The Spirit-Gathering Hall.
"An excellent score. I told you that working here would surely help you achieve something.
"I never expected it to come true so quickly.
"Our Spirit-Gathering Hall is the best place to train people, and we pay strictly according to results.
"A score like yours earns fifty Spirit Sources, with five beads lit as the baseline. Each additional bead earns seven Spirit Sources. With some effort, you could light seven or eight beads.
"That's around seventy a day, two thousand Spirit Sources a month. Far more than most people earn."
Steward Miao looked at Jiang Man with a smile as he spoke.
Jiang Man did the arithmetic. Lighting two more meant fifty plus fourteen, only sixty-four.
Not even as much as Luo Xuan paid him to spar.
For a moment, he understood why Song Qing insisted on becoming a personal bodyguard.
The other party simply offered far too much.
He wondered whether Song Qing would actually end up going over.
After a pause, Jiang Man said, "Steward, are you planning to encourage everyone else today? I was at the qi refining first layer when I arrived, and now I'm at the qi refining third layer. I could serve as an example.
"All thanks to the Spirit-Gathering Hall's nurturing."
Hearing this, Steward Miao looked at Jiang Man in surprise. "Double?"
Jiang Man nodded earnestly. "Double."
In the end, Jiang Man pretended to grit his teeth and lit eight beads.
Seventy-one Spirit Sources in total.
He went onstage to thank the Spirit-Gathering Hall for nurturing him, doubling his pay.
One hundred and forty-two Spirit Sources.
A highly profitable day.
As for whether the others believed him.
Jiang Man felt that any normal person who came here would never believe this place could nurture talent.
Even if someone really believed it, they would merely grit their teeth and work a little longer, then return to their village once their studies at the Three Towers and Six Pavilions ended.
They would bring back a large sum of Spirit Sources.
And live a little better than ordinary people working the fields.
The people here were essentially all those who had cut off their own path to immortality.
With damaged foundations, what future could they have?
Unless, like him, their Qi Refining Method had reached the ninth level, allowing them to retain some spiritual qi and control the damage to their foundations.
But coming here meant their cultivation could no longer improve.
Fortunately, he had been focusing on improving his Qi and Blood Method lately, so he was not worried about his cultivation progress.
In the days that followed, Jiang Man did nothing else.
He cultivated during the day and earned Spirit Sources at night.
Whenever he saved up three hundred, he bought beast meat.
And continued improving his Qi and Blood Method.
During this time, however, Jiang Man noticed something was off with Song Qing's mood. When he asked, Song Qing merely kept shaking his head and sighing.
He would not say a word about it.
But he did seem to have suffered quite a setback.
Luo Xuan's expression was none too pleasant when she looked at him, either.
Jiang Man thought of the handkerchief.
She had probably been fishing. Unfortunately, the fish had not taken the bait, but Song Qing had.
Jiang Man felt helpless. Now both the first- and second-ranked students had a grievance with him.
He had to avoid them as much as possible.
Otherwise, they would delay his cultivation.
Half a month later.
Jiang Man had earned a thousand Spirit Sources and spent them all on beast meat.
He had also devoted all his spare time to cultivating qi and blood.
Yet even with the ninth-level Qi and Blood Method, his cultivation was not progressing that quickly. He had only just managed to open his third qi and blood gourd.
His body had indeed grown considerably tougher.
The Six Harmonies Palm was even more powerful in his hands.
His Spirit Travel Step had also become much faster.
Sure enough, improvements in both cultivation and qi and blood could affect the power of techniques.
Early October.
The teachers of the various courtyards began telling everyone to observe the rules, focus on cultivation, and refrain from acting without restraint.
Even the entire Cloudfront Office began cleaning and arranging its various premises.
Even Jiang Man's stable was repaired, after which he was told to clean it thoroughly.
Everyone was puzzled, but under the authority of their teachers and the Cloudfront Office, they could only comply.
Three days later.
Word finally spread that people from the Wuyun Sect were coming.
They were reportedly coming to conduct a brief inspection.
Another three days later.
More news spread: the sect's experts would inspect the Three Towers and Six Pavilions, making a round of all three courtyards-front, middle, and rear.
