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Volume 1
A transmigrator finds himself in the body of "Jin Rou", a junior disciple of the Cloudy Sword sect, but is unhappy with the culture of violence, and leaves to become a farmer in the remote Azure Hills instead. His efforts are very successful, with his crops supernaturally thriving and his personal power mysteriously growing, but to his surprise, several of his animals start to awaken as spirit beasts, and defend the farm from wild animals and bandits. The volume ends with his marriage to Hong Meiling, a girl from the nearby village whom he met and befriended, and who impressed him with her wit and intelligence and talent.
Using his knowledge of qi, "Jin" is able to farm the land easily, with Super-Strength, endless endurance, the ability to reinforce and enhance his tools, and pouring spiritual energy into the land and the plants. He quickly falls in love with the simple but hard-working lifestyle, and has great success in growing rice, vegetables, and some of the Lowly Spiritual Herbs that he quietly took with him from the sect — which he uses merely as seasonings. However, he does not attempt to stop his rooster, Big D/"Bi De", from regularly eating offcuts of the herbs, which contributes to Bi De awakening as a sapient spirit beast capable of cultivation.
Bi De, lacking awareness of anything outside the farm, becomes highly reverential toward Jin, believing him to be a Great Master who has entrusted Bi De as a disciple with the safety of "Fa Ram". He copies Jin's martial arts exercises, and awakens his own cultivation with combat techniques based on the phases of the moon, eventually allowing him to kill a near-sapient fox that was harassing the farm. Jin is startled and alarmed, but accepts the existence of his "guard chicken", and makes the titular "Beware of Chicken" sign to hang at his gate.
Jin makes a visit to the nearby village of Hong Yaowu, where he draws the attention of the chief's daughter and village healer, Hong Meiling, who can smell qi. She initially mistrusts him, but warms to him as she sees him playing with children and being generally humble and good-natured. She then witnesses him casually putting down an ancient predatory Reaper Wolf, further impressing but also alarming her. When they visit the town of Verdant Hill together, to research a qi-infused root that Jin found on his land, Meiling is pleased by Jin's respect for her intelligence.
He then steps in to protect her and her friend Meihua from a Shrouded Mountain sect disciple, Zang Li, who intended to force Meihua into his bed; Zang Li breaks his hand when he attacks Jin, leading Jin to believe that he is an imposter, as no true Shrouded Mountain disciple could be so weak. Zang Li is arrested and taken back to the Shrouded Mountain in disgrace, and Meihua's fiancé gives Jin a breeding pair of pigs in thanks. However, the narrative reveals that Zang Li is merely a shell, inhabited by another cultivator, Lu Ban, using a technique called "The Twilight Cuckoo's Triumph".
On their return to Hong Yaowu, Jin and Meiling share a kiss under the moonlight, and he internally decides that he wants to marry her once the farm is far enough along. A month later, Jin's first rice harvest is far larger than his expectations, and Meiling comes, with her close friends the Xong brothers — Yun Ren and Gou Ren — to help him collect it. While there, she learns that he is building a larger house for her, which embarrasses but pleases her, and she shares his bed (though chastely). They deliver the rice together to Verdant Hill, stopping at Hong Yaowu along the way to join Meihua's wedding procession; Yun Ren discreetly reports to Meiling's father, Hong Xian, about Jin's good intentions, hospitality, and prosperity, and Xian in turn approaches Jin, arranging for him to marry Meiling after the winter snow melts.
On the way from Hong Yaowu to Verdant Hill, Jin encounters another spirit beast, this time a Blaze Bear, but when he gathers his power, the bear frantically kowtows and then flees at the first opportunity, which puzzles him. Meiling simply tells him that he was much stronger than the bear, which makes him worry about what he'll become if he misuses his power, but she assures him that it's up to him to choose — "just don't" — which makes him laugh and helps him to relax. In Verdant Hill, he is able to sell a large quantity of rice at the top local price, high blue grade.
