The End of the Immortal Path-Chapter 39 - 38: My Ability Is to Find You a Wife

Six Palms Combined, augmented by the Three Talents Force, was a considerable drain on any Qi Refining cultivator.

Especially when unleashed relentlessly with grand, sweeping motions.

This forced Chang Qiweng onto the defensive.

But he didn’t meet the attacks head-on.

Instead, he used Magic Skills to parry.

He looked a bit of a mess, but he was certain his opponent couldn’t keep it up for long.

After that, the tables would turn in his favor.

However...

BANG!

Even as he was sent flying by a palm strike and collapsed, Chang Qiweng still hadn’t managed to see Jiang Man run out of Spiritual Qi.

"Why?" he asked in disbelief, half-kneeling on the ground.

"What do you mean?" Jiang Man asked quietly.

"Why could you keep using Six Palms Combined? And keep augmenting it with the Three Talents Force?" Chang Qiweng asked.

This was the full Three Talents Force.

Not just a single stream of Hidden Force.

Using them together was no small drain on his energy.

But his opponent had thrown dozens of palm strikes and showed no sign of weakness.

Jiang Man looked at him and stated the obvious. "When facing an enemy, I only use my strongest moves."

Chang Qiweng was speechless.

For some reason, he found it hard to argue with that.

"You’ve lost," Jiang Man said.

"I’ve lost," Chang Qiweng said bitterly.

He had thought that even if he couldn’t win this time, they would at least be evenly matched.

His own score might have been a bit lower, but he was sure his actual combat ability was no worse than his opponent’s.

The truth was, his combat experience was indeed greater than his opponent’s.

But... no one had told him his opponent would use only his strongest move, over and over, without ever switching things up.

It had left him unable to mount a proper defense.

Jiang Man had already suspected as much.

The Spiritual Qi he absorbed came from having reached the Ninth Layer of the Qi Cultivation Skill; it was bound to be far richer and deeper than that of people who had only reached the First or Second Layer.

The density of their Spiritual Qi wasn’t even in the same league.

"Now, can you tell me who you’re working for?" Jiang Man asked.

Since his opponent was here, he naturally had to ask a few questions.

"Who do you think?" Chang Qiweng retorted.

Jiang Man stared at him, thought for a moment, then said, "It wouldn’t be against the rules if I were to injure you severely, would it?"

After a moment of silence, Chang Qiweng said, "I can’t say."

Jiang Man didn’t press the issue, instead asking curiously, "You’re ranked third in the courtyard. Why would you come after me?"

Jiang Man was referring to the incident before the assessment.

That one incident could have gotten Chang Qiweng disqualified from the competition entirely.

’Why would an ordinary person be so reckless?’

’Did he actually believe Young Master Yang’s promise to take the fall for him?’

’No, that’s impossible.’

’Even Fang Yong didn’t fall for it.’

"Because I’m poor," Chang Qiweng sighed. "How many of us in the Sixth Courtyard didn’t come from poverty? We came here for Cultivation, but wasn’t the goal to earn Spiritual Source in the future?"

"Or was it for some lofty goal of eternal life?"

"Since it’s all about Spiritual Source, if someone offers me some, I’ll do the job."

Chang Qiweng looked up at Jiang Man, an eyebrow raised. "It’s a bit shameful for the third-ranked disciple to do something like this, I admit. But you can’t just throw away Spiritual Source for the sake of dignity, can you?"

Jiang Man was at a loss for words.

’He has a point.’

Spiritual Source was indeed crucial.

It wasn’t just for Cultivation; it was necessary for survival.

Without Spiritual Source, you couldn’t even afford to get injured.

If you did, you had to just tough it out.

You had to check how much food was left every day.

You had to worry about what to do once it ran out.

Things might be a little better in Luoyun City, since it was a city after all.

But out in the villages, it was a different story.

The Simple Qi Cultivation Method was free, and while anyone could practice Cultivation with it...

...they still had to farm.

It was hard to advance your Cultivation. The vast majority of people were stuck at the Qi Refining Third Layer for their entire lives.

You could even get the Simple Qi Blood Method for free once you reached the right Realm. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

But who dared to practice it?