Anyone who caught their eye could rise straight into the clouds.
In an instant, everyone became enthusiastic about cultivating.
Though they felt they would not be chosen, what if they were?
Everything had to reckon with that one "what if."
What if they caught someone's eye?
Their fate would change.
Jiang Man was also somewhat surprised to hear this.
But he knew the sect's people were not coming to inspect them. They merely happened to be coming for certain reasons.
The benefit they would bring the Cloudfront Office was three upper-tier mortal-grade cultivation methods.
It seemed Mr. Zhao had not lied, though Jiang Man had yet to receive any news.
He could only choose to keep waiting.
If this path proved impassable, he really would have to leave Falling Cloud City far behind and become a demonic heretic.
October fourteenth.
Jiang Man finished absorbing the beast meat he had just bought and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
His third qi and blood gourd was full.
He could begin improving his cultivation.
But with only a month left, this would likely cost quite a few Spirit-Gathering Pills.
At present, he was not earning Spirit Sources very quickly.
He could buy six pills a month at most, and six would probably be nowhere near enough.
"Brother Jiang, what are you doing?" Little Fatty came up beside Jiang Man and asked curiously, "Thinking about tomorrow?"
Then he lowered his voice. "Brother Jiang, are you confident you can make the top fifteen tomorrow?"
Jiang Man turned to look at Little Fatty, who was eating dried meat. After thinking for a moment, he felt certain he could not advance to the qi refining sixth layer if he kept going like this.
He needed to change his approach.
Earning Spirit Sources really was too slow.
For short-term needs, he should not earn them. He should borrow them.
"Little Gao, I heard you get quite a few Spirit Sources every month?" Jiang Man asked.
Naturally, he had heard no such thing. He had made it up on the spot.
Little Fatty looked somewhat surprised, then shook his head. "No, those are all rumors. My family doesn't give me any Spirit Sources."
Jiang Man was inwardly surprised. "Not a single one?"
"Not a single one," Little Fatty said firmly.
This genuinely surprised Jiang Man. It seemed this option would not work.
Then he could only turn to Mr. Zhao and hope he could lend a hand.
But before Jiang Man could start cultivating, Little Fatty said, "They give me Spirit-Gathering Pills instead. Six a month. I still have ten left. Do you want some, Brother Jiang?"
Jiang Man looked stunned. Six a month, and half a month had passed-how had he ended up with four extra?
"I can't finish them." Little Fatty spread his hands helplessly. "I can't absorb that much. I actually waste a lot of the medicinal power in every pill."
That could indeed happen when one's Qi Refining Method was not at a high enough level.
After a little thought, Jiang Man decided to borrow six pills.
Together with the two thousand one hundred Spirit Sources he would earn himself, that made thirteen Spirit-Gathering Pills in total.
Combined with tireless effort using his ninth-level Qi Refining Method.
He could just barely reach the qi refining sixth layer.
As long as he opened his sixth gourd, he would be at the qi refining sixth layer.
It would be somewhat lacking, but he would meet the requirements.
After giving Jiang Man six Spirit-Gathering Pills, Little Fatty asked quietly, "Do you want to borrow my opportunity at the Spirit-Gathering Hall?"
"Your opportunity at the Spirit-Gathering Hall?" Jiang Man knew of the Spirit-Gathering Hall and understood that some people could cultivate inside.
The starting price was a thousand Spirit Sources.
A thousand Spirit Sources bought the equivalent of one ordinary Spirit-Gathering Pill.
The only difference was that the spiritual qi in the Spirit-Gathering Hall was easy to absorb.
It was extremely accommodating to people whose Qi Refining Method was at a low level.
"With so many resources, how are you only at the qi refining second layer?" Jiang Man found it somewhat hard to believe.
"I didn't work hard before, so I didn't get this many resources. Now that I've been advancing alongside you, Brother Jiang, I get more resources, but the demands are higher too." After a pause, Little Fatty immediately added, "So you have to cultivate hard, Brother Jiang, and try to climb even more places in the rankings."
Jiang Man was stunned. What did that have to do with his own advancement?
Before you continue