Jiang Man looked at Zhao Leming up front. His vitality and spirits had improved considerably.
His face glowed with delight. In all likelihood, the Rearing Method really worked and had brought him quite a few benefits.
Fortunately, even with such benefits at stake, he showed no intention of tearing down the bridge after crossing the river.
But Jiang Man still needed to be more careful going forward.
The other man would certainly be watching him during this time to prevent the Rearing Method from leaking.
For now, he absolutely dared not do anything of the sort.
Without sufficient strength, cutting off someone's income was like killing their parents.
He would surely bring an undeserved calamity upon himself.
If he were strong enough, though.
Then the other man would be the one who needed to worry.
"The first day is to determine your level in the Qi Refining Method," Zhao Leming told everyone below. "One book and one brush each. Copy out the contents of the book.
"Come up one at a time to collect them."
As his words fell, Luo Xuan, ranked first, was the first to rise and collect her book and brush.
Jiang Man was rather surprised. How was this supposed to test them?
Weren't they simply going to report their levels?
Soon, it was Jiang Man's turn.
After collecting his things and returning to his seat, he opened the book.
For a moment, his vision seemed to blur. Only after circulating the simplified Qi Refining Method could he make out the words on the page.
He now discovered that his vision blurred whenever he kept reading.
Every character seemed somewhat different.
In an instant, his Qi Refining Method leaped to the seventh level, then swiftly dropped back to the third.
Had his Qi Refining Method not reached the ninth level, he probably would not even have noticed.
So...
Before reaching the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, there was simply no way to conceal one's Qi Refining Method level when faced with this book?
Even someone at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer might fall into the trap.
Then Jiang Man picked up his brush and began writing with extreme care.
Some characters could only be seen with the Qi Refining Method at the sixth or seventh level.
He had to make an effort to skip them.
Once he wrote them down, he would expose a little more of his Qi Refining Method level.
For now, he only wanted to take the assessment with a fifth-level Qi Refining Method.
If he directly exposed his ninth level, Luo Xuan would certainly stop giving him spirit sources, and Fang Yong could easily be provoked into attacking.
The fifth level was not low, but there was still a substantial gap between him and them.
Although only a month had passed, he could have been concealing his ability before, or someone could be supporting him in secret.
In short, the same principle held: as long as he handled his personal grudges carefully, his qi-refining talent was not worth anyone else's attention.
Over the entire morning, Jiang Man only copied half the book. It took far too much concentration.
After finishing, he still had to check it over to ensure he had not included any characters from the sixth level of the Qi Refining Method.
"Put down your brushes, hand in your books, and you may leave," Zhao Leming said.
Even now, some people were unwilling to stop and wanted to write a little more.
Jiang Man was rather curious. Wouldn't the result be the same whether they wrote more or not?
The difference in scores would be no more than one point.
"It affects the evaluation comments." Little Fatty wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Sometimes those comments are important too. They pretty much show how well you've mastered your level.
"Some places also tailor what they offer you according to the comments."
Crooked paths and backdoor tricks. Jiang Man disdained them.
He had already given away his treasure anyway.
That was far more useful than writing a few extra characters.
"How do you think you performed today, Little Jiang?" Little Fatty came up beside Jiang Man and asked with a smile.
"I gave it everything I had," Jiang Man said with feeling.
"I gave it everything too. That was a thoroughly exhilarating assessment," Little Fatty declared confidently.
After resting for a while, Jiang Man ate some dry rations and recovered his condition.
Soon, the second assessment began.
This time, they were tested on the Qi and Blood Method.
It was the same as the Qi Refining Method assessment.
The moment Jiang Man opened the book, his flesh and blood wailed.
Already struggling to bear the weight of spiritual qi, he nearly fainted.
In the end, he could only cultivate silently and hand in a blank paper.
What was the point of this assessment?
He took a quick look around. To his surprise, twenty people were writing.
More than two years of accumulated effort really was extraordinary.
People like Little Fatty, who lost their ambition to idle amusements, were indeed in the minority.
Jiang Man glanced at Little Fatty and found that he was actually gritting his teeth and writing.
He had studied the Qi and Blood Method?
So Jiang Man alone was the most useless one.
Jiang Man wasted no time and kept cultivating.
Today's assessments ended quickly.
Since it was an assessment day, Luo Xuan told him he did not need to come over.
She also asked how his assessments had gone.
This drew startled cries from some people nearby. He had no idea what they were getting excited about.
Was her asking him one question worth getting this excited?
Hadn't they noticed that this young lady had turned and left without even waiting for his answer?
Jiang Man could not share their feelings.
Perhaps it was because he was already married.
He disdained it.
The next day.
The morning assessment tested the Visualization Method.
This time, Jiang Man found that only four people put brush to paper.
Luo Xuan, in first place.
Fang Yong, in second place.
Chang Qiwen, in third place.
Cheng Yu, in fourth place.
Looking at those four, Jiang Man understood that he would have to beat them to secure a spot.
And this was only the beginning.
A spot merely qualified him to take part in the sect's assessment.
The road ahead was still long. He had to improve as much as possible before that Immortal Maiden appeared.
Ideally, he would be able to evade her probing.
Today, Jiang Man discovered that he was not the only one who thought the Visualization Method assessment was unnecessary.
Little Fatty was quite indignant too.
He said they could simply scrap the Visualization Method assessment altogether.
Jiang Man agreed.
These two assessments were downright humiliating.
"Actually, the last one was all right. It wasn't humiliating. I could still write a few characters then." As he spoke, Little Fatty looked at Jiang Man. "How many characters did you write, Little Jiang?"
Hearing this, Jiang Man looked at him and thought, Why does it look like you're the one humiliating me?
But there was no rush. There was still one final assessment.
That afternoon came the final assessment.
It tested cultivation.
The format was still the same.
They continued answering questions in writing.
Holding the book, Jiang Man was filled with emotion. It really was so refined.
Moreover, regular assessments had no combat component. Only the competition for spots in December involved fighting.
If the difference in scores was small and one lost in combat, that spot would ultimately slip through one's fingers.
These people all had to accumulate combat experience in private.
The cultivation assessment was somewhat different from the previous ones.
It consisted of illustrations of magical techniques.
The quality of the drawings reportedly affected the evaluation comments too.
An hour and a half later.
Jiang Man put down his brush.
He glanced at the crooked drawings in his book and sighed.
Then he closed it and handed it in.
Zhao Leming collected the books, told everyone that the rankings and scores would be released tomorrow, and left.
The stables.
Upon returning, Jiang Man entered the courtyard and noticed something unusual about Old Yellow Ox. He asked curiously, "Senior, what's wrong?"
Old Yellow Ox was huddled on the ground, his body trembling slightly, his voice carrying a hint of pain:
"Your wife seems to have really made her move."
Hearing this, Jiang Man's heart tightened, but he remained calm and looked around. "She's here?"
Although they had performed the wedding rites, Jiang Man would not truly assume that she regarded him as her husband.
An amicable divorce would be best. His fear was that she wanted to become a widow.
Especially since her background was extraordinary and the initiative lay in her hands, the slightest misstep could bring utter calamity down upon him.
But no matter what, he had to remain calm.
If he lost his composure and his mind collapsed, he feared there would be no way left to survive.
At that moment, after taking a while to recover, Old Yellow Ox looked at Jiang Man and said:
"She hasn't come herself, but her methods have reached us."
Before you continue