The End of the Immortal Path

Chapter 289 Ji Meng: So in such a hurry?
The last day of August.

Jiang Man stood in the courtyard, having finished his practice.

"I've just filled my first cultivation gourd, and I still need to take pills to advance." Jiang Man said with a hint of regret.

There is no longer any spiritual source.

At this moment, Jiang Man felt that the power contained in his primordial spirit had become much more stable.

As his cultivation level improved, the excessive mental pressure gradually dissipated.

The weight of his current spiritual release can steadily suppress ordinary early-stage primordial spirits.

Unrivaled among those of the same level.

Of course, a genius is not only invincible among those of the same level, but also needs to quickly transcend that level.

One cannot be a genius without reaching this level of understanding.

"Master, when can we stop eating grass?" Tengu asked Jiang Man as he approached.

"Is it not tasty?" Jiang Man asked.

"It tastes awful," the tengu nodded.

Looking at the furry creature, Jiang Man felt that it wasn't right for it to go hungry like this.

Then he went to the sesame seed cake shop and brought back a sesame seed cake.

"Give it a try." Jiang Man handed the sesame seed cake to the other person.

Soon, the celestial dog, who had been eating the spiritual herbs for half a month, took a bite.

In an instant, it felt like the whole dog had been elevated: "Delicious, so delicious! Master, what's this called?"

Jiang Man casually replied, "Shaobing (sesame seed cake)."

"These sesame seed cakes are so delicious!" Tengu exclaimed excitedly. "I wish I could eat them every day from now on."

Looking at its simple and unadorned wish, Jiang Man felt certain that he could fulfill it.

But thinking about it, Tengu's life is still pretty good. I used to eat coarse grain buns every day.

It's still very poor quality whole grain, no different from black steamed buns.

After that, Jiang Man began to think about an important issue: moving.

Now that he wants to enter the inner sect, he can no longer live in the outer sect.

This place needs to be cleared out for outer disciples.

So what's the situation with the inner door?

Jiang Man asked the old ox.

"Why don't you just ask the Enforcement Hall?" the old ox said dismissively.

Jiang Man shook his head and said, "I should ask my wife."

The old ox looked at Jiang Man and said, "You're becoming less and less afraid of her now."

Jiang Man smiled and said, "Whether someone dislikes you or not is mostly something you can sense."

With that, Jiang Man rode up on his sword and said, "Get ready, we'll be entering the inner sect tomorrow, and we need to bring all our belongings with us."

The inner and outer gates are actually not far apart; it doesn't take much time when using a sword.

However, as an inner disciple, one is required to reside within the inner sect.

Otherwise, things would fall into chaos.

Of course, there are bound to be exceptions.

But there are many reasons for all of them.

Jiang Man did not feel that he was an isolated case.

Soon, he knocked on Ji Meng's door.

The silver bell rang, and Ji Meng opened the door once again.

She looked at Jiang Man and asked curiously, "You'll be entering the inner sect tomorrow. Doesn't Young Master Jiang plan to do so?"

"That's why I came to see Miss Ji Meng," Jiang Man said, glancing inside. "No one's stopping Miss Ji Meng from going out, is there?"

"Xiaoqing is making some desserts, Young Master Jiang, would you like to wait a while?" Ji Meng asked with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Man said in a serious tone, "The main concern is that Miss Ji Meng might be hungry. Shall we wait until Miss Ji Meng has finished eating before we go out?"

“I didn’t agree to go out with Young Master Jiang,” Ji Meng said, stepping aside to make way.

Jiang Man asked in surprise, "Isn't Miss Ji Meng going out?"

Ji Meng smiled radiantly and said, "Go out."

Jiang Man breathed a sigh of relief: "If I were alone, I wouldn't be able to find a place to stay."

Jiang Man then told him about her troubles.

He knew nothing about the inner sect, nor did he know where to stay.

Most importantly, it's unclear whether those within the inner circle will still be able to receive their investment funds.

The outer sect members receive six thousand spirit resources a month, while the inner sect members receive none.

That's such a shame.

"I heard that there's no investment capital for the inner sect, so Young Master Jiang will have to suffer a bit," Ji Meng said with a smile as she sat on the stone table.

Jiang Man sighed; it was indeed bitter.

Six thousand a month, you don't feel anything when you have it, but when you're about to lose it, you feel that it's a huge amount.

Especially now that we are penniless.

While waiting for the snacks, Jiang Man took out a book on formations and asked Ji Meng about it.

"Is it that urgent?" Ji Meng asked with a smile.

"We can't waste time," Jiang Man said seriously. "Once we enter the inner sect, it's a new competition. Wasting even a second means falling behind everyone else by that very second."

"Cultivating immortality requires a calm and focused mind. Won't forcing yourself like this have side effects?" Ji Meng asked.

