This Boy's Horizons Were Still Too Narrow

After dark, Jiang Man cleaned the Stable and prepared to cultivate.

He was now at Qi Refining Fourth Layer, and what he needed to do was raise his cultivation.

When he had time later, he would also need to practice techniques.

After all, the final assessment required not only a high score, but also the ability to fight.

Jiang Man thought it over briefly.

If the assessment was in mid-December...

Then he should be at Qi Refining Sixth Layer, Qi Refining Method Ninth Layer, the ninth layer of the Qi and Blood Method, and the thirteenth layer of the Visualization Method.

His total score would be seventy-nine.

How would those people view him then?

Even if he kept his Visualization Method at the ninth or sixth layer, he would still have over seventy points.

That would put him around ten points above Fang Yong and the others.

But he still needed to take some precautions.

If they suddenly advanced, or were hiding something, taking first place would not be easy.

"Where did you get so many pills?" Old Yellow Ox came over and asked.

"Borrowed them," Jiang Man answered casually.

"Why would anyone lend them to you?"

"Talent."

For a moment, Old Yellow Ox did not know what to say.

Reaching Qi Refining Fourth Layer in two months was indeed rather extraordinary.

He could be called a genius.

If he revealed the levels of his Qi Refining Method and Qi and Blood Method, he would be a genius found in fewer than one in ten thousand.

He was indeed worth lending pills to.

"Any news about your Mortal Grade Superior Visualization Method?" Old Yellow Ox asked.

Jiang Man shook his head. "Nothing at all. It's October now, and I'm supposed to take part in the trial next month, but I still haven't received any news."

"You haven't been swindled, have you?" Old Yellow Ox asked.

Jiang Man glanced at him and shook his head. "I'm not sure."

It was not that he was careless, but that he had no other choice.

Here, Zhao Leming was the only person who had done business with him.

He could be considered the most reliable person Jiang Man had dealt with.

Although there was an element of gambling involved, there really was no one else to choose.

October passed quickly.

Jiang Man had thought Luo Xuan or Fang Yong would do something.

But nothing unexpected happened.

His cultivation also successfully reached Qi Refining, Fifth Layer in late October.

With the help of pills, opening the fifth Gourd went smoothly.

Now all that remained was to keep cultivating, then use the Spirit Sources he earned to buy pills.

He would continue cultivating and open the sixth Gourd as soon as possible.

That way, he could smoothly enter Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

After that, advancing to Qi Refining, Seventh Layer would require the fourth layer of qi and blood and the first layer of the Visualization Method.

That could hardly be called easy.

But all that was still far off.

In early November.

Jiang Man spent all eleven hundred Spirit Sources he had earned on food and pills.

He spent them all.

Looking at his mere twenty remaining Spirit Sources, Jiang Man could not help lamenting how resource-intensive cultivation was.

If his Cultivation advancement had not raised his score, he would not even have had this many Spirit Sources.

That day, after he finished cultivating, Zhao Leming came to see him.

Jiang Man felt a surge of delight. It seemed there had been progress.

Only, the look on Zhao Leming's face was not quite right.

Soon, Zhao Leming's voice reached him. "This turned out to be even more difficult than I expected. The competition behind the scenes was far too fierce. But since I had already promised you, I naturally did everything I could."

At first, Jiang Man had thought it was bad news, until Zhao Leming took out a token.

"This is the token." Zhao Leming handed it to Jiang Man. "On the seventeenth of this month, you need to go to the Dharma Transmission Office. Show them the token, and someone will take you where you need to go.

"After that, you'll undergo an assessment. If you fail, there's nothing more that can be done.

"Before the assessment, they'll clearly explain the conditions. If you think you can do it, you can proceed.

"They'll also check your strength on the fifteenth beforehand. It can't be too low, or something could easily go wrong.

"People from the sect are impossible to fathom. If he thinks you're unqualified and directly disqualifies you...

"That's not impossible."

With the token in hand, Jiang Man inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that he had received the token, Zhao Leming's part was more or less finished.

If he failed, it would mean he lacked the ability.

The trial on the seventeenth would also take his score from the fifteenth into account.

To be safer, he still needed to advance to Qi Refining Sixth Layer by the fifteenth.

Even with the ninth layer of the Qi Refining Method, he was under considerable pressure.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Man asked curiously, "How many places are there in total?"

"Six," Zhao Leming explained. "Six for each kind, and you only get one day to cultivate. If you learn it, you've learned it. If you don't, you don't."

One day?

That might not even be enough time just to understand it.

Fortunately, Zhao Leming told him someone would teach them, but only for one morning. After that, they would be entirely on their own.

Jiang Man was puzzled. Was this really a trial of cultivation methods?

It was more likely a test of how difficult they were to cultivate.

But he could not voice his doubts.

If he really failed to learn it, he would have only one path left.

Jiang Man did not dwell on it.

He would first walk this path properly before considering anything else.

"Oh, right. Once the places are decided, they won't change. If you run into any problems during this period, you can also use this token. It carries a certain amount of authority to resolve trouble for you." Zhao Leming considered for a moment, then added a warning. "But it's best not to use it if you can avoid it. Once you do, if your results on the fifteenth are mediocre, I'm afraid you might be disqualified."

Jiang Man nodded, inwardly a little surprised. He had not expected the token to be able to resolve trouble too.

But the scope of that trouble was unclear.

After asking a few more ordinary questions, Jiang Man turned and left.

Watching Jiang Man's retreating figure, Zhao Leming shook his head and sighed. "Still a little too impatient. With someone supporting him, he should have made his steps more solid.

"Now he's taking steps that are too large."

He did not doubt whether Jiang Man could qualify for December's assessment.

Rather, he felt that even if Jiang Man qualified, it would be the result of forcibly raising his cultivation.

That would do considerable damage to his body.

Even if he secured a place, he would basically have no hope in the subsequent sect assessment.

"His horizons are still a little too narrow."

After that, he thought no more about it.

Their transaction was already over.

Whether Jiang Man obtained the cultivation method had nothing to do with him.

But he would still pay some attention to Jiang Man's situation.

So he could learn what sort of end such impatience would lead to.

On a path at the Cloudfront Office.

Young Master Yang came up to Cheng Moyang and said, "Fang Yong really is good for nothing. He actually didn't get into a dog-eat-dog fight with that poor brat in his courtyard."

Hearing this, Cheng Moyang asked with some curiosity, "Who?"

"The one who couldn't pay his Cultivation Gold. Jiang Man, I think." Young Master Yang chuckled. "He couldn't pay his Cultivation Gold back then. Now his cultivation seems to have improved, and he's no longer at the end of his rope."

"Jiang Man?" Cheng Moyang sounded a little surprised. "The one Luo Xuan wanted to take on as a guard?"

"There is indeed talk of that. I just don't know whether it's true," Young Master Yang said.

"It's false." Cheng Moyang smiled and shook his head, then gave him a rough account of what had happened.

"He refused? Then where did he get the Spirit Sources to cultivate?" Young Master Yang asked curiously.

"Won't we know if we look into it?" Cheng Moyang said.

The next day.

At the same spot, Young Master Yang had his answer. "The Spirit-Gathering Hall. Looks like no one secretly took him in."

If someone were nurturing him, he would never go to that place.

"What an ambitious poor brat," Cheng Moyang remarked. "I wonder what he'd do if he ran into another situation like last time, where he had to pay compensation?"