A few days later, looking at the teacher whose expression had turned as frosty as ice, Lu Chang’sheng finally decided to lay his cards on the table.

"I’m too dull, Master. I really can’t inherit your mantle."

He turned around and left straight away.

Leaving the teacher to scold him from behind.

"Now that I have the Foundation Establishment Pill Formula, there’s no need for me to take this risk!"

Lu Chang’sheng did some quick calculations and realized that his progress was already way ahead of the original plan; if he simply followed through step by step, the odds of reaching Foundation Establishment before his lifespan ran out were high.

The Profound Turtle Alchemist’s mantle? He could do without it.

Walking back the way he’d come, Lu Chang’sheng quickly vanished on top of the Immortal Mountain.

Not long after he left, the shut bronze gates swung wide, and Yue Ling strode out at the front.

He glanced around but didn’t see the supposed "first place," and immediately felt confused.

Could there be other entrances?

Noticing the teacher standing not far away with a face like iron, his confusion deepened.

The teacher’s expression was off—clearly he was angry.

Angry?

Yue Ling suddenly made some connections, a hint of delight glimmering in his eyes.

As he saw it, the prior part of the journey had all been tests from the teacher, so another test now was totally expected.

That so-called "first place" must’ve failed the teacher somehow, probably wasn’t strong enough in some area.

Yue Ling quickly sought confirmation from the Profound Turtle Alchemist’s soul projection.

Profound Turtle Alchemist: What you said makes a lot of sense—maybe that really was what I was thinking at the time!

Yue Ling stopped overthinking. Since "first place" had been eliminated, this inheritance was clearly meant for him.

Only, what he didn’t know was that even the Profound Turtle Alchemist’s soul projection was confused.

He alone knew—there’s no way the tests here would actually eliminate anyone.

At least, not until he physically intervened at this final stop.

The Inheritance Spirit Array follows its own operating rules, and too much time had passed, plus the Profound Turtle Alchemist’s current state wasn’t quite right. If he hadn’t physically entered the "Immortal Mountain" core area, there wasn’t much he could do.

"What now?" Yue Ling asked.

"Go on through—he’ll begin the next test—"

The Profound Turtle Alchemist’s soul projection replied.

Before he finished speaking, another figure stepped out from the ancient bronze gates—none other than Fairy Yunxia from Fuyun Mountain.

The flicker of hesitation that had just arisen in Yue Ling’s heart was squashed by Fairy Yunxia’s arrival—he started worrying that someone might snatch the prize first.

So he hurried over to the teacher.

Fairy Yunxia noticed his move, didn’t have time to overthink, and followed as well.

The teacher’s iron-clad expression quickly faded; in a low mumble he said, "That one’s pretty cautious—actually chose to quit at the last moment."

"Oh well. These people aren’t necessarily a bad pick."

He flicked his long sleeves and looked ahead, his gaze calm, as more and more people filed out from the bronze gates.

"My mantle lies here atop the Immortal Mountain. If you wish to inherit it, you must pass my final test..."

His soft voice echoed across the mountain.

Yue Ling and the others began studying under the teacher’s instruction.

If Lu Chang’sheng were still here, he’d definitely notice things were a bit different—the teacher wasn’t teaching alchemy first, but started with the Peach Embalming Child Skill instead.

This was now one of the requirements for advancement.

If, before, Lu Chang’sheng was dealing with the fixed memories left by the Profound Turtle Alchemist thousands of years ago, now, the group was facing the actual Profound Turtle Alchemist himself.

······

"Hiss—Fellow Daoist, you—"

Light flashed, and Lu Chang’sheng saw a bunch of disappointed eyes staring at him.

The top brass from Good Beast Sect stood all around—when they spotted Lu Chang’sheng, their faces fell even further.

"What’s going on, Fellow Daoists?"

Lu Chang’sheng asked in confusion.

"Sigh... Looks like this path is a dead end after all," Sect Leader Yan Yu sighed.

Lu Chang’sheng more or less got the picture.

Shifting his gaze, he spotted Huang Yun and He Feng standing off to the side.

"Dean and Fellow Daoist He Feng, when did you guys get out?"

"Been out for a while now!"

Huang Yun shook his head.

After some back-and-forth, Lu Chang’sheng finally understood why everyone was gathered here. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

A few days ago, the disciples guarding this place saw the Guiding Disc blaze with an intense light, different from before.

Sure enough, just as they were about to report to the higher-ups, He Feng and Huang Yun emerged at the same time.

Normally, Huang Yun always comes out later than He Feng—the fact that they came out together meant something unusual had happened in the Inheritance Spirit Array.

The higher-ups all hurried over to ask what had happened.

They learned that the Inheritance Spirit Array had moved into a new phase.

But since both of them failed the second lecture hall’s trial, they were booted out.

Luckily, they waited a while and didn’t see Lu Chang’sheng, so they relaxed a bit.

"Fellow Daoist Lu is definitely something special."

Everyone complimented him.

After a few more tries, they discovered the Guiding Array Plate wouldn’t let anyone back in.

Lu Chang’sheng was now Good Beast Sect’s last hope.

"How did things go inside?"

Even though everyone felt disappointed, hope hadn’t totally vanished—maybe the inheritance had found a new owner?

But Lu Chang’sheng shook his head and said, "I didn’t make it to the end."

He went ahead and shared some well-rehearsed inner thoughts.

Of course, those thoughts had undergone a lot of editing—Lu Chang’sheng didn’t say he got to the final step, just that he’d been eliminated in front of the bronze gate.

"Honestly, that’s not surprising," Ning He said.

"With powerhouses from Fuyun Mountain and Heaven-Burning Valley involved, it’s no shock we didn’t get the inheritance!"

The group who were friendly with Lu Chang’sheng offered words of comfort.

Once most people had scattered, Zhong Mountain came over and patted Lu Chang’sheng’s shoulder, saying, "Don’t be discouraged, Daoist—the heavens have their plans. If you ask me, you might as well focus on your Little Fire Cloud Beast. There’s been a bunch of Perfect Pills popping up lately, so you could try buying some."

"Thanks for the advice, Daoist. I’ll think about it," Lu Chang’sheng replied, noticing the excited glimmer in Zhong Mountain’s eye, and feeling a bit puzzled inside.

He caught on to the shift in expression—the excitement only showed up when Little Fire Cloud Beast was mentioned.

The comfort was genuine.

The excitement over the Little Fire Cloud Beast was, too.

But—

You keep feeding my Fire Cloud Beast, and odds are those are the Perfect Pills I sold to you, so what’s got you so hyped?

Lu Chang’sheng didn’t dwell on it—once he got back to his place, he focused on sorting out his gains from this round.

Nothing much else, but he’d made a ton of progress in alchemy.

"It should be related to the Inheritance Spirit Array; otherwise, just learning from a famous teacher wouldn’t have made me improve this fast—feels just a little too over the top."

He’d achieved entry-level mastery of the Foundation Establishment Pill Formula, and was only about two years away from Minor Achievement.

As for the Cyan Spirit Pill Formula, he was less than ten years away from perfection.

"A famous teacher, a Golden Finger, and the Inheritance Spirit Array—it’s an unbeatable combination for trimming down the time needed,"

Lu Chang’sheng mused to himself.