Chapter Summaries

Shan Heyuan received Verdant Dwelling Grass seeds and planting notes from the academy, then planted two seeds at home while the academy offered a reward for growing medicinal-quality grass. The next day, his colleagues gathered to compare their efforts, but none of their seeds had sprouted yet.

• Dean Huai Liu asked skilled growers to cultivate Verdant Dwelling Grass, distributed Grandmaster Jiulu's notes, and offered fifty contribution points for a medicinal-quality plant.
• At a meeting of the Orchid cohort, Tong Liangji praised Shan Heyuan's gardening and urged him to try growing the grass.
• Shan Heyuan returned to his quiet home, soaked one seed in spiritual liquid, planted another in the courtyard, and kept the third in reserve.
• The next day, Shan Heyuan tended the academy's gardens and went to the office, where Jiang Zhi asked how his seeds were growing.
• Jiang Zhi, Shan Heyuan, and the other teachers compared their planting methods, and Li Jian reported that neither of his seeds had sprouted.

Shan Heyuan saved a dying Verdant Dwelling Grass by placing it in his Dantian beside the Illusionless Tree, where it began to grow. He transplanted the still-weak grass in his courtyard and went to work, hoping to cultivate it further for the two unconscious disciples.

• The instructors and assistants admitted that none of them had managed to grow the Verdant Dwelling Grass, while Shan Heyuan learned the two disciples remained alive but unconscious.
• Shan Heyuan found his Verdant Dwelling Grass nearly dead, with moldy, rotting endosperm, and opened its seed coat to tend the fragile cotyledons.
• When the sprout continued to wither in the cold, Shan Heyuan put it in his Dantian, where the Illusionless Tree's Spiritual Power revived it.
• The Verdant Dwelling Grass grew leaves and roots beside the Illusionless Tree, but Shan Heyuan removed it when it neared its limit and transplanted it in his courtyard.
• After Jiang Zhi's communication talisman warned him about the academy inspection, Shan Heyuan hurried to work and successfully avoided trouble.

After learning that the Sword Reverence Sect was investigating Verdant Dwelling Grass, Shan Heyuan worried that Shen Duheng might belong to its powerful Shen Household. Shen Duheng returned safely, and Shan Heyuan grew two plants before bringing them to Dean Huai Liu to help save two disciples.

• Jiang Zhi and Li Jian told Shan Heyuan that Sword Reverence Sect disciples were visiting the academy and that the sect leader, Shen, belonged to the Shen Household.
• Shan Heyuan worried that Shen Duheng might be connected to the Shen Household and wondered whether he would have to flee if Shen Duheng sought revenge against it.
• Shen Duheng returned to the courtyard and cared for the drunken Shan Heyuan, who asked where he had gone and whether he was hurt.
• Shan Heyuan raised two Verdant Dwelling Grass plants and guarded them with wards and help from the cats and dogs in the alley.
• Huai Liu asked Shan Heyuan to provide the plants quickly because two lives were at stake, and Shan Heyuan fetched them from home as teachers gathered outside the dean's office.

Shan Heyuan successfully grew Verdant Dwelling Grass, allowing the academy to make an antidote that saved two poisoned disciples. After receiving eighty contribution points and hearing others discuss his limitations, he met the grateful disciples, who offered him two Core Formation-grade seeds.

• Shan Heyuan presented two thriving Verdant Dwelling Grass plants to Huai Liu, who said they could be used to save the poisoned disciples.
• Shan Heyuan told the instructors that he had opened the rotting seed and tended it with spiritual liquid and Spiritual Power while practicing the Spring Transformation Art.
• The academy announced that the antidote had worked, and Shan Heyuan received eighty contribution points from the academy, Huai Liu, and the Orchid cohort.
• Shan Heyuan overheard instructors in the Plum cohort discussing his Root Bone and abilities, then returned to his business without reacting to their remarks.
• Jiang Zhi and Li Jian advised Shan Heyuan to save his contribution points and consider the exchange catalog and treasure books.
• Hu Gu and Yan Liang thanked Shan Heyuan for saving their lives and offered him Core Formation-grade Earth Origin Grass and Corpse Insect Grass seeds, but Shan Heyuan hesitated to accept them.

