the farming chapters were actually better than the fighting parts

honestly stayed for the ling grains and the weirdly intense focus on agricultural techniques because most of these stories just skip to the explosions but Zuo Mo being obsessed with his spirit crops was so relatable, it made the early parts of the story feel grounded in a way that most xuanhuan just isn't. I totally forgot he was part of that Wu Kong sect at first because the focus on his wood-element arts was so specific, though I'm pretty sure he was growing those blue spirit herbs instead of yellow ones in the beginning? My only real gripe is that once the big sect wars started kicking off and he had to deal with the mightiest forces in the realm the technical gardening stuff dropped off a bit, which bummed me out since that was the whole draw for me. The transition to him being some destined leader felt a little forced compared to his humble start as a zombie-faced farmer, plus the pacing gets a bit frantic during the sword trial stuff and I had to re-read a few chapters just to keep track of who was hitting who. Still a solid read if you're tired of protagonists who are arrogant from day one.