Chapter Summaries

As Xu Changgeng died, Xu Xuan’s memories of his past life awakened, and he passed the Grain Garment Art to his descendants before his true spirit returned to the Book of Time. The Xu Household prospered across generations, and the chapter ended with the birth of Xu Daocheng, Xu Xuan’s next reincarnation.

• Xu Changgeng awakened as Xu Xuan and taught his descendants the Grain Garment Art, warning them to guard the method and preserve the lineage.
• Xu Changgeng died, and his true spirit entered the Book of Time, which recorded his first life and granted him forty additional years of lifespan for his next life.
• The Xu Household practiced the Grain Garment Art, grew prosperous, and established Xu Household Market and a renovated ancestral hall honoring Xu Changgeng.
• Xu Chengye welcomed the birth of his fifth great-grandson and named the child Xu Daocheng.

Reborn as Xu Daocheng, Xu Xuan discovered that he had a vegetation spiritual root and began cultivating the Grain Garment Art while growing up among his descendants. At four years old, he achieved Essence Condensation, the first realm on the path toward Qi Refining.

• Newborn Xu Xuan sensed his vegetation spiritual root and the Grain Garment Art circulating through his frail body, but fell asleep before he could cultivate further.
• Xu Chengye entered Xu Daocheng into the genealogy and instructed the family to offer incense to Xu Changgeng; as an infant, Xu Xuan watched his descendants practice and assessed their abilities.
• At his first-birthday ceremony, Xu Xuan chose a wooden sword and a Grain Garment plaque, pleasing Xu Chengye and the elders.
• At three years old, Xu Xuan began practicing the Grain Garment Art, secretly advanced beyond his peers, and struggled to draw in the world's thin spiritual energy.
• After a year of cultivation, Xu Xuan stirred nearby vegetation and condensed his internal breath outside his body, achieving Essence Condensation.

Xu Xuan advanced his cultivation beyond the limits of the Xu Household’s inherited art and revealed his abilities to Xu Chengye while offering to help with a water dispute. The chapter leaves the Xu Household facing another confrontation with Li Household Village and several outsiders.

• As a child, Xu Xuan tried to command ghosts and gods to bring rain, and a nighttime shower eased the drought, though he could not tell whether his commands had worked.
• Xu Xuan learned from Xu Chengye that immortal cultivators existed beyond River Sun, then resolved to strengthen himself and prepare the Xu Household for contact with the cultivation world.
• Over five years, Xu Xuan refined true essence and reached the peak of Essence Fusion, while using the Spirit Drawing Art to nourish himself and loosen blocked spiritual meridians.
• Xu Xuan showed Xu Chengye the power of his true essence by leaving an imprint in bluestone and said he might improve the Grain Garment Art.
• Xu Xuan offered to help with the dispute over water from Li Household Village, but a clansman reported that Li Household villagers and fierce outsiders had arrived to redraw the irrigation channels.

Xu Xuan used his growing command of water to drive Li Household Village away from the Xu Household's canal, then gained the clan's trust by sharing an improved cultivation method. After reaching perfection in the Essence Fusion Realm, he broke through and opened his first meridian wheel, moving closer to Qi Refining.

• Xu Xuan accompanied Xu Chengye to Upper Stream Mouth, where Li Household Village's men tried to take control of the canal.
• Xu Xuan stirred the current with his internal breath, frightening the Li Household men into retreating and making the Xu Household believe the river god had intervened.
• Xu Daocheng admitted to Xu Chengye that he had altered the river and claimed an unseen voice had taught him the cultivation formulas.
• Xu Chengye had Xu Xuan's improved breathing method recorded, and the Xu Household's cultivation advanced while Xu Xuan became central to the Lineage.
• At twelve, Xu Xuan broke through the final barrier of his spiritual vein and opened his first meridian wheel.

Xu Xuan consolidated his cultivation and discovered that Xu Huai'en, a boy from a distant branch of the Xu Lineage, possessed a weak metal-element spiritual root. Seeing the Book of Time’s power in the bloodline’s potential, he recruited Xu Huai'en as his attendant and resolved to guide the Lineage toward cultivation, while considering a dangerous journey south for resources.

