Recaps

Jiang Lu crossed from Blue Star into a cultivation world, discovered she had become twelve years old, and entered West River City to take a Spiritual Root test. She saw He Xiao, a powerful young member of the He Clan, ride through the city on a Spirit Beast, while her own chance to cultivate remained uncertain.

• Jiang Lu realized she had crossed into another world and decided to stay cautious until she understood how to survive.
• Jiang Lu joined the crowd heading to West River City and learned that only children aged twelve or younger could take the Spiritual Root test.
• Jiang Lu passed the age screening, discovered she was twelve again, and received a wooden token to continue to the Spiritual Root test.
• Jiang Lu entered West River City and resolved to find a way to cultivate whether or not she had Spiritual Roots.
• Jiang Lu watched He Xiao pass through the city on a Tusked Giant Elephant and heard that she was the West River City lord's niece and a Qi Refinement, Fourth Level cultivator.

Jiang Lu’s Spiritual Roots test was abruptly canceled, and an auntie helped her leave West River City while explaining the Immortal Cultivation Realm. Alone and without knowing whether she had Spiritual Roots, Jiang Lu searched for water and heard a fight nearby.

• Jiang Lu followed the crowd to the testing platform, but the guards ended the test by order of the City Lord and drove the waiting mortals away.
• Jiang Lu followed an anxious auntie out of the city, where the woman asked whether she had come from the Mortal Realm.
• The auntie explained the Five Great Domains, the scarcity of Spiritual Roots, and why mortals could not stay overnight in the city.
• The auntie gave Jiang Lu two flatbreads and left, while Jiang Lu remained alone outside the city.
• Jiang Lu ate part of a flatbread, searched for water, and hid in the grass when she heard people fighting ahead.

Jiang Lu escaped into the forest with a sheepskin parchment that taught an introductory cultivation method, while one of the cultivators who had fought over it searched for her and lost her trail. After days of practice, Jiang Lu absorbed multicolored spiritual energy and reached the Qi Refinement First Layer, but she remained unsure what kind of Spiritual Roots she had.

• Jiang Lu found a sheepskin parchment where the cultivators had fought and fled deeper into the forest with it.
• One of the cultivators returned, sensed Jiang Lu's trail, pursued her, and lost the trace amid the forest's chaotic auras.
• Jiang Lu deciphered the parchment as an introductory cultivation method and began practicing it in the forest.
• After several days, Jiang Lu sensed spiritual energy and absorbed multicolored energy that painfully widened her meridians.
• Jiang Lu formed a pool of spiritual energy in her dantian and entered the Qi Refinement First Layer.
• Jiang Lu washed in a stream and wondered whether she had Multiple Spiritual Roots or a Mixed Spiritual Root.

After Jiang Lu entered Qi Refinement, she discovered a Space Fragment bound to her soul and gained a new perception. While exploring the forest, she witnessed two demonic beasts kill a cultivator and silently watched in horror.

• Jiang Lu realized she could understand ordinary runes on the parchment after reaching Qi Refinement First Layer.
• Jiang Lu activated the mole on her hand with spiritual power and entered a vast, empty Space Fragment bound to her soul.
• Jiang Lu left the space, noticed her enhanced perception, and walked through the forest outside West River City.
• Jiang Lu hid in a tree and watched a Qi Refinement Second Layer cultivator fight a demonic beast as another of its kind approached.
• The cultivator fled, but one beast killed him, and both beasts began eating his corpse while Jiang Lu watched and wept silently.

Jiang Lu learned three basic spells and discovered that her space could absorb a vine, while a red bird and yellow snake plotted to contract with a human to regain their power. The creatures hid when Jiang Lu entered their cave, then rushed toward her.

• Jiang Lu found a dead cultivator’s belongings, took the scrolls and spirit stones, and spent a month learning the Cleansing Technique, Fireball Technique, and Rainmaking Technique.
• Jiang Lu discovered a glowing vine and watched it vanish into her space, where a ball of light made a nest in it.
• Jiang Lu entered a cave and overheard a red bird and yellow snake decide to contract with a human so they could recover their magic power.
• The red bird and yellow snake hid when they heard Jiang Lu approach, then rushed toward her as she searched the cave.

