Chapter 44: An Abandoned Student!
Several people in the surroundings were watching. Other than teachers, some students were also there.
“Sorry, please let us pa.s.s!”
Li Ziqi squeezed her way over. When she saw the young man sitting on the steps, she couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.
That young man exuded an unwelcoming aura. As he flipped through the book in his hands, he was munching on a piece of hard sesame bread. He completely ignored the mutterings around him, including those pointing their fingers at him.
“What’s going on with this fellow? Is he an escaped slave?”
Whispers echoed out in the surroundings.
There was a scar on the youth’s left forehead, and it was evidently shaped like the word ‘trash’. From the looks of things, it should have been caused by a sword or a dagger.
Above the ‘trash’ word, there were a few other disarrayed scratches. It was as though the scratches were there to destroy the word ‘trash’, but it was unknown what the young man experienced.
Other than this, although his collar was straightened and he wore a silk cloth around his neck, one could still see uncovered parts of a tattoo that stretched up to half of his left face.
This type of tattoo was known as spirit runes.
In the nine provinces, humans called pictures or diagrams that contained spirit qi as spirit runes. There were many types of spirit runes, and they could display miraculous effects.
However, the tattoos on the young man couldn’t display any effects. Even Sun Mo, someone who didn’t understand spirit runes, could tell that these spirit runes were already destroyed. Sharp swords slashed through them, leaving behind cruel and unsightly-looking scars.
“Teacher, let’s go. We have to go and s.n.a.t.c.h some genius students.”
Li Ziqi pulled Sun Mo as she prepared to leave. This young man was just someone pitiful. He would be even more pitiful if he was surrounded and watched, just like what was happening now.
Lu Zhiruo was so scared that she tugged on Sun Mo’s clothes. The scars on this young man’s face, as well as his tattoos, caused her to feel extremely terrified due to how malevolent they looked. To her, the young man seemed like a fierce dog that was hunting everywhere for food.
“Wait a minute!”
Sun Mo stared at the young man. As a teacher, the thing he couldn’t bear to see the most was an abused student.
Jiang Leng, 12 years 7 months old. 9th-level of the body refinement realm.
Upon seeing this cultivation realm, Sun Mo was a little shocked. The Saint Gate had done research that the 12-year-old mark was the best age to start cultivation. If one started earlier, they might injure their foundation. Even if the individual was a genius, they might destroy or affect their future accomplishments. However, this young man was already at the 9th-level.
Strength: 8. You are not a power-type contestant.
Intellect: 7. Although you don’t depend on your brain for meals, those who underestimate you will definitely pay a great price.
Agility: 8. Relatively normal, barely sufficient.
Endurance: 10. Your endurance is extremely terrifying. You can call yourself an iron man.
Will: 1. The fire of hope is dwindling. Maybe death is your only release.
...
“System, is it possible for someone’s endurance to max out?”
Sun Mo was surprised. From his point of view, if one was a human, they would feel fatigued at some point in time. But according to this stat, the young man before his eyes belonged to the type of people that would never give up.
“The system will never be wrong.”
The system emphasized.
“Will 1. Does it mean that this little fellow’s mental state will collapse soon and he would commit suicide?”
Sun Mo surveyed Jiang Leng, and he continued to look at him.
Potential value: Low
Note: It’s a pity. Before he was 10-years-old, his potential value was extremely high.
Note: Target has a very grave tendency to commit suicide.
“As expected!”
Upon seeing the note, Sun Mo sighed. This young man definitely had a very tragic childhood. It was unknown who could be so ruthless to use a sword and carve the word ‘trash’ on his forehead.
“Teacher?”
Li Ziqi suddenly felt a sense of unease. Did he want to accept this person as a disciple? This ‘trash’ word young man was even more inferior to that sick-looking Tantai Yutang.
Sun Mo walked over.
The environment, which was originally filled with whispers and mumblings, instantly fell silent. All the audience here adopted the same action without prior consultation with each other as they all turned to look at Sun Mo.
