Chapter Summaries

Lin Mo returned to Locust Grass Village after three years in the Azure Cloud Sect, hiding his failure to advance from his proud family and neighbors. His sister Lin Xiaohe saw through his cheerful stories and asked whether he had been unhappy on the mountain.

• Lin Mo left the Azure Cloud Sect and reached his village, where the villagers greeted him as an immortal disciple.
• Lin Mo reunited with his parents and younger sister, Lin Xiaohe, and saw how much his family had changed during his absence.
• When the villagers asked about sect life, Lin Mo concealed his lowly status as an odd-job disciple and invented tales of his cultivation progress.
• Unable to sleep after hearing the villagers praise him, Lin Mo went to his childhood hideout on the mountain.
• Lin Xiaohe found Lin Mo there and asked whether he had really been unhappy at the sect, and he avoided telling her the full truth.

After failing to become a cultivator in three years, Lin Mo discovered that a green gourd transformed ordinary water into spiritual spring water, giving him a way to advance his cultivation. He shared some with his family while keeping the gourd’s true power secret.

• Lin Mo reflected on his failed cultivation and his return home after being unable to pass the Azure Cloud Sect’s assessment.
• Lin Mo drank water from his gourd and felt pure spiritual qi fill and enlarge his dantian.
• Lin Mo tested the gourd with fresh stream water and confirmed that it turned the water into spiritual spring water.
• Lin Mo gave bowls of the spiritual spring water to Father Lin, Mother Lin, and Xiao He without revealing its source or true nature.
• Father Lin, Mother Lin, and Xiao He drank the water and felt refreshed, while Father Lin grew prouder of Lin Mo.

Lin Mo discovered that spirit spring water from his gourd could make wheat ripen in little more than a day, easing his worries about the sect assessment. After leaving spirit spring water for his family and saying goodbye, he returned to Azure Cloud Sect more confident about his future.

• Lin Mo wondered whether spirit spring water could improve crops and poured some over a few wheat shoots.
• Lin Mo found the wheat fully ripe the next night and discovered its grain was sweet and fragrant, giving him confidence about passing the assessment.
• Lin Mo said goodbye to Lin Xiaohe and his parents, leaving them spring water and refusing to keep his father's three taels of silver.
• Lin Mo returned to Azure Cloud Sect after a two-day journey and began climbing its stone steps.

After obtaining the treasure gourd, Lin Mo returned to the sect and was assigned to tend spiritual plants, a job that could help him advance. He endured Li Yibo’s abuse and attack until Senior Brother Zhou intervened, then continued up the mountain with a broken bucket.

• Steward Cui assigned Lin Mo to replace Wang Erhu as a spiritual plant tender after Erhu was promoted to the outer sect for his hidden three-element spiritual root.
• Lin Mo asked Steward Cui to find someone to take over his chamber-pot duties, and Cui agreed to arrange it in a few days.
• Li Yibo accused Lin Mo of splashing filth on his robe and blasted a hole in Lin Mo’s water bucket with a flame spell.
• Lin Mo explained that he was carrying water for the spiritual plants, but Li Yibo grew angry and prepared to strike him with Flame Palm.
• Senior Brother Zhou rebuked Li Yibo for attacking a menial disciple because he was blocking the path, and Li Yibo left.
• Lin Mo picked up the broken bucket and continued up the mountain, reflecting on the different lives people’s spiritual roots could bring.

Lin Mo secretly used the Little Gourd’s Spirit Spring water to revive a failing spirit plant and discovered that the water might also improve his body and spiritual roots. The next day, Liu Xianzong noticed the plant’s sudden vitality and questioned Lin Mo about what he had done.

• Liu Xianzong assigned Lin Mo to tend the spirit fields and reminded him to keep cultivating before the sect assessment.
• Lin Mo secretly watered a sickly spirit plant with the Little Gourd’s Spirit Spring water, then kicked around its roots to hide its rapid recovery.
• Lin Mo resolved to conceal the gourd, considered taking the dying plant home, and wondered whether the spring water could improve his cultivation prospects.
• Lin Mo noticed that the Spirit Spring water seemed to strengthen his body and help him absorb spiritual energy faster.
• The next day, Liu Xianzong saw the recovering spirit plant and asked Lin Mo what he had done to it.

Lin Mo hid his ability to improve spirit plants while Liu Xianzong explained the risks of sect life and advised him to become a spirit plant farmer if he passed the assessment. After an inner disciple inspected the dying plant, Liu Xianzong replaced it with an emerald-green seed and told Lin Mo to care for it.

