Chapter Summaries

Li Yang rejected the popular departments and chose Agronomy, then joined Feng Yiqiao, Xia Putao, and Lü Shunshun at the wheat field. Harvesting strengthened her body and added 150 years to her lifespan, while the department welcomed her with breakfast and lunch.

• Fang Chuyun told Li Yang she had opened her first Star Aperture, and Yu Hongyuan explained that top students could choose departments and mentors with priority.
• Li Yang told Yu Hongyuan and Fang Chuyun she would join the Agronomy Department, leaving them bewildered.
• Feng Yiqiao, Xia Putao, and Lü Shunshun waited for Li Yang, who arrived at the field just before 8 a.m.
• Li Yang ate five steamed buns and harvested wheat, gaining strength and 150 years of lifespan over the morning.
• Feng Yiqiao served Li Yang a large lunch of mutated steamed buns to restore her Star Aperture's power.

Li Yang ate enough mutated steamed buns to fill three Star Apertures, then returned to harvesting wheat while the Agronomy Department trio considered recruiting her. Feng Yiqiao learned that the department might be shut down next year, and Si Kui rejected the idea of taking Li Yang as a student because she had a Limit Physique and ties to the Zhong Family.

• Li Yang ate 21 mutated steamed buns, filled three Star Apertures, and went back to harvesting wheat.
• Xia Putao and Lü Shunshun urged Feng Yiqiao to ask Si Kui whether the Agronomy Department could recruit Li Yang.
• Si Kui visited the cave abode where the Ninth-Grade Lianxin rested and reflected on her long-standing effort to assimilate it and avenge fallen comrades.
• Feng Yiqiao asked Si Kui about recruiting students, and she revealed that the Agronomy Department could be shut down next year unless it produced a student in the top hundred rankings.
• Feng Yiqiao proposed inviting Li Yang, but Si Kui identified her Limit Physique and connection to the Zhong Family and said the Star Combat Department had likely reserved her.

Li Yang decided to join the agronomy department because she loved crops, despite Feng Yiqiao warning that other departments might recruit her. Yu Zhiying then ordered Yu Hongyuan to follow Li Yang into agronomy, believing that staying close to her would bring him opportunities.

• Li Yang asked Feng Yiqiao to send her more wheat-harvesting tasks and learned that she could choose any department as her province’s top scorer.
• Li Yang announced she wanted to join agronomy because she liked crops, and Feng Yiqiao revealed he was a fellow student rather than a teacher.
• Li Yang promised to report to agronomy after the opening ceremony and arranged to harvest its wheat herself the following day.
• Feng Yiqiao warned Li Yang that other departments might try to recruit her, but she insisted she would only choose agronomy.
• Yu Hongyuan told Yu Zhiying that Li Yang had chosen agronomy, and Yu Zhiying ordered him to apply to the same department and stay close to her.

Li Yang confirmed her choice to join the Agronomy Department and spent lifespan improving her stats, pills, and a knife. She ended the chapter with plans to pursue profitable skills and possibly minor in several departments.

• Li Yang reassured Fang Chuyun that she had chosen Agronomy because she liked plants and wanted to live freely, while Fang Chuyun decided to join the Star Magic Department.
• Li Yang used lifespan to raise her physique and spirit to 400 points, but found that improving Hidden Shadow barely worked at her current realm.
• Li Yang raised her Star-Attracting Pills and Aperture Stabilizing Pill to Grade One High Stage, leaving herself with 127 years of lifespan.
• Li Yang sold two Star-Attracting Pills for 45 merit points after the trading office deducted its fee.
• Li Yang bought a First Grade Low Stage knife and spent seven years of lifespan raising its quality to the middle stage.

Li Yang attended the opening ceremony at Central Capital First Military Academy, where she listened to student gossip and learned about the standout freshmen before hearing the deans introduce their departments. The speeches ended with the Beast Taming Department dean, whose inhuman appearance and motto stunned the freshmen.

• Yu Hongyuan sent Li Yang detailed instructions about the opening ceremony, including the speeches and the freshman banquet.
• Li Yang went to Sun Square and heard freshmen discuss standout students, including Lin Zhaoxia, Shen Shangchi, Zhong Qian, and Ning Shaoyu.
• The vice principal welcomed the freshmen, and Li Yang sensed that she had majored in the Spirit Department.
• The department deans introduced their specialties, and Li Yang was impressed by the Star Combat, Pill, and Weapon Forging deans.
• The Beast Taming Department dean appeared with a woman's head, eagle-taloned limbs, and a fox's tail, then declared that its students must put beasts first.

At Zhongdu Military Academy’s opening banquet, teaching assistants from all seven departments competed to recruit Li Yang, offering her generous benefits. Li Yang declared that she had chosen the neglected Agronomy Department, leaving everyone doubtful about her decision and the department’s precarious state.

