Cultivation begins with harvest.

"Of course, shall we go take a look?" Chen Guang said.

"We should see it." Wei Donglai nodded and followed behind Chen Guang. "Sometimes we envy you guys from the Earth Hall. If we rent an acre of spirit field, we'd need 600 catties of spirit rice every month, but we wouldn't have time to take care of it and would just have to work hard outside."

"So expensive?" Chen Guang was a little surprised. It would cost several thousand yuan a year.

"This is a spirit field of Purple Spirit Soil, a top-grade first-level Purple Spirit Soil. You haven't been to the outside world, so you don't know the difference here. Just the fact that Purple Spirit Soil can grow anything makes this price not outrageous, although it is still very expensive," Wei Donglai said.

The two walked side by side into the spirit field. Wei Donglai looked at Chen Guang's spirit field, which even had a spirit energy array set up, and a hint of joy appeared on his face: "You've managed it very well. I underestimated you."

Chen Guang smiled slightly and pointed out the half-acre spirit field with swallowtail grass: "This half-acre can be contributed. You said you only wanted one-third of an acre, but you gave me too much demon beast blood. This should be enough."

"That's enough, that's enough. The blood of those demonic beasts was already promised to you. You can do whatever you want with it." Wei Donglai understood.

After carefully examining the plant, Wei Donglai said, "The spiritual plant I want to plant is called the [Ice Flower Wutong]."

Ice Flower Sycamore!

Even though it's just a second-tier ordinary spiritual plant, it's still a second-tier spiritual plant. Chen Guang looked worried, concerned that it was beyond his ability to handle.

It's not that we can't take care of them, but the cost of forcibly taking care of them is not low. The reason why spiritual plants are also divided into ranks is that they also have some special powers. For example, the ice flower parasol tree has a cold aura that Chen Guang cannot handle. Chen Guang doesn't even have defensive spiritual artifacts or spells. If he gets close to it, he might even fall ill again.

It is extremely difficult for cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining to contract diseases common to ordinary cultivators. However, once they do contract a disease, it means that it is very serious, with spiritual energy exceeding the cultivator's ability to cope at work. If not handled properly, it can affect their foundation.

Furthermore, the Chinese parasol tree prefers sunlight, cannot tolerate weeds or cold, and has only a slight degree of cold resistance.

The Ice Flower Wutong is a well-known species of tree that thrives in cold conditions. As a wutong tree, it prefers sunlight and warmth, which also means that this spiritual plant has an extremely fragile balance. It requires a lot of time and frequent close care. If it is not careful, all efforts will be in vain, and the whole tree will rot and perish. This is something that Chen Guang, a cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining, cannot do.

"Brother Donglai, it's not that I'm belittling myself, but I can manage the other second-tier spiritual plants, though I'm afraid the Ice Flower Wutong will turn into a piece of rotten wood by tomorrow once it's in my hands today," Chen Guang said in a deep voice.

Wei Donglai remained confident: "It's not just one tree. If it were just one tree, it wouldn't require such a large area. It's six trees."

"What?!" Even though Chen Guang was somewhat shrewd, his expression changed upon hearing this.

A single ice-flowered sycamore tree was enough to make Chen Guang back down. It was as if he was told he was to be shot, but before the execution he was told he would be bombarded with cannons instead. He was already terrified, but when he arrived at the firing range, he found six cannons aimed at him.

Who could stand this?!

Don't treat someone at the first level of Qi Refining as if they were an immortal.

Wei Donglai chuckled: "I do this because I'm confident in my abilities. Have you ever thought that the cold air released by the Ice Flower Wutong tree can affect the environment within hundreds of steps? Six of them are enough to make the area within a thousand steps feel like a winter night, with frost and snow falling incessantly. The Ice Flower Wutong tree also needs sufficient sunlight and a cold environment to survive. I understand all of this."

"If I were to just throw them at you, I might as well just throw them in the water and at least hear a splash."

Chen Guang was indeed startled at first, but after hearing Wei Donglai's words, he quickly recovered and, after a moment's thought, hesitated before asking, "Could it be... an array?"

Only formations can isolate the inside from the outside.

Only with an array could Chen Guang, a mere Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator, have the opportunity to take care of Binghua Wutong.

"That's right, the prototype is a Xuanhuang formation called the [Yunbing Sixteen Constellation Jade Pillar Formation]. Of course, it's a simplified version called the [Ice Mist Formation]. With this formation in charge, taking care of the six Ice Flower Wutong trees is not a pipe dream," Wei Donglai said.

"Array formations require spirit stones," Chen Guang said.

"That's a long story. I obtained a unique secret method that allows me to condense a wisp of icy true qi from six ice flower phoenix trees. This qi is used to cultivate a powerful secret technique. This formation is also recorded in the secret technique. The ice mist formation is the result of three simplifications. As for the true qi, there is no need to worry. It can be cultivated and harvested artificially. It can be harvested frequently, but it requires sacrificing these six ice flower phoenix trees."

