Chapter 519 - 287: Ji Meng: In Such a Rush?

Chapter 519: Chapter 287: Ji Meng: In Such a Rush?

They now needed to learn about the Inner Sect and find a suitable place to live.

Tomorrow was the day to report to the Inner Sect, so it would be too slow to start looking then.

When they landed at the entrance to the Inner Sect, they found a registration office.

However, there was no one inside.

"We report here tomorrow," Ji Meng said as she stepped off her Flying Sword.

Jiang Man nodded and put away his Flying Sword. "After we report, do we go to our own courtyards? Is the Inner Sect run the same way as the Outer Sect?"

Ji Meng shook her head. "Not exactly. The Inner Sect has Nine Peaks, and each peak is different.

"For example, three peaks specialize in main cultivation paths: Sword Cultivators, Body Cultivators, and Magic Cultivators.

"Four peaks specialize in Minors: Alchemy, Forging, Arrays, and Talismans. These are considered the four major Minors.

"The remaining Minors are all on the Eighth Peak.

"And the Ninth Peak is for general studies.

"Basically, anyone who’s hard to classify ends up there.

"Relatively speaking, it’s also the peak with the most poor people.

"The independent courtyard Young Master Jiang applied for is on the Ninth Peak."

Jiang Man remarked with a sigh, "So does that mean the first three peaks are the wealthiest?"

Ji Meng thought for a moment and said, "It should be the First, Second, and Fourth that are the wealthiest.

"They correspond to Sword Cultivators, Body Cultivators, and Alchemy, respectively."

"How cruel. Magic Cultivators are really looked down on," Jiang Man lamented.

He was a Magic Cultivator himself.

He had no intention of changing his path for now; the resources for Magic Cultivators were the cheapest, and they required the least spending on Elixirs.

It was the most suitable path for him. He didn’t feel the need to pursue greater combat power than others of the Same Tier. His current strength was sufficient.

All that mattered was advancing past his current Realm as quickly as possible.

Besides, his Spiritual Source couldn’t handle any huge expenses.

"Speaking of which, so few people join each year. Isn’t that not enough to distribute among the Nine Peaks?" Jiang Man asked.

"Theoretically, it’s not a small number. On average, each peak gets about twenty people," said Ji Meng.

Jiang Man was confused. The Grand Tournament of the First, Second, and Third Courtyard only had fifty spots in total.

"You weren’t among those fifty, and neither were the Student Cultivators from your courtyard, so there are about seventy in total. The Foundation Establishment Back Courtyard adds another twenty or so, making it ninety. Then, besides our own Sect, other Sects have special recruits—about ten to twenty of them—which brings the total to a little over a hundred.

"Furthermore, people eliminated from the Immortal Sects also choose to take our Sect’s assessment. They account for over a hundred people.

"Each year, about two hundred Golden Core cultivators enter the Inner Sect."

Jiang Man was a bit surprised. The number was much higher than he had expected.

He was particularly surprised that people from the Immortal Sects would come.

"The number of entries from the Immortal Sects is also limited," Ji Meng explained. "Even though they have powerful teachers and abundant resources, there’s still fierce competition. Those who can’t make the cut naturally come to our Sect for the assessment. If they succeed, they can enter our Inner Sect. If they fail, they’re no different from the people in our Sect who couldn’t secure a spot."

Ji Meng then added that the assessment is typically benchmarked against the strength of new Inner Sect Disciples. As such, Jiang Man’s power level would be simulated on his very first day.

This simulation would then be used to test the people taking the assessment later, establishing a baseline for strength.

This was how they determined the difficulty.

An assessment was required to enter both the Sect and the Inner Sect.

The Immortal Sect’s assessment was even stricter, with a higher threshold. If someone with access to such good masters and resources couldn’t even surpass the weakest batch from the Inner Sect, there was no point in them joining.

The fact that the eliminated ones could still take up nearly half the spots made Jiang Man sigh. It showed that while competition in the Immortal Sects was fierce, their resources were also better.

However, once they came here, the density of Spiritual Qi was different. They were effectively weakened, which was why the truly strongest cultivators were never from the Immortal Sects.

"Now that we have a general understanding, we can go look at the residences. The housing in the Inner Sect is quite expensive," Ji Meng said with a smile. "Young Master Jiang should prepare himself."

Hearing this, Jiang Man felt a little nervous.

’How expensive is "quite expensive"?’

’Three thousand?’

’Five thousand?’

’Is there a discount?’

Just as Ji Meng was about to say how expensive it was, a sudden gust of wind blew past.

It was caused by someone using Sword Control at an extreme speed.

