Zhao Leming glanced at the person beside him with mild surprise.
That man's village had stopped paying his cultivation fee, so to Zhao Leming he no longer held any value.
Especially since, in two years, the man had made not the slightest progress.
Dull, slow-witted, lacking in sense, with no visible talent.
Even if he did tend the stable for next to nothing, there was no need to keep him on.
So he had told Jiang Man to pack up his things early. There was nothing personal in it; the facts were simply what they were.
As for doing favors out of sentiment—that depended on whom.
With someone like this, stating the facts was enough.
What surprised him, though, was that this taciturn man who never liked to speak suddenly came out with something remarkably confident.
Had something finally clicked?
His clothes didn't stink anymore, either.
"The Tread-Flame colt?" Zhao Leming said, looking at Jiang Man. "Does it have to do with your cultivation fee?"
"It does." Jiang Man nodded seriously and said with sincerity, "With this student's abilities, there is no way I could make up the fee in just half a month. But this student still wishes to keep learning and to try for a place in a sect. So I have decided to offer a method in exchange."
Hearing this, Zhao Leming was a little surprised.
Clear and orderly—so something really had clicked.
No doubt more ideas would follow.
The stable work would probably come at a higher price now.
But he said nothing, only watching the man before him and letting him go on.
Jiang Man considered for a moment, then said, "Does sir know that the Tread-Flame colt has a weak period?"
"I do." Zhao Leming nodded.
Jiang Man continued, "And does sir also know that, through a special way of feeding, the weak period can be erased altogether?"
At this, Zhao Leming's eyes narrowed slightly. "I've heard of such a thing. What of it—you know how?"
"I'm not sure," Jiang Man said, shaking his head. "I only saw it mentioned in a book, but it was too deep for me to fully understand. Would you care to try it, sir?"
Jiang Man's uncertainty actually earned him a measure of trust from Zhao Leming.
If the man had sworn up and down that he could do it, that would have been a real problem.
After only a brief hesitation, Zhao Leming asked, "When will you give it to me?"
This time it was Jiang Man's turn to fall silent.
Zhao Leming chuckled. "I'll waive September's cultivation fee for you. And if the method proves useful, you won't owe another fee through August of next year."
Jiang Man lowered his head. In truth, this trade was a heavy loss for him.
If the method was real, it would surely be priceless.
How could that compare to a year's cultivation fee?
But as he was now, he and the man before him were not equals to begin with.
An equal trade was simply impossible.
And he was too weak; on his own he could do nothing with such a thing anyway.
He would only end up being targeted.
"I'll bring it to you tomorrow, sir," Jiang Man said.
Zhao Leming looked at the man before him and, in the end, only nodded, saying nothing more.
A short while later.
The two arrived at a small courtyard, one after the other.
It was the Sixth Courtyard.
Fang Yong stood at the very center, the others clustered around him talking.
"Young Master Fang, I saw you riding the Tread-Flame colt today."
"I saw it too. Is it yours?"
"It belongs to a friend," Fang Yong said with a smile. "He asked me to take a look at whether it's being raised properly."
The others exclaimed in admiration.
Being able to judge whether a colt was raised properly naturally meant his family kept them too.
How else would he have such experience?
Listening to this, Jiang Man was a little taken aback.
Fang Yong was no simple character either.
He could say all that without so much as a flicker in his expression.
Jiang Man quietly drifted to the very back.
The moment Zhao Leming entered, the chatter below died away.
He swept his gaze over everyone and said, "Whoever hasn't made up this year's cultivation fee should do so as soon as possible. Also, now that you have come to the rear courtyard, you will take the assessment next August. Those who cannot enter Wuyun Sect will have to find their own way forward."
The moment the fee came up, everyone looked toward Jiang Man at the back.
Everyone assumed Jiang Man was the one in arrears.
This struck Jiang Man as strange. He had just settled things with Mr. Zhao—why would the man bring it up again?
Someone else must owe fees too.
Then Zhao Leming began the day's main lesson.