• Xu Xuan practiced magical arts in seclusion, protected Xu Household Market, and used the Vitality Art to nourish the medicinal garden.
• After the Book of Time stirred, Xu Xuan discovered that ten-year-old Xu Huai'en had a rare but impure metal-element spiritual root.
• Xu Xuan concluded that the Book of Time and the Lineage’s bloodline could produce more cultivators, and he imagined building an immortal-cultivating clan across generations.
• Having reached the peak of his cultivation and lacking resources, Xu Xuan considered traveling south toward the Venerable Great Mountains, despite the dangers this could bring to the Xu Lineage.
• Xu Xuan demonstrated his spiritual power to Xu Mingyuan and offered to take Xu Huai'en as his disciple, promising benefits for the boy’s branch in return.
• Xu Mingyuan agreed, and Xu Huai'en became Xu Xuan’s personal attendant, secretly receiving his cultivation guidance.

Xu Xuan strengthened the Xu Household by sending Xu Mingyuan to establish a trading house and gather intelligence, then improving agriculture and crafts to fund his cultivation. At twenty-one, Xu Xuan became household head as Xu Chengye neared the end of his life and worried that Xu Xuan had no descendants.

• Xu Xuan ordered Xu Mingyuan to open a trading firm in River Sun Prefecture City and secretly collect intelligence about immortals and spiritual objects.
• Xu Mingyuan established the Xu North-South Trading House, built an information network, and sent spiritual objects and reports back to Xu Xuan.
• To answer clan elders’ objections over spending, Xu Xuan improved rice seeds, medicinal herbs, farming tools, and looms, increasing the household’s yields and profits.
• Xu Xuan’s cultivation remained stalled at the Meridian Opening Realm, while Xu Huai'en reached the peak of Essence Tempering.
• Xu Chengye fell gravely ill, and Xu Xuan sustained his life, but the old man continued to decline.
• The Xu Household made Xu Xuan its household head, and Xu Chengye expressed worry that Xu Xuan had not yet left descendants.

Xu Xuan built the Xu Household’s trading and gang operations in River Sun Prefecture City, married Liu Yun, and raised an heir while honoring Xu Chengye’s memory. After learning of a hide scroll marked with spiritual signs, he traveled to investigate the possible cultivator’s cave abode, prepared with artifacts and defensive talismans.

• Xu Xuan married a wealthy woman from River Sun Prefecture City, and she later gave birth to their son, Xu Yuming; Xu Chengye named the child before dying at age one hundred and eight.
• After Xu Chengye’s death, Xu Xuan observed three years of mourning while the Xu North-South Trading House grew and drew the attention of city gangs.
• Xu Xuan and Xu Mingyuan established the Azure Mystery Gang, trained its members, and secured its standing through victories, connections, and work for the Great Dragon Gang.
• Xu Xuan met Liu Yun, taught her cultivation, and won the regard of her father, Liu Qingshan, who appointed him a protector and promised him Liu Yun in marriage.
• Xu Mingyuan sent Xu Xuan a hide scroll found in an enemy leader’s home, and Xu Xuan recognized its markings as signs of spiritual veins or a cultivator’s abode.
• Xu Xuan prepared magical artifacts and defensive talismans, then set out for River Sun Prefecture City with Liu Yun, Xu Yuming, Xu Huai'en, and trusted followers to investigate the marked location.

Xu Xuan investigated the hide scroll’s hidden destination, obtained spirit stones and cultivation artifacts, and expanded the Xu Household’s cultivation efforts. Nearly twenty years after finding the concealed site, he learned that strangers had begun entering and leaving it at full moon, prompting him to focus on the long-awaited opportunity.

• Xu Xuan used spiritual power to reveal that the hide scroll pointed to a concealed entrance north of the city, then secretly investigated an abandoned garden and confirmed that ancient restrictions blocked it.
• A trading-house letter reported that a storm exposed old remains and seven spirit stones in a strange valley; Xu Xuan sealed the valley, later retrieved the stones, and used five to open the chakra in his right arm.
• Xu Xuan and Liu Yun raised children with spiritual roots, and Xu Xuan took five concubines with spiritual roots while continuing to cultivate and stabilize his second chakra.
• Xu Xuan entered the desolate valley, broke its bewildering formation, recovered three formation flags, a golden sword, and a pill furnace, then used the flags to establish a Spirit-Gathering Formation on North Ridge Mountain.
• Xu Xuan opened the chakra in his right foot and strengthened the Azure Mystery Gang, while declining Liu Qingshan’s suggestion that he take charge of the Great Dragon Gang.
• Xu Mingyuan returned nearly twenty years after the site’s discovery and told Xu Xuan that strangers appeared to enter and leave it whenever the moon was full.

