“Junior Brother, have you eaten?” Chen Bo asked, wiping his hands on an apron.

“I ate before coming,” Jiang Chen lied smoothly, forcing a polite grin.

Chen Bo sighed, looking genuinely disappointed. “A shame. I was planning to let you taste my latest culinary breakthrough.”

Jiang Chen glanced at the table. It was the same spread Chen Bo had been serving for decades: a bowl of watery, gray porridge and a slab of Spirit Beast meat that had been charred into a carbon brick. The corners of Jiang Chen’s mouth twitched, threatening to betray his revulsion, but he managed to wrestle his expression into a thumbs-up.

“It looks… much better than before,” Jiang Chen managed. “More… texture.”

“Doesn’t it?” Chen Bo beamed, puffing out his chest. “I knew I was improving.”

Jiang Chen decided to cut his losses before he was forced to sample the charcoal. “By the way, have you heard anything from Senior Brother Chen Tian?”

The jovial atmosphere settled slightly. “Lingbi should be returning to the sect this summer,” Chen Bo replied, his voice tinged with a mix of worry and pride. “He’s been pushing himself to the brink to prepare for his Earth-grade Golden Core breakthrough.”

Chen Bo explained that Chen Tian and Pei Mo had joined a demon-hunting squad, spending every day bathed in blood on the front lines. Fortunately, the risk was paying off; they had nearly collected all the necessary five-elemental demon cores. Once Chen Tian returned, he could finally enter seclusion.

They chatted idly for a while longer, but when Jiang Chen saw Li Xianglin joining Chen Bo for breakfast, he seized the opportunity to escape.

Summoning his Giant Leaf artifact, he shot into the sky, heading toward Wang Ze’s Spirit Farm.

His relationship with Wang Ze was complicated. They weren’t exactly brothers-in-arms, and Wang Ze could be transactional, but the man had treated him well. He had gifted Jiang Chen rare spirit plants and even a second-grade Spirit Farm. That was a level of generosity most people didn’t even show their own blood relatives.

As he descended, Jiang Chen scanned the property. The Spirit Farm had been re-landscaped, reduced from ten mu to nine. The fields were bare, the harvest already completed.

Jiang Chen landed softly and called out toward the cottage. “Senior Brother Wang!”

A moment later, the door creaked open. Wang Ze stumbled out, still fumbling with his belt and robes. “Well, if it isn’t Junior Brother Jiang!”

Jiang Chen blinked, his gaze drifting past Wang Ze to the doorway.

A female cultivator with a slender frame and delicate features was peeking out, her eyes wide with curiosity as she clutched a robe around herself.

Wang Ze caught Jiang Chen’s look and grinned shamelessly. “This is my new Dao Companion, Yun Mo.”

“Ah,” Jiang Chen said, his expression turning dry. “It seems I’ve arrived at an… inopportune moment.”

“Nonsense.” Wang Ze waved a dismissive hand. “If it were anyone else, I’d kick them out. But for you, Junior Brother? I wouldn’t be angry even if you woke me up in the dead of night.”

Jiang Chen stepped back slightly. “Senior Brother, phrasing. That sounds easily misunderstood.”

“Hahaha!” Wang Ze laughed heartily, kicking the fence gate open. “Get in here!”

Jiang Chen hesitated—interrupting a couple’s morning intimacy was low on his list of desires—but Wang Ze practically dragged him inside. It was rare for them to meet, and Wang Ze clearly wanted to catch up.

At the door, Wang Ze turned to the woman. “Remember this face. This is Junior Brother Jiang. If I’m not around in the future, you treat him like a VIP. Understand?”

Yun Mo nodded obediently, her voice soft. “Understood.”

Jiang Chen looked at her, searching for the right honorific. Calling her ‘Sister-in-law’ felt premature given Wang Ze’s track record. Calling her ‘Senior Sister’ might be an insult if her cultivation was low.

Wang Ze saved him the trouble. “Just call her Junior Sister Yun.”

Yun Mo lowered her head, a flush rising on her cheeks. “Yes, Junior Sister is fine.”

“Junior Sister Yun,” Jiang Chen greeted with a polite nod as he stepped into the main hall.

