Summary
Highlights
Chen Ping endures a harsh life as a laborer, constantly bullied and overworked. After being pushed off a cliff, he receives a healing medicine from a kind senior sister. He then discovers a mysterious jade pendant that contains a spiritual field with fertile black soil, allowing him to cultivate spirit rice. This drastically improves his physical condition and allows him to practice cultivation, providing a path to escape his miserable existence.
Chen Ping's newfound strength doesn't go unnoticed, raising suspicion from his superiors. He is sent to a dangerous charcoal-burning shed where he must fight off a wild boar. He uses his growing strength and the spirit rice to prepare for a promotion assessment, which he passes, becoming a regular disciple and escaping his cruel life as a laborer.
Chen Ping's promotion leads to confrontations with those who wronged him, including Supervisor Du and Manager Wang. He utilizes his new status to expose their corruption and abuses. He then takes on a role in the Hundred Herbs Garden, where he uses his jade pendant's spiritual field to grow valuable herbs like Qingling Grass and Frost Star Grass, furthering his cultivation and financial independence.
Chen Ping learns about his five-element spiritual root and, despite it being considered 'useless,' he embraces its potential through his unique cultivation methods and abundant resources from his jade pendant. He quickly progresses in cultivation, surprising his senior sister, Bai Zhi. He then focuses on learning alchemy, successfully refining his first batch of Nourishing Spirit Pills.
Driven by filial piety, Chen Ping decides to return home to bring his parents to the sect. Before his journey, he prepares by stocking up on talismans and artifacts. Upon arriving, he discovers his parents are being exploited in an abandoned mine and have been poisoned by the insidious Spirit-Eating Golden Poison, leaving him determined to find a cure.
Chen Ping learns from Senior Sister Bai Zhi that the only cure for his parents' poison is the Five Elements Poison-Dissolving Pill and a rare Five Elements Spirit Pearl. He also uncovers the involvement of the Li family and Elder Zhang in his parents' suffering. He focuses on improving his cultivation and earning contribution points to seek advanced techniques and the Spirit Pearl.
Chen Ping enters the Eight Sects Grand Competition to earn contribution points and claim cultivation techniques. He excels, displaying his unique talents and ultimately becoming the outer sect champion. His success grants him a prestigious cave dwelling with spiritual fields and a spiritual spring, providing him with a long-sdesired personal space for cultivation.
Chen Ping embarks on a quest to find the Five Elements Unity Secret Manual, which he discovers in ancient ruins, further solidifying his unique cultivation path. However, Elder Zhang and the Li family, still seeking his downfall, conspire with the Xuan Yi Sect to lure Chen Ping into a trap using false news about a Five Elements Spiritual Pearl in the Shenyou Valley.
Aware of the trap, Chen Ping enters Shenyou Valley, confronts and defeats his enemies, including Li Mao and Elder Feng of the Xuan Yi Sect. He retrieves the Five Elements Spirit Pearl and, armed with irrefutable evidence of the conspiracy, exposes Elder Zhang and the Li family to the sect leader, leading to their severe punishment.
With the Five Elements Spirit Pearl, Chen Ping successfully cures his parents. His mind at peace, he finally condenses his unique Five Elements Golden Core, an unprecedented achievement. He is appointed as a Protector Elder and establishes the Qingshan lineage, dedicated to cultivators with five-element spiritual roots, proving that no spiritual root is useless with determination and courage.