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

Seeing the shorter cultivator concede defeat, Gu Qing didn't stop activating the talisman in his hand. Instead, he swept his gaze across the surrounding cultivators who were looking over and asked in an icy tone, "Who else wants to come up? Who else?"

It seems that Gu Qing was also a little angry. If anyone else came up, he would definitely use the talisman without hesitation.

He won't care whether people live or die at that time; do you really think he's easy to bully?

The surrounding cultivators all showed fear when they saw the talisman treasure—after all, if they were really injured by the talisman treasure and died, there would be no one to complain to. Everyone in the arena knew that Gu Qing had a Core Formation cultivator backing him up.

From then on, no one dared to cause trouble for Gu Qing anymore, and Gu Qing successfully won the ten-year right to use one of the thirty-six mountain peaks.

A day slowly passed. Apart from a slight mishap on Gu Qing's side, where someone used a large-scale talisman to attack, the other battles on the arena were relatively peaceful.

Most of those contests were about who would exhaust their magic power first, and that person would have to admit defeat.

After the competition, several Core Formation cultivators gathered together for a small exchange meeting—which was actually a trade fair.

The cultivators present were all acquaintances, so there was no need for any concealment. However, everyone was puzzled as to why Gu Qing was invited to such a trade fair.

The other cultivators on the field were all at the Core Formation stage, while Gu Qing was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, making the scene somewhat awkward.

At the trade fair, Master Mulong spoke first: "One high-grade fire-attribute spirit stone in exchange for one thousand-year-old wood-attribute spirit herb."

Elder Miao and Elder Gu exchanged a glance, a hint of surprise flashing in their eyes—they hadn't expected that True Person Mulong would have high-grade spirit stones in his possession.

High-grade spirit stones are extremely rare in the Chaotic Star Sea; it is no exaggeration to say that they are as rare as thousand-year-old spiritual herbs.

Even Nascent Soul cultivators don't have many high-grade spirit stones; they mostly use mid-grade spirit stones.

Gu Qing's eyes widened in surprise; this was the first time he had ever seen a high-grade spirit stone. Back in Huangfeng Valley, he had asked Hong Fu for one, but she said she didn't have any. This showed that such a thing was indeed rare and an extremely precious resource.

"They're coming for me." Gu Qing's gaze involuntarily turned to Elder Miao and Elder Gu.

However, the two elders turned a blind eye, acting as if they knew nothing at all.

Master Mulong's gaze fell on Tieguai Li and Han Xiangzi—he believed that even if there were thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, they should be in the hands of these two Core Formation cultivators.

Gu Qing also glanced at Tieguai Li discreetly, and after a moment of contemplation, thought: It's better to let everyone know that the spiritual medicine is on Tieguai Li than to let a group of Core Formation cultivators spy on me all day long.

So Gu Qing nodded slightly, indicating that Tieguai Li could sell them a thousand-year-old spiritual herb.

Tieguai Li understood immediately, and then chuckled, patting his belly, and said, "Elder Gu, Elder Miao, why bother? You just want to see the thousand-year-old spiritual herb, you could have just told me."

As he spoke, he shook the gourd in his hand, and a seven-fingered bamboo shoot emitting a bluish-green light appeared in his palm.

These bamboo shoots are unlike any other, their entire bodies enveloped in a shimmering green light. Unlike the plump, round bamboo shoots, they have seven distinct, irregularly arranged branches, resembling seven slender, jade-like fingers joined together.

A refreshing and pure aura of plant spirit wafted over, carrying no trace of earthy impurities, but instead containing a hint of innate wood spirit essence.

The Core Formation cultivators immediately recognized it as a valuable item, especially True Man Wood Dragon—who cultivated wood-based techniques and whose gaze towards the Seven-Finger Bamboo Shoot was filled with intense longing.

"What a treasure! What a treasure! I am willing to exchange this top-grade spirit stone for it. What do you think, senior?" Master Mulong's eyes were full of longing, and a hint of greed was hidden deep in his eyes.

