Chapter Four: The Azure Emperor Art of Yin Wood

The completion of Return to the Void Cottage marked the beginning of our firm footing in this new world. Yet a true home is far more than a roof that keeps off wind and rain. It must also have smoke curling from the hearth, the joy of harvest, and the signs of life taking root, growing, and multiplying within it.

In other words, we needed a field of our own.

For cultivators, living on wind and dew was ordinary enough—but only in an environment rich in spiritual energy, where one could close the senses and fast at any time. Now that the three of us had suffered a sharp drop in cultivation, we were in precisely the critical period when vast amounts of pure energy were needed to nourish our foundation and restore our strength. Relying on medicinal pills for too long would inevitably leave behind pill toxins and destabilize the roots. By contrast, spiritual grain and spirit plants, imbued with the world’s natural energy, were the gentlest and purest sources of power.

More importantly, tilling the land itself was a form of cultivation. To watch a seed break through the soil, sprout, grow, bear fruit, and finally wither away—that in itself was the most direct comprehension of life and death, flourishing and decay, the most unadorned manifestation of the great cycle of the Dao.

So, on the third day after the cave dwelling was completed, I took my two daughters and began the farming era of Return to the Void Cottage.

Across from the clear stream in front of the dwelling, we carefully chose a sunny stretch of flat ground. The soil was rich, the sunlight abundant, and water was easy to draw.

“Daddy, are we really going to farm ourselves?” Jiang Yiyi’s little face was full of curiosity. In her mind, cultivators stood high above the world, able to move mountains and part seas with a wave of the hand—far removed from the identity of a farmer.

“Of course,” I said with a smile, rolling up my sleeves and taking from the storage area of the Celestial Palace of Penglai a hoe forged from ten-thousand-year profound iron. It had once been a tool of the artifact refining pavilion; now it had become our farm implement. “Yiyi, remember this: the path of cultivation has a thousand methods, but in the end, they all come down to the search for the Dao. A hoe and a flying sword are no different in essence. To wield a flying sword and slay demons is the Dao of protection; to use a hoe to reclaim barren land is the Dao of nurture. Both are Dao. There is no higher or lower.”

As I spoke, I swung the hoe. What looked like an ordinary motion carried a strange rhythm. With each stroke, exactly three feet of dark earth was turned over, not an inch more, not an inch less. The hard clods crumbled beneath the blade like tofu, becoming loose and airy.

Seeing this, Jiang Xiaobai gave an excited howl and joined the reclamation team. She needed no tools; her four paws were the sharpest plows and rakes. She scrambled swiftly through the field, tossing up soft earth with astonishing speed, her efficiency no slower than mine. Before long, she had become a filthy mud fox, with only a pair of glittering eyes still shining, making Jiang Yiyi laugh so hard she could scarcely breathe.

The three of us worked together: one for deep tilling, one for loosening the soil, and one for picking out stones and roots. The scene was lively and harmonious. In less than half a day, a spiritual field of five mu, flat as a carpet, had already begun to take shape.

But this was only the first step. Though the land was fertile, it was still mortal soil, and the spiritual energy within it was mixed and thin. If we planted spiritual grain directly, the yield would be meager, and the crops might not even survive.

The next step was the most crucial of all: improving the soil.

I told my two daughters to step back, then sat cross-legged in the very center of the spiritual field. Closing my eyes, I formed with both hands a profound seal brimming with vitality.

“Azure Wood Emperor Art — Myriad Life and Breath!”

This was an extremely advanced auxiliary cultivation art of the Penglai Immortal Sect, not meant for combat, but specifically for urging the growth of spirit plants, improving earth veins, and gathering the essence of grasses and trees. At the height of my power, I could use this art to turn a desert within a hundred miles into an oasis. Though my cultivation had fallen now, it was more than enough to transform this modest five-mu spiritual field.

As the incantation turned, the scant spiritual power within me began to pulse at a strange frequency, transforming into a pure, green force overflowing with life. This energy flowed through my palm and slowly sank into the earth beneath me.

A low hum spread across the entire field.

Centered on me, rings of pale green radiance, visible to the naked eye, rippled outward like waves. Wherever that radiance passed, the black soil seemed to be infused with life. Threads of pure wood-element spiritual energy were forcibly drawn in from the surrounding mountains and forests, converging upon this patch of land. Deep beneath the ground, the earth vein itself seemed to sense the summons, sending up wisps of rich, primal earth energy that seeped upward and fused with the wood-element energy.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth—among the five elements, earth nourishes wood, and wood stabilizes earth. Under the refinement of the Azure Wood Emperor Art, the energies of earth and wood reached a perfect, mutually sustaining balance within this tiny field.

The color of the soil began to change before our eyes. Its original blackness deepened into something almost immeasurably rich, as though it concealed boundless vitality. Taking a handful in my palm, I could clearly feel the warm spiritual energy within it, along with an exquisite texture—soft, moist, elastic, and alive.

This was no longer mortal soil, but a true first-grade spiritual field. Though its rank was not high, it was more than sufficient for growing basic spiritual grain and spirit plants.

When I finished, my face had gone slightly pale, the expenditure of energy immense. Yet as I looked upon this masterpiece, wrought from my own labor and care, my heart was filled with joy.

