Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xing’s cultivation and spell proficiency continued to improve as he prepared for the Start of Autumn examination. At the Ministry of Agriculture, he learned that construction of a waterwheel at SiShui Bay had been delayed, then went to practice Flourishing Growth and noticed an extra patch of seedlings in the rear courtyard.

• Zhao Xing reviewed his status and reflected that his rapid cultivation still made him outstanding only at the county level.
• Zhao Xing arrived early at the Ministry of Agriculture, where colleagues called him Zhao First Rank and clerks studied for the upcoming examination.
• Xue Wenzhong ordered reports sent to senior officials after the Heavenly Craft Workshop delayed the SiShui Bay waterwheel again.
• Xue Wenzhong told Zhao Xing to focus on his examination, and Zhao Xing went to the rear courtyard to practice Flourishing Growth.
• Zhao Xing spotted an extra patch of seedlings in the vegetable garden.

Zhao Xing trained Flourishing Growth on Tooth Grass until he reached Nine Turns, then discovered a powerful Preaching Painting that maxed the spell and taught him two new spells. The painting burned up after he used its last remaining use, and Xue Wenzhong denied knowing what painting Zhao Xing meant.

• Zhao Xing practiced Flourishing Growth on Tooth Grass, using Five Elements Observation to accelerate his training.
• Over six days, Zhao Xing repeatedly planted and grew Tooth Grass until Flourishing Growth reached Nine Turns, then collapsed from exhaustion.
• Xue Wenzhong carried the sleeping Zhao Xing into his bedroom, where Zhao Xing woke and became entranced by a painting.
• Zhao Xing observed the All Things Growth Chart Replica, maxed Flourishing Growth, and comprehended Savage Growth and Earth Veins Synthesis.
• The Preaching Painting burned to ashes after Zhao Xing used its final remaining use.
• Zhao Xing confessed to Xue Wenzhong that the painting had combusted, but Xue Wenzhong denied knowing what painting he meant.

Zhao Xing learned two new Agrarian School spells and practiced them before the Start-of-Autumn Examination. The chapter ends with the rules for the four-day assessment announced, including its location, schedule, and judging criteria.

• Old Sima Nong helped Zhao Xing use a fourth-tier Preaching Painting, allowing him to master Flourishing Growth and comprehend Savage Growth and Earth Veins Synthesis.
• Zhao Xing practiced the two new spells in his family's vegetable garden until both reached First-Turn proficiency.
• Zhao Xing showed Zhao Ruide that he could see in the dark, then woke Zhao Zheng and ordered him to practice martial arts.
• Madam Cai discovered that the vegetable seedlings in the garden had flourished after Zhao Xing's spell practice.
• Chen Shijie announced that the Start-of-Autumn preliminary examination would take place in the Hundred Herbs Garden from the sixth through the ninth day of the eighth month, judging seed and seedling quality, survival numbers, and the condition of surviving plants.

During Start of Autumn's assessment, Zhao Xing recognized that the crowded Planting Area's springs and grass ash had been arranged to provoke a contest for territory. He claimed a prime patch with Cloudcalling, and the examination descended into a fierce struggle as officials watched.

• Zhao Xing used Bright Eyes to identify the Planting Area's valuable springs and grass ash, then claimed two springs and three piles of ash with Moving Clouds Seven Turns.
• Chen Shijie praised Zhao Xing for understanding the test and explained to Xue Wenzhong that he had altered the assessment to pit the clerks against one another.
• Li Chengfeng made Liang Bai yield and claimed three springs and four ash piles, while Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze also secured territory with powerful Cloudcalling techniques.
• Other clerks fought over the remaining resources, and clashes of clouds, lightning, wind, and rain spread across the Planting Area.
• Chen Shijie invited the watching officials to sit and enjoy the spectacle as the fighting continued.

