Synopsis
A jade slip falls from the sky: "Immortal accepting disciples online. Click to claim a deluxe VIP 15 gift pack! A magnificent sect, a legendary spirit pet, and a first-grade magical artifact."
Ning Qiuwen, the poorest person in the village and on the verge of starving to death, believed it.
Then she saw that the fabled "magnificent sect" was three straw huts.
The "legendary spirit pet" was an irritable hen named Chicken Boss.
The "first-grade magical artifact" was a busted hoe that threw a tantrum unless you called it Hoe Bro.
Sure enough, the world was treacherous. You couldn't trust the ads.
Ning Qiuwen turned to leave. Who knew an immortal elder with white hair and an otherworldly air would grab her leg? "Fellow Daoist, wait! There's a surprise on the back mountain!"
She went.
When she saw the thousands of acres on the back mountain, she dropped to her knees in a flash, changing her mind completely. "Immortal, you are my god!"
The immortal pointed the way: "The first rule for a sect leader is to find your Dao."
Ning Qiuwen looked at the land beneath her feet. "My Dao is eating my fill. It's this land under my feet."
The elder nodded. "Congratulations, you're now the sect leader. Main quest unlocked: Within a hundred years, become the foremost cultivator in the cultivation world and lead your sect to become its foremost sect. Fail, and you'll become the opposite of alive."
From then on, while other sects fought, she buried herself in farming. While they held gatherings, she sowed seeds and spread fertilizer. Then she discovered something strange about the land: everything she planted contained spiritual energy when harvested, and eating it worked even better than a Spirit-Gathering Pill.
She also took in four disciples.
The eldest disciple was righteous to an almost wicked degree. "Master, men will slow down your sword-drawing speed, but farming won't."
The second disciple followed the Dao of algorithms. "According to my calculations, there's a 3.15-second interval between your sword strikes. I only need to seize that 3.15 seconds to defeat you."
The third disciple's combat power soared whenever he got angry. "You dare trample my crops? You're wasting food! A person may be killed, but never humiliated. You're done for today!"
The fourth disciple was a smiling schemer in charge of dirty work. "Master, leave the shady business to me. No one can outdo me when it comes to dirty tricks. By the way, I'm traditional. I can be the junior wife."
She also picked up a handsome man who was about to take his own life and made him a servant.
The servant was handsome and a good cook, but a little clingy. He followed her everywhere, barely spoke, and got jealous easily.
Still, he suited her perfectly and understood everything about her as if he were a worm in her belly.
Everything was peaceful, until disaster struck.
Only then did Ning Qiuwen realize that it had all been a deception, a gamble with lives at stake.
The immortal elder she'd cursed countless times had been telling the truth in every word. He had never lied to her.
He had wagered his life on the hope that this time, he could win.
And the clingy servant was actually a mighty cultivator, who had been searching for her for seven hundred years.
Bonus scenes:
Mid-story, at the sect tournament, Ning Qiuwen sweeps ten opponents aside with her hoe, stunning the crowd.
The sect leaders ask, "What move was that?"
She replies, "That move I just used when I was farming."
The sect leaders: So this woman uses deadly moves when she farms?!
When she's so poor she has to eat vegetable dumplings, the Pill Sect leader cries out in shock, "You eat first-grade Spirit-Gathering Herbs as food?!"
Ning Qiuwen is bewildered. "Aren't those wild greens? I've got hundreds of acres of them on my back mountain."
Later on, Ning Qiuwen has become the greatest cultivator in the cultivation world and leads its greatest sect. Sitting in the sect leader's seat, she says:
"When farming, you loosen the soil first, then add fertilizer..."
The new disciples don't understand.
The eldest disciple explains, "Fools, the sect leader is teaching us cultivation."
A disciple points to the man sweeping the floor nearby and asks, "Who is he?"
The eldest disciple: "A servant."
The disciple wonders, can servants secretly hold the sect leader's hand?
Theme: Build the future with your own two hands.