• Teaching assistants from all seven departments surrounded Li Yang and offered her places, with the Star Support, Pill, and Weapon Forging Departments promising especially valuable benefits.
• Li Yang refused to hear more offers and announced that she was joining the Agronomy Department.
• The students and teaching assistants were confused, and Yu Hongyuan defended Agronomy as one of the academy’s eight major departments.
• The group learned that Agronomy had only three students, no easily found teaching staff, and apparently just one dean teaching, making Li Yang worry it might be shut down.
• The students assumed Li Yang’s choice was a joke, while the Star Magic teaching assistant resumed pitching his department and hinted at its rare Star Skills.

Li Yang turned down every department’s offer and reaffirmed her choice of the Agronomy Department, then focused on the Starlight-rich banquet. Zhong Ruirui later told Zhong Kun and Zhong Qian about Li Yang’s decision, leaving both men stunned.

• The Star Magic, Star Combat, Spirit, and Star Support assistants tried to recruit Li Yang, but she insisted she would join the Agronomy Department.
• After the crowd dispersed, Li Yang filled a huge plate and enjoyed the Starlight-rich food with Yu Hongyuan.
• Ning Shaoyu chose the Star Magic Department, while Zhong Ruirui sulked after failing to recruit either of her assigned students.
• Zhong Kun asked Zhong Ruirui about Li Yang, and Zhong Qian joined them to hear the answer.
• Zhong Ruirui revealed that Li Yang had chosen the Agronomy Department, astonishing Zhong Kun and Zhong Qian.

After Li Yang chose the Agronomy Department despite generous offers from other departments, its three long-term students were moved by her commitment and resolved to secure comparable benefits for her. Feng Yiqiao headed to their teacher’s secluded courtyard, where dense Starlight and lively plants greeted him.

• Zhong Kun approached Li Yang intending to recruit her for the Star Combat Department, but learned she had opened three Star Apertures and killed a cultist, then gave up on persuading her.
• Students discussed Li Yang’s announced choice of the Agronomy Department on the school forum.
• Feng Yiqiao, Lü Shunshun, and Xia Putao watched the banquet livestream and were moved when Li Yang rejected other departments’ offers to join Agronomy.
• Feng Yiqiao decided to ask their Eighth Grade teacher to provide Li Yang with benefits matching the other departments’ offers.
• Feng Yiqiao reached the teacher’s courtyard and saw dense Starlight surrounding lively plants.

Feng Yiqiao persuaded Si Kui to accept Li Yang into the Agronomy Department, though Si Kui suspected someone had arranged Li Yang’s choice for ulterior reasons. Li Yang officially enrolled and arrived at the department, where upperclassmen gathered to watch and wonder about its mysterious history.

• Feng Yiqiao showed Si Kui a video of Li Yang rejecting offers from seven major departments and choosing Agronomy, and Si Kui agreed to take her in and prepare the east-wing room.
• Si Kui privately suspected Li Yang had been deliberately sent to the Agronomy Department and decided to keep her close while investigating her motives.
• Li Yang submitted her department application, received confirmation of admission, packed her belongings, and chose to leave the fourth-class dormitory.
• Zhong Kun tried to dissuade Li Yang from joining Agronomy by warning her about the resources needed to advance, but accepted her decision after she explained her outlook.
• Li Yang arrived at the Agronomy Department, where upperclassmen discussed its crops and wondered why information about its past was restricted.

Li Yang met Agronomy Department dean Si Kui, who tested her with a Blood-Devouring Lotus, refined her Star Apertures, and offered to take her as a disciple. Afterward, Li Yang discovered that her maximum lifespan and lifespan had both increased by 400 years, but she could not work out why.

• Lü Shunshun and Xia Putao scared away the senior students by pretending visitors to the mutant wheat plantation would be charged Merit Points.
• Feng Yiqiao told Li Yang that Si Kui was a peak eighth-grade Half-Step Supreme, and Si Kui brought Li Yang to the courtyard alone.
• A Blood-Devouring Lotus threatened Li Yang while Si Kui questioned her motives, then Si Kui subdued the plant and examined Li Yang's Star Apertures.
• Si Kui refined Li Yang's four Star Apertures and recognized her as a natural-type Heavenly Fortune Bearer before asking whether she still wanted to become her disciple.
• Li Yang saw system notifications granting her 400 years of maximum lifespan and 400 years of lifespan, but she could not explain the increase.

Li Yang accepted Si Kui as her teacher and began harvesting mutated wheat, while Yu Hongyuan joined the Agronomy Department and Feng Yiqiao took charge of teaching him. A week later, a new wheat crop ripened, leaving Xia Putao looking forward to four months of rest after the harvest.