Jiang Man pondered for a moment and said, "What kind of mental problems would arise if we were constantly approaching powerful enemies and surpassing those around us?"

Ji Meng rested her chin on her hand, pondered carefully, and then looked at Jiang Man, saying, "Won't it get inflated?"

Jiang Man looked at Ji Meng, who was deep in thought, and quickly came back to his senses, nodding emphatically: "That's for sure."

He often became arrogant.

There's no way around it, they've progressed too fast, and their strength is too great.

No wonder he became arrogant.

Such was his youthful spirit; he never considered it a problem.

But not to the point that you feel you've improved and can go and confront the Bai family patriarch head-on.

"Young master, young lady, the snacks are here." Qingdai brought over the desserts.

Jiang Man's gaze immediately fell on the pastries, all of which were ones he had never seen before.

Qingdai's hands are so skillful.

If only Old Huang had such skillful hands.

After trying it, Jiang Man felt it was many times tastier than a sesame seed cake.

After eating for a while, when Qingdai poured them tea, Ji Meng got up and said she wanted to go out with Jiang Man.

He also packed up the remaining snacks and gave them to Jiang Man to take away.

The two then left quickly.

Qingdai looked at the teapot in her hand with a sense of emotion.

"His wisdom is truly extraordinary."

After that, she started packing her things, and took a bag of tea with her to find the amazing wisdom.

-

"Let's go check on the situation inside the gate first."

Ji Meng spoke from Jiang Man's flying sword.

They now need to find out about the inner workings and then find suitable accommodations.

Tomorrow is the day to report to the inner sect, so it will be a bit slow to find it then.

When they landed at the inner entrance, there was a registration area.

However, there was no one inside.

"I'll be reporting here tomorrow," Ji Meng said as she stepped off her flying sword.

Jiang Man nodded and smoothly sheathed his flying sword, asking, "After reporting for duty, do I go to my own courtyard? Is the inner sect the same as the outer sect?"

Ji Meng shook her head: "It's not quite the same. There are nine peaks in the inner sect, and the situations of the nine peaks are different."

"For example, there are three types of cultivators: those specializing in swordsmanship, those specializing in body cultivation, and those specializing in magic cultivation."

"There are four peaks of refined cultivation: alchemy, forging, formation, and talisman. These belong to the four major auxiliary cultivations."

"The remaining minor courses are all on the Eighth Peak."

"And the Ninth Peak belongs to the complete cultivation."

"Things that are hard to categorize are all here."

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

"Young Master Jiang's private courtyard is located on the Ninth Peak."

Jiang Man sighed, "Does that mean the top three peaks are the richest?" Ji Meng thought for a moment and said, "It should be the first, second, and fourth peaks that are the richest."

"They correspond to sword cultivation, body cultivation, and alchemy, respectively."

"It's so cruel that cultivators are looked down upon like this," Jiang Man sighed.

He is also a practitioner of Buddhism.

There are no plans to switch to other methods at the moment, as the most affordable items are those from the Fa Xiu (法修) school.

The cost of the elixir was also minimal.

This suits him best; he doesn't need to specifically pursue stronger combat power at the same level.

That's enough for now.

So, the important thing is to get out of this state as soon as possible.

Moreover, Lingyuan could not afford such a large expense.

"Speaking of which, only a few people come in each year. Is there not enough to go around in Jiufeng?" Jiang Man asked.

“Theoretically, there are quite a few people, with an average of about twenty on each peak,” Ji Meng said.

Jiang Man was puzzled; there were only fifty spots available for the competition among the three academies.

"You are not among these fifty spots, nor are your fellow students from the same academy, so overall there are about seventy spots, and about twenty spots in the Foundation Establishment backyard, making a total of ninety. In addition to our sect, there are also special admissions from other sects, about a dozen or twenty, making a little over one hundred."

"Those who were eliminated from the Immortal Sect would also choose to take the sect's assessment, and they made up more than a hundred people."

"About two hundred Golden Core cultivators enter the inner sect each year."

Jiang Man was somewhat surprised; the number of people was much larger than he had expected.

However, he was quite surprised that people from the Immortal Sect would come.

“The number of people who can enter the inner sect of the immortal sect is also limited. The teachers are excellent and the resources are abundant, so there is competition. If you can’t win, you will have to take the sect’s assessment. If you succeed, you can enter the sect’s inner sect. If you fail, you are no different from those in the sect who did not get a spot,” Ji Meng said.

Ji Meng then said that the assessment usually uses the strength of new inner disciples, and Jiang Man would be simulated on his first day in the inner sect.

Then it will be used to deal with people who participate in subsequent assessments.

This is used to determine the strength.

Whether it's a sect or an inner sect, everyone has to take the exam.