Chen Shijie and the other officials watched Zhao Xing defend his claimed resources from three challengers during the assessment. Zhao Xing defeated them with precise control of Rising Wind and Cloudcalling, leaving his territory unchallenged for the moment.

• Gao Linong and Tang Wanchun praised Chen Shijie's revisions, and Xue Wenzhong recommended his clerk Zhao Xing as a rare talent.
• Huang Tao and two other clerks approached Zhao Xing and demanded that he give up some of his claimed wells and grass ash.
• Zhao Xing used Rising Wind to block two challengers' Cloudcalling, causing one clerk's spell to disperse and backlash.
• Zhao Xing's clouds devoured Huang Tao's spell, and Huang Tao surrendered before suffering severe backlash.
• Huang Tao warned his companions not to challenge Zhao Xing again, and Zhao Xing invited any remaining clerks to test him.

Zhao Xing drove off Huang Tao and two other challengers, then selected plants for the assessment. He carried his seedlings back to his planting area with a rising wind spell, while the other examinees watched.

• Zhao Xing defeated Huang Tao and two others who had joined forces, discouraging the crowd from challenging him.
• Qian Dong and Chen Ziyu watched Zhao Xing’s victory and decided not to approach him, while Li Chengfeng, Zong Shichang, Wen Nanxing, and Xiao Ze studied his abilities.
• Chen Shijie praised Zhao Xing’s performance, and Xue Wenzhong claimed credit for guiding him after Gao Linong suggested he had received special tutoring.
• Zhao Xing inspected the available plants, rejected a three-year-old Heaven Yuan Pear Tree, and selected twenty each of Green Vine Saplings, Adamantine Bamboo Saplings, and Fragrant Lotuses.
• Zhao Xing used rising wind to lift and arrange his plants, then carried them toward his planting area as the other examinees made way.

Zhao Xing used precise cloud and wind spells to prepare his plot, draw water from the deep spring, and cultivate Fragrant Lotus seeds despite the scorching examination conditions. After securing his seedlings and replenishing himself, he planned to steal nutrients from the other fields to improve his chances of earning a Grade A evaluation.

• Zhao Xing used two controlled tornadoes to deepen his furrows, impressing Wen Nanxing with his spell control.
• Zhao Xing drew water from the sixty-meter-deep spring well with a large tornado, and Chen Shijie praised his ingenuity to Xue Wenzhong.
• The extreme heat and difficulty obtaining water caused many examinees to withdraw, while rain fell only over the plots their owners controlled.
• Zhao Xing filled a small pit with water, sowed twenty portions of Fragrant Lotus seeds, and used Flourishing Growth to sprout them with a hundred percent survival rate.
• Zhao Xing drank from his dark cloud and decided to take nutrients from nearby fields to prepare for a Grade A evaluation.

Zhao Xing secretly activated Earth Veins Synthesis across much of the Planting Area, intending to divert other cultivators’ vital energy to help his Adamantine Bamboo grow. At midnight, Huang Tao’s Soul Calming Incense barely responded to hours of cultivation, leaving him bewildered about what had gone wrong.

• Zhao Xing laid the Earth Veins Synthesis network underground while inspecting the territory, and Chen Shijie and Xue Wenzhong recognized his plan.
• Qian Dong nearly gave up after hours of failed cultivation, but Chen Ziyu persuaded him to keep working as other contestants left or persevered.
• After nightfall, Zhao Xing activated Earth Veins Synthesis across nearly half the Planting Area, reaching many contestants’ plots and hoping their efforts would nourish his Adamantine Bamboo.
• Huang Tao began force-ripening a Soul Calming Incense seedling with Flourishing Growth, but much of his vital energy vanished before reaching its roots.
• After casting spells for three hours, Huang Tao found that the Soul Calming Incense had barely grown and wondered whether something was wrong with it.

Zhao Xing secretly used Earth Veins Synthesis to divert yuan energy and rapidly grow twenty Adamantine Bamboos, leaving him at the top of the assessment. His spell was discovered by officials after they connected the weakened crops and repeated replanting to disturbed earth-vein energy.