It was the Divine Travel Step—the use of spell arts.
Unfortunately, Jiang Man had not yet begun cultivating, so he could only listen; he could not try it.
A long while later, once Zhao Leming had finished explaining, he came over to Jiang Man's side.
"Do you still have questions about the Qi-Linking Method?" Zhao Leming asked.
Jiang Man was slightly surprised. Special tutoring?
So it was true: give a benefit, and a benefit comes back.
Afterward, Zhao Leming explained the Simplified Qi-Linking Method to Jiang Man.
The Qi-Linking Method had two modes.
The first was internal cultivation: raising the method's level. The higher the method's level, the faster one cultivated.
The second was external cultivation: using the method to draw in spiritual qi from outside. The more and faster one absorbed, the more and faster one's cultivation rose.
What Jiang Man had to do now was first learn the Qi-Linking Method.
Only then could he use it to raise his cultivation.
Once he finished teaching, Zhao Leming left.
Jiang Man cultivated alone.
The Qi-Linking Method required movements of the body to aid the circulation of qi.
He had barely taken the opening stance when Jiang Man felt the purple qi in his dantian stir in response.
By the time he had worked through one full set of the method, the purple qi had traveled a full circuit along his meridians and finally returned to his dantian.
At that moment, Jiang Man sensed that his meridians had been cleared through.
Faint traces of spiritual qi appeared within them.
Setting a full circuit in motion—that was the mark of the first layer of the Qi-Linking Method.
He had learned the Qi-Linking Method just like that?
Jiang Man was a little surprised.
Even granting it was the simplest of Qi-Linking Methods, mastering it in a single pass—was something off about that?
He kept on cultivating, the cultivation-method purple qi moving along with him.
After two more passes, he felt the full circuit running faster, and even his meridians had widened a touch.
That was the second layer of the Qi-Linking Method.
Jiang Man fell silent. It really was fast.
Because of the purple qi?
He couldn't be sure. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to run the Qi-Linking Method to start raising his cultivation, and see whether it would stir the purple qi.
This time he cultivated externally, running the method to absorb spiritual qi.
It did not stir the purple qi; instead it began drawing on the Flawless Spirit Gathering Pill in his dantian.
But the results were far from ideal.
If the first layer of Qi-Linking were a gourd gathering water, then his current practice barely raised a film of mist over its surface—he could not so much as open the gourd. What was more, filling the whole gourd with water would take quite a lot of time.
The method's level was simply too low; he could not even enter the first layer of Qi-Linking.
Even with a pill to assist, progress was slow.
Then Jiang Man went on practicing the Qi-Linking Method.
He never stopped once the whole morning.
And the gains were far beyond ordinary.
Four passes in, the Qi-Linking Method reached the third layer.
Eight more, and it reached the fourth.
Another sixteen, and it reached the fifth.
And it was only just noon.
Today's teaching had only just ended; the afternoon was time to cultivate on one's own.
Reaching the fifth layer of the Qi-Linking Method in a single morning—just what level was that?
By then most of the others had already gone.
Jiang Man meant to head back and find something to eat, then keep practicing the Qi-Linking Method—he wanted to see how long it would take to push it to its highest layer.
The Simplified Qi-Linking Method had nine layers in all. Five in half a day left four more, and those surely would not take long.
But as he was heading back, Fang Yong blocked his way.
"What is it?" Jiang Man asked.
In truth, though they had shared a courtyard, the two of them had never exchanged a single word in two years.
"I hope you'll be smart about this," Fang Yong said, looking at Jiang Man. "There are things that should not be said, so don't say them. Someone like you has no future at all, while I have a real chance at the Wuyun Sect assessment. Offending me will do you no good."
Hearing this, Jiang Man asked curiously, "Am I not qualified?"
"You?" Fang Yong sneered. "Never mind that you can't pay your cultivation fee—even if you could, do you think just anyone qualifies? The Sixth Courtyard has only two assessment slots, and they'll be decided in December. What makes you think one would go to you?"
Chapter 5