The shout of "Yang Ling" caught all twelve cultivators off guard.
Ten of them turned at once, vigilantly checking their rear.
Only the remaining two, whose cultivation was poorer, reacted half a beat slower.
And in that half-beat delay, they discovered to their terror that the young man who had spoken was already right in front of them, launching his assault.
Horror seized them. With so many of them present, he actually dared to charge in alone?
Even so, they immediately shouted a warning: "Careful!"
Yet the moment the words left their mouths, a massive palm imprint had already arrived before the leading woman.
She had already reacted, but her body could not keep pace with her thoughts.
*Bang!*
The palm strike slammed directly into her, lifting her clear off the ground and sending her flying.
Jiang Man dissolved into a wisp of azure smoke, reappeared in the center of the crowd, and brought his foot down.
*Rumble!*
Nine-layer Collapsing Torrent Technique.
Tremendous power erupted as the ground trembled, directly blowing bodies into the air.
Someone tried to steady themselves almost immediately, but Jiang Man materialized before them like a wisp of smoke.
Nine Dragons Emerge Together.
*Boom!*
The next instant, he vanished once more, reappearing right in front of another opponent.
Six Harmonies Palm.
Six Palms Unify into One.
His figure swept past all of them, an immense barrage of spells surging forth.
Full-power Three Powers Force.
Nine Dragons Emerge Together.
Six Palms Unify into One.
Earth Galloping.
Afterward, Jiang Man turned into azure smoke and stepped out from the crowd, returning to Li Yuan's side.
The instant he turned back to look at them—
*Crash!*
Every single one of them was sent flying backward, slamming heavily onto the ground.
They stared forward in utter terror.
Facing that man's onslaught, every last one of them felt pure horror.
In just a few breaths of time, how many times had he unleashed Six Palms Unify into One, and how many times had he executed Nine Dragons Emerge Together?
Wasn't he afraid of exhausting himself?
Li Yuan and Yan Huimin started to speak, but thought better of it and remained silent.
Jiang Man was now number one; they were in no position to comment on him.
The title of number one was undeniable. They could only look up to him.
Jiang Man, meanwhile, let out a breath of relief.
He had just exerted himself completely to rout them in the shortest possible time.
His spiritual qi and spirit had kept pace, but his physical body was somewhat frail and had nearly failed to keep up.
The sheer density of his spiritual qi and the cycling of so many spells had placed a heavy burden on his body.
From the looks of it, he needed to keep strengthening his physical constitution. Otherwise, with spiritual qi this thick, his body might not be able to endure it.
At that moment, the leading woman struggled to her feet, staring at Jiang Man. "Who are you? Why have we never heard of you?"
To crush them at such speed, he had to be at least at the Qi-Linking eighth layer.
And someone at the Qi-Linking eighth layer was someone she could never have overlooked.
Qingyun Pavilion had no one at the Qi-Linking eighth layer, and the Qi-Linking eighth layer of Yeming Pavilion was Yang Ling, whom she had naturally seen before.
Her purpose in coming here this time had been specifically to deal with him.
She never imagined they would be ambushed by another Qi-Linking eighth layer.
It had stripped them directly of their qualification to contest the Nine Clouds Dragon Suppressing Seal.
"The number one of Qingyun Pavilion," Li Yuan said flatly. "It doesn't matter if you didn't know him before. After today, you will never be able to forget him.
"Because he will become a legend that echoes throughout your entire life."
Jiang Man: "..."
Shouldn't those lines have been mine?
Still, it was a bit too ostentatious and didn't quite suit him.
Talent and hard work were what he truly wanted to emphasize.
"A commoner?" Gao Nian looked at Jiang Man with a furrowed brow. "Looking at those clothes, you certainly don't seem to belong to any prominent family. How did someone like you cultivate to the Qi-Linking eighth layer?"
Jiang Man looked at her calmly. "Why should I tell you?"
A defeated foe, and she dared to interrogate him? Without even offering a single spirit source.
Gao Nian was taken aback. She took out a hundred spirit sources from her robes, tossed them over, and asked, "Can you speak now?"
Jiang Man looked at the spirit sources in his hand, then stared back at Gao Nian.
The latter muttered a quiet complaint about greed under her breath and tossed over another hundred spirit sources.