• Huang Tao and Ma Wu both abandoned plants that would not bear fruit and went to choose replacements, unaware that Zhao Xing was draining the surrounding yuan energy.
• Zhao Xing carefully limited how much yuan energy he took from nearby experts while extracting most of it from weaker cultivators.
• Zhao Xing used the accumulated energy to grow twenty Adamantine Bamboos into a towering golden grove before dawn.
• The clerks noticed Zhao Xing’s extraordinary results, while Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze found their own plants lagging behind.
• Tang Wanchun and Pang Yuan linked the failed crops and weakened spellcasting to Earth Veins Synthesis, and Chen Shijie told them to watch the assessment without intervening.

During the examination, Zhao Xing’s Earth Veins Synthesis disrupted other clerks’ crops, though they blamed Chen Shijie and failed to confront him. With Adamantine Bamboo ready, Zhao Xing crafted his first Mighty Vajra Puppet and continued making puppets while his others kept watch.

• Agriculture Officials recognized that Earth Veins Synthesis had secretly interfered with the clerks’ results, while Gao Linong privately took pleasure in his students’ unaffected performance.
• Huang Tao, Ma Wu, and other clerks blamed Chen Shijie for their ruined crops, though Huang Tao briefly wondered whether Zhao Xing or other powerful candidates had caused the damage.
• Zhao Xing reflected that most inland Ministers of Agriculture seemed unwilling to compete and decided to watch candidates who had repeatedly earned Grade A results.
• Zhao Xing harvested Adamantine Bamboo and used its branches to make a Mighty Straw Puppet, gaining proficiency in the technique and Every Tree and Bush an Enemy.
• Zhao Xing ordered his Repeating Straw Puppets to guard the grove and continued crafting Vajra Puppets.

Zhao Xing trained his Great Strength Straw Puppet Art and prepared for the upcoming assessment before Zong Shichang moved nearby and challenged him to a spell duel. The chapter ended with Zong Shichang summoning storm clouds as Zhao Xing ordered all twenty Straw Puppets to attack.

• Zhao Xing raised his Great Strength Straw Puppet Art to its second transformation and tested the Vajra Puppet's strength by letting it punch him.
• Zhao Xing checked his crops and planned to secretly damage some of Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze's plants on the third night.
• Zong Shichang arrived from the west and paid or threatened people into switching plots with him.
• Zong Shichang approached Zhao Xing and proposed an unrestricted spar, offering a spiritual pill if he won.
• Zhao Xing insisted that Zong Shichang pay if he lost, then retreated behind his Straw Puppets when Zong Shichang began casting Cloudcalling and Thunderclap.
• Zhao Xing ordered all twenty Straw Puppets to attack Zong Shichang.

Zhao Xing defeated Zong Shichang in a sparring match by using hidden straw men, Vajra Puppets, and Entangling Straw Puppets. Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze reconsidered the Straw Man Art, while Gao Linong watched his humiliated disciple limp away.

• Zong Shichang struck Zhao Xing's buried straw men with Guiding Thunder, but struggled to destroy them.
• Zhao Xing sent twenty Vajra Puppets after Zong Shichang, who used strong wind to fight them off.
• Zhao Xing's Entangling Straw Puppets bound Zong Shichang, and the Vajra Puppets knocked him down before he could concede.
• Zong Shichang conceded, then complained that Zhao Xing had ambushed him, while Zhao Xing defended the Straw Man Art.
• Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze reconsidered the Straw Man Art, and Xiao Ze decided to wait until after the assessment to ask Zhao Xing for guidance.
• Gao Linong watched Zong Shichang limp away and realized Tang Wanchun and Pang Yuan were struggling not to laugh.