Jiang Lu and the red bird and yellow snake formed an unexpected Master-Servant Contract in the cave, with Jiang Lu as their master. The beasts and Jiang Lu learned that the binding had used both of her lifetime contract chances, and she could not safely undo it until she reached the Golden Core stage.

• Jiang Lu and the two beasts were overwhelmed by colliding light, and an ancient voice announced that a Master-Servant Contract had formed.
• The red bird woke first, roused the snake, and the two beasts realized they had become Jiang Lu’s servants instead of her masters.
• Jiang Lu woke and asked the dejected beasts what was wrong; the bird claimed they were her masters before admitting that she was theirs.
• Jiang Lu sensed the contract’s information and learned that she could contract only two spirit beasts in her lifetime, so both chances were now used.
• Jiang Lu learned that dissolving the contract at her current strength would cause backlash and that she would need to reach the Golden Core stage to undo it safely.

After contracting Chi Li and Cangchen, Jiang Lu discovered that her cultivation had improved and meditated to examine the change. Chi Li and Cangchen recognized her as the possessor of a Chaos Spirit Root and resolved to conceal it, while Jiang Lu offered to help them gain experience.

• Jiang Lu demanded to know what her new Spirit Beasts were, and Chi Li and Cangchen claimed to be a Divine Phoenix and a member of the Divine Dragon Clan.
• Jiang Lu sensed her enlarged dantian and meditated, drawing in spiritual energy much faster than before.
• Chi Li and Cangchen recognized Jiang Lu’s unusual cultivation speed and concluded that she possessed the legendary Chaos Spirit Root.
• Chi Li and Cangchen realized that Cangchen’s Golden Dragon Clan talent could conceal Jiang Lu’s gift from others.
• Jiang Lu finished meditating, stroked Chi Li and Cangchen, and offered to take them out to gain experience after hearing they were only first rank.

Jiang Lu learned that the Medicine King Pavilion was recruiting apprentices and passed its plant-perception test. She received her disciple token and settled into the apprentice quarters, where she would wait for recruitment to finish.

• Chi Li and Cangchen recovered some spiritual power after contracting with Jiang Lu and celebrated their new strength.
• Jiang Lu left the forest with Chi Li and Cangchen, then learned that the Medicine King Pavilion was recruiting apprentices in West River City.
• Jiang Lu met the Pavilion's requirements and passed the plant-perception test at registration.
• A female apprentice recorded Jiang Lu's name and aura on a disciple token, then introduced herself as Yue Ying.
• Yue Ying showed Jiang Lu the apprentice quarters, and Jiang Lu chose a room and settled in.

Jiang Lu began her apprenticeship at the Medicine King Pavilion, where Master Wen assigned her to study and tend spiritual plants. She secretly used her photographic memory to learn quickly and finished every book in the Scripture Pavilion in less than two months.

• Jiang Lu joined two other new apprentices as a powerful cultivator explained the Medicine King Pavilion’s rules and sent them to their branches.
• Yue Ying introduced Jiang Lu to Master Wen, who assigned her to learn about spiritual plants and lent her a book.
• Jiang Lu discovered she could remember what she read almost perfectly, but concealed how quickly she learned from Master Wen.
• After more than ten days of study, Jiang Lu passed Master Wen’s test and began tending the spiritual plants in her assigned area.
• Jiang Lu tended plants by day and studied in the Scripture Pavilion at night, finishing every book there in less than two months without attracting suspicion.

Jiang Lu settled into the herb garden, cultivated, and began sorting spiritual plants for the alchemy courtyards. Her aptitude for handling the plants impressed the disciples who came to collect them, while she planned to learn more about alchemy and improve her cultivation.

• Jiang Lu reviewed what she had learned and decided to pursue the sword path for self-defense while preparing to study alchemy.
• After cultivating in the herb garden, Jiang Lu noticed that she absorbed spiritual energy far faster than Master Wen and Senior Sister Yue Ying, though she still struggled to advance.
• Master Wen told two Alchemy Courtyard One disciples that Jiang Lu had sorted their spiritual plants, and one praised her work and asked her to continue sorting them that way.
• Jiang Lu kept leftover spiritual plants to process later and considered buying an alchemy furnace once she could afford one.
• Two disciples from Alchemy Courtyard Two arrived to collect their plants, and one asked Senior Sister Dan whether their courtyard's batch of alchemy furnaces needed attention.

