Cultivation begins with harvest.

"Let's start with a copy of the first volume of Basic Formations."

Chen Guang was very cautious. He planned to buy the books one by one, and read the contents of each one he bought. Although he couldn't understand them, he could still judge the level of detail in the content.

The stall owner was not surprised. After Chen Guang had glanced through one book and found it to be substantial, he bought a second volume. The stall owner accompanied him, and in this way, they bought all the books on formations on the stall. Then, they bought a thousand catties of spirit rice as divination materials to practice with. They bought the simplest divination materials for the few formations.

For an array to operate on its own for a long time, it naturally needs spirit stones. However, for practice, it can be completely replaced by magic power. After all, using magic power to maintain the operation of an array is only a temporary measure. Do some cultivators who practice arrays really think they can't set up an array without spirit stones?

Using magic power as a trigger, the formation can still be set up on the spot and will still be effective.

Using magic power as a driving force, it can be said with certainty that it has absolutely no practical value in combat for cultivators below the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

After leaving the stall, Chen Guang spent another thousand catties of spirit rice to buy three seedlings of the Fire Blood Tortoise Shell Tree. They were all fire-attribute potted plants that could grow to maturity in the courtyard. The package included a spirit tool flowerpot and a sufficient amount of red sand soil suitable for the Fire Blood Tortoise Shell Tree.

Although the Fireblood Tortoise Shell Tree is only a first-tier common tree, it is rare. Its petioles are long, heart-shaped and ovate, thick and leathery, with pinnately lobed edges, resembling a tortoise shell. The veins of the leaves are fiery red. It has the ability to transform and gather non-attribute spiritual energy into fire attribute spiritual energy, which is not common. Therefore, it sells for a price close to that of a first-tier top-grade tree.

After using the Cloud-Drawing Technique to condense it into a thick layer of mist, Chen Guang placed it into the Black Void Serpent Belt. This was a technique that would prevent the spiritual plant from being harmed for a short time inside the Black Void Serpent Belt. After all, the Black Void Serpent Belt was not specifically designed for storing life. It was fine for storing seeds and small fish and shrimp, but storing living spiritual plants would slowly cause damage.

After going around in circles, Chen Guang finally headed to other areas.

The noodle market is divided into different areas according to the twelve earthly branches of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao. Everyone consciously sets up their stalls in certain areas, but some do not. For example, the "Zi area" where Chen Guang used to stay was particularly messy and had no particular theme.

The "Hai District" we are heading to now mainly features stalls selling various spirit beasts and monsters, highlighting a single theme. The Yanmian Market, which lasts for up to five hours, is beneficial for everyone.

Upon entering the "Hai District," various monsters and spirit beasts appear in abundance, mostly in their juvenile form.

The price of monsters is generally one-third that of similar spirit beasts. Monsters with low intelligence are too difficult to tame. Even beast tamers need to develop a good relationship and tacit understanding with the monsters they tame in order to use some unique skills.

For ordinary cultivators, the price of forced enslavement is very high. Therefore, most cultivators spend their own energy to cultivate a tacit understanding in order to make it work. Otherwise, it would be better to bleed them dry and eat them.

Chen Guang was tempted by some of the spirit beasts, but they were too expensive. A single young spirit beast cost more than two thousand catties of spirit rice, and most of them were combat-type spirit beasts. To tame combat-type spirit beasts, a taming bag was essential. These storage spirit artifacts that could hold life also had some functions that needed to be guarded against, such as holding living people. Therefore, they were also extremely expensive. Although the space was small, they were still priced at nearly ten thousand catties of spirit rice.

If it's a well-tamed adult spirit beast, then it can only be tamed with spirit stones. A spirit beast's intelligence does not necessarily mean that it can be tamed successfully. Just like humans are generally intelligent, but some people are just suited to certain jobs and are better suited to their strengths.

The same goes for spirit beasts. They can understand and learn, but not everyone can tame them into the obedient state required by cultivators.

In addition to the process of nurturing, observing, and selecting, a qualified adult spirit beast actually carries the burden of nurturing several unqualified spirit beasts of the same type and age, so its price naturally keeps rising.

Therefore, Chen Guang's target was those domesticated demon beast spirits.

Domesticated animals are mostly demonic beasts, with virtually no spirit beasts. They are primarily used for economic purposes such as providing food, materials, labor, and environmental modification. They can be managed in large quantities. They are also descendants of demonic beasts, but their bloodline is not pure. They have some special characteristics compared to ordinary wild animals and can be used by cultivators. However, they are clearly inferior to demonic beasts of the same type and level, so their prices are not high, and can even be considered cheap.

