Chapter Summaries

Chen Mo finished building a fish pond, then met Xi Zhihan and her two assistants when they arrived to design Gourd Valley. He explained his plans for turning the valley into a planting base, recuperation center, and vacation destination, and the group began inspecting the site.

• Chen Mo dug a fish pond, lined it with plastic sheeting, and covered it with pebbles before resting on his balcony.
• Xi Zhihan called Chen Mo after arriving near Chen Family Village, and he directed her to his home.
• Xi Zhihan arrived with assistants Wang Ying and Wen Qi, tested Chen Mo's temperament with a distant greeting, and then introduced the two women.
• Chen Mo took Xi Zhihan and her assistants to Gourd Valley and described its layout and his requirements for the design.
• Chen Mo explained that he wanted to combine cultivation, recuperation, and tourism, using his formations and medical skills to make the valley attractive to visitors.

Chen Mo showed Xi Zhihan his plans for developing Gourd Valley, and she agreed to design the project for 500,000 yuan within half a month. He then arranged work at his fields and construction sites, unaware that Xi Zhihan later told Shen Tingting that he had passed her test.

• Xi Zhihan and her two Assistants used a Four-winged aircraft and surveying equipment to map Gourd Valley, then discussed its terrain and design with Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo outlined a three-phase development plan for Gourd Valley, and Xi Zhihan agreed to complete the design within half a month for a fee of 500,000 yuan.
• Chen Mo met the surveyor at his fields, paid part of the deposit, and arranged for Chen Jingui and the workers to install fencing.
• Chen Mo inspected the temporary worker facilities and Worker's Room, planned room functions, and arranged extra pay and meals for Chen Jingui's night shifts.
• Chen Mo visited the fish pond construction site, collected pond disinfectant, and rested at home.
• After returning to West City, Xi Zhihan called Shen Tingting and said Chen Mo had passed her test.

Chen Mo reunited with his childhood companion Da Hai, shared a meal and drinks with him, and offered him a job. On his walk home, Chen Mo overheard Chen Yinshui thanking Chen Erhu for helping him find a storefront and threatening Chen Mo, leaving Chen Mo suspicious of their plans.

• Chen Mo visited Da Hai's home for dinner after they had been apart for several years.
• Chen Mo shared liquor from Inside Universe Bead with Da Hai and offered him a starting salary of five thousand.
• Chen Mo left his Pickup Truck with Da Hai so he could buy supplies for him in the County Town the next morning.
• On his way home, Chen Mo heard Chen Yinshui thank Chen Erhu for helping him find a storefront and say he had wanted to cripple Er Wa.

Chen Mo overheard Chen Erhu and Chen Yinshui plotting to poison his crops and fish pond, then ambushed them and used True Essence to cripple them. He left them alive, but decided he would show no mercy to enemies from then on.

• Chen Erhu and Chen Yinshui discussed their shared hatred of Chen Mo and agreed to poison his fields and future fish pond so Chen Yinshui could buy his family’s homestead.
• Chen Mo overheard the plan while waiting outside Chen Erhu’s courtyard and secretly harvested crops and vegetables inside the Universe Bead.
• After the two men left the courtyard, Chen Mo knocked them unconscious and damaged their kidneys and spinal nerves with True Essence, leaving them likely to become paralyzed.
• Chen Mo left the scene, convinced the men deserved their punishment and resolving to show no mercy to future enemies.

Chen Mo expanded his Spirit Gathering Array across the leased fields and accelerated the crops with his spells, then learned that Chen Erhu and Chen Yinshui had been found paralyzed after he dealt with them. He left their fate to the hospital and continued preparing his courtyard and supplies.

• Chen Mo left Chen Erhu and Chen Yinshui injured in the courtyard, then spent the night checking Formation Bases and building a large Spirit Gathering Array over the leased fields.
• Chen Mo used the Spring Wind and Rain Art on the Planting Areas, and Chen Jingui noticed that the vegetable seedlings had grown unusually fast.
• Chen Mo planted flowers and vegetables in his courtyard and watered them with Stream Water.
• Da Hai delivered more than ten thousand small glass bottles Chen Mo had ordered and asked what he planned to make with them.
• Da Hai told Chen Mo that Chen Erhu and Chen Yinshui had been found paralyzed and taken to the hospital, and Chen Mo agreed that they deserved it.

