Chapter 981: Spoils of War and a New Target
Translator: Lordbluefire
At the third level of the darkness illusion dojo, Sun Mo was currently fighting against an illusion.
His students stood at the side and observed seriously.
“During combat, if you cannot calm down, don’t force yourself. However, do not panic either. Try your best to get used to the feeling of nervousness, and it will actually make you more focused.”
Sun Mo explained.
“Naturally, if you encounter a formidable enemy, my suggestion is for you to collect information first. If you feel you cannot win, do your best to escape. After all, there will always be wood to burn if the mountain still exists.”
“Mn, mn!”
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhiruo nodded and seriously recorded them down in a small notebook.
Yet, Xuanyuan Po had his hands placed behind his head as he leaned back, not agreeing with this. “Only on the verge of death would humans be able to unleash all their potential.”
After hearing the combat addict’s reb.u.t.tal, Li Ziqi immediately cast a glare over. “Quiet.”
“Xuanyuan, every individual is different. The things I said earlier apply to the vast majority of people. You are not included.”
Sun Mo then glanced at his students. “In our lives, we will encounter many failures. Even if you have to escape, you don’t have to feel embarra.s.sed or ashamed.”
“Remember this. What’s scary isn’t to have a failure. Instead, it’s not being able to rise again after a single stumble.”
Bzz!
A golden light illuminated the area.
Priceless Advice was activated.
This was the logic Sun Mo had gleaned from this trip to the Greenhaze Forest. As long as one remained alive, they would have the possibility to reverse defeat into victory, and only the victors had the power of speech.
Although Sun Mo could be considered a winner as he had survived to the end with great profits, if time was reversed and if he was to make a choice again, he would absolutely retreat from the Greenhaze Forest as quickly as he could.
The students immediately stood up and spoke in unison, “Your disciples have solemnly remembered Teacher’s teachings.”
“Mn, you guys should cultivate by yourself. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask me during the next morning’s lesson.”
Sun Mo exploded the illusion and concluded the lesson.
Li Ziqi immediately brought a water bag and a towel over, waiting on Sun Mo as he rested.
“Don’t waste your time on such things.”
Sun Mo frowned.
A n.o.ble princess pouring tea and serving him…if this matter was leaked, it would cause ordinary people to feel a sense of superiority. However, Sun Mo didn’t care about this.
“What you should do now is to focus your time and energy on learning.”
Sun Mo persuaded.
“Learning is important, but taking care of Teacher is even more important.”
Li Ziqi smiled sweetly.
“Eldest Martial Sister, Teacher is saying this for your own good.”
Lu Zhiruo helped to speak for Sun Mo. (If my Eldest Martial Sister doesn’t leave, I won’t have a chance to wait on Teacher. Ai! I also really want to make the bed for Teacher!)
Li Ziqi rolled her eyes at the papaya girl. (Do you think I don’t know what you are thinking? Don’t think about it anymore. In this life, I won’t give you any chances. Teacher’s daily necessities will be all solely taken care of by me.)
(Ai! I really want to wash Teacher’s clothes, but he completely doesn’t give me a chance.)
“You guys can leave.”
Sun Mo knew he couldn’t convince the little sunny egg and could only sigh. He then took out an inch-long puppet and left as he played with it.
This was a reward he had opened from the treasure chests.
Its name was the Hundred Transformations Puppet, and its effect resembled toy-building blocks. The user could a.s.semble it according to their will, and it would change to different puppet models.
The most important thing was that the different models constructed could be replicated completely according to scale.
This also meant that Sun Mo could use this puppet model to test out various ideas. If the a.s.sembled puppet worked perfectly, it meant that these functions could be reproduced when the real ent.i.ty was constructed.
To puppeteers, the most troublesome thing was for them to test out their ideas. If they had this model, they could save a lot of time.
Sun Mo spent a lot of time playing with it during these few days. He was like an old child that had received a transformer toy. However, he ultimately wasn’t interested in the study of puppetry, and he was prepared to give this as a gift to Murong Mingyue a few days later.
