Chapter Summaries

Li Ye bought an Earth Vein Comprehensive Disc and discovered that the ordinary-looking Huai Spirit Scroll was actually a dormant spirit beast. He tried to bind it to his lotus, but the cost of 2,000 Vital Essence left him fearing the scroll might be a Spirit Demon.

• Li Ye bought Cultivator Jiang's Earth Vein Comprehensive Disc for two hundred Spirit Stones.
• Li Ye purchased the Huai Spirit Scroll and another book from a cultivator selling old tales.
• Li Ye returned home, installed the disc, and had the beavers use it to water his spiritual plants while dismantling unnecessary dams.
• Li Ye tried to bind the Huai Spirit Scroll to his lotus, but the panel required 2,000 points of Vital Essence.
• Li Ye suspected the dormant scroll might contain a Spirit Demon and grew wary of it.

Li Ye learned the Peach Blossom Spirit Brew Rain technique from the peach branch and prepared ingredients to brew it. While gathering morning dew, he discovered the Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp had shed many valuable scales near an immature gourd.

• Li Ye concluded the Huai Spirit Scroll might be a Golden Core book demon and stored it away until he could control it.
• Li Ye learned the Peach Blossom Spirit Brew Rain inheritance and ordered ten liang of finest cinnabar through the Automaton Box.
• Li Ye gathered morning dew and prepared a vat with the Formation Patterns needed to brew Peach Blossom Brew.
• Several days later, Li Ye found the Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus's gourd covered in cracks and noticed the Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp had grown livelier.
• Li Ye collected more than twenty golden-red scales from the pond but could not pluck the still-immature gourd.

Li Ye completed the purification of the Hungry Bone, releasing the resentful Soul Essence and producing a powerful Aura of Golden Fortune. Spirit Vine learned of his success, arranged for the sect to take an interest in him, and waited for him to report back, but Li Ye arrived a week later.

• Li Ye sealed the peach blossom branch in the prepared vat, then fried and ate the fish scales, which contained pure Spiritual Energy and were said to preserve one's looks.
• Half a month later, the flower atop the Hungry Bone turned gold as the bones decayed and a young man's Soul Essence appeared before vanishing with the bone fragments.
• Spirit Vine saw the Hungry Bone task marked complete and told a cultivator that Li Ye had purified the resentful Soul Essence.
• The cultivator decided that Li Ye should be treated as a disciple chosen by the sect, ordered Spirit Vine to give him more Hungry Bones, and asked it to deliver an item and have Su Ya guide him.
• Spirit Vine waited for Li Ye to return for a week before he finally arrived, looking fairer than before.

Li Ye learned that the Hungry Bones contained mortal souls and that their weathering allowed them to reincarnate, while Spirit Vine offered the grieving Micro-Stream Beaver a Buddhist method to help deliver suffering souls. The beaver agreed to learn the Lotus Heart-Saving Sutra, and Li Ye began teaching it.

• Spirit Vine confirmed that the Hungry Bones had been transformed from mortal souls and praised the Micro-Stream Beaver for helping them find release.
• Spirit Vine gave Li Ye the Lotus Heart-Saving Sutra and explained that the beaver could cultivate its heart and help deliver wronged souls.
• Li Ye returned home and found the beaver sitting alone by the embankment, still mourning Hungry Bone.
• The beaver agreed to learn the method because it trusted Li Ye, and he began reading the sutra while conveying his understanding through the panel.

After reaching the eighth level of Qi Refinement, Li Ye traveled from Returning Shore Market to the Zhou Family’s Spring Thunder Wheat Fields for Jingzhe. He arrived beneath a storm gathering over the fields and wondered how the Zhou Family summoned the thunder needed for its harvest.