The two of them immediately looked over.

They saw three people landing not far from them.

Two men and one woman.

"People from the Ji Family," Ji Meng said.

"They’re from the Ji Family?" Jiang Man remarked, impressed. "I saw them at the Immortal Sect’s Grand Tournament. Every one of them is incredibly powerful."

"They are very strong." Ji Meng nodded, then noticed them looking over. "It seems they’re headed for us."

"Mr. Ji said the Ji Family would send people to protect us. Are they here to protect us?" Jiang Man asked in a low voice.

Ji Meng shook her head. "I don’t know."

Soon, the three of them arrived before Jiang Man and Ji Meng.

The leader, Ji Shoumo, said politely, "I am Ji Shoumo of the Ji Family’s Direct Lineage."

The other two also introduced themselves.

They all mentioned being from the Direct Lineage.

Jiang Man asked curiously, "Are you looking for us?"

"Yes. You must be Jiang Man?" Ji Shoumo inquired.

Jiang Man nodded. "I am. And this beside me is Miss Ji Meng."

"Then there’s no mistake. For certain reasons, you two may be in some danger. We are here to protect you," Ji Shoumo said.

Ji Linglong immediately added, "We considered this for a long time on our way here and came to a conclusion. No matter how we protect you, it’s an external force and not direct enough.

"Therefore, we have created a special Cultivation plan for you. Not only that, but we will also supervise your Cultivation.

"Additionally, for your own safety, you should spend less time idly hanging out together. We have no intention of disturbing your... budding relationship.

"If you must meet, you can find a place to cultivate together.

"In short, you must cultivate.

"Only when your Cultivation improves will our protection be truly effective."

Jiang Man looked at them, quite curious. "You’ve created a cultivation plan to supervise our cultivation?"

The three of them nodded.

’So they don’t even know about the false information,’ Jiang Man realized.

He then turned to look at Ji Meng.

Ji Meng nodded and said, "I have no objection."

After all, it wasn’t as if she didn’t know how to cultivate.

Jiang Man nodded as well, then asked, "Cultivation requires resources. Are you providing them?"

Ji Shoumo nodded. "We didn’t bring many resources with us, but for this period, most of them will be used on you two. We can endure it; it’s not a problem.

"So, you must not fail our plan."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Man stepped forward, grabbed the other’s hand, and said, "Everyone from the Ji Family is a good person! A single conversation with Young Master Ji is more enlightening than ten years of study.

"We will naturally follow all of Young Master Ji’s arrangements."

Ji Meng covered her mouth, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Out of politeness, she didn’t laugh out loud.

Ji Linglong said seriously, "Our cultivation plan will be quite demanding, so you need to be mentally prepared.

"We will also be supervising you constantly. If you slack off, don’t blame us for being harsh.

"As for external dangers, you don’t need to worry about them. We will handle everything.

"Understood?"

Jiang Man naturally nodded.

Then the three of them looked at Ji Meng.

Ji Meng nodded as well. "I understand too."

After that, they took out two books and handed them to Jiang Man and Ji Meng.

"Take a look first to see if there are any issues. This will also give you an idea of the training intensity," Ji Linglong said.

Jiang Man took his and opened it for a look.

The schedule started with cultivation at dawn, followed by lectures, a break, and then more cultivation.

In the evening, he had to listen to their explanations and use an Array to cleanse his Heart Spirit to prevent any mishaps.

Afterward, he was to cultivate nonstop late into the night. Only around midnight could he rest for two hours.

Then, it was back to cultivation.

After reading the general outline, Jiang Man’s brow furrowed slightly.

"Is it too tiring?" Ji Shoumo asked.

Jiang Man asked curiously, "Young Master Ji, have you not done much research on me?"

The three of them were confused.

Jiang Man took out the plan and pointed to the section on rest. "There’s a problem with this."

"Are two hours too little? We can add another hour at most. It will be tough, but it’s for your own good," Ji Linglong said kindly.

Jiang Man shook his head. "Get rid of this part. I don’t need to rest."

Ji Meng immediately spoke up, "But I need to rest."

Jiang Man turned to her. "My Cultivation won’t affect Miss Ji Meng’s rest."

"If you don’t rest, won’t you catch up to me soon?" Ji Meng asked.

"Isn’t that how it should be? Miss Ji Meng, you’re so young, how can you even fall asleep? With all this precious time, how can you have the nerve to sleep instead of cultivating?" Jiang Man said, then turned to Ji Shoumo and the others. "Do you all have the nerve to sleep?"

Ji Shoumo and the other two: "..."

’Is this guy just shouting slogans at us?’