Chapter Summaries

Xu Xuan bought an incomplete Evergreen Technique in Green Moss Market and used it to improve his cultivation while learning to make talismans. Meanwhile, the Xu Household developed a hidden water-aspect spiritual vein and began refining pills, and Xu Ziyu sent Wang Tong a coded message through Zhang Jie.

• Xu Xuan sensed an opportunity at a market stall, bought the incomplete Evergreen Technique, and purchased materials and a book to study talisman making.
• Back at the herb garden, Xu Xuan reconstructed much of the technique, switched from the Green Grain Art, and began cultivating with the Evergreen Technique.
• Xu Xuan practiced making talismans until he could produce crude first-tier spirit talismans and gain another potential source of spirit stones.
• Xu Ziyu’s chosen disciples found a faint water-aspect spiritual vein near Xu Household Market, which the Xu Household secretly developed into a herb garden and secluded cultivation site.
• The Xu Household’s disciples spent years learning to refine Grain Abstinence Pills, and several eventually succeeded despite a low success rate.
• Xu Ziyu sent Zhang Jie spiritual herbs containing a coded message for Wang Tong, describing the Xu Household’s progress and asking whether he had further instructions or needed help.

Xu Xuan helped the Azure Wood Sect herb garden suppress a Spirit-Devouring Aphid infestation and earned the managers’ trust. He used his reward to arrange for members of the Xu Household to enter the sect as laborers, establishing a foothold for his Lineage there.

• Xu Xuan received an encrypted message from Xu Ziyu confirming the Xu Household’s progress, then destroyed the jade slip and decided they should keep developing quietly.
• Xu Xuan steadily improved his cultivation and talisman-making until Spirit-Devouring Aphids began devastating the herb garden.
• After ordinary insect-repelling powders failed, Xu Xuan proposed fumigating the fields with wormwood, realgar, and blazing sun grass.
• Xu Xuan guided the laborers in fumigating the fields for three mornings, bringing the infestation largely under control and winning praise from Manager Zhao and Li Jiangping.
• Xu Xuan asked Manager Zhao and Li Jiangping to let his sons and nephews from Hundred Fragrance Valley fill laborer vacancies, and they agreed pending an assessment.
• Li Jiangping rewarded Xu Xuan with five low-grade spirit stones and three bottles of Qi-Gathering Pills.

Xu Xuan built a network of Xu Household disciples in the Azure Wood Sect’s medicinal garden, helping his lineage grow while advancing his own position and cultivation. After five years, rising conflict with the Profound Sword Gate led Manager Zhao to put Xu Xuan in charge of testing a crop-rotation and companion-planting method to increase herb production.

• Xu Ziyu sent three loyal Xu Household disciples to the Azure Wood Sect, where they passed the assessment and became menial workers in the medicinal garden.
• Xu Xuan used the new connections to send resources and knowledge back to Hundred Fragrance Valley while gaining Manager Zhao’s trust and greater access to the garden’s records and plots.
• Over five years, Xu Xuan reached the peak early spiritual treasury stage, while Xu An, Xu Ping, and Xu Shun earned recognition and the Xu Household developed its spiritual vein, pill-making, and spiritual-root program.
• Xu An became a team leader after warning of and responding to a demonic-beast disturbance, strengthening the Xu Household’s influence and communications within the garden.
• Manager Zhao told Xu Xuan that conflict with the Profound Sword Gate had driven up demand for supplies and ordered the garden to increase production.
• Xu Xuan proposed trialing companion planting with wound-healing grass and mind-calming flowers, and Manager Zhao put him in charge of the experiment.

Xu Xuan strengthened the Xu Household’s position in the herb garden while learning of dangerous activity in the Black Marsh. Three years later, he opened his yellow court spiritual treasury and advanced to the next realm.

• Xu Xuan’s improved herb-growing method increased yields, earning him spirit stones, monthly Essence-Nourishing Pills, and greater standing with Manager Zhao.
• Rival menial-worker chiefs tried to suppress Xu An’s team, but Manager Zhao removed two leaders for withholding wages and promoted Xu An to new duties.
• Xu An told Xu Xuan about ancient cultivator ruins and suspected demonic cultivators in the Black Marsh, and Xu Xuan warned the Xu Household to stay cautious and gather information.
• After three years of cultivation, Xu Xuan used a Spirit-Concentrating Pill to break through the barrier between the qi sea and the yellow court.
• Xu Xuan opened his yellow court spiritual treasury.