• Lin Mo convinced Liu Xianzong that he had only followed ordinary instructions, and Liu Xianzong praised his work in the spirit field.
• Liu Xianzong explained that outer disciples faced severe consequences if they failed to earn enough sect contribution and suggested Lin Mo become a spirit plant farmer after passing the assessment.
• Liu Xianzong told Lin Mo to wait for the sect inspector to register the dying spirit plant before mashing it up and burying it.
• An inner disciple inspected the dying spirit plant and left without speaking to Lin Mo.
• Liu Xianzong regretted missing the chance to speak with the talented apprentice alchemist, then planted an emerald-green seed and told Lin Mo to water it carefully.

Lin Mo nurtured a nearly dead spirit plant with spirit spring water while cultivating toward the Qi Refining Realm. After harvesting its first three fruits and drinking from the Little Gourd, he tried to break through but found himself unable to cross the final barrier.

• Lin Mo secretly replanted a ravaged spirit plant in his courtyard and poured spirit spring water over it as he continued absorbing spiritual energy.
• The spirit plant recovered overnight, and Lin Mo tended it while enduring mockery from other disciples.
• Liu Xianzong used a formation disc and his own spiritual energy to help his crops ripen, then harvested enough Crimson Spirit Fruits to meet his annual assessment.
• Liu Xianzong explained the sect's duties and the risks and rewards of fighting on the borders to Lin Mo.
• After several days of routine cultivation, Lin Mo harvested three fruits from his spirit plant on the tenth night and drank from the Little Gourd to attempt his breakthrough.
• Lin Mo circulated the spiritual energy through his formed vortex but could not break through the barrier into Qi Refining.

After three years of cultivation, Lin Mo broke through to the Qi Refining Realm by using his Little Gourd to turn spirit fruits and spring water into a remedy that healed his injured meridians. He passed the sect assessment, and Steward Cui took him to register as an outer sect disciple.

• Lin Mo forced spiritual qi through successive meridian barriers, then used the Little Gourd to transform spirit fruits and spirit spring water into a mixture that healed his injuries.
• Lin Mo broke through the final barrier, completed the tenth greater celestial circuit, and reached the Qi Refining Realm.
• After stabilizing his cultivation, Lin Mo told Steward Cui he had become a cultivator, and Steward Cui confirmed he was at the first level of Qi Refining.
• Steward Cui led Lin Mo to see Outer Elder Cui Zhong so he could register as an outer sect disciple.
• When outer sect disciples asked why Lin Mo was not collecting chamber pots, Steward Cui told them Lin Mo had entered the Qi Refining Realm and would now be an outer sect disciple.

Lin Mo endured the outer sect disciples’ mockery and resolved to overcome their prejudice through cultivation, while Steward Cui encouraged him with spirit stones. After receiving his outer sect token and a new residence, Lin Mo planned to pursue missions and use his precious gourd to advance, but the approaching sect assessment made him a target of ridicule.

• Outer sect disciples mocked Lin Mo for his past as a chamber-pot boy, and Steward Cui told him he could not compare himself to Erhu.
• Lin Mo vowed to cultivate diligently, impressing Steward Cui, who gave him ten spirit stones and asked him to remember the favor.
• Cui Zhong gave Lin Mo a Storage Bag, monthly cultivation resources, and an outer sect disciple token after Lin Mo broke through to the first level of Qi Refining.
• Steward Cui brought Lin Mo to his new courtyard, where Lin Mo considered taking missions to become a Spirit Plant Farmer and strengthen himself with the precious gourd.
• Lin Mo transplanted the Fire Spirit Fruit into his courtyard, then headed to the Duty Hall as other disciples mocked him ahead of the sect assessment.

Lin Mo became an outer disciple and was assigned a Spirit Field beside Liu Xianzong’s, but he found that life in the outer sect was another kind of cage. Back in his courtyard, he used Fire Spirit Fruits and spirit spring water to improve his aptitude and resolved to save for cultivation supplies and a cultivation method.

• Lin Mo ignored the mockery of other disciples and bribed a Sect Duties Hall disciple to assign him a Spirit Field beside Liu Xianzong’s.
• Lin Mo learned that sect spirit liquid cost one contribution point per drop, then received his field assignment and formation compass.
• Liu Xianzong celebrated Lin Mo’s promotion and agreed with his observation that the cultivation world was one enormous cage.
• Lin Mo checked his Fire Spirit Fruit plant and new Golden Coin Grass field, then crushed another Fire Spirit Fruit into his gourd and drank the mixture to improve his cultivation.

After passing the sect assessment, Lin Mo focused on improving his cultivation and followed Liu Xianzong to the sect’s Black Market. There, he noticed a mysterious black-robed merchant whose pale blue eyes met his before the chapter ended.