After wandering around, Chen Guang finally stopped in front of a huge stall. Although the stalls in Hai District were all large, this one was clearly even bigger. Looking at the large, thumb-sized shrimp swimming vigorously in a clearly cold tank, he asked, "What's this?"

"Icetail Shrimp, without innate magic, have only one-thousandth of a pot of demonic energy in their bodies when they are adults. They can only live in cold waters, and their shrimp veins are exceptionally tough, making them a pretty good source of ingredients. Their meat is rich in spiritual energy, and although it is too tender and difficult to process, it sells very well in various taverns and inns. They are also easy to raise; you can feed them by mixing some unwanted spiritual plant stalks and leaves with a little bit of chopped demonic beast meat. 360 for 100 juveniles, 3000 for 1000 juveniles, and I can even give you an extra 100." The stall owner moved between several different tanks, taking care of several customers while also keeping an eye on Chen Guang.

There are two vendors here, but the other one just keeps to himself and doesn't participate in the introduction or negotiation.

"Can I catch one to check?" Chen Guang asked.

"Sure, you can look at as many as you like, just be careful. If one dies, it'll cost you ten catties of spirit rice," the stall owner said without even looking at them.

Chen Guang carefully scooped one up. The amount of demonic power in this Ice Tail Shrimp was indeed very low. He carefully touched and sensed the Ice Tail Shrimp with his magic power and immediately received a piece of information.

The stall owner wasn't lying. Besides being edible, only the shrimp vein of the Ice Tail Shrimp was marketable because of its exceptionally strong spiritual energy. However, the suitable food for Ice Tail Shrimp wasn't spiritual plant stalks and leaves or monster meat, but rather spiritual plants called "White Mist Duckweed" or "Black Silk Algae." The suitable environment wasn't simply a cold, icy environment either, but a spiritual soil called "Frosty White Sand," which Chen Guang had never heard of before.

However, there is one thing the stall owner seems to have deliberately concealed: the growth cycle of ice-tailed shrimp is not short, at least 160 days, which is more than five months. In such a long time, even 100 shrimp can consume a considerable amount of food. Even if ice-tailed shrimp are domesticated, they are still monsters. Feeding them with ordinary wild animal meat and weeds will only slow down their growth, making their growth cycle longer, which may lead to more trouble.

"Is there no other food?" Chen Guang asked.

"Yes, look at this. It's white duckweed. It grows extremely fast and is more suitable for growing in cold environments. It also has some medicinal value. Sixty catties of spirit rice for three mother plants. This is the lowest price. One mother plant can produce thirty seed plants a day if the environment is right." The stall owner immediately pointed to another water tank, which was filled with some greenish-white, small and cute duckweed.

This is the White Mist Duckweed, which naturally exudes a chill. Unlike ordinary duckweed, the mother plant grows larger and larger, reaching a maximum size of one foot before it is considered mature. The offspring, however, remain only the size of a fingernail no matter how long they grow. Only a very small number of offspring can transform into the mother plant and possess the ability to reproduce.

"I'm afraid only these mother species will give out reward orbs."

Chen Guang made this judgment immediately.

The stall owner finally finished his work and came to Chen Guang: "We also have 'Theory of Shrimp Farming' here. It contains various problems and solutions in raising ice-tailed shrimp. For just 600 catties of spirit rice, it will definitely save you a lot of trouble. If you follow the manual, you can achieve a survival rate of over 60% for your first time raising ice-tailed shrimp."

Chen Guang became interested and deliberately asked about a few pieces of information provided by the reward light group in order to evaluate the stall owner.

However, Chen Guang had his answer after only three sentences.

The "Shrimp Farming Theory" may be useful to others, but it has little value to me now. The key points are all in the cultivation content of the reward light cluster.

As if sensing Chen Guang's disinterest, the stall owner quickly introduced something else: "Ice Tail Shrimp has another use. After removing the shrimp vein, it becomes the favorite food of the Ice-Armored Turtle, and it can even promote the growth of the Ice-Armored Turtle..."

Chen Guang immediately looked at the water tank that the stall owner was pointing to.

If it really is an Ice Armor Turtle, then Yue Ni Chang might have a path to evolve into a second-tier spirit plant, which could be considered.