The assessments for the Immortal Sect will be more rigorous, and the threshold will be higher. Even with such excellent teachers and resources, one cannot be stronger than the weakest batch of inner disciples.

There's no point in coming in.

Jiang Man was amazed that nearly half of those who were eliminated still made up the majority of the population, which he noted indicated that the intense competition among the immortal sects also meant that the resources were better.

However, the density of spiritual energy is different here, so they are weakened. Therefore, the truly strongest are never the people from the immortal sects.

"Now that we have a general understanding of this, we can go and check out our accommodations. Inner sect accommodations are quite expensive," Ji Meng said with a smile. "Young Master Jiang, you should be prepared."

Hearing this, Jiang Man became a little nervous.

How expensive is "pretty expensive"?
Three thousand?

Five thousand?

Do you offer a discount?

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

It was caused by someone flying too fast on their sword.

The two of them immediately looked over.

They discovered three people lying not far from them.

Two men and one woman.

“The Ji family,” Ji Meng said.

"Are they from the Ji family?" Jiang Man said with a sigh. "I saw them in the Immortal Sect Competition, and each of them was extremely powerful."

“They are very strong.” Ji Meng nodded, then noticed them looking over and said, “They seem to be coming for us.”

"Mr. Ji said the Ji family would send people to protect us. Are they coming 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 in front of Jiang Man and the others.

The leader, Ji Shoumo, politely replied, "I am Ji Shoumo, a direct descendant of the Ji family."

The other two then spoke up.

Bring all your trusted followers along.

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

"Yes, you must be Jiang Man?" Ji Shoumo asked.

Jiang Man nodded: "Yes, the one next to me is Miss Ji Meng."

“Then there’s no mistake. For some reason, you may be in some danger, and we’re here to protect you,” Ji Shoumo said.

Ji Linglong immediately added, "We've considered this for a long time along the way, and finally came to the conclusion that no matter how much we protect you, it's still an external force, not direct enough."

"Therefore, we have specially formulated a cultivation plan for you, and not only that, we will also supervise your cultivation."

"In addition, for your safety, try to avoid hanging out together as much as possible. We have no intention of disturbing your relationship."

"If you insist on meeting, you can find a place to cultivate together."

"In short, you need to cultivate."

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

Jiang Man looked at them with great curiosity and asked, "You devised a cultivation plan to supervise our cultivation?"

The three nodded.

Jiang Man was certain; they didn't even know it was fake news.

He then turned to look at Ji Meng.

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

As for cultivation, it's not like she doesn't know how.

Jiang Man nodded in agreement, then asked, "Cultivation requires resources. Do you provide them?"

Ji Shoumo nodded and said, "We didn't bring many resources, but most of them will be used on you during this period. It won't be a problem for us to endure it."

"So you can't let us down."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Man stepped forward, grasped the other person's hand, and said, "The Ji family are all good people. Listening to Young Master Ji's words is better than reading ten years of books."

"We will naturally follow Young Master Ji's arrangements."

Ji Meng covered her mouth, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Out of politeness, I didn't laugh out loud.

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

"We will keep a close eye on things, and if you slack off, don't blame us for being ruthless."

"As for external dangers, you don't need to worry about them; we'll handle them all."

"Understand?"

Jiang Man naturally nodded.

Then the three of them looked at Himeko.

Ji Meng nodded in agreement: "I understand too."

Then they took out two books and handed them to Jiang Man and Ji Meng.

"Take a look first to see if there are any problems, so you can have some understanding of the intensity of the cultivation," Ji Linglong said.

Jiang Man took it, opened it, and took a look.

From dawn onwards, it's a cycle of cultivation, followed by teaching, then rest, and then more cultivation.

In the evening, we must listen to their explanations and use formations to cleanse our minds and prevent accidents.

After that, he continued to cultivate until late at night, and only at the third watch of the night could he rest for an hour.

Then continue your cultivation.

Jiang Man frowned slightly after reading the general contents.

"Are you too tired?" Ji Shoumo asked.

Jiang Man asked with some curiosity, "Does Young Master Ji not know me very well?"

The three of them didn't understand.

Jiang Man took out the plan, pointed to the rest section, and said, "There's a problem with this."

"Is an hour too short? We can add another half hour at most. It will be a bit tiring, but it's for your own good," Ji Linglong said kindly.

Jiang Man shook his head: "Let's cancel this. I don't need to rest."

Ji Meng immediately said, "But I need to rest."

Jiang Man turned to Ji Meng and said, "My cultivation won't disturb Miss Ji Meng's rest."

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

"Isn't this to be expected? Miss Ji Meng is so young, how can she sleep? How can she have the nerve to sleep instead of cultivating during such a precious time?" Jiang Man said, turning to Ji Shoumo and the others, "How can you even sleep?"

Ji Shoumo and the other two: "."

Is this person shouting slogans at them?

(End of this chapter)