After An Xinhui returned to the hotel and finished telling everyone about the competition content, she called for Wang Su and Sun Mo to ascertain the candidates for the competition.
Actually, in the current Central Province Academy, the person who had the most authority was Sun Mo.
He was famous and very capable. Moreover, he was very rich as well. But Sun Mo always kept a low profile and was a person who valued friendship. He was very thankful for Wang Su’s contributions to the school throughout so many years. Hence, when they got seated, he still let Wang Su take the master seat.
“Teacher Sun is too polite!”
After Wang Su sat down, he went straight to the point. “Searching for secret treasures is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. Hence, the more groups we have, the bigger our harvest would be.
“The best strategy that would give us the most benefits will be this. The two of you, or just one, should lead a team and spread out to search like tossing a net. After discovering a secret treasure, that person should immediately send out a signal and summon everyone to seize it.”
An Xinhui shook her head. “This is too dangerous.”
“Xinhui, do you know why you were suppressed so badly by Zhang Hanfu?”
Wang Su sighed, “You are too soft-hearted and you cannot be ruthless when the situation needs you to be.”
Sun Mo also understood this point very clearly.
This battle strategy was like using the students as human radars. Although the Saint Gate said that the death of every student was a deduction of ten points, as long as one could find one or two secret treasures, it would be worth it.
“Why didn’t the Saint Gate restrict the number of students? This is because they wanted to give a chance to the schools that dared to fight. And humans would usually only be able to explode forth with their full potential in times of adversity.”
Wang Su earnestly spoke.
The Saint Gate was testing the comprehensive strength of the ‘C’ graded schools. If a school had a very strong great teacher, he or she could lead a group and naturally occupy an advantage.
If the students were well-educated and could perfectly complete a search mission and not suffer any casualties, the school naturally deserved high points.
The Saint Gate wasn’t a charitable organization. What they wanted was for the schools to unceasingly upgrade their competitiveness.
No matter if the Central Province Academy was afraid of sacrifice and had chosen a battle strategy that allowed them to safeguard their students, or if the Royal Dragon Academy dared to bet and go all out, ending up being annihilated…
All of these didn’t matter to the Saint Gate. In any case, as long as strong schools could emerge eventually and allow the overall standard of the ‘C’ graded schools to rise, the purpose of organizing this competition would be achieved.
“Headmaster An, I will bear the responsibility if people die!”
Wang Su didn’t give An Xinhui any more chance to reject this. “There will be two teachers leading a group of ten students. Let’s settle it this way.”
“It’s too risky.”
An Xinhui frowned. By splitting the group like this, some of them would surely die. “At the very least, we need four teachers in a group.”
Wang Su almost cursed out loud hearing the thoughts of An Xinhui – not being farsighted and having the vision of an ordinary woman.
An Xinhui’s protective desire was too over-the-top.
“The two of you, allow me to say something!”
Sun Mo interjected. He took out a dragon seeking pearl and placed it on the table.
It was a golden crystal sphere that glowed with a light so bright that it suppressed the candle sitting on the table. If one looked at it attentively, they could faintly discover that there was a loach-like thing within the crystal ball that was swimming around slowly.
“This is…?”
Wang Su’s pupils violently narrowed. His instincts told him that this was something good.
“This is a darkness secret treasure named the dragon seeking pearl. As long as you inject spirit qi into it, it will be able to point the way to the most valuable treasure in an area.”
Sun Mo explained.
“What?”
Wang Su was shocked. “There’s actually such a treasure in the world?”
“So this is the dragon seeking pearl?!”
An Xinhui marveled and surveyed the crystal ball.
“You know about it?”
Wang Su was astonished.
“When I was studying in the Heavenly Mystery Academy of Cloud Province, I heard the headmaster speak about it before. This is a type of pearl from some clam-like species. Because of the living environment, the pearl has a mysterious magnetism that can point the way leading toward valuable secret treasures.”
An Xinhui introduced.
In the Darkness Continent, every place was filled with spirit qi, and all secret treasures shared a unique characteristic with no exception. That would have a special spirit qi fluctuation.
The dragon seeking pearl precisely depended on this spirit qi fluctuation to judge which was the most valuable secret treasure.
