The End of the Immortal Path

The challenge began.

The people around them automatically backed away.

A battle between those at Foundation Establishment Perfection could affect the surrounding area.

Although the Array suppressed the effects, it was still easy for others to get hurt.

Spectators needed to protect themselves. If they were accidentally injured, they could only blame their own bad luck.

ROAR!

A deep roar echoed, like that of a ferocious Spirit Beast.

Then, an aura of Qi and Blood erupted from Li Changcheng.

Jiang Man was a bit surprised and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. ’A Body Cultivator? What a pity. I haven’t started my Cultivation of Immovable as a Mountain yet. Otherwise, his challenge experience would have been much better.’

At that moment, his opponent moved, already launching an Attack at Jiang Man.

BOOM!

The instant his opponent arrived, Jiang Man struck out with his palm.

Shadowless Palm.

RUMBLE!

The power of both sides was evenly matched.

With another BOOM, the two retreated some distance from each other. A smile touched Li Changcheng’s eyes as he continued his rapid Attacks.

He could fight.

Facing his opponent’s fierce onslaught, Jiang Man used Wandering Dragon to swiftly evade.

He occasionally countered with a Palm Skill.

His opponent grew faster and faster, and Jiang Man appeared to be struggling more and more.

Mr. Ye looked at Mr. Yan and said, "It seems your man doesn’t have much of an advantage."

Mr. Yan asked curiously, "Since you’ve come for an exchange, did you properly inquire about the situation in our Outer Sect?"

Mr. Ye was taken aback. "Of course, we did. We investigated the top three long ago."

Mr. Yan asked with good-natured concern, "And when were the rankings you investigated from?"

"The latest rankings, of course," Mr. Ye replied.

Mr. Yan gave him a meaningful look and said no more.

Ye Xiaoshuang frowned, not understanding what he meant.

Just then, she suddenly heard a THUD.

She had thought Li Changcheng had won.

But when she turned to look, she saw that it was Li Changcheng who had been sent flying.

He crashed heavily onto the ground.

Jiang Man retreated, looking a little battered himself.

"A lucky break," Jiang Man said, looking at Li Changcheng. "If you hadn’t been careless, I would have been the one to lose."

"If we went again, I wouldn’t be so lucky."

Li Changcheng’s brows were tightly knit. He stared intently at Jiang Man and asked, "Two thousand Spiritual Sources for one challenge?"

Jiang Man nodded immediately.

Li Changcheng gritted his teeth and handed over two thousand Spiritual Sources.

Jiang Man was delighted. ’Youth is a wonderful thing. Get them angry and they’ll just hand over Spiritual Sources.’

’Such good people.’

However, his opponent didn’t attack. Instead, he asked resentfully, "You were holding back?"

Jiang Man was a bit surprised. "You’re pretty sharp."

Li Changcheng was silent for a moment before saying, "It was just a guess. I wanted to see if you were trying to trick me out of my Spiritual Sources."

Jiang Man: "..."

’How many times has this guy been scammed?’

"Why did you do that?" Li Changcheng demanded.

He found it somewhat hard to accept.

Jiang Man answered truthfully, "I was respecting my opponent. Since you were so generous as to give me four thousand, I naturally had to give you a good experience."

Experience? Li Changcheng was silent for a moment. "The two thousand I just paid wasn’t for another challenge. It was for you to critique me."

Jiang Man nodded. It wasn’t for a challenge, but there was no doubt about it—the guy was a good person.

He then recalled the fight and began to speak, his voice calm yet forceful. "As a Body Cultivator, your strikes lack power and your Spirit is weak in combat. Your subsequent control of Spiritual Qi is feeble, and your overall strength is scattered and unfocused. It’s obvious you’ve single-mindedly chased a higher Cultivation level, allowing your Physical Body to become lax and your Spirit to grow complacent. You’re clueless about the proper use of Spiritual Qi. Your methods are unorthodox and completely missing the point."

"Do you think that just by raising your Cultivation level, you’ll become skilled and powerful?"

"Do you think the Sect’s Physical Body Methods and Visualization Techniques are just obstacles holding back your progress?"

"How could you possibly think that your mere twenty years of experience can compare to the vast wisdom of the great order of the Immortal Sects?"

"What do you take the great order of the Immortal Sects for?"

As Jiang Man’s critique fell, word by word, the initially resentful Li Changcheng’s face began to flush red. His tightly clenched fists trembled unconsciously.

He wanted to rebut, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get a single word out.

Because he found he had no grounds for rebuttal.

But he was still not convinced.

"Not convinced?" Jiang Man said calmly. "Use your Body Technique. Punch me."

Li Changcheng threw a punch without hesitation.

Jiang Man grabbed his wrist and squeezed lightly.

The flow of Spiritual Qi was severed. "Your Spiritual Qi’s resilience is this poor, which means your control over it is superficial. The Qi and Blood in your wrist can’t even keep up, showing how weak your Physical Body’s Cultivation is. As someone who supposedly majors in Body Techniques, you’ve only focused on skill, and clearly don’t understand how to truly integrate your knowledge."

"Your Cultivation Skills were learned in vain, your Physical Body is weak, and your Spirit is listless."

"In two words: poor student!"

At this, Jiang Man released his hand. Li Changcheng subconsciously stumbled back two steps before falling to the ground.

For a moment, the surrounding crowd was in an uproar, completely shocked.

That Jiang Man’s understanding of a Student Cultivator could be so thorough was astonishing.

"Alright, that’s enough for today," Yan Yiqiu said, interrupting everyone’s thoughts.

She then looked at the still-dazed Mr. Ye and said, "Take your people back and get some rest. The exchange isn’t just for one day. We can continue another time."

Mr. Ye finally came to his senses and nodded emphatically.

After a pause, Mr. Yan added a kind reminder, "I suggest you don’t just investigate this year’s grand competition. You should look back a few more years."

"Also..."

Mr. Yan looked at Li Changcheng and said, "The words ’the great order of the Immortal Sects’ carry more weight than you imagine."

After that, Mr. Ye led his people away.

Mr. Yan sighed inwardly. This was so satisfying. Having Jiang Man around truly made a difference.

He couldn’t imagine how he could possibly lose.

What did these people have to compete with him?

Then, he looked toward Zhuo Bufan and the others. "Once they’ve done their research, they’ll probably be ready for a proper exchange. I’ll be counting on you all during that time."

Zhuo Bufan and the others nodded.

They naturally understood that a busy person like Jiang Man couldn’t possibly be there every day.

If he were there every day, he would surely spend his free time on his Cultivation.

At that point, the exchange might as well be over. Everyone could just stay up all night cultivating together.