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

A few days later, Tieguai Li and Yuan Jun, the deputy island lord, reached an agreement, and he requested four mountain peaks located deep within Qingyun Mountain.

After the original owners of the mountain were driven away, they were all very unhappy, but when they heard that it was a Core Formation senior who wanted the mountain, they dared not say anything more.

We can't exactly let them argue with a Core Formation cultivator; they'd be lucky if they didn't get slapped to death by one.

With the cave dwelling secured, Gu Qing began planning his residence.

The mountain peaks were shrouded in mist, but no formations were set up, so we had to set them up ourselves, which is where Xin Ruyin, a genius of formations, came in.

Over the past year, Xin Ruyin not only repaired the teleportation array, but also crafted the Inverted Five Elements Array.

"Senior brother, the materials we have now are only enough to refine one large array," Xin Ruyin said to Gu Qing.

At this moment, Gu Qing was planning his cave dwelling—there was already a cave dwelling on the mountain peak, but it did not suit his taste, so he wanted to modify it.

Gu Qing, holding a short knife, was clearing out the main meditation room—his daily practice and seclusion. He had brought in a lot of soil from outside, intending to plant some spiritual plants indoors that could calm the mind and focus the spirit.

When Gu Qing heard Xin Ruyin say that the materials were only enough to set up one large formation, he put down his short sword and said, "Then let's set it up on this mountain peak first. As for the Eight Immortals Pavilion, there's no need to rush."

"Alright, I'll go set up the formation right away." Xin Ruyin immediately got to work. Thanks to Tieguai Li's medicinal pills, she was not only able to cultivate normally now, but her complexion was also much better than before.

Therefore, Xin Ruyin was always full of energy in everything she did. What was most endearing about her was her exceptional intelligence; she would never ask a question she shouldn't.

Gu Qing likes working with people like that.

Seeing Xin Ruyin set up the array, Gu Qing did not stop his work. After planning to plant more than a dozen fragrant spiritual plants that could calm the mind in the main meditation room, he dug a small hole next to the main meditation room to use as a pill-making room.

After tidying up the alchemy room, he opened up a storage room next to it, where the medicinal herbs used for alchemy could be stored.

After clearing out the storage room, the treasure room was next. Some less important but larger treasures could be stored in the treasure room—after all, the storage bag had limited space, and over time, it would be impossible to fit all of Gu Qing's treasures in it.

The treasure room is divided into three floors: the first floor stores medicinal herbs, the second floor stores spirit stones, talismans, magic tools and other items, and the third floor is currently empty as no one has decided what to put there yet.

After opening the treasure room, Gu Qing opened another room for drawing talismans.

At this point, the basic structure of Gu Qing's cave dwelling was completed, consisting of roughly one hall and four rooms.

The main hall is the meditation room for cultivating techniques, and it is also the largest area; the four rooms are the alchemy room, the talisman room, the treasure room, and the storage room.

After completing the layout of the cave, Gu Qing stepped out. At this moment, the entire mountain peak was shrouded in a cloud of white mist, through which the sunlight could still be seen shining in.

"Senior brother, the Reversed Five Elements Formation is set up. This is the array plate for controlling the formation." Xin Ruyin handed an array plate to Gu Qing.

Gu Qing took the array plate, mobilized his spiritual power to activate the array, and instantly sensed all the vegetation in the clouds.

This range of perception was many times greater than his own divine sense—this was the Reversed Five Elements Formation, also known as the Minor Severing Restriction Formation, which would trap even a Core Formation cultivator.

With a look of delight, Gu Qing fiddled with the array plate for a bit and thanked Xin Ruyin: "Thank you, Junior Sister. I'll set one up for your cave dwelling in the future."

"Hehe, then thank you in advance, Senior Brother." Xin Ruyin had already begun to plan how to decorate her cave dwelling.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Xin Ruyin left. Gu Qing entered the main meditation room, sat down cross-legged, and then looked at his storage bag to take stock of his gains.

The spirit stones had already been given to Tieguai Li to improve his cultivation, and Gu Qing still had Snow Spirit Water, Heavenly Fire Liquid, and Dust-Subduing Pills left.

These are all treasures that can increase the probability of forming a core. With them, you can greatly increase your chances of forming a core.