"Since the island lord likes it, then this thousand-year-old seven-fingered bamboo shoot will be traded to the island lord." Tieguai Li did not refuse, which made Mulong Zhenren even more delighted.

And so, the transaction of a thousand-year-old spiritual herb was successfully completed in the presence of several Core Formation cultivators. Elder Gu and Elder Miao exchanged a glance, their hearts filled with bitterness—they never expected that their carefully laid scheme would ultimately benefit someone else.

Elder Gu was still somewhat unwilling to give up. His gaze fell on Tieguai Li's gourd, and he couldn't help but ask, "I wonder if there are any thousand-year-old spiritual herbs in your gourd, senior? My Six-Linked Hall is willing to exchange one high-grade spirit stone for them."

After hearing this, Tieguai Li glanced at Gu Qing with a meaningful look. Gu Qing immediately shook his head—showing one plant was enough; there was no need to reveal more. Besides, his group now had a way to earn spirit stones, so there was no need to risk trouble for a short time. They would only make plans after Tieguai Li's cultivation reached the Nascent Soul stage.

Gu Qing thought to himself, "It seems that I can only earn spirit stones by drawing spirit talismans. Accelerating the growth of spirit herbs for sale, or even refining them into pills for sale, is too dangerous."

After the transaction of the millennium-old elixir concluded, the exchange meeting continued.

Seeing that the island lord had traded a thousand-year-old spiritual herb, Yuan Jun was also itching to get his hands on one. He was certain that Tieguai Li still had many spiritual herbs, but none of them were valuable enough to tempt him. As long as there was a suitable item to exchange, he was sure he could get a thousand-year-old spiritual herb that suited him.

Yuan Jun pondered for a moment, then spoke quietly with his Daoist partner, Master Kanqin. Finally, Master Kanqin frowned and asked in a low voice, "Are we really going to exchange that for it?"

"There's no other way. As long as we have enough materials, we can refine more in the future," Yuan Jun said with a smile.

The other officials nearby were very curious and wanted to know what precious things the two deputy island lords would use in exchange.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Yuan Jun didn't keep them waiting long. He took out a wine pot from his storage bag, shook it, and said, "This is my Hundred Flowers Wine, made with a hundred kinds of century-old medicinal herbs and two level-five demon cores. Just drinking one pot will allow my nephew to save decades of cultivation time and break through to the Pseudo-Core stage in one fell swoop."

Upon hearing this, Gu Qing's heart skipped a beat—if he could directly reach the Pseudo-Core stage, he could immediately attempt to break through to the Core Formation stage.

Gu Qing's eyes were filled with longing, and his gaze involuntarily turned to Tieguai Li. Tieguai Li understood immediately, knowing that the other party was after the spiritual medicine in their hands, and that this Hundred Flower Wine would indeed be of great benefit to Gu Qing's cultivation.

After a moment of contemplation, Tieguai Li and Gu Qing discussed in hushed tones, and finally decided on a compromise: instead of exchanging the thousand-year-old spiritual herb, they would try to exchange two eight-hundred-year-old spiritual herbs for this pot of Hundred Flowers Wine.

In this way, they can make everyone think that they only have a thousand-year-old spiritual herb, and at the same time, they will have the opportunity to exchange it for Hundred Flower Wine, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Having made up his mind, Tieguai Li shook his head and said helplessly, "We really don't have any thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, but we do have two eight-hundred-year-old spiritual herbs. Would you two like to exchange them?"

As he spoke, Tieguai Li took out two spiritual herbs, one an octagonal pear and the other a six-colored flower. These two eight-hundred-year-old herbs were faintly surrounded by a precious light, but they were not as dazzling as the seven-fingered bamboo shoot from before.

Yuan Jun and Master Kanqin exchanged a glance, both clearly hesitant—two eight-hundred-year-old spiritual herbs were ultimately no match for a thousand-year-old one. A thousand-year gap represented a difference in cultivation level, just like the world of difference between a fifth-grade demon core and a sixth-grade demon core.

Seeing this, Gu Qing couldn't help but chime in.