In Jin's absence, however, the farm has been overrun by rats, led by a spirit beast, Chow Ji, who persuaded Bi De to let them come as guests, and who then introduced Bi De to the idea of rapidly gaining strength through refining pills — without telling him how to purge his body of the impurities in those pills. Chow Ji uses his own qi techniques to make Bi De obsess over becoming stronger, intending to take over and loot the farm. However, one of the rats, whom Bi De protected from a predatory bird, hides her own intelligence, and practises countering Chow Ji's techniques. When Bi De realises how the farm's resources are being thoughtlessly wasted, and tries to strike Chow Ji down, Chow Ji paralyses him using the impurities in his body, but the rat helps Bi De to retain enough strength to win the fight, with the help of the two pigs, Peppa/"Pi Pa" and Chunky/"Chun Ke", who prove to be spirit beasts in their own right. Chow Ji curses the land with a plague of rats as he dies.
Jin is upset to come back to the destruction and his animals' injuries, but roused to thought by the discovery that the animals are not just smart but fully sapient — including the rat, whom he names Rizzo/"Ri Zu", and a cat he was given in Verdant Hill, Tigger/"Ti Gu". Ri Zu tends to Bi De as he repairs his corrupted qi and tries to atone for his mistakes and pride, while Ti Gu hunts the rats brought by Chow Ji's curse. Tigu is initially dismissive of Bi De's skills, as he has withdrawn in shame, but when they spar, she is quickly overmatched and reluctantly resolves to train harder.
The magistrate of Verdant Hill then discovers that Jin was underpaid for his rice; instead of blue grade, the rice was actually a higher silver grade, deserving of a correspondingly higher price. He fears Jin's reaction, knowing that cultivators are often fiercely protective of their honor and quick to anger, but is persuaded by an advisor that Jin probably accepted the price intentionally, and resolves to compensate instead by helping Jin to acquire a recording crystal that he was shopping for.
Meiling and the Xong brothers visit Jin again over winter, finding that his house is mostly complete, incorporating a stream for laundry and dishwashing, and that a carp has started regularly appearing to claim table scraps. Meiling takes on Ri Zu as an apprentice in the medical arts, and Jin agrees to hire Gou Ren and teach him his rice-growing techniques (learned mostly from anime).
The farm is then threatened by a roving group of bandits, the Whirling Demon Sword Gang, led by Sun Ken, a cultivator of the third stage of the Initiate realm. However, the gang is intercepted by the animals, led by Bi De, and when Sun Ken refuses to back down, the bandits are all slaughtered and many of their corpses eaten by the pigs. Jin is shocked when he learns about the carnage, and a dark part of him is tempted to kill all the animals and start over so he can have the peaceful life he wanted, but remembering Meiling's advice, he firmly rejects the idea, inadvertently breaking Chow Ji's curse in doing so. He thanks his "disciples" and resolves instead to take more responsibility for teaching them how to properly use their power.
The following day, Cai Xiulan of the Verdant Blade sect arrives at the farm, grievously injured, having tracked the bandits there. Meiling helps to treat her wounds, and Jin persuades Xiulan to take credit for Sun Ken's death, as Jin prefers his privacy. Xiulan, perceiving that Jin has immense qi beyond her understanding, assumes that he is a Hidden Master and agrees. Before leaving, she is astounded by their hospitality and generosity, and would like to stay longer, but has responsibilities at her sect; Jin invites her to the wedding.
At the winter solstice, Jin travels to Hong Yaowu on a sleigh, with a red coat, and bringing gifts for the children (using his new recording crystal to memorialise the occasion). The village chief engages in a ritual dance, all night long, and during the dance, Bi De flies up into the sky and sees distant patterns of qi suggesting that others are dancing in a large but incomplete/damaged formation. Around the same time, Zang Li/Lu Ban is revealed to have worked off most of his disgrace with the Shrouded Mountain sect, and is advancing in strength and prestige.
Near the end of winter, the Xong brothers visit the farm again, along with Hong Xian and Yao Che (Meihua's father), to help Jin finish the house. After a series of cases of Yun Ren accidentally breaking objects, Jin identifies that both he and Gou Ren are about to awaken as cultivators, and takes responsibility for teaching them the basics. However, Rou's knowledge of qi circulation techniques no longer works correctly for him, and the Xong brothers don't respond well to passive meditation; instead, they achieve zen through working together. Jin takes them with him to tap some nearby sugar maple trees, with great success, producing a considerable quantity of syrup, and after approximately a week, their dantians ignite, allowing them to consciously manipulate their qi. After discussing their options with Jin, they choose not to join a sect, and instead just continue the work they were already planning.