• Li Ye advanced to the eighth level of Qi Refinement, though a lingering meridian scar still troubled him, and he noted that he had wood-, water-, and fire-aligned spiritual power but lacked metal and earth.
• Li Ye accepted Su Ya’s invitation to witness the Spring Thunder Wheat Fields at Jingzhe and learned that Fellow Daoist Zhou’s name was Zhou Qiumai.
• A mortal girl from the Zhou Family arrived with a carriage and took Li Ye away from Returning Shore Market.
• After half a shichen of travel, Li Ye reached the Zhou Family’s vast wheat fields as dark clouds and lightning gathered overhead.
• Zhou Qiumai welcomed Li Ye and identified the fields as the source of the Zhou Family’s livelihood; Li Ye wondered how they brought Heavenly Thunder to aid the harvest.

Li Ye joined Su Ya and Zhou Qiumai for the Zhou Family’s Spring Thunder Wheat harvest, where the Four Seasons Sect’s Heavenly Sound Thunder God used lightning to ripen the fields. Li Ye’s Spirit Gathering Art attracted a rare Wheat Spirit Yellow Ox, and Zhou Qiumai offered him a future guest elder position as a gesture of goodwill.

• Su Ya explained that the Heavenly Sound Thunder God would use its divine ability to ripen the Zhou Family’s Spring Thunder Wheat and that cultivators could claim any spirits or Wheat Pellets they found.
• The Heavenly Sound Thunder God sent purple lightning across the fields, ripening the wheat and sending waves of flour surging toward the cultivators.
• Su Ya urged Li Ye and Zhou Qiumai to gather the spiritual harvest before the Zhou Family let its spiritual power disperse.
• Li Ye used his altered Spirit Gathering Art and drew in large amounts of wheat flour and several blue Wheat Pellets.
• A Wheat Spirit Yellow Ox settled on Li Ye’s shoulder, and Su Ya said it could help him cultivate any kind of wheat.
• Zhou Qiumai assured Li Ye that the Zhou Family would not contest the Wheat Spirit and invited him to become a guest elder after reaching Foundation Establishment.

Li Ye and Su Ya collected spiritual wheat at the Zhou Family’s harvest and attended the Hundred Wheat Banquet. Li Ye then found a nest of Golden Horn Ants for sale and considered their needs and price.

• Li Ye accepted Zhou Qiumai’s invitation to collect wheat and promised to help him if needed.
• Li Ye and Su Ya gathered wheat flour and Wheat Pellets, and each obtained a wheat spirit before dividing their harvest.
• A golden ring collected the remaining wheat and spirits, after which the Zhou Family offered the field’s wheat to the Thunder God in a thunderfire rite.
• Zhou Qiumai explained that the field mice were beneficial beasts called Senior Mouse and led Li Ye and Su Ya to the Hundred Wheat Banquet.
• Li Ye sampled the banquet’s food and found a female cultivator selling a nest of Golden Horn Ants for one thousand Spirit Stones.

Li Ye bought a nest of Golden Horn Ants and Sharp Metal Ore, then found that the scattered plants at Third Uncle Zhou’s stall were pieces of a single Spirit Vein Willow. The chapter ended with Li Ye realizing the plant could be assembled and bound to a spirit beast that loved mineral or spirit veins.

• Li Ye bought the Golden Horn Ant nest for one thousand Spirit Stones and learned it needed buried ore and consumed about three jin each day.
• Li Ye decided that raising too many creatures would drain his Vital Essence and Heart Power, so he would focus on quality.
• Li Ye bought one hundred jin of Sharp Metal Ore and found no suitable earth-element spirit beasts or plants.
• Li Ye encountered Third Uncle Zhou selling strange plants from Ripple Cliff Grotto-Heaven and haggled over the price.
• Li Ye used his panel to discover that the plants were separate pieces of one dormant Spirit Vein Willow that could be bound once assembled.

Li Ye bargained with Third Uncle Zhou to buy the scattered pieces of a Spirit Vein Willow, then returned home to sort through his acquisitions and prepare his new spirit plants and beasts. He ended the chapter struggling to figure out how to assemble the seemingly unrelated willow parts.

