Cultivation begins with harvest.

"These are the eggs of the thousand-needle warbler."

The white bird eggs with deeper blue halos were delivered by Cao Fang early in the morning. Each one was only the length of a thumb, smaller than a quail egg.

It also comes with a nest over a foot long, built with [Golden Valley Stems and Leaves] inside and [Bitter Wood] outside. Both are rare spiritual plants, making them perfect for building the Thousand Needle Wren's nest.

The Thousand-Needle Wren is a spirit beast with the metal element. The stems and leaves of the Golden Valley are rich in metal energy but not sharp, which is very suitable for the Thousand-Needle Wren to recuperate. The scent emitted by the Bitter Wood can help the Thousand-Needle Wren recover and rest efficiently.

"Tsk tsk, I really don't know what you did, that Senior Brother Liu is willing to give you all his breeding experience with his precious Thousand Needle Wrens." Cao Fang handed a compiled book to Chen Guang. "Thousand Needle Wrens only mate once every two or three years after they reach adulthood, but it often takes two or three attempts to succeed. Senior Brother Liu got five bird eggs this time, and he's giving them all to you."

Cao Fang was amazed just thinking about it.

Chen Guang smiled, checked the items in his hand to make sure they were correct, and then said, "Once my Thousand Needle Wrens are fully grown, I'll definitely send them to help you."

"Forget it, even if the Thousand Needle Wren is a fast-growing spirit beast, it won't be of any use in three to five years. I still have things to do in the fields, so I'll head back first." Cao Fang waved her hand and quickly left.

Chen Guang, however, focused his attention on the five eggs in the nest and began to investigate them.

Mythical Beast: [Thousand-Needle Wren (Egg)]

Grade: First-tier superior (late stage of Qi Refining)

Type: Spirit Beast

Attributes: Gold, Cloud

Innate magical abilities: Thousand Needles Technique, Golden Flight Technique, Stream Shield, Cloud Might Technique

Spirit Beast Weapons: Golden Beak, Cloud Eyes

Lifespan: Up to 25 years under normal conditions

Description: Wrapping the eggs in a cloud-rich spiritual substance and incubating them at a slightly dry temperature for an extended period can increase the hatching success rate; providing sufficient non-yin-cold spiritual liquid can slightly improve the hatching success rate.

During the juvenile stage, the first spell mastered or the first formed spirit beast artifact determines whether the beast leans towards the metal or cloud element. It is not suitable to use spirit objects that stimulate growth during this stage, otherwise it will be counterproductive. The juvenile stage is an inevitable process for birds. Spirit beasts that cannot withstand the shared memory imprint of multiple spells during this stage will die. It is difficult to assist this process with external objects.

With sufficient rest, they can mature in a maximum of seven years, and nests built using golden millet stems and leaves and bitter wood can shorten their maturation time.

It feeds on various insects and grass seeds. Because it possesses the Cloud Power Technique, the excess spiritual energy after digesting spiritual objects will dissipate in the form of clouds and be more easily absorbed by cloud-attribute spiritual plants. Its excrement also has a similar ability.

It possesses considerable combat capabilities, and the fruits of Golden Valley, Royal Scale Dragon, and Zhan Yang Flower can enhance the hardness and sharpness of its golden beak.

Providing "Cranberry Syrup," made primarily from "Cranberry," can enhance the power of its Cloud Eyes.

Providing spirit insects and spirit plant seeds over a long period can moderately increase the likelihood of breaking through to the second tier of spirit beasts.

When its golden beak and cloud-like eyes are fully transformed, it provides true qi of either metal or cloud attributes, which can moderately increase the probability of it breaking through to the second-tier spirit beast.

Unlock the next level of training content: 0/50 (number of mature Thousand-Needle Wrens)

'As expected, it possesses two magical artifacts made from spirit beasts. No wonder the Thousand-Needle Wren is so sought after,' Chen Guang thought to himself.

Spirit beast artifacts are parts of a spirit beast's body that have accumulated a large amount of spiritual energy and possess powerful abilities. Similar to a cultivator's spiritual artifact, they are named for their greater power and the more unique nature of the parts.

