The End of the Immortal Path

Jiang Man had considered many possibilities after leaving the prison cell.

For example, the Ye Family siblings might avoid him like the plague, or perhaps they would try some underhanded tricks, or even just curse him out loud.

The one thing he hadn’t expected was for them to hand him Spiritual Source the moment he got out—and a huge sum of eighty thousand at that.

Logically, their group should have been targeted as well.

Even though they weren’t from the Wuyun Sect, being within its territory meant it was impossible for them to remain unaffected.

So, anything they might have done would have been understandable.

Jiang Man felt the Spiritual Source in his hand, then took out thirty thousand and handed it back to them.

Seeing this, Ye Jingtian frowned.

’If he doesn’t accept this thirty thousand, this can’t be good.’

But before he could speak, Jiang Man said, "Mr. Ye thinks highly of me, and Senior Brother Ye has given me opportunities. We’re good friends, after all."

"Betraying a good friend just like this... it doesn’t seem right."

The group was completely bewildered.

’What on earth are you talking about?’

’Who’s good friends with you?’

"Besides, because of me, you all received the qualifications to enter the Immortal Sect Grand Competition. That’s a favor. And they only offered fifty thousand for you to betray me? How is that acceptable?" Jiang Man said with a straight face.

Ye Jingtian’s frown deepened. He stared at Jiang Man and said, "Then what should I do?"

"Betraying me means breaking faith, abandoning a good friend, and offending an Unparalleled Celestial Pride. Isn’t fifty thousand a bit too insulting to you?" Jiang Man suddenly asked.

Ye Jingtian and the others felt that Jiang Man had been spouting nonsense from the very beginning.

Ye Jingtian played along. "So?"

"So..." Jiang Man looked at them, his expression serious. "So, they have to add more. You’re betraying me, and the heartbreak is unbearable. Naturally, you’ll need more Spiritual Source to compensate."

"Of course, you’ll also do a good enough job to ensure my location is reported in real-time. You might even be able to get me to learn the Secret Skill and report my own movements."

"As for how that’s accomplished, they don’t need to worry about it."

For a moment, Ye Jingtian was stunned.

Jiang Man’s meaning was obvious.

He could provide his own location for the Secret Skill, but the other party needed to add more Spiritual Source. And Ye Jingtian was the one who had to go ask for it. Jiang Man was turning down the thirty thousand, but he clearly expected to get even more Spiritual Source back in return.

In the end, Ye Jingtian nodded. "I understand. Wait for me a moment."

Afterward, Ye Jingtian left with his people.

On the way, Mo Xin asked worriedly, "Are we really going to ask for more Spiritual Source?"

"We have no choice," Ye Jingtian said.

Mo Xin whispered, "Trying not to offend either side often ends up offending both. The situation is much harder than we anticipated, especially when one of the parties is so shameless."

Ye Jingtian nodded. "I know. But I never believed we could avoid offending either side."

"We take the Spiritual Source from this side and give his location to the other side."

"It seems like a good deal, but either of them could turn on us at any moment."

"What I need to do is stall for time. As long as we can delay until this is all over, we just need to leave the Wuyun Sect safely."

"Actually, since we’re not from the Wuyun Sect, they’d have to think twice before doing anything to us," the Monk said.

Ye Jingtian shook his head. "There’s no stopping a Peak Master if he truly wants to do something. The probability of him targeting us is almost zero, and even if he did, he probably wouldn’t be too ruthless."

"But if we get caught up in some random incident, he could lock us up for an ’investigation’."

"He wouldn’t have to do anything but ’investigate.’ But if that investigation takes three months, we’d be locked up for three months."

"Then, after the investigation is ’clear,’ he’d release us. What could you do about it?"

"So for now, the goal is to avoid offending either side. If it escalates to us offending both, that’s a problem for after we get out."

"At that point, we’ll leave the Wuyun Sect immediately."

"And we’ll be completely safe."

"Besides, Xiaoshuang is leaving today. Otherwise, we might not be able to leave so smoothly either."

The others fell silent.

They had never imagined that a single trip here would lead to them inexplicably offending a Peak Master.

And Jiang Man, with his audacious performance, actually wanted to demand even more Spiritual Source from them.

"One has powerful backing by definition, and the other likely has immense backing of his own. It’s truly difficult for us outsiders to be caught in the middle," Mo Xin said, rather helplessly.

But there were benefits, too.

Namely, they all had a chance to enter the Immortal Sect Grand Competition.

Fortune and misfortune are two sides of the same coin.

—

Jiang Man, meanwhile, stood waiting in the same spot.

’They’re still being a bit too conservative.’

’They didn’t just sell me out openly.’

’If I’d known they would give me Spiritual Source, I should have contacted Young Master Fang to negotiate.’

’I definitely could have sold myself for a much better price.’

’Fifty thousand?’

’How insulting.’

’Even an idiot like Young Master Fang got a price of over one hundred thousand when he sold me.’

As for the Secret Skill, Jiang Man was naturally in agreement.

If these people hadn’t come looking for him, he would have gone looking for them.

’As an Unparalleled Celestial Pride, how could I just sit back and play Defense?’

’Naturally, I must take the offensive.’

’The radiance of a Celestial Pride will shine down upon them all equally.’

’But I need to raise my Cultivation as soon as possible.’

Yesterday, his luck was quite good. After eating all the fruits, he had smoothly advanced to Golden Core Perfection.

But in his rush to learn the Promotion Skill, he hadn’t properly polished his Realm.

His control wasn’t quite perfect.

But...

All Rivers Flow into the Sea, a torrent unceasing.

His immense power could more than make up for his deficiencies in Magic Skills, allowing him to sweep through anyone at the Same Tier.

In this state, he could definitely attempt to birth a Primordial Spirit.

The Promotion Skill wasn’t difficult; he had more or less learned it already.

All that remained was to spend a day or two in Cultivation when the time came.

Having already spent all his Spiritual Source, he hadn’t had any other plans.

But now, with at least a hundred thousand coming in...

He could absolutely buy Chao Yuan Taiyin Pills to improve the Cultivation of his fourth Gourd.

One pill cost 3,300, and with a 5% discount, it would be a little over 3,100.

With a hundred thousand, he could buy around thirty-two pills.

In fact, Song Qing had secretly sent him twenty thousand, but he had used it all to buy Array Materials.

This was because Ren Qian had brought him a way to deal with Ling Hua: an Array.