Recaps

After Lin He and Old Man Sun escaped the sinister Immortals' Mass Grave, Lin He returned to town with six Fanged Spotted Rabbits and told Su Qiuran about the danger. They decided to lie low in the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, and the chapter ended with Lin He carrying Su Qiuran to bed for an intimate night together.

• Lin He apologized for slapping Old Man Sun, and the two agreed that the sinister place in the mountains was too dangerous to revisit.
• Lin He urged Old Man Sun to leave Emerald Mountain Village, but the old man refused and promised to keep his doors shut.
• Lin He delivered six Fanged Spotted Rabbits to Shopkeeper Wu, received six low-grade spirit stones and silver, and returned to Su Qiuran at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
• Lin He described the Immortals' Mass Grave and Old Man Sun's deadly trance, and Su Qiuran concluded that a powerful formation or cultivator's restriction was at work.
• Lin He and Su Qiuran agreed to stay in their room until the danger passed, then Lin He sent Goudan outside and carried Su Qiuran to bed.

Lin He and Su Qiuran learned that the formation at the Immortals' Mass Grave had failed and that cultivators were entering Green Mountain. Old Man Sun arrived with villagers from Emerald Mountain Village to warn Lin He that they had been ordered to flee, and Lin He helped them with money.

• Lin He and Su Qiuran heard inn patrons say the sealing formation at the Immortals' Mass Grave had failed and decided to avoid Green Mountain.
• Lin He recognized Old Man Sun and other villagers from Emerald Mountain Village at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion's entrance and brought them inside.
• Old Man Sun told Lin He that a cultivator had ordered the villages near Green Mountain evacuated and that shelters would be arranged outside the town walls.
• Lin He offered Old Man Sun six Low-Grade Spirit Stones, but the elder accepted only one.
• Lin He gave Old Man Sun two taels of silver, which the elder finally accepted.

Lin He and Su Qiuran left the inn with Emerald Mountain Village’s refugees and moved into a house in Golden Lake Village. There, Su Qiuran absorbed the Jade Gourd’s accumulated Essence of the Moon and felt her Spirit Root recover further, though her legs remained numb.

• Old Man Sun told Lin He that the authorities were relocating Emerald Mountain Village’s refugees to Golden Lake Village, where they could rent houses for three years before owning them.
• Lin He packed his belongings, woke Goudan, and pushed Su Qiuran out of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion to join the villagers heading to Golden Lake Village.
• Lin He paid a small bribe to secure a sturdy house with a private courtyard on the village’s western edge.
• After checking that the house was secure, Lin He placed the Jade Gourd on the table and Su Qiuran absorbed its accumulated Essence of the Moon.
• Su Qiuran’s vitality improved and her Spirit Root recovered somewhat, but she still could not feel her legs.

Lin He and Su Qiuran realized they needed spirit rice and more spirit stones, while village officials gathered the displaced villagers to teach them fishing. After hearing Old Man Wang’s tale of treasure in Golden Lake, Lin He considered searching the lake himself and left with a fishing net.

• Lin He and Su Qiuran discussed the cost of spirit rice seeds and the need to enrich the village soil with crushed spirit stones.
• Bailiffs summoned the villagers from Emerald Mountain Village, and Lin He joined Old Man Sun and the others beneath the banyan tree.
• An official introduced Old Man Wang, who demonstrated net fishing and urged the villagers to learn how to earn their rent.
• Old Man Wang told the villagers that a fisherman had once found an immortal’s artifact in Golden Lake and sold it for a fortune.
• Lin He dismissed the story as an exaggeration but privately considered searching the lake for lost treasures.
• Lin He collected a fishing net and looked toward Golden Lake, eager to begin.

Lin He and Old Man Sun tried fishing on Golden Lake, where Lin He caught a boatload of fish and sold most of them to Shuigen. After discussing plans to grow Green Jade Spirit Rice for Su Qiuran, Lin He went to town for seeds and realized the Jade Gourd’s moon essence might restore the vitality of cheap, withered seeds.

• Lin He rented Shuigen’s boat and showed Old Man Sun how to cast a net, catching many fish while Old Man Sun caught only weeds.
• Lin He sold the catch to Shuigen for 120 copper coins, keeping two large bighead carp to make soup for Su Qiuran.
• Lin He told Su Qiuran he was going to town to buy Green Jade Spirit Rice seeds, and she warned him to watch out for dishonest shop clerks.
• Lin He visited Cultivation Street and noticed a cultivator selling shriveled Green Jade Spirit seeds for two spirit stones per liang.
• Lin He considered using the Jade Gourd’s moon essence to revive the seeds and approached the seller’s stall.