Xu Xuan entered the newly reopened River Sun Market, learned about its rules and the cultivation world, and bought a jade slip and talismans. After returning home, he realized the Xu Household needed a steady source of spirit stones and began planning how to obtain them.

• Xu Xuan used the leather scroll to open a hidden gate in the abandoned garden and entered River Sun Market.
• Xu Xuan met Hou San, who explained the market’s origins, schedule, rules, and closure after the blood demon case sixty years earlier.
• Xu Xuan bought a jade slip about the Southern Region and ten Evil-Warding Talismans, spending most of his remaining spirit stones.
• Xu Xuan returned to his residence and learned from the jade slip about nearby sects, dangerous places, and the basic cultivation realms.
• Xu Xuan concluded that the Xu Household needed new changes and that he had to find a stable way to earn spirit stones.

Xu Xuan secured a foothold in the cultivation world by making the Xu Household a vassal lineage of Yuan Qiu, though an attempt to approach the secluded Lin Household failed. He continued building the family’s resources and cultivation prospects, ending with his attention fixed on the wider Southern Region.

• Over three years, Xu Xuan traded gathered herbs and ores for cultivation supplies, learned fragments of cultivation knowledge, and discovered that the Azure Wood Sect recruited only young people with suitable spiritual roots.
• After the Azure Wood Sect rejected the Xu Household’s juniors as disciples, Xu Xuan offered the lineage as tenant farmers to Yuan Qiu, who agreed to accept them as vassals under strict quotas and restrictions.
• The Xu Household signed a contract to cultivate five hundred mu of fields in Hundred Fragrance Valley, and Yuan Qiu granted them the Green Grain Art for cultivation up to the third level of Qi Refining.
• Xu Xuan sent a hundred clansmen to Hundred Fragrance Valley and continued searching for opportunities, but a young member of the Lin Household drove him away from their secluded valley in the Ancient Azure Mountain Range.
• Back in Heyang Prefecture, Xu Xuan expanded his enterprises and sent wealth and supplies to the Hundred Fragrance Valley cultivators while struggling to open his fourth meridian wheel.

At fifty-five, Xu Xuan had perfected five meridian wheels but could not break through the sixth, so he sought spiritual resources to reach the Spiritual Treasury Realm. After failing to open the final wheel with water essence orchids, he turned to the Azure Wood Sect and Hundred Fragrance Valley for a chance to obtain a breakthrough pill.

• Xu Xuan learned from Xu Yuming that Deacon Yuan hinted the Xu Household could earn rewards by producing more spiritual herbs, so he ordered twenty young clansmen sent to Hundred Fragrance Valley.
• Xu Yuming reported that Xu Huai'en had found water essence orchids guarded by a powerful python, and Xu Xuan decided to retrieve them himself.
• Xu Xuan used talismans to distract the python, collected the orchids, and escaped with Xu Huai'en.
• Xu Xuan used the orchids to attack the sixth meridian wheel but failed to open it and concluded that he needed a genuine spiritual pill.
• Xu Xuan ordered Xu Yuming to have the Hundred Fragrance Valley clansmen cultivate other herbs the Azure Wood Sect needed and obtain seeds and growing knowledge from Yuan Qiu.

After a demonic faction’s attack crippled Xu Xuan and threatened the Xu Household, the Book of Time granted him forty more years. Xu Xuan used them to preserve his knowledge for a future life, protect his Lineage as best he could, and prepare to seek revenge after rebirth.

• The Blood Refining Hall attacked Xu Xuan and killed Liu Qingshan, while its disciple, the new prefect, suppressed the Xu Household and other established gangs.
• The Book of Time revealed that Xu Xuan had forty years of mortal life remaining and lent him enough vitality to survive his injuries.
• Xu Xuan spent his remaining years recording his knowledge and experiences on restricted jade slips for a future descendant of the Xu bloodline.
• Xu Xuan warned Xu Yuming to preserve the Lineage, maintain ties with Yuan Qiu, and flee with the direct descendants to Hundred Fragrance Valley if necessary.
• Xu Xuan secretly moved Lineage resources and elites to Hundred Fragrance Valley, screened children for his next life, and resolved to take revenge after rebirth.

