For ten days, Jiang Man cultivated without pause.
It stirred up a chorus of grievances throughout the Sixth Courtyard.
It forced everyone else to keep up.
The second-to-last feared being overtaken by the dead-last, and the third-to-last feared being overtaken by both.
Just like that, quite a few people were forced to cultivate alongside him.
They were all waiting for the mid-month reranking.
Only after confirming whether dead last was still dead last, or exactly how much progress he had made, could everyone set their minds at ease.
"Brother Jiang, there's still half a month left. Are you confident?" This evening, the little fatty Gao Yao looked at Jiang Man and asked cautiously.
Jiang Man smiled. "Weren't you very confident in yourself?"
The little fatty feigned nonchalance. "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. My score is still something you can't surpass. Besides, I've made much more progress these past two weeks than you think."
"Looks like I'll have to go back and work even harder," Jiang Man said with a chuckle.
The little fatty: "..."
Why take it so seriously?
It wasn't as if he could actually earn a qualification.
In the end, wouldn't everyone just return home with decent cultivation to get on with life, bustling about for the rest of their days?
Was admitting one's own mediocrity really that hard?
Because of him, Gao Yao had to go back and keep grinding too. Lately, seeing him like this, his parents had been thrilled to tears.
If, after all that, he ended up dropping to dead last, then...
He might as well not live.
"Right, today is September. Brother Jiang, did you pay your cultivation fee?" The little fatty looked somewhat surprised.
Jiang Man nodded. "Paid."
"I remember you're from Bei Village, right, Brother Jiang?" the little fatty asked.
"Yes." Jiang Man inclined his head. "What about it?"
Jiang Man packed up his things, intending to leave.
He needed to go earn spirit source.
Now, he already had 360 spirit source.
He could buy plenty of things.
As his cultivation rose, he felt the food at home was growing a bit scarce.
His appetite had increased considerably.
This month's coarse grain would definitely not be enough.
Fortunately, he had spirit source.
Having spirit source meant having confidence.
"I heard some news," the little fatty said. "They say a prodigy appeared in Bei Village and bypassed the Six Pavilions entirely to enter the First Tower of the Three Towers directly."
Jiang Man was indeed a bit surprised.
So a prodigy had emerged.
Even if it weren't a prodigy and just any suitable candidate, his cultivation fee wouldn't have been renewed anyway.
Bei Village wasn't wealthy.
To pay cultivation fees for so long on behalf of a fool like him, who had accomplished nothing in two years, they had already done more than enough.
Regarding this, Jiang Man's thoughts hadn't changed; he still harbored no complaints whatsoever.
Afterward, Jiang Man arrived at the Spirit Gathering Hall.
Now that he was on the verge of breaking through to the Qi-Linking third layer, he wanted to try negotiating his pay.
However, Manager Miao merely offered earnest advice: "Our rates here are set according to score. Although you've made progress, among the people working here, who doesn't make progress?
"If you want to improve better, you should naturally light up more beads.
"Not only will you have put in hard work, but you'll also earn spirit source.
"Killing two birds with one stone."
Jiang Man wanted to say that he could light up more, but could his base pay be raised?
She simply smiled and cited the rules.
Seeing this, Jiang Man said no more, though he felt this rule regarding scores was truly unreasonable—it completely held back a peerless prodigy like him.
As for Manager Miao, she didn't care in the least.
Wasn't it completely normal for someone with a zero score to improve?
No matter how much he improved, he was merely inching closer to the level of ordinary staff.
Not worth mentioning.
After completing his task, Jiang Man returned to the thatched hut by the stables.
He greeted the old yellow ox.
Confirming that it was still alive, he resumed cultivating.
In truth, he was also curious whether that immortal maiden's revenge would come or not.
If it didn't come, perhaps she wasn't so strong.
If it did, then he was in grave danger.
If someone like that charged over to kill him, how many lives would he need to survive it?
At night.