• Lin Mo passed the outer sect assessment, while Liu Xianzong paid the required contribution points with visible reluctance.
• Li Yibo mocked Lin Mo about his former servant duties, and Liu Xianzong defended him by driving Li Yibo and his companions away.
• Lin Mo told Liu Xianzong he cared more about raising his cultivation than answering insults, and Liu Xianzong offered to show him the Black Market.
• Liu Xianzong explained that disciples used the Black Market to trade resources outside the sect’s contribution-point system and warned Lin Mo about swindlers.
• Lin Mo spotted a black-robed merchant known for reliable goods, and the merchant’s pale blue eyes met his briefly.

Lin Mo enjoyed a quiet stretch of cultivation while servant disciples became scarce at the Spirit Plant Garden. Steward Cui brought Qin Sang Sang to help Liu Xianzong, who agreed to keep her despite her frail appearance.

• Lin Mo continued improving his talent with spirit spring water and Fire Spirit Fruit, and secretly transplanted a stalk of Golden Coin Grass into his courtyard.
• Lin Mo told Liu Xianzong that Steward Cui could barely find servant disciples because other sect offices were claiming the few available workers.
• Steward Cui brought Qin Sang Sang to the Spirit Plant Garden as Liu Xianzong's new helper.
• Liu Xianzong questioned whether the frail Qin Sang Sang could handle the work, but Steward Cui insisted they take her or leave her.
• Qin Sang Sang begged not to be sent away, and Liu Xianzong let her stay on the condition that she finish her daily work before sleeping or eating.

Lin Mo tended his spirit plants, reached the middle stage of the first level of qi refining, and returned to the Black Market to trade his harvest for spirit liquid. The black-robed seller inspected Lin Mo’s offer but had not yet agreed to the exchange.

• Lin Mo harvested Fire Spirit Fruits and Golden Coin Grass, while Liu Xianzong wondered why Lin Mo’s plants grew so quickly.
• Lin Mo reached the middle stage of the first level of qi refining after a month of cultivation.
• Lin Mo went to the Black Market carrying fourteen Fire Spirit Fruits and six Golden Coin Grass plants, hoping to obtain thirty drops of spirit liquid.
• Lin Mo offered his harvest to the black-robed seller, who said he needed to inspect the goods first.

Lin Mo traded twenty top-quality Spirit Plants to a black-robed man for forty drops of Spirit Liquid and gained a friendly buyer for future harvests. After discovering that the Little Gourd infused Spirit Liquid with an additional power that improved his body and aptitude, Lin Mo found that the spiritual qi in his plot was nearly depleted.

• Lin Mo traded twenty fresh Spirit Plants to the black-robed man, who offered forty drops of Spirit Liquid, gave him a Storage Bag, and asked him to sell future Spirit Plants to him.
• Lin Mo tasted the Spirit Liquid and found it less beneficial than his Spirit Spring, so he poured the remaining drops into the Little Gourd.
• Lin Mo gave Qin Sang Sang a flask of diluted Spirit Spring water while she worked in the Spirit Field.
• Lin Mo discovered that the Little Gourd needed only twenty-four hours to infuse Spirit Liquid and drank twenty drops of the upgraded liquid.
• The upgraded Spirit Liquid accelerated Lin Mo's cultivation and slowly improved his body and aptitude.
• Lin Mo checked his plot and realized that repeated harvesting had nearly exhausted its spiritual qi.

Lin Mo discovered that his rapidly growing spirit plants were draining the ordinary soil and used precious spirit spring water to revive them. He worried about affording a soil-replenishing formation and cultivation supplies, then heard from Liu Xianzong that he might know why many inner sect disciples had flown away.

• Lin Mo realized his four spirit plants were depleting the soil's spiritual energy and used a drop of spirit spring water on each to revive them.
• Lin Mo recognized that he lacked the spirit stones to buy a formation, a cultivation method, and a spell technique.
• Lin Mo saw dozens of inner sect disciples flying away on swords but dismissed their urgent business as unrelated to him.
• Lin Mo found Qin Sang Sang working more easily and asked Liu Xianzong for recommendations on cultivation methods and spell techniques.
• Liu Xianzong recommended the Yellow Tier Mid Grade Jade Art and said he had some inkling about why the inner sect disciples had left.

Liu Xianzong warned Lin Mo that the Tai Sui Gate had resurfaced and might be behind the shortage of Servant Disciples, urging him to stay cautious. Back in his courtyard, Lin Mo discovered that the spirit liquid had greatly increased his Fire Spirit Fruit harvest, though he wondered whether it had also caused one plant to mutate.