After breaking through to the Yellow Court Phase, Xu Xuan gained renewed vitality and began preparing for the growing threat to the Azure Wood Sect and his Lineage. The chapter ended with him secretly watching a blurry black figure approach the herb garden’s reserve spirit herb storehouse.

• Xu Xuan reached the Spirit Treasury Realm Yellow Court Phase, strengthened his spiritual sense, and gained sixty years of lifespan.
• Reports of strange sounds, sinister markings, and an attack on a nearby iron mine heightened fears of demonic activity around the Azure Wood Sect.
• Xu Xuan studied formations, spells, and alchemy, gathered materials, and instructed Xu An to seek information about distant postings and potential places for the Xu Household to relocate.
• Xu Xuan secretly told Xu Ziyu to organize the Lineage’s portable assets and prepare its members, especially children with spiritual roots, for a possible evacuation.
• Xu Xuan sensed a fast-moving presence near the rear mountain, concealed himself, and watched a blurry black figure investigate the reserve spirit herb storehouse.

Xu Xuan helped repel a demonic cultivator raid on the herb garden, earning recognition from the Azure Wood Sect and promotion to steward disciple. Now formally in the outer sect, he prepared to visit the Scripture Pavilion and pursue the resources he needed.

• After Xu Xuan warned Li Jiangping about a sinister aura, demonic cultivators stole blood crystal grass from the herb garden’s storehouse despite strengthened guards.
• More than ten demonic cultivators attacked the herb garden, and Xu Xuan used Green Vine Entanglement to save Xu An before confronting a Spirit Treasury Realm attacker near the storehouse.
• Xu Xuan held off the Spirit Treasury Realm demonic cultivator while Li Jiangping and Manager Zhao helped fight the attackers, who eventually retreated with the storehouse preserved.
• The Steward Hall investigated Xu Xuan’s background and, recognizing his cultivation and service, appointed him the herb garden’s steward disciple.
• Xu Xuan moved into an outer sect courtyard residence, and Li Jiangping congratulated him as Xu Xuan prepared to visit the Scripture Pavilion’s first floor.

Xu Xuan settled into his role as an outer-sect steward while studying a method suited to his five elements spiritual root and quietly expanding his connections and plans. He learned that a strand of yi wood azure qi would be auctioned at Cloudmist Market, but he lacked the spirit stones to attend and began considering other ways to obtain it.

• Li Jiangping gave Xu Xuan the outer-sect rules and allowances, and Xu Xuan chose Treatise on the Fundamentals of the Five Elements and Spirit-Nourishing Formula at the Scripture Pavilion.
• Xu Xuan used his steward position to promote Xu An, Xu Ping, and others, discreetly send medicinal-garden scraps to Hundred Fragrance Valley, and build connections in the outer sect.
• Xu Xuan learned that the Azure Wood Sect was buying ores for formations and that the Mission Hall had posted a risky mission to explore the Southern Wilds, so he ordered Xu An and the others to gather information.
• Xu Xuan continued cultivating and planning for the qi of heaven and earth needed to enter Qi Refining while his influence in the medicinal garden grew.
• Xu Xuan heard that the Myriad Treasures Pavilion auction in Cloudmist Market would offer yi wood azure qi, but he could not afford the ten-spirit-stone deposit and began seeking another way to raise funds.

Xu Xuan quietly accumulated resources and investigated signs of demonic infiltration as the Azure Wood Sect prepared a dangerous suppression campaign. The chapter ended with disciples bringing back a slain patrol member after a demonic ambush at West Mountain.

• Xu Xuan earned spirit stones by secretly selling cheap inferior pills and gained contribution points by identifying damaged ancient talisman patterns.
• Xu Xuan gathered information about possible sources of qi of Heaven and Earth, while Li Jiangping warned him that demon-suppression missions could offer Sha Condensing Pills.
• Xu Xuan avoided the dangerous missions and focused on cultivating until Zhao Qian ordered him to secure pill ingredients and investigate possible demonic spies in the herb garden.
• Xu An reported that Black Three had been lurking near the storehouse and Old Wu had disappeared, so Xu Xuan ordered discreet surveillance and reported the disappearance to Manager Zhao.
• Xu Xuan found suspicious blood crystal grass withdrawals in the supply records and learned that missions awarding Sha Condensing Pills required defeating Qi Refining stage demonic cultivators.
• Disciples carried a mangled corpse into the Mission Hall and reported that demonic cultivators had ambushed them at West Mountain, killing Junior Brother Zhang.