"Originally, I wasn't planning to cultivate now, but by chance, I met a senior brother named Zhong in the Qi Hall. Senior brother Zhong is quite extraordinary. Every five-year competition, he can achieve a top-fifty ranking. He has accumulated some spirit stones. I will provide the secret technique, and senior brother Zhong will set up the formation and provide the spirit stones, as well as six saplings of Ice Flower Wutong. Although his financial resources are limited, a few saplings are still within senior brother Zhong's capabilities, and they are also within your current range of care."

"You will provide the spiritual fields and take good care of these ice flower phoenix trees. During this period, Senior Brother Zhong and I will support your cultivation and guarantee that you will pass the three-year assessment. We will also compensate for any losses incurred by other spiritual fields as a result. If you cultivate to the fourth level of Qi Refining, we will also share this secret technique with you. How about it?"

Wei Donglai spoke fluently and thoroughly, explaining the whole story.

Chen Guang was tempted.

This secret technique alone is so powerful that it could make Wei Donglai and Senior Brother Zhong empty their pockets to cultivate it. Its power must be extraordinary. Anything involving spirit stones comes with an astonishing price.

"Why did you choose me? I'm only at the first level of Qi Refining, and I've only been learning and practicing spiritual farming for three years. I believe there are many more cultivators in the Earth Hall who can meet your requirements. It shouldn't be me," Chen Guang said calmly.

This is rather unusual.

After his initial attraction, Chen Guang felt a strong sense of vigilance.

"It's precisely because you're at the first level of Qi Refining that we can still meet your requirements: a Xuanhuang Formation, even if it's simplified three times; six seedlings of second-tier spiritual plants, even if they're just seedlings; all sorts of resource preparation—Brother Zhong really took the lion's share. We don't have the extra capacity to feed those late-to-mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators," Wei Donglai sighed, seemingly genuinely helpless. "To put it bluntly, Earth Hall cultivators generally have lower aptitudes. Those who can stay in the Earth Hall and meet our requirements have very high appetites. This secret technique is a combat technique, and those spiritual farmers don't really care about it. For them, it's easy to make money, even if it's tiring, it's not worth going out to fight. If they want to go out, it's more convenient to hire disciples from the Road Hall and Qi Hall. So their demands in other aspects are very high. It's not like we can just agree on something just by sharing this secret technique."

After a pause, Wei Donglai continued, "Furthermore, we're not bringing six Ice Flower Sycamore saplings this year. To be honest, Senior Brother Zhong and I plan to find at least four more Ice Flower Sycamore saplings on the snow-capped peak. This year, we're going to have you plant the [Ice Pine] and the [Concentration Flower], both top-tier first-grade varieties. If you can cultivate them well this year, we'll try to give you the first Ice Flower Sycamore to plant next time, and the plan will officially begin at least four years from now. Senior Brother Zhong and I estimated that this is under the condition that everything goes smoothly; otherwise, it will probably take six years to prepare."

Chen Guang wanted to hit someone.

You could have just said this from the beginning. Why bring up ice flowers and phoenix trees?

Wei Donglai seemed to see through Chen Guang's thoughts: "This is a long-term plan. Originally, you were not included in the assessment plan, but I think you are not bad, so I added you. A few years later, considering the three-year small test and the cultivation cycle of Ice Flower Wutong, you only need to have the cultivation level of Qi Refining Level 3 at that time to keep up with the pace of taking care of Ice Flower Wutong. After all, there is also the help of the formation, right?"

"Only by telling you the ultimate goal from the beginning will you work hard to reach the level we require. Simply put, the combined financial resources of Brother Zhong and me are not enough to support finding a mature and highly skilled spirit farmer to complete the plan. We can only cultivate spirit farmers ourselves. After all, the Ice Flower Wutong takes six years to mature and only blooms once every sixteen months. Only when it blooms once can we collect true qi. It requires a long period of cooperation."

"Wait, it's not just me, and you're not just planning to set up one ice mist array?" Chen Guang was surprised again.

As for taking the spirit stones and running away, or causing any kind of destruction—as long as the suicide isn't quick enough, the Hall of Life and the Hall of Flame can guarantee to save the person, and the Hall of Broad Forest can guarantee that the cultivator who does so will contribute their labor to compensate for the loss.

At least for cultivators like Chen Guang who are within a sect, this is certainly the procedure.

Wei Donglai nodded: "If you agree, you'll soon find out why. With you included, we have three candidates."

Chen Guang understood.

It turns out I wasn't the only option.

The reason they chose to do it themselves is simple: they are poor, too poor to afford long-term collaborations with senior professionals. They have no choice but to find another way, to first train a group of specialized talents, as long as they can be trained to take care of the ice flowers and phoenix trees.

"Are you willing to accept it? If so, I'll have the people from Xingfeng Hall, Xing Hall, and Guanglin Hall witness this afternoon and sign the contract," Wei Donglai said. "Of course, in any case, that monster blood is my way of making friends, and it's all yours."