Jiang Lu collected two damaged pill furnaces and practiced preparing spirit plants before breaking through to the Qi Refinement Second Layer. Master Wen then told her that a small secret realm had appeared east of West River City and explained the terms for Medicine King Pavilion disciples who chose to enter.

• Jiang Lu asked Senior Sister Dan for an unused pill furnace and followed her to Alchemy Courtyard Two, where she chose two damaged furnaces for free.
• Jiang Lu processed spirit plants, inspected a furnace, and found cracks that would make its temperature difficult to control.
• Jiang Lu meditated and broke through to the Qi Refinement Second Layer.
• Master Wen told Jiang Lu that cultivators below Foundation Establishment could enter a newly appeared small secret realm east of West River City.
• Master Wen explained that Medicine King Pavilion disciples could join the pavilion's team or go alone, and would owe one hundred low-grade spirit stones or equivalent resources after returning.

Jiang Lu entered the lesser mystic realm, where she and her Spirit Beasts hunted a Littlefoot Beast. After bringing them into her space, she discovered that it had a playful spirit of its own.

• Jiang Lu entered the mystic realm with Chi Li and Cangchen, then fell into a tree after being randomly transported through the entrance.
• Jiang Lu followed Cangchen's sense for treasures and found a group of Littlefoot Beasts.
• Jiang Lu, Chi Li, and Cangchen surrounded and killed a Littlefoot Beast.
• Jiang Lu brought the three of them into her space, where Chi Li and Cangchen immediately fainted.
• A small orb of light emerged from a spiritual plant and revealed itself to Jiang Lu as the spirit of the space.

Jiang Lu learned that Linglong could conceal and process items inside her space, then followed Cangchen and Chi Li to a hidden cave. There she found a rare patch of Ruby Blue, a high-grade spirit plant that could improve medicinal pills.

• Jiang Lu named the Space Spirit Linglong and learned that it could process spirit plants and hide spatial activity from others.
• Jiang Lu brought Chi Li and Cangchen out of the space, and Cangchen woke with no memory of what had happened inside.
• Jiang Lu overheard disciples gossiping about Senior Sister Liu and Senior Sister An of the Flowing Cloud Sect, then speculated that the junior sister was trying to replace the eldest senior sister.
• Jiang Lu followed Cangchen's guidance to a rocky area, carefully avoided the poisonous Numbing Needle Grass, and reached a hidden cave entrance.
• Cangchen broke the cave's barrier, and Jiang Lu crawled inside and discovered Ruby Blue growing along the walls.

Jiang Lu harvested Ruby Blue, then defeated a Scarlet Demon Spider with Chi Li and Cangchen and found its hoard of spirit stones. She continued deeper into the cave, suspecting it had another entrance.

• Jiang Lu used Linglong to take the Ruby Blue and its cave walls into her space, where Linglong recreated the cave.
• Jiang Lu encountered a second-rank Scarlet Demon Spider and ordered Chi Li and Cangchen to help her trap it.
• Jiang Lu lured the spider around a pillar while Chi Li and Cangchen closed in with fire and water, burning it to ashes.
• Jiang Lu found the spirit stones the spider had gathered, stored them in her space, and gave one piece each to Chi Li and Cangchen.
• Jiang Lu continued deeper into the cave, reasoning that another entrance must have let the Scarlet Demon Spider inside.

Jiang Lu escaped the cave and discovered a mature Spirit Plant Garden, which she harvested before meeting a thousand-year ginseng spirit who believed she had destroyed its home. She brought the little spirit into her space and offered it the garden there, leaving it amazed at its new home and freedom to care for spirit plants.

• Jiang Lu broke through the cave exit and emerged near a waterfall and dense woodland with no demonic beasts in sight.
• Jiang Lu found a patch of mature spirit herbs and transferred the plants and their soil into her space.
• A childlike voice accused Jiang Lu of destroying its home, and she discovered it came from a small white ginseng spirit.
• Jiang Lu coaxed the ginseng spirit into her arms and brought it into her space, where it found its garden intact.
• A ball of light told the ginseng spirit that the entire area was its own and that it should care for any spirit plants brought there.

Jiang Lu explored the secret realm, avoided a deadly cultivator fight, and fled from demonic beasts after a stranger tossed a valuable egg to her. She escaped the beasts but sensed danger just as she stopped to rest.

