Chapter 211 Earning It Big
“Draw it nicer!”
The golden s.h.i.+mmery guy handed Sun Mo the potted plant and said seriously, “This is meant to be a gift. Don’t spoil it!”
“No problem. I guarantee that the drawing will be even prettier than the person who is ranked first in the Devastating Beauty Rankings!” said Lu Zhiruo.
Li Ziqi’s lips twitched. (Do you really have no brain? Whether a spirit rune is good or not depends on the effects. Why the h.e.l.l are you asking for it to look beautiful?)
(And papaya girl, what kind of a.n.a.logy is this? If you don’t know how to make a.n.a.logies, can you not use them without thinking?)
“There’s really such a thing as drawing spirit runes on plants’ leaves?”
“Is it very difficult?”
“It’s not very difficult, it is extremely difficult! Only someone at the ancestor-grade can do it, right?”
The two roadside merchants who knew a little about the spirit runes went up a little closer again. However, when they wanted to get closer, they saw that the bald guy had already squeezed to the front and was squatting in front of the potted plant.
“Ziqi, take a good look!”
After Sun Mo instructed, he gave it some thought. In order to shoot to fame, he decided on the Lightning Protection Rune.
He dipped his brush in ink, activating his Divine Sight to look at the purple-leafed luo’s leaves. The prints that were flowing with spirit qi immediately became clear in Sun Mo’s vision.
Just as Sun Mo made his first stroke, the bald guy’s expression became solemn with respect. This young man was an expert!
Both his disposition and his technique were both at the grandmaster-grade.
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Fei Tu +30. Neutral (80/100).
As the bald guy had an extremely high mastery in the study of spirit runes, he understood how amazing Sun Mo was. However, a moment later, the astonishment and overwhelming emotions in his heart disappeared. He became fully immersed in the spirit runes that Sun Mo was drawing.
The lines, the layout, was simply... simply...
The bald guy didn’t know how to describe it.
The several tens of people crowding around in the vicinity gradually became quiet. They didn’t understand what Sun Mo was drawing, but his focus when drawing had affected them.
This was the disposition of someone at the ancestor-grade. It was extremely influential.
When the pa.s.sersby saw this scene, they couldn’t help but come over to join the crowd. Even the staff and shop owners in the nearby shops put out their necks to watch.
Time ticked on. This time around, Sun Mo drew slower. Although he appeared calm and composed, he was actually as nervous as a dog in his heart.
“d.a.m.n, it has gotten out of hand!”
Sun Mo felt like crying. He had only wanted to bring out a unique spirit rune to astonish everyone and then sell his products at a high price. He had completely neglected the fact that his Lightning Protection Rune was only at the expert-grade.
If Sun Mo were to draw it on rune paper, he definitely wouldn’t make a mistake. However, he was now drawing on the leaf of a purple-leafed luo, and the difficulty was many times higher.
Due to the prints on the leaves, some parts couldn’t be used to draw the spirit runes. Therefore, Sun Mo could only choose to amend the flow at the last minute.
Spirit runes were a complete structure. Any minute adjustments could lead to the change in the layout later on.
Therefore, in order to change the entire layout, when drawing the first part, he had to visualize the second part and predict how the third part should be done. “I was too arrogant! Too arrogant!”
Sun Mo felt regretful. Thankfully, the one thing he could be a.s.sured about was that the purple-leafed luo’s leaves were bigger, and he could draw freely.
Li Ziqi looked at Sun Mo worriedly. His actions had clearly slowed down and didn’t flow as well as it had earlier on. He couldn’t have met a bottleneck, could he?
However, what spirit rune was this? It seemed a little strange.
Li Ziqi was quite an intelligent girl and had photographic memory. Other than cultivation, she was interested in any other subjects. Ever since Sun Mo had chosen the study of spirit runes as his second subject to teach, the little sunny egg immediately did her self-study over the past few months.
There were 3,000 spirit rune diagrams in her brain now, but none of them was a match for this.
“Teacher can’t fail, right?”
Lu Zhiruo, with her acute senses, also realized that things didn’t look good. However, she quickly shook her head to get rid of such ‘unrealistic’ thoughts.
(Oh my G.o.d, Lu Zhiruo, how can you doubt Teacher? Teacher is so amazing, so how can he fail? You only need to wait quietly and then clap and cheer for him after he is done.)
(That’s right, Teacher is the best!)
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Lu Zhiruo +50.