“Were you rejected when you attempted to acknowledge a master?”
Sun Mo got right to the point.
“What do you mean?”
Jiang Leng coldly looked at Sun Mo. His grip that was holding onto the hard bread tightened slightly, causing some crumbs to fall on the stairs.
“I just want to say that there are many teachers. There’s no need for you to give up just because of a few rejections.”
Sun Mo lowered his voice.
“Hehe!”
Jia Leng coldly laughed. Although he knew it would be extremely difficult for him to find a master in his current state, the Central Province Academy was still a famous school with a thousand years of history. One couldn’t deduce things based on common sense. He had felt that he had a chance to find a teacher here that would admire him. Sadly, he was wrong. Let alone great teachers, even those experienced teachers didn’t want to give him a chance.
“Teacher!”
Li Ziqi came over. Lu Zhiruo glanced at the left and right and also jogged over before hiding behind Sun Mo.
Sun Mo scratched his head. As expected, a youth that wanted to commit suicide was very hard to handle.
“Are you pitying me?”
Jiang Leng forcefully bit a mouthful of the bread. He stared at Sun Mo, his eyes were like a wolf.
“I’m afraid that you will die!”
Sun Mo recalled the summer afternoon three years ago. Amidst the cries of cicadas, a female soph.o.m.ore student had jumped down from a teaching building. The impact turned her into a pulp of flesh.
“My life is mine. Are you qualified to care about it?”
Jiang Leng turned his head away, no longer bothering about Sun Mo.
“Oi, what’s with your att.i.tude?”
Li Ziqi was extremely unhappy. (Teacher clearly is worried about you for your own good.)
“w.a.n.g!”
Lu Zhiruo peeked out and shouted at Jiang Leng.
Jiang Leng revealed a malevolent smile. He stared at Li Ziqi. “Do you believe that I will bite you to death?”
Li Ziqi didn’t feel too scared, but Lu Zhiruo was so frightened that she directly cowered behind Sun Mo.
“Let’s go!”
Sun Mo shook his head, he couldn’t allow his students to be injured. He had already stepped out to persuade Jiang Leng and that could already be considered extremely benevolent of him. Since Jiang Leng didn’t want to listen, that was his business then.
“Teacher, this fellow must have been rejected by too many teachers, and his mental state became abnormal,” Li Ziqi mumbled.
“Mn! Mn!”
Lu Zhiruo hurriedly nodded.
“Ding! New mission. Before the student recruitment meet concludes, get Jiang Leng to acknowledge you as his teacher. Reward: 1 bronze treasure chest. There will be a punishment if you fail the mission!”
The system notification rang out.
“F*** your mother! System, you are scheming against me!”
Sun Mo’s unhappiness rose to the peak. He only persuaded Jiang Leng due to his occupation as a teacher. He had no intention of recruiting him as a disciple.
A student with a difficult personality like this would definitely annoy him to no end.
“As a great teacher, you have to be able to handle all sorts of challenges. This is the tempering exercise the system is giving you. Please provide a satisfactory answer!” the system explained.
“What is the punishment if I failed?”
Sun Mo’s heart was filled with curses.
“Believe me, you definitely won’t want to know.” The system tactfully indicated the severity of the punishment. “That will become the worst nightmare of your life.”
“Can the system detect the thoughts in my heart? Speaking of which, what’s going on with this Absolute Great Teacher System? Why did it choose me?”
Many questions appeared in Sun Mo’s mind.
“This fellow truly doesn’t know what’s good for him!”
“Why did the security allow someone like this to enter? He’s too terrifying!”
“His injuries...could they have happened because of the bad deeds he did when he was young? Did someone do that to teach him a lesson?”
The students were mired in their discussion. Jiang Leng’s vile att.i.tude caused everyone to determine that he was a bad student.
“What’s going on?”
Lian Zheng was the year’s head. When he saw so many people here, he came over to check out the situation and ensure that no commotion would occur.
