Chapter Summaries

Chen Mu cooked for Old Hao, who told him about Tianhe Water Mansion and tried to sell him Calming Spirit Pills. A month later, Chen Mu tested his Hidden Sand Technique and found it had advanced much faster than his White Sun True Elucidation, while the Jade Disc left him nearly out of money.

• Chen Mu cooked a meal, and Old Hao visited to discuss the risks of growing Yellow Sprout Rice.
• Old Hao told Chen Mu that Tianhe Water Mansion offered goods at lower prices than Tongtian Market and tried to sell him thirty-two Calming Spirit Pills for one White Jade Coin.
• Chen Mu refused Old Hao's offer, suspecting the pills were fake.
• A month later, Chen Mu tested his Hidden Sand Technique and pierced a thick boulder with a pellet.
• Chen Mu saw that his Hidden Sand Technique had advanced ahead of his White Sun True Elucidation, while the Jade Disc had consumed sixty White Jade Coins and left him with twenty-seven.

Chen Mu began selling small batches of Calming Spirit Pills at the Underground Market while carefully avoiding detection. As his Yellow Sprout Rice neared maturity, Emerald Green Beetles repeatedly invaded the fields, leaving him worried that a wider insect plague might threaten other farmers.

• Chen Mu set a limit on Shang Huan’s pill sales and tested the Underground Market by selling twelve bottles of Calming Spirit Pills under a disguise.
• Chen Mu evaded possible pursuit, counted his profits, and continued making cautious sales every five or six days without incident.
• Chen Mu tended his thriving Yellow Sprout Rice fields and used the Heartless Bell and Five Ghosts Bag to destroy a sudden swarm of Emerald Green Beetles.
• Three days later, Chen Mu’s patrols detected another beetle swarm, and he worried that an insect plague might also endanger Old Hao and other farmers.

A devastating beetle infestation ravaged the Yellow Sprout Rice fields, and Chen Mu concealed his ability to fight it while choosing not to draw attention to himself. As the Lower Academy struggled to respond, Old Hao and Shang Huan prepared to sell a dubious powder, and Chen Mu arrived with a sack of beetle-modified Spirit-Disturbing Smoke.

• Emerald Green Beetles consumed crops across the basin, and Chen Mu used the Heartless Bell and Five Yin Souls to stop them from destroying his field, though he lost nearly a tenth of his rice.
• Lin Su asked Junior Brother Liang about Supervisor Song Wuji's return and paid him to help secure the Mirror of Illumination.
• Old Hao visited Chen Mu, who claimed he had no way to stop the beetles, and explained that the infestation had destroyed much of his own harvest.
• Old Hao told Chen Mu that eight of his twenty mu had been lost and that Old Li had lost all fifteen mu, then rushed back to fight the insects.
• Old Hao and Shang Huan mixed a pungent powder to sell as an insecticide, planning to use Old Li to absorb the risk if it failed.
• Chen Mu arrived at Shang Huan's Residence with beetle-modified Spirit-Disturbing Smoke and found the two men preparing their dubious product.

Chen Mu watched Old Li sell Shang Huan’s counterfeit insecticide smoke to Old Niu, then made more smoke himself while hoping the beetle infestation would keep it in demand. Supervisor Song Wuji returned with a vast swarm of red flying insects that rapidly killed the pests in Chen Mu’s field.

• Old Li persuaded Old Niu to consider buying insecticide smoke by claiming a special weed protected his surviving rice, while Chen Mu watched and knew the story and field were fabricated.
• Old Hao and Shang Huan worried that Old Li had failed to sell the smoke until he returned and announced that he had brought them big business.
• Chen Mu produced roughly fifty jin of insecticide smoke and tried to justify his interest in selling it as a desire to protect the rice fields.
• A huge swarm of red flying insects arrived from Tongtian Market and killed the pests in Chen Mu’s field.
• Chen Mu recognized that Supervisor Song Wuji had returned and admired the supervisor’s ability to control the insect swarm.

Chen Mu profited from selling Insecticide Smoke and used the proceeds to assess his cultivation progress. Meanwhile, Song Wuji and Liang Yi discussed Lin Su’s request to use the Mirror of Illumination and decided to take more money from him.