“All right, we can sow the seeds now.” I stood and waved to my daughters, who had long been waiting in eager anticipation.

From a storage chamber beside the Thousand Scroll Pavilion in the Celestial Palace of Penglai, I took out two things.

The first was an unremarkable cloth sack, within which were stored several hundred translucent grain seeds, as clear as white jade. This was the most common spiritual grain in the cultivation world: White Jade Millet. It had low demands on its growing environment and a short growth cycle, requiring only three months to mature. Though its spiritual energy was gentle, it was pure, making it the best choice for low-level cultivators to strengthen their foundation and fill their stomachs. We planted it across three mu of the field.

The second was three seeds I carefully took from a jade box.

These three seeds were entirely different from White Jade Millet.

One was dark red, its surface covered with strange patterns, and it exuded a faint fire-element aura. It was a mutated peach seed I had once found deep in Mount Kunlun on Earth, beneath an ancient peach tree that had endured a thousand years of thunderbolts without falling. I had cultivated it with Penglai secret methods before; the fruit it bore was not only incomparably delicious, but could also cleanse the body and strengthen the blood and qi.

Another was entirely jade green, shaped like a crescent moon, and gave off a refreshing fragrance that soothed the heart. This was a seed I had collected from a thousand-year-old tea king growing on a sheer cliff in Wuyi Mountain. Tea leaves grown from it produced tea with the power to calm the spirit and wash away inner demons.

The final seed was one I had acquired by chance: a seed from a Starvine. It could absorb the power of starlight, and its fruit was like stars in the night sky, serving as an auxiliary ingredient in the refinement of many pills.

These three seeds carried my longing for Earth; they were “seeds of home” I had deliberately brought with me. I did not know what mutations they would undergo under the laws of this world, but I was filled with anticipation.

I planted these three precious seeds in the very center of the spiritual field, where the spiritual energy was richest.

Jiang Yiyi was full of curiosity and reverence throughout the process. Copying my example, she carefully dug a shallow hole with her tiny hand, gently placed in a White Jade Millet seed, then tenderly covered it with soil and patted it lightly, muttering under her breath, “Grow up quickly, grow up quickly...”

Every time she planted a seed, she did the same. Her movements were so focused, so gentle, as if what she held was not a seed, but a newborn infant.

Then something wondrous happened.

When Jiang Yiyi’s small hand brushed over the patch of earth where she had just planted a seed, a strand of pure life essence, so faint it was almost imperceptible, spilled from her palm and merged into the soil. Immediately after, that patch of earth began to glow faintly with a soft white light.

And the White Jade Millet seed beneath that light, as though blessed by some mysterious force, trembled in plain view, then... a tender sprout thinner than a strand of hair slowly, yet with unyielding determination, emerged from the seed and rooted itself in the spiritual soil!

My eyes flew wide open. I could hardly believe my divine sense!

This... this...

The “Wood Affinity” of an innate Dao body? No, even purer, even higher! It was almost a kind of “blessing of life” akin to spoken words becoming law!

From the first time the old man of Return to the Void had passed down our inheritance and given his assessment of Yiyi, I knew her constitution was extraordinary. I had not imagined, however, that her affinity with grasses and trees would reach such an unimaginable degree! She was born the darling of all vegetation, the incarnation of life and nature itself!

I forcefully suppressed the shock and delight in my heart and did not disturb her. Quietly, I watched as she, with those small hands full of love, planted the remaining seeds one by one. And every place she touched with her own hands experienced the same miracle.

By the time the final seed was planted, all the White Jade Millet across our five mu of spiritual field had sprouted in less than an hour. As for the three “seeds of home,” they were overflowing with life, as though ancient kings who had slept for a thousand years had at last been awakened.

When Jiang Yiyi finished, she seemed a little tired too. Her little face was rosy, and fine beads of sweat had gathered on her forehead. Looking at the “miracle” she had created, she smiled happily, her joy more brilliant than the wildflowers blooming across the mountains.

Just then, a faint series of chirps and squeaks came from the grass not far away.

Jiang Xiaobai’s ears twitched at once; she bared her teeth warily, a low warning rumble rising in her throat.

“Xiaobai, don’t move.” I held her back.

The grass rustled, and a few fluffy little creatures, golden and radiant, no bigger than a palm, shaped like ground squirrels but with remarkably lively eyes, peeked out toward our spiritual field—or rather, toward Jiang Yiyi. Their tiny noses kept twitching, and their eyes were full of curiosity, longing, and a trace of fear.

I swept them with my divine sense and understood at once.

Treasure-seeking mice!

These were beastlike creatures with extraordinarily keen sensitivity to heaven-and-earth treasures, born with the ability to seek out all manner of rare materials and natural wonders. Timid as mice, they nevertheless possessed an overpowering instinct for treasure hunting.

Clearly, the pure life essence radiating from Jiang Yiyi just now, along with this spiritual field that she had “blessed,” had drawn these little fellows here.

Jiang Yiyi noticed them as well. Her big eyes lit up, and instead of being afraid, she was full of affection. Tentatively, she waved her small hand toward the treasure-seeking mice.

The mice hesitated for a moment. In the end, the boldest one, the leader, could not resist the lure of that life aura. It cautiously stepped out from the grass and looked at Jiang Yiyi with its black-bead eyes, timid and uncertain.