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

As night fell that day, Gou An finished another round of absorbing spirit stones.

Close your eyes and check your current demon power level.

[Current Realm: Early Stage of Demon Transformation]

[Demon Power Value: 2654230/3000000]

At this point, he was only 300,000 more demon power away from breaking through to the next stage, which would only require about 2,000 spirit stones.

If we follow the current comfortable pace, absorbing about a hundred spirit stones a day, it will only take about twenty days to break through.

After finishing his cultivation, Gou An went to the alchemy room, preparing to refine another batch of the Miasma-Dispelling and True Essence Pill.

Niu Cuihua was cleaning and tidying up the alchemy room at that moment.

After changing into clean clothes, Niu Cuihua was much thinner than before, but she was even more energetic.

Seeing Gou An arrive to prepare for alchemy, he immediately stepped forward, opened the furnace, placed the flint, cleared the table, and arranged the ingredients neatly, all with swift movements.

Gou An nodded, quite satisfied. This seemingly simple action was something the other lesser demons couldn't learn.

Without me having to say a word, the basic preparations have already been arranged.

Gou An only needs to focus on alchemy.

It's like a chef cooking; the helper always has the ingredients you need within easy reach, so you can just grab them and use them.

After two months of meticulous refinement, Gou An has been able to produce a Poison-Dispelling and True-Nourishing Pill with approximately 70% of its medicinal efficacy.

With just a little more attention to detail and some experimentation with different combinations of other ingredients, achieving 80% completion is within reach.

And Long Youzi, who made the bet with himself, had spent so much time refining it, but only a few days ago did he go to the old fox and submit an ancient pill with 40% of its medicinal efficacy.

So I'm sure I'll win this bet, and having more slaves like this will be quite useful.

While Gou An was focused on refining pills, Niu Cuihua waited patiently not far away, afraid of disturbing him.

But at that moment, a layer of black mist flashed imperceptibly in Niu Cuihua's eyes, but returned to normal after a moment.

Niu Cuihua seemed to sense something was wrong. She tapped her head and shook it, but didn't take it seriously.

Nothing happened that night!

The next day at dawn, Gou An opened the furnace door and took out the Miasma-Dispelling and True Essence Pill that had been refined in the furnace.

The color is rich, the pills are round and smooth, and the aroma is mellow. It looks like it has already achieved 80% of its medicinal effect.

"Hahaha!" Gou An couldn't help but laugh out loud. He then immediately took out a porcelain bottle and put all eight ancient pills from the alchemy furnace into the bottle.

He then eagerly left the alchemy room and found Long Youzi's courtyard.

At this moment, Long Youzi was refining pills in the alchemy room. Upon hearing that Gou An had come to visit, he came out and immediately closed the door of the alchemy room, fearing that Gou An might see something through the crack.

"Fellow Daoist, what brings you here so suddenly?" Long Youzi frowned slightly, looking somewhat nervous, as if he had sensed something.

After all, Gou An had already submitted an ancient pill with 60% efficacy before him, which meant that Gou An was ahead of him.

"Naturally, I'm here for the bet!" Gou An didn't mince words and stated his purpose directly.

"Could it be that you've already refined a Poison-Dispelling and True-Nourishing Pill with 80% of its medicinal efficacy?" Long Youzi frowned even deeper, his eyes filled with a hint of doubt.

After all, he knew very well how difficult this pill was to make. He might have been lucky to have chosen the right auxiliary materials, but to achieve 80% efficacy, he had to thoroughly understand the pill formula.

"Fellow Daoist, you are truly quick-witted!" Gou An smiled slightly, flipped his hand to take out a porcelain bottle, and poured out a pill to dispel miasma and nourish true essence.

When Long Youzi saw the ancient pill in Gou An's palm, his eyes widened in disbelief.

"Impossible, how is this possible?" Long Youzi shook his head repeatedly. "How could you restore the incomplete pill formula in such a short time?"

"What's impossible about it?" Gou An simply placed the pills in Long Youzi's hands: "The pills are all here, still warm, just fresh out of the furnace. You can see for yourself whether they're real or not."

Long Youzi held the Miasma-Dispelling and True Essence Pill given to him by Gou An and examined it carefully from all angles, but he still couldn't believe it.

"You must have cheated, that's impossible!" Long Youzi still stubbornly insisted, "I have been studying this formula every day, and I have never even left the house. I have combined hundreds of different kinds of auxiliary materials."

"Even with such diligence, I can only barely refine an ancient pill with less than 50% of its medicinal efficacy, while you can already refine one with 80% efficacy?"

"You must have asked someone else for help, or you already have another part of this incomplete prescription."

Faced with Long Youzi's stubborn denial, Gou An said helplessly, "Just because you can't do it doesn't mean others can't?"

You must understand, there are always higher levels to reach and more capable people to rely on.

"You think you're a genius, but there are countless people more talented than you. Ultimately, your vision is too narrow."

Upon hearing this, Long Youzi remained unconvinced: "I'm not convinced. If you're so capable, let's have another competition in a different category."

"Compared to others?" Gou An sneered. "You've already lost to me. According to our bet, you're now my slave. What slave can continue betting with their master?"

Upon hearing this, Long Youzi became so anxious that his breathing quickened. He wanted to argue, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

"You cheated, that's not fair!" But Long Youzi still chose to argue illogically.

"You accuse me of cheating, but do you have any evidence?" Gou An retorted, "No evidence, you're just barking like a dog... What are you yelling about?"

"Since you didn't cheat, then prove it to me!" Long Youzi said resolutely, "Refine it once on the spot. If you can refine an ancient pill with 80% of its medicinal effect, I will accept it."

"But if you can't refine it, wouldn't you be cheating?"

To make Long Youzi accept his defeat wholeheartedly, Gou An nodded and agreed: "Then I'll do as you say. I'll refine it right in front of you. Open your pig eyes and watch carefully. I'll only teach you once."

After saying this, Gou An flipped his hand and took out a pill furnace, then tossed it into the air.

The alchemy furnace grew larger in the wind and landed in the middle of the courtyard.

Gou An gently tapped the alchemy furnace, and the spiritual fire inside naturally rose up.

Then Gou An flipped his hand and took out a bag full of spiritual materials, which he hung on his waist. He could reach out and grab whatever he needed.

Long Youzi stood to the side the whole time, carefully watching Gou An's actions, afraid that Gou An might make some small moves.

Gou An, on the other hand, calmly added the ingredients one by one and slowly refined the pills, not at all worried that Long Youzi would steal his skills.

As one ingredient after another was added to the furnace, the process remained smooth and stable throughout, without any sign of an explosion.

Once all the spiritual materials were added, Gou An controlled the fire in the alchemy furnace to mix the materials evenly and divide them into several pill embryos of similar size.

Then lower the oven temperature and wait for low-temperature baking.

The entire process was executed flawlessly, leaving Long Youzi speechless.

"How is this possible?" Long Youzi couldn't believe it.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that Gou An's alchemy techniques were extremely crude, completely unorthodox, and in a very unorthodox way.

His alchemy techniques were all learned from his sect, and he needed to refine the details from beginning to end, with every step being crucial and requiring great care.

Gou An's movements were bold and unrestrained, his use of spiritual materials was quite crude, and the furnace fire was basically set at a high temperature.

If it were anyone else learning the same alchemy techniques, they would surely have their furnace explode, but Gu An has not.

It was like walking a tightrope, always on the verge of falling, but Gou An walked on it as if it were flat ground.