Xiulan turns up for Jin and Meiling's wedding as planned, bringing gifts from her travels around the land solving problems, and asks to stay for an extended time. Yun Ren handles the photography (via recording crystal), awakening his fascination for the subject. Meiling's dowry includes several more farm animals, cows and sheep and an ox. On the wedding night, Bi De feels the spirit of the land, already connected to Jin, accept Meiling too, and the next day she is able to access qi as Jin does.
In the epilogue of volume 1, Jin Rou's unofficial grandfather makes contact with the Cloudy Sword sect to check how Rou is faring. Lu Ri, as the last disciple to speak to Jin, takes on the task of delivering the letter.
Interlude
Jin's power and prosperity is revealed to be a result of the spirit of the land, which has been injured and comatose for millennia, but is healing as a result of Jin's selfless devotion and investment of qi, and has now awakened and connected to him.
Volume 2
Jin inadvertently draws wider attention, as his farm's premium products gain national interest. The Cloudy Sword sect reaches out to invite him back at the direction of his unofficial "grandfather", who turns out to be an immensely powerful cultivator, one of the strongest in the world; Jin declines, but the sect stays in contact, hoping that he'll change his mind. A cultivator with a grudge, whom Jin previously humiliated, then attacks his disciples, requiring Jin to kill him in their defence, though it risks conflict with the powerful Shrouded Mountain sect.
Bi De also travels across the region and discovers the remnants of an ancient qi formation, which appears to have been designed to strengthen the earth spirit through cooperation from many villages, and whose corruption and destruction may be responsible for her injuries and millennia-long coma.
The farm's inhabitants get to work in the new year, putting in spring crops at qi-enhanced speed. Xiulan is a willing worker, but feels a lack of direction, unsure what she should be learning, until she finds Tigu to be a willing sparring partner, and tells her about the possibility of spirit beasts gaining a human form. Washy the carp, meanwhile, manages to get himself lost in a hidden world, inhabited by an awakened turtle who offers to teach him about water manipulation.
The land spirit, now awakened, visits Meiling in her dreams, just to play and spend time together. Xiulan also becomes aware of it, but her approach remains too forceful, and it rejects her attempts at connection. Xiulan becomes increasingly frustrated, plagued by nightmares about the men who died under her command when hunting Sun Ken, but she eventually opens up to Meiling and tells her about the problem.
After the planting, Jin and Meiling visit Hong Yaowu again, along with Gou Ren and Xiulan, and are welcomed. While there, the narrative reveals that the transmigrator did not entirely replace Jin Rou as he thought; rather, each of them is half a soul, fused and unaware while awake, but partially separated and able to converse while asleep. "Rou" is annoyed at being more or less trapped in his own body, and retains some different values such as a greater openness to polyamory, but is in general very attached to the life that they've built together, especially marrying Meiling.
Xiulan also encounters a patch of qi-rich grass, cared for by one of the village children. When she overcomes her first impulse to harvest and refine it, and simply lies down, she encounters the earth spirit again, and is received more cordially, though still not warmly, helping her to overcome her nightmares.
Jin asks the animals to keep an eye out for bees, and they take to the task eagerly, with substantial success, including a queen bee who awakens as another spirit beast. However, the antagonism between Tigu and Ri Zu results in Tigu working alone, and failing to retrieve any bees successfully, escalating her frustration and tension. A confrontation ensues between the two of them, where Tigu accuses Ri Zu of endangering the farm's honor by failing to train and become capable of protecting herself, and Ri Zu poisons Tigu with a paralytic as a demonstration. Tigu is both angry and scared afterward, but Chun Ke talks her down and persuades her to try for peace.
Lu Ri, of the Cloudy Sword sect, finds it much harder than he expected to deliver Jin's letter, successfully tracing him to the Azure Hills, but being unsure where to continue. It is also revealed that Jin's "grandfather", Shen Yu, is far more prominent and powerful than Rou knew, one of the strongest cultivators in the world, who intended for Rou to be his protege, and thus the Cloudy Sword sect makes locating him a high priority. The sect elders also punish the disciples who had been bullying their juniors (which triggered Jin's departure), and impose reforms.
