The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu-Chapter 409: Scores

The remaining contestants, protected by the barrier that isolated them from the intense heat and negated the influence of Heavenly Fire on their Spirit Flames, finally let out a sigh of relief and began preparing to refine their pills.

However, upon witnessing Long Xuan's heaven-defying actions, they were instantly dumbfounded. Exchanging glances, they all displayed bitter expressions.

How could they even compete? He was already capable of refining fourth-grade pills beyond his current level.

Competing against such a monstrous genius felt like sheer folly—an inevitable tragedy for this era’s alchemy prodigies.

Being born in the same era as him meant that no matter how talented they were, their brilliance would be overshadowed.

Every alchemical genius of this generation would become mere foils to his greatness. Even legendary figures like Ancestor Burning Heaven and Ancestor Deceitful Heaven would likely be nothing more than stepping stones on his path to fame.

The entire arena was in an uproar due to Long Xuan’s actions. Everyone was frantically discussing, their faces filled with unparalleled excitement.

Refining pills beyond one’s grade level—this had never happened in history. Yet today, they had witnessed it.

This alchemy competition had turned into an unprecedented spectacle, an event that would go down in history. The audience was thrilled to have attended, knowing they would have plenty to boast about upon returning home.

Meanwhile, Long Xuan ignored the surrounding commotion. While refining his pill, he secretly observed and memorized the pill recipe of the two old ancestors.

The pills these two alchemy masters were refining were undoubtedly extraordinary. Even Long Xuan couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement—just learning these two pill recipe alone made this entire journey worthwhile.

It was no exaggeration to say that the value of these two pill recipes surpassed the championship reward of this alchemy competition.

The competition’s rewards were incredibly generous—every contestant who ranked in the top hundred would receive substantial prizes.

Especially the champion, who would receive a treasure trove of gifts from various nations.

However, to Long Xuan, most of these treasures were useless. In his eyes, all those miscellaneous rewards paled in comparison to the value of these two pill recipe.

After committing the recipe to memory, Long Xuan withdrew his attention and focused entirely on refining his own pill.

By now, he was certain—the pills refined by these two old masters were not superior to his own.

Though their recipe were incredibly powerful—one could instantly grant a person the knowledge of an inheritance, while the other could awaken memories of past lives, both abilities terrifying beyond measure—

In terms of sheer power, these pills were indeed on par with his Bone-Regrowing Blood-Merging Pill.

But unfortunately, these two alchemists did not possess his cheat ability. Their pill recipe were flawed, riddled with imperfections, especially in the precise balance of ingredients, which they could not achieve perfectly.

As a result, the pills they created had numerous negative side effects, making them highly unstable.

In contrast, his Bone-Regrowing Blood-Merging Pill had only one minor drawback—its user would become more susceptible to fire. However, this was a natural consequence of the pill’s properties, an unavoidable effect rather than a flaw.

When it came to sheer power, all three pill recipe were equally astounding. But in terms of perfection, his pill recipe—refined through his golden finger ability—was flawless, vastly superior to the other two.

With that in mind, victory was assured!

A confident smile curled on Long Xuan’s lips.

He slowly closed his eyes and fully immersed himself in refining his pill.

The arena gradually quieted. The earlier chaotic discussions faded away, and time seemed to stand still.

Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on Long Xuan. Despite being mere spectators, they were all on edge, their nerves stretched to the limit.

The judges, who had been standing all this time, were especially affected. Their breathing became rapid, their faces flushed with excitement, and their eyes were glued to Long Xuan and his five clones.

A third-grade alchemist refining a fourth-grade spiritual pill was simply too shocking, too unimaginable—a miracle in the alchemy world.

Such an unprecedented display of alchemy skill would undoubtedly shake the entire world. At this moment, no one could resist the temptation to secretly learn from him, hoping to steal a glimpse of his heaven-defying technique.

The judges didn’t even dare to blink, afraid of missing a crucial detail.

Time passed slowly. Alchemy was normally a tedious and monotonous process, yet no one left the scene. Before they knew it, an entire day had passed.

At this point, Long Yuyou, Feng Shuang, and Wang Wu had all completed their pills, while the remaining contestants were still lagging behind.

Long Xuan, Ancestor Burning Heaven, and Ancestor Deceitful Heaven were refining fourth-grade pills—extremely high-tier ones at that—so their process naturally took much longer than Long Yuyou and the others.

The time required to refine a fourth-grade pill varied depending on the number and quality of materials, as well as the skill of the alchemist.

Even for the fastest fourth-grade pills, completing the refinement in a single day was nearly impossible.

Long Xuan’s Bone-Regrowing Blood-Merging Pill was so extraordinary that if an ordinary alchemist attempted to refine it, the process would take at least half a month, possibly even a full month.

However, thanks to his Soul Clone Refinement Technique, his speed was dramatically increased. While it was impossible to finish in a single day, it wouldn’t take much longer.

Like Long Xuan and the two ancestors, Long Yuyou, Feng Shuang, and Wang Wu had also used their own self-created pill recipe in this final round.

Their pill recipe, developed in the fourth round, utilized Fusion Alchemy, a technique that produced results superior to standard third-grade pills—pills that were not fourth-grade, yet exceeded any third-grade pill in existence.

At this level, no ordinary third-grade pill could compare to the ones created through Fusion Alchemy. This was why all three of them had chosen to use these formula in the final round.

Finally, after careful deliberation, the judges reached a consensus. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Long Yuyou’s Spirit Revival Pill, which allowed a Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivator to instantly increase their cultivation by two minor realms, received a stunning score of 92 points.

Gasps of astonishment filled the arena. Such a score was normally only given to fourth-grade pills.

The audience marveled at how extraordinary this competition had been, with monstrous geniuses emerging one after another.

Feng Shuang’s Purple Phoenix Pill, which enhanced the Feng Clan’s bloodline, received a 91-point rating.

Wang Wu’s Emperor Pill, which strengthened imperial aura, also earned 91 points—an astonishingly high score.

These pills had all achieved scores worthy of fourth-grade pills, and the arena exploded with excitement.

However, despite receiving such high scores, the three alchemists did not seem particularly pleased.

Everything is relative.

In any other Western Region Alchemy Competition, their pills would have been legendary, capturing the attention of every spectator.

Yet in this tournament, they were overshadowed, unable to even break into the top three.

What’s more, their high scores were largely due to stealing techniques from their opponents. In the end, they were merely imitators, a step behind the true prodigies.

How could they possibly feel excited?

The three true titans of the competition had utterly outshone them.

And among them, one name stood above all others—Long Xuan.

A peerless monster, whose talent eclipsed even the most outstanding geniuses of this era…