Jiang Man looked at Xiaopang, his expression puzzled.
The other boy immediately explained:
"It's because I was always ranked above you, Brother Jiang, but now you've surpassed me."
"My father said that even though you were dead last back then, you managed to keep raising your score all the way up."
"So why can't I, the one who was second to last, do the same?"
"Logically, since I was second to last, I should be improving faster than you."
"I know my father isn't seeing things clearly. Right now, your ranking isn't that high yet, Brother Jiang."
"So he thinks if you can do it, I can too."
"That's why you have to work hard, Brother Jiang. Try to get into the top ten, or even the top five. Then he'll finally snap out of it."
Jiang Man was speechless.
'Prodigies always seem to bear the strangest responsibilities.'
But the resources from Xiaopang had indeed helped him a lot.
He had already gathered enough Spiritual Qi to fill three Gourds.
Now, he just needed to go back, consume a Spirit Gathering Pill, and after absorbing and refining it, he would be able to smoothly open the fourth Gourd.
That night, after a long session of Cultivation, Jiang Man finally stopped circulating his Cultivation Skill.
A vast amount of Spiritual Qi now surged through his body.
After reaching the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, his original Spiritual Qi had become much denser.
'No wonder I couldn't break through before.'
'If I had forced it, my body wouldn't have been able to withstand the strain.'
"Two months have passed. You only have one month left," the Old Yellow Ox said, walking over to remind him.
"You should worry about your own problems, Brother Niu. Has that Fairy made a move on you recently?" Jiang Man asked.
"I won't die, but you really might," the Old Yellow Ox replied, picking up its tether in its mouth and heading elsewhere to graze.
Jiang Man watched it leave and pondered for a moment.
'I remember that when the Fairy makes a move, it's the Old Yellow Ox who's supposed to die.'
'We're both in the same boat.'
「October 15th.」
It was time for another round of assessments.
In the courtyard, Song Qing came up to Jiang Man and whispered, "You'd better perform well recently. I heard that people from the Sect have already started their inspections."
Jiang Man didn't understand why the other boy was being so kind.
But he thanked him nonetheless.
Today was the day of the assessment, so no one said much, not wanting to get distracted.
The two-day assessment period passed without a hitch.
There were no issues, nor were there any signs of an inspection from the Sect.
He often heard rumors about inspectors from the Sect, but he had never actually seen one.
After asking around, he discovered that the people from the Sect seemed to appear mostly within the third-floor area.
Perhaps the idea that they inspected the entire Yunqian Bureau was just a rumor from the start.
After all, most of the powerful individuals had made it to the top three floors.
That was also why the courtyards on the third floor had more assessment slots.
「The morning of the 17th.」
Everyone gathered early in the morning to wait.
The rankings would be updated today.
Zhao Leming arrived quickly as well.
"The overall rankings haven't changed much," he said as he handed out the papers in his hand.
Soon, Jiang Man received his paper.
October 17th.
Yunqian Bureau, Cyan Cloud Pavilion.
Rear Courtyard, Sixth Courtyard.
Name: Jiang Man.
Rank: 14 (of 26).
Cultivation: Qi Refining Fourth Layer.
Cultivation Level: Simple Qi Cultivation Method Fifth Level, Third Level of Simple Qi Blood Method.
Resources Obtained: "Simple Qi Refining Skill," "Divine Step," "Six Harmonies Chapter," "Three Talents Force."
Plan: Cultivate sixty times daily.
Score: 40.
Comment: Two months of progress is better than nearly half the people's two years.
Putting the paper away, Jiang Man looked at Xiaopang.
He noticed the other boy didn't look too happy.
"What's your rank?" Jiang Man asked.
Xiaopang showed his paper directly to Jiang Man.
Xiaopang's Cultivation hadn't changed, but his Qi Cultivation Skill had improved by one layer.
His rank had gone up by one spot.
Third to last.
It was just that his comment was rather poor. It read: "Wasting resources. Better to give them to someone whose two months are worth your two years."