Lin He bought a tael of shriveled spirit seeds from Wu De for one Low-Grade Spirit Stone and learned they had been dug up near Green Mountain’s Immortals’ Mass Grave. He headed back to Golden Lake Village, eager to test whether the Jade Gourd could revive them.

• Lin He pretended to be a naïve villager and bargained Wu De down to one Low-Grade Spirit Stone for a tael of aged spirit seeds.
• After selling Lin He the seeds, Wu De asked how a mortal had obtained a Spirit Stone, and Lin He claimed he had sold a Fanged Spotted Rabbit.
• Lin He told Wu De that he had once lived in Emerald Mountain Village and had been resettled in Golden Lake Village.
• Wu De revealed that he had dug the seeds from a torn sack near Green Mountain’s Immortals’ Mass Grave and warned that leaked Yin Qi and miasma made the area dangerous.
• Lin He left the alley delighted with his purchase and hurried toward Golden Lake Village to tell Su Qiuran and experiment with the Jade Gourd.

Lin He and Su Qiuran used the Jade Gourd’s essence to revive Azure Jade Spirit Seeds and grow Green Jade Spirit Rice. After eating the rice, Su Qiuran’s restored spirit root absorbed its spiritual Qi, and she reached Qi Refinement First Layer.

• Lin He brought home shriveled Azure Jade Spirit Seeds, and he and Su Qiuran decided to restore them with the Little Green Bottle’s essence of the moon.
• Lin He soaked the seeds in essence-infused water, and they swelled into plump, emerald seeds.
• Lin He planted the seeds in soil fertilized with powdered spirit stones and repeatedly watered them with diluted essence of the sun until they grew into Green Jade Spirit Rice.
• Lin He, Su Qiuran, and Goudan harvested nearly five jin of rice, which Lin He cooked.
• Su Qiuran ate the spirit rice, her spirit root absorbed its spiritual Qi, and she reached Qi Refinement First Layer.

Su Qiuran reached Qi Refinement First Layer and discovered she absorbed nearly all the Spiritual Qi in spirit rice, while Lin He remained unable to absorb it. Lin He grew a stronger second crop of spirit rice, but a fishy breeze from the reeds alerted him to something moving nearby.

• Su Qiuran reached Qi Refinement First Layer after eating spirit rice, though her legs remained paralyzed.
• Lin He tasted the spirit rice but felt no Spiritual Qi, while Su Qiuran said she had absorbed virtually all of its Spiritual Qi.
• Lin He proposed that Su Qiuran might have been a great talent whose spirit root had been damaged, then decided to grow more spirit rice from saved seeds.
• Lin He sowed the second-generation seeds in soil fertilized with crushed Low-Grade Spirit Stones and watered them with diluted essence of the sun.
• Lin He rapidly grew a lush crop of stronger spirit rice, then sensed something moving in the reeds after a fishy gust blew through.

Lin He and Su Qiuran harvested a remarkably rich crop of second-generation spirit rice, but realized they had only enough spirit stones to fund one more planting. Su Qiuran proposed selling their superior seeds, and Lin He worried they would be attacked, leaving him to consider whether a disguise could protect them.

• Lin He investigated a noise in the reeds, found a large snapping turtle, and threw it back into the lake.
• Lin He and Su Qiuran harvested the spirit rice from their two-tenths of a mu and threshed nearly ten jin of grain.
• Su Qiuran pointed out that Lin He had only three low-grade spirit stones left, enough for at most one more crop.
• Su Qiuran suggested selling their superior spirit seeds on Cultivator Street to earn more spirit stones.
• Lin He warned that selling the seeds could make them targets, then asked Su Qiuran whether a disguise might work.

Lin He and Su Qiuran disguised themselves to sell Azure Jade Spirit Seeds at the cultivation market, where they learned the three great Lineages were fighting at Green Mountain. After selling the seeds, Su Qiuran proposed making talismans to earn Spirit Stones and improve their defenses, and they headed to buy supplies.

• Su Qiuran disguised herself and Lin He beneath an oversized black robe, and the pair slipped out of Golden Lake Village before dawn.
• At the cultivation market, Lin He and Su Qiuran overheard that the three great Lineages were battling over a spirit herb at Green Mountain and that talismans had become scarce.
• Lin He sold one jin of Supreme-grade Azure Jade Spirit Seeds to the Spirit Plant Pavilion for eighty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Su Qiuran suggested trying to draw talismans to earn Spirit Stones and protect themselves from cultivators' Law Techniques.
• Lin He carried Su Qiuran toward a shop selling talisman-making supplies.