Shan Heyuan received two Core Formation-grade seeds and discussed how to grow them safely with Shen Duheng, who promised to obtain high-grade spirit soil. During the new year holiday, they won the soil at an auction, and Shan Heyuan invited Jiang Zhi and Li Jian to visit his home and see it.

• Shan Heyuan accepted Earth Origin Grass and Corpse Insect Grass seeds from the disciples whose lives the Verdant Dwelling Grass had saved.
• Shen Duheng recognized the seeds and agreed to keep them safe while Shan Heyuan prepared to grow them.
• Shen Duheng promised to obtain high-grade spirit soil, prompting Jiang Zhi and Li Jian to ask where they could see it.
• Shan Heyuan learned about the academy's new year holiday and spent it with Shen Duheng exploring Sword Reverence City and its surroundings.
• Shan Heyuan and Shen Duheng won high-grade spirit soil at an auction during the holiday.
• Shan Heyuan invited Jiang Zhi and Li Jian to visit his home and meet Shen Duheng.

Jiang Zhi and Li Jian visited Shan Heyuan’s courtyard, where they admired his thriving Spirit Plants and examined the high-grade Spirit Soil he had bought. They prepared to help him replace the courtyard soil, while the identity of the unusual Lightning-Struck Wood Sprout remained unknown.

• Jiang Zhi and Li Jian accepted Shan Heyuan’s invitation and visited his courtyard, bringing spirit wine and pastries as New Year gifts.
• Shen Duheng greeted the visitors, then returned to his room so the three growers could talk freely.
• Jiang Zhi and Li Jian praised Shan Heyuan’s winter Spirit Plants, and Shan Heyuan explained that Spirit Stones, spirit liquid, Fertilizer Pills, and daily Spiritual Power had helped them thrive.
• Jiang Zhi asked about the Lightning-Struck Wood Sprout, but Shan Heyuan said neither he nor Shen Duheng knew what kind of Spirit Plant it was.
• Shan Heyuan showed Jiang Zhi and Li Jian the high-grade Spirit Soil, and Li Jian identified it as likely coming from Pingyin City.
• Jiang Zhi and Li Jian examined the soil and prepared to help Shan Heyuan replace it in the courtyard.

Shan Heyuan replaced the courtyard’s soil and installed talisman formations to create a high-grade Spirit Plant garden, then realized why the plants in his Dantian kept withering. He ended the chapter proposing to put soil and water in his Dantian, though he had not yet explained how.

• Shan Heyuan, Jiang Zhi, and Li Jian dug up the courtyard’s Spirit Plants and removed its topsoil.
• The three laid 1,349 jade talismans and formation cores, powered the formations with Spirit Stones, and spread high-grade spirit soil across the courtyard.
• Jiang Zhi and Li Jian helped Shan Heyuan replant the Spirit Plants, and he gave them each a bag of high-grade spirit soil before taking them out for drinks.
• Shan Heyuan hurried home and told Shen Duheng that his Dantian lacked the soil and water needed to keep Spirit Plants alive.
• Shan Heyuan suggested that finding a way to put soil and water in his Dantian might stop the plants from withering, and Shen Duheng asked if he had an idea.

Shan Heyuan kept searching for spirit soil to help preserve the Illusionless Tree in his Dantian while handling his teaching assistant duties. During the annual Spirit Plant inventory, he discovered that Gold-Spotted Spirit Orchids would be grown this year and went to the library to study them.

• Shan Heyuan continued searching for spirit soil, and Jiang Zhi found him absorbed in reading Jade Slips.
• Jiang Zhi told Shan Heyuan that the teaching assistants needed to inventory the Spirit Plants for the new teaching year.
• Shan Heyuan joined Tong Liangji and the other assistants to count the plants, then noticed the Qi Refining First Stage moss on the list.
• Teng Ying explained that the moss was used to protect delicate Gold-Spotted Spirit Orchids and recommended books about spirit orchids.
• After finishing the inventory, Shan Heyuan went to the library and borrowed books to learn how to grow Gold-Spotted Spirit Orchids.

