Cultivation begins with harvest.

Outside the courtyard, the golden autumn air was crisp and refreshing, and the spirit farmers were working enthusiastically in the spirit fields. However, Chen Guang stayed inside the courtyard, with four thousand-needle wrens beside him who were feeling drowsy after eating their fill.

The three Fiery Blood Tortoise Shell Trees in front of Chen Guang had leaves covered with patterns resembling tortoise shells. Centered around them, the area was noticeably hotter, and the spiritual energy in this area had become pure fire-attribute, signifying the maturity of the Fiery Blood Tortoise Shell Trees.

"Hopefully, we can offer three different rewards."

After a brief prayer, Chen Guang reached out to the three reward orbs.

"Harvested one Fireblood Tortoise Shell Tree (Common), obtained True Blood [Qinghuang Yuanxu True Blood (Rare)]."

"Harvested one Fireblood Tortoise Shell Tree (Common), obtained True Blood [Qinghuang Yuanxu True Blood (Rare)]."

"Harvested one Fireblood Tortoise Shell Tree (Common), obtained one Battle Technique [Flame Back Battle Technique]."

Chen Guang was somewhat disappointed by the duplicate rewards, but it was still within acceptable limits. Having two rewards was already good enough; it wasn't the worst-case scenario.

The Flame Back Combat Technique can form a defensive layer on the back that solidifies into ash after being encased in flames. Its defensive capabilities are not particularly outstanding. Once attacked, it will burst out with a large cluster of scorching, penetrating sparks. Maintaining this spell also consumes a great deal of mana. At least before the mid-stage of Qi Refining, I estimate that I will not be able to withstand it.

Upon seeing this tactic, Chen Guang immediately thought of the Yin Fire Pill. When combined with the Yin Fire Pill, the splashing sparks would also inflict burning damage, making this tactic even more unpredictable.

However, the Flameback Battle Strategy is quite awkward.

As a defensive combat method that involves close contact with the physical body, its defensive capabilities are not outstanding. On the contrary, due to the close contact, the caster's physical body must have a very strong ability to withstand the damage, otherwise they may burn themselves.

While it's called defense, it's actually a surprise attack, a defensive counter-attack strategy. The excessive focus on offense makes this tactic seem somewhat ridiculous to Chen Guang. It might be effective once or twice in specific situations, but if it's used too often, especially among cultivators and spread by word of mouth, it will become nothing more than a decoration.

Moreover, since it's a combat technique, it's even more suitable for body-refining cultivators.

"But what is this true blood?" Chen Guang held a drop of yellowish-red blood-like spiritual object in his hand. It changed and flowed in his hand like pure energy, outlining the shape of a water droplet. He could feel a faint but special aura, as if it was exerting an unbearable force on Chen Guang's mind.

Spiritual Item: [Qinghuang Yuanxu True Blood (Rare)]

Type: True Blood

Grade: Tier 1 Top Quality

Attributes: Fire, Blood

Description: True blood containing a very small amount of the ancient exotic species [Qinghuang Yuanxu] bloodline power, with a content of no more than one in thirty thousand. When used on demonic beasts or spirit beasts, it can impart a slight amount of Qinghuang Yuanxu bloodline power, increasing their bloodline potential. If the target's rank is no higher than the second rank, there is a certain probability of helping beasts break through bottlenecks or enlightening ordinary wild beasts. If it is a fire-attribute turtle with compatible attributes, there is an extremely small probability of obtaining incomplete inherited memories of Qinghuang Yuanxu.

Once 36,000 strands of Qinghuang Yuanxu True Blood of equal quality are collected, a secret method can be used to re-condense a complete Qinghuang Yuanxu True Blood.

An ancient, exotic species?

Passing on memories?

Although he had never heard of them before, it did not prevent Chen Guang from understanding what these two terms referred to and how significant they were.

While Chen Guang was still in astonishment, he caught a glimpse of the secret method required to condense 36,000 portions of true blood, and all his fantasies vanished instantly.

Even with all trees of exceptional quality, and assuming the reward orb only yields Qinghuang Yuanxu True Blood, a full four thousand Fire Blood Tortoise Shell Trees are still required. So, realistically speaking, it's impossible to gather that number without planting tens of thousands of Fire Blood Tortoise Shell Trees.

Although we know this thing has a very important origin, we can't expect to get the complete true blood for now. We can make do with it, but its effect of increasing the potential of beasts cannot be ignored.

"Keep this safe. It will be useful when you get a suitable spirit beast in the future. Next time you encounter a disciple of the Spirit Hall, you can ask them what this ancient exotic species is."