Practicing the Qi Blood Technique meant you had to eat more, which in turn meant you had to spend more Spiritual Source.

Without a master’s guidance, you were left to fumble in the dark, taking many wrong turns and wasting even more resources.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Jiang Man looked at Chang Qiweng and asked curiously, "How much Spiritual Source did they give you?"

"Ten thousand," Chang Qiweng said.

Jiang Man drew in a sharp breath.

’Ten thousand?’

’It would take me over half a year of selling Spiritual Qi to make that much.’

But Chang Qiweng quickly added, "But they took back five thousand Spiritual Source to bail me out, gave one thousand to you as compensation, and I sent three thousand home to my family."

"So now I only have one thousand Spiritual Source left."

Jiang Man had been debating whether to demand compensation, but it seemed his opponent had already divvied up all the Spiritual Source.

With a sigh, Jiang Man said, "You came here tonight specifically to test my strength for that person, didn’t you?"

Upon hearing this, Chang Qiweng immediately said, "I can give you another five hundred Spiritual Source."

Jiang Man stared at him in silence.

"Six hundred," Chang Qiweng said. "I need the rest to pay the registration fee for the combat assessment."

’There’s a registration fee for the combat assessment?’ Jiang Man wondered. ’I’ve never heard of such a thing.’

In the end, Jiang Man let Chang Qiweng go.

He quietly accepted the six hundred Spiritual Source.

He may not have gotten any useful information, but at least he’d come away with sixteen hundred Spiritual Source.

It made his less-than-affluent life suddenly quite comfortable.

"You just let him go like that?" the Old Yellow Ox asked, walking up beside Jiang Man.

"What else was I supposed to do?" Jiang Man said quietly as he put away the Spiritual Source.

"Aren’t you afraid the person backing him will try other tactics? You were lucky this time. If what happened before happens again, do you think you’ll be able to resolve it so easily?" the Old Yellow Ox asked.

’Before, I had a Token to rely on, but now it’s gone.’

’So if it happened again, I could easily be locked up.’

’I wouldn’t get out for months.’

’By then, it would be too late for anything.’

’But going after Chang Qiweng would be useless.’

’The person backing him could just find someone else to do his dirty work.’

’There are seven courtyards in the Cyan Cloud Pavilion, full of people.’

’It’s better to leave Chang Qiweng be. At least I know who this pawn is, and I know he isn’t much of a threat.’

’If they swapped him for someone else, who knows what kind of person they’d be, or what they’d be capable of?’

’So, the current situation isn’t bad at all.’

The Old Yellow Ox didn’t seem to care much, but he did offer a reminder. "Your actual combat skills are lacking."

"Do you have any solutions, Senior?" Jiang Man asked.

"I don’t. The only way to get better at combat is to fight people," the Old Yellow Ox said, shaking its head.

"True enough." Jiang Man nodded and started walking back. On the way, a thought occurred to him. "Old Huang, since you’re an Evil God, do you have any special powers?"

"I do, but they haven’t recovered yet," the Old Yellow Ox said.

"Like what?"

"Like being able to find you a wife."

"..."

’And get me killed in the process.’

When Jiang Man returned to his courtyard, he immediately began his Cultivation.

’First, I’ll fill the Sixth Gourd.’

’Then, I’ll raise my Qi and Blood to break through to the Fourth Layer of the Physical Body Realm.’

’With the First Layer of Spirit and the Fourth Layer of the Physical Body, I can start breaking through to the Seventh Layer of my Cultivation.’

’I wonder if there’s enough time.’

’If I can manage it, then first place is as good as mine.’

’My combat skills might not be as good as theirs, but I can crush them with an absolute advantage in my Realm.’

’There’d be no dispute over first place then.’

Just as Jiang Man was settling into his Cultivation, the Old Yellow Ox suddenly spoke up. "Someone’s coming."

Jiang Man stopped his Cultivation and looked outside.

Bathed in moonlight, Jiang Man saw a young woman approaching, her face full of curiosity.

It was Cheng Yu, the fourth-ranked disciple of the Sixth Courtyard.

’What is she doing here?’ Jiang Man was instantly on guard.

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