Hearing the system’s sudden notification, Sun Mo turned and saw Lu Zhiruo’s big eyes that were glimmering with admiration. Seeing Sun Mo looking over, the papaya girl immediately smiled sweetly, waving her little fist and mouthing the words ‘good luck’.
Hu!
Sun Mo took in a deep breath. That was right. This was his first battle after coming to the Darkness Continent. Moreover, the papaya girl was holding antic.i.p.ation toward him as well. No matter what, he mustn’t fail.
What was expert-grade? It meant that Sun Mo’s mastery of this subject had reached an advanced level. He could be called an elite and win against many other people.
It could be said that in an area of expertise, one could at most reach the level of an elite through hard work. Any higher and they’d reach the grandmaster-grade.
In order to reach the grandmaster-grade, it would depend on one’s apt.i.tude. Just relying on hard work was impossible.
Sun Mo had gotten pampered by grandmaster-grade proficiency index and thus looked down a little on the expert-grade. In fact, even an expert-grade technique could only be attained after ten years of hard work.
But the current Sun Mo no longer cared about proficiency indexes. All of his attention was placed on the Lightning Protection Rune. All information started to seethe like tidal waves in his brain. Then, information about the black tortoise spirit rune and spirit-gathering rune also started to appear.
In this process, the fundamental knowledge that Sun Mo had studied also flowed unknowingly into his mind.
Sun Mo dealt with the problems while drawing. After he found the right rhythm, he was like a car driving on the right path. His drawing speed became faster again. After 15 minutes, with a boom, the spirit qi in the surroundings gushed and gathered over.
A spirit qi tornado was formed, but the scale was a lot smaller and couldn’t be compared with the spirit-gathering runes from earlier. However, at this moment, no one cared about this. It was because everyone’s gazes were staring at the spirit rune on the leaf. They were stunned.
What diagram was this? It looked so strange!
“This doesn’t look pretty!”
The golden s.h.i.+mmery guy felt gloomy. (What happened to the a.n.a.logy of it being like the number one on the Devastating Beauty Rankings? This looks even uglier than the maid doing menial ch.o.r.es in my outer courtyard.)
Fei Tu was staring at the lines and sank into deep thought. He felt that the answer he had been searching for was in this spirit rune.
That feeling was like there was a door right in front of him. If he were to walk over, it’d be like suns.h.i.+ne after the rain. However, when he was about to touch it, he was interrupted by that golden s.h.i.+mmery guy.
“Shut up!”
Fei Tu suddenly turned his head and bellowed at the golden s.h.i.+mmery guy. Blood had flowed up to his bald forehead, turning it red from anger. He had a strong impulse to kill this young man.
“It doesn’t look pretty at all, so why am I not allowed to say that?”
The golden s.h.i.+mmery guy felt aggrieved.
“Hehe!”
Sun Mo let out a soft laugh.
The modern sense of beauty was really neat and orderly. Although the one on this leaf didn’t look too regulated, it was complete. As long as it could be used, this was enough.
Ding!
“Congratulations, you’ve managed to draw the Lightning Protection Rune on a leaf, breaking your bottleneck. Your mental state has improved and your experience has increased tremendously. This raises your proficiency index to ‘near grandmaster-grade’.” The system felt very emotional. When Sun Mo had amended the spirit-gathering rune for the first time, it had discovered Sun Mo’s high apt.i.tude in the field of spirit rune. Even without the system’s support, he’d be able to achieve great success.
The system’s reward had merely accelerated this process.
It was like two types of people both standing on a giant’s shoulder. One of them would look down, worried about falling, while the other would look higher and further and would even want to reach out his hand to touch the sky.
“Only the near grandmaster-grade? So stingy.”
Sun Mo was speechless.
“You should be satisfied. Even a genius would need several years of tempering to raise their skill from expert-grade to the grandmaster-grade. They’d need a moment of epiphany and then continue to temper themselves to reach it. Since you’re now considered to have half a foot in the grandmaster-grade realm, you only need to keep on drawing and acc.u.mulating experience.” The system explained. “This... What spirit rune is this?”
The uglier merchant asked.
Before Sun Mo replied, Fei Tu cried out, “I’m buying this potted plant. I’ll pay you twice the amount of spirit stones.”
Fei Tu said while anxiously digging out spirit stones. He was really scared that more people would be attracted to this plant. “Twice? Wouldn’t that be 20 pieces then?” “20 pieces?”
When the roadside merchants heard this number, they only felt that their eyes were twitching incessantly. Did all customers these days own ore mines or something? He was really spending money as if it was worthless.
