Chapter 584 - 319: The Young Miss Still Cares About the Son-in-Law

Chapter 584: Chapter 319: The Young Miss Still Cares About the Son-in-Law

The Old Yellow Ox fell silent for a moment before suddenly asking, "What if the Immortal Dao has an end?"

Hearing this, Jiang Man smiled. "There is no end because I haven’t reached your so-called end yet. When I finally get there, you’ll discover that the Immortal Dao is truly endless."

Old Huang shook his head, expressing his disbelief.

The younger a person was, the more vibrant and full of life they were. Which of the countless Celestial Prides hadn’t thought exactly the same way in their youth? Jiang Man didn’t mind the ox’s skepticism. Instead, he began to consolidate his Primordial Spirit. Sitting cross-legged, he first felt the existence of his Primordial Spirit, then turned his senses toward his Golden Core and Physical Body. His goal was to merge the Spiritual Power from his Primordial Spirit into both his Golden Core and Physical Body.

This was an extremely dangerous endeavor. His Physical Body and Cultivation were not strong enough yet. The slightest mistake could cause cracks to form in his body, leading to a violent surge of power that would doom him beyond redemption.

As he integrated the power bit by bit, his entire body seemed to be imbued with overwhelming strength. The ground beneath him bore the brunt of this immense pressure, slowly sinking downward.

One day later.

Jiang Man’s feet had completely submerged into the soil. He exuded a dense, profound sense of weight, carrying a terrifying aura with his every movement.

Two days later.

Jiang Man had sunk up to his waist, his body’s weight reaching its absolute peak. A phantom projection of himself even reflected around his body. As long as he wished it, this phantom would expand and stand tall like a giant. However, the consolidation process continued. This time, he was pulling all the phantom projections back into his body.

On the third day. ℯℯ𝑙.

Jiang Man’s position hadn’t changed, but the surrounding phantoms seemed to transform into stars, sinking into his body before finally vanishing without a trace. The moment Jiang Man opened his eyes, an indescribable pressure descended. All the Spirit Grass in his line of sight was instantly flattened, and a Tengu passing by to water the plants was brutally slammed into the dirt.

But in a mere instant, it all vanished. The pressure was gone.

Rising slowly, Jiang Man stepped out of the deep crater he had made. He turned to look at the Old Yellow Ox and asked, "Xiaohuang, since the Immortal Sect established its great governance, have you ever seen a thirty-year-old consolidate their Primordial Spirit?"

The Old Yellow Ox didn’t even lift its head, peacefully grazing on the grass.

Jiang Man continued, "Tomorrow is the final deadline. I wonder if the Unparalleled Celestial Pride Fate Chart will react in time. It was biting at my heels so closely this time, it shouldn’t fail to react, right?"

Previously, he had been too fast, causing the Unparalleled Celestial Pride Fate Chart to spin endlessly. This time, he was only one day away and had almost been caught up to. There shouldn’t be any unexpected surprises. He would more or less receive some rewards, so it wouldn’t be a loss. He just didn’t know what they would be.

After filling in the hole in the ground, Jiang Man noticed some minor injuries on his arms that throbbed with pain. His Physical Body was simply too weak. His raw strength had increased, but his actual combat prowess hadn’t necessarily improved, because he could draw upon even less of that power now. If he tried to channel too much, he would suffer Qi deviation.

"This is going to be quite troublesome. I’m afraid I wouldn’t even be able to defeat a single cultivator at the Late Stage of the Primordial Spirit Stage," Jiang Man lamented.

Just as he was planning to practice his Body Refining Skill to alleviate his physical pain, the chime of a silver bell rang out. Ji Meng had arrived.

"Is Young Master Jiang going to cultivate again?" Ji Meng asked curiously, standing at the entrance of the courtyard.

Jiang Man nodded. "I was just about to practice a Body Refining Skill." He then asked, "Did Miss Ji Meng come over today to see if I’ve finished my cultivation session?"

"Yes." Ji Meng nodded with a smile before adding, "Tomorrow is the day of Mr. Ji’s assessment. Young Master Jiang will have to participate this time."

Hearing this, Jiang Man was stunned. "It’s tomorrow?"

Didn’t that mean he was doomed? Not only had he failed to practice for the assessment, but his current condition was even worse than before. Forget about scoring high—he might even end up with negative points.

Ji Meng asked curiously, "Does Young Master Jiang lack confidence?"

"I’m very confident," Jiang Man nodded earnestly. He was confident he would score a zero.

The next day.

Jiang Man finished his Body Refining Skill cultivation, but unfortunately, it was barely enough to ease the pain, let alone prepare him for an assessment. However, since he had no assigned missions, he had no choice but to participate.

"How many points does Young Master Jiang think he’ll score?" Ji Meng asked as they walked together toward the courtyard.

Jiang Man thought for a moment and replied, "I’ve been in secluded cultivation recently..."

"So you’ll get a perfect score?" Qing Dai chimed in from behind them.

The assessment was graded in stages. Fully mastering the content of the current stage would guarantee a perfect score.

Jiang Man glanced back at her and shook his head. "Which is why I haven’t studied the Power Operation Skill at all."