Other than this model, Sun Mo had also opened 500 books on spirit rune techniques. Its proficiency was at the expert level.
To the current Sun Mo, this reward was simply like adding flowers to a brocade. In the field of spirit runes, Sun Mo had begun to walk his own path.
By learning the content of the books, he would at most gain some experience.
He had also obtained the third part of the Undying Mystic Art, as well as the blueprints of 100 types of puppets.
Actually, there were high-level and low-level ones among the blueprints, but there were no rare ones. Hence, they could only be used for practice. In any case, Sun Mo wouldn’t be able to use them.
But in the future, if he opened up a puppetry cla.s.s, he wouldn’t lack teaching materials to speak about.
Making puppets was a very niche and secretive process. Other than those common blueprints floating around in the market, there were no other places to purchase the blueprints. If a student wished to become a puppeteer, they could only take on someone experienced in this field as a teacher and learn from him or her.
Every puppeteer had something they were proficient in, and they wouldn’t easily impart their proficiencies to outsiders. This was also why the study of puppetry was so niche.
Why did puppeteers like to be so secretive?
Other than cheris.h.i.+ng their hard-earned knowledge, the other reason was even more important. The combat strength of puppeteers depended on their puppets. Once their secret was known to many people, they could easily be countered.
It was just like a magician. If their tricks were exposed and everyone understood the logic behind them, they would no longer be able to perform and earn money.
Other than this, Sun Mo had also opened up 100 types of high-grade puppet-making techniques from a seven-colored diamond treasure chest. This was something very valuable.
Its value was so high that it could be completely treated as a family heirloom.
This time around, Sun Mo had even obtained an extremely rare gold parcel. After he opened it, he received a skill book named [Myriad Equipment Manual]
It belonged to the weaponsmithing subject.
After doing some research, Sun Mo discovered that he couldn’t understand it so he decided to ignore it. In any case, no matter how impressive the equipment refining and creation technique of the Nine Provinces was, it was impossible for them to build a tank.
Naturally, after he had obtained the [Myriad Equipment Manual], he immediately checked the Central Province Academy’s library and the old headmaster’s private library. He then discovered that the hundred pieces of equipment recorded in the manual were all very rare and unique items.
In any case, the fewer the number of people that knew of it, the more valuable they would be.
However, what made Sun Mo the most satisfied was still the ‘One Heart Two Uses’ great teacher halo.
Back then, he had immediately spammed a bunch of time emblems to improve it to the grandmaster level. Now, if he activated it, the duration could last for a day.
With One Heart Two uses, Sun Mo could draw two different spirit runes independently with his right and left hand. He could even research spirit runes while simultaneously reading comics, mixing education and entertainment together.
In any case, it was a good tool for being lazy.
“But I still want Retentive Memory!”
Sun Mo was a common man. He loved to act cool the most. After all, One Heart Two Uses wasn’t as impressive-sounding as Retentive Memory.
Li Ziqi hesitated for a while but still decided to call out to Sun Mo.
“Teacher!”
“What’s the matter?”
Sun Mo smiled. Other than her motor nerves being more inferior than others, his eldest disciple had no problem in the other aspects. Her talent, beauty, intellect, and status were all above the vast majority of people.
No one was perfect, and this was acceptable.
“Teacher, I wish to partic.i.p.ate in the 1-star great teacher examination in March!”
After Li Ziqi finished speaking, everyone was stunned. Even Xuanyuan Po who was fighting a darkness illusion forgot to fight and suffered a blow to his head, causing him to bleed.
“Eldest Martial Sister, are you joking?”
Jiang Leng, who wasn’t fond of talking, was actually the first to speak out. From this, one could see how serious this matter was.
“How would I joke about my own career?”
Li Ziqi flashed a beautiful smile.
“Eldest Martial Sister, if you don’t pa.s.s it the first time, you won’t have any chance to be employed at the Nine Greats…ah…”
Before Lu Zhiruo could finish speaking, Jiang Leng already rapped her head with his fingers. She then couldn’t help but clutch her head and grumble.
