The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 131: The Li Family

Despite Long Xuan's innate talent in controlling flames and being able to monitor the progress of alchemy, refining high-grade spiritual pills requires more than just good fire control. Every aspect must be perfect; any mistake in any step can lead to complete failure, turning a furnace full of expensive spiritual herbs into waste.

Even with Long Xuan secretly assisting, batch after batch of the Black Dragon Pill ended up ruined. In just a few months, the two of them wasted countless precious spiritual herbs, nearly exhausting half of the family's wealth.

It was only then that Long Xuan truly realized how costly it was to refine high-grade boundary-breaking pills—an endeavor that seemed like a bottomless pit.

Cultivating a Gu King within the family is no easy task. Without suffering great losses, it's impossible to gather the resources needed to nurture one.

If one were to purchase such pills on the outside, it might be even more costly.

And if you can spend a fortune to buy one directly, that's fine, but the problem is that items that can help break through to the Gu King level have a 90% chance of attracting robbers.

In the worst case, the boundary-breaking pill you've just acquired could be snatched away, and losing the pill is just one issue—you might also lose many of your family's experts, which could leave the family in a state of decline.

There are countless such examples, having happened many times before.

The reason the Long family became one of the Seven Great Families of the Far West was precisely because one of the former Seven Great Families, the Li family, purchased a Gu King Pill at an auction in the Western Lands. To ensure nothing went wrong, they took every precaution, sending 80% of their family's experts to escort it.

Their caution was warranted, but the forces targeting the Gu King Pill were not just a few—wave after wave of enemies came, endlessly.

In the end, all the Li family experts sent to escort the Gu King Pill were wiped out, and the Gu King Pill was also lost, leaving the Li family severely weakened.

To acquire this Gu King Pill, the Li family had sold off a large portion of their assets, depleting their resources, which further exacerbated their plight.

Without resources, the cultivation speed of their geniuses slowed down significantly. Without the growth of their geniuses, the family could never recover, leading to a vicious cycle. The Li family then fell into decline, no longer able to maintain their status as one of the Seven Great Families or defend their vast territory. This fertile land attracted countless hungry wolves.

In the end, to avoid the crisis of extermination—and fearing the Long family might lose another child and come looking for them—the Li family proactively handed over all their territory to the Long family at a low price.

After inheriting the Li family's vast territory, the Long family rapidly developed, quickly ascending to become one of the Seven Great Families, with their family fortune soaring.

This was a lesson learned from the past, and the Long family deeply understood it.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Long Wanli would never dare to purchase pills on the outside. Otherwise, the tide of fortune might turn, and the same fate could befall his family next year.

Based on this consideration, the Long family spared no effort in supporting Long Ao in refining the Black Dragon Pill, focusing the entire family's strength on this task.

What does it mean to focus the entire family's strength? It means concentrating all the family's wealth to assist in alchemy, even at the cost of exhausting all their resources to successfully refine a single Black Dragon Pill. With so many resources, even if by luck, they were bound to succeed eventually.

Thus, even though the old dragon and Long Ao continuously wasted materials, a steady stream of materials kept coming in without hesitation—the family was truly committed.

With the family's relentless support, finally, on the afternoon of the third month, the lid of the pill furnace suddenly flew open, and a rich fragrance of the pill filled the entire room in an instant.

The two of them inhaled the dense aroma of the third-grade pill, their eyes revealing extreme excitement, their faces flushed with joy.

Even the Sou Gu gently opened the door, sniffing the third-grade pill's aroma, looking at the Black Dragon Pill with excitement.

Who knows what that excited gaze meant? Maybe it wanted to use the Black Dragon Pill to build a house.

After all, it was an excellent building material.

Long Ao stared at the golden spiritual pill inside the furnace with bloodshot eyes, breathing rapidly, on the verge of madness from excitement.

Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and burst into crazed laughter, "Hahaha… It’s done! It’s done! I finally succeeded!"

His maniacal laughter was deafening, echoing far and wide. The family’s top leaders had already been waiting outside the room for days. Upon hearing his laughter, they all showed ecstatic expressions and rushed inside like madmen.

"Is it finally done? Is this the Black Dragon Pill?"

"Let me see! Don’t touch it! Do you think you can handle it?"

"Haha! I didn’t expect it to succeed. To witness the ancestral Black Dragon Pill with my own eyes, my life is complete."

...

Long Xuan watched as a group of old men rushed in like lunatics, dancing around the pill cauldron in excitement, completely losing their usual dignity.

Some were laughing hysterically, while others had tears streaming down their faces.

Despite everyone being in a state of madness, no one dared to touch the golden pill that shone with a golden light. They didn’t dare to reach out and touch it, as if afraid to desecrate the treasure.

Long Wanli's Eyes Turn Red

Long Wanli's eyes were slightly red as he finally approached the great contributor to the family, Long Ao. With a tone that carried a hint of gratitude, he said, "Brother Ao, you've worked hard these past few months. The contribution you've made to the family will never be forgotten."

