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

Tieguai Li was not one to waste words. Seeing that the other party was so rude, he gently tapped the ground with his cane. Then, the puppets around him, like wild beasts that had come to life, lay still on the ground.

Huang Long was shocked to see this scene. He then tried to control the puppets around him with his soul power, but found that the puppets were not under his control.

Only then did Huang Long realize the enormity of his mistake, and said in a somewhat hoarse voice, "You are a Core Formation Ancestor, how could you be a Core Formation Ancestor?"

Upon hearing this, Uncle Lin was also taken aback. He hadn't expected to encounter a Core Formation Ancestor intervening here, which made things develop in an unknown direction.

"Alright, this is the border of the Yue Kingdom, so I won't waste any more words with you. Do you want to die, or do you want to leave alive?" Gu Qing asked.

Both Uncle Lin and Huang Long hesitated, but Huang Long was the first to react. It was just the Great Evolution Technique, nothing was more important than his own life. So Huang Long threw the first level of the Great Evolution Technique over.

Gu Qing took the Great Evolution Manual and examined it. It was indeed a very good cultivation technique, but it was difficult to cultivate and required the preparation of elixirs. Therefore, apart from the Thousand Bamboo Sect, it seemed that not many people from other sects practiced this technique.

However, it's not so easy for outsiders to obtain the cultivation method, since the Great Evolution Technique is a treasure of the Thousand Bamboo Sect, and ordinary disciples cannot cultivate it.

After Gu Qing obtained the first level of the Great Evolution Technique, he couldn't help but look at Uncle Lin. Uncle Lin immediately denied it, saying, "I am not a member of the Thousand Bamboo Sect, but a member of the Yellow Maple Valley. I do not have any Great Evolution Technique. Please forgive me, senior."

"Hungry! You, all of you!"

Before Uncle Lin could finish speaking, a short blade pierced through his chest.

Uncle Lin's divine soul was powerful, and he wanted to escape, but he found himself being suppressed by an even more powerful divine soul, making it impossible for him to escape.

Powerful, far too powerful. This is the difference between a Core Formation cultivator and a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Gu Qing stepped forward and removed the headscarf from Uncle Lin's head, revealing an old face.

When Han Li, who was hiding in the shadows, saw this face, he was immediately shocked. It was none other than his Uncle Lin, who had given him the equipment. He never expected that he would die here like this.

The cultivation world is indeed extremely dangerous; one careless move can lead to death or annihilation. Han Li has truly experienced this today.

Han Li now regrets hiding in the clouds. He should have left earlier. Now he can only pray that the people below haven't discovered his whereabouts.

Otherwise, Han Li wouldn't know what methods he had to resist the Core Formation Ancestor.

Gu Qing took Lin Shishu's storage bag, erased the marks on it, and then found the Great Evolution Manual stored inside. In addition to the Great Evolution Manual, there were also more than two hundred puppets inside.

Each of these puppets is a fairly ordinary top-tier magic artifact. There are more than two hundred of them, and the materials alone cost tens of thousands of spirit stones, which shows that this Uncle Lin is very wealthy.

However, Gu Qing didn't find many spirit stones in the storage bag; they were probably all used to make puppets.

"Senior, may I leave now?" A bead of sweat trickled down Huang Long's forehead as he felt a growing sense of apprehension.

Gu Qing pulled out the short blade that was stuck in Lin Shishu's chest, brandished it, and said, "Leave all the puppets behind, and you can leave alone."

Huang Long's face was extremely grim. Although puppets could be made again if they were gone, losing one's life meant the end.

However, these puppets were his entire fortune, and losing them would be as painful as losing his life.

"Senior, isn't it a bit too much to bully a junior like this?" Huang Long wanted to try again, but the next moment a short blade flew from a distance and pierced Huang Long's body.

"How is that possible? I clearly saw it." Huang Long looked incredulous.

Huang Long clearly saw the short knife flying towards him, but for some reason he couldn't dodge it. It was as if his body didn't belong to him for a moment.

Huang Long's gaze involuntarily turned to Tieguai Li, thinking that it must have been this Core Formation stage expert who made the move, otherwise how could he have been so easily defeated by a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator?

"I gave you a chance, why didn't you cherish it!" Gu Qing thought to himself, feeling regretful. His hands were now tainted with karma, and he wondered if it would affect his future Nascent Soul stage.

Perhaps it was because he had been relentlessly pursued by the Seven Sects lately that Gu Qing's murderous intent grew stronger.

"Do you two hiding in the jungle need me to invite you out?" Gu Qing asked, looking towards the distant jungle.

After a short while, a man and a woman emerged from the jungle. They had come with Huang Long and were clearly members of the Thousand Bamboo Sect.

The two dared not gamble and obediently placed the storage bag on the ground. The woman then spoke in a sweet voice, "Fellow Daoist, we have done as instructed. May we leave now?"

"Of course, I'm still very easy to talk to. If you want revenge, remember my name, Han Li," Gu Qing said directly.

Han Li, who was hiding in the shadows, was taken aback when he heard Gu Qing say his name. He obviously did not expect to hear his name from a stranger.

What surprised Han Li the most was that Gu Qing smiled and turned to look at the clouds where he was hiding.

Seeing this, Han Li had no illusions and immediately took control of the newly crafted Divine Wind Boat to escape. He was very fast and disappeared into the horizon in just a moment.

Gu Qing was stunned for a moment by the speed of his decisive escape. He had originally wanted to chat with his good disciple and see how he had been doing in the valley all these years.

But since they've already run away, let's just leave it at that.

Seeing Han Li flee, the man and woman in the distance did not hesitate at all and turned to run away as well, but they did not dare to pick up the storage bags on the ground.

Seeing this, Gu Qing did not give chase, but instead went forward and picked up the storage bag.

At this point, Gu Qing had obtained eight storage bags.

The Foundation Establishment cultivators of Yuanwu Kingdom each had four storage bags, and Huang Long and his companions each had four. Huang Long's storage bag was the richest, containing over twenty mid-grade spirit stones. Including the other storage bags, they had collected over a hundred mid-grade spirit stones in total.

Including today's transactions and the mid-grade spirit stones he had saved up, Gu Qing now has a total of 2,300 mid-grade spirit stones.

There are still more than 7,700 spirit stones needed to upgrade Tieguai Li.

Don't be fooled by the fact that 7,700 mid-grade spirit stones seem like a lot. If you go to the Chaotic Star Sea, you can earn about 20 mid-grade spirit stones a day by selling a Foundation Establishment pill that can improve your cultivation. So you can collect 7,700 mid-grade spirit stones in a year.

If you feel that one year is not enough, you can divide it into two years or even ten years.

Given enough time, we will eventually gather these 7,700-plus mid-grade spirit stones.

Advancing from the Pseudo-Infant stage to the Nascent Soul stage in ten years is already considered quite fast.