“Why are you hitting my head? I will become stupid if you do so, alright?”
“Who told you to make an inauspicious remark?!”
Jiang Leng replied.
If Li Ziqi pa.s.sed, it would be an extremely huge boost to their teacher’s reputation.
“You can do so, but I don’t want the reason behind your decision to be because of me.”
Sun Mo was like a parent with an open mind and att.i.tude.
He would be happy if Li Ziqi pa.s.sed, but it was fine even if she failed. As for not being able to get employed in the Nine Greats?
Please. He himself was a vice headmaster of the Central Province Academy. How would he allow a future impressive great teacher like Li Ziqi to join other schools?
“Oh yes, Eldest Martial Sister, even if you pa.s.sed the 1-star exam, what about the 2-star exam? How about crus.h.i.+ng all the exams in one go and breaking our teacher’s record as the three-time champion?”
Qin Yaoguang tried to persuade Li Ziqi.
“Can our teacher’s record be broken so easily?”
Li Ziqi mentally mused. (Even if I can break it, I won’t do so. After all, Teacher is like the heavens to me.)
“Now, I have the chance to break the record and become the youngest 1-star great teacher, so I wish to give it a try.”
“…”
Tantai Yutang suddenly felt very envious of Li Ziqi when he looked at her self-confidence. At the same time, a sense of disappointment rose in his heart.
Their ages were similar, but the little sunny egg had found her path in life and was fighting for it. (But what about me? I’m living in a muddle-headed manner every day.)
“Wow, breaking the record. This is excellent news!”
Lu Zhiruo applauded happily.
“I haven’t accomplished it yet!”
Li Ziqi felt a little bashful. She wanted to get the record so she could share the glory with Sun Mo. The two of them would then have the ‘youngest 1-star great teacher’ and ‘longest consecutive victories as the champion’ record.
“I will cheer for you!”
Sun Mo flashed a thumbs-up.
Ding!
“Mission issued: Help your eldest student to obtain the 1-star great teacher ranking, becoming the youngest great teacher in the Nine Provinces.”
Ding!
“Mission issued: If your eldest student becomes the champion of the 1-star examination, you will obtain a heavenly-shocking great reward.”
The system gave two notifications.
“Senior brother, when did our eldest martial sister comprehend the self-taught halo?”
Xianyu Wei secretly poked Helian Beifang’s shoulder and asked in a low voice.
“Before I entered Teacher’s tutelage.”
Helian Beifang paused for a while and smiled. “What you should be shocked about is another fact. Our eldest martial sister has comprehended three great teacher halos!”
“…”
Xianyu Wei was dumbstruck. If one wanted to partic.i.p.ate in the great teacher examination, every star ranking had a ‘hard’ requirement.
For 1-star, partic.i.p.ants had to comprehend three great teacher halos and be proficient in one secondary occupation. Their eldest martial sister was only 15, but she had achieved all the conditions required?
(And I didn’t even know the details? Never mind, I will ask her later!)
“If you have decided, I will prepare a few lesson plans for you to try lecturing.”
Great teacher examinations would always consist of giving lectures. Li Ziqi should be lacking in this area.
“Mn!”
Li Ziqi mentioned this matter to Sun Mo because she wanted to try out lecturing. Although she had attended many of Sun Mo’s lectures, the situation would surely be different if she was the one lecturing instead.
After Sun Mo left, the other students crowded over immediately.
“Eldest Martial Sister, you are so impressive!”
Helian Beifang’s character was more straightforward and candid. His praise and admiration were from the bottom of his heart.
“Tantai, don’t blame my words for being unpleasant.”
The little sunny egg glanced at the sickly invalid. “Your health isn’t good and you might not be able to live for long. However, this cannot be the reason for you to neglect life.”
“If I were you, I would treasure my remaining time well.”
When Jiang Leng heard this, he made the preparations to stop a fight from happening. Although Tantai Yutang always seemed to be joking around and was very frivolous, this person had a very strong pride.