After the Start-of-Autumn Examination ended, Chen Shijie used his cloud domain to halt all spellcasting and began inspecting the plants. Li Chengfeng received a Grade A evaluation, and the inspectors reached Wen Nanxing, Xiao Ze, and Zhao Xing, leaving their results to be assessed.

• News of Zong Shichang's defeat spread, and the other examinees began treating Zhao Xing as a top contender.
• Zhao Xing used Earth Veins Synthesis over three nights to nurture several plants and rapidly improve the spell's proficiency.
• Chen Shijie announced the examination's end and suppressed spellcasting throughout the Hundred Herbs Garden with his cloud domain.
• Chen Shijie and the other officials began inspecting the results, and Li Chengfeng received a unanimous Grade A evaluation.
• Chen Shijie gave a crying examinee a harsh assessment for letting nearly all his seedlings die, then continued grading the candidates.
• The inspectors passed more than half the Planting Area and arrived at Wen Nanxing, Xiao Ze, and Zhao Xing.

Chen Shijie rated Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze Grade B after learning they had failed to notice Zhao Xing secretly siphoning their energy with Earth Veins Synthesis, while Zhao Xing earned Grade A for cultivating one hundred second order plants. Impressed by Zhao Xing’s talent and aware of his limited resources, Chen Shijie and Xue Wenzhong offered to seek him a Tribute Recipient slot and fund his cultivation through the Temple Examination.

• Chen Shijie gave Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze Grade B ratings because their plants had not fully matured and their vigilance had been poor.
• Tang Wanchun and Pang Yuan told Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze that Zhao Xing had used Earth Veins Synthesis to steal their earth force and yuan energy, and the two realized what had happened.
• Chen Shijie rated Zhao Xing Grade A for cultivating one hundred second order plants across five varieties, including twenty second order high-grade Adamantine Bamboo.
• Xue Wenzhong explained how the county and commandery selected outstanding clerks for support ahead of the Temple Examination.
• Chen Shijie offered to apply for a Tribute Recipient slot for Zhao Xing, and he and Xue Wenzhong promised him cultivation resources until the Temple Examination.
• Zhao Xing thanked Chen Shijie and Xue Wenzhong and accepted their support.

Zhao Xing earned Grade A again and received generous support from Chen Shijie, while his assessment results drew both rivals and the attention of the Profound Heaven Sect. The Falcon Protector requested more information before deciding whether to add Zhao Xing to the sect’s capture list.

• Chen Shijie promised Zhao Xing a monthly allowance and fifteen Heaven Yuan Pears, and offered him a Heaven Yuan Pear sapling if he achieved Grade A again.
• Zhao Xing emerged from Hundred Herbs Garden to congratulations after the results showed that he, Li Chengfeng, and Zong Shichang were the only ones to earn Grade A.
• Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze privately blamed Zhao Xing for their poor assessments and vowed to repay him in a future assessment.
• The Three Bays Hall Master pointed out Zhao Xing’s repeated Grade A results to the Falcon Protector and asked whether he should be added to the capture list.
• The Falcon Protector ordered the Three Bays Hall Master to obtain detailed information about Zhao Xing before making a decision.

Zhao Xing received a hundred taels from Zhao Ruide, who also tried to choose him the courtesy name Start of Spring, which Zhao Xing rejected as too common. Chen Shijie sent Zhao Xing Heaven Yuan Pears, and eating one rapidly increased his vital energy.

• Falcon Protector ordered an orphan candidate added to the list but told his followers to keep observing Lin Baiwei and Han Bi while investigations continued.
• Zhao Xing told Zhao Ruide that he had become a tribute student and that Chen Shijie would sponsor his cultivation, so Zhao Ruide gave him a hundred taels from his secret savings.
• Zhao Ruide proposed Start of Spring as Zhao Xing’s courtesy name, but Zhao Xing said the name was too common and asked him to reconsider.
• Chen Shijie sent Zhao Xing a box of two Third Order, High Grade Heaven Yuan Pears, and Zhao Xing’s panel recorded a twenty-five-point vital energy increase after his first bite.
• Zhao Xing began eating the pear quickly to avoid wasting its vital energy.

