Solar Terms
The heavens now run a calendar of their own. Five Solar Terms cycle forever, each favoring one Wu Xing element:
| Term | Element |
|---|---|
| Spring Quickening | Wood |
| Summer Blaze | Fire |
| Earth Repose | Earth |
| Autumn Keening | Metal |
| Winter Stillness | Water |
Derived, Not Saved
The current term is derived purely from the clock, rather than saved anywhere. Every server that shares the same clock agrees on which term is active without a byte of coordination — nothing to persist, nothing that can desync between a restart and the world it describes.
/cultivation solarterm
Names the current term and element from anywhere. Standing on your own Spirit Field adds that plot's own resonance to the readout, and the command nudges you toward a nearby wild bush if you have neither a Spirit Field nor a gathered herb on hand yet.
Wild Spirit Herb Bushes
Wild Spirit Herb bushes now scatter through the world on their own, independent of anything grown in a Cave Abode. They anchor near players the same way Spirit Cooking's own wild forage already works, capped per world so a server never drowns in them.
Which herb turns up
A bush is more likely to be the variety whose element matches:
- The current Solar Term — the base case.
- And the current weather, on top of that — the strongest case.
Breaking a bush right as its element lines up with the season stamps the harvested herb with a visibly better quality. The whole point is a reason to notice what season it is, not just what weather is overhead.
Harvesting
- A wild bush yields exactly one herb per harvest.
- A full inventory or too-recent a harvest refuses the break outright rather than quietly voiding the herb — you never lose one to a mistimed swing.
The Two New Herbs
Ironleaf
Metal-aligned. Favors the Tribulation Ward Pill when refined. Grows wild only — never planted.
Loamroot
Earth-aligned. Favors the Mending Pill when refined. Grows wild only — never planted.
Ironleaf and Loamroot round the herb family out to one variety for every classic Wu Xing element — Sunpetal, Mistcap and Bramblewort no longer have the field to themselves. See Alchemy for the full herb-affinity table these two now sit in.
Cultivated Fields Feel It Too
A Spirit Field plot in your Cave Abode gets a quieter version of the same seasonal favor a wild bush enjoys — baked into the existing weather-resonance bonus rather than stacking as a separate multiplier. Standing on your own plot, the HUD names the current term and how strongly it is resonating with what you planted.
The Codex
The in-game Codex covers the full five-term cycle in its own article, cross-linked from Alchemy, Cave Abode and Spirit Fields.
| Command | Does |
|---|---|
/cultivation solarterm | Names the current term and element, plus your own Spirit Field's resonance if you're standing on it |