• Song Wuji suppressed the Emerald Green Beetle plague, though the Yellow Sprout Rice harvest suffered losses.
• Chen Mu gave Shang Huan an aged Insecticide Smoke formula, took half the earnings, and left Shang Huan with more than four hundred White Jade Coins.
• Chen Mu counted his share, reviewed his Proficiency, and realized he was nearing the sensing stage as the Jade Seed absorbed Soul Force and Divine Intent.
• Song Wuji questioned Liang Yi about Lin Su’s request to use the Mirror of Illumination to find someone he claimed was his direct bloodline.
• Liang Yi admitted he suspected Lin Su wanted a treasure, and Song Wuji told him to scam Lin Su for more money.

Lin Su obtained a tracking disk to pursue the stranger connected to Dong Cheng’s disappearance, while Liang Yi’s attempt to make a Dao Seal reveal itself accidentally erased Chen Mu’s mark. Chen Mu realized the mark’s destruction meant he had reached the sensing stage.

• Lin Su bribed Liang Yi to retrieve a White Jade disk that could track the stranger present when Dong Cheng disappeared.
• Liang Yi secretly used the Mirror of Illumination to make the stranger’s Dao Seal reveal itself, but the black dot vanished instead.
• Chen Mu tended his damaged rice field and practiced his techniques, then naturally advanced the Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique to Tier 8.
• Chen Mu’s Dao Seal mark turned red, cooled under the Black Smoke from his technique, and crumbled into ash.
• Chen Mu realized the Dao Seal’s disappearance meant he had reached the sensing stage.

Chen Mu tested the Black Smoke Veil’s automatic defenses and learned how difficult Spiritual Light sensing was for other disciples, while Old Hao celebrated the successful rice harvest. The chapter ended with Chen Mu bringing White Sun True Elucidation to its limit and revealing a peanut-sized sphere of White Jade.

• Liang Yi realized Chen Mu had cultivated Spiritual Light sensing and worried Lin Su would blame him after the Exquisite Jade Disk’s tracking mark vanished.
• Lin Su found the mark on his White Jade gone and suspected Liang Yi had swindled him over the Exquisite Jade Disk.
• Chen Mu tested his Black Smoke Veil by letting rocks fall toward him and watched it automatically smash them.
• Chen Mu and Old Hao celebrated the Yellow Sprout Rice harvest, which earned Old Hao twenty-four White Jade Coins.
• Old Hao told Chen Mu that he had failed to cultivate protective Spiritual Light despite twenty years of effort and five visits to the Upper Courtyard Training Ground.
• Chen Mu reached the limit of White Sun True Elucidation, and a peanut-sized sphere of White Jade appeared before him.

Chen Mu visited the Scripture Transmission Courtyard to buy a Spiritual Light Sensing technique, only to learn how costly and dangerous cultivation could be. After buying the Hundred Intents Spiritual Light Technique, he was warned to wait until his Jade Seed was complete, then offered a fifty-White-Jade-Coin cultivation class.

• Chen Mu watched a specialist use an Insect Cloud to crush the harvested Yellow Sprout Rice stalks and learned how farmers could save for secret arts over many years.
• Chen Mu realized his Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique and Jade Seed had already brought him far along the path that Lower Courtyard disciples pursued for decades.
• Three days later, Chen Mu went to the Scripture Transmission Courtyard and found that Spiritual Light Sensing techniques cost hundreds of White Jade Coins.
• Chen Mu paid 288 White Jade Coins for the Hundred Intents Spiritual Light Technique after the Gray-haired Elder refused to let him bargain.
• The Gray-haired Elder warned Chen Mu not to study the technique until his Jade Seed was complete, then tried to sell him cultivation classes for fifty White Jade Coins.

Chen Mu learned that Supervisor Fu had warned him about cultivation dangers to sell courses, then used a Jade Plate to begin practicing the Hundred Intents Spiritual Light Technique. Meanwhile, Lin Su followed Liang Yi’s advice to investigate the person who had acquired Spiritual Light, leaving Chen Mu unaware of the search for his trail.