Now that he was lectured like this by Li Ziqi, he would surely rebut.
“Quickly take action!”
Ying Baiwu wanted nothing more than for Tantai Yutang to start attacking people. If that happened, she would have a chance to beat this sickly invalid up under the pretext of protecting their eldest martial sister.
Who told this fellow to always be disrespectful toward their teacher?
Tantai Yutang’s expression changed many times. But after a long while, he actually lowered his head and conceded. “I understand.”
“Ah?”
Lu Zhiruo was shocked. After that, she moved to Li Ziqi’s side and covered her mouth with her hand as she whispered in warning, “I feel that he might try to poison you.”
Tantai Yutang was immediately speechless and started to grumble, “Second Martial Sister, in your heart, am I such a person?”
“Hehe!”
Lu Zhiruo scratched her hair and whistled. (What are you talking about? I’m viewing the scenery so I didn’t hear it!)
“Everyone, listen to me!”
Li Ziqi clapped her hands. “You all should know how impressive our teacher is. Now, the only problem why our teacher cannot achieve the 4-star t.i.tle is because our strength is insufficient.”
“Hence, I hope that all of you will work double as hard this year and help our teacher to realize this lofty and n.o.ble achievement of obtaining four stars consecutively – something that is unprecedented and impossible to be replicated after.”
“Impossible.”
Xuanyuan Po subconsciously reb.u.t.ted. In the end, he was glared at fiercely by Li Ziqi. It was like she wanted to eat him up.
“Why is it impossible?”
Li Ziqi berated.
“Do you know how strong the experts on the Hero Rankings are? My target is to get into the ranking before I’m 18.”
Xuanyuan Po’s lips twitched. “Now, I’m still three years too early.”
Qin Yaoguang mentally mused at how ambitious Xuanyuan Po was. Entering the Hero Rankings by 18 years old was simply unbelievable. He might be completely overestimating himself.
“M…maybe Teacher can achieve it!”
Xianyu Wei interjected.
“Do you even believe your words?”
Xuanyuan Po counter-asked.
“Eh!”
Xianyu Wei fell silent.
“Just do your utmost first, if we cannot do it, we can think of other solutions. But if you guys gave up without even trying, I would really look down on all of you.”
Li Ziqi spoke in disdain before flicking her sleeves and leaving.
“Considering Ziqi’s steady way of doing things, could she have a way to swiftly increase our strength?”
Ying Baiwu guessed.
“The weakest of those experts on the Hero Rankings are at the Divine Force Realm. How can she have a solution?”
Xuanyuan Po looked down on Li Ziqi. It was unknown if she could even cultivate to the peak level of the Body-Refinement Realm after a year.
…
Ding!
“Mission issued: Please pa.s.s the great teacher examination at year’s end. You will be given a reward based on your ranking.”
The system voice rang out suddenly.
“d.a.m.n, it’s not over yet?”
Sun Mo was speechless. This was definitely something impossible to achieve.
Ding!
“Mission issued: Please become the champion for the 4-star examination at the end of the year and continue to dominate the board. If you accomplish this, you will be given two great teacher halos as a reward, or your expertise in one subject can be improved to the grandmaster level.”
This reward was incomparably ample.
“You are truly viewing me with very high regard!”
Sun Mo chortled and completely ignored this.
“Host, a great teacher at the peak is someone who can change the impossible into the possible. This mission is to spur you on to create a miracle.”
The system persuaded. “Before any miracles happened, things would always be the same. No one would believe that miracles can happen.”
“It’s useless no matter how impressive I am. The 4-star t.i.tle depends on the students.”
Sun Mo wanted to achieve this, but some things were outside of his control.
Jin Mujie’s standard was so high, but her students were trash. Hence, she had failed and could only remain as a 3-star great teacher.
After Sun Mo returned to the villa, Dong He told him that Headmaster An wanted him to head to the headmaster office for a meeting.. There was a major matter that had to be discussed.