The End of the Immortal Path

They’ve probably gotten their hands on the list.

"They’ll probably try to take some of the others down a peg first," Yan Yiqiu said casually.

Hearing this, Wei Beichuan said, "So you’re saying they’ll challenge those of us with lower ranks first? Aren’t they afraid of losing?"

After all, on paper, Zhuo Bufan was ranked third, Zhao Yaoyao was fifth, he was seventh, and Lin Qingshan was eighth.

Their Cloud Mist Peak was not to be trifled with.

"Maybe they’re just full of confidence and want to put pressure on the third-ranked by picking off us ’weaker’ ones first," Zhao Yaoyao said with a grin.

Jiang Man didn’t really mind. It was just an exchange, after all.

At the end of the day, a fight was inevitable.

’I wonder what the reward for winning is.’

’Ten or twenty thousand Spiritual Source would be a huge profit.’

"What are their chances of winning?" Zhuo Bufan asked.

"I’ve never seen them fight," Lin Qingshan said after a moment of thought. "Theoretically, their chances shouldn’t be high. After all, our batch burned the midnight oil to get where we are. Comparatively, we’ve had a few more years of Cultivation than they have."

"At this stage, any of us have a shot at the top one hundred in the Grand Tournament.

"Right now, no one in the Sixth Courtyard should be able to do that."

But as he spoke, everyone suddenly looked at Jiang Man.

It seemed someone from the Sixth Courtyard actually had broken into the top fifty of the Grand Tournament.

Zhao Yaoyao asked curiously, "If you ran into someone like that, would you still have a chance of winning?"

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

Yan Yiqiu reminded them, "Don’t underestimate the enemy, but don’t worry too much either. In all my years of teaching, I’ve only ever met one person like that."

’Jiang Man’s appearance had opened up a new path for her future.’

’A path that could lead to great heights or a great fall.’

’No one knew if Jiang Man would end up number one in the Grand Tournament or in a Law Enforcement Hall prison cell.’

’Of course, he might also be on the path to reporting an Evil God.’

’In her entire life, most of the information she’d heard about the Evil God had come from Jiang Man’s mouth.’

’Fate was a fickle thing; she had unexpectedly gained a much deeper understanding of the Evil God.’

’In the Inner Sect, dealing with matters related to the Evil God was a privilege reserved only for the most favored prodigies.’

On the way, Jiang Man suddenly asked, "You think the person who wants to challenge Zhuo Bufan might try to use me as a warm-up first?"

Everyone was stunned once again.

’If they chose Jiang Man, what would you even call that?’

’An inauspicious start for the opponent?’

’Or just plain bad luck for them?’

A small mountain peak.

When Jiang Man arrived, a number of people were already there.

They were all from the Third Courtyard of the various peaks.

Jiang Man barely knew any of them.

Including his group, there were a total of thirty-five Student Cultivators.

One could say this was the strongest group from the Third Courtyard.

Among them, Jiang Man noticed an extremely young man.

The young man’s aura was indistinct, but a single glance was enough to tell he was different.

As Jiang Man looked over, the other person looked back at him.

He offered a small smile.

Jiang Man nodded back in greeting.

"Wei Ran," Jiang Man couldn’t help but say.

"You know him?" Yan Yiqiu asked.

Jiang Man shook his head. "First time seeing him."

"Then how did you recognize him?"

"He’s a Golden Core. You can tell he’s different from the others at a glance."

Hearing this, Zhuo Bufan and the others nearby were stunned.

Golden Core?

Wei Ran had achieved Core Formation?

They only knew that he hadn’t participated in the Grand Tournament, but they had never heard that he had succeeded in Core Formation.

’Was he really that low-key?’

Then, Zhuo Bufan and the others saw the Student Cultivators from the Celestial Water Sect enter.

Their faces were full of confidence, as if the scales of victory were already tipping in their favor.

Lin Qingshan lamented, "Why did they have to pick our year?"

Zhao Yaoyao nodded in agreement. "Yeah, with two Golden Cores here, how can they possibly pick their fights to lose with any dignity? I can’t think of a way."

Just then, four people walked toward them. The leader was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties and was presumably an instructor.

Behind her, the most eye-catching person was a young man who looked rebellious and untamed, a fire burning in his eyes.

He was bursting with youthful vigor.

"We have fewer people, so I’m afraid we’ll be the ones gaining more from this exchange," the other Instructor said to Mr. Yan with a reserved smile.

Mr. Yan simply replied in a soft voice, "An exchange is about mutual improvement. Mr. Ye, there’s no need to worry about gains and losses."

Ye Xiaoshuang looked at Yan Yiqiu and said, "I’m just afraid Mr. Yan will lose so much that you won’t be able to afford not to care."

