The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 84: (2): Long Xuans Background

Knowing that his mind was filled with confusion, Elder Long didn’t beat around the bush and continued to explain, “It’s common for the Gu practitioners of the Long Clan to have relations with village women while stationed in various villages, and the outflow of bloodlines is inevitable.”

“Don’t be fooled by the fact that few offspring are born. However, as these offspring continue to multiply and thrive, spreading across countless generations, the Long Clan’s bloodline can be found everywhere.”

“The resources of the Long Clan are limited, and we cannot support so many people, so the clan established a rule a long time ago.”

“That rule is that any offspring with mixed blood with commoners are not allowed to be brought back to the Long Clan, and they are not allowed to be assisted, not even by the ancestors of the Long Clan.”

“Unless the child shows significant potential in cultivation and can be brought back to the family for nurturing, no one is allowed to open this door.”

“If this rule wasn’t in place, the Long Clan would be in chaos. Who knows how many descendants those people have outside, and if we were to bring them all back, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

Hearing this, Long Xuan was completely shocked. Are these Gu practitioners of the Long Clan animals? Spreading their seed everywhere and then not caring about it afterward—this is utterly irresponsible.

“So, does this mean that I’ve now met the criteria to be brought back to the Long Clan and can meet my relatives?” Long Xuan asked eagerly.

Elder Long looked at him with a smile and said, “You don’t have any relatives left. The only one who has any blood connection with you is Long Lie, who is your grandfather’s brother, so you should call him Uncle.”

“That branch of the family has practically wiped themselves out, leaving only the two of you. I only gave you the lucrative position of caretaker in the medicinal garden because of him.”

“Don’t blame him for never taking care of you. It’s the Long Clan’s rule—immortals and mortals are eternally separated. Mixed-blood clansmen with commoners are not to be cared for unless they can show enough value to be brought into the family for focused cultivation.”

Hearing this, Long Xuan was stunned. So it’s him? That drunkard? Could this possibly be a top-tier relative?

Recalling the scene when he first met Long Lie and his behavior, Long Xuan frowned slightly. Is this person reliable? He felt deeply skeptical.

He realized he probably wouldn’t be able to rely on this top-tier relative for anything, and might even get dragged down by him.

Does this mean that, aside from Elder Long looking out for him, he has no real backing in the Long Clan? Long Xuan felt mentally exhausted after having his hopes up for so long.

However, the upgraded Elder Long is a potential Gu practitioner with the potential to become a third-rank alchemist. Now that Long Xuan had been promoted from a servant to his apprentice, he could think of ways to shorten the time it would take for Elder Long to become a third-rank alchemist.

Once Elder Long is promoted to the only third-rank alchemist in the Far West, as his disciple, Long Xuan could then walk around with pride, fearing no one.

This could be considered the tuition fee for secretly learning so much from him, and it would also repay the favor of Elder Long’s special care.

Advancing from a second-rank alchemist to a third-rank alchemist is simple yet difficult.

Without the inheritance of a third-rank alchemist, a second-rank alchemist could work themselves to death and still never become a third-rank alchemist. And acquiring the inheritance of a third-rank alchemist is not easy.

If there is a third-rank alchemist inheritance, then it only requires pouring resources into trial and error, and sooner or later, one would become a third-rank alchemist.

Coincidentally, trial and error is what Long Xuan is best at, and the Long Clan doesn’t lack the inheritance of a third-rank alchemist. Shortening the time it takes for Elder Long to become a third-rank alchemist is not too difficult for him.

The faster Elder Long becomes a third-rank alchemist, the better. With a third-rank alchemist as his backing, Long Xuan would have a much easier life in the Long Clan, making it easier to secretly learn what he wants without fear of being bullied. This would save him from the trouble of having to pretend to be powerful and deal with confrontations, which would be quite bothersome.

But plans can’t keep up with changes. His original intention was to sneak into the Long Clan as a servant and secretly learn.

But now he’s been informed that he has the bloodline of the Long Clan, so he is now considered a legitimate Gu practitioner of the Long Clan. He can openly and legitimately learn whatever he wants without taking any risks.

Once he’s learned all the Long Clan’s inheritance, he could quietly leave. After all, he has too many secrets, and the Peak-grade Gu insects he possesses aren’t convenient to reveal. Joining a faction would come with too many concerns.

He still preferred being a carefree, independent cultivator, free and unrestrained.

After a brief moment of deep thought, Long Xuan made up his mind.

Over the next six months, Long Xuan gloriously became Elder Long’s little medicinal apprentice, responsible for assisting him during alchemy.

