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

After pondering for a moment, Gu Qing discussed it with Tieguai Li—he would exchange a promise from Tieguai Li for this flying magic artifact. He believed that the promise of a late-stage Core Formation cultivator was worth the price.

After listening, Tieguai Li pondered for a while and, finding the suggestion feasible, nodded in agreement. He then spoke up, saying, "My nephew greatly admires this magical artifact, but I truly lack thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. Let alone thousand-year-old ones, even hundred-year-old ones are few and far between. How about this: consider this artifact a promise I owe to your Six-Linked Palace. As long as you don't cross my bottom line, I can help you with anything."

A promise from a late-stage Core Formation cultivator?

Wouldn't that be equivalent to having a chance to be helped by a late-stage Core Formation cultivator? To be honest, Elder Gu and Elder Miao were both somewhat tempted.

The two discussed it in hushed tones and ultimately decided that this was more reliable than the thousand-year-old spiritual herb, so they nodded in agreement.

Opportunities to get a late-stage Core Formation cultivator to make a promise are rare. If you miss out on a thousand-year-old spiritual herb this time, you can get it again next time; but such a promise may not come again next time.

Now, Elder Gu and Elder Miao have figured out Gu Qing and his group—they all put Gu Qing first, and the two Core Formation cultivators are willing to make concessions whenever Gu Qing is involved.

As long as we seize this innate advantage, are we still afraid of not being able to obtain the millennium-old elixir?

"Alright, since you like it, young friend, we, the Six Linked Halls, will part with it." Elder Gu immediately made the decision.

Thus, the trade fair came to a successful conclusion. Afterwards, the Core Formation cultivators began to truly discuss their cultivation experiences. Gu Qing listened attentively, and when he encountered unfamiliar terms, he secretly consulted Tieguai Li.

Tieguai Li would patiently explain things to him in detail, and Gu Qing benefited greatly from this trip.

Several days later, Gu Qing returned to his cave dwelling. He did nothing but first activate the protective array of the cave dwelling, and then drank the bottle of Hundred Flowers Wine in one gulp.

Immediately afterwards, a surge of pure spiritual energy rushed straight to the top of Gu Qing's head. Gu Qing quickly circulated his cultivation technique and absorbed this pure spiritual energy together with his Ironwood clone.

Cultivation knows no time. After drinking a bottle of Hundred Flowers Wine, when he woke up, he had no idea how many years had passed.

Gu Qing slowly opened his eyes, feeling the flow of magical power within his body, but he did not directly break through to the Pseudo-Core stage as Yuan Jun Zhenren had said.

"It seems that the Ironwood clone also absorbed some of the spiritual power of the Hundred Flowers Brew, but this stuff is really useful." Thinking of this, Gu Qing decided to brew a pot himself—after all, the Hundred Flowers Brew doesn't only have effects on the first sip.

Moreover, he also had ten level-five demon cores and even one level-six demon core.

In this way, once we find the seeds of a hundred kinds of medicinal herbs, we can brew a Hundred Flowers Wine. This will probably require a trip to the market.

Having made up his mind, Gu Qing emerged from seclusion. He looked at the communication talisman floating outside his cave and, after checking it, realized that he had been in seclusion for a full five years.

Gu Qing couldn't help but sigh, "Cultivation knows no time."

Immediately, he piloted the Heavenly Imperial Boat into flight. Without the input of spirit stones, the Heavenly Imperial Boat's speed naturally couldn't reach the speed of a Core Formation stage cultivator, but it wasn't slow either, and it arrived at the market in a short while.

Upon arriving at the market, Gu Qing didn't immediately go to the Six-Linked Palace to collect materials. Instead, he first gathered the seeds needed to brew the Hundred Flower Wine from the small shops along the street. Afterward, he took a look at the Eight Immortals Pavilion—there were still quite a few people waiting outside, clearly waiting for Tieguai Li to draw the talismans.

This time, Gu Qing was smarter and went directly from the side hall to the back hall without being stopped as she had the first time.

"Senior brother, you've come out of seclusion?" Xin Ruyin looked surprised when she saw Gu Qing.