Chen Mo organized the workers and planned the livestock operation for his mountain resort before beginning to draw Spring Rain Talismans. After several failures, he successfully completed his first talisman and continued practicing.

• Chen Mo ate lunch with his parents, bought food for himself and them, and returned to the Old House to finish planting.
• Chen Mo assigned the workers their duties and wages, naming Chen Jingui manager of the planting area and assigning Ding Lanhua and Chen Hai to other responsibilities.
• Chen Mo discussed livestock buildings, breeds, and purchasing plans with Da Hai.
• Chen Mo attempted to draw a Spring Rain Talisman, but his first seven attempts failed as his True Essence ran low.
• Chen Mo replenished his True Essence with diluted Spiritual Liquid and succeeded in drawing a Spring Rain Talisman on his eighth attempt.

Chen Mo spent the night making Purification and Sensing Array Formation Bases, then cultivated and went about his morning routine at home. The chapter left him enjoying the peaceful day while tending to the plants and fish Inside Universe Bead.

• Chen Mo made ten sets of Purification Arrays and two sets of Sensing Arrays before exhausting his True Essence.
• Chen Mo swallowed Spiritual Liquid and cultivated until dawn, strengthening his True Essence and expelling more impurities from his body.
• Chen Mo bathed, admired his changing appearance, and prepared breakfast for himself and Big Yellow and Big Gray.
• Chen Mo inspected the fish pond construction site and then harvested and organized plants and medicinal materials Inside Universe Bead.
• Chen Mo relaxed in the courtyard and appreciated the clear air and scenery around his hometown.

Chen Mo's Spring Rain Talisman made the vegetables in his fields grow at an alarming pace, while the healthy growing conditions also attracted swarms of insects. He rejected pesticides and chickens as solutions and planned to use an Insect Luring Pill to deal with the pests.

• Chen Mo planted the newly arrived precious saplings in the Universe Bead, finished setting up Sensing Arrays around his fields and residence, and arranged sprinkler systems for the Vegetable Fields.
• Chen Mo's use of a Spring Rain Talisman caused the vegetables to grow unusually fast, and Chen Jingui and Da Hai questioned whether his Nutrient Solution was safe.
• Chen Mo defended his Nutrient Solution by pointing out that he had studied biology in college, and Chen Jingui and Da Hai accepted his explanation.
• Chen Jingui suggested pesticides after insects began damaging the vegetables, but Chen Mo refused to use chemicals and rejected Da Hai's idea to release chickens into the fields.
• Chen Mo decided to use an Insect Luring Pill to draw the pests away, a pill used by cultivators to eliminate insects in Medicinal Fields and among Spiritual Plants.

Chen Mo worked to make a Medicine Cauldron so he could refine low-grade Insect Luring Pills, destroying eleven Bronze Cauldrons before successfully carving the twelfth. He began refining the pills on his own, but continued to make mistakes and waste ingredients.

• Chen Mo bought twenty polished Bronze Cauldrons to carve one into a Medicine Cauldron.
• Chen Mo ruined eleven cauldrons while carving runes, replenishing his True Essence with diluted Spiritual Liquid.
• Chen Mo successfully carved the twelfth Bronze Cauldron and made a basic Medicine Cauldron.
• Chen Mo used the cauldron to start refining low-grade Insect Luring Pills from materials he had on hand.
• Chen Mo failed more than ten times as he taught himself to refine medicine, wasting ingredients while continuing his experiments.

Chen Mo refined an Insect Luring Pill and used it to draw huge numbers of bugs into collectors, easing the field pest problem while warning Da Hai not to disrupt the mountain ecosystem. After a week of tending his courtyard and resting, Chen Mo heard from Xi Zhihan that the preliminary designs were ready and offered her a toner he had formulated himself.

• Chen Mo refined six Insect Luring Pills after many failures and divided one pill into portions for use as bait.
• Chen Mo showed Da Hai how to use the luring medicine, and the test drew a writhing mass of insects into their collector.
• Chen Mo rejected Da Hai's idea of setting collection points throughout the mountains and suggested raising mealworms to feed the fish instead.
• Da Hai and Jin Gui improved the collectors, and the workers used them to address the insect problem in the fields.
• After resting for a week in his growing courtyard, Chen Mo received a call from Xi Zhihan about the completed preliminary designs.
• Xi Zhihan asked about Chen Mo's skin, and Chen Mo offered her a toner he had formulated himself.