Qing Dai was stunned. So he was going to score a zero!

However, she also understood that he had likely been driven to desperation by the Unparalleled Celestial Pride Fate Chart. If he was already being pushed to the brink now, wouldn’t it only get harder in the future? He hadn’t even become an Immortal yet—could he end up being the shortest-lived among them? She didn’t dare dwell on the thought.

When they arrived at the courtyard, everyone was already prepared.

Ji Hao looked at the crowd and announced, "There are rewards for the top three in this assessment. First place gets thirty thousand Spiritual Sources, second place gets twenty thousand, and third place gets ten thousand."

Upon hearing this, Ji Shoumo’s expression grew serious. Thirty thousand Spiritual Sources wouldn’t have meant much to him in the past. But... he didn’t have many Spiritual Sources left now. Thirty thousand was no small sum. Who could have imagined that Jiang Man would burn through Spiritual Sources like water? None of them had been nearly as ferocious during their time in the Primordial Spirit Stage. What had taken them years to accumulate, Jiang Man had spent in a single year.

Jiang Man was taken aback. Mr. Ji was actually pulling a surprise attack! Didn’t that mean he had entirely missed his chance at those Spiritual Sources?

The assessment began shortly after. It was conducted in a written format as usual. Transcribing the contents of the books naturally drew upon the physical power in their bodies, forcing them to operate and control it in order to successfully write the characters. Jiang Man gave it a try and found that he could only finish the first page. Before consolidating his Primordial Spirit, he could have written three pages. His regression was severe.

Afterward, Jiang Man simply sat quietly, sensing the changes within his body.

Once the power utilization portion of the assessment concluded, it was time for the Magic Skill assessment. Jiang Man didn’t write a single word. Fortunately, this simple assessment didn’t include actual combat, or his performance would have been even worse.

The exam was held in the morning, and the scores and rankings were released in the afternoon.

The Primordial Spirit rankings were as follows:

First place, Ji An.

Second place, Miao Yulin.

Third place, Ji Shoumo.

Bai Qiufeng placed fourth, causing her to frown deeply. The three members of the Ji Family had been working far too hard lately, and she had assumed the others wouldn’t follow suit. From the looks of it, none of them had slacked off in the slightest. She would have to cultivate even harder now.

However, they were also very curious about Jiang Man’s ranking. They had expected him to make the top ten, only to discover that he was dead last once again.

"Why is his score so abysmal?" Bai Qiufeng furrowed her brow. It should have been impossible for someone who had achieved Great Success in the Nine-star Series to do so poorly. Or was he simply not adept at these things?

For a moment, they all felt that Great Success in the Nine-star Series wasn’t quite as terrifying as they had thought. If his Cultivation Skill improved quickly but his power utilization and Magic Skill comprehension were only average, then he posed no threat.

Meanwhile, Ji Linglong and the others found it incredibly bizarre to see that Jiang Man had only scored ten points. They suspected that he had achieved another breakthrough. Otherwise, there was no way he would have produced such a result. Still, since they couldn’t see any outward signs of it, their pressure lessened significantly.

"Just keep an eye on his safety. Miao Yulin is climbing the ranks now too, so we must prioritize competing with them for the slots," Ji Shoumo instructed.

If they failed to secure the slots, what would they do in the fourth year? The courtyard had produced three Returning Void stage cultivators; failing to join their ranks meant being eliminated. How would they be able to resist the Bai Family then?

The three members of the Bai Family shared the exact same sentiment during their own discussion. They had to cultivate and enhance their strength.

As for Jiang Man, they would just continue suppressing him with the Heart Spirit Array from before. Of course, they didn’t expect to completely hold him down, but they would suppress him as much as they could. His poor performance in this assessment might very well have been thanks to the array.

Jiang Man noticed that these people only paid him a fleeting glance before busying themselves with their own affairs. His score simply wasn’t important to them.

"It seems Young Master Jiang has suddenly gone from being a highly anticipated Celestial Pride to an obscure Student Cultivator," Ji Meng remarked, walking up to his side to look at the rankings.

Jiang Man replied indifferently, "The time just hasn’t come yet. My brilliance is always there; it just takes a bit of a process to show."

Pausing for a moment, he tore his gaze away from the rankings and looked at Ji Meng curiously. "How did Miss Ji Meng end up second to last?"

Ji Meng turned her head, meeting Jiang Man’s eyes. "Perhaps I just didn’t work hard enough," she said casually.

"Then Miss Ji Meng needs to start working harder."

"At least I’m still doing a bit better than Young Master Jiang."

"Why is Miss Ji Meng wearing a bracelet today?"

"It’s a new Storage Treasure."

The two of them chatted for a little while longer before Jiang Man decided to seek out Fang Yong to discuss the Sect’s expansion of recruitment, hoping to see if he could save up some Spiritual Sources.

However, he had barely taken a few steps after turning around when he felt a tremor in his mind. The long-dormant Unparalleled Celestial Pride Fate Chart had finally reacted.

Here it comes.

Jiang Man was intensely curious about what the reward would be this time, as well as what the new condition entailed. He wondered if it would be breathing down his neck just as tightly as before.