Jiang Chen opened his eyes, fixed his gaze on the soot-stained roof beam above, and froze for several seconds.

A moment later, a torrent of memories surged into his mind.

Jiang Chen touched his face—the skin was youthful and firm. The lingering sense of chronic exhaustion that had plagued him for years had completely vanished. In his previous life, he had worn a mask of professional smiles for business until it drained him dry. In the end, working himself to death hadn’t bought him many good days.

Now, everything was fine. He had been reincarnated, and into a world of immortality cultivation, no less!

Jiang Chen rolled over and sat up on the hard wooden bed, a shrewd light gleaming in his eyes. To cultivate and seek eternal life—wasn’t this the ultimate goal he had sought but failed to attain in his previous life?

But before he could even begin to plan for the future, a thunderous pounding shook the rickety wooden door.

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t rush. He even slowed his breathing. As a newcomer to this world, caution was key. Who knew if a creditor or a vendetta waited outside?

“Jiang Chen, open up! It’s Senior Brother Wang from the assessment hall.”

The voice outside carried a heavy tone of impatience.

The name struck a chord in Jiang Chen’s mind, causing an instinctive flinch. This man was a formal disciple in charge of Outer Peak assessments—and notoriously difficult to deal with.

“Stop playing dead; I know you’re in there,” Wang Hu shouted through the door when he saw no movement inside. “Failing twice in a row is discouraging, but hiding won’t solve anything.”

Jiang Chen remembered instantly.

This was the sword hanging over the original body’s head—the Regularization Assessment!

The rules of the Cloud Sea Sect were strict: Outer Peak Spirit Farmers managed one mu of land. If the output reached one thousand jin of Spirit Rice in any single quarter, they could become regularized.

But the original owner of this body had been unlucky. He had damaged his brain while awakening his spiritual root, resulting in abysmal comprehension. While others mastered the “Evergreen Art” in ten days, it took him two months just to grasp the basics.

First assessment: missed the harvest window. Failed.

Second assessment: the Spirit Rice suffered a blight mid-season, yielding only nine hundred jin—short by a hundred [jin]. Failed again.

One more failure meant expulsion!

“Only one last chance left.”

Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes.

Leave the sect? Impossible.

Outside lay the world of rogue cultivators—no resources, no backing. That was cannon fodder territory. A top-tier major sect like the Cloud Sea Sect let enough resources slip through its fingers to make outside clans fight tooth and nail for the scraps. Only a fool would leave voluntarily.

“Junior Brother Jiang, have you considered the condition I mentioned before?” Wang Hu’s voice sounded again, dripping with false persuasion. “As long as you’re willing to hand over the Spirit Farm, I can guarantee you stay in the sect.”

Jiang Chen remained silent.

Hand over the Spirit Farm? That meant becoming an unpaid laborer. Only an idiot would take that deal.

Wang Hu stood outside for a while. Seeing that the door remained stubbornly shut, he snorted coldly. “Fine, play tough. It’s your last chance; you’d better watch yourself!”

The footsteps gradually faded away.

Jiang Chen peered through a crack in the door to confirm the person had really left before pushing it open and stepping out.

Once outside, the view opened up immediately.

Endless stretches of Spirit Farms filled his vision as far as the eye could see. Although it was currently the fallow season and the fields were bare, the cool, wood-attributed spiritual energy in the air refreshed his mind with a single breath.

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, his mind racing.

Following his memory, he walked toward the one-mu, first-grade Spirit Farm he was responsible for.

Along the way, many fellow disciples pointed and whispered.

“Isn’t that Jiang Chen?”

“Heard he failed twice; one more and he has to scram.”

“Heh, cultivating immortality isn’t just about having a spiritual root; you need brains too.”

Listening to these idle remarks, Jiang Chen’s expression remained placid. In his past life in the business world, he’d heard far worse. Thin skin didn’t put meat on the table.

He arrived at his plot.

The one-mu Spirit Farm had been mostly harvested; only three sparse stalks of Spirit Rice remained in a corner.

These were “defective products” slated for removal.

Jiang Chen crouched down for a closer look.

These three stalks drooped their heads, their leaves blackened and shriveled like dry grass. Normal Spirit Rice was golden yellow at harvest; this stuff looked completely useless at a glance.

Jiang Chen circulated the pitiful amount of spiritual energy within his body. A faint cyan glow enveloped his right hand—this was the effect of mastering the basics of the “Evergreen Art.”

His fingers touched a rice stalk.