Jiang Man fell silent.
'The exam can even show if you're not absorbing resources properly? I suppose it's possible.'
Xiaopang was a little indignant. "Why are my comments never any good? Even your comments when you were last place were better than mine."
'It's because I bribed them with treasures, and you used all your treasures on yourself,' Jiang Man responded in his head.
「Midday.」
The rankings were publicly posted.
Jiang Man's jump from 18th to 14th was immediately noticed.
They remarked with some emotion that getting on Miss Luo's ship really meant smooth sailing and rapid progress.
Song Qing also looked at Jiang Man's rank with a sense of wonder.
'Without a doubt, Jiang Man became Luo Xuan's guard. That's why he received her full support. How else could he advance so quickly?'
Although Jiang Man vehemently denied it, he didn't believe him.
'If it were me, I'd deny it too. After all, final success is on the line. How could you let yourself be harmed by others' jealousy?'
The others also believed it was because he had become a close bodyguard. In their conversations, many spoke with a tone of disdain.
But in their hearts, most of them wished they could take his place.
「On the way back today.」
Cheng Yu said indignantly, "That Jiang Man is getting a bit too big for his britches. But how did his rank improve so quickly?"
She paused, then had a sudden realization. "He became someone's close bodyguard? Who? There were no signs at all."
"Everyone thinks he's my guard and that I'm grooming him," Luo Xuan said with a smile.
"What do we do now?" Cheng Yu asked, annoyed.
Luo Xuan mulled it over and said, "Originally, we wanted to use him to influence Fang Yong. Then, seeing he had some ability, we wanted to recruit him."
"But things didn't go as planned."
"And now it seems we're the ones being affected."
With that, Luo Xuan looked at Cheng Yu and said, "Let's just drop this matter for now. There will be other opportunities in the future."
"Right now, we should focus on competing for the slot."
"Your score isn't low either. It's not impossible for you to win the slot."
She didn't want to keep wasting her energy on this; she needed to continue improving herself.
Fang Yong hadn't even done anything.
Yet she was the one getting bogged down.
This was definitely not a good thing.
'Getting surpassed—that's the real danger. I need to put these things aside and focus everything on fighting for the slot. That's the right path. There are still two months left. If I can break through within these two months, then... that would be the safest bet.'
Cheng Yu thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
After that, they parted ways and returned to their own residences to cultivate.
Cheng Yu waved goodbye to Luo Xuan.
Only after Luo Xuan's figure disappeared from view did Cheng Yu's smile vanish. She shook her head. 'Luo Xuan is good at everything, but her vision is just average. A village boy like Jiang Man who can advance so quickly is no ordinary sapling. As long as I can bring him to my side, he'll definitely be a huge asset in the future. Since Luo Xuan won't recruit him, then I will.'
Cheng Yu walked toward her own residence, thinking about how to win over this guard.
'He refused the olive branch from Luo Xuan, which means he still has his pride and hope. All I need to do is crush that hope. Then, he'll probably try to guess who was behind it. The ones who currently have a grudge with him are Luo Xuan and Fang Yong. The former could be lashing out in humiliation to ruin him, while the latter could be trying to stop him from advancing. At that point, it would be perfectly reasonable for me to step in and win him over. If I'm lucky, I might actually be able to get the slot myself.'
An idea had formed in Cheng Yu's mind, but executing it would be somewhat difficult.
As she neared her residence, Cheng Yu saw someone walking toward her.
It was Cheng Moyang.
Seeing him, Cheng Yu smiled, went over to greet him, and then casually brought up how Luo Xuan had been slighted.
She didn't bring this up because Cheng Moyang was interested in Luo Xuan, but because they both loved to toy with the poor.
Especially interesting poor people.
After that, Cheng Yu smiled and left, heading back to her Cultivation.
'The seed has been planted, and a grudge has been formed. Now all I have to do is wait for the harvest. There's nothing more I need to do.'