Shan Heyuan discovered that moss could absorb spirit mist and retain water, leading him to suspect it could replace Spirit Soil as a growing medium. Excited by the possibility, he rushed to an orchid shop in Sword Reverence City to inspect its varieties.

• Shan Heyuan studied Spirit Orchid growing media and became particularly interested in moss's water-retention ability.
• He grew a sample of moss, recorded its weight and moisture over the day, and found it had water to release again the next morning.
• Shan Heyuan concluded that the moss might replace Spirit Soil and hurried out, telling Jiang Zhi to ask for leave on his behalf.
• He traveled to the flower and bird market in Sword Reverence City and asked an orchid shopkeeper to show him every kind of moss.
• The shopkeeper said the shop carried seventy-three varieties, some costing more than a thousand Spirit Stones, and Shan Heyuan asked to see them all.

Shan Heyuan tested seventy-three kinds of moss in his Dantian, finding that five could support the Illusionless Tree only briefly. Jiang Zhi suggested refining the moss before using it, and Tong Liangji’s advice led Shan Heyuan to consider whether growing a Spirit Plant could itself be a form of refinement; he returned home to find Shen Duheng back.

• Shan Heyuan bought seventy-three kinds of moss, grew them, and tested them one by one in his Dantian.
• Shan Heyuan found that five mosses could support the Illusionless Tree for only three to five extra days, and he spent a sleepless night experimenting.
• Shan Heyuan went to work exhausted, where Jiang Zhi asked why he had taken leave and heard about his moss experiments.
• Jiang Zhi pointed out that substitute materials usually had to be refined, inspiring Shan Heyuan to wonder whether the moss needed refining while alive.
• Tong Liangji suggested that growing a Spirit Plant could be a kind of refinement, and Shan Heyuan returned home to find Shen Duheng there.

Shan Heyuan struggled to make moss nourish the Illusionless Tree in his Dantian and remained stuck on a difficult part of the Spring Transformation Art. After his students urged him to seek insight beyond the academy, he considered taking time away, and Jiang Zhi asked whether their advice had persuaded him.

• Shan Heyuan explained to Shen Duheng that moss in his Dantian could not release enough water and nutrients for the Illusionless Tree, and Shen Duheng linked the problem to Shan Heyuan's unfinished 'Return a Plum for a Peach' technique.
• Shen Duheng suggested that forming a resonance through 'Return a Plum for a Peach' might help Shan Heyuan control the moss, but Shan Heyuan remained discouraged by his cultivation bottleneck.
• Several Class D disciples told Shan Heyuan that growers often switched from the Spring Transformation Art and advised him to seek guidance, go into seclusion, or retrace Xin Xie's path.
• The disciples urged Shan Heyuan not to wait until summer break to pursue an insight, and he said he would consider their suggestions after arranging his duties.
• Jiang Zhi approached Shan Heyuan after class and asked whether the disciples' advice had tempted him to act.

Shan Heyuan arranged a month of leave to retrace Senior Xin Xie's path and seek a breakthrough in the Spring Transformation Art. He and Shen Duheng set out into the mountains, where their journey began with a successful day of gathering but no breakthrough yet.

• Jiang Zhi offered to help care for Shan Heyuan's Spirit Plants while he took time off, and Shan Heyuan asked him to keep the plan private.
• Shan Heyuan asked Shen Duheng to accompany him for a month, explaining that he wanted to retrace Senior Xin Xie's path to overcome his bottleneck.
• Huai Liu approved Shan Heyuan's leave and explained that the cultivators he knew who practiced the same method were unavailable.
• Shan Heyuan prepared his courtyard and supplies, then set out with Shen Duheng and the Lightning-Struck Wood Sprout.
• The pair traveled through the mountains and camped beside a pool after gathering Spirit Plants and game; Shen Duheng asked if anything had inspired Shan Heyuan.

