Chapter 77: The Substitute for Past Prosperity: Fleeting Afterglow!

The substitute for past prosperity: Fleeting afterglow!

After the dead Xu Xu Tun Tun swallowed everyone, its corpse continued to rise.

So when the players burst out of the beast’s belly, they were already close to the surface.

Under Cui Dingtian’s swift swimming, the group was soon dragged out of the water.

“Splash—”

“Whoa!”

“Huff, huff!”

“We’re saved...”

The moment everyone surfaced, the old man immediately retracted his skin and sank toward the bottom, coughing violently.

Zhao Qian acted swiftly, grabbing him.

“Cui Lao!”

Su Yi da quickly freed himself, afraid he’d sink again with the old man.

Tao Yi frowned slightly, then used a floating branch to drift over and cushion it under Cui Dingtian’s armpit.

Cheng Shi didn’t care about any of this—what concerned him most was that the massive storm and waves from hours ago had vanished completely.

As far as the eye could see, nothing but ocean—floating debris and countless unknown creatures’ corpses, with not a trace of disaster left in the air.

He looked around in disbelief and asked:

“Is it over?”

No one could answer him.

Gao Yu pulled over a horizontal log, placed it against his chest, and exhaled heavily.

“Good. Looks like I still have a chance to make it to my 18th birthday.”

Tao Yi, pale and battered, gave a bitter laugh and submerged her body below the neck.

Nearly twenty hours had passed since the trial began.

The sun hung far on the horizon, radiating light and heat, scorching the sea and burning the skin.

After floating and gasping for breath for a long while, they confirmed this wasn’t an illusion.

The disaster was truly over.

Even if only temporarily.

“Cheng Shi, save him—Cui Lao’s dying!”

Zhao Qian pushed a floating log closer, his face uneasy.

Cheng Shi frowned, growing more suspicious of Zhao Qian’s attitude toward Cui Dingtian.

He did care about the old man—but beyond occasional help when convenient, he never went out of his way to save him in danger.

Could it be...

Forget it. Right now, the only reason we’re alive is because of Cui Lao.

Cheng Shi quickly swam toward the old man.

The moment his hand gripped Cui Dingtian’s wrist, he realized just how dire the old man’s condition was.

His heart wasn’t pounding violently after exertion—it was slowing, growing weaker, as if he were truly turning into a mummy.

Was this the aftereffect of his divine power surge?

Or the cost of his talent?

It was far too severe.

Ordinary healing spells could only delay his death—they couldn’t save him.

The Past Prosperity might help, but his personal space was locked—there was no way to retrieve the pill.

Wait!

It wasn’t impossible to find!

“Gao Yu!”

Cheng Shi gripped Cui Dingtian’s hand and shouted:

“I need a pill furnace! At least 15 centimeters, with a grinding wheel, mixing device, and pressure booster—must be fireproof and heat-resistant!”

Gao Yu froze in shock, then nodded quickly.

His tool kit had been torn apart by the void inside the beast, but none of the tools or materials were lost.

Because he’d stuffed them all into his own abdominal cavity!

He was using the slow erosion of his flesh to delay their disappearance.

These tools were his only remaining advantage—if he lost them, the rest of the trial would be impossible.

So this clumsy method was his only option.

He gritted his teeth, furrowed his brow, and sliced open his recently healed abdomen with a sharp wooden stick, then pulled out tools and began hammering furiously.

Pill furnaces on Hope Island were mostly similar—differing only in material and internal attachments.

Cheng Shi’s requirements were clear and precise; the materials were just enough to forge a palm-sized furnace, so Gao Yu finished it quickly.

The moment Cheng Shi held the furnace, his eyes gleamed with an odd light: “I’m betting big this time.”

Everyone saw his expression—they knew Cheng Shi was desperate and uncertain.

As for what he was uncertain about...

Probably the idea of brewing medicine on the spot?

“You can brew medicine?”

Su Yi da was bewildered.

Gao Yu snorted at that.

If Su Yi da had stayed to listen to the whole conversation, he’d have known Cheng Shi’s greatest interest was alchemical creations—and that school didn’t just revolve around puppets; strange, dangerous potions were their relentless pursuit.

Cheng Shi’s face was tense—he ignored him.

“Cui Dingtian’s condition is terrible. The [Decay] divine power should be flowing through him, but as you saw, it’s being restrained by some other force.

If we leave him like this, by tonight he’ll truly become a mummy.

My healing talent is limited—I can’t reverse his condition.

But!

I have another method—something to try!

That’s alchemy!”

Under everyone’s stunned gaze, Cheng Shi opened the furnace.

“You’ve all heard of The Past Prosperity—an A-rank potion combining [Memory] and [Prosperity] divine power.

When I studied alchemy, I simulated its properties and brewed a potion with nearly identical effects.”

“You brewed an A-rank potion?!” Su Yi da gasped, then immediately questioned, “But there’s no [Divinity] here!”

