Cultivating immortality begins with formations.

Despite losing their spirit steed, the two still managed to arrive at Jiuling Market at noon with Gu Qingyao's help.

It happened to be lunchtime.

Lu Yuan suggested that they eat first, and Gu Qingyao thought about it and agreed.

Drunken Immortal Pavilion, private room.

Lu Yuan is not short of spirit stones now, and since this is the first time he has invited Fairy Gu to dinner, he has generously ordered a full table of wine and food.

However, Gu Qingyao was indifferent and not good at speaking.

The atmosphere was rather somber; after a few pleasantries, the only sounds were the clatter of spoons and chopsticks.

The two were closest during the Nine Ridges Mountains.

However, after Lu Yuan accepted the Foundation Establishment Pill and took all the storage bags of the three Qi Refining Level 9 cultivators, their relationship remained ambiguous.

They deliberately maintained a distance, yet their relationship was deeper than that of ordinary friends.

After all, Lu Yuan wouldn't dare to entrust his back to so-called ordinary friends when he's out in public.

Lu Yuan noticed that Gu Qingyao's gaze was wandering and she seemed a little uncomfortable, so he took the initiative to speak: "But the food and wine don't suit Fairy Gu's taste."

Gu Qingyao slowly shook her head, pondered for a moment, and then answered honestly, "I have never eaten alone with a man."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan smiled and said, "That would be my honor."

Gu Qingyao shook her head again and said very seriously, "Brother Lu, there's no need to be modest. With your talent in array formations, given time, you may very well become a master of array formations."

"but……"

"After watching you fight the cultivators with all your might, I found that Brother Lu, your knowledge is quite diverse. In addition to the Dao of Arrays, your fire-based spells are also quite good, but your swordsmanship is... just average."

Lu Yuan remained noncommittal upon hearing this.

Aside from having some talent in array formations, he's just average in everything else.

Even the Fire Separation Curse took twenty years of lifespan to build up.

Lu Yuan followed up, "Then, could Fairy Gu teach me?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Qingyao frowned slightly: "You want to become my disciple?"

"Well……"

"It's not impossible."

Lu Yuan believed in the saying, "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat."

Identity is not important.

The important thing is whether one can obtain the desired benefits through this identity.

Gu Qingyao lowered her eyes slightly, avoiding his gaze, her ear tips turning slightly red, and said softly, "I feel that this matter is somewhat inappropriate."

Something seemed amiss... Lu Yuan wanted to ask further.

However, Fairy Gu on the other side continued, "Your talent doesn't lie in swordsmanship. Spending time cultivating it would be a waste... If there's an opportunity in the future, I can teach you then. As for the master-disciple relationship, let's not mention it again."

Lu Yuan was just joking.

He never thought Gu Qingyao would agree, but he also didn't expect her to answer so seriously.

"it is good."

"Then I will await the arrival of Fairy Gu."

After Lu Yuan finished speaking with his hands clasped in greeting, he raised his wine cup in invitation.

Seeing this, Gu Qingyao also raised her wine cup, tilted her snow-white neck back, and drank it down in one gulp.

After having a beautiful meal with the pretty fairy, Lu Yuan returned to his residence.

Fearing retaliation from the Wang family, Gu Qingyao temporarily left the Snow Soul Ice Silkworm with Lu Yuan for protection.

The Snow Soul Ice Silkworm was connected to her soul.

If Lu Yuan encounters danger, Gu Qingyao will sense it and immediately come to his rescue.

After settling into his home, Lu Yuan took out Wang Laogou's storage bag and began to take stock of his spoils.

He swept several hundred spirit stones aside.

He then tossed a pile of broken magical artifacts into a corner, leaving only a few jade slips.

Of these, only one technique for raising spirit pets truly interested him.

Blood Longevity Feeding Spirit Formula.

In the early stages, the spirit pet was fed with the user's own blood.

Once a weak spirit pet enters its growth stage, you can feed it with life-giving essence blood to quickly enhance its strength.

to be honest.

It means using one's own lifespan to gain combat power for a spirit pet ahead of time.

