Chapter 14: The Genius from My Hometown

For ten days, Jiang Man had been cultivating nonstop.This caused widespread complaints in the Sixth Courtyard.

They were forced to follow along.

The second-to-last feared being surpassed by the last, while the third-to-last feared being overtaken by both the last and second-to-last.

And so, many people were compelled to cultivate together.

They were all waiting for the mid-month re-ranking.

Only when they confirmed that the last place remained last place, or determined the extent of the last place's progress, could everyone feel at ease.

"Brother Jiang, do you have confidence with half a month left?" Little Fatty Gao Yao asked Jiang Man cautiously this evening.

Jiang Man smiled and said, "Weren't you quite confident in yourself?"

Little Fatty pretended to be relaxed as he said, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat. My score is still beyond your reach. Furthermore, my progress over this half month is greater than you imagine."

"It seems I need to go back and work even harder," Jiang Man said with a smile.

Little Fatty: "..."

Why so serious?

It's not like you can actually qualify anyway.

In the end, aren't we all just returning with decent cultivation to live out our lives, busy until old age?

Is admitting your own mediocrity really that difficult?

Now he'd have to go back and continue working hard too. Recently, his parents had been overjoyed seeing him like this.

If he ended up becoming dead last instead, then...

Life wouldn't be worth living.

"By the way, it's September now. Did you pay your cultivation fee, Brother Jiang?" Little Fatty asked somewhat unexpectedly.

Jiang Man nodded: "Paid."

"I remember Brother Jiang is from Shell Village, right?" Little Fatty asked.

"Yes," Jiang Man nodded. "Why?"

Jiang Man packed up his things, preparing to leave.

He needed to go earn spirit source.

Currently, he had three hundred sixty spirit source.

He could buy many things now.

As his cultivation improved, he felt the food at home wasn't enough anymore.

His appetite had increased quite a bit.

The coarse grains for this month definitely wouldn't suffice.

Fortunately, he had spirit source.

Having spirit source meant having confidence.

"I heard some news that Shell Village produced a genius who directly skipped the six pavilions and entered the first floor of the third building," Little Fatty said.

Jiang Man was somewhat surprised.

So a genius had emerged.

But even if it weren't a genius and just any suitable person, his cultivation fee still wouldn't be renewed.

Shell Village wasn't wealthy.

Paying cultivation fees for this fool who showed no achievement for two years for so long was already going above and beyond.

Regarding this, Jiang Man's thoughts hadn't changed - he still held no resentment.

Afterward, Jiang Man went to the Spirit Gathering Hall.

Now that he was about to break through to the third level of Qi Refinement, he wanted to try negotiating the price.

However, Manager Miao just said earnestly: "We set prices based on scores here. Although you've improved somewhat, everyone who works here improves, don't they?

If you want better improvement, of course you should light more beads.

Not only do you put in hard work, but you also get spirit source.

Killing two birds with one stone."

Jiang Man wanted to say he could light more beads, but asked if the base price could be increased.

The other party just smiled and talked about the regulations.

Regarding this, Jiang Man said no more, only feeling that this score regulation was truly unreasonable, completely holding back a peerless genius like him.

And Manager Miao didn't care about this.

Wasn't improvement from zero points quite normal?

No matter how much you improve, you're just getting closer to being an ordinary person.

Not worth mentioning.

After completing his task, Jiang Man returned to the stable's thatched cottage.

He greeted Old Yellow Ox.

After confirming it was still alive, he continued cultivating.

He was actually curious about whether that fairy's revenge would come or not.

If it didn't come, perhaps she wasn't that strong.

If it did come, then he'd be in danger.

If someone like that came to kill him, how many lives would be enough for him to die?

At night.

Jiang Man continuously operated the external cultivation technique.

Spiritual energy accumulation slowly overflowed from the second "gourd."

Until the "gourd" vibrated again, and the third gourd appeared accordingly.

Some spiritual energy settled into the third gourd.

In an instant, Jiang Man felt the weight in his dantian increase again.

At this moment, Jiang Man felt this promotion was somewhat different from previous experiences.

Before, he felt filled with essence, energy, and spirit, in excellent condition.

But now he actually felt in poor condition, as if continuing to cultivate would improve his cultivation but his body couldn't withstand the weight of the third "gourd."

Or perhaps his body's limit was the weight of three "gourds."

This discovery left Jiang Man utterly perplexed.

He could only ask Old Yellow Ox.

"You've reached the third level of Qi Refinement already?" Old Yellow Ox looked at Jiang Man with mixed feelings.

Had this person been possessed?

Didn't seem like it.

Then it must be because of the marriage.

Just getting married, without even consummating it.

Does the aftereffect last this long?

"It's actually a bit slow. I should have advanced three days ago," Jiang Man also sighed with emotion.

If he hadn't gone to earn some spirit source, he would have reached his current progress three days ago.

Trading three days of progress for three hundred ninety spirit source.

He didn't know whether it was a loss or gain.

Old Yellow Ox looked at Jiang Man, ignoring this statement, and said on its own: "Since you've reached the third level of Qi Refinement, you should have felt the weight of spiritual energy.

Assuming the first level of Qi Refinement is a basin of water..."

"A gourd of water," Jiang Man corrected.

Old Yellow Ox glanced at Jiang Man and continued: "Assuming the first level of Qi Refinement is one gourd of water, initially it only has the weight of one gourd of water. Your body doesn't feel much about this one gourd of water.

The second level of Qi Refinement is based on the first level with an additional gourd of water.

It seems like two gourds of water, but actually the weight of the second gourd is greater than the first.

The third gourd is the same.

Although improving cultivation nourishes your body with spiritual energy, the overall effect isn't that much.

In this situation, bearing three gourds of water

becomes somewhat unbearable.

Especially for someone like you with such rapid advancement, the feeling is more pronounced.

The nourishment time is too short.

So after reaching the third level of Qi Refinement, if you want to improve further, you need to simultaneously practice blood and qi techniques.

Blood and qi can enhance your physical body, allowing you to carry more spiritual energy.

Otherwise, just the spiritual energy of the fourth level of Qi Refinement alone would crush your body.

By the time you reach the sixth level of Qi Refinement, the weight of spiritual energy reaches another level entirely.

The mental energy required to mobilize spiritual energy will be greater, and you might even be unable to control the heavy spiritual energy due to insufficient mental energy.

Thus leading to qi deviation.

So after the sixth level of Qi Refinement, you need to practice the visualization method to improve your mental power."

Old Yellow Ox had mentioned related matters before, but at that time he thought it was far off and didn't pay much attention.

Of course, he understood the general idea.

Now, with his own cultivation improving.

He gained concrete understanding.

Meaning he now needed to practice blood and qi techniques.

In Azure Cloud Pavilion, blood and qi techniques are obtained for free.

But being in the rear courtyard, your score needs to reach above twenty-four points.

With insufficient scores, there's no way.

Jiang Man once again felt the drawbacks of the scoring system.

"Azure Cloud Pavilion completely failed to consider cultivators of my talent."

"The entire Cloud Front Division is like this."

Old Yellow Ox said casually: "Compared to blood and qi techniques, you should still think about the visualization method."

Jiang Man didn't understand - the visualization method could also be obtained for free when his score reached fifty-six points.

He had inquired about all these things.

Old Yellow Ox smiled without speaking.