Yan Yiqiu simply looked at her and shook her head slightly, not saying a word.

’Lose?’

’Lose what?’

’The chance to be the loser?’

’It wasn’t that she was arrogant, but everyone here combined would still be no match for Jiang Man.’

"An exchange inevitably involves some fighting. I think before we begin, we should test each other’s mettle," the unruly-looking young man suddenly said.

Hearing this, Jiang Man and the others looked over.

The unruly man’s eyes landed on Jiang Man. "How about you and I have a go before the exchange begins?"

Lin Qingshan and the others froze, looking at Jiang Man.

But Jiang Man shook his head. "I refuse your challenge."

This statement left the other party stunned; even Mr. Ye was surprised.

"You don’t dare?" the unruly man asked.

Jiang Man sighed at the man’s ignorance of the rules, then said, "Anyone who challenges me has to pay two thousand Spiritual Source. Do you have it?"

Everyone: "..."

The unruly man looked at Jiang Man and said coldly, "I’ll pay four thousand. If you lose tomorrow, you have to declare that Cloud Mist Peak is inferior to me."

Jiang Man replied with righteous conviction and a solemn tone, "Alright. If you win, Cloud Mist Peak will be inferior to you."

Mr. Ye looked at Mr. Yan and said, "The young man is being impulsive. Cloud Mist Peak is not inferior to anyone."

"It is," Mr. Yan said with a sigh. "If he loses, then Cloud Mist Peak is indeed inferior."

Mr. Ye was taken aback, momentarily at a loss for words.

’Are all instructors this temperamental?’

Finally, she asked what position Jiang Man had placed in the top fifty of this year’s Grand Tournament.

Mr. Yan gave a mysterious smile. "What do you think?"

With that, she led her group away.

Mr. Ye felt that she had somehow lost this initial confrontation.

The unruly young man, meanwhile, sent someone to ask around and, while they were at it, to find out if there was any precedent in the Wuyun Sect of a Sixth Courtyard student challenging someone from the Third Courtyard.

「The next day.」

In a small courtyard on Cloud Mist Peak, Jiang Man met the party of four from the Celestial Water Sect.

The exchange between the Third and Sixth Courtyards wasn’t exactly a grand event.

Most of the time, exchanges happened within the individual peaks, and they normally didn’t attract any attention.

But this time, their arrival had caused a bit of a stir, and it seemed someone was intentionally fanning the flames.

That was why it had garnered some attention.

At that moment, the unruly man was talking with a young woman.

"How did the investigation go?" the unruly man asked.

The woman beside him was a fellow Student Cultivator participating in the exchange.

Since there was no one else, he could only ask her to help with the investigation.

The woman sighed emotionally. "I found something. I heard there was indeed someone who challenged the Third Courtyard, but no one knows what happened to him. Many people said they haven’t seen him in years and aren’t sure if he met with an accident or something else."

The unruly man remarked with some feeling, "It seems the Wuyun Sect does have a few people worth paying attention to. What’s this person’s name?"

Before the woman could speak, Lin Qingshan suddenly asked, "Does anyone else want to issue a challenge?"

"No rush. We need to start somewhere anyway." The arrogant man came back to his senses, looked at Jiang Man, and said, "Li Changcheng of the Celestial Water Sect."

After receiving the four thousand Spiritual Source, Jiang Man solemnly replied, "Jiang Man of the Wuyun Sect."

Li Changcheng frowned. ’Just how poor is this guy? Does he really need to see the Spiritual Source before he’ll even talk?’

Meanwhile, the face of the woman who had been standing to the side turned deathly pale.

Noticing the change in his companion, Li Changcheng couldn’t help but ask, "Is something wrong?"

"I have the latest news," the woman said in a low voice. "There’s good news and bad news."

"Start with the good news," Li Changcheng said.

"The good news is that someone from the Wuyun Sect was able to challenge the Third Courtyard while in the Sixth Courtyard, and he even won. This proves that you can do it too, Senior Brother," the woman said.

Li Changcheng was confused. "Didn’t you already say that? What’s the bad news?"

The woman gave a bitter smile. "The bad news is... that person is him."

Hearing this, Li Changcheng froze. "Jiang Man?"

The woman nodded. "It’s him."

"That’s great news," Li Changcheng said confidently. "As long as I beat him, it will only serve to prove my own strength and highlight the Wuyun Sect’s weakness."

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Changcheng stepped in front of Jiang Man. "Shall I make the first move?"

Jiang Man nodded. The guy paid his Spiritual Source, so of course he should go first.

’And for four thousand Spiritual Source, no less.’

’I have to make sure he gets a good customer experience.’

————

For some reason, the cover image isn’t working, which is a shame. I just changed it to a random one in the site’s backend.

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