After returning to his courtyard, Tian Jue brought out the Tier 2 herb seeds he had exchanged earlier. The setting sun cast long golden shadows across the garden as he knelt on the earth, sleeves rolled, hands steady.
He followed the technique detailed in the manual—cultivating the soil, adjusting the spiritual balance, and finally planting each seed in carefully measured rows. When he was done, he sprinkled a controlled flow of five-element qi into the ground, along with spiritual water.
The soil pulsed faintly in response.
His cultivation method, the Five Elements Scripture, allowed him to accelerate growth using the generative cycle:
Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water → Wood.
Each element fed into the next, promoting vitality. But Tian Jue, a trained herbalist, understood a vital truth: too much vitality could be just as harmful as too little. Overfeeding a plant with qi could easily lead to stunted growth or spiritual collapse.
"Even herbs need to struggle a little," he murmured, pressing soil around a sapling.
But there was more. The reverse elemental cycle—Wood → Earth → Water → Fire → Metal—formed a destructive pattern, often tied to illness, decay, and calamity. Tian Jue could feel it too, humming in his bones.
His Primordial Spiritual Soul Root made both paths accessible, but it was the gentler one—the life-giving one—that drew him today.
He gazed at the sprouting herbs, their leaves trembling faintly with newborn qi, and felt a pang in his chest.
In my past life, I was an orphan—adopted by cultivator family who saw me as a tool to polish their reputation , not a child to love.
In this life… Mother loves me without reason. Without demand. That's worth more than any cultivation technique and this herbalist path forge by him in remembering his time with his mother.
The sun vanished behind the mountain ridge. Tian Jue stood, dusted off his robes, and quietly entered his home.
Meanwhile, in Long City, It had been a week since Tian Zhuzai arrived in Long City. She had settled into a modest two-story building nestled between the inner and outer districts—neither flaunting her wealth nor drawing attention. Despite her extraordinary skills, she offered only Tier 4 herbalist services, managing spirit herbs for local physicians and alchemists.
She was capable of far more.
In the entire Dongfang Province, Tier 5 herbalists could be counted on one hand.
Revealing her true rank would stir the entire cultivation world—and that was the last thing Tian Zhuzai wanted.
As the sun dipped below the skyline, she closed her shop for the day, as she always did. But tonight, she paused on the threshold, her eyes distant as they gazed toward the distant mountain range.
Toward Shenxian Sect.
"It's time," she murmured. "To warn them."
Moments later, Tian Zhuzai vanished from Long City.
To the untrained eye, she simply took a step forward. But in less than a few minutes, she appeared outside the Shenxian Sect's highest peak, standing calmly beside a quiet bamboo cottage—the Sect Master's personal residence.
She knocked with her voice alone.
"Come meet me."
The voice was inaudible to most, but it struck like a divine bell to those above Law Manifestation Realm. Within seconds, three figures shot toward the mountain: the Sect Master himself, and two Supreme Elders—ancient beings who rarely emerged from seclusion.
When they arrived, Tian Zhuzai was already seated at a tea table, porcelain cups set before her.
"Sit."
The Supreme Elders did not hesitate. Both bowed deeply and greeted her with utmost reverence.
"It is an honor to meet Senior."
The Sect Master blinked, stunned.
These two… were revered as the oldest monsters in the sect. Even when meeting counterparts from rival sects, they would bicker, fight, and flaunt superiority. But now they bowed with true humility?
He suddenly understood: the woman before them was far beyond their reach.
"Brew the tea," one elder told him.
Irritated but wary, the Sect Master obeyed. The tea was poured, and silence filled the air.
Tian Zhuzai finally spoke, her tone even and measured:
"I'd like to know how the sect is doing—your internal affairs, and what's happening across the Five Provinces."
They answered everything. They would have offered their lives if she asked.
When the final sip of tea was taken, she placed the cup down.
"A week ago, my son was recruited into your sect."
She paused—then added a name that made all three freeze.
"Tian Jue."
And then her aura unfurled.
It was not loud, nor violent—but it was absolute.
The sky seemed to darken. The wind stilled. And even the peak beneath them groaned under the pressure.
"If anything happens to him—if he is harmed, betrayed, or lost by your hands—"
"I will decimate this sect. I will kill every living thing on these mountains. And I will cut your souls from the cycle of reincarnation."
For a moment, none of them could breathe. They felt as though they were drowning in divine wrath.
Then—just as quickly—it vanished.
Tian Zhuzai stood.
And disappeared.
As if she had never been there.
Moonlight poured gently over Shenxian Sect's quiet peaks. Crickets chirped in the distance, and the faint scent of spirit herbs lingered in the cool air.
Tian Zhuzai stepped into Tian Jue's courtyard silently, without disturbing the formation inscribed around it. Her footsteps left no sound, her breath perfectly still. She moved like a ghost—calm, unseen, untraceable.
Through the wooden-framed window, she saw him.
Tian Jue sat cross-legged in meditation, eyes closed, qi swirling gently around his body like ripples on a calm lake. The glow of spiritual light rose faintly from his skin. His expression was calm, his breathing measured.
"As expected from my bloodline," Tian Zhuzai murmured softly, voice nearly lost to the wind.
"Only a week… and he's already reached the fifth layer of Qi Refinement."
Her gaze softened as she stood in silence, eyes locked onto her son.
Memories surfaced.
Her own first cultivation… in that forgotten land where qi was so dense it shaped the very marrow of the bones. In one day, she had shattered nine layers, touching the edges of the Foundation realm—
But that world was blessed. Tian Jue trains in ordinary conditions, yet walks the path with poise and strength.
She stared at him for a long while—mother, protector, and silent witness.
"You will not walk alone."
Then, like a passing breeze, Tian Zhuzai vanished—no ripple, no trace, only the warmth she left in the air.
Elsewhere in Shenxian Sect, three figures stood in a dim chamber layered with sound-sealing formations—the Sect Master and the two Supreme Elders.
Their faces were grim with unspoken weight.
"Summon Elder Lin," one of the elders commanded.
Minutes later, Elder Lin, the elder responsible for outer disciple recruitment, entered the room alongside the deacon who had filed Tian Jue's acceptance.
"Tell us everything you know about the disciple Tian Jue," the Sect Master said.
The deacon and Elder Lin exchanged nervous glances. Elder Lin cleared his throat and began:
"He was noticed during a preliminary field task in Qingyuan Town. Exceptional combat sense. Stable qi flow. Strong meridians. The one who brought him in was Disciple Wang Zai Ru—inner sect—alongside Qiang Di."
"Family background?"
"His mother is an herbalist, Tier 4 at most—runs a shop in Long City. No clan affiliation. His own background appears… clean."
The Sect Master's fingers tapped the armrest silently.
Too clean.
After a brief silence, he waved his hand. "Deacon, dismissed."
When the deacon left, the Supreme Elder finally spoke:
"We have confirmed it. That woman is Tian Zhuzai."
Elder Lin stiffened. "…You mean the same Tian Zhuzai of the old lists? The one from—?"
The Sect Master nodded grimly.
"Yes. And she is watching her son. Closely."
Silence fell again.
Then, a decision was made.
"Assign a Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivator to guard Tian Jue. Quietly. In the shadows. He must never know."
Elder Lin's jaw dropped.
"T-this… this is unprecedented."
"It is," the Sect Master replied calmly. "So is she."
One of the Supreme Elders added coldly:
"If we displease her… Shenxian Sect will become history."