Shan Heyuan proposed that Return a Plum for a Peach was meant to be practiced on fierce, self-aware Spirit Plants, and Shen Duheng agreed to help him test the idea. The next day, Shen Duheng found a Qi Refining Seventh Stage Ghost Bud Grass for Shan Heyuan to practice on.

• Shan Heyuan reasoned that Return a Plum for a Peach might work better on demon-like Spirit Plants with meridians, and Shen Duheng agreed to help him test it.
• Shan Heyuan asked Shen Duheng to suppress a fierce Spirit Plant while he practiced, and Shen Duheng readily agreed.
• Shan Heyuan and Shen Duheng shared a meal and reminisced about their earlier cultivation days on Xinglan Mountain before camping overnight.
• The next morning, Shan Heyuan asked to start with a Qi Refining Realm demon plant, and Shen Duheng searched the mountain with his powerful Divine Sense.
• Shen Duheng found a patch of fierce Ghost Bud Grass and asked Shan Heyuan whether a Qi Refining Seventh Stage plant would be suitable.

Shan Heyuan mastered Return a Plum for a Peach by subduing demonic plants with help from Shen Duheng, then decided to use the technique to prepare moss for the Illusionless Tree in his Dantian. The pair returned home, where Shan Heyuan selected his low-grade Golden Silk Dense Moss for the next step.

• Shen Duheng suppressed the Ghost Bud Grass with his Sword Intent while Shan Heyuan practiced Return a Plum for a Peach and brought the plant under his control.
• Shan Heyuan tested his control by making the Ghost Bud Grass lift him and walk, then took a small rooted piece before releasing it.
• Shan Heyuan subdued a Foundation Establishment Early Stage Galangal Red, took a branch, and felt he had moved closer to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
• Shan Heyuan chose moss as the growing medium for the Illusionless Tree, and he and Shen Duheng returned home so he could attempt to tame a demonic variety.
• Shan Heyuan chose his Qi Refining Third Stage Golden Silk Dense Moss for the next step.

Shan Heyuan cultivated and tamed Golden Silk Dense Moss, then decided to place it in his Dantian despite the risks. After a long effort to control the moss and Illusionless Tree inside him, he began trying to arrange them together.

• Shan Heyuan prepared Fertilizer Pills and other materials, then cultivated Golden Silk Dense Moss to the Foundation Establishment Early Stage and tamed it with Return a Plum for a Peach.
• Shan Heyuan realized the moss might release spirit liquid inside his Dantian to help the Illusionless Tree grow, but worried that a conscious Spirit Plant could mutate and harm him.
• Shan Heyuan weighed the risks and benefits, abandoned his written notes, and chose to put the Golden Silk Dense Moss in his Dantian.
• Shan Heyuan drew the moss into his Dantian, where it settled beside the Illusionless Tree on the cramped foundation platform.
• Shan Heyuan repeatedly circulated Return a Plum for a Peach until the moss began to grow, then struggled to guide both plants into a better arrangement.

Shan Heyuan successfully used Return a Plum for a Peach to nourish the Illusionless Tree with moisture from the Golden Silk Dense Moss, and he advanced to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. He returned to work and began cultivating more intensely, while the chapter ended as he undressed in front of his bathroom mirror.

• Shan Heyuan made the Illusionless Tree take root on the Golden Silk Dense Moss, but the process caused him pain and drew Shen Duheng to his room.
• Shan Heyuan demonstrated that he could make the Golden Silk Dense Moss release moisture for the Illusionless Tree, and he discovered he had advanced to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
• Shen Duheng left Shan Heyuan to rest, while Shan Heyuan celebrated his breakthrough without noticing Shen Duheng made no sound in the corridor.
• Shan Heyuan returned to work, where Jiang Zhi and Li Jian congratulated him and discussed the academy competition, which he declined to enter.
• Shan Heyuan focused on cultivation as he approached the prospect of Core Formation, then went to wash up after completing three hundred Greater Celestial Circuits.
• Shan Heyuan entered his room, stripped off his clothes, and faced the mirror above the washbasin.