Xi Zhihan eagerly ordered Chen Mo’s skin-whitening toner and promised to revise Gourd Valley’s design. After reviewing her plans, Chen Mo began preparing toner from Rejuvenation Grass and Universe Bead essential oil, then was interrupted just as he prepared to refine pills.

• Xi Zhihan set aside her design work and asked Chen Mo to make toner, agreeing to pay twenty thousand yuan for each 100 milliliters.
• Chen Mo reviewed Xi Zhihan’s Gourd Valley plans and decided to make toner first to thank her for her effort.
• Chen Mo used Rejuvenation Grass leaves and Universe Bead essential oil to plan a batch of toner, which he could bottle with his Spiritual Sense.
• Chen Mo entered the practice room to refine pills before making the toner, but an incoming call interrupted him.

Old Man He brought Old Man Wu and his entourage to Chen Mo, hoping to persuade him to provide treatment. Chen Mo invited the two elders into his courtyard to discuss the matter, while Old Man Wu’s doctors were left waiting outside.

• Old Man He called Chen Mo and revealed that he was waiting outside Chen Mo’s courtyard with a friend who needed a doctor.
• Chen Mo found Old Man He, Old Man Wu, and their entourage at his parents’ home, where Father Chen Jianguo handed the conversation over to his son.
• Chen Mo drove the group to his residence and invited Old Man He and Old Man Wu into the courtyard.
• A doctor insisted on accompanying Old Man Wu, but Old Man Wu and Old Man He told the doctors and attendants to wait outside.

Old Man He and Old Man Wu visited Chen Mo to seek treatment for Old Man Wu’s heart disease, and they gave Chen Mo medical credentials to address his concerns about treating him. Chen Mo examined Old Man Wu and agreed to help, but said he had conditions to discuss.

• Old Man He and Old Man Wu praised the fresh air and peaceful courtyard as Chen Mo welcomed them inside.
• Chen Mo objected that he lacked medical credentials and worried about responsibility if treatment went wrong, so Old Man Wu handed him valid professional and practice certificates.
• Old Man Wu explained that Chen Mo’s emergency treatment had convinced him Chen Mo could cure his heart disease, and that he had prepared for the visit with hospital care and his family’s approval.
• Chen Mo examined Old Man Wu and said his risk of myocardial infarction was low as long as he avoided anger and overwork.
• After discussing the hospital’s recommendation for a heart stent, Chen Mo agreed to treat Old Man Wu but said he had conditions to discuss.

Chen Mo set the terms for treating Old Man Wu, including a monthly treatment fee and strict limits on where the men could stay. After explaining the restorative effects of his courtyard, he agreed to let both Old Man Wu and Old Man He move in, and checked Old Man He's health.

• Chen Mo told Old Man Wu that he would treat him with Traditional Chinese Medicine as recuperation, without guaranteeing the outcome, and Old Man Wu accepted.
• Chen Mo set the treatment fee at five hundred thousand a month and said staying in his house would cost one hundred thousand a month, with room for only one caregiver.
• Chen Mo explained that his nutrient solutions improved the air and provided health benefits, after Old Man Wu and Old Man He said they felt lighter and more comfortable in the courtyard.
• Old Man Wu decided to move in that day, and Old Man He asked to stay as well; Chen Mo agreed to the same terms and offered to adjust Old Man He's health for free.
• Chen Mo examined Old Man He and identified several common age-related ailments and lung problems.

Chen Mo gave Old Man He and Old Man Wu their medicines in jade bottles whose carving impressed the two collectors. He then prepared to travel to West City to collect medicinal plants and discuss selling his vegetables, while reconsidering how to transport them.

• Chen Mo gave Old Man He and Old Man Wu their medicine and explained how often to take it.
• Old Man He and Old Man Wu admired the jade bottles, and Chen Mo told them he had carved them himself.
• Chen Mo reflected on how cultivation had improved his carving and how his master's teachings had equipped him with knowledge of formations and other disciplines.
• Chen Mo instructed Da Hai and Chen Jingui before heading to West City to meet Old Huang about medicinal seeds and live plants.
• Chen Jingui prepared vegetables for Chen Mo to take to West City, but Chen Mo decided to ask Shen Bowen about refrigerated transport before arranging their sale.

