Cultivation begins with harvest.

Chen Guang put everything away, satisfied with tonight's harvest. He thought how wonderful it would be if the Thousand Water Gourd had such a formation diagram.

Based on the idea that the spirit field should not be empty, although he planted the Linquan Pumpkin this year, Chen Guang did not plan to open the reward light orb again. He no longer needed either the Springing Technique or the Thousand Water Gourd. Although this would not be conducive to accumulating another Encyclopedia of All Things, it was a very suitable thing to do after considering all factors.

Unless a stable market for the Thousand Water Gourd is found or a magical artifact is found capable of storing it, such a price is entirely justifiable.

During this period, only Cao Fang and Dongfang Lieming came to see him. The former was preparing to start cultivating the Thousand Needle Wren and came to learn from him. In addition, the second and third brothers were also quite familiar with Cao Fang, so he came more frequently. The latter also came to learn from him, but he asked about his experience in harvesting spirit rice and jade heart grass.

Days passed slowly, and finally it was time to harvest the Jade Heart Grass. The 76 Jade Heart Grasses provided nearly four thousand hours of cultivation, which was almost equivalent to a year of Chen Guang's own sleepless cultivation.

The significant increase in his cultivation level filled Chen Guang's dantian, and he was just a hair's breadth away from breaking through to the fourth level of Qi Refining. He estimated that it would only take a little over a hundred hours, and he could break through on his own this winter.

The quality of the Jade Heart Grass has only improved slightly, and the change is not significant compared to the previous year. Even at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, he can still maintain a breakthrough rate of once every two years. Such a cultivation speed is only at an average level on Purple Spirit Peak, but considering his own aptitude, it is quite remarkable. Those who are interested have long noticed Chen Guang's smooth sailing over the past two years.

It was for this reason that Chen Guang wanted to find a superior water-attribute spiritual plant to cultivate into Lin Miao in order to protect himself, which is why he dared to leave the sect.

Until the onset of winter, Chen Guang was actively harvesting various crops.

The frozen shrimp were all refined into frozen shrimp oil, which entered Chen Guang's mouth. The economic projects that had once been pioneered have now been transformed into resources to boost his cultivation. A new rumor has also emerged: drug use, frozen shrimp oil, and pure spiritual energy are the reasons for Chen Guang's rapid advancement in cultivation.

That's not wrong. Wider and more flexible meridians and more open acupoints do make cultivation easier. However, he didn't spend all his time accumulating mana as other cultivators might imagine. Apart from the morning cultivation when the purple aura came from the east, Chen Guang often just pretended to comprehend the Red Heart Pill Scroll, Blood Scroll, and other techniques and spells in his mind. He had long since freed up the time for accumulating mana to cultivate other things.

Chen Guang also compiled a list of the various spiritual plants he had collected, including the reward orbs.

Sixty-eight white duckweed plants matured, yielding a total of 108 portions of Frost-Clean White Sand, enough to cover the bottom of the Ice-tailed Shrimp's pond, with even some left over for the Ice-shelled Turtles. A layer was also laid out for their little nests. Through the Spirit Communication System, the joy of the Ice-shelled Turtles was clearly felt.

Upon completion of the first phase, a second-tier water-attribute material, [Night Plague Bone], was awarded as a reward.

150 red peony plants yielded 155 Crimson Melting Pills, 114 portions of the Secret Technique Green Flame, and 140 portions of Flame Control Manual.

Seventeen black silk algae matured, and two and a half pounds of ice salt were harvested. There was more than enough to make ice shrimp oil, and two pounds of it was still stored in the Black Void Serpent's belt.

Fifty-four Linquan Pumpkins eventually matured, but because Chen Guang ultimately gave up opening the reward orb, he only harvested the visible pumpkins. However, the Spirit Plant Master no longer accumulates them. Although there is a fourth stage of accumulation after the third stage of Purple Spirit Soil, it requires a full million harvests, which is just a drop in the bucket.

Thirty plants of Concentration Flower were harvested, yielding 26 Concentration Pills, 34 sticks of Azure Spirit Incense, and 33 copies of Azure Peak Visualization Diagram.

Among them, the Concentration Pill completed the second stage of accumulated rewards, allowing Chen Guang to obtain a soul technique called [Dream Language Technique]. When used, it would give the affected person a hazy, just-woke-up feeling. Although it is not an offensive soul technique, the special feature of the Dream Language Technique is that after the soul becomes stronger, there will be more mysterious changes, and its growth potential is quite considerable, which is worthy of the status of this second stage reward.

Half an acre of Blood-He Shou Wu was planted, yielding a total of 45 plants. Despite the generous use of demon beast blood, the quality was poor. The harvest consisted of 55 copies of the first volume of the Blood Scripture, 60 Blood Qi Pills, and 54 copies of Blood-Containing Technique.

The Blood Qi Pill has finally completed the second stage of accumulation, rewarding the user with a seed of a second-tier high-grade spiritual plant, the Wind-Trace Bloodwood.

Chen Guang could only put it away for the time being.

Chen Guang couldn't even take care of the Ice Flower Wutong, which was just a second-tier ordinary spiritual plant, let alone a second-tier high-level spiritual plant. For now, it was just like the seeds of the Purple Qi Canopy Fruit, which were temporarily shelved.