Just as Fei Tu wanted to take the purple-leafed luo, Sun Mo also held onto the edges of the potted plant. “I’m sorry, this is his.”
“That’s right, it’s mine.”
The golden s.h.i.+mmery guy put out his hand and tugged the potted plant over, carrying it in one hand.
“Be gentler!”
Fei Tu saw that the golden s.h.i.+mmery guy’s action was too rough and the plant was bending. His heart ached a lot. If this was spoiled, it’d be too much of a pity.
“What spirit rune is this? Quickly tell us!”
The uglier merchant started to urge.
“Hehe!”
Sun Mo didn’t say anything but bent his finger to flick the big leaf that he had drawn the lightning protection rune on.
“After activating this spirit rune, a few lightning b.a.l.l.s will be summoned. They’ll automatically retaliate if you are attacked. At the same time, you can use your consciousness to control them, performing far distance attacks.”
Sun Mo explained.
Huh?
After hearing the effects that had just been described, a series of surprised gasps rang out around Sun Mo. Could such a thing be done?
“Huh?”
The bald guy shook, subconsciously gripping onto his scalp. He then ravaged off a tuft of his hair without even realizing it. This... this... couldn’t be a spirit rune that this guy had created himself, right?
As a teacher from a famous school who primarily taught the study of spirit runes, the bald guy was certain that he had not seen this spirit rune before.
“Is that so?”
As the golden s.h.i.+mmery guy said that, he planned on channeling in spirit qi. Thankfully, Sun Mo was quick and grabbed his hand.
“Don’t use it now.”
Sun Mo looked at this silly young man and activated his Divine Sight.
Nangong Xun, 14 years old, ninth level of the body-refinement realm.
Strength 7. I am handsome and suave, in pursuit of elegance and dignity. Muscles should all scram and not look for me!
Intellect 6. Completely sufficient, but I don’t know what he is thinking most of the time. His train of thought is on the weirder side.
Agility 9. Can be less, but cannot be not handsome.
Will 2. What is this? Can it be eaten?
Endurance 5. Other than being more diligent when running errands for beautiful women, he is just a lazy person.
Potential value: might be high!
Note: Can pay any price for Sister Bing. Cultivation? That doesn’t exist. My life pursuit is to curry up to Sister Bing.
Looking at the ratings given by the system, Sun Mo felt speechless. What the h.e.l.l was this? Moreover, this was the first time such a potential value had appeared.
“Hehe, I hope Sister Bing will like the present this time around.”
The golden s.h.i.+mmery guy, no, Nangong Xun, waved his hand at Sun Mo then ran off in a hurry. He was clearly rus.h.i.+ng off to present his treasure.
The gazes of the people crowding around had a hint of admiration when looking at Sun Mo now. This guy’s character was very good. If they were in his shoes, after hearing another offer that was twice as high, even if they didn’t agree to it eventually, they would still struggle to make the call. However, this guy refused without even a frown.
“This Teacher, I’d like to have one spirit rune potted plant that can release lightning b.a.l.l.s.”
Fei Tu urged and paid 20 spirit stones outright. At the same time, he secretly a.s.sessed the surroundings. Thankfully, this price was on the higher side and the people crowding around couldn’t bear to pay it.
Of course, it was because they didn’t know how good this thing was. If they were to realize how special it was, he’d definitely face some compet.i.tion.
“I’m sorry, I’m not drawing it anymore.”
It wasn’t as if Sun Mo had a lot of free time. Since his popularity had already risen, he would just need to wait to reap the rewards. Only a fool would continue to draw that.
“Huh?”
Fei Tu was surprised, then wore a bitter expression, and pleaded in a softer voice, “It looked quite simple when you drew it. Can you help me draw another one?”
“I’m tired!”
Sun Mo instructed Lu Zhiruo to put away the spirit rune drawing tools.
“Hah, is this guy a fool? There’s money to earn but he is refusing it?”
The roadside merchants couldn’t understand Sun Mo’s mentality. However, they were then shocked. It was because the bald guy was raising the offer.
“30 spirit stones!” When Fei Tu made this offer, he was aching badly inside. He really couldn’t bear to part with the money, after all, his family didn’t own an ore mine. But he really wanted this very badly.
(Very good, it has been affirmed. This guy is a fool as well. Are you asking for it to be paying 30 spirit stones to buy a potted plant?)