Zhao Xing digested a Heaven Yuan Pear and reached the Gathering Yuan Third Stage after eating a second one two days later. As his new status brought visitors and gifts, he planned to improve his Bright Eyes Night Vision spell and observe the upcoming Limit of Heat assessments.

• Zhao Xing gained 195 points of yuan energy from a Heaven Yuan Pear and saw that he was close to the Gathering Yuan Third Stage.
• Madam Cai began welcoming Zhao Xing's visiting colleagues warmly after he gave her silver and explained his new Gong member status.
• Zhao Xing ate a second Heaven Yuan Pear and advanced to the Gathering Yuan Third Stage, improving his spell proficiency.
• Zhao Xing considered attending the Limit of Heat assessments for spirit writing and ritual sacrifice, then studied late into the night to improve his Bright Eyes Night Vision spell.

Zhao Xing studied Agrarian School theories and rapidly trained his Bright Eyes spell to prepare for the upcoming Temple Examination. By the eve of the Limit of Heat solar term, he had reached Nine Turns and looked forward to the river-lantern rites for possible benefits.

• Zhao Xing read about the Seventy-Two Pentads of the Lunar Calendar and considered the rare transformations and climate shifts recorded in its older editions.
• Zhao Xing studied Five Elements and Four Seasons Theory and decided to avoid presenting overly advanced ideas at the Temple Examination.
• After studying through the night, Zhao Xing advanced Bright Eyes to Four Turns.
• Zhao Xing bought materials and fumigated his eyes with Mugwort Leaf, Bright Sand, and Heavenly Heart Grass, then soothed them with Tung Oil to accelerate his spell training.
• Zhao Xing practiced Bright Eyes nightly while cultivating Favorable Timing and Location at the Ministry of Agriculture, eventually reaching Nine Turns before the twenty-second day of the eighth month.
• On the eve of the Limit of Heat, Zhao Xing anticipated releasing river lanterns and sacrificing to departed souls, hoping to gain something from the occasion.

Zhao Xing used his knowledge of ghost wealth to hire the River Scavenger Xu Laoba for a short dive during the River Lantern Festival. While waiting for the auspicious hour, he spotted the Ceremonial Official guarding True Lord Cao Xi Hall and moved closer to hear about the temple clerks’ assessment.

• Zhao Xing declined to attend the River Lantern Festival with Qian Dong and Chen Ziyu, then headed to Fisherman's Wharf to seek ghost wealth.
• Zhao Xing hired Xu Laoba for a three-shichen dive, paying two taels and five qian and providing a refundable deposit.
• Zhao Xing and Xu Laoba reached Fisherman's Wharf, where Zhao Xing chose to look around before deciding where to dive.
• Zhao Xing spotted the Ceremonial Official guarding True Lord Cao Xi Hall surrounded by temple clerks and used vital energy to listen to them.

During the Divine Temple assessment, Zhao Xing spotted Earl of East Lake’s divine manifestation and later discovered a drowned ghost searching for its home. As Zhao Xing tried to learn what the ghost wanted, an assessing clerk used a Soul Guiding Lamp to draw it away.

• Meng Yun explained the spirit-pacification assessment and carried Earl of East Lake’s divine manifestation, which Zhao Xing saw with Bright Eyes.
• Zhao Xing and Xu Laoba stopped to eat before beginning their patrol, and Zhao Xing sensed a damp Yin Wind.
• Zhao Xing followed a chubby wandering soul and learned it had been dead for at least twelve years and wanted to tell its family where its body and buried silver were.
• The ghost refused to reveal where it had buried the silver and continued searching for its home near Dangyou County.
• A Divine Temple clerk called the ghost with a Soul Guiding Lamp, and the ghost began walking toward the light.