again.

"The ninth level..." Gou An casually made up a trial, then sighed, "It's a pity I couldn't pass it!"

"Didn't pass?" Master Wenxu exclaimed in surprise, "Then half of your cultivation was also taken away?"

"No!" Gou An shook his head, his tone disappointed: "The remnant soul said that I was the first person to reach the ninth level in so many years, so it made an exception for me. It didn't take away my cultivation, but it also didn't give me any reward."