Bi De then obtains permission to go on a trek around the countryside, investigating the incomplete/broken formation that he witnessed at the solstice, as well as dealing with problematic spirit beasts and bandits. Jin comes as far as Verdant Hill, where he is able to sell maple syrup at a price that startles him, and draws the attention of the international Azure Jade Trading Company. Meiling then stays in town for a time, until her friend Meihua gives birth, and becomes involved in curing a plague caused by a tainted well; the mayor's wife, Wu Zei Qi, takes an interest in her, and Meiling heals her of an old injury caused by a cultivator, after which Lady Wu begins tutoring her in how to navigate politics in thanks. Upon returning home, Meiling informs Jin that she's pregnant.
Wa Shi, having mastered the basics of hydrokinesis, decides to leave the hidden realm and the black turtle, and climbs a waterfall to get out, being transformed into a dragon as a result. He returns to Fa Ram, able to freely shift between forms, and carrying a Heavenly Peach full of qi, of which Jin plants the seed. While riding on his back, Xiulan gains a greater understanding of the path to heaven, and advances from the first cultivation realm to the second. Gou Ren, having developed a serious interest in Xiulan, seeks to start courting her, but she sharply turns him down, then more gently informs him that her father will arrange a marriage for her. However, she does decide to tutor him and help him to find someone else; Gou Ren is dubious, but allows her to try.
Bi De, on his journey, rescues a village from wolves, and briefly trains a boy to help protect it in future. As he continues onward, he comes across an awakened rabbit, Yin, and a snake, Miantiao, who has trained Yin for years to kill Sun Ken, after the bandit murdered his first master. Having heard of Sun Ken's death, both are now disheartened by the loss of their purpose. Since Miantiao's master once wanted to travel the land and learn more about the dances, the two companions join Bi De in his travels. In a forest of Blaze Bears, they learn that the bears originated from a catastrophe where fire mysteriously overwhelmed the wood, and Bi De realises that the dance formation takes the form of the five qi elements, arranged around a central point, but the elements have been rotated one place (fire overtaking wood, water overtaking metal, etc), causing widespread harm to the land. At the center of the formation, deep underground, they find a damaged recording crystal that appears to contain information about what happened thousands of years ago; after viewing some of it, they remove the crystal and bring it home to Fa Ram.
Tigu is startled but very interested by Wa Shi's successful transformation, and turns to the earth spirit for help. The spirit warns that, without having earned a transformation as Wa Shi did, the process will be more difficult and dangerous, but Tigu perseveres anyway, and after enduring a lightning storm, emerges with a shape that is almost entirely human, apart from sharper nails and teeth and marks on her cheeks. Jin and Meiling are bemused, but decide to essentially treat her as a daughter. Tigu herself is thrilled by the change, and is much more easy-going with the other disciples, though she also finds that she is unable to transform back; Ri Zu suspects that deep down she doesn't want to.
Having found no success in locating Jin within the Azure Hills, Lu Ri takes over all the local gangs and spies, unifying them into a single organisation that he names The Plum Blossom's Shadow, and puts them to work searching. They are able to alert him to Jin's presence in Verdant Hill, although the magistrate is suspicious of his involvement and chooses to hide behind the name swap, stating that he doesn't know a "Jin Rou" and deliberately not mentioning "Rou Jin". Lu Ri also visits the Shrouded Mountain and questions Zang Li, confirming Jin's presence in Verdant Hill.
Yun Ren manages to purchase a flawed but usable recording crystal (still images only, no audio or video) in the capital, Pale Moon Lake City, and takes it with him when he visits his family in the north. By comparing the crystal's vision with his own, he inadvertently sees through an illusion and finds an ancient grave guarded by a fox spirit. The fox is initially suspicious of him, but warms up to him when it realises that they're distantly related, and teaches him more about illusion weaving, before he goes on his way.
Tigu asks if she can visit the Dueling Peaks Tournament with Xiulan, and the Xong brothers go as well, while Ri Zu comes just to see more of the world and learn more about medicine. Jin is concerned about Tigu's interpersonal skills, but she passes his test of being able to successfully hold her temper when dealing with Verdant Hill's most annoying residents, so he agrees. Before they depart, Meiling designs a family symbol for them to wear, and each of the animals takes on a family name; Ri Zu takes "Hong", Tigu takes "Rou", and Bi De chooses "Fa" in honor of Fa Ram.