*Truly wealthy,* Jiang Man marvelled inwardly. Then he spoke: "Because I work hard."
"Work hard?" Gao Nian showed a look of bewilderment. "How hard?"
Jiang Man explained, "I cultivate every day."
Gao Nian let out an exasperated scoff. Every day? Who doesn't cultivate every day?
Looking at her, Jiang Man asked, "Do you sleep?"
Seeing Gao Nian's confusion, Jiang Man continued, "I don't sleep."
In an instant, everyone present was astonished.
Li Yuan asked curiously, "You don't sleep? Can your body handle that?"
Jiang Man looked at him in genuine bewilderment. "No wonder you're weak. You're so young—how can you have the nerve to sleep? How can you even fall asleep? In our Sixth Courtyard, we don't sleep."
Li Yuan was stunned.
He began to wonder if something was terribly wrong.
Even Gao Nian and her group found it bizarre.
Without sleep, the body gets no rest, and cultivation yields half the results for twice the effort. By all reason, that was taking a detour.
Yet Jiang Man said nothing more.
In any case, he truly didn't sleep.
In the prime of youth, when one's cultivation should be exploding forward, how could anyone sleep?
Just then, the array formation began to hum and vibrate.
"It's open," Yan Huimin said excitedly. "As long as we defeat the puppets inside, we can get the Nine Clouds Dragon Suppressing Seal."
Jiang Man lingered no longer and immediately headed inside.
Li Yuan and Yan Huimin quickly followed.
The fact that Yang Ling hadn't arrived was also a stroke of good fortune for them.
Gao Nian remained standing where she was, not moving an inch.
They had been defeated in a single clash; they wouldn't go in.
If the other side hit them with another round, they wouldn't be able to take it.
She stayed behind to see whether Yang Ling would make an appearance.
Yet, to Gao Nian's surprise, Yang Ling never showed up from start to finish.
By all logic, Yang Ling should definitely have been able to get here.
And yet, he simply hadn't.
Afterward, she reviewed the fight with the people around her.
They confirmed one thing.
That person just now was indeed a commoner.
Because from start to finish, the only things he used were the Dragon Suppressing Method, Six Harmonies Palm, Three Powers Force, and Azure Smoke Prelude.
Every single one of them was a free spell provided by the Yunqian Division.
She immediately led her people away to seize other spells and cultivation techniques.
Then she needed to head back as quickly as possible.
This commoner's potential was far too immense.
She had to get the family patriarch to recruit him.
It would bring enormous benefits to the Gao family.
Meanwhile, Jiang Man's group of three smoothly claimed the Nine Clouds Dragon Suppressing Seal.
Li Yuan felt as though he were dreaming—he had actually managed to obtain such a prize.
Yan Huimin was even more thrilled. With her ranking, she wouldn't have dared to even dream of it.
"In the next competition, will there be more powerful spells?" Jiang Man asked.
"There definitely will be. Cultivation techniques are usually somewhat marginal, but spells are what everyone wants, because the assessment is drawing near. Practical combat is a major component," Li Yuan said seriously.
Jiang Man hesitated for a moment, then asked, "If I enter the sect as the Yunqian Division's overall number one, will there be additional resources?"
Li Yuan froze, then said, "There certainly are, but no one from the Six Pavilions has ever taken first place in the Yunqian Division."
Jiang Man looked at him and said calmly, "Starting this year, there will be."
With that, he strode away.
Watching Jiang Man depart, the two stood dazed where they were.
Yan Huimin couldn't help but ask, "Young Master Li, what kind of person do you think he is?"
Li Yuan sighed with emotion. "Quite the poser."
"Huh?" Yan Huimin was surprised.
Li Yuan shook his head and said, "Nothing. I'm just a bit shaken."
"Then what should we do next?" Yan Huimin asked.
"Increase our cultivation, and compete against the Three Towers next time. Either way, Jiang Man will definitely compete." Pausing briefly, Li Yuan added, "The rankings for Qingyun Pavilion and the Six Pavilions are about to be released; we need to pay close attention.
"Besides that, we need to find out whether he truly works so hard that he never sleeps."
If he truly cultivated without ever sleeping, then...
How could they ever sleep at night?
Chapter 65