• Linglong named the little ginseng spirit Lingxi and told it that it could cultivate herbs throughout her space.
• Chi Li and Cangchen realized Jiang Lu had a secret space but agreed to keep quiet, while Jiang Lu hunted demonic beasts to earn spirit stones.
• Jiang Lu hid as three Rogue Cultivators killed three opponents and took their belongings, then rejected a damaged spiritual sword they had left behind.
• A fleeing cultivator threw a demonic beast egg into Jiang Lu's arms, drawing the beasts after her when she tossed the egg back.
• Jiang Lu outran the pursuing beasts until they reached another beast's territory and stopped, but her eyelid twitched as she paused to rest.

Jiang Lu defeated the cultivator who had attacked her, with help from Chi Li and Cangchen, then recovered through meditation and advanced to Qi Refinement, Fourth Level while cultivating Divine Sense. As nearby cultivators approached to investigate, she prepared to leave with her new abilities.

• The wounded cultivator who had lost his left hand attacked Jiang Lu with a spear, blaming her for the demon beasts that had chased him.
• Jiang Lu fought back with fireballs and wind blades while Chi Li and Cangchen attacked from the sides, helping her kill the cultivator.
• Cangchen took the cultivator’s storage pouch, Chi Li burned his body, and Jiang Lu fled with the two spirit beasts before stopping to recover.
• Jiang Lu entered a deep meditation, broke through a barrier in her perception, and advanced to Qi Refinement, Fourth Level while developing Divine Sense with a range of one hundred meters.
• As the gathering spiritual-power vortex and its winds dispersed, Jiang Lu sensed cultivators approaching and prepared to leave.

Jiang Lu left the secret realm and registered spirit plants for her mission with the Medicine King Pavilion. Outside, she watched cultivators argue over a disciple’s death and wondered how anyone could resist gossip, while her senior sisters considered helping her enter the Alchemy Institute.

• Jiang Lu emerged from the secret realm, handed over high-grade spirit plants, and registered with the Medicine King Pavilion elder.
• Cultivators in the shadows stopped targeting Jiang Lu when they saw her standing with the Medicine King Pavilion.
• Two elders argued over whether a disciple who returned alone was responsible for his dead training partner.
• Jiang Lu asked her senior sisters why they were not curious about the dispute, and they explained that such conflicts were common.
• Jiang Lu examined the storage pouch she had taken from a cultivator and claimed its contents as hers.

Jiang Lu gave Master Wen spirit plants and shared a meal of roasted Swift-Running Chicken before he encouraged her to try for the Alchemy Institute. Chen Qi then invited her to join Alchemy Courtyard One, where she could try refining pills, and waited for her answer.

• Jiang Lu gave Master Wen spirit plants and a Swift-Running Chicken, and he cooked it for her, Chi Li, and Cangchen.
• Master Wen noticed Jiang Lu had reached Qi Refinement, Fourth Level and suggested she might have a chance at the Alchemy Institute.
• A few days later, Chen Qi from Alchemy Institute No. 1 came to find Jiang Lu.
• Chen Qi invited Jiang Lu to Alchemy Courtyard One because of her skill at classifying spirit plants and her Fire Spirit Root.

Jiang Lu accepted Chen Qi’s offer to enter Alchemy Courtyard One, where she began learning and sorting spiritual plants. Her skill surprised the disciples who expected to make her struggle, and she claimed she had learned the work from books when Chen Qi asked how she knew what to do.

• Jiang Lu agreed to join the Alchemy Institute, and Master Wen encouraged her to go.
• Chen Qi brought Jiang Lu and her two Spirit Beasts to Alchemy Courtyard One and explained that she could observe pill refining after sorting spiritual plants.
• Chen Qi introduced Jiang Lu to Lin Wei, who approved her temperament and assigned her to sort spiritual plants.
• Jiang Lu processed the plants skillfully, startling the disciples who had expected her to need their help.
• Chen Qi asked whether Jiang Lu had learned plant processing before, and she said she had only followed the instructions in books and asked him for advice.

Jiang Lu impressed Senior Sister Huang Mei with her spirit-plant processing and was assigned to prepare herbs for her pill refining. After watching Huang Mei refine Qi-Replenishing Pills and explain their grades, Jiang Lu planned to repair her pill furnaces and begin refining pills herself.