• Li Yang decided that she needed to grow stronger, performed the ceremony to acknowledge Si Kui as her teacher, and agreed to return after harvesting wheat.
• Yu Hongyuan begged Li Yang to help him join the Agronomy Department, but Si Kui approved his application and told Li Yang to teach him.
• Si Kui stayed away, so Feng Yiqiao volunteered to teach Yu Hongyuan how to draw a star into his body.
• Li Yang harvested the ripe wheat and saved up 820 years of lifespan, while Lü Shunshun and Xia Putao planted and fertilized the next crop.
• A week later, the new wheat ripened, and Xia Putao said they could rest for four months once it was harvested.

Li Yang prepared to use a purified Realm-Breaking Pill to advance, but Si Kui stopped her and explained that pills could damage her Star Apertures. Si Kui revealed that she had spent 400 years of lifespan carving Li Yang’s apertures and promised to retrieve the Agronomy Department’s Master-level Tree Tower so Li Yang could learn better Star Skills.

• Li Yang learned that the mutated wheat fields needed four months to recover and decided to wait before harvesting again.
• Li Yang bought a cheap Realm-Breaking Pill, purified it to 100%, and prepared to swallow it.
• Si Kui interrupted Li Yang, warned her against using pills, and said true advancement required defeating someone of a higher grade.
• Si Kui told Li Yang that carving her four Star Apertures had cost 400 years of lifespan and urged her not to waste her potential.
• Si Kui criticized Li Yang’s Star Skills and said she would retrieve the Agronomy Department’s Master-level Tree Tower the next day.

Si Kui reimbursed Li Yang for the Realm-Breaking Pill and settled her into the east wing before visiting Niu Qianqian to demand the Agronomy Department’s Tree Tower back. Niu Qianqian persuaded her to avoid provoking the Star Magic Department and proposed getting Li Yang a place in the Tree Tower when it opened next week.

• Li Yang received 70 merit points from Si Kui and joked that her Agronomy Department codename should be Quinoa.
• Li Yang admired her comfortable room, hoped to cultivate in her sleep after opening more Star Apertures, and fell asleep.
• Si Kui visited Niu Qianqian at the Academic Affairs Office and learned that Li Yang’s background was clean and her sea of consciousness bore no imprints.
• Si Kui demanded the Tree Tower back from the Star Magic Department so she could train Li Yang, but Niu Qianqian warned that retaliation could harm her student.
• Niu Qianqian suggested securing Li Yang a place when the Star Magic Department opened the Tree Tower next week, and Si Kui asked her to explain the plan.

Si Kui arranged for Li Yang to enter the Tree Tower with the Star Magic Department the next day, while insisting that its rewards belong equally to both departments. Li Yang planned to demonstrate the tower’s proper use and prove the Agronomy Department’s claim, but Si Kui’s dangerous instructions and threat to blow up the Star Magic Department left her alarmed.

• Niu Qianqian persuaded Si Kui to let Li Yang enter the Tree Tower with the Star Magic Department, and Si Kui demanded an equal share of its Star Cores for each department.
• Si Kui told the waking Li Yang that the Tree Tower belonged to the Agronomy Department and explained how its star plants could produce Star Cores.
• Li Yang learned that the Tree Tower recorded its last three entries and proposed demonstrating its proper use to establish the Agronomy Department’s claim.
• Si Kui explained that Li Yang should draw out and kill the tower’s dangerous star plants, but Li Yang worried that her limited strength would get her killed.
• Si Kui threatened to blow up the Star Magic Department and flee with Li Yang to the Astral Realm rather than endure further negotiations.

Li Yang persuaded Si Kui to teach her Star Skills to help her survive the tree tower’s astral plants, enduring the painful imprinting of two skills. After Si Kui left, Li Yang used her system to practice Invincible Sun Shield, but its proficiency rose by only one percent.

• Li Yang used her system to forget Fist Burst by spending six years of lifespan, and Si Kui recognized the change as Li Yang’s fortuitous encounter.
• Li Yang asked Si Kui for help gathering monsters, and Si Kui agreed to teach her defensive Star Skills for the tree tower.
• Si Kui imprinted Invincible Sun Shield into Li Yang’s mental sea, leaving her in severe pain.
• Li Yang insisted on learning another skill immediately, and Si Kui imprinted Willow God's Binding to restrain the astral plants.
• Si Kui explained that Invincible Sun Shield could block attacks from those in Li Yang’s realm and Willow God's Binding could briefly bind targets.
• After Si Kui left, Li Yang spent one year of lifespan practicing Invincible Sun Shield, raising its proficiency from one percent to two percent.

