Chapter 1177: Spirit Runes Boss, Black Doggy Sun!
Translator: Lordbluefire
“It’s verified. Liu Yuzhi is none other than the Yin-Yang Child Granny, one of the five Doyens of Dark Dawn. I truly didn’t expect that she would fall by your hands!”
Liang Hongda surveyed Sun Mo while drinking tea, envying his dogs.h.i.+t luck.
Just this achievement was enough for Sun Mo’s fame to spread through the entire great teacher world.
“Excellent!”
An Xinhui who accompanied Sun Mo immediately had a joyful expression on her face when she heard this. “In that case, can Sun Mo be considered to have hunted or captured ten dark great teachers?”
“Haha, that’s for sure!”
Liang Hongda laughed uproariously and complimented him. “Let alone ten, it’s even enough for 100. After all, this is a dark Doyen!”
Great teachers of this level were the main pillars in all the Nine Greats.
Main pillars as in they were the trump cards of the school. Not only did they stand at the peak of a certain field, but they were also extremely capable in combat.
For example, only Secondary Saint s.h.i.+ could be considered a main pillar in Central Province Academy. Although Sun Mo had many amazing achievements, he wasn’t qualified to be termed a main pillar yet because his cultivation base was still too weak.
If they weren’t in the Black-White Game, the Yin-Yang Child Granny could easily smash Sun Mo’s soul with a single palm strike.
“Teacher Sun, I’ve done a check before I came here. You don’t have the grandmaster spirit runist’s license yet. You should hurry and clear the exam. After doing that, the Saint Gate would then confer upon you the emblem of a 5-stars great teacher!”
As a vice sect lord, Liang Hongda didn’t have to deal with a host of problems every day, but he was still very busy. He personally came to deliver the information because he wanted to form a good relations.h.i.+p with Sun Mo.
One could say that as long as Sun Mo didn’t die unexpectedly, he would become a hegemon in the future.
“In this exam so far, are there any other great teachers who obtained the 5-stars t.i.tle?”
Sun Mo was curious.
“Yes, a great teacher from the Skyraise Academy!”
Liang Hongda consoled, “But you don’t have to feel disheartened. He is 42 years old this year. Besides, he was only able to capture 10 dark great teachers so quickly because Secondary Saint Zhou helped him secretly.”
In order not to let Sun Mo obtain first place, Secondary Saint Zhou mobilized his network and collected the information of several dark great teachers. After that, he gave the information for free to genius great teachers that showed promise of being able to challenge Sun Mo.
But only one guy succeeded.
Sun Mo shrugged. He didn’t mind it.
It was just empty fame!
Speaking of which, should he go and challenge the record of becoming the youngest saint in history?
Forget it, why should he make things so tiring for himself?
Wouldn’t it be better to go play around in the training division after the Five Empires War Discussion is over?
He heard that those doing businesses there were the wives and daughters of officials who had committed crimes. The girls were of good quality and highly cultured. They were steeped in propriety, as well as being genial and elegant.
“Teacher Sun, although the first place is gone, your glory of rising to 5-stars in a single stretch still remains!”
Liang Hongda consoled Sun Mo.
For the great teacher examinations, the higher the star rank, the more difficult it would be to advance. Hence, in order not to fail, many great teachers would wait until they had acc.u.mulated sufficient experience and strength before they took the test.
But even so, many people still screwed up.
Therefore, someone like Sun Mo, who went to take the upcoming examinations right after pa.s.sing the previous one, could be considered very unique.
“Preposterous!”
An Xinhui’s tolerance was not so bad. But now, she couldn’t help but curse out in a low voice. If there was a chance to do so, she would make Secondary Saint Zhou pay for what he had done.
“Headmaster An, please calm down. I believe that given Sun Mo’s strength, he would be able to stand equally against Secondary Saint Zhou in less than ten years!”
Liang Hongda praised again.
“Ten years is too long. I only live for constant improvement every moment!”
