With the Eight Immortals' magical treasures in hand, even a mortal like myself! Ha!

Alchemy requires fire, and for such a high-level pill as the Foundation Establishment Pill, ordinary flames are obviously not enough. If Gu Qing were to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, he would need to rely on the sect's earth fire.

Therefore, Gu Qingcai used Hong Fu to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Hong Fu's cultivation at the Core Formation stage is far superior to Gu Qing's, both in terms of her alchemical fire and her skill in refining pills.

As for how to distribute the Foundation Establishment Pills that are refined, Gu Qing has no say in the matter, but he thinks it shouldn't be a problem for him to get one or two.

Gu Qing has dual spiritual roots of wood and fire, so it shouldn't be a problem for him to complete the Foundation Establishment stage after consuming one or two Foundation Establishment Pills.

To Gu Qing's surprise, his visit to Hongfu Cave brought out Dong Xuan'er.

"Senior brother, have I been talking too much and made you hate me?" Dong Xuan'er approached pitifully.

Any man who sees such a pitiful girl would feel compelled to take care of her.

But Gu Qing only wanted to be alone, perhaps out of habit, or perhaps because she had a secret.

"This is a bottle of Qing Shui Pills, which are most effective for women's cultivation. Junior Sister, take this and use it for your cultivation," Gu Qing said, taking out a bottle of pills.

Upon hearing this, Dong Xuan'er was overjoyed. As she accepted the pill, whether intentionally or unintentionally, her small hand brushed against Gu Qing's palm, and her beautiful eyes blinked.

Seeing this, Gu Qing grabbed Dong Xuan'er's wrist and pulled her into his arms. Before Dong Xuan'er could figure out what was going on, she felt a wet sensation seal her lips.

Then Dong Xuan'er felt her breathing become difficult, her eyes trembled slightly, and her hands tugged wildly.

A moment later, Dong Xuan'er gasped for breath, breathing in the fresh air to relieve the feeling of suffocation.

At this moment, Dong Xuan'er's face was flushed red. She wiped her lips haphazardly with her hands, then kept spitting out words of disapproval. She then said somewhat angrily, "Senior brother, what are you doing?"

Gu Qing said calmly, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. Please don't tell Master, Junior Sister."

"You?" Dong Xuan'er didn't know what to say for a moment. It was the first time she had met someone so direct.

Gu Qing apologized again, and then rode away on his jade flute.

Watching Gu Qing's departing figure, Dong Xuan'er stomped her foot angrily and said, "You think you can run away after shoving so much saliva into my mouth? Humph! Not so easy."

As she spoke, Dong Xuan'er also rode her magical artifact to catch up, and returned to her residence with Gu Qing in just a moment.

But when Dong Xuan'er saw so many spiritual herbs at Gu Qing's residence, she was slightly surprised. Just seeing the spiritual herbs on the five acres of spiritual fields was probably worth several thousand spirit stones.

The thousands of spirit stones mentioned are not ordinary spirit stones, but mid-grade spirit stones.

One mu of spiritual field can be planted with one hundred spiritual herbs, so five mu would be five hundred herbs. Each herb is two hundred years old and is worth one to three mid-grade spirit stones.

So it wasn't as exaggerated as several thousand spirit stones, it was only a few hundred spirit stones.

"Senior brother, are these all medicinal herbs you planted?" Dong Xuan'er asked with wide eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen so many century-old medicinal herbs.

Gu Qing nodded, which was taken as an admission.

Hiss—I didn’t expect Gu Qing to be such a nouveau riche. No, these are all two hundred-year-old medicinal herbs. Gu Qing is only around twenty years old. How could he possibly cultivate so many hundred-year-old spiritual herbs?

"Hmph, still trying to fool people. This must be someone else's medicinal herb field. This guy is just working here." Dong Xuan'er thought she had seen through the truth and looked down on Gu Qing a little.

However, this didn't matter to Gu Qing. Apart from being pretty, Dong Xuan'er didn't seem to be able to offer him any help, so there was no need to spend so much effort on her.

Gu Qing is such a realistic person.

Gu Qing sat down cross-legged, took a fasting pill, and then sat in meditation, quietly waiting for Hong Fu's summons.

As for Dong Xuan'er, she would leave when she felt bored.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed.

Dong Xuan'er seemed to have a better temperament than expected. For more than a month, she didn't go anywhere and just stayed in the medicinal herb field to take care of the flowers and plants for Gu Qing.

That's surprising!

"Let's go, Master wants us to go over there," Gu Qing said.

"You've finally woken up. I've been taking care of the spiritual herbs for you for over a month. Shouldn't you show some appreciation?" Dong Xuan'er leaned closer, her foxy eyes widening as she feigned a pitiful appearance. Coupled with her own cultivation techniques, few men could resist taking care of her.

Gu Qing glanced at her and reached out his hand. Dong Xuan'er was on guard this time and instinctively dodged, but Gu Qing still grabbed her wrist.

"What do you want to do? Be careful or I'll tell your master that he's bullying me." Tears welled up in Dong Xuan'er's eyes, making her look pitiful.

This time, Gu Qing didn't act rudely like before, but simply warned, "Don't try to use your charms on me, or I'll make you relieve your desire."

"I...I don't know what you're talking about. You seem to have a prejudice against me. Did I do something wrong?" Dong Xuan'er's voice suddenly softened.

Gu Qing frowned. This woman was not easy to deal with; he should try to reach the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Gu Qing let go, controlled the magic weapon and left directly, without saying anything more to Dong Xuan'er.

Dong Xuan'er immediately withdrew her weak expression and resumed her innocent and romantic demeanor: "Hmph, sooner or later you'll be jealous of me. No man can escape my grasp."

As she thought about it, Dong Xuan'er giggled and finally rode her magical artifact to follow.

Soon the two arrived at Hong Fu's cave. Hong Fu was not one to waste words, and said directly, "I have refined five Foundation Establishment Pills. Two should be enough for you to establish your foundation, and you can take the last one to the sect leader."

"Yes, Master." Gu Qing was somewhat surprised, not expecting Hong Fu to have such a high success rate in refining pills.

The cost of those medicinal herbs is about twenty mid-grade spirit stones. After refining five Foundation Establishment Pills, you can earn over a hundred mid-grade spirit stones.

Alchemy is indeed profitable, but Gu Qing has a secret skill in playing the flute, so selling medicinal herbs directly is much easier.

Gu Qing shook the bottle of pills and sensed that there were three Foundation Establishment Pills inside, two of which were his own and one of which belonged to his sect.

The remaining two pills were intended to cover the cost of Hong Fu's pill-making process, and everything had already been allocated.

Gu Qing put the bottle into his storage bag, bowed respectfully, and then slowly left the cave.

Upon seeing this, Dong Xuan'er hurriedly tried to follow, but the cave door closed ahead of time, clearly indicating that Hong Fu had something to tell her.

This also helped Gu Qing get rid of a troublesome guy.

After leaving the cave, Gu Qing did not rush to the sect's main hall. Instead, he planned to deliver the Foundation Establishment Pill after he had established his foundation, and he could also take care of the registration at the same time.

Without hesitation, Gu Qing used his magical artifact to return to his small thatched hut, then set up several restrictions before beginning his secluded cultivation.