After the Purple Demon Flame was refined, he had to pretend to be a novice every day, acting like he didn’t understand anything, while learning alchemy from Elder Long.

He had already secretly learned all of Elder Long’s alchemy techniques, so there was no need to learn them again.

Pretending every day was exhausting, so he decided to act as a prodigious alchemy genius, hoping to quickly rid himself of this life.

However, Long Xuan’s actions excited Elder Long to no end. Who would have thought that his casual actions would lead to finding a once-in-a-millennium alchemy prodigy? Truly, the heavens were smiling upon him! Elder Long was overjoyed.

Elder Long know that the reason he wanted to take Long Xuan as his medicinal apprentice wasn’t because of his alchemy potential or the fact that he had the valuable Ten Absolute Bodies Physique, but entirely because Long Xuan had cultivated the “Sun and Moon Heart Sutra.”

Cultivating the “Sun and Moon Heart Sutra” would allow one to have multiple clones. By taking someone who cultivates this technique as a medicinal apprentice, Elder Long could use one person as multiple apprentices.

Only needing to pay one person’s wages while having the equivalent of many apprentices—where else could he find such a deal? It was too cost-effective, and that’s why he was determined to take Long Xuan as his medicinal apprentice, even if Long Xuan disagreed. Such a good apprentice was rare, and the opportunity wouldn’t come again.

If Long Xuan knew this was his plan, he would have coughed up blood in frustration—his sincere feelings had been misplaced.

Elder Long was utterly heartless!

As a result, the pretending-to-be-an-alchemy-genius Long Xuan was promoted once again by Elder Long, moving from medicinal apprentice to registered disciple, advancing at a remarkable speed.

Six months later, loud, wild laughter echoed from the shabby hut.

“Hahaha… It’s done! It’s done! Finally, it’s done!”

“Who would have thought that I, Long Ao, truly am a genius! I actually advanced to a third-rank alchemist in just half a year!”

“I’m now the only third-rank alchemist in the Far West. Let’s see who dares to come and demand their debt! Hahaha…”

Hearing this, Long Xuan was speechless. What did refining a third-rank elixir have to do with him? Look at how excited he was—did he have no self-awareness?

After becoming a third-rank alchemist, the first thing he thought of was not being afraid of debt collectors anymore. That’s all he amounted to.

“Long Xuan, what temperature did you control the flame at just now? Quickly, tell your master!”

After his excitement subsided, Elder Long looked at Long Xuan expectantly and asked.

Hearing this, Long Xuan showed a troubled expression. How was he supposed to answer that?

In this world, the temperature of the flame is described as high, medium, or low; or large, medium, or small flames.

The amount of spiritual herbs used is described as a small amount, medium amount, or large amount, or as an appropriate amount.

But what exactly counts as a medium amount? What exactly is medium flame?

There’s no fixed standard—everyone has their own standard.

This world doesn’t have precise units of measurement for time, force, or speed either.

In Long Xuan’s Pill recipe, the quantities were all marked in grams, and the flame control was marked in degrees Celsius.

He aimed for precision in every detail. Even a slight deviation could lead to failure.

It was this meticulousness, combined with the assistance of his special abilities, that allowed Long Xuan to achieve a 100% success rate in elixir refinement.

But in this world, there are no units like grams, degrees Celsius, seconds, or newtons.

Alchemists in this world cannot achieve 100% accuracy in any value, which is one reason for their high failure rates.

But now a problem has arisen. If Long Xuan told Elder Long that he had used a specific temperature in degrees Celsius, Elder Long wouldn’t understand. Long Xuan himself didn’t know how to explain it to him.

He couldn’t very well spend a month teaching him modern mathematics and physics, could he? Then who would be the master, and who's the disciple here?

It seems Elder Long also noticed his dilemma, so he put away his smile, looked at him seriously, and said, "Let's try again. I'll manage the main flame, and you control the temperature. This time, I'll use my soul force to sense your temperature."

Long Xuan nodded; this was the only way.

So, half an hour later, another batch of third-grade spiritual pills was successfully produced. Elder Long once again burst into joyous laughter, "Hahaha... Old Long, you are a true genius! I managed to refine another batch of third-grade spiritual pills. Just ask, who else can match this success rate?"

"Long Xuan! This time, I'll credit you. From now on, you are my personal disciple!"

Goodness! Long Xuan upgraded once again, from a registered disciple to a personal disciple—a promotion speed that can only be described as godlike.

Now, he's just one step away from becoming the final and most cherished disciple.

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