"Now I only need to raise my cultivation to the Pseudo-Core stage to try to break through to Core Formation," Gu Qing thought to himself.

Therefore, Gu Qing turned his attention to the cultivation technique he mainly practiced—the Nightmare Wood Technique. The Nightmare Wood Technique is divided into seven levels, with the highest level being the Nascent Soul stage.

Gu Qing has now cultivated the Nightmare Wood Technique to the third level, mastering the Wooden Stake Technique and the Wooden Stake Forest Technique.

These two spells are not very powerful, so Gu Qing rarely uses them.

Besides these two spells, the Nightmare Wood Technique also has a secret technique that can increase cultivation speed: refining Nightmare Wood Pills to create Nightmare Wood clones, allowing the clones to cultivate simultaneously with the main body.

Cultivating the Nightmare Wood Avatar is not complicated; it only requires a wood-attribute demon core, a piece of thousand-year-old spirit wood, and a large amount of demon blood to refine it.

However, Gu Qing didn't have these three things before, so he was unable to cultivate the Nightmare Wood Avatar.

Gu Qing touched his storage bag. Now he had all three things: a piece of thousand-year-old ironwood, two level-six wood-attribute demon cores, and a large amount of demon blood.

After taking out the materials, Gu Qing couldn't help but ponder: should he refine all the clones at once, or refine one first and then refine a new Nightmare Wood clone later when he has a better demon core?

The Nightmare Wood clones cannot be infinitely created; there is a limit, and a maximum of seven can be created.

"Why think so much? Let's refine one first." Gu Qing made up his mind and no longer hesitated. With the protection of the Reversed Five Elements Array, he began to cultivate his first Nightmare Wood clone.

Gu Qing suppressed all distracting thoughts, and his spiritual power suddenly circulated at his fingertips. The pale green flames surrounding his body instantly solidified, and then flowed through his limbs and bones to gather in his palm.

"Go!" Gu Qing shouted, and flames floated out from his palm, instantly enveloping the entire piece of thousand-year-old ironwood and setting it ablaze.

The core of refining the Nightmare Wood clone is "using wood as bones, demon blood as flesh, and demon core as soul".

Gu Qing closed his eyes, focused his mind on his body, and activated the Nightmare Wood Technique at full power, separating thirty percent of his spiritual energy and channeling it into the burning ironwood through his fingertips. At the same time, he took out a level six wood-attribute demon core, and with a flick of his fingertips, the demon core instantly merged into the thousand-year-old ironwood.

"Freeze!"

The low shouts echoed in the main quiet room, and the wood grain mark between Gu Qing's eyebrows became clearer, with the same wood grain appearing on the thousand-year-old ironwood.

These wood grains seemed to possess a life of their own, converging and intertwining on the stone platform, gradually coalescing into a blurry, ethereal shadow as tall as a person.

The phantom was entirely dark green and slender, yet it vaguely resembled Gu Qing by about seven points, except that its face was blurry and had no facial features.

The next step is the most crucial one: merging the shadow into the wood, while simultaneously sprinkling the prepared demon blood onto the ironwood.

As time passed, the demon blood slowly seeped into the thousand-year-old ironwood, and the ironwood, like tofu, gradually sculpted itself into a human form.

After an unknown amount of time, the form was finally completed. Gu Qing opened her eyes and saw another version of herself, perfectly lifelike.

"It's done?" Gu Qing stood up, circled the clone a few times, then cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Fellow Daoist, greetings."

The clone made the same movements, but it could not speak or think; it was just a simple puppet clone.

Gu Qing fiddled with it for an hour and discovered that he could draw upon the magical power and cultivation of the Nightmare Wood clone, while the Nightmare Wood clone could also cultivate and recover its magical power on its own, just like a magical body with its own functions.

"Collect!" Gu Qing murmured, and the entire Nightmare Wood clone merged with him, which was truly miraculous.

A thought struck Gu Qing, who clenched his fist and slammed it into the ground, instantly creating a crack.

"Hehe, it seems that after the clone merged into my body, I also inherited the hardness of ironwood. Hmm, from now on I'll call you Ironwood Clone," Gu Qing muttered to himself.