The interior had undergone a massive overhaul since his last visit. The furniture was made of rare spirit wood, and the walls were adorned with antique calligraphy and paintings. Everything screamed wealth.

“Go brew my best Spirit Bud tea,” Wang Ze commanded as they sat down.

Yun Mo immediately retreated to the kitchen.

Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze and tapped his Jade Green Gourd, retrieving a heavy jar. “I didn’t bring much in the way of New Year’s gifts, just ten jin of my own brew. Top-quality Spirit Wine.”

Wang Ze’s eyes snapped to the jar. “The same batch I had at your place last time?”

“The very same.”

“Excellent!” Wang Ze rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming. “I’ve been thinking about that taste for months. Nothing else compares.”

“If you like it, I’ll bring more next time.”

Wang Ze accepted the wine, clearly pleased. Feeling the need to reciprocate, he rummaged through his storage bag and slapped a talisman onto the table.

“Junior Brother, take this. It’s an entry pass for the Nether Spring Medicine Garden. It belongs to a high-level alchemist. I don’t have time to go, so you can take my place.”

Jiang Chen picked it up, skeptical. “Is this real? That’s a valuable opportunity.”

Wang Ze gestured to the open door and the barren fields outside. “Do you see a single crop out there?”

“I noticed it was empty,” Jiang Chen admitted.

“After the New Year, I have to return to the Wang Clan headquarters,” Wang Ze explained. “I won’t be back for a while, so I can’t manage the farm. It’ll have to sit fallow.”

“If it’s just for a while, I could help you plant a rotation,” Jiang Chen offered.

Wang Ze shook his head. “I’ll only be gone half a month. It’s fine.”

Jiang Chen didn’t press the issue. He inspected the talisman in his hand. It resembled a standard communication talisman, but the runes inscribed on the surface were different. Instead of transmission arrays, they bore the complex ‘Hole Pattern’—a glyph meant to penetrate formations like water dripping through stone. It was a key to bypass a specific barrier.

Just then, Yun Mo returned with the tea. The aroma hit Jiang Chen before she even poured it—a rich, verdant scent saturated with Wood Qi. High-grade stuff.

They sipped the tea and traded gossip. One piece of news caught Jiang Chen off guard: the woman from his disastrous blind date—Zhao Yingli—was in trouble. Her political backer had apparently fallen from grace. As a result, Zhao Yingli had lost her arrogance. She was no longer demanding a son-in-law to marry into her family; she was now desperately looking for someone to cling to for protection.

Thirty minutes later, Jiang Chen excused himself. He had considered staying for lunch, but the air between Wang Ze and Yun Mo was thick with unfinished business. Jiang Chen wasn’t thick-headed enough to be a third wheel all afternoon.

He mounted his Giant Leaf and flew home.

As he approached his own Spirit Farm, the tranquility was shattered.

“Woof! Woof!”

Da Huang was barking furiously at the perimeter. Above, the Fire Crow on the balcony let out a sharp, warning caw.

Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes. A ragged figure was loitering near his protective formation. The silhouette seemed vaguely familiar.

He descended rapidly, the wind from his landing kicking up dust. “Who are you?”

The figure jumped, then frantically brushed aside a curtain of matted, greasy hair to reveal a face caked in grime. “Jiang Chen! It’s me!”

Jiang Chen’s eyes widened. “Lin An?!”

Recognition unlocked a dam within Lin An. The man burst into tears, lunging forward to embrace Jiang Chen. “I finally found you! You have no idea…!”

Jiang Chen stiffened but didn’t push him away immediately. He looked the man up and down—Lin An was a wreck. “Where have you been for the last two years?”

“It was a nightmare,” Lin An sobbed, mucus mixing with his tears. “I owed some people Spirit Rice, remember? The Punishment Department dragged me away… and then… then…”

“Spit it out,” Jiang Chen pressed.

“I was sold off to labor in the Earth Fire District!” Lin An wailed, his voice cracking with self-pity. “I spent two whole years acting as a human bellows for some low-level alchemist! I was just fueling fires and processing herbs like a slave! Wuwu!”