• Li Ye pretended to lose interest in Third Uncle Zhou's spirit plants, then negotiated their price down to three hundred Spirit Stones and promised him a bottle of Peach Blossom Wine.
• Li Ye left the banquet with the spirit plants, greeted Su Ya, and rode back to the market in a Zhou Family carriage.
• Li Ye returned home, released the Wheat Spirit, and bound it to a stalk of Frost Wheat for one hundred points of Vital Essence.
• Li Ye buried Sharp Metal Ore near the market's underground layers and released the Golden Horn Ants to break down and transport it.
• Li Ye washed the Spirit Vein Willow pieces and found them difficult to assemble because they looked like several unrelated spirit plants.

Li Ye faced a sudden late spring cold snap and checked how it affected the spirit plants and beasts in his courtyard. The wheat and other crops weathered the snow, and the Silver Moon Grass began reviving and producing Moon Nectar Pearls.

• Li Ye soaked the Spirit Vein Willow in spirit water and decided to ask Senior Spirit Vine to appraise it the next day.
• The Micro-Stream Beaver woke Li Ye and alerted him to a snowstorm caused by a late spring cold snap.
• Li Ye discovered that the wheat spirit, Frost Wheat, and Start of Spring Wheat had formed a barrier that protected the wheat from the cold.
• Li Ye placed Fire Spirit Stones in the stream for the chilled lotuses, while the Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp hid in the mud and he moved the Golden Horn Ants into the kitchen.
• Li Ye found that the cold had awakened the Flint Crystal Worms and was reviving the Silver Moon Grass, which began condensing Moon Nectar Pearls.

A Four Seasons Sect elder caused a sudden cold snap that brought Snow Fiends to Returning Shore Market, where Li Ye and his beavers fought them off. After learning the sect planned to reward cultivators with a sermon, Li Ye was recruited by Su Ya to help refine pills using Flint Crystal Worm flint fire.

• Spirit Vine questioned the white-haired woman about the cold snap, and she said it would last ten days and be followed by a sermon on Bean Soldiering.
• Snow Fiends appeared in Li Ye's courtyard, where the beavers' black aura destroyed them and revealed crystals containing strange qi.
• Li Ye stayed home overnight, killing more Snow Fiends and collecting crystals while other cultivators hunted them outside.
• After daybreak, Li Ye went to the market and met Su Ya, who explained that his sect's martial uncle had caused the cold snap and planned to lecture cultivators after the wheat ripened.
• Su Ya asked Li Ye to use his Flint Crystal Worm flint fire to help refine pills from Snow Fiend crystals, then hurried him into the Four Seasons Sect shop.

Li Ye accompanied Su Ya to the Four Seasons Pavilion, where Su Ya used Li Ye’s Flint Fire Seeds to refine Snow Fiend-tainted spirit crystals into Pure White Marrow Fluid. Su Ya explained the seeds’ potential value and offered to find renters for them, while Li Ye shared his harvest of spirit plants and beast materials with him.

• Su Ya showed Li Ye the spacious Four Seasons Pavilion and opened the room containing his Alchemy Furnace.
• Li Ye lent Su Ya his five Flint Fire Seeds, and Su Ya used them to refine the spirit crystals into Pure White Marrow Fluid.
• Su Ya explained that Flint Fire Seeds could have culinary uses and offered to find trustworthy renters who might pay three to five hundred Spirit Stones a month.
• Su Ya worried Li Ye might forget him if they both joined the Four Seasons Sect, and Li Ye promised he would remember Su Ya’s help.
• Li Ye brought out Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus parts and Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp scales for Su Ya to examine.

Li Ye learned that the Spirit Vein Willow needed a spirit vein to recover, and realized he would need to acquire one before he could cultivate it. He returned home during the worsening cold snap and considered earning the money and favor needed to buy a spirit vein.