Lin He and Su Qiuran bought basic talisman-making supplies at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and escaped the market without being followed. Back at their wooden house, Su Qiuran crafted a fireball talisman on her first try, deepening her suspicion that her unexplained genius abilities were tied to the reason she had become unable to walk.

• Lin He bought a basic talisman-making book, blank talisman paper, and cinnabar for twelve low-grade spirit stones at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
• Sensing possible pursuers outside the market, Lin He carried Su Qiuran through the woods on a long detour before returning safely to their wooden house.
• Lin He and Su Qiuran counted their remaining seventy-one low-grade spirit stones, and Su Qiuran decided to pursue talisman-making as a source of income.
• Su Qiuran followed the book's instructions and successfully drew a ninth-grade, low-tier fireball talisman on her first attempt.
• Su Qiuran questioned whether her remarkable talent was connected to her inability to walk, and Lin He promised they would uncover the cause and overcome their enemies.

Lin He taught Old Man Sun and Shuigen how to cast a fishing net on Golden Lake and learned that the lake had formed around a fallen golden meteorite and once yielded relics from battles on Green Mountain. He caught a snapping turtle he recognized from his courtyard and decided to take it home instead of selling it.

• Lin He met Old Man Sun at the lake and offered to teach him to cast a fishing net.
• Shuigen joined Lin He and Old Man Sun on his boat, and Lin He demonstrated how to spread the net.
• Shuigen explained that Golden Lake had formed in a crater left by a golden meteorite and that fishermen had once found glowing iron and jade relics in its waters.
• Lin He hauled in a catch of fish and a snapping turtle that he recognized from the reeds near his courtyard.
• Lin He refused to sell the turtle and decided to take it home to keep Goudan company and guard the door.

Su Qiuran’s successful Fireball Talismans earned Lin He thirty-six low-grade Spirit Stones, while the shopkeeper offered more for detoxification or protection talismans. After deciding to focus on cultivation before buying another manual, Lin He grew a stronger crop of spirit rice, helping Su Qiuran reach perfection in the first layer of Qi Refinement.

• Lin He carried Su Qiuran to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and sold the eighteen Fireball Talismans she had drawn for thirty-six low-grade Spirit Stones.
• The shopkeeper offered to buy Spirit-Clearing Detoxification Talismans or Vajra Protection Talismans for five low-grade Spirit Stones each, with no limit.
• Lin He and Su Qiuran returned home and agreed to prioritize cultivation rather than immediately buy a more advanced talisman manual.
• Lin He enriched the backyard soil with five low-grade Spirit Stones and diluted Essence of the Sun, then harvested a stronger crop of spirit rice.
• Su Qiuran ate the spirit rice porridge and reached perfection in the first layer of Qi Refinement.

After Lin He and Su Qiuran fed the snapping turtle spirit rice and named it Ingot, golden inscriptions appeared on its shell and led it to dig up a Spirit Stone. The chapter left them stunned by their turtle’s apparent ability to find treasure.

• Su Qiuran reached Qi Refinement First Layer Perfection, and Lin He teased her about her strength.
• Lin He fed the hungry snapping turtle spirit rice, and Goudan demanded and received some too.
• Lin He named the turtle Ingot, prompting golden inscriptions to appear across its shell.
• Ingot rushed to the back courtyard and dug up a muddy stone as Lin He and Su Qiuran followed.
• Lin He recognized the stone as a low-grade Spirit Stone and realized Ingot could hunt for treasure.

Lin He discovered that Ingot could sense Spirit Stones and built it a pond, then went into town to buy supplies and learned that the Li Household’s newly advanced Foundation Establishment spirit beast had gone berserk. He returned toward Golden Lake Village with provisions and food for Su Qiuran.

• Lin He and Su Qiuran realized Ingot had a talent for finding treasure, and Lin He dug it a pond beside the reed beds.
• Su Qiuran stayed home to practice talismans and consolidate her cultivation while Lin He went into town for household necessities.
• At the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, Shopkeeper Wu told Lin He that the Li Household’s spirit beast had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm after absorbing rabbit bloodline essence, then gone mad and injured several elders.
• Shopkeeper Wu lamented that the beast’s rampage had canceled the shopkeeper assessment that could have earned him a promotion.
• Lin He bought food to take home for Su Qiuran and left the Drunken Immortal Pavilion carrying it with his supplies.

