This Ge Xiling is merely at the Golden Core Eighth Layer and can become friends with Longyang, who's at the Nascent Soul Middle Phase, which is quite peculiar.
However, this is related to Longyang's personality. He doesn't like to socialize yet has some personal hobbies, such as an intense fondness for carving, simply the act of carving, not making talismans or vehicles and such.
Ge Xiling also enjoys carving, and likes to wander in the Mortal World to carve, using it as a means to grind his own cultivation. Even his ability to form a Core is due to a breakthrough in his carving insights.
He even plans to use carving to find a breakthrough point when he's about to enter the Nascent Soul stage.
There's no other way; he doesn't hail from a major sect or clan, so he can only choose smaller breakthrough points.