• Chen Mu used his Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique to grill meat and shared it with Old Hao, who advised him to practice Spirit-Soul Unification before seeking lectures at the Scripture Transmission Courtyard.
• Old Hao revealed that Supervisor Fu had used the same head-exploding warning to sell him a Spiritual Light secret art twenty years earlier, and he described the Hundred Intents Spiritual Light Technique as steady but extremely slow to complete.
• Liang Yi redirected the resentful Lin Su to Supervisor Fu’s records of Sensing Technique buyers, and Lin Su hurried off to investigate the trail indicated by the Mirror of Illumination.
• Five days later, Chen Mu used a Jade Plate to comprehend the Star-Dot Silver Thread Pattern and formed a mesh sphere around his Jade Seed.
• Chen Mu checked his progress and found the Hundred Intents Spiritual Light Technique at Tier 1, then realized the Jade Plate’s limited uses might force him to buy another copy.

Lin Su investigated secret-technique exchanges to find the thief who stole the Exquisite Jade Disk while Chen Mu enjoyed the New Year and worried about the cost of cultivation. When Chen Mu returned to selling Calming Spirit Pills, he encountered a competitor who immediately undercut his price.

• Lin Su ordered Wu Lie to investigate everyone who had exchanged for a Sensing Technique in the past twenty years, especially famous geniuses.
• Chen Mu cooked a New Year’s feast, reflected on his progress and expenses, and considered selling more Calming Spirit Pills.
• Zhang Tuan and his attendant tried to provoke Shang Huan into handing over his Calming Spirit Pill formula, but Shang Huan accepted their offer of forty-six White Jade Coins.
• Chen Mu set up his medicine stall in the Underground Market and put out ten bottles of Calming Spirit Pills to cover his growing expenses.
• A middle-aged seller set up a nearby stall and changed his sign to offer one White Jade Coin for thirty-three Calming Spirit Pills, undercutting Chen Mu.

Chen Mu cultivated the Hundred Intents Spiritual Light Technique, secured a lease for ten more mu of Yellow Sprout Rice fields, and went to the Underground Market to sell Calming Spirit Pills. He discovered that numerous sellers had flooded the market and undercut his prices, leaving him alarmed about his business.

• Chen Mu cultivated the Hundred Intents Spiritual Light Technique and realized that sensing Spiritual Light could take more than seven months.
• Old Hao told Chen Mu that Old Bai had left to marry thirty-six concubines, then accompanied him to register for ten mu of western farmland.
• Chen Mu noticed hundreds of disciples heading to the Upper Courtyard Training Ground and suspected the Patrol Institute might still be searching covertly for the White Jade Disk.
• Ten days later, Chen Mu used the Five Ghosts Yin Souls to plow his new fields, disguised himself, and traveled to the Underground Market to sell Calming Spirit Pills.
• Chen Mu found at least seven stalls selling Calming Spirit Pills, with prices cut as low as thirty-seven pills per White Jade Coin, and grew alarmed at the competition.

After fake Calming Spirit Pills disrupted Chen Mu’s sales, he prepared genuine pills for the Ghost Ship and discovered that Shang Huan had spread the counterfeit formula. Chen Mu joined Old Hao and Shang Huan at Tongtian Market Dock, where a White Turtle emerged from the Heaven-Reaching River.

• Chen Mu failed to sell his genuine Calming Spirit Pills at the Underground Market and learned from Old Hao that the Ghost Ship would arrive in seven or eight days.
• Chen Mu made Calming Spirit Pills for the trip, practiced throwing Fasting Pills, and advanced his Hidden Sand Technique proficiency to 8670/10000/Tier 3.
• Chen Mu overheard Shang Huan selling a formula for counterfeit Calming Spirit Pills and realized Shang Huan had caused the market disruption.
• Chen Mu knocked Shang Huan and Old Hao to the ground, then waited seven days before going with them to Tongtian Market Dock.
• A ferocious White Turtle emerged from the Heaven-Reaching River, revealing what Old Hao had called the Ghost Ship.

Chen Mu sold Calming Spirit Pills safely aboard the Spirit Shuttle, then visited Red Sleeve Workshop and learned about Otherworldly Beings. After advancing his Hidden Sand Technique, he noticed two strangers repeatedly visiting his courtyard and decided to find out what they wanted.

