The competition was over.

Everything was set in stone.

The people on the back mountain descended one after another.

Many of them came down heavily injured.

Cheng Moyang and his group were the same.

"Jiang Man won? How is that possible?" The short Yang Feng still couldn’t believe it as they walked.

He especially remembered the time at the stables, when the man was about to be kicked out of the Yunqian Bureau.

Only a few months had passed, and in the blink of an eye, he had defeated everyone.

A poor man.

How did he make it this far?

"Let’s check the rankings first," Cheng Moyang said.

Although he had a good idea of the outcome, he still wanted to see it for himself.

A short while later.

At the ranking board, they saw the Yunqian Bureau’s rankings.

As expected, it was just as they had guessed.

Jiang Man’s name was emblazoned in first place, followed by a comment.

Just a few short words.

It was as if they perfectly captured the man’s triumphant, peerless spirit.

"He alone defeated the entire Yunqian Bureau." Cheng Moyang let out a long breath.

’If Jiang Man could make the top five of the Yunqian Bureau, my defeat would be understandable.’

’If he made the top three, my defeat would still be a source of pride.’

’But now that he’s number one in the Yunqian Bureau, I share in his glory.’

’No one will talk about me losing first place.’

’They’ll only think how fortunate I once was to have ranked above Jiang Man.’

’Even my own clan won’t pay me any mind.’

’Because someone on the third floor was defeated instantly.’

’That’s what everyone will be focused on.’

’As for me, I just need to figure out how to make up for my past offense.’

’That one prank was a bit too cruel.’

’I wonder how much the others offered.’

’Also, I need to heal up first, then ask Fang Yong and Chang Qiweng, who were captured with me back then.’

—— 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

On the way down the mountain, Jiang Man gritted his teeth against the pain and walked ahead.

Li Yuan was silent for a long time before his curiosity got the better of him. "If I hadn’t come today, what was your plan?"

He had pondered this question for a long while but still had no answer.

Hearing this, Jiang Man glanced at him and said calmly, "I’ve told you all before. What I want is to be number one in the Yunqian Bureau."

"If the number one person can’t get something, can anyone else?"

Yan Huimin froze at his simple words. Thinking about what happened today, she ventured a guess, "So you mean no one would have been able to get the Secret Realm qualifications?"

"And if the qualifications were re-assigned, they would naturally fall to the number one person?"

Li Yuan was also astonished. In other words, Jiang Man had intended to defeat everyone from the very beginning.

If he couldn’t get something, the arrangements would have to be remade.

They might even have to form new teams.

And in the end, he would still get it.

Or the Yunqian Bureau might have canceled the whole thing.

But that was highly unlikely. The Yunqian Bureau was determined to send out the three chosen candidates.

This was extremely important for the Yunqian Bureau as well.

These spots hadn’t been available before. Now that they were, it was impossible that they would be left empty or voided.

Jiang Man paid no mind to the astonished Li Yuan and continued down the mountain.

While their surprise was mentally and emotionally satisfying, his body was about to give out.

’If I stay any longer, my image as an Unparalleled Celestial Pride will be tarnished.’

「Evening.」

Jiang Man returned to the stables alone.

Looking completely spent, he entered his room and slowly sat down.

His body trembled uncontrollably.

Blood began to trickle down. He could no longer suppress his injuries.

"You overexerted your power, and your weak body can’t handle it," the Old Yellow Ox said calmly. "It’s not a major problem. You’ll be fine after some rest. Still, your situation is quite rare."

"Few people can push their bodies to the breaking point with Spiritual Qi while in a normal Realm."

"Such is my Talent. I can’t help it," Jiang Man said slowly.

The Old Yellow Ox was silent for a moment, then turned and left the room.

Jiang Man shook his head. ’The Old Yellow Ox has changed. He doesn’t talk much anymore.’

’Still, luck played a part in this victory.’

’Defeating everyone was a bit unrealistic. I’m still too weak.’

’I have to keep getting stronger.’

As an Unparalleled Celestial Pride, he needed to be able to handle any situation with ease, even without luck on his side.

After that, Jiang Man took a moment to recover and decided to rest for a while.

He would get up in the middle of the night to resume his Cultivation.

In the first half of that night, Jiang Man’s name reached the ears of every major clan.

They were all curious about which faction Jiang Man belonged to.

But after investigating, they found he didn’t belong to anyone.

Many regretted their low offers from before.

No wonder they were all rejected.

As for Old Jin, who had sought out Jiang Man several times, he spent a restless night.

He had offended him far too deeply.

「The next day.」

Jiang Man let out a long breath.

He stopped his Cultivation.

He had already given the Celestial Heart Seal to the Old Yellow Ox, who would guide him on it later.

As for the Iron Token, he had also entrusted it to Old Huang for safekeeping.

He had racked up a huge debt of Spiritual Source for these two items.

He needed to calculate it carefully, then start figuring out how to repay his debts.

A short while later.

Jiang Man put down his pen.

He was in disbelief.

A quick calculation showed that his total debt was an astonishing forty-three thousand.

And that was counting the twenty Spirit Gathering Pills Xiaopang had given him at three hundred each.

If he’d used the price from back then, the total would have been a massive fifty thousand.

"This is... kind of impossible to pay back."

Normally, he was supposed to clear all his debts before heading to the Sect.

But with only a little over two months, he could probably only earn six or seven thousand Spiritual Source.

’I can’t possibly use my status as number one to borrow from the clans, can I?’

’That would just put me in even more people’s debt.’

No wonder those clans were unwilling to sponsor talented but poor Student Cultivators without a contract. The sheer size of the debt really made one want to default on it.

The feeling of a never-ending repayment period could easily turn into resentment over time.

The gratitude you feel when borrowing the money is real, but once the crisis is over, that gratitude is easily forgotten.

—

Jiang Man heaved a heavy sigh.

He had never forgotten about his debts. Especially now that he was number one in the Yunqian Bureau, the first thing he had to do was pay them off.

But he really had no way to come up with forty or fifty thousand Spiritual Source.

"Aren’t you an Unparalleled Celestial Pride? And you’re stumped by a mere forty or fifty thousand Spiritual Source?" the Old Yellow Ox said softly.

"My Talent is for Cultivation. It’s perfectly normal for me to be stumped. Even if I had a solution, it would just be robbing Peter to pay Paul," Jiang Man said without holding anything back.