After Yuan Qiu’s death left Hundred Fragrance Valley vulnerable to the Blood Refining Hall, Xu Xuan refused the sect’s request to take charge and sent Xu An in his place. He also directed the Xu Household to establish a foothold in the Southern Wilds while he remained in the Azure Wood Sect and continued cultivating.

• Xu Xuan strengthened security at the herb garden and began considering whether earth-vein qi could help him refine the five elements.
• Li Jiangping told Xu Xuan that Yuan Qiu had died and evil cultivators from the Blood Refining Hall were threatening Hundred Fragrance Valley.
• Xu Xuan declined to take charge of the valley and recommended Xu An, who Li Jiangping agreed could go in his stead.
• Xu Xuan secretly instructed Xu Ziyu to send capable people and funds to the Yue Kingdom in the Southern Wilds and establish a discreet foothold there.
• Xu An departed for Hundred Fragrance Valley, while Xu Ziyu sent trusted members of the Xu Lineage south; Xu Xuan stayed at the sect, tending the herb garden and cultivating.

Xu Xuan established the Cloud Arrival Trading House as a discreet channel for the Xu Household’s goods and supplies, then used its information network to profit from rising demand for war materials. As tensions between the Azure Wood Sect and the Profound Sword Gate grew, he stockpiled strategic resources and focused on advancing his cultivation.

• Xu Xuan and Xu Ping sold goods from Hundred Fragrance Valley under assumed identities, then Xu Xuan bought a small shop in Cloudmist Market and opened the Cloud Arrival Trading House.
• Xu Xuan used the trading house to move the Xu Household’s goods, acquire cultivation supplies, and gather information while sending resources and methods to Xu Ziyu and the clan at North Ridge Mountain.
• Shopkeeper Fang warned Xu Xuan that the Azure Wood Sect was stockpiling bloodstaunching vine and adamantine sand amid intensifying conflict with the Profound Sword Gate.
• Xu Xuan ordered his people to stop selling those materials, secretly buy more, and expand production and collection at Hundred Fragrance Valley.
• After the Mission Hall issued a purchase order at higher prices, the trading house sold part of its stock for a profit while Xu Xuan planned further sales and invested funds in combat supplies.
• Xu Xuan took an Essence Condensation Pill and cultivated toward the late Yellow Court stage.

After receiving reports of drought, crop failures, and rising tensions between the Profound Sword Gate and the Azure Wood Sect, Xu Xuan secretly stockpiled grain and summoned allied cultivation lineages to propose a futures agreement. The chapter ended with the household heads weighing his offer, unsure whether such a favorable deal could be genuine.

• Over three years, Xu Xuan strengthened his standing in the herb garden and supported Li Jiangping, while Li Jiangping used his connections to help Xu Ping and Xu Shun.
• After reading Shopkeeper Fang's reports, Xu Xuan ordered the Cloud Arrival Trading House and the Xu Household to gather intelligence, sell assets, borrow funds, and stockpile ordinary and spirit grain.
• Months later, worsening drought in the Kingdom of Wu and confirmed crop failures in the Yue Kingdom pushed grain prices upward and unsettled the market.
• Xu Xuan, disguised as Mr. Mo, told grain-trading lineage heads that sect patrols and military-supply quotas suggested war preparations between the Profound Sword Gate and the Azure Wood Sect.
• Xu Xuan proposed a futures agreement allowing the lineages to buy fixed quantities of spirit grain in two months at a set price, with only a thirty-percent deposit at risk.
• The gathered household heads reacted with surprise and suspicion as they considered the offer's apparent protection from losses.

Xu Xuan drew the Lineages into grain futures agreements, then sold grain from his secret stores as prices soared. On the delivery date, the Azure Wood Sect’s announcement of a high-yield rice strain sent prices crashing, leaving the Lineages facing the loss of their deposits.

• Xu Xuan persuaded the Lineage heads to sign grain futures agreements and collect deposits, then accepted a flood of orders from Cloudmist Market.
• Refugees, crop failures, and sect procurement orders drove grain prices sharply upward, while Shopkeeper Fang delayed fulfilling the agreements.
• Xu Xuan secretly released grain stocks from Hundred Fragrance Valley and the Southern Wilds onto the market in small batches.
• With prices at ten times normal and the Lineages demanding delivery, the Azure Wood Sect announced Wang Tong’s improved Jade Marrow Rice, triggering panic selling and a price collapse.
• On the delivery date, Shopkeeper Fang told the Lineage representatives they could void the agreements by forfeiting their deposits.