“Teacher Lian.”
The teachers hurriedly greeted him.
When Jiang Leng saw a golden thread at the collar of Liang Zheng’s white robes, his eyes instantly brightened. This was the sign of a 1-star great teacher. Hence, he stood up and walked over.
“Teacher Lian, h.e.l.lo!”
Jiang Leng revealed a smile. Maybe it was because of his scars, but his current expression was quite frightening.
“Mn.”
Lian Zheng swept a glance at Jiang Leng and no longer paid attention to him.
Jiang Leng could sense Lian Zheng’s coldness toward him, but he didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity. Hence, he knelt and kowtowed. “Teacher Lian, I wish to acknowledge you as my master!”
Hua~
A clamor rang out in the surroundings. The students were all dumbstruck when they looked at Jiang Leng.
Wasn’t the skin of this new student a little too thick? After seeing Lian Zheng’s uniform and understanding that he was a 1-star great teacher, this guy casually knelt like this and wanted to acknowledge Lian Zheng as a master?
This was simply such a shameful thing!
The students all felt that Jiang Leng wouldn’t succeed. But even so, they were worried. They had a feeling as though the rice at their homes was being eaten by someone else. After all, they didn’t dare to publicly ask a great teacher to take them as a disciple. How did this ugly ghost qualify?
“Young man, you don’t meet my requirements.”
Lian Zheng didn’t even hesitate and rejected him directly.
The word ‘trash’ on Jiang Leng’s forehead was something that would affect his image; moreover, Lian Zheng disliked the spirit rune that was branded on half of Jiang Leng’s face. Just the sight of it was nauseating.
A minority among cultivators would choose to brand spirit runes on their bodies to increase their combat strength. But those were choices made after they were of age.
Why? Because after a spirit rune was branded, it was an irreversible process. The risk was that once the spirit rune was damaged, the remnant spirit qi in it would disrupt the qi circulation of one’s body, causing one’s cultivation speed to become slower. For more serious cases, their cultivation bases would remain stagnant forever.
Jiang Leng looked to be at most 13 or 14 years of age, but he already had a damaged spirit rune branded on him. Even if he was once a genius, he was a cripple now.
For students like this that definitely had no future, why would Lian Zheng want them? Even if he wanted someone to wash his feet and toilet, it wouldn’t be Jiang Leng’s turn.
Jiang Leng stared at Lian Zheng. In his eyes, the last flame of hope gradually dissipated. Although he already guessed that this would be the reply, being rejected like this still hurt him a lot.
“Haha, he deserved it!”
“Why doesn’t he look at his own appearance? He is truly overestimating himself!”
“How can a great teacher accept disciples so casually?”
The students were in discussion. When they saw Jiang Leng being rejected, all of them had a feeling as though the rice at their homes was kept safe and wasn’t stolen by this fellow.
Sun Mo shook his head. Lian Zheng rejected a student too quickly and basically didn’t consider their feelings. However, there were so many students wanting to take him as their masters. Most probably, Lian Zheng didn’t care about a student like Jiang Leng whom he completely had no regard for.
“Why did you shake your head? You have an opinion about me?”
Lian Zheng turned his head and stared at Sun Mo. It was precisely this person—someone that had no sense of his own limitations—who s.n.a.t.c.hed away Xuanyuan Po and Li Ziqi.
“Is this a hot-tempered bro?”
Sun Mo had initially thought that Lian Zheng didn’t have a good temper. But after he saw the look in Lian Zheng’s eyes that was filled with loathing and contempt while looking at him, as well as the expression of pity on his face when Lian Zheng looked at Li Ziqi, Sun Mo suddenly understood. This fellow simply disliked him.
“If you have no opinions, scram!”
Lian Zheng berated and prepared to leave.
Sun Mo lifted his feet. However, he didn’t make way. He directly walked over and stood before Lian Zheng. His eyes showed no fear as he stared at Lian Zheng directly.