The novel is good and the translation is good. However considering one illogical point I decided to give 4 stars:

After harvesting plants the protagonist just sells them/their fruits and buys more seeds. However it would make much more sense to use the seeds contained in some fruits to plant the plants again. It is as if every plant he buys has been bred to not produce any seeds. It would make some sense for ones bought from the market, but it makes zero sense for plants found in the wilderness.

Either... more>> the author is too s*upid to think of this or this cultivation world will face an apocalyptic disaster with most spiritual plants dying out in a couple years.

Edit: Okay, so there is a explanation for the fertility problem: Many plants are formed by spiritual energy and can't really reproduce normally. As such great amounts of research are needed to create an artificial reproduction method. It does make some sense, but not completely.

After this issue is resolved another issue begins to crop up in chapter 500+: The protagonist has shown his talent in growing plants and handling beasts in the sect he has joined and is known as the best in his field. However, the sect decides to send him to a guard mission in times of danger and this is just s*upid.

As logistics personnel he is of great use to the sect, but his strength as a cultivator is a hundredth as useful. Has a donkey smashed the brains of the higher-ups or why would they make such a decision? Although he gets the easiest mission possible it isn't thanks to those in the top position in the sect, but some in higher position who know of his value. And even then he would have likely died on this mission weren't it for his hidden strength.

Rating changed from 4 (around chapter 100) to 3.5 (around chapter 500)

Edit 2: Additionally the novel itself is slow-paced, which is fine, but it is also full of fillers. To increase the word count the author uses every opportunity to tell us which plants the MC cultivates, which weapons he has and which effect they have. Without exaggeration the author has told the reader about some plants and weapons dozens of times by now and mentions the effect of many plants and weapons more than a dozen times. And often when he introduces something new he tells the effect of it, summarizes it and mentions it a couple of times in the next few chapters.

Another thing worth mentioning is the fact the protagonist is a hyprocrite. To achieve his goals and grow his plants no means are too low to him, he even refines the souls of others to use them as fertilizer, yet he pretends to himself to be a righteous person and views evil cultivators with contempt and views them as enemies. Someone who purchases resentful souls, the souls of infants who were killed and the souls of pure people is as evil as possible. If you are evil then don't pretend you are not.

The protagonist is a devil in human skin. Like most chinese novel protagonists in power fantasies.

Considering these additional issues I decided to lower my rating from 3.5 to 3. <<less

It's well written and fairly well translated (minor issue with consistency in plant names and mixing up species).

The story focuses on the transmigrator, Lu Xuan, as he learns to survive in this new world. There's only a thin veneer of civility covering a cutthroat competition for personal gain. The MC has a cheat that allows him to progress without risking himself.

The plant lore of the world is explained slowly as the MC learns new techniques.

[Update]
At first I disliked the lack and discrimination of the few female cultivators. That changes as the character moves elsewhere. Either it's a subtle note on the savagery of the area Lu Xuan began in or the author noticed that omission of females later. Now, in the Sky Sword Arc, there's an even mix of genders.

TL;DR: Besides some minor translation issues, a good and unique read!

This novel follows the main character slowly but surely expanding and advancing his spirit farm.

The only negative in this novel is the translation quality. While it is generally decent, or even above average, there are some parts of the novel where it is hard to even understand.

This problem is mostly seen in monetary transactions, to the point where I didn't really understand how money worked in the beginning of the book, and technique/plant names. I'm not sure exactly how it... more>> happened, but the technique and plant names change constantly. Sometimes it is a slightly modified name, but sometimes it is the name of a different plant introduced? It is understandable using context clues, but it is mildly annoying.

Now, onto the more expansive list of positives.

First of all, I love the main character. He has an extremely consistent personality. There are no wild shifts in it for plot and he stays true to himself. For example, he said early in the book that he wants to slowly cultivate at home rather than risk his life outside. Later on, he was invited to a "very safe" secret realm, and I was almost certain the author was going to force him to go out. However, he stayed true and stayed in his farmland.

It seems like little things, but these little things are the difference between an alright read and a great read.

Secondly, the progression. I know that this is going to be very debatable, with many people hating it, but I love it. The progression of the main character's cultivation is overly slow, beyond what is seen in the vast majority of other novels. He is also unable to fight above his level and is just slowly moving through the ranks.