Spirit beasts possessing spirit beast artifacts have greater growth potential.

If we're talking about materials, the golden beak and cloud-like eyes of the Thousand-Needle Wren are the most valuable. Even with rough processing, they have power similar to low-grade spiritual artifacts. The Ice-Armored Turtle is far inferior; even its most valuable part, its shell, doesn't qualify as a spiritual beast artifact.

Chen Guang examined the five bird eggs and found that one of them was not very viable, but he had no idea what to do with it and could only leave it as it was.

Standing guard beside the spirit field of the Heart-Piercing Grass, Chen Guang carefully studied Liu Yige's parenting insights and compared them with the information he had obtained.

We also discovered some differences.

Liu Yige used spiritual objects of the metal and stone type to nourish the bird eggs. As a result, he also said in his experience, "The incubators are extremely robust, but only one out of seven survives, which is a loss. It saves the effort of raising those with poor aptitude..."

Chen Guang exclaimed in surprise, "This is artificial survival of the fittest! The energy of metal and stone is strong and sharp. Those Thousand-Needle Wrens that cannot withstand it will die in the egg. Those Thousand-Needle Wrens that can withstand it can accept this nourishment and naturally become stronger."

It's a system where the strong get stronger, and the weak are simply given a chance to be saved.

Overall, Liu Yige's insights are valuable, summarizing many minor issues and outlining the benefits of different approaches to handling common situations.

In some places, based on the information Chen Guang obtained, it seems like things have gone astray. But this is, after all, Liu Yige's insights, which are based on his own experience. Only he can know whether it is right or wrong. Perhaps this is the "correct choice" that meets his training needs and process. Chen Guang should never copy it.

Those who learn from me live, those who resemble me die.

The same principle applies to Chen Guang. Chen Guang's experience in cultivating spiritual plants is based on his own conditions. Simply copying his methods will only lead to being fooled.

After studying it for a while, Chen Guang decided to dig a pit in the spiritual fields of red peony and fiery heart grass, put two and three bird eggs in them respectively, and lightly cover them with floating oil cloud soil.

Both spiritual fields here are in a dry and warm environment. The red peony spiritual field is warmer, while the fiery heart grass spiritual field is drier. Both are appropriately supplemented with warm light magic and moon essence liquid, which is currently the most suitable spiritual liquid for Chen Guang to hatch Thousand Needle Wrens.

The hatching of the Thousand Needle takes about a month. The chicks that hatch can grow down feathers in just one day. However, it takes about sixteen months for the chicks to grow from being fed to being able to fly independently. During this time, they will gradually master their four magic spells. This period requires long-term care and training and is also the stage when the Thousand Needle is most likely to die young.

Liu Yige also mentioned this point in her experience: apart from the beast tamer's apparent ability to interfere with this stage, there are no spiritual creatures that can help with this process. Using them haphazardly will only increase the possibility of sudden death.

Considering that young jays have a big appetite, Chen Guang decided to leave all the red locust eggs that had been collected again for the jays, which would also save some expenses.

The next day, taking advantage of the midday when the red locusts were less active, Chen Guang quickly went to Xingfeng Market and found a disciple of the Shengling Hall. He spent 300 silver dollars to inquire about some useful information from him.

One purpose is to further understand the habits of the thousand-needle wren so that appropriate treatment can be given.

Secondly, it was to control the thousand-needle wren.

Unless a cultivator doesn't care much about raising spirit beasts, they must use spells, spirit contracts, or other means to intervene. Otherwise, with one speaking bird language and the other speaking human language, the cost of cultivating a deep bond would be too high, something that a cultivator like Chen Guang, whose main profession is not taming beasts, cannot do.

Once a Thousand Needle Wren reaches adulthood, it can produce two spirit beast artifacts, and it has a natural chance of breaking through to the second tier. It is impossible not to take special care of and nurture it.

After the conversation, Chen Guang really gained a lot.