Jiang Man continuously circulated his external cultivation technique.
The accumulated spiritual qi bit by bit overflowed the second "gourd."
Until the "gourd" vibrated once more, and a third gourd appeared in response.
Some spiritual qi settled into the third gourd.
In an instant, Jiang Man felt the weight in his dantian grow heavier by another measure.
At this moment, Jiang Man felt this breakthrough was somewhat different from before.
Previously, his essence, qi, and spirit had been brimming, his condition peak.
Now, however, he actually felt off. He had the sensation that if he continued cultivating, although his cultivation would rise, his body wouldn't be able to bear the weight of the third "gourd."
Or rather, his body's limit was the weight of three "gourds."
This discovery left Jiang Man thoroughly puzzled.
He could only consult the old yellow ox.
"The Qi-Linking third layer already?" The old yellow ox looked at Jiang Man with mixed emotions.
Could this fellow have been body-snatched?
He didn't look like it either.
Then it must be on account of getting married.
It was just a marriage, and he hadn't even consummated it yet.
Did it really have this much lingering power?
"It was a bit slow; I should have broken through three days ago," Jiang Man remarked with sincere feeling.
If he hadn't gone off to earn some spirit source, he would have reached this stage three days ago.
Trading three days of progress for 390 spirit source.
He couldn't tell whether it was a loss or a gain.
The old yellow ox stared at Jiang Man, ignored his comment, and said on its own, "Since you've reached the Qi-Linking third layer, you should have felt the weight of spiritual qi.
"Suppose the first layer of Qi-Linking is a basin of water..."
"A gourd of water," Jiang Man corrected.
The old yellow ox shot Jiang Man a glance and continued, "Suppose the first layer of Qi-Linking is a gourd of water. At the start, it's merely the weight of one gourd of water, and your body doesn't feel much from that single gourd.
"Now, the Qi-Linking second layer adds another gourd of water on top of the first.
"It looks like two gourds of water, but in truth, the weight of the second gourd is greater than that of the first.
"The third gourd is the same.
"Although raising your cultivation allows the body to be nourished by spiritual qi, on the whole it isn't very much.
"Under such conditions, bearing three gourds of water becomes a bit too much to handle.
"Especially someone like you, whose breakthrough speed is so fast—the sensation is even more pronounced.
"The time spent nourishing the body has been far too short.
"That is why, if you want to advance further after the Qi-Linking third layer, you must also practice a Qi and Blood Method.
"Qi and blood can strengthen your physical body, allowing you to carry more spiritual qi.
"Otherwise, the spiritual qi of just the Qi-Linking fourth layer would crush your body.
"By the time you reach the Qi-Linking sixth layer, the weight of the spiritual qi will have reached an entirely different level.
"The mental spirit required to mobilize that spiritual qi will be far greater, to the point that insufficient mental spirit will leave you unable to control that heavy qi.
"Leading to qi deviation.
"Therefore, after the Qi-Linking sixth layer, you need to cultivate a Visualization Method to elevate your spirit."
The old yellow ox had mentioned something along those lines before, but at that time Jiang Man had felt it was too far off to care much about.
Naturally, he understood the general idea.
Now, as his own cultivation increased, he finally had a concrete understanding.
In other words, he now needed to cultivate a Qi and Blood Method.
At Qingyun Pavilion, a Qi and Blood Method could be obtained for free.
However, in the back courtyards, one's score had to reach twenty-four points or higher.
Without a high enough score, there was no way.
Once again, Jiang Man felt the drawback of the scoring system.
"Qingyun Pavilion never considered cultivators with talent like mine."
"The entire Yunqian Division is like that."
The old yellow ox said offhandedly, "Compared to a Qi and Blood Method, you'd better start thinking about a Visualization Method."
Jiang Man didn't understand. A Visualization Method could likewise be claimed for free once one's score reached fifty-six points.
He had already asked around about all of this.
The old yellow ox smiled without saying a word.
Chapter 14