Someone amongst the crowd couldn’t help but shout out to ask, “That’s a purple-leafed luo, right? I’ll help you go collect one. I’ll just need five spirit stones.”
“Scram!”
Fei Tu scolded the person. (Are you a fool? If it isn’t drawn by this teacher, why the h.e.l.l would I buy it?)
(Am I supposed to bring it back and look at it while m*sturbating? It’s not as if I’m a pervert!)
“I’m not drawing it anymore.” Sun Mo shook his head then smiled. “But I have ready-made ones. Do you want them?”
The bald guy, who was feeling extremely disappointed and was hesitating on how he should get Sun Mo to change his mind, immediately became spirited after hearing this.
“Yes!”
This voice was staunch and powerful, sounding as if he was going to bellow out all the qi in his dantian.
“Ziqi, bring over the bamboo cylinder in my bag that has been labeled in red ink. Take out a spirit rune and pa.s.s it to him.”
Sun Mo instructed.
“Alright!”
Li Ziqi did as she was told.
As spirit runes couldn’t be folded or the lines would be damaged, they could only be rolled up to be stored.
Li Ziqi opened up the bamboo cylinder and took out a stack of rune paper. When she saw the lightning protection runes, her pupils contracted intensely. This layout... was really unique!
The modern sense of beauty finally managed to astonish the little sunny egg.
“Be quick!”
Fei Tu reached out his neck and looked, urging incessantly. After receiving it from Li Ziqi, he looked as if he had been shocked by lightning and froze on the spot. His eyes stared at the rune paper without blinking.
A few people squeezed up to him, wanting to take a look.
Fei Tu immediately hugged the rune paper close to him, blocking other people’s view of it. He then looked toward Sun Mo, a.s.sessing him seriously. “May I ask for your name?”
“I’m just a poor teacher who is selling spirit runes. It isn’t worth mentioning.”
Sun Mo chuckled.
“Hehe, you’re too humble.”
Fei Tu smiled in self-ridicule. (I’m the poor one, alright? If I have money, I’d want to buy all the spirit runes in that bamboo cylinder.)
“Teacher, you aren’t poor. You’re able to sell a potted plant for 30 spirit stones. It’s a great
profit!”
Ying Baiwu mumbled softly. (I suddenly don’t feel like learning sword dance anymore. He casually drew spirit runes for half an hour and managed to earn 50 spirit stones from that. This is like s.n.a.t.c.hing money.)
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Ying Baiwu +100. Reverence (1,000/10,000).
Sun Mo threw a glance at this girl who had a strong insistence for money. From the first time he knew her until now, all her contributions were 100 each time. She was really generous.
“I’m sorry, please make way!”
A middle-aged man pushed his way through the crowd and walked up to Sun Mo, speaking respectfully, “This master, I’m Shopkeeper Ma from the Thousand Spirits Shop. Judging from your attire, you should be a teacher from the Central Province Academy, right?”
“Yes!”
Sun Mo’s expression was calm, but he heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. His real target had gotten on the hook.
The reason he chose to draw spirit runes potted plants here was to attract the attention of this shop’s manager. After all, only an important character like this would be able to afford paying several hundred spirit stones in one go.
“May I be so bold as to invite you to have a chat in our shop?”
Shopkeeper Ma put up a “this way please” gesture.
“I’ll trouble Shopkeeper Ma then.”
Sun Mo had his right hand behind his back, conducting himself with a great teacher disposition. It wasn’t that he wanted to act, but he just wanted to look cooler. That was why he would do this.
“Pick up the things. We’re going!”
Li Ziqi reminded the others.
“Oh!”
Lu Zhiruo held one potted plant in each hand and quickly followed behind them.
“Brew a pot of my biluochun tea and serve it to the guests!”
Before Shopkeeper Ma entered the shop, he called out to the apprentice to brew tea.
“It seems that the teacher from the Central Province Academy understands a thing or two about spirit runes!”
“Of course! Even someone like Shopkeeper Ma has personally come out to invite him. What do you think?”
“I wonder what his name is? And those three are his female students, right? They all look quite pretty.”
The Thousand Spirits Shop was one of the biggest shops on this street. The spectators didn’t dare to enter to watch and could only scatter off while wearing envious expressions.
Knowledge was really wealth!
They had stayed here for a whole day but weren’t able to sell a single spirit stone. Yet, this guy had only been drawing for a while and managed to earn several tens of spirit stones. No, judging from how Shopkeeper Ma was acting, he might be able to earn even more.