Long Ao, somewhat overwhelmed by the praise, quickly waved his hand and smiled, "It wasn't hard! It wasn't hard! The family head is too kind."

"This success is half due to my disciple. I truly dare not take all the credit. I, Long Ao, am still quite incompetent, having wasted so many of the family's materials. The family must have spent a lot during this period, right? How much did I actually consume?" Long Ao asked nervously.

He had been so focused on alchemy that he no longer remembered how many materials he had wasted, only that it was a lot.

The pressure in his heart was immense, fearing that he had let the family down by consuming all the resources without producing the Xuanlong Pill. If that had happened, he wouldn't have been able to forgive himself, even in death.

Fortunately, the Black Dragon Pill was finally completed, and the heavy stone weighing on his heart was lifted, allowing him to feel a sense of relief. However, he now began to worry about how much of the family's resources he had wasted, becoming anxious once again.

Long Wanli laughed and said, "You're overthinking it, there's no need. To be honest, your success far exceeded my expectations."

"I initially thought you would need to consume at least half of the family's resources to produce the Black Dragon Pill, so I prepared an entire warehouse of materials for you."

"Who would have thought that you managed to refine the Black Dragon Pill using only one-tenth of the stock? This truly exceeded my expectations—I was overly cautious and underestimated your alchemy skills, Brother Ao."

"Really? Hahaha..." Upon hearing this, Long Ao finally released the last bit of worry in his heart and laughed heartily. He then added, "It wasn't wasted. Although I only used one-tenth of the materials to refine the Black Dragon Pill, don't trade away the remaining ninety percent."

"The first step is always the hardest. Now that I've successfully refined the first Black Dragon Pill, it will be much easier to refine the next one, without needing to mobilize the entire family's resources."

"From now on, I have the ability to refine the Black Dragon Pill. As long as you give me time, there will be a second, even a third Black Dragon Pill in our family!"

Upon hearing this, Long Wanli's eyes immediately lit up, as if he could see a group of Gu Kings passing before him.

He knew all too well what Long Ao's words meant—they meant that he could continuously refine the Black Dragon Pill. From now on, the Long family would no longer have to risk purchasing the Black Dragon Pill from outside; the family's Gu Kings would be produced continuously.

"Our Long clan is about to rise! Truly, the heavens are blessing our family!" The Grand Elder said with tears in his eyes.

"Long Buhui! This Black Dragon Pill is yours. Do not disappoint us!"

In the end, it was Long Wanli who carefully took out the Black Dragon Pill, placed it into a pill bottle, and handed it to Long Buhui.

If there was anyone who was the most excited at this moment, it was undoubtedly Long Buhui.

He was the direct beneficiary; this Black Dragon Pill was refined specifically for him. As long as he consumed this pill, he would have a chance to break through to the Gu King level and become the top powerhouse in this region. Who else here could be more excited than him?

Long Buhui's face was flushed, and his heart was pounding wildly. Faced with the Black Dragon Pill just within reach, he couldn't remain calm; he was on the verge of losing control from excitement.

His hands trembled as he took the pill bottle. Although the Black Dragon Pill was light, at this moment, it felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. This pill carried the hopes of the entire family, and it weighed heavily on his heart, creating an invisible pressure.

At this moment, he began to feel the same kind of anxious pressure that Long Ao had felt. What if he failed to break through? What if he wasted this precious pill and let the entire family down?

An invisible pressure weighed down on him, making it hard for him to breathe. He didn't want to disappoint the family, but the more he thought this, the greater the pressure became.

Seeing this, Long Ao, understanding how he felt, said empathetically, "Brother Buhui, there's no need for so much pressure. After all, the Black Dragon Pill only has a 20% success rate. Failure is quite normal."

"If breaking through to Gu King were easy, how could it be that each of the Seven Great Families has only one or two Gu Kings?"

"But you're different from others. If they fail, it's over. But you still have a chance, because I now have the ability to refine the Black Dragon Pill."

"If one Black Dragon Pill isn't enough, then two. If two don't work, then three. Our family now has the resources for this, so you don't need to worry about failure or feel any pressure."

"That's right!" The Grand Elder also came over to comfort him, "Even if you fail to break through, no one in the family will blame you. You don't need to feel any psychological pressure."

"The more pressure you feel, the more likely you are to fail. You must adjust your mindset. To become a Gu King, you must have a strong mental state; don't be overly cautious."

Their words clearly had an effect. Long Buhui nodded heavily, adjusted his mindset, and his eyes regained their confidence. "Rest assured! I can't guarantee a 100% chance of breaking through to Gu King this time, but I will do my utmost, and I will not let a lack of mental resilience lead to failure."

Long Buhui clenched his fists tightly.

Seeing Long Buhui's determined state, everyone smiled and nodded in relief.

At that moment, the voice of the ancestor suddenly came from the sky, "Next, I will be Buhui's protector. Unless the family faces a life-and-death crisis, no one is to disturb him. Buhui, come to me now."

...