Lu Yuan discovered that he had gotten himself into a conflict with this lifespan, and that's how he ended up obtaining such a technique.

However, the final record of the spell captivated him.

Once a spirit pet reaches maturity, it can plunder the lifespan of other spirit pets to nourish itself.

See here.

Lu Yuan was overjoyed.

He transferred the Blood Longevity Spirit Feeding Technique to his storage bag, and then transferred everything else to another, larger storage bag.

Storage bags cannot be used as nesting dolls.

Therefore, he specially purchased this larger storage bag in the market after obtaining the personal belongings of the three Qi Refining Level 9 cultivators.

At this moment, besides the tens of thousands of spirit stones, the storage bag contained several mid-grade and high-grade magic artifacts.

The only valuable items in the couple's storage bags were a few materials for refining Foundation Establishment Pills.

If Lu Yuan finds two more main ingredients at that time, he can ask a second-level alchemist to refine another Foundation Establishment Pill for him.

In the next few days.

While Lu Yuan was working on the Qi Gathering Array, he secretly inquired about things in the market.

The Wang family and the Zhou family are at odds again, presumably because the death of Old Dog Wang that day was blamed on the Zhou family.

As for the friction between the Zhou and Wang families, it was not large in scale and no one mediated it.

With that, Lu Yuan was completely relieved.

After completing the last task of setting up the Qi-gathering array in the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, Lu Yuan also successfully completed all the Qi-gathering array plates agreed upon in the Spirit Contract.

There are more than twenty Qi-gathering array plates in total.

Making these preparations is to ensure that one is not at a disadvantage when facing the inner elders of the Glazed Tile School.

According to the spiritual covenant.

As long as he completes his task ahead of schedule, there will be no further involvement if the contract between the two parties is terminated.

And after he had made all the preparations.

The inner elder of the Glazed Treasure Pavilion, which is behind the Glazed Treasure Sect, has also arrived at Jiuling Market.

……

Baibaoge (百宝阁)

When Lu Yuan entered the private room, he found Manager Luo waiting to the side, while the person sitting in the main seat was an old Taoist priest with a long, thin face and a goatee.

The old Taoist priest was dressed in a black and white yin-yang Taoist robe, with his hair tied in a high bun. He had slightly high cheekbones and sunken cheeks, making him look unapproachable.

"Master Lu, let me introduce you..."

"This is Elder Shi, an inner disciple of our Glazed Tile Sect. From now on, Elder Shi will be in charge of all the Glazed Tile Sect's businesses in Jiuling Market."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan was filled with trepidation: "Greetings, Elder Shi."

It's actually a Foundation Establishment stage cultivation level...

Lu Yuan was secretly alarmed.

Elder Shi made no attempt to conceal his intentions; on the contrary, he deliberately displayed them, clearly intending to intimidate him.

"Fourth level of Qi Refining?"

Elder Shi, seated at the head of the table, glanced at Lu Yuan and reprimanded him with slight displeasure, "Old Luo, what's wrong with you? How could you let a cultivator with such low cultivation become a guest elder of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion?"

Lu Yuan stood calmly beside Manager Luo, without saying a word.

Upon hearing this, the latter first glanced at Lu Yuan's expression before stepping forward respectfully: "Elder Shi, you may not know this, but although Lu Yuan's cultivation is slightly lower, he has a great talent for array formations. All the Qi-gathering arrays in the pavilion were made by him."

Shopkeeper Luo is now at the ninth level of Qi Refining, just one step away from Elder Shi.

However, he failed to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage a few years ago, and his dantian was damaged, so he had no hope of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage in this lifetime. This short step, however, seemed like an insurmountable chasm between the two of them.

"But your offer is a bit too high..."

Elder Shi decisively gave his assessment, then ignored Lu Yuan and continued, "Enjoying such treatment, yet only knowing how to use the Qi Gathering Array, then the duration and terms of this Spirit Contract need to be revised. The Qi Gathering Array plate needs to be doubled, and as for the duration of the Spirit Contract..."

"Let's make it a hundred years!"