Cultivation begins with harvest.

Empathy is an exaggerated ability.

Even humans, who possess language, the ability to think, and the capacity for empathy, cannot achieve complete empathy, which is why statements like "You don't understand me at all" occur.

Without experiencing someone else's life, and without having completely identical thoughts, even the best possible understanding is only a partial degree of "empathy."

This is still a highly intelligent human being capable of expression.

If it were a plant, the judgment would be based purely on data and experience. But a spiritual plant master is different. With a single move of earth-wood communion, they can immediately sense the plant's actual condition and truly empathize with it.

Chen Guang also had a premonition that he had not yet fully developed this ability. He had only achieved the "feeling of wood" and had not yet comprehended the "feeling of earth".

This is even more exaggerated than any data instrument statistical observation.

While you're still looking for patterns externally, I've already discovered the root cause from within.

But not today. After experiencing the effects of more than ten Jade Heart Grasses in one go, Chen Guang still has a restless headache with throbbing temples, reminding him that he needs to rest. Continuing to interact with the Earth and Wood elements will probably not end well.

He still had some urge to continue, but it was getting late, and having completed the task of setting up the spiritual energy array, Chen Guang returned to the courtyard to rest early, as there was still a lot of farm work to do the next day.

As the first rays of dawn shone over Purple Spirit Peak, a purple aura spread from the east, reaching thousands of miles away. Even the stewards were mostly focused on their cultivation at this time.

At this moment, strands of spiritual energy were absorbed and transformed with incredible efficiency.

At this moment, the time it takes to brew a cup of tea is equivalent to three hours of arduous practice.

"If I cultivate for five hours every day, it will take me about a thousand days to break through to the second level of Qi Refining. The time spent purely on Qi Refining is actually not that much. The main problem is that I have spent too much time in the mortal world. The mundane energy has penetrated my bones and marrow. I spend a lot of time every day using my magic power to wear away the mundane energy. Of the five hours, less than two hours are actually spent absorbing spiritual energy and refining magic power for cultivation."

As Chen Guang gazed at the bright, golden sunrise streaming down, he felt a surge of emotion.

Mundane energy is actually a type of "human energy," only more mixed. It is said that Foundation Establishment cultivators need a large amount of pure human energy to advance further, but at least for now, this mixed and chaotic mundane energy is an obstacle to cultivation.

Spiritual practice is like rowing against the current; worldly desires are like the downstream river, seemingly preventing mortals from attaining immortality.

Long-term consumption of foods like spiritual rice can cleanse one of worldly desires and accelerate the process of spiritual cultivation; conversely, it can promote worldly desires.

"The Purification Pill can guarantee that no new worldly energy will be absorbed within a month, and it will also naturally eliminate the worldly energy that has escaped from the depths of the bone marrow, greatly improving cultivation efficiency, nourishing the physical body, eliminating hidden ailments, and increasing magical power are all visible rewards. However, one Purification Pill requires at least nearly three hundred catties of spirit rice. Because the ingredients are rare and it is sold to cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining, it does not sell very well, and alchemists rarely open the furnace for Purification Pills. The price has been rising..."

"Cultivation is not easy."

Chen Guang sighed, composed himself, picked up his sickle, and began weeding the spirit field. When he encountered overgrown weeds, he used the Hundred Wood Dew Spell to draw out their life force, causing their roots to wither and die, and then used the Spirit Rain Spell to disperse them.

The most worry-free place is the spiritual field of Linquan Pumpkin, which is clean and free of weeds.

I wanted to try my hand at civil engineering, but my head still felt a bit uncomfortable, so I gave up on the idea for now.

"Although I only checked a dozen or so Jade Heart Grasses last night, most of them seemed to have slightly high humidity, so let's adjust the humidity first." Chen Guang manipulated the rune stone disc and lowered the humidity setting by two increments.

As a cultivator, I am still a beginner in both Jade Heart Grass and spiritual energy arrays. I am not yet proficient in some things. I will wait until next year. With the accumulation of experience, I will see a transformation and see the results.

Chen Guang examined the Jade Heart Grass and was quite satisfied.

Of the 76 Jade Heart Grass plants, 6 have withered leaves in recent days, leaving 50 completely healthy Jade Heart Grass plants. Late summer and early autumn is a time of significant climate change, and even experienced spirit farmers can easily cause many Jade Heart Grass plants to wither and break leaves at this time. Now, with the spirit energy array, Chen Guang is confident that he can keep more than 45 healthy Jade Heart Grass plants.

