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

Gu Qing sat cross-legged on the futon, looking at the Foundation Establishment Pill in the porcelain bottle. Without the slightest hesitation, he took one out and swallowed it.

After swallowing the Foundation Establishment Pill, Gu Qing began to transform the gaseous spiritual energy into liquid according to the method, and then used the incantation to circulate this spiritual liquid for one cycle, repeating this process repeatedly.

The benefits of becoming a disciple of Hong Fu immediately became apparent; Gu Qing didn't need to figure out the Foundation Establishment process on his own.

Gu Qing had already learned about the entire foundation-building process from Hong Fu and had simulated it in his mind several times, so everything went smoothly. Gu Qing did not feel any pain; he only felt that the liquid spiritual energy would grow stronger with each use of the method.

Several days passed in this way. Gu Qing opened his eyes from his meditation and murmured, "So, I've successfully established my foundation?"

This was a bit too simplistic, making Gu Qing not entirely convinced. So he used his divine sense to observe his surroundings again and quickly discovered that his divine sense had expanded several times over and could cover the entire courtyard.

The expansion of one's spiritual consciousness is one of the manifestations after Foundation Establishment.

"It seems I have truly succeeded in establishing my foundation." Thinking of this, Gu Qing couldn't help but take out his flute and play a tune.

As the sound of the flute echoed inside and outside the courtyard, the surrounding spiritual energy gathered from the outside in, eventually forming mist.

As Gu Qing played the music, the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea image in her mind was activated, and a trace of its divine essence blended into the mist. The plants in the courtyard swayed and grew vigorously under the nourishment of the mist.

Two hundred years, two hundred and sixty years, three hundred years, three hundred and sixty years, four hundred years...

All the vegetation eventually stopped growing around four hundred years later.

Vegetation doesn't grow indefinitely; the most important thing is how much of the spirit of the Eight Immortals painting Gu Qing can evoke.

Arousing the divine charm requires powerful soul force, which is why the vegetation's growth years also increased after Gu Qing improved his cultivation.

Therefore, the ripening-enhancing elixir consumed Gu Qing's soul power, not his spiritual power.

Even so, the value of the four-hundred-year-old elixir has already doubled.

The most common chicken blood vine costs two mid-grade spirit stones, while the purple monkey flower, a key ingredient in Foundation Establishment Pills, might cost five or six mid-grade spirit stones.

The herb field contains five hundred 400-year-old spiritual herbs, worth at least several thousand mid-grade spirit stones.

Gu Qing's wealth may be greater than that of an average early-stage Core Formation cultivator.

"Hahaha, congratulations on entering the Foundation Establishment stage, junior disciple!" A voice came from outside the formation, which was buzzing at its limit, as if it would collapse at any moment.

"It's that guy again!" Gu Qing was speechless. The person who came was Li Huayuan. He had been keeping an eye on him recently because his Daoist partner had gone mad while practicing his cultivation and needed a lot of medicinal herbs.

"Didn't we come here once before? Why are we here again?" Gu Qing felt a little strange.

Although Gu Qing was somewhat displeased that they were all seniors, he still opened the formation and saw an old man with a full head of white hair wearing a yellow Taoist robe following Li Huayuan.

"Uncle Lei is here too?" Gu Qing asked in surprise.

The newcomer was Lei Wanhe, a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator who practiced lightning techniques.

"Hehehe, I'm preparing to refine a batch of pills to improve cultivation, so I came to take a look. Hmm! It seems that my junior nephew's flute playing skills have indeed improved quite a bit." Lei Wanhe's eyes shone as he looked at the courtyard full of four-hundred-year-old medicinal herbs.

The same applies to Li Huayuan.

Gu Qing thought to himself, "Neither of them are good people!"

Of course, such a mentality could not be revealed, otherwise even a hundred Gu Qings wouldn't be enough to kill the two in front of him.

Although Li Huayuan was somewhat unethical, constantly eyeing the spiritual herbs in his herb garden, he didn't come empty-handed; last time he brought a piece of iron essence in exchange.

Iron essence is something that only Core Formation cultivators can refine. A piece of iron essence smaller than a fist can cost more than thirty mid-grade spirit stones.

Last time, Gu Qing obtained two iron essences from Li Huayuan and then incorporated them into the jade flute in his hand, raising the quality of the jade flute to the level of a top-grade magic weapon.

It's unclear what the two of them will use to exchange for medicinal herbs this time.

Gu Qing tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, "My nephew is currently lacking a magical artifact for transportation, and also a method for cultivating the primordial spirit, and a top-tier defensive magic weapon..."

Gu Qing started talking and said a lot of things, which made the two Core Formation cultivators feel dizzy. They wanted many of the things Gu Qing said, which was really nonsensical.

"This is a jade pendant, a defensive magic artifact. When fully activated, it can withstand an attack from a Core Formation cultivator." Lei Wanhe took out a defensive magic artifact.

Li Huayuan was somewhat embarrassed. He had originally wanted to exchange a cultivation manual for medicinal herbs, but judging from Gu Qing's appearance, she didn't seem to lack a cultivation manual. It seemed that Hong Fu had already prepared one for her.

As for other things, Li Huayuan really couldn't come up with anything at the moment.

Seeing Li Huayuan's predicament, Gu Qing said, "I do know a disciple of the Thousand Bamboo Sect who fled here. I've heard that the Thousand Bamboo Sect can control hundreds of puppets at once, so they must know some mental techniques."

"Oh, I didn't know such a thing existed. I'll have Sect Leader Zhong investigate it later," Li Huayuan said in a deep voice, clearly understanding Gu Qing's meaning.

Seeing this, Gu Qing was quite tactful and said directly, "Then I won't disturb you two senior uncles any longer. I happen to have something to discuss with the sect leader."

With that, Gu Qing bowed respectfully and then rode his magical artifact toward the council hall.

After Gu Qing left, Lei Wanhe began picking medicinal herbs. With a casual wave of his hand, more than a dozen herbs flew into his sleeve.

Lei Wanhe stopped when he had received more than twenty herbs. These herbs alone were worth at least sixty mid-grade spirit stones.

That's over six thousand ordinary spirit stones. The highest price for a top-tier magic weapon is only two thousand spirit stones, so Lei Wanhe really made a fortune this time.

Seeing Lei Wanhe's actions, Li Huayuan didn't stand on ceremony and directly took away more than twenty medicinal herbs, the same number as Lei Wanhe.

Upon seeing this, Lei Wanhe laughed and said, "Junior brother, why don't we pick a few more? That kid can just blow it up and get some anyway."

"Next time, let's take it slow and steady. As elders, we shouldn't go too far, otherwise Senior Sister Hongfu will nag us," Li Huayuan said, shaking his head slightly.

Upon hearing this, Lei Wanhe laughed loudly and then transformed into a streak of light, disappearing from the spot.

Li Huayuan glanced at the medicinal field, and then transformed into a streak of light and disappeared.

Meanwhile, Gu Qing, riding his magical artifact, arrived outside the council hall. Two Qi Refining disciples immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, Martial Uncle!"

Accompanying them was a dark-skinned, unremarkable disciple who appeared to be at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refining.

Gu Qing looked him up and down, then asked, "What's your name?"

"Disciple Han Li returned from Tai Nan Society with my master and has just joined Huang Feng Valley," Han Li said, cupping his hands in a somewhat reserved manner.