While this doesn't give the same dopamine rush as an OP main character, I am certain that the novel is better as a whole because of it. We are actually able to see the interactions between the lowest rung of cultivators and the society built by them. Every single improvement in cultivation, even if it is a minor realm, feels significant, and changes the way others treat him. This speed of progression gives meaning to cultivation.

Also, while the advancement in cultivation realms might be slow, the plot itself is not. There is still a lot of stuff happening and a lot of progress being made. There are no info dumps or wasteful chapters, they all feel productive. This is the main reason I have no problem at all with his cultivation's speed.

Thirdly, this novel has a rather good side cast. While the focus is still certainly on the main character, I actually care about and enjoy reading about the side characters, unlike in many other novels. They have their own personalities and add to the story, rather than only existing for plot progression.

I will absolutely continue reading this as it updates, and I hope others do as well.

I would recommend this novel to virtually anyone, as long as you can bear with the occasional translation errors. <<less

Overall, this is what I want from a novel, xianxia-themed, but still includes farming and slice of life. The MC is a little reserved, not heading straight into dungeons or danger which is something we dont really see. He prefers the passive life and casually talks to people. Interesting novel.

Translation quality: this... I found the hard way this is MTL. There was nothing in the 1st chap that said it was MTL and it isnt even editted MTL, or at the very least, insanely lazy editted MTL. It's barely readable....

Only... more>> read if you enjoy MTL <<less

i agree with Drake888 review. Everything is interesting except the MC.

it's one of the best for a slice of life category and best to read in a small chunk instead of continuously in hundreds of chapters because it does get repetitive.

it's also a very good read to destress or to read between heavy/intense other story.

... more>> the MTL I found is only up to chapter 375 and I have no more desire to continue reading this passed that since MC is getting more dislikeable.

his attitude of thinking he get where he is by sheer hardworking and nothing to do with his golden finger is annoying when he repeatedly stressed this point whenever he harvested the firefly grass that gave him experience pack. While he does work hard to take care of the plants but it certainly not harder than other cultivators. Moreover, it's danger free so his disregard of his cheat ability is annoying.

the other negative point is the annoying repetition of the scabbard jokes whenever the author talk about it. The author probably wanted to write smut or just obsessing over vag. On the other hand, the author is making a diss on harem genre so hypocritical much? <<less

It's not a bad transmigration novel with an interesting idea of crop cultivation that brings real "cultivation".

A bit boring, which is typical for long Chinese novels.

-1 star for the hypocrisy of the MC. I don't mind him cultivating evil plants, since it is important to him, but his behaviour with naive magical beasts is disgusting.

... more>> +1star for care about his beasts. Even in a dire situation, when he has to move to save his life, the MC doesn't abandon his pets and plants.

-1 star for pervercy. In many chapters, the author shows that it is much more important for the MC to cultivate plants than to find a harem which is popular in such Chinese novels. He is not interested in maids or beautiful cold sect sisters. Then there is his treasure, the magical scabbard/sheath, that is compared to vag..a. Is the author trying to sublimate the MC's desires or what? In every, every chapter where the scabbard is present, there is a dirty joke or few about it and swords. And this is repeated throughout the whole novel since the sheath appears. <<less

I want to give this a 4 because I enjoy it but realistically this is a 3. A high 3 though. The problem is that there is no hook to keep you engaged. The quality is good, the world is interesting, the premise is fun, but there is nothing to make me care about the character.

This is a cultivation story where the MC gets a huge cheat, but nothing ever drives him to engage with the world around him. I enjoy a nice slow life story but this is all... more>> slow slice and no story. We are more than 80 chapters in, the MC is secretly a badass who keeps growing stronger, but nothing is pushing him to leave his house. This would be fine as a video game or something where you yourself are controlling the character, but for a book this is missing a crucial piece. <<less

The beginning was ok I was expecting it to be slow paced but it really is too slow for me, and it doesn't help that it's kinda repetitive at some points so another minus, and I don't understand why he doesn't plant new plants after harvest when he has space and just keeps on waiting till he harvest them all until he plants a new batch