Reborn as Pill King Gu He

Gu He slowly opened his eyes and instinctively touched his chest, still shaken by the sudden stabbing pain in his heart before he had passed out. But when he looked around, he was even more shocked. He was in an antique-style room, enormous in size—roughly two or three hundred square meters—but it looked as though a typhoon had swept through it, leaving everything in a mess. A large cauldron stood before him, giving off a faint medicinal fragrance. He was seated on a meditation cushion, dressed in an ancient long robe, with a patch of blood staining his chest.

"I've transmigrated." Gu He rose to his feet and muttered to himself, sweeping his gaze across the room in hopes of finding a mirror to see what he looked like now.

However, the result was disappointing. There was no mirror in the room, nor anything that could reflect a person's image. Still, Gu He could sense that he had changed greatly. First, this body had sustained minor injuries, and his chest still throbbed sharply when he stood up. Second, his body had become incredibly powerful. Even without testing it, Gu He was certain he could now beat a cow to death with his bare hands. The surging strength within him made him want to throw back his head and roar, but he restrained that urge.

Having just arrived in an unfamiliar place, doing something that conspicuous would be downright foolish.

"But who exactly was this body's previous owner? He didn't leave me a single memory?" Gu He murmured.

He sat back down on the meditation cushion, propped his head up, and racked his brains for anything related to his identity.

Medicine Cauldron, the room's layout, the scent of medicine—Gu He considered them one by one, trying to see whether they could trigger any related memories.

As he carefully focused on the medicinal fragrance, an immense flood of memories poured into his mind. Gu He could not absorb so much information at once, and his brain's self-protection mechanism kicked in. Thus, before he had even been awake for ten minutes, Gu He spectacularly fainted again.

When Gu He regained consciousness, he did not immediately open his eyes. He first checked the condition of his body and found that the pain in his chest had basically vanished. He was lying down, and judging by the sensation beneath him, he was on a bed. There was faint breathing nearby, so someone was likely watching over him. His body did not feel restrained, which meant that someone had entered the room and rescued him while he was unconscious. They had not discovered that this body had been replaced by another soul either. At that thought, Gu He let out a relieved breath. If he had been exposed as a fake the moment he arrived in this utterly unfamiliar world, he would not even have known where to run.

Gu He began carefully sorting through the vast new memories in his mind. They mainly told the story of a genius alchemist who, through tireless effort, had won the championship of the Alchemist Conference two editions ago, then received an invitation to join the Jia Ma Empire's greatest power, the Misty Cloud Sect. From then on, his status in the Jia Ma Empire had soared. The reason he had been injured was that he had failed while attempting to advance to become a Sixth-grade Alchemist and suffered a backlash.

At first, Gu He found it fascinating—a genius's rise to prominence. They even shared the same name, so he felt a faint sense of familiarity toward the man. But when he saw the Alchemist Conference, the Jia Ma Empire, the Misty Cloud Sect, and combined them with the name Gu He, it felt as though ten thousand alpacas were drifting past before his eyes.

Th-this wasn't a supporting character from a novel he had read in his previous life? The pitiful guy destined to clash with the protagonist, be defeated, lose the woman he loved, and then serve under the protagonist afterward?!

Gu He's heavy breathing woke the Misty Cloud Sect disciple waiting beside him. "Master Gu He, you're awake." Gu He first heard a soft, tender voice. Then his vision darkened as a lovely young girl appeared before him. She had a delicate oval face and wore a white dress with a pale gold base, embroidered trim, and scattered floral patterns. Her thick, silky pink hair was tied into adorable twin tails. Her earlobes bore no ornaments, but Gu He felt that jade pendants would surely add another touch of beauty to those jade-like ears. She looked both noble and charmingly innocent.

Gu He simply sat up, rubbed his head, and asked, "Yan Ran, how long was I unconscious?"

That was right. The obedient young girl before him was Nalan Yanran, Xiao Yan's fiancée and one of the key factors behind Xiao Yan's rise. From the memories in his mind, Gu He learned that she had been accepted as Yun Yun's disciple two years ago and was greatly favored by Yun Yun. Otherwise, Yun Yun would not have had her watch over Pill King Gu He.

"Master Gu He, my master and I were guarding the door while you were refining Sixth-grade pills. Not long after, powerful energy erupted from your alchemy room, followed by a muffled groan from you. Because of your instructions, we did not enter. Later, the energy in the room gradually subsided, but there was no further sound from you. Fearing something had happened, we forced our way in and found that you had already been injured and had fainted. Two days have passed since then," Nalan Yanran answered quietly and obediently.

"Mm. Go tell your master that the refinement of the Sixth-grade pills failed. I need to go out and clear my head." Gu He spoke to Nalan Yanran with a hint of irritation.

"Master Gu He, failure in alchemy is perfectly normal, especially with pills as advanced as Sixth-grade pills. You don't need to be so distressed," Nalan Yanran carefully persuaded him.

"Yan Ran, thank you for your concern, but I understand all that. I just need to take a walk outside and calm myself down. Go inform your master. I'll set out once I've sorted things out." Gu He realized that his tone had been too harsh and explained after suppressing the anxiety in his heart.

"Mm, then I'll go notify my master." Seeing Gu He speak to her calmly rather than scolding her over her words, Nalan Yanran said happily before walking briskly out of the room.

"What kind of mess is this? I transmigrated into the Battle Through the Heavens world and even became Pill King Gu He. How am I supposed to live from now on? Am I supposed to obediently hand Yun Yun over to someone else like in the original story? I'd rather die! They say the hatred of killing one's father and the grudge of taking one's wife are irreconcilable. That damned Xiao Yan will not only steal the wife who was supposed to marry me at my wedding, he'll also make me serve under him and work for him. Even capitalists aren't as ruthless as he is." After Nalan Yanran left the room, Gu He lightly knocked his head against the bed and muttered in near despair.

"No, I need to get outside and learn about the situation as soon as possible. I can't accept such a miserable life." Gu He slapped his cheeks and rallied himself.

After calming down, Gu He followed the method from his memories and injected Dou Qi into the Ring on his finger. Immediately, a space of nearly one hundred cubic meters appeared within his perception. To ordinary people, even a Ring with only a few cubic meters of space was a rare treasure, but Gu He did not think much of it at all. As the Misty Cloud Sect's chief alchemist, the Ring in his possession was among the finest in the entire Jia Ma Empire.

Thinking of how the original story described Rings, Xiao Yan had struggled immensely in the early days just to obtain one with a few cubic meters of space. Gu He suddenly felt that transmigrating into Pill King Gu He did have some benefits.