All the spiritual springs were taken, which put the ordinary disciples, who lacked information and reacted a step too slow, in a very awkward position.
They didn't dare provoke the disciples from the Cultivation Families who had occupied the springs.
Fortunately, Mo Shuying had said that besides the springs, observing the stream could also speed up one's cultivation.
And the stream on Longxi Peak was long, with plenty of spots available.
So, everyone rushed to the streamside to comprehend the wonders of nature.
Zhong Ming was no exception.
As he arrived, Zhong Ming noticed that in a very short time, the several hundred disciples on Longxi Peak had already been divided into several distinct tiers.
The highest tier consisted of only three Cultivators—one man and two women. One of the young women was dressed very simply, looking as if she came from a lower-class background.
But she was surrounded by disciples from Cultivation Families, all of whom treated her with great respect and courtesy.
Zhong Ming knew a little about why this was happening.
The young woman's name was Xue Yao. Her Talent was extremely high; she possessed a first-grade Spiritual Root—an Ice-type Anomaly Spirit Root, at that. With such qualifications, she was almost guaranteed to receive an A-level Rating.
With good Talent and high future prospects, marrying her was equivalent to securing an extremely powerful immortal for a wife. Under these circumstances, it was only natural that many people would want to curry favor with her.
However, perhaps due to the influence of her Ice-type Anomaly Spirit Root, Xue Yao's temperament was very aloof; she treated everyone with a cold and detached demeanor.
Besides the young woman, the other man and woman also had first-grade Spiritual Roots and were from Cultivation Families. With their noble air, the two also had countless followers.
Each of these three had occupied a spiritual spring, and they were the very best ones.
Below these three was the tier occupied by people like Jiang Yue and Jiang Xiaoyu.
Their Spiritual Roots were second-grade, and they were also from Cultivation Families. They were virtually guaranteed to receive a B-level Rating, but an A-level rating was somewhat uncertain.
The third tier consisted primarily of those with second-grade Spiritual Roots who came from lower-class backgrounds.
Without the support of resources, their chances of being rated B Class were somewhat precarious.
Disciples from Cultivation Families with third-grade Spiritual Roots were also in this tier.
Their situation was the opposite of the talented youths from humble beginnings—they had enough Spirit Stones, but lacked the Talent.
Beyond them was the fourth and lowest tier, which was where Zhong Ming and Dong Sea found themselves.
This was also the largest group.
—If the Dark Moon hadn't appeared, Zhong Ming's rating would have been a tier higher than Dong Sea's.
But since those with C and D ratings all had to join the Demon Suppression Bureau, Zhong Ming and Dong Sea were lumped into the same category.
In everyone's eyes, it would be very difficult for either Zhong Ming or Dong Sea to achieve a B Class rating.
The only difference was that Zhong Ming could still put up a fight, while Dong Sea could only hope for someone to pull him up.
This stratification made Zhong Ming sigh with emotion, but after cultivating by the stream for a while, he had to resignedly admit that this division... did make some sense.
...
"Exhale... Inhale..."
Thanks to the True Intent Map, Zhong Ming and the others had all inscribed the circulation path of the Longxi Breathing Method into their very bodies and minds.
Now, with a mere thought, he subconsciously began to breathe according to the Longxi Breathing Method, imagining a stream flowing and surging through his body.
"WENG..."
This visualization and breathing really did allow Zhong Ming to draw a portion of the natural Spiritual Qi into his body.
However, this portion of Spiritual Qi was minuscule.
Furthermore, the stream Zhong Ming visualized flowed through his body with extreme sluggishness.
To say it was blocked at every turn would be an exaggeration, but the stream's flow could certainly not be called fast.
This also caused most of the Spiritual Qi to be wasted along the way.
By the time the stream had circulated once through his body and the Spiritual Qi within it had been infused with his aura, only ten to twenty percent of it remained.
Then, Zhong Ming directed this feeble wisp of Spiritual Qi to surge toward his Qi Sea Acupoint.
"WENG..."
Because there was so little of it, the faint Spiritual Qi only caused Zhong Ming's Qi Sea Acupoint to warm up slightly, and then... it was gone.
'The Spiritual Qi I absorb is already scarce to begin with, and eighty to ninety percent of it is lost along the way. In the end, only ten or twenty percent merges into my Qi Sea Acupoint. It's far too little.'
This cultivation speed was, without a doubt, extremely slow.
But this was the reality of a third-grade Spiritual Root.
'There's a reason third-grade Spiritual Roots are considered mediocre.'
'Although I can cultivate, the Qi Sea Acupoint needs to be nurtured to perfection before it can be opened, and that requires a vast amount of Spiritual Qi. Eighteen days is definitely not enough.'
'Under normal circumstances, I would need twenty to thirty days to open my Qi Sea Acupoint and enter the initial stage of Qi Cultivation.'
This exceeded the eighteen-day limit for a B Class rating, which was obviously not what Zhong Ming wanted.
