Chapter Summaries

Li Ye spent his experience to raise his Planting Technique to the high tier of the first rank and advance his alchemy close to initiation, then headed with Old Man Luo to seek Elder Ji Qing’s spirit-field position. He arrived at the elder’s mountain prepared to compete against spirit medicine garden disciples.

• Li Ye considered using his 251 strands of Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence to advance his cultivation but decided to save some for alchemy materials.
• Li Ye raised his Planting Technique to the high tier of the first rank and gained confidence in tending Elder Ji Qing’s spirit fields.
• Li Ye invested most of his remaining experience in alchemy, bringing its proficiency to 1878/2000 and clarifying the flawed inheritance.
• Li Ye concluded that the panel improved his abilities by organizing the knowledge he already had and resolved to seek complete inheritances.
• Old Man Luo warned Li Ye about Elder Ji Qing’s temperament and the skilled spirit medicine garden disciples competing for the position.
• Li Ye reassured Old Man Luo, and the two arrived at Elder Ji Qing’s mist-shrouded mountain.

Li Ye arrived at Qingxiu Peak with Old Man Luo to meet Elder Ji Qing and compete for a place tending spirit plants. The other candidates mistook him for a timid opportunist relying on Cai Shiwei, and their argument with him was interrupted by Elder Ji’s arrival.

• Old Man Luo and Li Ye entered Qingxiu Peak and were sent to wait in a side hall while Elder Ji cultivated.
• Yao Shaohui, Gu Daojin, and Xiong Yinxiu argued over their spirit-plant skills until the attendant warned them against making noise.
• Gu Daojin asked Li Ye about his experience, and Yao Shaohui recognized him as the disciple rumored to have hidden in the spirit fields and linked him to Cai Shiwei.
• The three candidates assumed Li Ye had come through Cai Shiwei’s influence and turned hostile toward him.
• Xiong Yinxiu accused Li Ye of being a cowardly sycophant, and Old Man Luo defended him as his own chosen candidate.
• Elder Ji arrived, and everyone in the hall rose to greet him.

Elder Ji confronted the gathered disciples over Xiong Yinxiu’s accusations but revealed that he had already heard about Li Ye’s skill with Spirit Plants. He gave Li Ye and the other three spirit farmers another chance to compete for the job by testing their knowledge of Blazing Sun Flowers and Blood Li Rice.

• Elder Ji entered the hall and questioned the disciples about claims that Li Ye had benefited from Cai Shiwei’s influence.
• Old Man Luo defended Li Ye, while Xiong Yinxiu admitted she had spoken without evidence and apologized to Elder Ji.
• Elder Ji explained that Old Man Wang had recommended Li Ye after Li Ye shared cultivation advice that helped other spirit farmers harvest more spirit rice.
• Elder Ji refused to choose Li Ye outright and gave all four spirit farmers another chance to compete for the position.
• Elder Ji asked the candidates to record how to tend Blazing Sun Flowers and Blood Li Rice, and all four submitted their Jade Slips.

Elder Ji assigned Li Ye, Gu Daojin, Yao Shaohui, and Xiong Yinxiu one spirit field each to tend Blood Li Rice and help cultivate Blazing Sun Flowers, promising to keep the best performer. Li Ye seized the chance to gain planting experience and discovered that his farming skill impressed the others from the moment they began sowing.

• Elder Ji praised the four candidates, rewarded the stewards, and ordered each candidate to tend a field until his next long journey.
• Elder Ji led the candidates to his spirit fields, where Li Ye endured the dense Spiritual Qi better than the others and earned permission to work in the second-tier field.
• Elder Ji distributed Blood Li Rice seeds and supplies, explained how to mix the fields with beast blood, and told the candidates to plant the rice before helping with Blazing Sun Flowers.
• Li Ye claimed the far-left field and began sowing Blood Li Rice with such practiced skill that Gu Daojin, Yao Shaohui, and Xiong Yinxiu reconsidered their chances of beating him.

Li Ye’s [Vitality] trait helped him plant Blood Li Rice with exceptional success, impressing Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin and prompting them to apologize. After the four cultivators finished planting the rice, Elder Ji assigned each of them a patch of Blazing Sun Flowers to plant and tend.

• Li Ye planted half a mu of Blood Li Rice, using careful techniques and his [Vitality] trait to make every seedling take root and thrive.
• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin noticed Li Ye’s unusually vigorous seedlings and apologized for their earlier misunderstanding; Li Ye redirected their blame toward Xiong Yinxiu.
• Li Ye, Yao Shaohui, and Gu Daojin reached an understanding, while Xiong Yinxiu watched them coldly and left.
• On the second day, the four cultivators finished planting the remaining Blood Li Rice and had strength left for their next task.
• Elder Ji praised Li Ye’s seedlings and told each of the four cultivators to help plant and tend a patch of Blazing Sun Flowers.