• Su Ya examined Li Ye’s wild-grown Spiritual Materials, offered him four hundred Spirit Stones to buy them, and immediately began refining pills with them.
• Li Ye left Su Ya to work and bought a basic information booklet about spiritual plants in the Ripple Cliff Grotto-Heaven for one hundred Spirit Stones.
• Li Ye found the Spirit Vein Willow entry and learned that the second-rank plant could accumulate spiritual power and transform into a spirit vein, but needed a spirit vein to recover.
• Li Ye realized that renting a first-rank spirit vein cost about one thousand Spirit Stones a month and buying one cost around ten thousand, with the Four Seasons Sect’s approval required.
• Li Ye returned home through the severe snow, set the Mo Family’s Automaton Mouse to melt and store snow water, and hoped his Peach Blossom Wine, wheat, and Su Ya’s pills would help him earn enough money and favor to buy a spirit vein.

Li Ye stayed home during the late spring snowstorm, gathering and purifying spiritually rich snow water while the Silver Moon Grass produced more Moon Nectar Pearls. After the snow melted, he celebrated his harvest and opened a vat of peach blossom wine, which the beavers eagerly drank before tumbling into the pond to play with the Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp.

• Li Ye collected snow water day and night and used the Spirit Gathering Art to purify it, while the beaver and Hungry Bone dealt with Snow Fiends.
• The Silver Moon Grass produced another one hundred and twenty Moon Nectar Pearls, and Li Ye moved it and the Flint Crystal Worms indoors as the clouds cleared.
• Li Ye inspected his harvest of sixty jin of clear spirit liquid, white crystals, and Pure White Marrow Fluid as the spring warmth melted the snow.
• Li Ye pulled the jade peach blossom branch from the vat, revealing fragrant pink wine, and offered some to the beavers as a reward.
• The wine-drunk beavers tumbled around the courtyard and played with the Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp, even grabbing their whiskers.

Li Ye used Peach Blossom Spirit Brew Rain to nourish his courtyard plants and broke through to Qi Refining Stage Nine. The next day, after giving the Zhou Family a bottle of wine, he found a Four Seasons Sect pill sale featuring pills refined from his materials and decided to attend.

• Li Ye cast Peach Blossom Spirit Brew Rain over his courtyard, nourishing his spiritual plants and spirit beasts.
• The spiritual plants returned their tempered Spiritual Energy to Li Ye, helping him advance from Qi Refining Stage Eight to Qi Refining Stage Nine.
• Li Ye decided to keep his Peach Blossom Wine and began considering how to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• A woman from the Zhou Family came to buy Peach Blossom Wine, but Li Ye gave her a bottle for Third Granduncle instead of taking her Spirit Stones.
• Li Ye saw a notice for Alchemist Su Ya's pill sale at the Four Seasons Sect shop and recognized pills made from the materials he had provided.

Li Ye visited Su Ya during an auction and learned about Divine Snow Spirit Liquid while Su Ya explained the rare materials behind their pills. The auction drove the Crimson-Gold Beauty Pills to high bids, and Su Ya’s admiration for Li Ye’s unusual materials deepened.

• Su Ya welcomed Li Ye into a private room, where Li Ye gave him Peach Blossom Wine and asked about the spirit liquid he had found in the snow.
• Su Ya identified the liquid as Divine Snow Spirit Liquid and explained that it blended with spirit water and could improve Peach Blossom Wine.
• Mo Dingwu opened the auction with Su Ya’s Clear Snow Spirit Pills, which sold for up to four hundred and sixty Spirit Stones each.
• Su Ya gave Li Ye two Clear Snow Spirit Pills as a gift and thanked him for the Flint Fire Seeds that had helped with the refining.
• Mo Dingwu auctioned two Crimson-Gold Beauty Pills made from Li Ye’s materials, and bids quickly passed five hundred Spirit Stones.
• Su Ya explained how the Dragon Carp scales and other materials had fused naturally, saying the experience had convinced him that Li Ye’s materials were extraordinary.