There's a reason for the rarity of the Thousand-Needle Wren and the huge price difference between its eggs. It's not just the Thousand-Needle Wren; all bird spirit beasts face the same problem: small eggs are prone to dying during the chick stage because they can't withstand multiple spells; large eggs are prone to not hatching.

In addition, due to factors such as the susceptibility of fledglings to environmental influences and problems during the incubation period, bird eggs are the least profitable among all mythical creatures.

Simply put, small bird spirit beasts are prone to sudden death before they reach a certain stage of growth. Other spirit beasts hatched from the eggs do not have such serious problems. For example, fish and frogs can make up for this deficiency by laying a large number of eggs at once. The quality of individual eggs from snakes and turtles is also higher. Only birds are in a limbo.

It seems birds don't fare very well in the cultivation world, Chen Guang thought with a hint of malice.

Another takeaway was figuring out what kind of animal training method suited me best.

The disciples of the Hall of Life and Death gave Chen Guang three choices.

The spells [Heart-to-Heart Spell], [Ancestral Blood Seal], and [Traces of Imprint] are used to increase the spirit beast's affinity towards you and improve communication efficiency. Using spells such as Warm Light Spell to create a warm and comfortable image can solidify this impression.

The Blood Pact Beast Taming Array can be used to imprint your mark directly before hatching, solving the problem once and for all.

There are also addictive spiritual drugs such as "Water Sprout Pearl" and "Dream Flower" used for control.

Each of these three methods has its own drawbacks. If time and money are not a concern, they can be used in combination for better results. According to the disciples of Shenglingtang, Chen Guang is an outsider anyway, so efficiency and reliability are the foundation. As long as the methods are sound, some complex and long-term considerations can be ignored.

However, going further up the ladder means no longer being a half-baked practitioner, but truly engaging in the art of beast taming. There are various secret techniques and more complex combinations of spells and formations to choose from, but these are not very suitable for Chen Guang.

Chen Guang's foundation still lies in farming. Whether spirit beasts can produce reward orbs is still unknown. Even if they can, spirit plants still have advantages in every aspect, both in terms of variety and harvest efficiency.

After bidding farewell to the disciples of the Hall of Life and Death, I went to the Hall of Fragrance.

The Blood Pact Beast Taming Array is a third-level array. Chen Guang spent 1500 silver coins to obtain the array's contents. He could then make divination items at home as a form of practice. He also spent another 400 silver coins to purchase the Ancestral Blood Seal spell from the Scripture Pavilion before heading home.

In the blink of an eye, he had less than two hundred yuan left. Chen Guang knew this was the consequence of his expansion being too large. No other cultivator at the second level of Qi Refining was so extravagant.

The investment in perfecting the entire ecosystem, from the Dingzhen tea trees, Buzhi thorns, and Xuanwen bamboo to the ice fog formation, is considerable.

The additional costs of the formation are also not a small amount.

Compared to other cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining, Chen Guang's life was truly thriving.

Other Qi Refining Level 2 cultivators are just at the point where they can meet the sect's offerings, and their own income is not high; Qi Refining Level 3 spiritual farmers are just beginning to accumulate savings, plan economic projects, and improve the quality of spiritual plants they grow. Chen Guang had already begun to make extensive arrangements for these things in the second year after he became a cultivator.

In the realm of cultivation, which cannot be abandoned, the presence of the Pure Spirit Qi and Jade Heart Grass gives them a significant advantage.

In just two years, they achieved what other spiritual farmers take at least six years to accomplish; this growth rate is truly astonishing.

Chen Guang was well aware of how conspicuous this was. He wouldn't have done this a year ago, but after scouting the area thoroughly, he didn't need Jiang Zuoyun to painstakingly explain the sect's style of doing things. Chen Guang could feel it himself, and naturally, he became bolder and more composed.

No wonder I killed so many people I knew well in my past life; as the sense of unfamiliarity gradually faded, my wariness also diminished.

Back at their own spiritual field, without a moment's hesitation, they first inspected the field of the Fiery Heart Grass.