Elder Ji demonstrated how to plant and tend the second-tier Blazing Sun Flower, then let the disciples take turns helping him. Xiong Yinxiu impressed him with her skill, and Li Ye stepped forward to take the next turn.

• Elder Ji brought Li Ye, Yao Shaohui, Gu Daojin, and Xiong Yinxiu into his second-tier spirit field and explained how to care for the Blazing Sun Flower.
• Xiong Yinxiu volunteered to go first and endured the dense Spiritual Qi by forcibly controlling her Law Power.
• Elder Ji planted a seedling while explaining the Blazing Sun Flower’s needs, then had Xiong Yinxiu assist with planting more.
• Xiong Yinxiu handled the work precisely, earning Elder Ji’s praise and confidence in her ability to tend the spirit field.
• Elder Ji divided the field into four areas and invited the next disciple to try, so Li Ye stepped forward to assist him.

Li Ye assisted Elder Ji in planting Blazing Sun Flowers and quickly impressed him with his skill, then encouraged Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin to take a turn. Elder Ji praised all three, while Xiong Yinxiu left the spirit field and vomited blood from the Law Power she had suppressed.

• Elder Ji initially viewed Li Ye coldly for waiting to adapt to the Spiritual Qi, but let him assist with planting a Blazing Sun Flower.
• Li Ye planted the seedling without mistakes, gained experience, and impressed Elder Ji with his increasingly smooth work.
• Li Ye suggested that Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin should also assist, and both planted seedlings successfully after observing him and Elder Ji.
• Elder Ji praised the group and ended the day's work, while Xiong Yinxiu left the spirit field and vomited blood as her suppressed Law Power battered her meridians.

After tending Elder Ji’s Spirit Plants, Li Ye used his experience to advance his alchemy and talisman skills, then practiced making talismans. The next day, he left for the market to buy a Pill Furnace.

• Li Ye finished planting the Blazing Sun Flowers and left the spirit field, while Yao Shaohui admired his skill and composure.
• Li Ye studied his panel, considered planting long-lived spirit trees for recurring rewards, and spent experience to advance alchemy and talismans to first-tier lower grade.
• Li Ye practiced talisman-making and produced thirteen talismans, including Fireball and Cold Breath Talismans.
• Li Ye finished tending the spirit field the next morning, spoke with Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin, and set out for the market with his Spirit Stones to buy a Pill Furnace.

Li Ye visited the Hundred Treasures Pavilion to buy a beginner’s Pill Furnace and negotiated a deal after finding a flaw in its construction. Yue Quan honored the shop’s policy and hoped to build a relationship with Li Ye, while warning his attendant against attacking a Purple Profound Sect disciple.

• Li Ye asked Yue Quan to show him a beginner’s Pill Furnace at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
• Li Ye inspected a low-grade furnace, identified a weak point, and negotiated its price down to fifty Spirit Stones with a Qi and Blood Pill Formula included.
• Li Ye paid for the furnace and formula, and Yue Quan saw him off while inviting him to sell pills at the shop in the future.
• Yue Quan explained to his attendant that the deal followed the shop’s policy and that befriending Li Ye could bring them a steady supply of pills.
• The attendant suggested capturing Li Ye, but Yue Quan slapped him and warned him that attacking a Purple Profound Sect disciple could bring ruin upon their Lineage.

Li Ye was ambushed on his way back from the market, but he killed the masked attacker and discovered the man had been controlled by a Gu worm. After examining the attacker’s notes, Li Ye suspected the Hundred Treasures Pavilion had arranged the attack and realized a woman he had recently provoked might be involved.

• Li Ye bought herbs, talisman supplies, and pill-refining tools, then cautiously set out for the Purple Profound Sect with his remaining Spirit Stones dwindling.
• Li Ye sensed he was being followed and prepared talismans as he traveled toward a mountain ravine.
• Iron-Devouring Gu attacked Li Ye, and a masked man struck at him with a saber, but Li Ye froze the attacker with Cold Breath Talismans and burned him with fireballs.
• Li Ye questioned the masked man, but a United Hearts Gu killed him before he could reveal who sent him; Li Ye collected the Gu and the man’s belongings.
• Li Ye found a booklet describing the Gu worms and inferred that the attack might be connected to a woman he had recently provoked.

Li Ye returned unharmed after Xiong Yinxiu arranged an ambush, and he alerted Elder Ji to her scheme. Xiong Yinxiu was exposed while sending bloodsucking worms to ruin the spirit fields, then died from her injuries, and Elder Ji gave Li Ye her Storage Bag.

• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin praised Li Ye's spirit fields, while Xiong Yinxiu wondered how he had survived his encounter with Old Zhao.
• Li Ye recognized Xiong Yinxiu's reaction as evidence that she had sent the burly man to ambush him, and decided to prepare for her next move.
• Xiong Yinxiu sent bloodsucking worms toward Li Ye's spirit field and the Blazing Sun Flowers, planning to frame him for damaging the crops and later kill him.
• Elder Ji attacked Xiong Yinxiu and activated the formation, which swept through the fields and destroyed all the worms.
• Li Ye told Xiong Yinxiu that he had reported everything to Elder Ji, and she died from her internal injuries.
• Elder Ji condemned Xiong Yinxiu for colluding with an outsider and trying to destroy his spirit medicines, then let Li Ye take her Storage Bag.

After Xiong Yinxiu’s death, Li Ye studied the Gu Technique inheritance and shared a book of spirit-flower cultivation methods with Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin. They withdrew from the competition, leaving Li Ye in charge of Elder Ji’s back-mountain spirit fields, where tending Blood Li Rice earned him experience and Blood Li Spiritual Essence.

• Li Ye studied the Gu Technique inheritance from Xiong Yinxiu’s Storage Bag and decided to focus on alchemy before investing in Gu refinement.
• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin read Xiong Yinxiu’s spirit-flower cultivation records, thanked Li Ye for sharing them, and offered to withdraw from the competition.
• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin agreed to look after Li Ye’s friend Zhang Liangfu when they returned to the spirit medicine garden.
• Elder Ji accepted their withdrawals and rewarded them, making Li Ye the disciple responsible for tending the back-mountain spirit fields.
• Li Ye tended Blood Li Rice, gaining experience and obtaining Blood Li Spiritual Essence.

After Blood Li Rice began yielding Spiritual Essence, Li Ye sought a body refining method and received advice at the Scripture Pavilion. He chose Elephant Armor Force and was told its cost and restrictions.

• Li Ye collected a hundred strands of Blood Li Spiritual Essence and visited Old Man Luo to ask for a body refining method.
• Old Man Luo took Li Ye to the Scripture Pavilion, where Niu Ba explained the available methods.
• Niu Ba recommended Elephant Armor Force for Li Ye’s wood Spirit Root and contrasted it with Iron Body Art.
• Li Ye chose Elephant Armor Force, and Niu Ba quoted its price and required him to swear not to pass it on to outsiders.

Li Ye began practicing Elephant Armor Force with Blood Li Spiritual Essence and felt his body grow stronger after his first session. Meanwhile, Zhang Liangfu struggled in the spirit medicine garden until Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin arrived with a Jade Slip and an offer of help from Li Ye, leaving a fellow disciple startled to learn they were friends.

• Li Ye studied Elephant Armor Force, judged its high resource costs worthwhile, and memorized its introductory fist techniques.
• Li Ye practiced the routine while circulating Law Power, then refined Blood Li Spiritual Essence and felt his body and Qi and Blood strengthen.
• Zhang Liangfu tended precious Spirit Plants and wondered how Li Ye was doing, but hesitated to visit him because of their changed status.
• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin brought Zhang Liangfu a Jade Slip from Li Ye and offered to answer his questions.
• A fellow disciple realized Zhang Liangfu was friends with Li Ye and blurted out, "You're friends with Li Ye? Why didn't you tell me!"

Li Ye improved his alchemy and talisman skills, then used his new expertise to refine Qi Condensation Pills and attempt the more valuable Wood Essence Pill. He succeeded in producing one finished Wood Essence Pill, leaving him poised to profit from his advancing alchemy.

• Li Ye received experience feedback from the Spirit Fields and found his Jade Sprout and Blood Li Spiritual Essence supplies had grown substantially.
• Li Ye raised alchemy and talisman-making to first-tier middle grade using his accumulated experience.
• Li Ye refined a batch of Qi Condensation Pills with seven finished pills, establishing that the recipe was now easy for him.
• Li Ye carefully prepared and refined a batch of Wood Essence Pills, but excessive heat burned away some of the medicinal liquid.
• Li Ye collected six pills from the furnace, including one finished Wood Essence Pill and two substandard pills.

Li Ye refined Wood Essence Pills with Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence, producing one pill with a marking that helped him break through to the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer. He sold pills at Hundred Treasures Pavilion, where Yue Quan eagerly offered to buy his Wood Essence Pills and asked what he thought of the Yue Household.