After Xu Xuan died at sixty-seven, the Book of Time rewarded his second life with the Earth Spirit of the Eight Directions talisman, which could improve fortune and dispel calamity. Reborn as Wang Tong, a tenant farmer in Hundred Fragrance Valley, he awakened memories of his past lives at thirty-three and began using his knowledge to improve spiritual crops, drawing the attention of the Xu Household and the Azure Wood Sect.

• Xu Xuan died after watching his cultivation and the Xu Household decline, then entered the Book of Time.
• The Book of Time judged Xu Xuan’s second life and granted him the Earth Spirit of the Eight Directions talisman.
• Wang Tong, a tenant farmer in Hundred Fragrance Valley, awakened memories of his lives as Xu Changgeng and Xu Daocheng, realizing he was Xu Xuan.
• Xu Xuan examined his nearly false spiritual root and resolved to cultivate using his knowledge of spiritual plants and the Green Grain Art.
• Xu Xuan improved the dew condensation grass in his field, impressing Xu Jingyun, who made him a minor spiritual field steward.
• Xu Xuan’s work improved the spiritual fields and attracted the attention of Yuan Qiu, an aging Azure Wood Sect deacon.

Xu Xuan built a place for himself in Hundred Fragrance Valley as a skilled spiritual plant cultivator, married Yuan Zhilan, and used a Yellow Bud Pill to begin cultivating again. Nearly a century after his death, he learned that Liu Yun was still alive, but resolved to focus on strengthening himself and entering the Yuan Household’s inner circle rather than seek her out.

• Xu Xuan impressed Yuan Qiu with his knowledge of spiritual herbs, studied the valley’s manuals, and became a respected spiritual plant master.
• Yuan Hongyi offered to betroth Yuan Zhilan to Wang Tong, and Xu Xuan accepted; after their marriage, he gained greater security and resources.
• After Xu Xuan saved a spiritual field from pests and disease, Yuan Hongyi gave him a Yellow Bud Pill, which he used to draw qi into his body and begin cultivating again.
• Xu Xuan spent nearly twenty more years cultivating and tending spiritual plants in Hundred Fragrance Valley, steadily increasing his spiritual power and standing.
• Xu Xuan overheard that nearly a century had passed since his death, Xu Yuming was gone, and Liu Yun was still alive at nearly one hundred and twenty.
• Xu Xuan decided to pursue greater strength and access to the Yuan Household’s inner circle, while avoiding a meeting with Liu Yun.

After twenty years cultivating in Hundred Fragrance Valley, Xu Xuan used his spirit-plant expertise to cure a blight and impress Azure Wood Sect disciple Li Jiangping, who promised to recommend him for work in the sect’s medicinal garden. Xu Xuan continued secretly advancing his cultivation and looked toward entering the sect and eventually bringing the Xu Household’s children with him.

• Xu Xuan examined the blighted Heart-Clearing Grass and proposed a treatment after Yuan Hongyi and Li Jiangping could find no solution.
• Xu Xuan treated a patch of the diseased field, secretly using spiritual power to guide earth-vein yang qi and dispel the damp toxins.
• After two days, the herbs began recovering, and Li Jiangping praised Xu Xuan’s skill and asked him about spirit plants.
• Before leaving, Li Jiangping promised to recommend Xu Xuan to the medicinal garden’s overseer for a menial position in the Azure Wood Sect.
• Xu Xuan returned to his garden and resolved to use Li Jiangping as a path into the sect, then bring the Xu Household’s children into it.
• Xu Xuan’s spiritual power reached Meridian Opening Pinnacle, and he continued tending the spirit fields with an uncanny ability to sense the plants’ needs.

Xu Xuan used his skill with spiritual plants to earn Li Jiangping’s recommendation for a servant position in the Azure Wood Sect’s herb garden. After preparing for the move, he left Hundred Fragrance Valley as Wang Tong to begin his journey into the sect.

• Xu Xuan impressed Li Jiangping by diagnosing hidden earth-vein flow and acidic soil as causes of poor Jade Marrow Rice growth.
• Li Jiangping gave Xu Xuan a herb garden token and told him to report to a steward surnamed Zhao on the first day of next month.
• Xu Xuan told Yuan Zhilan about the opportunity, and she prepared his luggage despite worrying about the hardship of sect life.
• Xu Xuan prepared medicinal herbs, refined his spiritual power, and asked Yuan Hongyi for advice about dealings on the sect’s periphery.
• At the beginning of the month, Xu Xuan said farewell and left Hundred Fragrance Valley for the Azure Wood Sect as Wang Tong.

