Li Family
Although Long Xuan could see the progress of alchemy, he had a unique advantage in controlling flames.
However, refining high-level elixirs requires more than just good control of the heat; every aspect must be perfect. Any mistake in any step will lead to failure, ruining an entire batch of expensive spirit medicine.
So even with Long Xuan's secret assistance, the Profound Dragon Pill were still being ruined one batch after another. In just a few months, the two of them wasted countless expensive spirit medicine, and almost lost half of their Lineage's gold mine.
Only then did Long Xuan truly realize just how expensive refining high-level Realm-Breaking Pill was; it was practically a bottomless pit.
Is it easy for Lineage to cultivate a Gu King? You can't expect to gather the resources to cultivate a Gu King without suffering heavy losses.
Buying the pills directly from outside might be even more expensive.
If it were possible to buy it directly at a high price, that would be fine. The problem is that anything that can help one break through to the Gu King level has a 90% chance of attracting people to kill and rob them.
If things go wrong, the Realm-Breaking Pill they just acquired might be stolen. Not only would they lose the pill, but their Lineage could also suffer heavy losses of experts, leading to a permanent decline in their strength.
There are far too many similar examples; it has happened countless times.
The reason why the Long Family was able to become one of the Far West Seven Great Clans was because the Li Family, one of the former seven great clans, purchased a King-Breaking Pill at an auction in the Western Land. In order to ensure that nothing went wrong and to be on the safe side, they actually sent 80% of the Lineage's experts to escort it.
He was indeed cautious, but the forces that King-Breaking Pill's plans were far more than just one wave; they kept coming in waves, one after another, endlessly.
The final result was that all the experts from the Li Family who went to escort the King-Breaking Pill were killed, and the King-Breaking Pill was also lost. The Li Family suffered a great loss of strength.
The key issue is that in order to acquire this King-Breaking Pill, the Li Family sold off a large amount of their clan's property and emptied their coffers, which undoubtedly made things even worse for the Lineage.
Without resources, the cultivation speed of geniuses will be greatly affected. If geniuses cannot grow up, the Lineage will never be able to recover its strength. This is a vicious cycle. The Li Family will never recover. Its strength will no longer be worthy of the status of the seven major clans, and it will no longer be able to protect such a large territory. This piece of fat meat will attract countless hungry wolves.
Ultimately, to avoid the crisis of extermination and fearing that the Long Family would lose another child and then come knocking on their door, the Li Family voluntarily ceded all their land to the Long Family at a low price.
After inheriting a vast amount of territory from the Li Family family, the Long Family was able to develop rapidly and quickly rose to become one of the seven major clans, with its Clan Fortune flourishing.
This serves as a cautionary tale, and the Long Family understands it all too well.
Therefore, Long Wanli dared not buy pills outside unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, his luck might turn around and it would be his turn next year.
Based on this consideration, the Long Family spared no effort in supporting Long Ao Profound Dragon Pill, and concentrated the strength of the entire clan.
What does it mean to gather the strength of the entire clan? Gathering the strength of the entire clan means concentrating all the clan's wealth to help him refine the pill. He is willing to exhaust all the clan's resources to successfully refine a Profound Dragon Pill. With so many resources, he will try to get one even if he has to rely on luck.
So even though Old Long and his companion kept refining waste materials, massive amounts of materials continued to pour in without hesitation; the Lineage was going all out.
With the Lineage's unwavering support, finally, at noon in the third month, the lid of the Pill Furnace suddenly flew off, and a rich aroma of elixirs filled the entire room.
The two of them simultaneously inhaled the extremely rich fragrance of the Grade Three Pill, their eyes revealing extreme excitement, their faces flushed.
Even the Thatch Gu gently opened the door, sniffing the fragrance of the third-grade pill, its eyes gleaming with excitement as it looked at the Profound Dragon Pill.
It's unclear what its excited gaze meant; perhaps it wanted to use the Profound Dragon Pill to build a house.
This is top-quality building material.
Old Long stared at the golden elixir in the Pill Furnace with bloodshot eyes and rapid breathing, almost going crazy with excitement.
Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and burst into wild laughter. "Hahaha... It's done! It's done! I've finally done it!"
The maniacal laughter was deafening and carried far and wide. The Lineage's top leaders, who had been waiting outside for days, all showed expressions of ecstatic joy upon hearing his laughter and then rushed inside like madmen.
"It's finally done? This is the Profound Dragon Pill?"
"Let me see! Don't touch it! How dare you touch this?"
"Hehe! I didn't expect it to actually succeed. Being able to see what the ancestral Profound Dragon Pill looks like with my own eyes, my life has not been in vain."
Long Xuan witnessed a group of old men rushing in like madmen, then surrounding the Pill Furnace, excitedly gesturing and behaving in a completely outrageous manner, utterly devoid of their former dignity.
Some people laughed maniacally, while others were in tears.
Although everyone had gone mad, not a single person dared to reach out and touch the Golden Core that was gleaming with golden light. They didn't dare to touch it at all, as if they were afraid of desecrating a precious treasure.
Long Wanli's eyes were a little red as he finally approached Long Ao, a great contributor to the clan. His voice was tinged with gratitude as he said, "Brother Ao, you've worked hard these past few months. The Lineage Lineage never forget your contributions."