“So this is the case.”
Wang Su’s expression immediately turned heavy.
The Skyraise Academy was said to be the number one famous school in the Nine Provinces. But the Heavenly Mystery Academy was undoubtedly the most mysterious famous school. They had no interest in vying for a false reputation like who was number one and number two. They focused all their energy on ‘calculations’.
They wanted to use a method that could be seen and could be repeated – for example, mathematics, to deduce the changes in the world that would happen several decades or even centuries later.
One could even say that this famous school produced the most swindlers.
“Where did you find this dragon seeking pearl?”
An Xinhui’s eyebrows were furrowed. “Such a treasure pearl by itself is an extremely high-grade secret treasure. But the moment you use it, the magnetic field within it will vanish. Hence, if the secret treasure you found was rubbish, it would be a waste.
“It doesn’t matter. Just feel free to use it.”
This item was worth 500,000 favorable impression points and was also a limited purchase. It was indeed expensive. However, Sun Mo had another one with him. He could afford to be extravagant.
“You should keep it!”
An Xinhui shook her head. “This pearl can only generate the greatest benefit if it is used on the fifth or sixth level of the Darkness Continent.”
Usually speaking, the higher the levels in the Darkness Continent, the more valuable the secret treasures born there would be.
“I have another one with me.”
It was impossible for Sun Mo to take what he had given out. Moreover, he had another dragon seeking pearl. Since half of the Central Province Academy belonged to him, if the school could ascend to the ‘B’ grade, it would also be beneficial to Sun Mo.
“Eh, you have another…”
An Xinhui was speechless. (This fiance of mine, could it be a golden turtle…no, a super golden turtle*?)
At midnight, An Xinhui and the other two selected the candidates to participate.
There would be a total of three teams.
The first team would be led by An Xinhui. Jin Mujie and a few other talented great teachers would act as support, and they would lead the best students in the Central Province Academy to form a ‘dagger squad’ that would focus on searching for secret treasures. After discovering one, they would immediately issue the signal and wait for everyone to gather before they attacked.
The second team would be led by Wang Su, and the number of students in the second team would be the most. They would be the main force and focus on preserving their strength for the big push, waiting for An Xinhui’s news.
For the third team, Sun Mo would take the lead, and Mei Ziyu and Murong Mingyue were to assist him. The members would be Sun Mo’s personal students.
For this team, they would focus on tempering the students.
…
The next morning, the sun was bright and shiny.
In Jinling, it was still winter and the weather was cold. However, in Qiushui City, it was already the beginning of summer.
At the large public square, there were constantly groups from famous schools arriving, entering the region that was designated in advance by the Saint Gate.
Many school flags could be seen fluttering about wildly with the wind.
“Quickly look, it’s the Central Province Academy!”
On a rectangular flag, there was a blue kite shield. Above the shield, a battle hammer and a long sword were crossing each other with wheat ears all around them.
That was the school insignia for the Central Province Academy. Among the 72 famous schools here, it wasn’t conspicuous, but it also wasn’t simple and crude.
“Who is Black Doggy Sun? Let me take a look!”
“The most handsome one. When you look over, the person you notice will be Sun Mo.”
“Eh? Sun Mo is a female?”
“That is An Xinhui. You are a rascal that keeps lusting for girls. Other than girls, is there nothing else that can enter your eyes?”
The crowd immediately started murmuring.
A person would never be able to get the likes of everyone. Even those great figures in history like Hero Yue or Confucius would still be hated by some people, let alone Sun Mo.
There was another saying – the more the number of haters you had, the more famous you were.
With the beautiful titles of God Hands, ancestor-level spirit runist and a three-time champion surrounding Sun Mo, they also drew hatred.
…
At the Royal Dragon Academy’s area, their great teachers were also surveying Sun Mo. After all, this fellow would become a formidable enemy of theirs.
“This fellow is really handsome. No wonder he could become An Xinhui’s fiance. If I had his looks, I probably could sleep with the twelve golden courtesans of Jinling without spending a single dime, along with the eight beauties of Qinhuai.”