• Liu Xianzong told Lin Mo that the Tai Sui Gate, a powerful evil cultivation sect once thought defeated, had reappeared.
• Liu Xianzong explained that the Tai Sui Gate refined Tai Sui Pills from people with spiritual roots and warned Lin Mo not to descend the mountain.
• Lin Mo connected the Tai Sui Gate's need for cultivators to the recent shortage of Servant Disciples and worried about his family.
• As word of the Tai Sui Gate spread, disciples crowded the Sect Affairs Hall and Black Market to buy protective items.
• Lin Mo found that three Fire Spirit Fruit plants had produced four times as many fruits after receiving spirit liquid, then withered when he harvested them.
• Lin Mo noticed the remaining plant had grown larger and hotter, and wondered whether the spirit liquid could help living things break through their limits.

Lin Mo traded Spirit Plants with the black-robed man and learned that a high-grade cultivation method suited to Spirit Plant Farmers was available for one hundred Contribution Points. He left with a formation disc and plans to return with enough Spirit Plants to buy the method, while the black-robed man suspected an Inner Sect elder backed him.

• Lin Mo fed Spirit Spring Water to the mutated Spirit Plant and went to the Black Market.
• The black-robed man gave Lin Mo special priority and asked whether he wanted more spirit liquid.
• Lin Mo asked for a spirit-soil formation and a high-grade cultivation method, then offered thirty-six Spirit Plant fruits.
• The black-robed man valued the fruits at seventy-two Contribution Points and offered the formation for thirty, but said his cultivation method cost one hundred.
• Lin Mo agreed to consider the method, and the black-robed man exchanged twenty fruits for a jade disc, saying forty-five more fruits of equal quality would cover the method.
• The black-robed man watched Lin Mo leave and guessed that an Inner Sect elder was backing him.

Lin Mo used a Formation Disc and spirit spring water to improve his spirit field, then expanded his planting operation while sensing unease in the Azure Cloud Sect over the Tai Sui Gate. The chapter ended with Lin Mo harvesting three fiery fruits from his mutated Fire Spirit Fruit plant.

• Lin Mo buried the Formation Disc in his spirit field, planted seeds, and began using spirit stones to maintain the formation.
• Two days later, Lin Mo harvested thirty-six spirit plant fruits and replanted more seeds.
• Lin Mo noticed the sect's subdued atmosphere and suspected it was connected to the Tai Sui Gate.
• Lin Mo planted more than a dozen spirit plants and used spirit spring water on six of them and his mutated Fire Spirit Fruit plant.
• Another Fire Spirit Fruit plant mutated, and Lin Mo found three large, scorching fruits growing on the earlier mutated plant.

Lin Mo discovered that his gourd had produced three mystic-tier spirit fruits, then clashed with Li Yibo on his way out. After Lin Mo defeated Li Yibo in a fight, Zhou Ge arrived, confirmed that Li Yibo had started the conflict, and let Lin Mo go.

• Lin Mo found three mystic-tier spirit fruits and praised the gourd that had produced them.
• Li Yibo blocked Lin Mo and mocked him, so Lin Mo retorted about Li Yibo's failed assessment and unpaid contribution points.
• Li Yibo attacked Lin Mo with a fist, but Lin Mo dodged and sent him flying with a kick.
• Li Yibo cast a flame spell at Lin Mo, who evaded it and struck him with a Heart-Toppling Elbow, leaving him unable to rise.
• Lin Mo asked the witnesses to support his account, and Zhou Ge arrived on a flying sword to investigate the fight.
• Zhou Ge confirmed that Li Yibo had provoked Lin Mo and dismissed Lin Mo without punishment.

After Zhou Ge unexpectedly let Lin Mo go, Lin Mo accepted that he could only protect himself by improving his cultivation. Wang Qiuru discovered his unusually fast-growing spirit plants and began to suspect he had a special constitution, despite his five-spirit root.

• Zhou Ge let Lin Mo off, leaving the other disciples wondering whether the two were close, while Lin Mo remained confused about why Zhou Ge had treated him differently.
• Lin Mo concluded that his weak cultivation left him at others’ mercy and that he needed to work hard to improve it.
• Wang Qiuru offered Lin Mo a better spirit field and three Servant Disciples, but Lin Mo declined because his plants were already thriving.
• Wang Qiuru was astonished to see Lin Mo’s spirit plants flowering after only two months, far ahead of their usual growth.
• Liu Xianzong suggested Lin Mo might have a special constitution, and Wang Qiuru became intrigued when Lin Mo revealed he had a five-spirit root.