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

Seeing that the other party had already extended an invitation, Gou An went inside.

"You're moving pretty fast, already getting ready!" Gou An greeted them.

Long Youzi smiled slightly after hearing this, his brows furrowed with smugness: "Of course, after all, I'm not like those other fools."

"If they hear this, aren't you afraid of being ostracized?" Gou An asked curiously.

"Isolation?" Long Youzi simply shook his head: "The strong are always lonely; only the weak band together. As long as I am strong enough, it won't be them isolating me, but me isolating everyone."

At this point, he picked up a spirit herb from the stone table, carefully examined its quality, and then murmured, "Just wait, I will definitely be the first alchemist among all the alchemists to restore the ancient pill."

"So confident?" Gou An became increasingly curious.

"Confidence comes from ability!" Long Youzi turned to look at Gou An again: "Although you won first place in the alchemy competition, I am not convinced."

Gou An didn't speak, but just looked at him quietly, wanting to hear what the other person would say.

"Don't think I don't know, you're actually a plant arranged by the Protector of the Nation!" Long Youzi said.

"A scapegoat?" Gou An asked, puzzled.

"Stop pretending!" Long Youzi sneered, "You tried refining that ancient pill on your first try and produced a perfect pill. Even a master alchemist might not be able to do that, but you, a demon cultivator, did it."

"What else could you be but a shill?"

Long Youzi felt more and more convinced of his point as he spoke: "You must have known the method of refining that ancient elixir all along, and then you just put on a show at the conference."

"Huguo is just using you to suppress us alchemists."

"After all, you are an alchemist from the Wan Dan Hall, and Elder Wenxu is one of the examiners of the conference. I certainly don't believe he didn't reveal the exam questions to you."

Seeing how certain the other party was, Gou An had no intention of arguing, nor was there any need to explain.

Seeing that Gou An remained silent, Ke Longyouzi laughed and said, "What? I hit the nail on the head, now you have nothing to say!"

"How about we make a bet?" Gou An suddenly said.

"What kind of bet?" Long Youzi asked.

"Let's see who can replicate the ancient elixir with 80% of its potency first!" Gou An said. "Whoever does it first wins!"

"Okay!" Long Youzi agreed without hesitation. "What's the bet?"

"The loser becomes the winner's slave!" Gou An replied with a laugh, "and forever!"

Faced with the condition offered by Gou An, Long Youzi was stunned on the spot. He opened his mouth as if to agree, but a trace of worry arose in his heart.

He was indeed very confident and firmly believed that Gou An was likely a stooge for the conference.

There's still a 10% chance that he's not a plant, but someone with real talent.

If that's the case, the probability of losing is very high.

"What? Are you scared?" Gou An asked curiously.

Long Youzi was still hesitant, but when he saw Gou An's provocative look, he was immediately filled with anger.

"Who said I'm afraid?" Long Youzi sneered. "I'm just thinking about how I should order you around once you become my slave."

"Alright, since you've agreed, the bet is now in effect!" Gou An paused for a moment, then added, "However, to prevent anyone from going back on their word, let's have a written agreement!"

"Fine, I'll write it!" Long Youzi immediately pulled out two sheets of paper and pen from his sleeve. "But there's one thing I need to reiterate!"

"What?"

"You set the rules for the bet, but I need to decide the details!" Long Youzi picked up a fragment of an ancient elixir recipe from the stone table: "We will both refine this one kind of ancient elixir."

"The same pills mean the same starting point, so avoid the possibility that the ancient pill formula in your hand is not actually a fragment."

"Alright!" Gou An took the pill formula and asked, "You're just giving it to me like this? What are you going to use it for?"

Long Youzi tapped his head with one finger: "I rely on my brain! It's only twenty-odd kinds of spiritual materials, I memorized them after reading them twice."

"You're really amazing!" Gou An smiled.

"Then let's write a receipt!" Long Youzi picked up a brush and could write the contents directly on the paper without dipping it in ink.

He was quick; he wrote two identical betting agreements.

"Put your handprint on!" Long Youzi pressed his handprint first, then said to Gou An, "Don't blame me for not warning you, it's not too late to regret it now!"

Gou An looked at Long Youzi, his face calm: "I look forward to you working for me in the future."

After saying that, he pressed his fingerprint on the document, and then the two of them each put away a betting agreement.

"Alright, now that the bet has begun!" Long Youzi gave the order to leave: "Then you should go back and prepare early, fellow Daoist. I don't want to win too easily."

Gou An nodded, took the prescription, and left, leaving behind only the words, "I just hope you won't make excuses to renege on your promise later."

Seeing how easily Gou An walked away, Long Youzi suddenly felt a little uneasy.

But his worry was only brief; he shook his head and regained his confidence.

"Just a monster, all talk and no action!" Long Youzi's eyes hardened. "I will prove to everyone that I am the most powerful alchemist!"

On his way back, Gou An carefully examined the prescription.

This formula is called the "Purifying and Nourishing Elixir," an ancient high-level elixir specifically designed to cleanse cultivators of miasma and toxins from their meridians, strengthening their foundation and cultivating their vital energy.

The text also provides a detailed description of the effects of this elixir.