After Su Qiuran advanced to the second level of Qi Refinement and drew new talismans, she and Lin He headed for the cultivation market. On the way, they killed three bandit cultivators and encountered Wu De, who offered them a secret route into Green Mountain’s Mass Grave.

• Su Qiuran advanced to the second level of Qi Refinement, then used her improved spiritual power to draw three Fireball Talismans and a Light Body Talisman.
• Su Qiuran persuaded Lin He to carry her beneath a black robe as they traveled to the cultivation market to sell their talismans and buy better materials.
• Lin He sensed three bandit cultivators ambushing them and killed them with his tempered body and Su Qiuran’s Fireball Talismans.
• Lin He discovered Wu De hiding in a tree and threatened him, but Wu De introduced himself and praised Lin He’s strength.
• Wu De offered Lin He and Su Qiuran a fifty-fifty share of a supposed opportunity, claiming he knew a secret passage into Green Mountain’s Mass Grave.

Lin He rejected Wu De’s dangerous offer to enter the Mass Grave, then sold talismans and bought supplies at the cultivation market. He accepted an invitation to a black-market auction, leaving him and Su Qiuran with a new opportunity to find useful resources.

• Lin He refused Wu De’s proposal to sneak into the Mass Grave and scared him off with a warning.
• Lin He and Su Qiuran returned to the cultivation market and sold three Fireball Talismans and a Light Body Talisman at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
• Lin He used the proceeds toward a talisman manual, talisman paper, and cinnabar, paying the remaining twenty-six Spirit Stones.
• The old shopkeeper invited Lin He to a black-market auction at the underground money house in three days.
• Su Qiuran signaled her approval, and Lin He accepted the invitation.

After a brutal third body tempering, Lin He strengthened his internal organs and gained extraordinary breath control and underwater vision. He tested his new abilities by diving into Golden Lake, where he planned to search its depths for hidden treasures.

• Su Qiuran eagerly studied the advanced talisman manual while Lin He prepared to temper his body again.
• Lin He swallowed a drop of essence of the sun and endured an hour of agony as it remolded his internal organs.
• Lin He discovered that he could hold his breath for an incense stick’s time and recognized the change as fetal breathing.
• The next morning, Lin He persuaded Old Man Sun to row with him into Golden Lake’s deep water.
• Lin He dove into the lake and found that he could withstand the pressure, remain underwater for hours, and see clearly in the depths.

Lin He explored Golden Lake’s depths, caught four Golden-Backed Blue Claw Crabs, and decided to bring Ingot back to help search for relics. At the dock, he struck village head Zhao Fugui after Zhao tried to take the crabs for ten copper coins.

• Lin He searched Golden Lake’s lakebed for relics but found a Golden-Backed Blue Claw Crab instead.
• Lin He caught three more crabs and planned to bring Ingot to the lake to search for hidden treasures.
• Lin He returned to the dock with Old Man Sun, who was astonished by his catch.
• Zhao Fugui offered Lin He ten copper coins for the crabs and reached for his net bag.
• Lin He slapped the back of Zhao Fugui’s hand, leaving him in pain.

Lin He faced an attempted arrest by Head Constable Zhao De after Zhao Fugui accused him of assault and collusion with bandits. Su Qiuran invoked the Pacification Bureau’s jurisdiction over the refugees, leaving Zhao De frozen and sweating as he realized he lacked authority.

• Lin He gave Old Man Sun the Golden-Backed Blue Claw Crabs to sell and returned home.
• Zhao Fugui brought Head Constable Zhao De and two bailiffs to Lin He’s courtyard, accusing Lin He of assault and criminal ties.
• Zhao De ordered the bailiffs to chain Lin He and take him to the yamen, while Lin chose not to reveal his strength.
• Su Qiuran cited the Golden Lake Resettlement Regulations and argued that the refugees remained under the Pacification Bureau’s jurisdiction.
• Zhao De faltered when Su Qiuran demanded a summons bearing the Pacification Bureau’s Law Seal.

Lin He and Su Qiuran drove off Zhao De by invoking the Pacification Bureau’s authority, then forced Zhao Fugui to pay them silver and ginseng for his mistreatment and the crabs. Su Qiuran warned that attracting the Pacification Bureau or cultivators could expose their hidden identities, and Lin He fed the ginseng to Goudan.