Sun Mo casually spoke, not expecting his Priceless Advice to actually activate.
Nonetheless, golden light illuminated the area, causing Liang Hongda to be dumbfounded.
(I’ve often heard that there’s a great teacher in the Central Province who would frequently erupt forth with golden sentences of advice, earning him the beautiful reputation of ‘Golden Sentence Sun’. I see that this is all true!)
“Sect Lord Liang, how’s the arrangement of the grandmaster spirit runist’s examination? Can you tell me its content?”
Speaking of which, Sun Mo had no understanding at all when it came to the various departments of the Saint Gate. He only knew the names of a few limited positions.
“…”
Liang Honda was stunned. (Are you joking with me? You are already a major character in the field of spirit runes, but you don’t know such common knowledge? Could it be that you are a ‘wild’ spirit runist?)
Naturally, Liang Hongda wouldn’t be that ignorant to say this. Since he had nothing better to do, he didn’t mind explaining to Sun Mo.
“For the grandmaster-level exam of any subject, it would be held once a year. Using the study of spirit runes as an example, the Saint Gate would invite five grandmaster spirit runists to come out with questions for the written exam!”
“Those who pa.s.sed the first round of written exams had to partic.i.p.ate in the second round, which is an interview. For this round, the grandmasters would ask them some problems about spirit runes, and these questions would be ones with more depth. This is to determine how high the attainments of the examinee are.
“And for the points in the second round, as long as three out of five grandmasters approved, the examinee would be qualified!”
Liang Hongda laughed and teasingly asked, “You should also know that grandmasters are all very busy. So, some grandmasters that we selected to be examiners would intentionally make the written examinations very difficult so they didn’t need to proceed and remain there for the interview. But to Ancestor Sun, I believe this wouldn’t stump you!”
“Sect Lord is overpraising me!”
Sun Mo humbly replied, “You say that it’s going to be in the middle of the year? Might I know which month it would be this year?”
Sun Mo didn’t want his schedule to clash with the Five Empires War Discussion.
“15th of June.”
Liang Hongda hesitated. As the vice sect lord, he naturally knew the name of the five grandmaster examiners. However, this was considered a great secret that could be sold for a huge favor. If such information was sold underground, the seller would also be able to earn a lot of money.
If he told such precious information to Sun Mo so easily, would it seem that his prestige was too low?
“The names of the five examiners this year are out. Two of them privately chatted with me and said that they admire you extremely much!”
Liang Hongda casually brought this into the conversation. It could be considered that he was already giving Sun Mo a hint.
As long as Sun Mo asked who the examiners were, Liang Hongda would conveniently reveal their names. However, for someone as upright as Sun Mo, he didn’t want to have an unfair advantage like this.
Liang Hongda stayed for two days in the Central Province Academy before rus.h.i.+ng back to the Saint Gate’s branch in Shengjing.
“Have the examiners for the grandmaster-level alchemist exam replied?”
Liang Hongda sat down behind his office desk and started to handle his work.
“Only Great Teacher Wu has agreed. The others rejected.”
The female a.s.sistant replied carefully. If this matter wasn’t settled well, the vice sect lord would surely lose his temper.
“Alchemists are simply so brazen. I really want to break their hands!”
Liang Hongda cursed. Alchemist was the most popular profession in the Nine Provinces. Hence, many people were studying alchemy. Since the base number was huge, the number of talented people was also many.
If they found ordinary alchemy grandmasters to be examiners, they might not be able to hold their ground well. But if they wanted to look for impressive ones, those impressive grandmasters wouldn’t be bothered to give a d.a.m.n.
This was because the time they spent being an examiner was enough for them to refine a few cauldrons of alchemy pills. Time meant money!
“Sect Lord, there’s another matter!”
The female a.s.sistant took out a pile of letters from a drawer. There were at least 50 letters in the pile. “These are the letters that grandmaster spirit runists sent. They hope to become examiners for the grandmaster-level spirit runist examination this year.