Shan Heyuan discovered that his Dantian had expanded and was accelerating his cultivation, though Shen Duheng advised him to keep observing it. While tending his Spirit Plants, Shan Heyuan measured the slow-growing lightning-struck wood sprout and found it grew from a broken sword only seven centimeters long.

• Shan Heyuan noticed his Dantian had grown larger alongside the Illusionless Tree and Golden Silk Dense Moss, then bought communicators so he could contact Shen Duheng.
• When Shen Duheng returned, Shan Heyuan told him about the enlarged Dantian, and Shen Duheng attributed it to Shan Heyuan reaching the Foundation Establishment Late Stage and advised him to keep watching for unusual growth.
• Shan Heyuan researched Dantians at Sword Reverence Academy but found little useful information, while his cultivation speed increased as his Dantian continued expanding.
• Shan Heyuan tracked his Dantian's growth and tended his Spirit Plants, noting that the lightning-struck wood sprout remained almost unchanged despite abundant care.
• Shan Heyuan measured the lightning-struck wood sprout and found that its broken sword was only seven centimeters long and its tiny bud was less than one centimeter.

Shan Heyuan placed the Lightning-Struck Wood Sprout in his Dantian and stayed busy growing medicine for the academy competition. Though he doubted his fighting ability, the Planting Institute’s prizes persuaded him to sign up, while the plants in his Dantian began to grow.

• Shan Heyuan drew the Lightning-Struck Wood Sprout into his Dantian, where it floated apart from his foundation platform and other Spirit Plants.
• Shan Heyuan managed Spirit Plant gardens and grew medicine for the competition, gaining extra seeds and improving his planting skills.
• Jiang Zhi signed up for the academy competition, while Shan Heyuan and Li Jian initially declined.
• Shan Heyuan became interested in the Planting Institute’s prizes, especially the Core Formation-grade Spring Crystal, and considered entering.
• The Lightning-Struck Wood Sprout unfurled, and the broken sword buried in the Golden Silk Dense Moss began growing roots.
• Shan Heyuan decided to sign up, making Jiang Zhi happy about their chances of drawing easy opponents or a bye.

Shan Heyuan prepared for Sword Reverence Academy’s grand competition by learning sword moves, then visited the Sword Academy with Jiang Zhi and Li Jian to judge the competitors’ strength. Watching elite sword cultivators spar left him worried about his chances, though the less advanced disciples seemed more manageable.

• Shan Heyuan bought a spirit sword and asked Shen Duheng to teach him, but Shen Duheng said he learned quickly without having much combat talent.
• Jiang Zhi and Li Jian praised Shan Heyuan’s quick comprehension, while Jiang Zhi explained that he planned to compete using a planter’s methods rather than sword moves.
• Jiang Zhi took Shan Heyuan and Li Jian to watch Sword Academy disciples train before the grand competition.
• Shan Heyuan watched Lin Ji and Sheng Chao, the Sword Academy’s top-ranked disciples, spar at great speed and feared he would be beaten badly in the competition.
• After Lin Ji defeated Sheng Chao, two less polished disciples took the training ground, and Shan Heyuan found he could follow their moves and imagine ways to counter them.

Shan Heyuan discovered that the academy’s testing Spirit Artifact measured his bone age as nineteen, though he insisted he was twenty-six, and he registered as twenty-six. After drawing an Artifact Academy opponent for the competition, he sparred with Jiang Zhi and was overwhelmed by Jiang Zhi’s mutated Spirit Plants.

• Jiang Zhi and Shan Heyuan had their bone ages tested, and the Spirit Artifact repeatedly showed Shan Heyuan was nineteen despite his insistence that he was twenty-six.
• The person in charge suggested Shan Heyuan’s Cultivation Method might have changed his bone age, and they recorded him as twenty-six.
• Shan Heyuan drew an Artifact Academy artifact refiner of the same cultivation level, while Jiang Zhi drew a Sword Academy teaching assistant.
• Jiang Zhi asked Shan Heyuan and Li Jian to spar with him as he prepared for his difficult match.
• During their spar, Jiang Zhi filled the training ground with smoke and attacked Shan Heyuan using violent mutated Spirit Plants, forcing Shan Heyuan to surrender.