"In the past few days, two more plants with five leaves have appeared, while the rest have four leaves. There are also four unhealthy plants with three leaves. Let's rest today and check again tomorrow to see if the number of leaves is related to the tangled roots."

Chen Guang then looked at the spirit rice.

The straw was heavy, having turned golden, bending the rice stalks low.

The red peony has begun to accumulate its third flower bud. You can feel its obvious warmth when you bring your fingers close. Its overall quality is acceptable. This spiritual plant is not too troublesome to take care of and is the main ingredient for refining the Crimson Fusion Pill.

The Crimson Fusion Pill allows cultivators to warm their bodies over the next few hours, reducing the damage from ice-type attributes. It also increases the power of fire-type spells while reducing mana consumption. It is a very precious pill, requiring more than 200 catties of spirit rice to make one. Red peony is only one of the three main ingredients for refining the Crimson Fusion Pill.

Chen Guang knew about its purpose. The Qi Hall was preparing to take over a snow-capped peak in the north, which contained a large number of ice-type demonic beasts, spiritual plants, and minerals. The weather was freezing cold, and the Crimson Melting Pill would greatly help the Qi Hall disciples conquer that snow-capped peak. This year, they were only clearing out some hidden dangers around the snow-capped peak. Next year, they would begin to have the Qi Hall disciples conduct preliminary reconnaissance and familiarize themselves with combat in the snow. The year after that, they would officially begin conquering it inch by inch. As for the high-level demonic beasts, the Foundation Establishment cultivators would take care of them.

A rich resource point often takes several years to occupy, and even longer to fully digest.

This information was leaked to Chen Guang by Wei Donglai. It only takes a little contact with other spirit farmers to confirm this information. Chen Guang's area is planted with red peonies, while the task of spirit farmers in other areas is to plant other spirit plants, including the other two main ingredients of the Crimson Fusion Pill.

This is the significance of the tasks assigned to Lingnong by Xingfengtang every year: to adjust farming practices according to needs.

Jade Heart Grass is a yearly staple, serving as the main ingredient in the [Qi Nourishing Pill], used to help Qi Refining cultivators advance their cultivation. Demand is high, and cultivating this spiritual herb can actually motivate spiritual farmers.

However, one must reach the fourth level of Qi Refining to be considered suitable for taking pills according to the sect's regulations. At that time, the Scripture Pavilion will also have a book known as the "Guide to Taking Pills" called the "Mysterious Path of Taking Pills Record". It specifically explains how to take pills, what state is best to take which pill, which pill is the most cost-effective, how many intervals to take them, and how to deal with some adverse reactions and aftereffects of taking pills, etc.

It was like a visible carrot hanging in front of Chen Guang and the other cultivators. Otherwise, the higher the realm, the longer it would take to break through, and it would be unreasonable for Qingheng Sect to only give three years for each realm.

Chen Guang arrived at another acre of spiritual field and felt instantly refreshed. The purple flower spikes of swallowtail grass swayed in the air, moving in a rhythmic, disciplined manner in the breeze, a sight that was simple yet brought joy.

Most of the swallowtail grasses had already branched out and started to produce reward orbs. Each mature swallowtail grass plant had one reward orb. There were hundreds of swallowtail grasses in this half-acre. The only thing that caught Chen Guang's attention was that these orbs were significantly smaller, only one-fifth the size of other spiritual plants.

"I'm afraid the rewards will be discounted, and the same goes for the spirit rice. I just don't know what the specific rewards will be." Chen Guang had a general idea.

As for the Linquan pumpkin, everything seems fine, but the rest of the pumpkins will need to wait a while longer to ripen.

"Go find Senior Brother Wan Longjing in two days and sell him the Swallowtail Grass. These days, practice the Blood Scripture diligently. If you don't have enough blood and qi, cut up the remaining piece of Blood Polygonum multiflorum and cook it into porridge. Using Blood Qi Pills at this stage is too wasteful." Chen Guang arranged his next steps, and life returned to normal.

Lingnong, or rather, the daily life of spiritual practice, is like this: plain and consistent every day.

……

Another ten days passed. By the spirit field, Wan Longjing bent down to inspect the quality of the swallowtail grass and praised, "Excellent, this is indeed the quality of the swallowtail grass I ordered. Junior brother, how much do you plan to sell it for?"