Chen Mo arranged for his uncle Fu Huiwen to cook for the two elderly men and manage the new kitchen at his farm before driving toward West City. On the way, he spoke with his younger brother Chen Hui, reassured him about money, and promised to explain his business when they met.

• Chen Mo hired Fu Huiwen for 6,000 yuan a month to prepare meals for Old Man He, Old Man Wu, and their attendants.
• Chen Mo instructed Fu Huiwen to improve the elderly men's meals and arranged for a Container House kitchen to be installed beside the guest rooms.
• Chen Mo assigned Fu Huiwen responsibility for feeding Big Yellow and Big Gray and left him goat's milk for the dogs.
• Chen Mo loaded extra greens and set off for West City, then pulled over to answer a call from Chen Hui.
• Chen Hui offered to save money because he had part-time tutoring work, but Chen Mo insisted he would keep sending him living expenses.
• Chen Mo joked with Chen Hui about their father and his build, then hung up and continued toward West City.

Chen Mo narrowly avoided a collision with Wang Qi, who was driving to help his cousin Wang Qiang take revenge on him. Wang Qi arrived at Wang Qiang’s rundown home and found him drinking, leaving the cousins face to face as Wang Qiang sought his help.

• Chen Mo stalled his pickup after Wang Qi’s Jeep dangerously overtook him, then continued driving to West City instead of pursuing him.
• Wang Qi enjoyed the reckless drive and headed to Penghua Town after Wang Qiang asked for help dealing with Chen Mo.
• Wang Qiang, still resentful of Chen Mo and struggling to keep his subordinates, offered Wang Qi a stolen seventy-year-old ginseng root for his help.
• Wang Qi found Wang Qiang drinking alone in a cheap farmhouse courtyard and entered through the unlocked door.
• Wang Qiang was startled and intimidated when Wang Qi arrived sooner than expected.

Wang Qiang asked his cousin Wang Qi to kill Chen Mo, offering him a seventy-year-old ginseng as payment. Wang Qi agreed to hear the details but grew disgusted with Wang Qiang and listened as he recounted a carefully altered version of the feud.

• Wang Qi visited Wang Qiang and looked down on his squalid home and drunken, defeated state.
• Wang Qiang gave Wang Qi the ginseng, which Wang Qi inspected and judged genuine and roughly sixty to seventy years old.
• Wang Qiang asked Wang Qi to kill Chen Mo and handed over the information he had collected about him.
• Wang Qi mocked Wang Qiang for being unable to handle a student, while Wang Qiang restrained his anger and admitted he could not beat his cousin.
• Wang Qiang described his grudge against Chen Mo as stemming from a minor car accident and claimed Chen Mo had defeated him and four others with fighting techniques.

Wang Qi agreed to handle Wang Qiang’s grievance against Chen Mo, but a news report revealed Chen Mo helping victims at a highway pileup. Chen Mo treated an injured truck driver at the crash scene, where the chapter ended with him stopping the bleeding.

• Wang Qi said Wang Qiang’s ginseng was not enough to justify killing Chen Mo, but agreed to help his cousin this once.
• A television bulletin showed Chen Mo rescuing people after a chain collision, and Wang Qiang identified him to Wang Qi.
• Chen Mo encountered the traffic jam, went to the six-vehicle crash, and offered medical help to the survivors.
• Chen Mo persuaded bystanders to carry the unconscious truck driver out and used True Essence to stabilize his wound.
• Chen Mo laid the driver flat, opened his clothing, and used True Essence to stop the bleeding around the chest wound.

Chen Mo treated the injured at the traffic accident, stopping one driver's bleeding and helping free and stabilize another driver's broken leg. After checking the occupants of the second car, he continued toward the remaining victims.

• Chen Mo rinsed the first injured driver's wound, gave him Hemostatic Powder, and told bystanders to keep him still until the rescue team arrived.
• A local Television Station filmed Chen Mo as he ran to help the people trapped in a third car.
• Chen Mo and the bystanders pried open the car, freed the driver's trapped leg, and carried out the driver, his wife, and their child.
• Chen Mo set and splinted the driver's broken leg, then reassured him that his wife and child had only minor injuries.
• Chen Mo examined the two occupants of the second car, told them their injuries were minor, and moved on.