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

With all the materials in hand, Gou An moved to the alchemy furnace, ready to attempt to refine the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir.

This pill is incredibly magical. Last time I took it, a single pill provided millions of demonic power points.

Of all the pills Gou An knows of for improving cultivation, this is the most potent one, and it causes almost no adverse effects after ingestion, with negligible accumulation of toxins in the body.

Gou An raised his hand and took out all the spiritual materials required by the pill formula, which floated in mid-air and were then sorted and arranged one by one.

The steps involved in this elixir are complex and interconnected.

Even someone with Gou An's alchemy skills cannot be careless on their first attempt.

Otherwise, if something goes wrong, such precious and rare spiritual materials will be wasted, so all preparations must be made in advance.

But as he carefully counted and verified the items, Gou An unconsciously frowned.

The auxiliary materials are complete and of acceptable quality, but the main materials are not old enough and have a weak foundation. They may not be able to withstand the impact of the violent medicinal properties of the auxiliary materials, and the alchemy process may easily break down and fail.

While hesitating, Gou An's gaze shifted and landed on the tall medicine shelf filled with all kinds of spiritual materials, and he immediately had an idea.

He reached out and made a grasping motion towards the shelf, while his Aoki Spirit Body quietly activated its power.

In an instant, the entire shelf of spiritual materials withered rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye. The essence of countless plants and trees detached from their bodies and transformed into streams of pure cyan spiritual energy that continuously converged into Gou An's palm, condensing into a ball of cyan energy with flowing spiritual energy.

This mass of energy contained all the life force that Gou An had extracted from those spiritual materials.

He raised his hand, transforming the dense spiritual energy in his palm into several streams, and slowly poured them into the main materials that were not old enough.

The original main ingredient, which was originally weak in spiritual energy, was gradually nourished by the abundant essence of plants and trees, causing its internal vitality to surge and its spiritual energy to pile up layer by layer. The medicinal effect and the corresponding age were significantly improved, and it had already reached the standard required by the pill formula.

This method is much more effective than Gou An directly using spiritual energy to forcibly increase his age.

With all preparations complete, Gou An took a deep breath, focused his mind, and used his fingertips to ignite the alchemical fire, officially beginning the alchemy process.

The fire slowly rose, enveloping the furnace, causing it to tremble slightly.

With his mind highly focused, Gou An divided his spiritual energy into several strands, constantly monitoring the temperature inside the furnace, and then, following the order recorded in the pill formula, put the properly prepared spiritual materials into the furnace one by one.

After the various spiritual materials are put into the furnace, they slowly melt under the high temperature, turning into clumps of medicinal liquid, which slowly blend together inside the furnace.

He dared not be distracted in the slightest, his mind locked inside the alchemy furnace, carefully harmonizing the medicinal properties and resolving the conflicting effects between the spiritual materials, patiently waiting for the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir to slowly solidify.

The proper refining process took a long time, making it arguably the most troublesome pill among all the pills Gou An had ever refined.

Even after all the medicinal liquids are successfully mixed, its state will be very unstable and needs to be constantly enveloped and controlled with spiritual energy, otherwise the medicinal liquids may break down.

The entire process lasted all night before the mixed medicinal liquid could barely be considered stable. Moreover, after mixing so many spiritual materials, there was only one nascent pill, and only one pill could be refined at a time.

Only at this stage can the furnace temperature be lowered to allow it to slowly take shape.

According to the recipe, it requires such low-temperature refining and will take at least 49 days before the furnace can be opened, and there is no guarantee of success.

We'll only know if it's a success or not when the furnace is opened.

Gou An stretched and looked at the medicine shelf next to him. He felt heartbroken looking at the hundreds and thousands of withered spiritual materials on it.

If this doesn't work, we'll lose a lot of money.

For the next two weeks, Gou An stayed in the alchemy room, guarding the furnace for fear that something might go wrong.

He had intended to personally oversee the opening of the furnace, but on this day, the Evil Bone Taoist suddenly visited.

Helpless, Gou An had no choice but to temporarily put aside his alchemy business, get up and leave the alchemy room to go to the front hall to meet the Evil Bone Taoist.

He didn't like Xie Gu in his heart, but now that they were ordered to work together, he had to put on a good show.

In the front hall, the Evil Bone Taoist was still dressed in a white robe, holding a folding fan, standing casually in the hall, with a faint smile on his face.

Upon seeing Gou An appear, he gently sniffed the air, his expression showing a hint of curiosity.

"Strange, truly strange." The Evil Bone Daoist muttered to himself, then looked at Gou An, his smile deepening: "I smelled it as soon as I entered. There's a faint, mysterious medicinal fragrance wafting from Fellow Daoist Gou's residence, far beyond what ordinary pills can compare to."

"I wonder what kind of rare elixir you are refining, my friend?"

Gou An was slightly startled, never expecting that this guy's nose would be almost the same as a dog's nose.

Concealing his slight surprise, Gou An remained expressionless and casually waved his hand to brush it off: "Just refining some ancient pills given to me by the King. Whether it will be successful or not is still unknown. Nothing special."

Gou An then changed the subject, asking in a calm tone, "Fellow Daoist, what brings you here today?"

Upon hearing this, the Evil Bone Taoist stopped smiling, closed his folding fan, and feigned a serious expression before slowly speaking: "Naturally, it's for the task that the Demon King entrusted to us."

"I have thoroughly investigated the hiding place of the Overlord Saint Lord, so I have come specifically to ask you, fellow Daoist, when you plan to set off for there? Do you have any action plans in mind?"

He deliberately lowered his stance, speaking humbly and appearing completely cooperative: "The Demon King has already given the order that you take the lead in this matter, and I will only assist you. All actions will naturally be in accordance with Gou Huguo's arrangements."

These words were perfectly worded, appearing humble and polite, and no one could find fault with them.

Gou An seized the opportunity to ask, "Oh? Where is the Overlord Saint Lord hiding now?"

The Evil Bone Taoist calmly spoke: "Western Regions, Ghost Gate Hill."

After saying that, he casually added, "As for the strength of that Overlord Saint Lord, it is nothing special. At most, he is only at the Divine Control level, not worth mentioning."

"Although you have just broken through to the Golden Core stage, you may not be a match for him. If you are worried, you can ask the High Master Zhenyue to bring a few more demon generals to help you. With my assistance, taking down this person will be a piece of cake."

Upon hearing these words, Gou An felt a chill run down his spine.

Previously, Xuan Kongzi had personally told him that the Overlord Saint Lord was a true Nascent Soul powerhouse, a top expert in his realm, with fierce combat power, ruthless methods, and extremely difficult to deal with.

But at this moment, the Evil Bone Daoist deliberately suppressed the other party's cultivation level, lying that the Nascent Soul expert was an ordinary Divine Control cultivator, and deliberately downplayed the danger of this trip!

It was clearly not a case of faulty intelligence, but rather a deliberate cover-up.

Gou An calmed himself down and said with a faint smile, "In that case, we'll set off in a couple of days. I need to make some more preparations."

"Alright!" The Evil Bone Daoist smiled slightly, closed his paper fan, and said, "Then I'll wait for your orders, fellow Daoist."