It turns out that in ancient times, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth was not as pure as it is now. After many cultivators absorbed spiritual energy, a portion of miasma would accumulate in their bodies. Therefore, this pill was needed to help cultivators detoxify and consolidate their energy.

Although miasma is not ubiquitous now, this pill can still dispel other toxins and can be considered a superior detoxifying pill.

Moreover, Gou An noticed that several of the remaining twenty-odd materials contained highly toxic substances.

To refine the antidote pill, we must find a way to remove the toxins from these spiritual materials and also replenish the missing spiritual materials.

Otherwise, what you'll produce isn't an antidote, but a highly poisonous one.

No wonder Long Youzi chose this pill formula as the wager; he must have experience in this area, otherwise there would be no reason for him to choose it.

Unfortunately, he didn't know that Gou An's alchemy wasn't based on being a shill or on talent, but on a genuine cheat code.

He also happened to obtain the seed of the Myriad Poison Fire, and was extremely skilled in refining poisons.

The difficulty now lies in figuring out how to replenish the missing spiritual ingredients.

Just as Gou An was about to return to his own courtyard, he was suddenly stopped by Wu Yazi, the weasel.

Although this guy's alchemy skills were mediocre, he still entered the main alchemy hall along with the remaining alchemists from the Wan Dan Hall.

"Fellow Daoist, fellow Daoist, please wait a moment." Wu Ya Zi said with a smile.

"What's wrong?" Gou An asked.

"Fellow Daoist, I have something good to share with you!" Wu Ya Zi said mysteriously, as if he were hiding some treasure in his arms.

"What is it?" Gou An became interested.

Wuyazi reached into his pocket and took out a token.

Gou An took a look and saw that it was actually the Scarlet Moon Decree!

"Where did you get this?" Gou An asked in surprise.

"Fu Feng Ke!" Wu Ya Zi chuckled. "Didn't that guy get third place in the Alchemy Competition? He chose this Crimson Moon Token."

"Did you steal it?" Gou An asked.

"What are you saying!" Wu Yazi immediately gave an embarrassed smile: "How could I, Wu Yazi, do such a thing? It was rented, of course."

"Rent?" Gou An was even more puzzled after hearing this.

"That's right!" Wuyazi nodded. "Fufengke rented it to me for only eight thousand demon gold coins a day. Once inside, I can spend whatever I want. It's a great deal."

"He's quite good at business!" Gou An smiled. Eight thousand a day, that adds up to hundreds of thousands a month.

"Yeah, so what do you say? Are you going or not?" Wu Ya Zi said excitedly, "Ever since Miss Hong Yue became the mistress of the Scarlet Moon Pavilion, there are more and more beautiful female demons in the Scarlet Moon Pavilion now."

"I'm not going!" Gou An shook his head directly.

"Why?" Wuyazi asked, puzzled. "I'm treating! I've already bought the jade token needed to enter the Scarlet Moon Pavilion!"

As he spoke, he took out a jade pendant from his pocket.

"I'm not interested in women!" Gou An shook his head and refused outright.

After all, he had killed the Crimson Flame Mountain Lord, the former Lord of the Crimson Moon Pavilion.

Although no one has caused him any trouble yet, Gou An doesn't want to actively seek out trouble.

After saying this, Gou An bypassed Wu Yazi, walked into his courtyard, and closed the door.

Seeing Gou An's unusual behavior, Wu Ya Zi frowned deeply: "A dog demon in human form, yet he has problems in this area?"

He shook his head, seemingly unable to figure it out, and could only move on to the next target.

Back in the courtyard, Gou An quickly rewrote a list based on the original contents of the ancient pill and handed it to the demon servant in the courtyard, instructing him to go to Xuan Ding Zhenren to collect the spiritual materials.

The process went smoothly, and the demon servant quickly retrieved the materials.

Gou An opened his storage bag and laid out all the pills needed for alchemy on the stone table in the courtyard.

The spiritual materials originally recorded in the pill formula are placed on one side, while other materials that may complete the pill formula are placed on the other side.

The formula is incomplete, and it's unknown how many essential ingredients are missing; this is the most difficult part.

It may be missing only one ingredient, or it may be missing six or seven ingredients, or even more than ten ingredients. The alchemist will have to figure it out on his own.

It's no wonder the old fox offered such high reward conditions; it's truly because the difficulty was too great.

Instead of studying the combination of spiritual materials, Gou An selected several highly poisonous ones.

The first step is to detoxify them!

In ordinary alchemy methods, other materials are needed to neutralize its toxicity.

However, Gou An doesn't need to use it; he can directly refine the venom using the Myriad Poison Fire.

Gou An spread his right palm, and a ball of green flame condensed.

The fire wasn't very hot, but it was extremely dangerous.

With a thought, Gou An automatically enveloped the highly poisonous spiritual material on his left hand.

The Myriad Poison Fire is not only highly poisonous itself, but it can also feed on other toxins.

By carefully controlling the poisonous fire, one can extract only the toxins from the spiritual material itself without harming it.

After all the highly poisonous spiritual materials were refined, Gou An noticed that the poisonous fire in his hand was much stronger than before.

It seems that to make this poisonous fire seed more powerful, it needs to be fed more poison.