After profiting from the spirit-grain price collapse, Xu Xuan withdrew from the sect’s political turmoil and volunteered to survey the Southern Wilds. He completed his preparations and left the Azure Wood Sect, first detouring to Xu Household Market in Heyang Prefecture.

• Family Head Qian and the other lineages lost their deposits or took over spirit grain at the collapsed market price, while the Cloud Arrival Trading House gained renown.
• Xu Xuan converted his profits into cultivation supplies, strengthened his connections, and received rewards from the Steward Hall for helping solve the sect’s rice shortage.
• Xu Xuan volunteered to survey the Southern Wilds, and the sect promoted him into the inner sect and supplied him for the expedition.
• Xu Xuan transferred the medicinal garden and the Cloud Arrival Trading House’s public businesses to trusted people, then told Xu An, Xu Ping, and the others to lie low.
• Xu Xuan left the Azure Wood Sect with a few trusted attendants and traveled east to Xu Household Market in Heyang Prefecture.

Xu Xuan returned to Xu Household Market and reunited with Liu Yun as she lay dying, then took in her granddaughter Liu Qingchan after Liu Yun entrusted her to him. With his worldly ties renewed and then settled, he ordered Xu Ziyu to prepare the Xu clan to migrate south and establish a new foundation.

• Xu Xuan secretly entered the Xu Household's main residence and found Liu Yun near the end of her life, attended by Liu Qingchan.
• Liu Yun recognized Xu Xuan, and he held her hand and thanked her before she entrusted Liu Qingchan, the Liu Household's last bloodline, to his care and died.
• Xu Xuan comforted the grieving Liu Qingchan and discovered that she had reached the Yellow Court Realm at only thirty years old through the Grain Garment Art.
• Xu Xuan arranged Liu Yun's private burial beside Xu Daocheng and told Xu Ziyu that he would take the clan's core members, skilled artisans, wealth, texts, and spiritual seeds south to the Yue Kingdom.
• Xu Ziyu accepted Xu Xuan's order and began preparing the clan to leave, while one branch would remain to guard the ancestral hall and farmland.

Xu Xuan led most of the Xu Household south to Spiritual Expanse Mountain, where they founded the Lingyan Xu Lineage and began establishing a settlement. Their new neighbors soon took notice, and a Xiao Household patrol confronted them over the territory.

• Xu Xuan announced the migration, and most of the Xu Household's core members pledged to follow him south.
• After three days, the convoy departed the Xu Household Market and reached Spiritual Expanse Mountain months later.
• Xu Xuan chose a valley, named it Lingyan, and directed the Xu Household to build homes, cultivate spirit fields, and establish defensive formations.
• Xu An, Xu Ping, and others arrived with supplies and skilled people as the new settlement took shape.
• Xu Xuan learned that the Blacktooth Tribe and Xiao Household claimed influence over the surrounding area, then ordered the Xu Household to stay vigilant.
• A Xiao Household patrol led by a Meridian Opening cultivator arrived at the valley entrance and accused the Xu Household of trespassing on its territory.

Xiao Lang of the Xiao Household demanded tribute from the Xu Household, but Xu Qingchan rejected him and he left to seek reinforcements. Three months later, Xiao Household head Xiao Yuanshan arrived with a force to attack, and Xu Xuan led the Xu Household out to face them.

• Xiao Lang threatened the Xu Household with a settlement fee and annual tribute, but Xu Xuan explained that they had settled on what they believed was ownerless land.
• Xu Qingchan challenged Xiao Lang with her Sword Qi, and he withdrew with his attendants after threatening retaliation.
• Xu Xuan ordered the Xu Household to strengthen its defenses, monitor the Xiao Household and Black Tooth Tribe, and prepare for conflict.
• Xu Xuan used Azure Wood Sect tokens to imply the Xu Household had sect backing, gathered mountain resources, and improved the Metal and Stone Bulwark Formation.
• Three months later, Xiao Yuanshan arrived at Spiritual Expanse Mountain with two elders and more than thirty disciples, demanding that the Xu Household come out and die.
• Xu Xuan led Xu Qingchan, Xu Ziyu, the elders, and the armed disciples out to confront the approaching Xiao Household force.