After learning that his rice crop is gold-grade, too valuable for the local government to afford it, Jin also takes a journey, bringing Bi De and Yin and Miantiao, to sell his rice in Pale Moon Lake City, and try to find an expert to repair the ancient recording crystal. Upon approaching the Azure Jade Trading Company, however (to whom he sold the syrup), he discovers that his rice is a bigger deal than he had realised, with the company promptly making it their top priority to buy out all his stock, and granting him a plethora of fringe benefits such as a personal secretary (whom he asks to investigate the possibility of an expedition to discover coffee and cocoa beans). Mengde's Crystal Emporium is fascinated by the crystal, but lacks the skill to repair it in a reasonable time; however, the owner refers Jin to an expert in the Grass Sea, near the Dueling Peaks, who may be able to help.
Xiulan's party settles in at the Dueling Peaks, where Gou Ren meets Xiulan's long-time rival, Liu Xianghua, who is interested in him, and Xiulan obtains her sect's protection and hospitality for the "disciples". The initial testing of all competitors reveals that Xiulan is in the Profound Realm, and that Tigu is at the fifth stage of the Initiate Realm, making them distinctly the two strongest competitors and causing quite a stir. The two of them quickly work their way through the initial bouts, until Tigu fights Xianghua and narrowly defeats her but befriends her afterward, while the Xong brothers befriend Xianghua's little brother Bowu.
The earth spirit also sets out, repairing her connections to the land beyond the farm so that she can remain connected to Jin. She reaches him at the same time as Lu Ri manages to track him down in Pale Moon Lake City, allowing Lu Ri a glimpse of her power. Jin is greatly taken aback by the letter from "Gramps", and doubly so by the Cloudy Sword sect's apology and offer to take him back, but both "Jin" and "Rou" are in agreement that they're better off staying on the farm.
Jin then goes to visit Master Gen the crystal expert, who turns out to be a spirit monkey. He is unable to speed up repairs, but agrees to instead transfer the contents to an undamaged crystal, with Jin's help.
Xiulan and Tigu fight in the Tournament final, with Xiulan scoring a friendly win as expected. However, Zang Li/Lu Ban sets his sights on recruiting Tigu, and then learns that she is associated with Jin; he sends his compatriots to abduct all of Jin's friends as revenge, though the other Azure Hills cultivators try to protect them. Jin arrives Just in Time to rescue them, and kills Lu Ban when he won't surrender. The Shrouded Mountain disciples are able to example the remains, and realise to their astonishment that Zang Li was being possessed, which results in the Shrouded Mountain agreeing to set aside the dispute instead of seeking revenge, and pay generous compensation to the Azure Hills sects. Jin's identity is revealed to all the sect elders, who are in awe of his power, but rather than stay and rule, he gives them a method to contact him and brings his family home.
Volume 3
Jin struggles to adjust to the knowledge that he's now a public figure, but his family rallies around to support him, and the Lord Magistrate begins teaching him to navigate politics.
The recording crystal finally stabilizes, revealing that it is a record kept by the earth spirit's previous Connected One, Xiaoshi. He ruled over a golden age in the Azure Hills, but came under attack by demons, and used the five-element formation to empower the earth spirit to resist them. Unfortunately, the demons managed to subvert the formation, and Xiaoshi shattered it — and the spirit — to prevent them from completely draining the land dry. A servant spirit embedded in the crystal offers to train Bi De as Xiaoshi's successor and the ruler of the Azure Hills, but Bi De turns it down because the Azure Hills have already been integrated into the Crimson Phoenix Empire.
Around the time that Jin and Meiling's first child is born, Shen Yu finishes the military campaign that caused him to leave Jin at the Cloudy Sword Sect, fighting against the demons. With Lu Ri as a guide, he then comes to find Jin in hopes of bringing him back to the sect and continuing to raise him as a protégé.
Volume 4
Cai Xiulan starts her plan to unite the various sects of the Azure Hills. Meanwhile, Shen Yu gets Fa Bi De, Hong Ri Zu, and Xong Yun Ren to infiltrate the Shrouded Mountain Sect in order to investigate if there are any further demon infiltrators aside from the one that possessed Zang Li.