Long Ao was somewhat flattered and quickly waved his hand, saying with a smile, "It's no trouble at all! It's no trouble at all! Patriarch, you flatter me."
"Half the credit for this success goes to my apprentice. I really dare not take credit for it. I, Long Ao, am also incompetent, having wasted so many of the Lineage's materials. The Lineage must have spent a lot of money during this period, right? Just how many resources did I consume?" Long Ao asked nervously.
He was so focused on alchemy that he had lost count of how many materials he had wasted; he only knew that there were a great many.
The pressure on him was immense. He was terrified of failing his Lineage's expectations and exhausting all Lineage resources without refining the Profound Dragon Pill. If that happened, he would be willing to die a thousand deaths.
Fortunately, the Profound Dragon Pill was finally completed, and the weight on his heart was finally lifted, making him feel relieved. However, he then began to worry about how much of the Lineage's resources had been wasted, and became anxious and uncertain.
Long Wanli laughed and said, "You're overthinking it. There's no need for that. To be honest, your success has far exceeded my expectations."
"I originally thought you would need to consume at least half of the Lineage's resources to refine the Profound Dragon Pill, so I prepared a whole warehouse of Profound Dragon Pill materials for you."
"I never imagined you could refine the Profound Dragon Pill using only one-tenth of your inventory. This is truly beyond my expectations. All my preparations have been in vain. I underestimated Brother Ao's pill-refining abilities."
"Really? Hahaha..." Upon hearing this, Long Ao finally let go of his last worry and laughed heartily. He added, "It wasn't a waste of time. Although I only used one-tenth of the materials to refine the Profound Dragon Pill, I'll still trade away the remaining nine-tenths."
"Everything is difficult at the beginning. Once I successfully refine the first Profound Dragon Pill Profound Dragon Pill, refining the next one will be much easier, and I won't need to gather the entire clan's strength to refine it anymore."
"From now on, I will have the ability to refine the Profound Dragon Pill. Given time, a second and a third Profound Dragon Pill will appear in the clan!"
Upon hearing this, Long Wanli's eyes immediately lit up, as if he could see a group of Gu King walking past him.
He understood all too well what Long Ao's words meant: they meant he could continuously refine Profound Dragon Pill, and from then on, the Long Family would no longer need to risk buying Profound Dragon Pill from outside, and the Lineage's Gu King would be produced in an endless stream.
"Our Long Family is about to rise! Heaven truly blesses our clan!" The elder clansman exclaimed, tears welling in his eyes.
"Long Buhui! This Profound Dragon Pill is yours, don't let us down!"
In the end, it was Long Wanli who carefully took out the Profound Dragon Pill, put it into a pill bottle, and handed it to Long Buhui.
If we were to ask who was the most excited person in the entire audience at this moment, without a doubt, it would be Long Buhui.
He was a beneficiary of the system; this Profound Dragon Pill Profound Dragon Pill made for him. If he consumed it, he might break through to the Gu King and become a top expert in this region. Who here could be more excited than him?
Long Buhui, and his heart was pounding wildly. Faced with the Profound Dragon Pill so close to him, he couldn't stay calm at all and was so excited that he was about to go crazy.
He took the bottle of pills with trembling hands. Although the Profound Dragon Pill was very light, at this moment, he felt as if it weighed a thousand Profound Dragon Pill. This pill carried the hopes of the entire clan, making him feel heavy in his heart and creating a sense of pressure.
At this moment, he actually started to feel anxious, just like Long Ao. What if he failed to break through, wasting this precious pill and letting down the hopes of his entire clan?
An invisible pressure weighed on his back, making it hard for him to breathe. He didn't want to disappoint his people, but the more he thought about it, the greater the pressure became.
Seemingly sensing his thoughts, Long Ao empathized and said, "Brother Bu Hui, don't feel too much pressure. After all, the Profound Dragon Pill only has a 20% success rate for breakthroughs, so failing is perfectly normal."
"If becoming Gu King were so easy, why would each of the seven major clans only have one or two Gu King?"
"But you are different from others. When others fail to break through, they are completely defeated, but you still have a chance because I have already acquired the ability to refine the Profound Dragon Pill."
"If one Profound Dragon Pill isn't enough to break through, then two will do. If two still don't work, then three will. Our clan already has the resources for that, so you don't need to worry about failure or feel any psychological pressure."
"That's right!" The elder of the clan came over to comfort her, "Even if you fail to break through, no one in the clan will blame you. Don't feel pressured."
"The greater the pressure you face, the more likely you are to fail to break through. You must adjust your mindset. Becoming Gu King requires exceptional mental fortitude. Do not be timid or hesitant."
The reassurances from the others clearly had an effect. Long Buhui worry! I can't guarantee that I'll break through to the Gu King level this time, but I will do my best and will never let a low-level mistake like insufficient mental fortitude cause me to fail."
Long Buhui clenched his fists.
Seeing Long Buhui's state, everyone smiled and nodded in relief.
Just then, the patriarch's voice suddenly came from the sky. "From now on, I will protect Bu Hui. Unless the Lineage faces a life-or-death crisis, you are not allowed to disturb him under any circumstances. Bu Hui, come to me."