Some Frostweed and some spiritual plants planted in Fire Array flowerpots have also yielded harvests, which are not worth mentioning.

So far, among the spiritual fields, the only crop that will be harvested this year is the three-smoke rice, which is still a little short of ripeness.

As for the Red-Centered Returning Tree, the Dingzhen Tea Tree, and the Buzhi Thorn, they will not mature until next year. The Xuhua Wood and the first batch of newly sprouted Xuanwen Bamboo will take two more years, and the Binglu Pine will take even longer.

The Thousand Needle Wren and the Ice Armored Turtle will need another four years to mature, but this year the second and third ones have successfully mastered three spells. Around the time they break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, these two will officially leave the juvenile stage and can be given nourishing beast food to help them grow.

Thinking about it this way, I realized that I needed to do something more urgent.

The evolution of the Unyielding Thorn takes time, so the last missing evolutionary ingredient—the Wood-Capturing Juice—must be obtained as soon as possible.

The Thousand Needle Wren's golden beak and cloud-like eyes are only in their nascent stages. To further enhance these two spiritual beast artifacts, it is necessary to prepare the Sunflower and Cranberry before they reach adulthood. Otherwise, when they reach adulthood, these two spiritual beast artifacts will solidify, and it will be too late to replenish them after that.

Considering all this, my time is indeed extremely limited.

Even with the efforts of these spiritual creatures, the Thousand Needle Wren might not be able to break through to the second tier, so it's not really necessary. We can prepare for it after Lin Miao has finished cultivating his skills. If this batch doesn't work, we'll start with the next batch.

While waiting for the three-smoke rice to mature, winter was fast approaching. Chen Guang finally managed to refine a portion of the Heavenly Fire Crystal Melting Diagram, but only a small part. Refining it further would be much less efficient, so Chen Guang planned to do it slowly and not rush it.

That night.

A third-tier array diagram is a treasure that can be used even in the hands of a Golden Core cultivator. Chen Guang only refined a portion of it, after completing the recognition of its master, but that portion was enough.

Before Chen Guang, a Heavenly Fire Fusion Crystal Diagram the size of a handkerchief floated up, emitting a clear white light that illuminated the room as bright as day.

One by one, the cotton fire needles were released.

Besides the one hundred cotton fire needles in the hidden box, Chen Guang could still produce nearly two hundred more. Now he only needed to take out 108 cotton fire needles, which was really easy.

One after another, the fire needles leaped and danced like raindrops falling into a pond, creating ripples on the surface of the Heavenly Fire Fusion Crystal Diagram. In an instant, they became part of the Heavenly Fire Fusion Crystal Diagram. By refining the Heavenly Fire Fusion Crystal Diagram, Chen Guang immediately mastered these 108 fire needles.

The Void Storage Box requires the Cotton Fire Needles to be refined beforehand; it only provides storage and does not offer refining capabilities.

The Heavenly Fire Crystal Fusion Diagram directly took care of this part.

To allow the Heavenly Fire Crystal Diagram to store more Fire Needles, it needs to reach the required quantity, which can only be stacked in quantities like 108 or 360, and cannot be placed as many as one wants. Of course, doing so reduces Chen Guang's burden, allowing him to place the other Fire Needles in the Black Void Serpent Belt without much trouble.

In the blink of an eye, all 108 fire needles were consumed, leaving 108 inconspicuous red dots on the surface of the handkerchief. With a thought, Chen Guang conjured a fire needle—its entire body enveloped in a faint golden-red flame that was both white and intensely hot, and also covered by a layer of crystal, exuding an aura of unparalleled hardness and sharpness. At the same time, the flame flickered, and Chen Guang felt his heart pound, as if he had just escaped from a fire and was about to be roasted alive. He quickly put away the fire needle, and some of the non-spiritual tools in the room were already on the verge of igniting.

"It only consumed one-tenth of the pot's magical power."

This power feels even stronger than the Ice Essence Bottle, but it consumes less mana. Each additional Fire Needle requires only a slight increase in mana, but it consumes more of the soul. In addition, to unleash the power to break the spell, all 108 Fire Needles need to be activated at once, which requires at least five pots of mana to be poured into the array diagram at once.

Now, one is enough for Chen Guang.

Not only can he use a single fire needle, but Chen Guang also senses that through the Heavenly Fire Fusion Crystal Diagram, he only needs to manipulate 108 fire needles to arrange different formations according to his own will.

This is the true purpose of the formation diagram!

The spiritual artifacts refined into it will be imbued with the Heavenly Capital Vermilion Fire and Bright Light, which is already incredible. At the same time, they will be given a function similar to array flags. Although they cannot be compared with real array flags, they are enough. Just think, not only can the Cotton Fire Needle be manipulated, but it can also form an array. Its actual combat power is even greater than you can imagine.

With the Ice Essence Bottle, the Yin Burning Pearl, and the Heavenly Fire Fusion Crystal Diagram, his offensive trump cards had reached an astonishing level. Compared to these three, Chen Guang suddenly felt somewhat unsure about his healing, reconnaissance, stealth, and defense abilities.

"We need to train Lin Miao as soon as possible."

Chen Guang's idea became even stronger.