The longsword of the illusion was as quick as lightning, stabbing toward Ming Xian’s forehead. However, at the instant before it pierced into his flesh, the sword stopped.
A bright-red drop of fresh blood flowed down his nose.
“Haha, as expected, I’ve guessed it correctly.”
Ming Xian couldn’t help but laugh.
At this moment, he felt a strong sense of superiority. (As expected, I’m a genius. I passed all three rounds so quickly. That Sun Mo wants to dream about vying against me for that secret treasure of darkness? What a foolish fantasy! I can crush you with a single hand!)
Ming Xian mocked. However, he hurriedly shook his head and discarded this arrogant thought.
Ming Xian was a human as well. He would naturally be happy if he was stronger than others. However, he soon calmed down and maintained a humble heart.
No matter the opponent, there would always be things that he could learn from them.
“Very impressive!”
The gemstone’s consciousness praised.
“It’s just that your setup wasn’t perfect enough!”
Ming Xian pointed out the flaw. “For this round, it appears like we had to kill those illusions and would be able to pass the round doing so. Actually, this is not the case. If we do things according to this thinking, we would surely be fatigued to death.
“In that case, what’s the crux of this round? I feel that this must be a test of one’s judgment ability. Hence, after I observed carefully, I realized that those illusions would always avoid my vital spots when they used their ultimate skills. And when they were not using their ultimate skills, their attacks would all be aimed at my vital spots. However, I won’t die from a single strike of the normal attacks!”
“As long as this point is discovered, the answer is evident.”
After hearing Ming Xian’s explanation, Jia Wendong was suddenly enlightened. He then started cheering after that.
Although he knew Ming Xian wouldn’t be able to hear him, Jia Wendong still cheered as loud as he could. This was because he felt proud. Ming Xian was upholding the glory of Mingshao Academy.
“What’s there to be complacent about? My teacher will pass this round as well.”
Lu Zhiruo’s lips twitched.
“Can I continue with the fourth round?”
Ming Xian had a self-confident smile on his face. He liked this game a lot.
“There’s no fourth round!”
The gemstone’s consciousness replied, causing Ming Xian to start. After that, he revealed a look of joy on his face as he asked, “You are finally about to enter the field?”
“Yes. After passing through three rounds, you’ve gained the qualifications to fight against me. Please take out your most perfect performance and do not disappoint me!”
As the voice of the gemstone’s consciousness faded, the scene of the arena changed into a field for beasts to battle, made fully from stones and rocks.
These stones and rocks were filled with blood, scratches, and fragments of flesh. There were also pieces of broken swords and bones on the surface.
“A very good stage!”
Ming Xian slashed out a sword flower.
The gemstone’s consciousness materialized into a humanoid form. It had no features and had no sexual organs. It was like a human-shaped model made from clay.
After that, the battle erupted!
“Teacher, I’m cheering you on!”
Jia Wendong cheered.
…
“Eh, teacher also stopped moving!”
Lu Zhiruo called out in excitement.
Given Sun Mo’s standard, he naturally wouldn’t stand there unmoving in a daze. This meant that he had discovered the crux of this round.
“So what? Isn’t he still a beat slower compared to Teacher Ming?”
Jia Wendong was ultimately a student from Mingshao Academy. He was biased toward Ming Xian.
Naturally, he didn’t dare to say these words out loud. Because in his heart, Sun Mo was extremely impressive being able to reach this step.
“Don’t forget that my teacher started the third round a few minutes later than Teacher Ming. This meant that the time my teacher used to pass this round was quicker.”
Li Ziqi immediately countered.
“…”
Jia Wendong was left speechless. That was true.
In the arena, Sun Mo took away the wooden blade that stopped at his neck.
“Congratulations on passing the third round!”
The gemstone’s consciousness congratulated.
“Hehe!”
Sun Mo smiled. Strictly speaking, this round was even easier than the second round.
Why?
Because Sun Mo knew the Grand Universe Formless Divine Art. When he activated ‘copy’, the whole world would slow down. Hence, he easily discovered the clue.
“Congratulations, you have obtained the qualifications to fight me!”
Another faceless illusion appeared before Sun Mo. “If you win against me, you can acquire me. If you lose, you will die. Alright, as the reward for my admiration of you, you can attack first!”
The gemstone’s consciousness displayed its generosity.
Sun Mo didn’t move.
After waiting for an entire minute and seeing Sun Mo didn’t have the intentions to attack, the gemstone’s consciousness was puzzled. “Why?”
“Why don’t you guess?”
Sun Mo smiled mysteriously.
“That Ming Xian is already fighting against me, he’s one step before you. The amount of time I have for you truly isn’t a lot.”
The gemstone’s consciousness persuaded, “Actually, if I have to lose, I would rather lose to you!”
“Mn?”
Sun Mo was curious.
“Because you are more handsome than him!”
“I really have to praise this sentence!”
Li Ziqi smiled happily.
“Definitely!”
The papaya girl felt that the gemstone’s consciousness’s esthetic point of view wasn’t bad.
“Sorry, I’m only interested in the opposite sex!”
Sun Mo shrugged his shoulder. But then again, did this fellow have a gender? Well, it didn’t matter whether it had one or not.
Just given its illusion ability, after Sun Mo obtained it, wasn’t that equivalent to obtaining an omnipotent item that could transform into any person?
Leaving aside the superstars in his world, even if it was for 3D anime characters, he could create them whenever he wanted!
“Is gender important?”
The gemstone’s consciousness asked.
“Naturally. Different genders mixed together to reproduce, only love between them is true love!”
Sun Mo randomly spoke.
“…”
The gemstone’s consciousness fell silent. Such words had a great impact on it, and it wasn’t able to accept it in such a short time. But after thinking carefully about it, Sun Mo’s words seemed to make some sense.