Li Yang upgraded Invincible Sun Shield to Tier 2, while Niu Qianqian secured her entry into the Tree Tower by negotiating with Shen Binghua. Shen Binghua arranged for students to protect Li Yang there, and Li Yang learned that only Shen Shangchi and Ying Qi were otherwise qualified to enter.

• Li Yang spent ninety-nine years of lifespan to raise Invincible Sun Shield to Tier 2, allowing it to convert some incoming damage into Starlight.
• Niu Qianqian persuaded Shen Binghua to let Li Yang enter the Tree Tower the next day and promised that Li Yang would receive half the Star Cores.
• Shen Binghua ordered the Tree Tower opened and instructed students to protect Li Yang and keep her from fighting the star plants.
• Li Yang traveled to the Star Magic Department and met Fang Chuyun, who had been sent by Senior Chu to greet her.
• Fang Chuyun told Li Yang that she could not enter the Tree Tower and that only Shen Shangchi and Ying Qi among the freshmen were qualified.

Li Yang arrived at the Tree Tower and joined the Star Magic Department team as a special member, despite hostility from some of its students. As Chu Runxi stirred up public resentment by implying she had entered through connections, Fang Chuyun defended her, and the team prepared to enter the tower.

• Fang Chuyun told Li Yang that the Tree Tower's first floor usually admitted five or six people, then brought her to see it.
• Li Yang met Chu Runxi, Shen Shangchi, Ying Qi, and the other members of the team, and suspected the extra members might be there to keep her from helping kill star plants.
• Chu Runxi announced that Li Yang was a special member of the team and said Director Niu had ordered them to take care of her, prompting students to accuse her of receiving special treatment.
• Fang Chuyun defended Li Yang and suggested that her teacher had arranged the opportunity, shifting some students' opinions.
• Chu Runxi called the team to enter the Tree Tower, and Li Yang reassured Fang Chuyun that she was doing well in the Agronomy Department.

Li Yang entered the Tree Tower under close supervision, but slipped away to confront a powerful star plant. She survived its poisonous attacks with Invincible Sun Shield and joined the fight, leaving Chu Runxi scrambling to regain control of the group.

• Chu Runxi led Li Yang and the senior students into the Tree Tower in a formation designed to keep her surrounded and supervised.
• The group encountered a peak First Grade star plant with a four-star difficulty rating, and Chu Runxi explained its Star Skills as the others prepared to fight.
• Li Yang used Hidden Shadow to slip past her watchers and attack the star plant, intending to gather the creatures together for a better chance at obtaining a rare Star Core.
• Li Yang activated Invincible Sun Shield, which blocked the star plant's poisonous mist and left her unharmed.
• Shen Shangchi and Ying Qi urged the others to join the fight, while Chu Runxi abandoned his surprise at Li Yang's actions and focused on defeating the star plant.

Li Yang deliberately gathered twenty star plants by drawing them after her through the Tree Tower, then used Hidden Shadow to make them attack one another. She told the ten Star Magic Department students to prepare to strike once the remaining plants finished devouring each other, but Chu Runxi challenged her claim that she knew how to use the Tree Tower.

• Li Yang ran through the Tree Tower while star plants pursued her, and Chu Runxi and Shen Shangchi tried to catch up and help her.
• Li Yang led an increasing number of star plants on a chase while the ten students followed and struggled to keep up.
• With ten star plants attacking, Li Yang withdrew her Sun Shield and activated Hidden Shadow, causing the plants to turn on one another.
• Li Yang resumed the chase and gathered enough star plants to make a more powerful mass, then used Hidden Shadow again and approached the squad unseen.
• Li Yang told the squad to unleash their attacks after the star plants finished devouring one another and said she had done it because it was the proper way to use the Tree Tower.
• Chu Runxi cursed and questioned how Li Yang, a freshman who had never entered the Tree Tower, could know how to use it.

Li Yang led the Star Magic Department students in defeating the fused Star Plant on the Tree Tower’s first floor, then seized the final blow herself. The plant died, granting Li Yang 200 years of lifespan, while the squad watched her in shock.

• The squad joined forces to attack the Star Plant, following Li Yang’s warnings about its ground spikes, poison mist, and vines.
• Chu Runxi joined the battle, and the ten students weakened the Star Plant while Li Yang recovered and watched for a chance to strike.
• Li Yang dropped Hidden Shadow, drawing the Star Plant’s attention, then used Willow God's Binding to pierce and restrain it.
• Li Yang stabbed the Star Plant repeatedly with her battered knife while protected by Sun Shield, despite the squad mistaking her actions for deliberate torment.
• The Star Plant collapsed, and Li Yang received a system notification granting her 200 years of lifespan.