• Chen Mu sold twenty bottles of Calming Spirit Pills to Imperial Quality Pavilion for twenty White Jade Coins and decided to keep selling at a cautious pace.
• Chen Mu spent a White Jade Coin to visit Red Sleeve Workshop, where he saw an Otherworldly Being performance and sampled exotic foods.
• Chen Mu practiced Hidden Sand Technique in Low Hill until it advanced to Tier 4, increasing its speed and shortening its activation time.
• Chen Mu spotted two strangers inspecting his fields and heading toward his courtyard, so he hid underground.
• After the strangers returned for a third time, Chen Mu decided to meet them and discover their purpose.

Zhang Tuan tried to recruit Chen Mu into the Purple Bamboo Society by offering him Calming Spirit Pills, but Chen Mu declined while considering whether the group could later help sell his pills. After learning Chen Mu was a skilled farmer, Zhang Tuan arranged to pass his information to a group that coerced farmers, intending to make him experience hardship before approaching him again.

• Zhang Tuan told Chen Mu about the Purple Bamboo Society and offered him thirty-five Calming Spirit Pills for joining, but Chen Mu declined the invitation.
• After Zhang Tuan left, Chen Mu inspected the pills, recognized them as genuine, and decided to avoid the society while considering a future business partnership.
• Zhang Tuan explained to Ding Wu that he wanted to recruit Chen Mu through sincere treatment rather than intimidation.
• Chen Mu secretly overheard Zhang Tuan and concluded the society would leave him alone for now, then returned to his cultivation work.
• Back at the Purple Bamboo Society, Zhang Tuan learned Chen Mu was an accomplished farmer and ordered Ding Wu to tell a group of coercive Former Disciples about him.

Ding Wu tried to sell Chen Mu’s farming skills to Zheng Jin, but Chen Mu had already learned of the scheme and impersonated Ding Wu to meet the Seven Siblings of Wushan. When Zheng Jin announced that they would seize Purple Bamboo Society members for labor, Chen Mu attacked and killed him before fleeing.

• Ding Wu approached Zheng Jin at the pavilion and offered information about Chen Mu, but left after Zheng Jin spat at him instead of paying.
• Chen Mu revealed that he had been watching the Purple Bamboo Society and used the Shape Shift Technique to impersonate Ding Wu.
• Zheng Jin arrived with White Jade Coins and said the Seven Siblings of Wushan wanted to take Purple Bamboo Society members to farm for them.
• Chen Mu attacked Zheng Jin with Hidden Sand, and Zheng Jin countered with Rakshasa.
• Chen Mu struck Zheng Jin down with Black Smoke, pierced his forehead with another attack, confirmed he was dead, gathered the spoils, and escaped.

Zhang Tuan planned to turn the Purple Bamboo Society’s conflict with the Seven Siblings of Wushan into a profitable alliance, but Chen Mu attacked and killed him and Ding Wu. Chen Mu left as the deaths set the two groups on course for conflict.

• Zhang Tuan told Ding Wu to gather information on the Seven Siblings of Wushan and their enemies while the Purple Bamboo Society built its strength.
• An attendant reported that Zheng Jin had died and that the Seven Siblings of Wushan wanted Zhang Tuan to answer for Ding Wu’s alleged role.
• Zhang Tuan proposed renting out Purple Bamboo Society members to the Seven Siblings of Wushan and staging a good-cop, bad-cop act with them.
• Chen Mu shot Ding Wu, survived Zhang Tuan’s attacks, and tore apart Zhang Tuan’s Five Yin Black Fiend Net with his bare hands.
• Chen Mu pierced Zhang Tuan’s defenses, killed him, and used Five Ghosts Moving Mountains to devour both bodies before escaping.

After planting his Yellow Sprout Rice and hearing that the Seven Siblings of Wushan had been punished and the Purple Bamboo Society had disbanded, Chen Mu was asked by Old Hao to sell Calming Spirit Pills. That night, Chen Mu opened a Mustard Seed Talisman and discovered valuable secret arts, White Jade Coins, and bottles of mostly counterfeit pills.

