There's a Dragon in the Well in My Backyard

Urban Cultivation: There's a Dragon in the Well in My Backyard

After inheriting his grandfather's old house on the outskirts of the city, Lin Mo plans to use it as a weekend retreat. To his surprise, the well in the backyard, which had been dry for over a decade, suddenly starts flowing. The water is exceptionally clear, and just one sip dispels most of his exhaustion from working overtime day after day.

Then, on a stormy night, he is jolted awake by a low moan coming from the well. When he leans over to look, he sees a golden dragon-shaped shadow drifting at the bottom: Yinglong Ao Chen. Wounded in an ancient battle over a spiritual leyline, he had slept for a thousand years in this well, which connects to the earth's spiritual veins. Recent disturbances in the leyline have barely awakened him.

Ao Chen senses that Lin Mo was born with "clear spiritual apertures," making him a rare cultivation prospect. He passes on his remaining dragon essence and the basic technique, Spirit-Gathering Art, entrusting Lin Mo with protecting this spiritual leyline node and guarding against evil cultivators who covet it.

From then on, Lin Mo becomes a "nine-to-five programmer and secret cultivator": by day, he fixes bugs at his computer; by night, he meditates and breathes beside the well. His coworkers tease him for looking "healthier and healthier," unaware that he has secretly used spells at night to repair the plants in the residential complex that have grown wildly due to leaking spiritual energy, and to soothe pets disturbed by evil energy.

When evil cultivators follow the spiritual energy of the leyline to find him and try to force their way into the well to seize it, Lin Mo uses his dragon essence to activate the Spirit-Gathering Art and face them beneath the city's neon lights. In the end, he draws on the spiritual power of the leyline in the well to form a water shield and drive off his enemies. Looking at the dragon shadow sleeping peacefully at the bottom of the well, Lin Mo suddenly understands: this ordinary well has already bound his mundane life tightly to the hidden cultivation world beneath the city.