Then, as if she had just thought of something, she smiled and said, "Master said before that he was going to hunt down a level-five demonic beast to refine a Foundation Establishment Pill for me. Now that you're out, Senior Brother, does that mean I've found a solution for my Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Qing remembered that Xin Ruyin wanted to establish her foundation, and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I completely forgot about that. I happen to have a few Foundation Establishment Pills here, you can use them to try to establish your foundation, and let me know if you need more."

As he spoke, Gu Qing took out a porcelain bottle containing two Foundation Establishment Pills and handed it to Xin Ruyin.

Xin Ruyin took the Foundation Establishment Pill, a smile immediately appearing on her face. She then said, "Then I'll go tell Master that we don't need to hunt level 5 demonic beasts anymore."

"Don't go. You've been cultivating for a long time, it's time to stretch your muscles and bones. I'll go with Tieguai Li and hunt some monster materials while we're at it," Gu Qing quickly stopped him.

He knew that the Hundred Flowers Brew did not necessarily require a level 5 demon core; in fact, level 7, 8, or even 9 demon cores could be used. Moreover, the higher the level of the demon core used, the better the brewed wine would be.

"Then I'll go tell Master, but what about the shop?" Xin Ruyin couldn't help but ask.

With Tieguai Li going out and her own need to go into seclusion to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, the Eight Immortals Pavilion was indeed left unattended.

Gu Qing didn't hesitate for long and said directly, "Then let's close it for a while and reopen it when we come back."

Xin Ruyin, being thoughtful, said, "Then I'll go out and put up a notice so that people outside don't have to wait anymore."

As she spoke, she picked up a vermilion pen, wrote a notice, and then took it out to post it.

As Gu Qing watched Xin Ruyin's departing figure, he silently did some calculations in his mind: 361 days a year, 1805 days in five years, earning three mid-grade spirit stones a day, that's a total of 5415 mid-grade spirit stones; plus the 1600 left over, that's a total of over 7000 mid-grade spirit stones.

Thinking of this, Gu Qing entered the room where Tieguai Li was cultivating. There he saw Tieguai Li drinking some kind of spiritual liquid, with spiritual energy even overflowing from the corner of his mouth; Han Xiangzi was lying diagonally beside him, looking very unkempt.

"Oh? You've emerged from seclusion? Your cultivation seems more solid than before," Han Xiangzi said, his tone tinged with a hint of jest.

Gu Qing shook his head slightly, then asked, "Fellow Daoist, were you just a little short of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage?"

"We're still far from it. We've already split all the spirit stones we've earned with Han Xiangzi. That guy just can't sit still; he's always thinking about taking half of it," Tieguai Li said, shaking his head.

They split it evenly? This was something Gu Qing hadn't expected. If they split it evenly, then each of them probably only absorbed about four thousand mid-grade spirit stones, which was indeed a long way from breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.

"Let's go out and hunt some demonic beasts," Gu Qing suggested. "A level 5 demonic core is worth two or three thousand spirit stones, a level 6 demonic core is worth tens of thousands of spirit stones, and a level 7 demonic core can sell for hundreds of thousands of spirit stones. We don't need many; just hunting ten level 7 demonic beasts will give you both enough demonic cores to break through to the Nascent Soul stage."

Level seven demonic beasts are not easy to find, but that's not a problem for Han Xiangzi—his flute music has the effect of attracting beasts. Therefore, hunting demonic beasts shouldn't be too difficult for the three of them.

After discussing it, the three decided to go out to sea to hunt high-level monsters.

Months later, amidst a sea shrouded in mist, a small flying boat glided swiftly across the surface. Traveling with the wind, its speed was astonishing.

On the flying boat, Han Xiangzi played the xiao (vertical bamboo flute), its melodious sound drifting into the distance. From time to time, the cries of demonic beasts could be heard, echoing the sound of the xiao.

Gu Qing suddenly opened his eyes and felt a powerful sense of oppression rapidly approaching him.

"It's here. Is it a level 5, level 6, or level 7 demonic beast?" Gu Qing wondered to himself.

Soon, Tieguai Li explained, "It's a level six demonic beast, and there are cultivators chasing after it."