Fortunately, Zhong Ming's current cultivation speed wasn't fixed. He had ways to increase it.
'The most convenient and fastest method is, of course, Elixir Pills.'
As he thought this, Zhong Ming glanced toward the disciples from the Cultivation Families. At this moment, they had all consumed Elixir Pills. Boosted by the pills, their cultivation speed would increase severalfold.
'But I have no money to buy pills...'
Shaking his head, Zhong Ming turned to his second method for speeding up cultivation—raising his Cultivation Method Realm.
'My Longxi Breathing Method is only at First Realm Initiation, the lowest level. Cultivating with it at this stage is naturally very inefficient.'
With this in mind, Zhong Ming opened his status panel to see how many Skill Level points his previous cultivation session had earned him.
[Longxi Breathing Technique: First Realm Initiation (14/800)]
'It was 13, now it's 14. Just one point... That makes sense. My last cultivation session was just a test, without any real thought behind it, so I only got the guaranteed minimum of 1 point.'
And even that guaranteed point was only added because Zhong Ming had the Heaven Rewards Diligence system.
A normal person cultivating carelessly would gain nothing at all.
You have to focus and gain some insight for the Cultivation Technique's Skill Level to increase.
This was also true for Zhong Ming. If he cultivated with focus and gained some insight, the Skill Level he gained from each session wouldn't be just +1.
Having thought this through, Zhong Ming opened his eyes, preparing to cultivate while observing the stream.
However, just as Zhong Ming was composing himself to cultivate with focus, a voice suddenly called out from a distance.
"Zhong, over here! I have a spot for you."
The one who called out was Jiang Yue. Although he had seen the moment Zhong Ming's face turned pale, he still felt Zhong Ming was worth recruiting.
His shout made everyone turn to look at Zhong Ming with envy and jealousy.
Mo Shuying's words had made everyone understand that their rating in the hundred-day assessment was directly tied to their very survival.
She had also told them that the spiritual springs and the stream could accelerate their cultivation progress.
At a time like this, Jiang Yue offering Zhong Ming a spot was tantamount to giving him a lifeline in a crisis.
Naturally, this made everyone envious and jealous of Zhong Ming.
But soon, something happened that astonished the crowd.
Hearing the call, Zhong Ming cupped his hands in a polite gesture and actually refused.
"Thank you for the kind offer, Jiang, but I'll pass. I'm fine cultivating here."
"Eh?"
Zhong Ming's refusal also caught Jiang Yue by surprise.
But in the end, he just shrugged and didn't say anything more.
However, while he was unwilling to press the matter, a companion cultivating with him brought it up with a smile.
"Jiang Yue, you think highly of that Zhong Ming?"
"Yes."
After having just called out to him, Jiang Yue couldn't very well deny it.
His nod made Wei Jie burst out laughing.
"Jiang, you've really misjudged this time."
"He was given such a great opportunity but didn't know how to seize it. A timid person like that isn't worth recruiting."
"But then again, this is a stroke of luck for you. It's better to see Zhong Ming's true colors now than after you've already recruited him as a subordinate."
Wei Jie was quite disparaging toward Zhong Ming.
He wasn't saying this to deliberately target Zhong Ming—in Wei Jie's eyes, Zhong Ming wasn't even worthy of his attention.
He was using Zhong Ming as a pretext to attack Jiang Yue, accusing him of being a poor judge of character.
And his reason for doing so was simple.
There were four people at their spiritual spring: besides the siblings Jiang Yue and Jiang Xiaoyu, the other two were Wei Jie and a young woman named Liu Wanyu.
The latter's name fit her perfectly; she was a beautiful young woman, as exquisite as jade. Her white dress made her look like a celestial maiden under the moonlight.
Evidently, Wei Jie was interested in Liu Wanyu.
As was Jiang Yue.
In order to undermine his rival, Wei Jie had used Zhong Ming to make his point.
His words did indeed cause Jiang Yue's expression to sour.
'Did I really misjudge him?'
Thinking this, Jiang Yue subconsciously glanced over at Zhong Ming.
And with that one glance, his eyebrows shot up.
—While everyone else was gathered by the stream to cultivate, Zhong Ming's behavior was odd. He had left the stream and was now trekking across Longxi Peak with Dong Sea in tow.
And from time to time, he would stop in place and gaze toward the stream.
Such actions made Jiang Yue very curious.
'What is he doing?'
Puzzled, Jiang Yue subconsciously recalled the moment Zhong Ming's face had suddenly turned pale while staring directly at the Mountain Stream Flowing Map.
'Wait, I remember my father saying that besides having an insufficient Divine Soul, there's another reason staring at a True Intent Map could severely damage one's Divine Soul... and that's comprehending a True Intent of a Cultivation Technique that exceeds one's own capacity to bear it.'
'Zhong Ming... he couldn't be the latter, could he?!'
'Did he comprehend something from the True Intent Map? Was his refusal just now not because of timidity, but because he has a better cultivation method?'