Cheng Shi ignored him again.

“I named it ‘Fleeting Afterglow.’ Drinking it eliminates all pain and instantly restores the body to peak condition!”

“But?” Zhao Qian seemed to guess something, frowning as he added.

“Yes, but...

The potion has severe side effects.

The patient will relapse into agony five days later—and their speed toward death will accelerate drastically!

In other words, it’s a potion that burns life force—you can think of it as five days of fleeting afterglow.”

Cheng Shi finished speaking and turned to look at Cui Dingtian.

“Cui Lao, I know you’re searching for your son—but if you live, there’s still hope. If you die here...”

Cui Dingtian’s fading consciousness fought desperately against death—he suddenly gripped Cheng Shi’s hand and squeezed hard.

Understood.

Without hesitation, Cheng Shi tore off a piece of flesh from his own arm and dropped it in.

Everyone stared in shock.

“Flesh alchemy?” Gao Yu was stunned.

“What else? Flesh is the best material—my flesh contains healing power.

But even my flesh might not be enough. Though this potion doesn’t require [Divinity], it still carries [Prosperity] and [Memory] power...”

He didn’t need to finish—their eyes followed him to Tao Yi and Su Yi da.

Tao Yi widened her eyes in shock, then firmly nodded.

Through the pain, she used a branch to scrape a piece of skin from her arm and dropped it into the furnace.

Afterward, fearing the [Prosperity] power might still be insufficient, she prepared to scrape flesh from her other arm.

Frankly, Cui Lao’s current state was entirely because he saved them.

In Tao Yi’s eyes, whether for future team support or out of gratitude, she had to save him.

Besides, this skin-deep pain was nothing compared to what she endured underwater.

Her thoughts were simple—but Cheng Shi stopped her in time.

“Alchemy requires precise dosage and ratios—more isn’t always better!”

He pushed the furnace toward Su Yi da.

Su Yi da’s expression darkened, uncertain.

To be honest, he had no resistance to saving Cui Dingtian and was more than willing to help.

Because both Cui Dingtian’s strength and his character made him the most reliable teammate possible.

But the problem was, he was not a true believer of [Memory]!

Seeing Cheng Shi speak with such confidence, he had no doubt this Daoist Priest could brew such a potion.

But he feared that if the brewing failed, his identity might be exposed.

Exposing his identity wasn’t serious in itself—the worst consequence was that this failure could cost the entire trial team three combatants outright.

Cui Dingtian, himself, and... Tao Yi!

This would be a catastrophic disaster!

If Su Yi had such concerns, could Cheng Shi not have foreseen it?

No!

He had already calculated everything.

Because he was lying too!

To be honest, before he obtained Ados’s alchemical notes, he didn’t even know what a potion furnace looked like.

His potions were conjured out of thin air.

But today was different.

His personal space being sealed robbed him of the ability to fabricate on the spot.

So, to succeed, he had to put on a show!

His mind raced furiously, draining every scrap of knowledge he had about potion-making, then exhausting every detail, describing effects and properties—all to make the brewing seem utterly believable.

Without Tao Yi and Su Yi, things might not have gone so smoothly.

But fate was clever here:

The team happened to include a believer of [Prosperity] and a believer of [Memory].

Even if this [Memory] believer was, at heart, a [Deception] follower.

But it didn’t matter!

Let us recall the ability of [Offerings to the Void]: when five outsiders, excluding oneself, acknowledge the existence of a fabricated object, the object exists.

Undoubtedly, everyone present now believed Cheng Shi could brew this potion.

And beyond Cheng Shi, the other four all believed Su Yi was a [Memory] mage, that he possessed [Memory] power.

Only Su Yi himself doubted whether his own flesh could be successfully brewed.

Thus, the greatest stake in this gamble was not anyone else—it was Su Yi himself.

Cheng Shi was betting that Su Yi could convince himself, that his own heart would accept he truly possessed [Memory] power, and therefore the brewing would not fail.

This game was not simply Cheng Shi deceiving Su Yi.

It was waiting for Su Yi to deceive himself!

As expected, in that instant, Su Yi’s mind flashed with countless thoughts, finally giving birth to a rational yet absurd conclusion:

His [Memory] power, though obtained through deceit, was still [Memory] power in the eyes of others.

Therefore, according to His will, the brewing should not fail.

A flicker of hesitation passed through his eyes; Su Yi gritted his teeth, tore off a chunk of flesh from his arm, and threw it into the furnace.

It worked!

The moment Su Yi moved, Cheng Shi knew it had succeeded!

To hell with five days of dying breath!

As long as he lasted three days, survived the trial, there would be plenty of chances to save himself later.

If he didn’t make it through three days, and everyone died, then nothing else mattered.

Cheng Shi slammed the furnace shut, grinning wildly at Zhao Qian.

“I need fire!”