• Chen Mu planted ten mu of Yellow Sprout Rice and calculated that his harvest would feed him for a year, while considering medicine planting and fishing for Exotic Beast Meat.
• Old Hao told Chen Mu that Zheng Jin had been killed, the Patrol Institute had disciplined the Seven Siblings of Wushan, and the Purple Bamboo Society had disbanded.
• Old Hao recruited Chen Mu to sell cheap Calming Spirit Pills to members of the Purple Bamboo Society, offering one pill for every bottle sold.
• Chen Mu checked that his Hundred Intents Spiritual Light Technique had reached 2722 Proficiency, then opened a Mustard Seed Talisman with thirty-five permissions.
• Chen Mu found secret art books, a damaged Lesser Celestial Cycle Star-River Spiritual Light Method, and 237 White Jade Coins in the Wooden Cabinet.
• Chen Mu inspected the bottles and found that each held thirty-five pills but only five genuine Calming Spirit Pills.

Chen Mu discovered an alchemy furnace among his recovered goods and learned that medicinal herb prices were rising due to insect infestations and attacks by restless Mutant Beasts. He left the chapter worried that shortages could disrupt his Calming Spirit Pill business for the year.

• Chen Mu found a Primordial Five Qi Furnace and an antique jade slip, but could not open the furnace or use the alchemy instructions yet.
• At Tongtian Market, Chen Mu heard Old Hao and Shang Huan discuss Chen Xiao, who had broken through sensing at the Training Ground and entered the Upper Courtyard as Alchemist Yuan Rong's disciple.
• Chen Mu found Calming Spirit Pills and Eggplant Night Grass had become more expensive, then stocked up on ingredients and searched the Underground Market for more Eggplant Night Grass.
• Chen Mu invited Old Hao and Shang Huan to dinner and asked why Calming Spirit Pills had risen in price.
• Old Hao explained that restless Mutant Beasts had damaged more than half of Bingchen District and insect infestations had made medicinal herbs scarce, leading Shang Huan to expect high prices for the year.
• Chen Mu worried that prolonged shortages would seriously affect his Calming Spirit Pill business.

Chen Mu researched medicinal herb cultivation and tried growing Eggplant Night Grass, but all his transplanted seedlings withered. After studying planting techniques and improving his Medicine Planting skill, he remained determined to secure a steady herb supply while facing rising costs and losses.

• Shang Huan, Old Hao, and Chen Mu discussed rising medicinal herb prices, and Old Hao explained that growing herbs required more Earth Spirit Vital Qi.
• Chen Mu read about herb cultivation, bought thirty Eggplant Night Grass seeds, and planted them in a tank beside the White Jade Disk.
• Half a month later, Chen Mu found that all twenty-five sprouted seedlings had died after transplanting and resolved to keep trying.
• Chen Mu spent six days studying planting and medicine books, raising Medicine Planting to Tier 3 and gaining Medicine Crafting experience.
• Chen Mu watched people discuss the Patrol Institute's dangerous recruitment and high pay, then calculated how long his farming losses would take to recover.

Chen Mu successfully cultivated Eggplant Night Grass and settled into a quiet routine, but Shang Huan warned him that Mutant Beast intrusions were increasing. After Red Fur Rabbits attacked Chen Mu’s Yellow Sprout Rice Field, he feared more beasts would break through the Patrol Institute’s defenses.

• Chen Mu used specially treated well water to raise twenty-six Eggplant Night Grass seedlings from thirty seeds, resolving the main raw-material problem for Calming Spirit Pills.
• Shang Huan brought Chen Mu Black Phosphorus Bream Meat and asked him to create a custom spice blend resembling Eggplant Night Grass, revealing his plan to counterfeit goods.
• Chen Mu stockpiled rice and Mutant Beast meat, maintained his cultivation and techniques, and noticed the Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique seemingly drawing Earth Spirit Vital Qi into his body.
• Shang Huan warned Chen Mu that Mutant Beast attacks were becoming more frequent and that the Patrol Institute had suffered heavy losses.
• After staying alert for half a month, Chen Mu fought off a group of Red Fur Rabbits with the Heartless Bell, but found dozens of Yellow Sprout Rice plants destroyed and worried more beasts would get through.