• Li Ye added four strands of Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence while refining Wood Essence Pills, improving the fusion and purity of the medicinal potency.
• Li Ye produced ten pills, including one with a marking, and realized the Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence could improve other forms of refinement as well.
• Li Ye swallowed the marked Wood Essence Pill and broke through to the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer, though he noted how difficult his Low-Grade Earth-Wood Spirit Root made cultivation.
• Li Ye brought Qi Condensation Pills and a Wood Essence Pill to Hundred Treasures Pavilion and asked Yue Quan about selling the Wood Essence Pill.
• Yue Quan confirmed the pill was a genuine Wood Essence Pill, offered to buy as many as Li Ye could supply, and asked what he thought of the Yue Household.

Yue Quan tried to recruit Li Ye into the Yue Household, but Li Ye refused and instead sold pills and bought a defensive artifact at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion. There, Li Ye encountered Li Zongyin and Zhang Jingjing, who provoked him before Yue Quan intervened and drove them away.

• Yue Quan offered Li Ye a guest Alchemist position, protection, marriage prospects, and help with his grievances, but Li Ye declined and proposed doing business instead.
• Li Ye sold Qi Condensation Pills and a Wood Essence Pill for over a hundred Spirit Stones, then bought a small shield Law Artifact at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
• Li Ye encountered Li Zongyin and Zhang Jingjing at the shop entrance, and Zhang Jingjing insulted him while Li Zongyin confronted him.
• Li Zongyin urged Li Ye to apologize to Cai Shiwei and accept scraps of his favor, but Li Ye rejected his condescending advice.
• Yue Quan stepped in and threatened to remove Li Zongyin and Zhang Jingjing from the shop, so they left without challenging him.
• Li Ye thanked Yue Quan, who asked him to bring more pills to sell, and Li Ye joked that he would try to refine another Qi Condensation Pill.

Li Ye advanced to the Gray Hide stage of Elephant Armor Force and steadily expanded his pill business while cultivating in seclusion from sect affairs. After tending Elder Ji’s Blazing Sun Flowers, he obtained Blazing Sun Spirit Essence.

• Li Ye bought cultivation supplies at several shops and considered diversifying where he sold pills to avoid being tied to any one faction.
• Li Ye broke through to the Gray Hide stage of the first layer of Elephant Armor Force and tested his improved defense against the Blackwood Sword.
• Li Ye settled into a routine of tending his spirit fields, selling pills, and exchanging cultivation knowledge with Old Man Luo, Yao, Gu, and Zhang.
• Rumors spread that Cai Shiwei was preparing for Foundation Establishment and that Li Qiushuang was rising within the sect, while Li Ye remained focused on his fields.
• Li Ye tended Elder Ji’s Blazing Sun Flowers, whose vitality increased and yielded Blazing Sun Spirit Essence.

Li Ye received Elder Ji’s Qi Refining cultivation insights after earning praise for tending the Blazing Sun Flowers. Studying Ji Qing’s account of breaking through to Foundation Establishment, Li Ye resolved to strengthen his physique and Law Power, then discovered he had no safe way to use the Blazing Sun Spirit Essence he had gathered and headed to the talisman-making room.

• Li Ye received feedback from more Blazing Sun Flowers, and Elder Ji praised his work while noting his poor aptitude and declining to take him as a disciple.
• Elder Ji gave Li Ye a Jade Slip of his Qi Refining insights and promised another reward if more than nine hundred Blazing Sun Flowers survived to maturity.
• Li Ye studied Elder Ji’s Foundation Establishment breakthrough and concluded that he needed to temper his spirit, physique, and Law Power before attempting the hurdle.
• Li Ye gathered two complete portions of Blazing Sun Spirit Essence from the first two hundred and fifty flowers but realized he could neither refine them safely nor make suitable pills.
• Li Ye recalled his earlier idea and went to the talisman-making room.

Li Ye celebrated his first New Year in the cultivation world, returned to the Purple Profound Sect, and tended his Spirit Fields while reflecting on his growing abilities. Meanwhile, Cai Shiwei was summoned to meet the patriarch, but he attacked and escaped the sect, prompting the patriarch to place the highest bounty on him.

• Li Ye celebrated the New Year with Zhang Liangfu and other friends before returning to the Purple Profound Sect.
• Li Ye inspected his Spirit Fields, tended the Blood Li Rice and Blazing Sun Flowers, and anticipated receiving more experience and Spirit Essence.
• Cai Shiwei, having advanced to Foundation Establishment with startling speed, was summoned by the patriarch at Jiao Jinhan's urging.
• Cai Shiwei attacked the patriarch and fled through the sect's grand formation using a talisman that disabled its restrictions.
• The patriarch declared Cai Shiwei the target of the sect's highest bounty and promised to accept whoever killed him as a personal disciple.