“These two letters were written by Ancestor Zheng and Ancestor Li. They want to treat you to a meal and told you to reserve a spot to be an examiner for them.”
The female a.s.sistant sorted the letters and pa.s.sed the most important ones to Liang Hongda first.
“What?”
Liang Hongda stared at the letters before him in astonishment. What the h.e.l.l were these grandmaster spirit runists doing?
Although they weren’t as unbridled as grandmaster alchemists, grandmasters of the pasts who were tasked to be examiners had done so unwillingly. What was going on this year?
(Wait a minute, could it be because of Sun Mo? They want to take this chance to meet Sun Mo and consult him about some questions?)
Why didn’t Liang Hongda feel that these people want to intentionally make things difficult for Sun Mo?
Because they weren’t capable enough!
When the Skyward Spirit Rune was ‘born’ and Li Ziqi’s self-created spirit rune rod shocked the world, it already announced to everyone that Sun Mo was standing at the absolute peak in the field of spirit runes in the entire Nine Provinces.
Whoever wanted to find trouble with him was simply courting humiliation for themselves.
So, these grandmasters definitely came with a sincere heart of wanting to learn. After all, Sun Mo’s fame was too great. These grandmasters also didn’t have much clout before him.
If they got rejected when paying him a visit, things would be embarra.s.sing. Hence, they might as well use this chance to meet with Sun Mo while clearing a mission issued by the Saint Gate.
Because the Saint Gate had ruled that after someone became an examiner once, they wouldn’t be permitted to become one again for the next five years. To grandmasters, this was good news. They actually wanted people to not disturb them for ten years.
“Sect Lord, how should we reply to them?”
The female a.s.sistant asked in a small voice. All replies to these matters were written by her on behalf of him.
For a time, Liang Hongda didn’t know how to reply.
(I’ve never experienced something like this before!)
He knew Sun Mo was very strong in the field of spirit runes, but as to how strong, he had no idea. But now, he had a pretty good idea.
Two ancestors, over fifty grandmasters…these were people who usually didn’t even give face to the Saint Gate. Yet, they had now written letters with humble wordings. This was all because they wanted a chance to meet with Sun Mo.
Over fifty letters seemed a lot, but Liang Hongda knew that once news of Sun Mo partic.i.p.ating in this year’s spirit runist examination was circulated out, even more people would be writing letters to him.
Many great teachers were living in their own world, and they basically didn’t know that Sun Mo had captured the Yin-Yang Child Granny and comprehended 15 great teacher halos with the ‘Teacher for a Day, Father for Life’ included within.
Sun Mo’s growth speed had completely exceeded their imagination.
Pak!
Liang Hongda suddenly smacked the table with an annoyed expression.
“I almost screwed up!”
“Ah?” The female a.s.sistant jumped in fright. “What do you mean?”
“It’s none of your business. You can go off first!”
Liang Hongda glanced at these letters, mentally musing that this was a great chance to gain some favors. Luckily, it wasn’t too late yet. The list for examiners hadn’t been announced to the public yet, so there was still time for some modifications.
(Who should I choose then?)
Liang Hongda opened the secret letter while searching for the candidates with the most value as he sighed ruefully. (Sun Mo was truly too strong.)
He had originally wanted to use the name list to earn favors, but who would have expected that Sun Mo’s fame benefitted him instead. He would be able to earn favors from many grandmasters now.
…
Sun Mo didn’t know all the external details behind the examination. In any case, no matter their goal or who the examiners were, he would be able to pa.s.s the exam.
Right now, all his energy was placed on the Five Empires War Discussion.
During that day when Liang Hongda departed, Sun Mo also sat on Little Silver and flew toward Chang`an to meet with the Tang Emperor, Li Yingqi, as well as the 8-stars great teacher who was the grand tutor.. He was none other than the man named Han Cangshui, a person with the t.i.tle of Alchemy Martial Sage.