[Spirit Rice (Defective)] [State: Severely malnourished] [Cause: Insufficient earth-attributed spiritual energy (Fertility)] [Remedy: Introduce earth-attributed spiritual energy]

Jiang Chen shook his head. This was just the function of the first layer of the “Evergreen Art,” providing a rough overview.

He casually pinched one stalk of Spirit Rice, intending to break it off and take it back to study, to see if it could be saved.

Snap.

The stalk broke.

At that moment, a crisp ding suddenly rang in his mind.

Jiang Chen’s hand jerked, almost throwing away the broken stalk.

Immediately after, a semi-transparent panel, visible only to him, appeared before his eyes.

[Lifespan System Activated] [Host: Jiang Chen] [Cultivation: Qi Condensation (First Layer)] [Lifespan: 1826 Days] [Cultivation Technique: Evergreen Art (First Layer 0%)] (Note: Awakening past-life wisdom caused life force overdraft; recoverable later.) (Effect: Cultivation speed +10%, touching plants allows judgment of basic state.) [Consume 1066 Days of Lifespan to upgrade Evergreen Art from First Layer to Second Layer?]

Jiang Chen stared at “1826 Days,” then looked at the floating text “Lifespan +1.” His heart skipped a beat.

“Is this my golden finger?”

“Harvesting increases lifespan? And lifespan can be spent like currency to upgrade techniques?”

This logical loop was simply perfect!

He looked at the two remaining defective stalks before him as if looking at two gold ingots.

Without hesitation, he reached out and snapped the other two as well.

The data on the panel immediately updated:

[Lifespan: 1828 Days]

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, suppressing the wild joy in his heart.

This was his capital for turning things around!

As long as he kept farming, he could keep living and growing stronger. Even with terrible aptitude, as long as he lived long enough, he could endure until he became an Ancestor!

Just as he was calculating how to compound the interest on this advantage…

“Still struggling here?”

A hauntingly familiar voice sounded from behind.

Jiang Chen quickly composed his expression and turned around. His gaze went cold.

Wang Hu again.

This guy wore conspicuous white robes with green rice seedlings embroidered on the chest. He stared at Jiang Chen with a fake smile.

“Senior Brother Wang is truly diligent—you just finished knocking on my door, and now you’re blocking me here in the field,” Jiang Chen replied evenly.

Wang Hu stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Jiang Chen as if inspecting crops. “Same question: The Spirit Farm—hand it over or not?”

“No,” Jiang Chen answered crisply.

Once regularized as a formal disciple, the sect would reward him with a deed for one mu of second-grade Spirit Farm.

That was a genuine “founding share,” the capital necessary for establishing himself later. Hand it over? Unless his brain was waterlogged.

Wang Hu raised an eyebrow, clearly not expecting this usually meek Junior Brother to be so firm. “Jiang Chen, you’re ungrateful. Give me your land, and I’ll let you be my tenant farmer. I guarantee you’ll stay in the sect. This is for your own good.”

Jiang Chen sneered internally.

According to the rules, formal disciples submitted five thousand jin of Spirit Rice annually; everything beyond that was their own.

Wang Hu wanted to get something for nothing—making him work as a free long-term laborer, completely cutting off his path to immortality cultivation.

“I appreciate Senior Brother Wang’s kindness,” Jiang Chen said, holding onto the broken stalk calmly. “But I still want to try again.”

Wang Hu laughed as if he had heard a joke. He pointed at that barren plot of land. “With your pitiful comprehension? With this nearly wasted land? Let me tell you straight—this land simply cannot produce one thousand jin of Spirit Rice! Stop dreaming!”

After speaking, perhaps feeling he had misspoken and revealed something, Wang Hu immediately shut his mouth, looking coldly at Jiang Chen.

But Jiang Chen keenly caught the key information.

“Simply cannot produce?” He stared at Wang Hu. “How can Senior Brother be so certain?”

Wang Hu’s eyes flickered, slightly evasive. “Experience! I just don’t want to see you crying when you’re kicked out. I gave you a clear path forward! Since you’re seeking death, suit yourself!”

Finished speaking, Wang Hu flicked his sleeve, turned, and marched away.

The “fat sheep” he targeted weren’t limited to Jiang Chen; there was no need to waste time here.

Watching Wang Hu’s departing back, Jiang Chen tightened his grip on the broken Spirit Rice stalk.

“Experience? I think there’s something fishy going on.”

If not for the system, he likely would have been forced into a desperate corner today.

“Want to steal my resources?” Jiang Chen glanced down at the panel line: [Consume lifespan to upgrade]. The corner of his mouth lifted in a cold smile.

“We’ll see who laughs last!”