Xu Xuan used a genuine Azure Wood Sect token to drive the Xiao Household away from Spiritual Expanse Mountain, then arranged for a sect elder to visit and protect the Xu Household. Elder Zhou arrived and, after hearing of the Xiao Household’s threats and demands for tribute, ordered a disciple to deliver his message to them.

• Xiao Yuanshan threatened to destroy Spiritual Expanse Mountain, but Xu Xuan revealed a genuine Azure Wood Sect inspector’s token and warned that attacking the Xu Household would make the Xiao Household enemies of the sect.
• Xiao Yuanshan withdrew with his people, while Xu Xuan warned his clan that the Xiao Household would likely return once it learned their true strength.
• Xu Xuan sent a secret letter to Li Jiangping asking him to arrange a Qi Refining cultivator’s visit, and ordered Shopkeeper Fang to procure spiritual materials and spirit stones.
• Li Jiangping persuaded Elder Zhou, a late Qi Refining stage cultivator, to visit Spiritual Expanse Mountain, where the elder’s arrival awed the Xu disciples.
• Xu Xuan told Elder Zhou how the Xiao Household had extorted and threatened the Xu Household, and Elder Zhou ordered a disciple to take his token to the Xiao Household on Azure Mist Peak.

Elder Zhou’s intervention drove the Xiao Household and the Black Tooth Tribe away from Spiritual Expanse Mountain, giving the Xu Household time to grow. Ten years later, Xu Xuan opened his life palace and stood before the Qi Refining bottleneck.

• Xiao Yuanshan apologized to Xu Xuan and withdrew after Elder Zhou warned him through Xu Xuan.
• Elder Zhou praised Xu Qingchan’s talent before departing, while the Black Tooth Tribe concealed its movements and stayed away from the mountain.
• Over the next ten years, the Xu Household prospered under Xu Ziyu and Xu Qingchan, who advanced to the late Spiritual Treasury stage and became its second strongest expert.
• Xu Xuan devoted himself to cultivation and, after refining his qi sea and yellow court, gathered his spiritual power to open his life palace.
• Xu Xuan formed a palace phantom in his sea of consciousness, greatly expanded his spiritual sense, and reached the barrier before Qi Refining.

Xu Xuan spent decades gathering five-element qi of nature to overcome the barrier to Qi Refining, while Xu Qingchan refined a Water Spirit Pearl and became a Qi Refining cultivator. As Xu Xuan aged and the Xu Lineage passed to Xu Xingzong, Xu Qingchan returned with the final strand of river qi for him.

• Xu Xuan ruled out obtaining innate mother qi or a concordance object for himself and began gathering qi of the five elements through formations and long periods of cultivation.
• Xu Xuan established qi-gathering formations around Spiritual Expanse Mountain and the nearby rivers, assigning members of his lineage to guard them.
• After many years, Xu Ziyu died at age 130, and Xu Xuan buried him behind Spiritual Expanse Mountain; Xu Xingzong became head of the Xu Lineage.
• Xu Xingzong, a metal-root cultivator whom Xu Xuan had trained since childhood, practiced spear techniques at the household grounds.
• Xu Qingchan returned as a Qi Refining cultivator with the final strand of qi of rivers, told Xu Xingzong to deliver it to Xu Xuan, and went to recuperate from injuries.

Xu Xuan broke through to Qi Refining by refining the Five Elements Essence Qi into Mystic True Qi, then learned that the Black Water Gate had threatened the Xu Lineage over Xu Qingchan’s injuries. He prepared to take Xu Qingchan to the Yue Capital Immortal Market while Xu Xingzong guarded the valley.

• Xu Xuan gathered the five strands of Five Elements Essence Qi and broke through to Qi Refining, forming Mystic True Qi far stronger than ordinary spiritual power.
• Xu Qingchan, Xu Xingzong, and the core lineage members congratulated Xu Xuan after his breakthrough.
• Xu Xuan noticed Xu Qingchan was injured, and she explained that cultivators had attacked her near the Sinking Sand River while she searched for Qi of Rivers.
• Xu Xingzong told Xu Xuan that the Black Water Gate had demanded five thousand spirit stones and several fishing grounds as compensation.
• Xu Xuan ordered Xu Xingzong to guard the valley and decided to take Xu Qingchan to the Yue Capital Immortal Market.