• Huang Mei inspected Jiang Lu's processed spirit plants and assigned her to handle all the plants needed for her pill refining.
• Chen Qi told Jiang Lu that Huang Mei was a demanding young second-grade alchemist and advised her to be careful.
• Jiang Lu delivered carefully processed spirit plants to Huang Mei and watched her refine a batch of Qi-Replenishing Pills.
• Huang Mei explained that five pills were high-grade and two were mid-grade, and Jiang Lu recognized the difference by their smoothness and fullness.
• Jiang Lu decided to repair her damaged pill furnaces and prepare to start refining pills, while the other disciples reconsidered their earlier mockery of her.

Jiang Lu repaired two cheap pill furnaces and refined ten High-Grade Grain-Avoidance Pills on her first attempt, confirming her extraordinary pill-refining talent. She suspected her pure spirit flame and unusual Spiritual Roots were connected, and resolved to grow stronger while staying safe in Medicine King Pavilion.

• Jiang Lu told Chen Qi that Senior Sister Huang Mei had been kind and that watching her refine pills had taught her a lot.
• Jiang Lu repaired two damaged pill furnaces and returned to her room to attempt refining a Grain-Avoidance Pill.
• Jiang Lu refined ten High-Grade Pills on her first attempt, though the pill furnace broke, and she shared one pill each with Chi Li and Cangchen.
• Jiang Lu suspected her unusually pure spirit flame and anomalous Spiritual Roots explained her success, and she considered Medicine King Pavilion a safe place to grow stronger.
• Jiang Lu put away the ruined pill furnaces and began meditating, determined to compete with the Immortal Cultivation Realm’s prodigies.

Jiang Lu learned that a Beast Tide was approaching West River City and signed up with Medicine King Pavilion to join the organized expedition. After preparing pills and supplies, she went with the disciples to the city gates as Medicine King Pavilion headed out to face the first wave.

• Huang Mei explained that the coming Beast Tide had increased demand for pills and continued trying to refine third-grade pills.
• Jiang Lu learned Medicine King Pavilion organized disciples for the Beast Tide, registered with its team, and learned that teams had to follow orders and share a portion of their gains with the City Lord's Manor.
• Jiang Lu returned to her room and refined Essence-Stabilizing Pills and Qi-Replenishing Pills while preparing to test her cultivation on the expedition.
• Several days later, Jiang Lu packed her supplies and followed Medicine King Pavilion's disciples to the city gates as the faction set out for the first wave of the Beast Tide.

Jiang Lu joined Gu Miao’s Qi Refinement team for Beast Tide training, where the disciples prepared to patrol and share resources by contribution. On the third night, Chi Li and Cangchen sensed hundreds of demonic beasts approaching, and the team met the charging horde as Jiang Lu ordered her Spirit Beasts to hold it back.

• Jiang Lu reported to Gu Miao and heard the rules for the team’s duties and resource distribution.
• Gu Miao led the team into the forest and assigned Jiang Lu to the night patrol.
• On the third night, Chi Li warned Jiang Lu that several hundred first-rank demonic beasts were approaching, and she alerted Gu Miao and the other disciples.
• Gu Miao organized the team’s defenses, sent warnings to the other teams, and led the disciples into battle when the horde arrived.
• Jiang Lu fought with her sword while Chi Li and Cangchen guarded her, and she ordered them to hold back the beasts without revealing their unusual attacks.

Jiang Lu and the Medicine King Pavilion disciples survived a brutal beast attack, and Jiang Lu secretly obtained a crystal core from one of the beasts. After the teams reported the unexpectedly severe Beast Tide, City Lord Chi Yan reorganized the forces to strengthen their defenses.

• Jiang Lu, Cangchen, and Chi Li killed a massive beast, and Jiang Lu secretly stored its crystal core.
• Jiang Lu helped the other disciples finish the day’s fighting, then Gu Miao distributed pills and led the group to report what had happened.
• Gu Miao’s group joined the other battered teams, whose captains reported that the Beast Tide had grown far more severe than expected.
• Chi Yan ordered teams from two waves to combine and assigned alchemists and pill-makers to support the fighters instead of joining the battle.
• Gu Miao arranged the new teams, and Jiang Lu was left among the fighters because she had not revealed her ability to refine pills.