The students, who were listening, were all in a daze when they saw Sun Mo and the gemstone’s consciousness suddenly started chatting.
“Alright, let’s not speak anymore. Fight me, as long as you win, your words will be correct!”
The gemstone’s consciousness urged.
“Stop playing tricks. For this round, no matter how I fight, I would definitely die!”
Sun Mo had a self-mocking smile on his face. “Given the strength you displayed, how is it possible for me to defeat you?”
“Haha, you are the first person who admitted defeat even before starting the fight. I suddenly feel a sense of reluctance to kill you. However, I apologize. You have to die.”
The gemstone’s consciousness finally revealed its true face.
“Why?”
Jia Wendong was shocked.
“Sigh, as expected!”
Li Ziqi sighed. Actually, she was already worried since earlier.
This secret realm had lasted for tens of thousands of years and was at the first level of the Darkness Continent. Some people must have been here before. In that case, there was no need to say anything about their endings. They had all died.
Among those people, some must be stronger than her teacher. After all, her teacher was too young and was only at the blood-ignition realm.
“You want to devour my consciousness?”
Sun Mo guessed, probing at the same time.
“That’s right.”
The gemstone’s consciousness didn’t conceal its intent because there was no need to. So what if these ants knew the truth of the world?
Sun Mo’s eyes brightened. As expected, this secret treasure had no way to leave this spire. Its understanding of the world depended on it devouring the consciousness of the invaders. If this was really the case, Sun Mo understood that his situation was very dire.
“I wish to ask something. How did you discover my true intention?”
The gemstone’s consciousness was curious.
“Earlier when I asked you to spare my student, you agreed readily. This indicated that you don’t really like killing. Since you didn’t plan to protect this place by keeping this place’s existence a secret, what was the purpose of this private game of yours?
“It should be for the sake of chasing amusement after suffering boundless boredom, right?
“Even if you were really ‘subdued’ by someone, it didn’t matter to you, right?”
Sun Mo analyzed.
“I’ll correct the last point. It matters!”
The gemstone’s consciousness emphasized. “I like being with people who love to think. If you guys are not great teachers, you would have been killed by me long ago.”
“I didn’t expect that you are actually a philosopher.”
Sun Mo couldn’t help laughing.
“What is a ‘philosopher’?”
Its interest was piqued.
“Those who love watching two muscular gays fighting are known as philosophers*.”
“Eh?”
If the gemstone’s consciousness had a face, it would definitely reveal a dumbstruck expression.
“Cough, cough. Philosophy is a type of academic discipline. Those who have too much idle time after eating would engage in it. Those who had no food to eat would also depend on engaging in philosophy to forget their hunger. Humans always loved to indulge in wild flights of fancy or random thinking. After that, some of them would really manage to think up some extremely deep and profound things.”
Sun Mo spoke nonsense.
“What logic is this?”
The gemstone’s consciousness continued asking.
“Have you heard of a saying before?”
Sun Mo lifted a finger. “When man plans, god laughs!”
The gemstone’s consciousness fell silent. Because it was a mental/spirit-type entity. In addition to devouring too many consciousnesses, it started to love thinking.
Sun Mo’s words caused a huge impact on it.
As for the other students, other than Li Ziqi showing a contemplative look on her face, they seemed confused.
“What are they talking about?”
Jia Wendong clearly couldn’t understand Sun Mo’s words at all.
“In that case, can I ask a few questions?”
The gemstone’s consciousness broke the silence.
“Please!”
Through the various clues, Sun Mo determined that it was impossible to subdue this secret treasure with martial force. The only way to subdue it was from the mental layer.
From the looks of things, his thought process was correct.
“Who am I?”
“Where did I come from?”
“Where am I going?”
The gemstone’s consciousness immediately launched the three questions of philosophy with a heavy tone. I felt as though it was discussing matters of life and death.
(It’s confirmed. This fellow is a nutcase!)
Sun Mo mentally mused. (If you have ever gone hungry for ten days to half a month and worried about where to get the money to buy milk powder for your baby daughter every time you woke up, you would never have asked such damnable questions.)
“Why? You also don’t know the answers?”
The gemstone’s consciousness’s tone was filled with disappointment. As expected, could no one answer these?
“For this type of question, the answers from each person would be different. Just as there are no two exact same leaves in the world, there would not be two exact same people.”
Sun Mo’s tone turned serious. “So, the world they see through their eyes will surely be different!”
The gemstone’s consciousness fell into deep thought again.
Sun Mo learned how to lecture before. One could use their expression and tone to influence the target. At this instant, he was doing his utmost to perform and was completely immersed in his performance.
“As for the secrets of the world, it’s not like you would know right away the moment I told you ‘my answers’. Rather, you need to look at the world, explore it, feel it with your heart, and comprehend things by yourself!”
Sun Mo spoke sincerely, “By continuing to stay here, you are just like a prisoner. You would never be able to understand this world even if you have an eternity!”
“The world is so vast, you should go around and take a look!”
At the end of his words, Sun Mo actually felt sympathy for this secret treasure of darkness. From his point of view, a person should really head out to take a look at the world.
The more things you saw in the world, the bigger your heart would be!
Bzz!
Sun Mo’s body suddenly shone with golden light.
The golden light cascaded to the surroundings.
At this instant, the gemstone’s consciousness’s heart that was shrouded in darkness seemed to be penetrated by the rays of golden light. A hint of dawn, akin to the tip of a sharp sword, pierced in, opening up its mental world.
[1] Philosopher (Internet slang): homosexual. From the Japanese practice of mistagging Billy Herrington videos as “philosophy” on Niconico Video.