Xu Xuan entered the Azure Wood Sect’s herb garden under the name Wang Tong and proved his skill by restoring a neglected field. After Li Jiangping praised his work and hinted at future cultivation rewards, Xu Xuan continued tending the garden while secretly cultivating toward the Spirit Treasury Realm.

• Xu Xuan presented Li Jiangping’s token to Manager Zhao, who assigned him a neglected field of azure needle grass and dew blossoms.
• Xu Xuan studied the plants and carefully reorganized the field, restoring its order and improving the medicinal plants’ growth.
• Old Sun and the other workers came to respect Xu Xuan’s farming skills, and Manager Zhao approved of his work.
• Li Jiangping visited, praised Xu Xuan to Manager Zhao, and hinted that good service could earn him cultivation methods or Spirit Nourishing Pills.
• Xu Xuan resolved to keep proving his value and cultivated through the night using the herb garden’s spiritual energy.

Xu Xuan spent years improving the herb garden’s yields and earned a Spirit Nourishing Pill and limited permission to leave the grounds. After taking the pill, he opened his first Spiritual Treasury and gained stronger spiritual plant perception and the ability to cast auxiliary spells, leaving him able to visit more of the Azure Wood Sect.

• After a year of diligent work, Xu Xuan heard from Li Jiangping about rising conflict between the Azure Wood Sect and Profound Sword Gate, as well as a dangerous treasure site in the Black Marsh.
• Xu Xuan refined his herb-growing methods and offered practical management suggestions, impressing Manager Zhao and Li Jiangping with the results.
• Over the next three years, Xu Xuan’s Azure Needle Grass and Dew Blossoms earned superior ratings, and Li Jiangping secured him a Spirit Nourishing Pill and limited permission to leave the herb garden.
• Xu Xuan swallowed the Spirit Nourishing Pill, opened his first Spiritual Treasury, and improved the quality of his False Spiritual Root.
• Xu Xuan gained stronger perception of spiritual plants and learned auxiliary spells, making the fields under his care more productive and earning further recognition.

Xu Xuan acquired cultivation references and herb seeds, copied useful knowledge onto jade slips, and secretly sent them to the Xu Household. Months later, Xu Ziyu received a ciphered letter, brought it to Liu Yun at North Ridge Mountain, and entered her cottage to consult her.

• Xu Xuan bought jade slips about spiritual veins, herbs, alchemy, formations, and minerals at Green Moss Market, then spent his remaining spiritual sand on Qi Gathering Powder and spiritual herb seeds.
• Xu Xuan copied the purchased texts and his own herb-gardening knowledge onto jade slips, then arranged for a cultivator surnamed Zhang to carry them and the seeds to Xu Jingyun in Hundred Fragrance Valley.
• Xu Xuan sent a ciphered letter through an old Azure Mystery Gang channel, urging the Xu Household to collect the materials cautiously through direct-line descendants.
• Several months later, Xu Ziyu received the secret letter, failed to decipher it, and secretly traveled with two trusted experts to consult Liu Yun at North Ridge Mountain.
• Qingchan led Xu Ziyu into Liu Yun's cottage, where Liu Yun told Chan'er to withdraw.

Xu Ziyu received a secret letter that led him to retrieve valuable cultivation materials from Zhang Jie, while Liu Yun recognized the handwriting as belonging to someone from her past. Xu Xuan continued building up his position in the Azure Wood Sect, and three years later he searched Green Moss Market for a stronger Qi Refining cultivation art.

• Liu Yun decoded the letter for Xu Ziyu and ordered him to retrieve items from Zhang Jie at Hundred Fragrance Valley, then privately mourned the person whose handwriting she recognized.
• Xu Ziyu collected jade slips containing spiritual vein surveying methods, pill formulas, and spiritual plant cultivation techniques, along with spiritual herb seeds, and secretly brought them back to the Xu Household.
• After learning that Wang Tong had sent the gift, Xu Ziyu received Liu Yun's assurance that Wang Tong could be trusted and that the Xu Household should cooperate with him.
• Xu Xuan continued tending spiritual plants and quietly building resources, then went to Green Moss Market three years later to seek a more advanced Qi Refining cultivation art.