Wu Yi touched his face and was filled with envy. He was innately born ugly. If it wasn’t for the fact that he became a great teacher and had some savings, he wouldn’t even be able to get a wife.
“I heard that Su Mo’s God Hands are magical and can even change the appearance of a person. Do you guys think that his looks are a result of facial surgery?”
Yang Yuwang’s lips curled.
“Just speak less if you don’t know how to speak well!”
A middle-aged female great teacher directly scolded, “Making absurd guesses about others, is this the behavior great teachers should have?”
“Teacher Kang, I’ve misspoken.”
Yang Yuwang, whose face was splashed with the spittle from the female great teacher’s scolding, hurriedly lowered his head and apologized. His heart was filled with unhappiness, but he could only endure this as Kang Yan was a 5-star great teacher, and he couldn’t afford to offend her.
“After the competition is over, I have to find Sun Mo for a chat. There’s no need for me to become more beautiful. It’s good enough as long as he can remove the wrinkles on my face.”
Kang Yan mused silently. After that, she saw Lu Jian walking toward Sun Mo.
“Eh? Lu Jian, what do you want to do? Don’t mess around.”
Kang Yan frowned. From Lu Jian’s expression, she knew that he wanted to make trouble for Sun Mo.
Lu Jian pretended he didn’t hear anything. He arrived before Sun Mo and clasped his fists.
“Teacher Sun, I’m Lu Jian from the Royal Dragon Academy.”
Swish~
The surroundings fell silent after a short while.
Usually speaking, if one wanted to make acquaintances and improve relationships, they would have a face full of smiles. Hence, everyone could tell Lu Jian wanted to make trouble with just a single glance.
“Hello.” Sun Mo smiled. “I wonder if Teacher Lu has any guidance for me?”
“I don’t dare to speak of guidance!”
Lu Jian modestly replied, “I’m also someone who majors in the study of spirit runes. I accidentally came across a spirit rune at a black market and bought it. However, I have no way to unravel it so as to examine it critically. Teacher Sun, could you please share some of your insights with me?”
As Lu Jian spoke, he took out an old and tattered-looking stone tablet from his bag and passed it toward Sun Mo.
There was a good show to watch now.
The surrounding spectators squeezed forward again.
Although Lu Jian made it sound nice and was asking Sun Mo to share insights, it was actually a form of challenge.
In the great teacher world, this was something very common.
As the saying goes, ‘When it comes to a writing competition, it is hard to determine who is first. But when it comes to a martial arts competition, a winner can be easily determined’. Among great teachers, for the majority of the time, both parties wouldn’t be easily convinced by the other.
“This Lu Jian!”
Kang Yan frowned but Lu Jian was ultimately a great teacher from her school. Hence, Kang Yan didn’t stop him.
“Sun Mo, this fellow wants to scam you.”
Gu Xiuxun said in a low voice.
What should an ordinary person do if he wished to be famous in the shortest time?
Naturally, it would be to trample on a famous person.
In the modern world, there were simply too many incidents of scamming famous people.
Sun Mo cast a glance at the stone tablet but didn’t receive it.
“Why? This minor matter shouldn’t be difficult to our great ancestor*, right?”
Lu Jian feigned astonishment and even intentionally emphasized the words ‘great ancestor’.”
“Hehe, that’s naturally not difficult.”
Sun Mo’s lips curled. He placed a single hand behind his back and lowered his head to look at the stone tablet.
Hua~
Upon hearing Sun Mo’s words, an uproar appeared in the crowd.
The title of ‘great ancestor’ was like when others referred to you as Military God, Soldier King, School Tyrant, etc. You had to be more humble. Yet, Sun Mo wasn’t humble at all and directly agreed.
This was a little tyrannical.
“Haha. Look at the expression of this fellow. His face is so dark.”
Qin Yaoguang stuffed another piece of candy into her mouth and chewed on it.
Sun Mo ‘pranked’ Lu Jian. He didn’t take the stone tablet and Lu Jian could only continue holding it. Although he wouldn’t be tired given the fact he had the constitution of a great teacher, it was very embarrassing.
This situation looked like a junior waiting upon a major character.
(Hmph, just be arrogant. The more arrogant you are now, the worse your psychological impact will be later.)
