Chapter 26: Brother Jiang, You Must Strive to Get into the Top Ten

Jiang Man looked at Little Fatty with confusion.The other immediately explained:

"Because I used to always rank above you, and now you've surpassed me.

"My father said, if you could keep improving your score from being dead last back then.

"Why can't I, who was second-to-last, do the same?

"Logically speaking, since I was second-to-last, I should be improving faster than you.

"I know this is just my father not seeing reality clearly. Right now Brother Jiang's ranking isn't that high yet.

"So he thinks if I tried, I could do it too.

"That's why you need to work hard, Brother Jiang, and strive to reach the top ten or top five. Then he'll wake up to reality."

Jiang Man was speechless.

Geniuses always carried inexplicable responsibilities.

But Little Fatty's resources had indeed helped him a lot.

Originally, he had accumulated enough spiritual energy for three gourds.

Now, he just needed to return, take a Qi Condensing Pill, absorb and refine it, and he could smoothly open the fourth gourd.

At night.

After cultivating for a long time, Jiang Man finally stopped circulating his technique.

Now, surging spiritual energy flowed through his body.

After reaching the Fourth Level of Qi Refinement, his original spiritual energy had become much denser.

No wonder he couldn't break through before.

If he had forced the breakthrough, his body wouldn't have been able to withstand it at all.

"Two months have passed, you only have one month left." Old Yellow Ox came over to remind him.

"Brother Ox should worry about your own problems instead. Has that Fairy made any moves against you recently?" Jiang Man asked.

"I won't die, but you really might." Old Yellow Ox picked up the rope tying it and went to graze elsewhere.

Watching the other leave, Jiang Man thought for a moment.

He remembered that when the Fairy made her move, it was Old Yellow Ox who died.

They were both in the same boat.

October fifteenth.

Another new round of assessments arrived.

In the small courtyard, Song Qing came to Jiang Man's side and whispered, "You need to perform well recently. I heard the sect people have started their inspections."

Jiang Man didn't understand why the other was being so kind.

But he still thanked him.

Today was assessment day, so people wouldn't talk too much.

To avoid distractions.

The two-day assessment period.

Passed smoothly.

There were no issues, and no sect inspectors were seen.

Although people often heard about sect inspections, no one had ever actually seen them.

After asking around, he discovered that sect members seemed to frequently appear within the third-floor area.

Perhaps the rumor about them inspecting the entire Cloud Front Division was false from the beginning.

After all, most capable people ended up in the top three floors.

That's why the third-floor courtyards had more assessment slots.

Morning of the seventeenth.

Everyone came early to wait.

Today the rankings would be updated.

Zhao Leming arrived quickly too.

"The overall rankings haven't changed much." As he spoke, he distributed the papers in his hand.

Soon Jiang Man received his paper.

October seventeenth.

Cloud Front Division, Azure Cloud Pavilion.

Rear Courtyard, Sixth Courtyard.

Name: Jiang Man.

Rank: 14 (out of 26).

Cultivation: Fourth Level of Qi Refinement.

Technique Levels: Simple Qi Refinement Method Fifth Layer, Simple Blood Qi Method Third Layer.

Resources Obtained: "Simple Qi Refinement Method," "Divine Movement Steps," "Six Harmonies Palm," "Three Talents Force."

Plan: Daily cultivation sixty cycles.

Score: 40.

Evaluation: Two months stronger than nearly half the students' two years.

Putting away the paper, Jiang Man looked at Little Fatty.

He noticed his expression wasn't good.

"What's your rank?" Jiang Man asked.

Little Fatty directly showed Jiang Man his paper.

Little Fatty's cultivation level hadn't changed, but his Qi Refinement Method had improved by one layer.

His rank improved by one position.

Third-to-last.

Just that his evaluation was worse, reading: Wasting resources, better given to someone who achieves in two months what takes you two years.

Jiang Man fell silent.

Could assessments also reveal poor resource absorption?

It was possible.

Little Fatty was somewhat angry: "Why has my evaluation never been good? Even your temporary evaluation is better than mine."

I already told you it's because I gave away treasures, while you used all yours for yourself, Jiang Man responded inwardly.

Noon.

Rankings were announced.

Jiang Man's jump from eighteenth to fourteenth was quickly noticed.

They were quite impressed - boarding Miss Luo's ship really meant rapid progress and amazing improvements.

Looking at Jiang Man's ranking, Song Qing also felt emotional.

Without a doubt, Jiang Man had become Luo Xuan's guard.

That's why she was cultivating him with full support, otherwise how could his advancement speed be so fast?

Although Jiang Man consistently denied it, he wouldn't believe him.

If it were him, he would keep denying it too.

After all, this concerned final success - how could he let others' jealousy harm him?

Others also largely believed this was due to becoming a close guard. In their conversations, many spoke with disdain.

But inwardly, most wished they could take his place.

On the way back today.

Cheng Yu said indignantly, "This Jiang Man is rather ungrateful, but why has his ranking improved so quickly?"

After pausing, she suddenly understood: "He became someone's close guard? Who? There's no hint at all."

"Everyone thinks he's my guard and that I'm cultivating him." Luo Xuan said with a smile.

"What should we do now?" Cheng Yu said angrily.

Luo Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Originally we wanted to use him to influence Fang Yong, then seeing he had some capability, we wanted to recruit him.

"But things didn't go as planned.

"Now it seems we're being affected instead."

As she spoke, Luo Xuan looked at Cheng Yu and said, "Let's stop here for now. There will be other opportunities.

"Right now we should focus on competing for slots.

"Your score isn't low either - you might still get a slot."

She didn't want to continue focusing her attention here; she needed to keep improving herself.

Fang Yong hadn't done anything at all.

Yet she had gotten involved instead.

This was definitely not good.

Once surpassed, that would be the real danger.

Putting these things aside and fully competing for slots.

That was the right path.

There were still two months left. If she could break through within these two months, then...

That would be the safest approach.

Cheng Yu thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Afterward, they separated and returned to their cultivation.

Cheng Yu waved goodbye to Luo Xuan.

Watching Luo Xuan's back disappear, Cheng Yu finally put away her smile, then shook her head: "Luo Xuan is good in every way, except her vision is ordinary.

"A village boy like Jiang Man, advancing this quickly - he's no ordinary talent.

"As long as we recruit him, he'll definitely be a great asset for the future.

"Since Luo Xuan won't recruit him, then I will."

Cheng Yu walked toward her residence, thinking about how to recruit this guard.

"If he won't take Luo Xuan's offer, he probably still has pride and hope. Then I just need to crush his hopes."

"Then he'll probably guess who did it. Currently, those with grudges against him include Luo Xuan and Fang Yong."

"The former could be angry and destroying him out of spite, the latter could be preventing him from advancing."

"At that time, my approach to recruit him would be perfectly reasonable."

"If I'm lucky, I might actually get the slot."

Cheng Yu had an idea in mind, but implementing it would be somewhat difficult.

As she approached her residence, Cheng Yu saw someone walking toward her.

It was Cheng Moyang.

Seeing this, Cheng Yu smiled, went over to greet him, then casually mentioned Luo Xuan's setback.

She mentioned this not because Cheng Moyang fancied Luo Xuan, but because they both enjoyed teasing poor people.

Especially interesting poor people.

Afterward, Cheng Yu left with a smile, returning to cultivate.

The seed was planted, the grudge existed.

Now she just needed to wait for the harvest.

She didn't need to do anything.