Li Ye learned from Su Ya about a rare Four Seasons Sect opportunity that could grant a divine ability, and resolved to compete for first place in two missions to enter it. Their partnership’s pills sold at auction for high prices, earning Li Ye 4,200 Spirit Stones from the latest batch.

• Su Ya and Li Ye agreed to split the proceeds from the Crimson-Gold Beauty Pills, which sold for 1,200 and 1,500 Spirit Stones.
• Su Ya told Li Ye that winning first place in two Four Seasons Sect missions, using the Autumn Harvest Token, and paying about 10,000 Spirit Stones could earn him entry to the Myriad Mountains God Temple before Foundation Establishment.
• Li Ye decided to do his utmost to win the missions and pursue the chance to receive a mountain god’s blessing or a divine ability.
• The Lotus Calming Pills sold for 100 Spirit Stones each, while the three Gourd Body Tempering Pills sold for as much as 2,000 Spirit Stones apiece.
• Li Ye calculated that his half of the latest pill sales amounted to 4,200 Spirit Stones and decided to continue partnering with Su Ya.

Li Ye returned home after selling pills and checked on his wheat and beavers while preparing for the coming Grain Rain harvest. A beaver showed him a spell that transferred the agony of Hungry Bone, and Li Ye stayed home to cultivate and study as he waited for the wheat to ripen.

• Li Ye declined Su Ya's offer to introduce him to cultivators and returned home with two Clear Snow Spirit Pills and 4,200 Spirit Stones.
• Li Ye inspected his thriving wheat, which the Wheat Spirit, Frost Wheat, and Start of Spring Wheat sustained by sharing Spiritual Energy.
• A beaver told Li Ye that five Hungry Bones were nearly purified and let him experience the endless hunger trapped inside their Soul Essence.
• The beaver gave Li Ye a black lotus petal made of Aura of Golden Fortune that contained a spell for transferring pain, but Li Ye returned it to the beaver for safekeeping.
• The beaver refused Li Ye's offer to find it more companions, and Li Ye stayed home refining Spiritual Energy and reading ancient texts until Grain Rain.

Li Ye harvested his ripened Start of Spring Wheat and discovered that 520 of its 1,150 stalks had produced Wheat Pellets. At the Four Seasons Sect’s purchasing room, the buyers recognized the wheat’s extraordinary value and prepared to bring Uncle Spirit Vine back to assess the harvest.

• On Grain Rain, Li Ye harvested all 1,150 stalks of Start of Spring Wheat while the beavers gathered the fallen ears.
• Li Ye counted 520 stalks with fully nurtured Wheat Pellets and packed the harvest to turn in his mission.
• Su Ya brought Li Ye to Junior Brother He, the sect’s wheat buyer, who examined the harvest and confirmed its quality.
• Junior Brother He counted 520 Wheat Pellets and offered Li Ye 200 Spirit Stones per Pellet and three Spirit Stones for each remaining stalk.
• Su Ya explained that Start of Spring Wheat Wheat Pellets were rare treasures and said the sect should invite Uncle Spirit Vine back.

Li Ye won the Start of Spring Wheat trial and received more than 107,000 Spirit Stones, then discussed the costs of sect life and his plans with Su Ya. Spirit Vine returned and offered a summer mission raising silkworms and cultivating mulberries, while hinting that Li Ye could pursue it without first reaching Foundation Establishment.

• Li Ye took first place in the wheat trial, and Fellow Daoist He paid him 107,450 Spirit Stones for his Wheat Pellets and wheat.
• Li Ye considered how to use his new wealth to improve his courtyard and strengthen his cultivation, while Su Ya warned him that sect expenses could be enormous.
• Li Ye asked Su Ya to keep his achievement private, and Su Ya explained that Li Ye had nearly completed the missions required to enter the Myriad Gods Temple.
• Spirit Vine returned, praised Li Ye, and said an opportunity awaited him after he completed Hungry Bone's mission.
• Spirit Vine announced a summer mission to raise silkworms and cultivate mulberries, then offered to sell Li Ye supplies.