• A bailiff told Zhao De that Emerald Mountain Village’s evacuees were registered under the Pacification Bureau, so Zhao De blamed Zhao Fugui and fled with his men.
• Lin He confronted Zhao Fugui after the head constable left, and Zhao Fugui begged for mercy.
• Zhao Fugui gave Lin He a fifty-year-old wild mountain ginseng root and five taels of silver as an apology and payment for the crabs.
• Su Qiuran warned Lin He that drawing the Pacification Bureau or cultivators to them could expose their alternate identities, then dismissed the ginseng as useless to her.
• Lin He gave the ginseng to Goudan, who ran around the courtyard with it while Ingot surfaced from the pool and blew a bubble.

The Pacification Bureau investigated Lin He and Su Qiuran but dismissed them as a minor threat after its agent reported no sign of spiritual power. With a black-market auction looming, Lin He considered risking another body tempering before his recovery was complete, but Su Qiuran stopped him and insisted they rely on her judgment.

• Zhao De reported Lin He and Su Qiuran to a black-robed Pacification Bureau official, who ordered Swallow to surveil their household.
• Lin He noticed the suspicious neighbors and told Su Qiuran they were government agents watching them.
• Swallow reported that Lin He seemed to be a strong but ordinary body cultivator and that Su Qiuran appeared to be a disabled mortal, so the official lowered their surveillance priority.
• Lin He considered using the Jade Gourd's Essence of the Sun for a fourth body tempering before he had recovered from the third.
• Su Qiuran stopped Lin He from taking the Essence of the Sun and told him they would assess the black market and seek opportunities rather than fight.

Lin He and Su Qiuran attended the Yongtai Black Market, where they spotted Pacification Bureau agents and bought talisman paper. When a broken sword from Green Mountain’s Immortals’ Mass Grave came up for auction, Lin He recognized its inscriptions as identical to those on Ingot’s turtle shell.

• Lin He and Su Qiuran entered the underground black market using a gold-edged invitation, and Su Qiuran signaled him to buy talisman paper while warning him about danger.
• Lin He spotted a Lin Household cultivator and recognized a Pacification Bureau sting marked by a symbol on the stone wall and three agents in the crowd.
• The Lin Household cultivator bought century-old blood coagulation grass for fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones, while Lin He won fifty sheets of green vine talisman paper for twelve.
• The auctioneer presented a broken black iron sword found beneath a formation core in Green Mountain’s central region and identified it as a fragment of a High-Grade Law Artifact.
• As the Lin Household cultivator and a Qi refinement ninth layer elder bid on the sword, Lin He recognized its dark gold inscriptions as identical to those on Ingot’s turtle shell.

Lin He won the broken sword after recognizing its inscriptions matched those on Ingot, then learned that Tang Lie had seen the same patterns on a stone slab in Green Mountain’s Mass Grave. Tang Lie offered Lin He a Spirit Assault Pill if he could decipher the inscriptions, leaving Lin He weighing the offer because Su Qiuran needed the pill.

• Lin He bid six hundred Spirit Stones for the broken sword, paying with supreme-grade spirit grain and high-grade talismans while Tang Lie withdrew from the auction.
• The Hundred Treasures Pavilion shopkeeper vouched for Lin He’s talismans, and Lin He collected the sword, whose dark-gold patterns warmed at his touch.
• Tang Lie waited for Lin He and Su Qiuran in the alley, introduced himself, and said he was interested in Lin He rather than trying to kill him.
• Tang Lie revealed that he had seen identical inscriptions on a stone slab deep in Green Mountain’s Mass Grave before the Li Household destroyed it.
• Tang Lie offered Lin He a Spirit Assault Pill if he deciphered the inscriptions, and Lin He realized Su Qiuran needed the pill.

Lin He negotiated with Tang Lie to decipher an ancient inscription in exchange for a Spirit Assault Pill and other rewards, while learning that Golden Lake’s depths suppress Spiritual Qi. He planned to exploit the danger zone’s apparent lack of effect on him and take Ingot to search for the golden beast’s remains.

• Tang Lie showed Lin He a recording of an ancient inscription and said it was connected to a gigantic golden beast at the bottom of Golden Lake.
• Tang Lie explained that Golden Lake’s depths drain cultivators’ Spiritual Qi and crush their internal organs, making the lake a death zone for them.
• Lin He bargained for three months to decipher the inscription in return for a Spirit Assault Pill, a Qi Harmonizing Pill, a mid-grade Spirit Stone, and a map of safe routes through Green Mountain.
• Tang Lie swore a Dao Oath to honor the deal and gave Lin He a voice transmission talisman before leaving.
• Su Qiuran pointed out that Tang Lie had withheld where he found the inscription and other clues about it.
• Lin He said he would keep studying the inscription while taking Ingot into Golden Lake to strip the gigantic golden beast of its treasures.