Chen Guang put it away in a jade bottle, but unexpectedly, the two portions of Qinghuang Yuanxu True Blood naturally merged into one. Although the description did not change, Chen Guang felt that the concentration had increased slightly. Only then did he realize that the suffix "寥" should mean very few.

If you still find Fireblood Tortoise Shell Trees in the Hidden Face Market, I wouldn't mind buying a few more. Firstly, there's another reward that hasn't been confirmed yet, and even though its connection to the Five Hidden Flames might be low, it's still worth a try. Secondly, this spiritual plant itself is still somewhat useful; it can gather spiritual energy and convert it into fire-attribute spiritual energy.

It can be used in the spiritual fields of red peony and fiery heart grass, and can also be used to increase the firepower when refining pills in the future after being arranged with a formation. It is not a decorative spiritual plant.

Chen Guang's days gradually became more leisurely, so he prepared to start refining frozen shrimp oil.

I caught a dozen or so ice-tailed shrimp and kept them in a tank with a certain proportion of cold water essence for a day or two. This step was to starve the ice-tailed shrimp so that their internal organs would become clean. Then, through the cold water essence, some dirt would sink to the bottom of the tank. Clean ice-tailed shrimp are very helpful for making shrimp oil. With the vitality of ice-tailed shrimp, they will not die even if they do not eat for more than ten days.

There are two ways to make ice-mouth shrimp oil. One way is to use warm light magic combined with sunlight, and then simmer it day and night for several days at a certain temperature with strong light, while adding other spiritual ingredients in appropriate amounts.

Another method involves using spiritual fire to simmer the product at high temperatures.

Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. The former is time-consuming but produces better quality shrimp oil, while the latter can be completed in half a day but is of lower quality.

Chen Guang's magical power was not enough to support the use of the Warm Light spell all night long, so he prepared to use the latter.

He took out a new spiritual ceramic jar, placed spiritual charcoal underneath, and activated the Kui Flame. The blue flames baked the ceramic jar, and then Chen Guang added a little water. Once the water boiled, he added some cold spiritual liquid, put in a whole shrimp, sprinkled a few grains of ice salt that looked like ice crystals, and slowly simmered it with spiritual fire.

The tempering of the spiritual fire requires precise control of the heat, which is not a problem for Chen Guang. He watched as the thin layer of ice that had formed on the surface of the water, which had been mixed with the cold water spiritual liquid, slowly melted. The slightly bluish-green ice-tailed shrimp remained motionless. Under the influence of some force, its body even showed signs of becoming transparent. This was a sign that the ice salt was beginning to release the spiritual energy within the ice-tailed shrimp. Chen Guang quickly added an amber flower to lock the spiritual energy of the ice-tailed shrimp in the spiritual liquid.

The next step is to determine, based on the description of the recipe, which spiritual ingredient was added in excess or deficiency, or whether it was added correctly.

Fortunately, Chen Guang pondered repeatedly, and with his exquisite control of the flames, the firepower was not intense. He had ample time to think, and he made no mistakes in this step. Only after watching the Ice Tail Shrimp's entire body begin to become transparent did he drip in a drop of demonic beast bile.

Instantly, a layer of oil appeared on the clear water surface, and the Ice Tail Shrimp seemed to have been emptied, leaving only a stiff shell. Its spiritual energy and some nutrients from its physical body had been extracted.

The next step was to repeat this process. Every time an ice-tailed shrimp was added, the process had to be repeated. After five times, Chen Guang became more and more adept at it. The liquid level in the ceramic jar remained at the initial height, and the liquid finally revealed its oily texture, becoming viscous, with a crystal-clear orange-red color shimmering in it.

Only at this point was the Ice-mouth Shrimp Oil finally completed. It couldn't be refined from at least five Ice-tail Shrimp in one go because the concentration wasn't high enough. In this state, even with the Cold Water Spirit Liquid, the water content was less than one-tenth, and all the spiritual energy was locked below the liquid surface.

"That's not enough. It needs to be refined until almost no water remains, and oil makes up the majority of the product."

Chen Guang continued to repeat this process until all fifteen ice-tailed shrimp he had brought were refined. The liquid level finally rose slightly due to the increased quantity, but Chen Guang frowned and stopped. The Kui Flame gradually died down, and what remained in the ceramic jar was the real ice-tailed shrimp oil.

The water content is still around 7%.

Chen Guang immediately understood that this was the drawback of the boiling method. According to common sense, this method could obviously boil off the water, but it was clear that the frozen shrimp oil needed to be boiled slowly to remove the water. This was where the quality difference came in, and his idea of ​​boiling it off completely using this method had failed.