Lu Jian’s countenance didn’t change, but he was coldly laughing in his heart.
(Leaving aside the fact you are not an ancestor, even if you were one, you wouldn’t be able to unravel the spirit rune on the stone tablet.)
Sun Mo’s brows gradually furrowed. A full 15 minutes later, he finally lifted his head and cast a glance at Lu Jian. After that, he continued to observe the stone tablet.
The voices of discussion in the surroundings grew louder.
From Sun Mo’s expression, it seemed that he had encountered trouble.
“Teacher Sun, why don’t you take it so you can slowly observe it?”
Lu Jian ridiculed him.
“Are you not a great teacher? Don’t you have any common sense? One would usually need time to unravel an unknown spirit rune like this. Even for an ancestor, it is impossible for them to unravel it immediately!”
Gu Xiuxun scolded.
“That’s right. You have to give Teacher Sun a few days at the very least, right?”
Mei Ziyu also spoke up.
Murong Mingyue didn’t speak and merely cast a glance at Lu Jian. She hated turning living humans into puppets the most, but this fellow really deserved to be taught a lesson.
“To an ordinary ancestor, it might not be possible. However, isn’t Teacher Sun a genius? He can even achieve the feat of making spring come upon withered trees. It’s not logical that he cannot discern a mere spirit rune, right?”
Lu Jian seemed to be giving Sun Mo a tall hat to wear, but he was actually pressuring Sun Mo, not allowing Sun Mo to get out of the situation easily.
(Hmph. I have to make Sun Mo lose face today no matter what.)
Seeing the two beautiful female great teachers, Gu Xiuxun and Mei Ziyu, speaking up for Sun Mo, Lu Jian felt very angry.
“Great Teacher Lu, if you want Teacher Sun to unravel the stone tablet, you should explain its origin, right?”
Li Ruolan walked out.
This beautiful reporter was the golden writer of the [Great Teachers Report]. She was extremely famous.
For the competition this time around, Li Ruolan was invited to do interviews here. She would report on the happenings of the competition in the [Great Teachers Report].
She felt a favorable impression of Sun Mo and naturally would stand by his side.
“I said it before. It was discovered by me in a black market. I have no other information and I don’t know anything else.”
Lu Jian spread his hands out and revealed a ‘I want to help you but I’m helpless’ expression.
“Hehe!” Sun Mo laughed. “You really don’t know?”
Looking at Sun Mo’s teasing gaze, Lu Jian’s heart thumped. (Could he have seen through me? No, it’s impossible for him to see through it. My methods are very brilliant.)
“The spirit rune on this stone tablet should be a type of dew spirit rune.”
Sun Mo spoke.
Dew spirit runes could cause the air humidity of a certain area to increase and could even create rain. It was commonly used to cultivate spirit medicines.
The clamor in the surrounding vanished in an instant. The teachers and students who majored in the study of spirit runes squeezed forward, stretching out their necks and wanting to observe things more clearly.
“Oh?”
Lu Jian revealed an expression of listening seriously, but he was laughing crazily in his heart.
(Haha. Sun Mo, you are finished!)
But after that, Lu Jian revealed an expression of being impressed.
One couldn’t help but admit that Sun Mo did have some capabilities. He got a portion of it correct.
“So it is a type of dew spirit rune? In that case, you should be able to copy it out, right?”
Lu Jian suggested.
The so-called ‘copy’ was to draw the spirit rune out and activate it. Once an effect occurred, it would mean that Sun Mo’s judgment was correct.
“Don’t be so anxious, I have not finished speaking.”
Sun Mo activated Divine Sight and did a final verification. After he saw the data, as expected, Lu Jian was indeed here with bad intentions.
“There’s another variant spirit gathering rune on it!”
After Sun Mo finished speaking, Lu Jian’s pupils widened all of a sudden as he felt incomparably shocked.
(Wait a minute! Calm down! Don’t panic! He might be guessing wildly!)
(But then, even if he guessed this correctly, he would still lose.)
[1] slang for being very rich
[2] great ancestor here is like a term of respect (but it was used as ridicule in this context), Sun Mo should be at the ancestor level
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