Spring was the most beautiful season in Jinling.
It was neither cold nor hot, with apricot flowers fluttering down, bringing beautiful scenery to the mountains and bamboo forest that looked lush and green!
The Central Province Academy’s students led a happy and fulfilling campus life. The senior students who were close to graduating were undoubtedly the happiest bunch of people.
Within two years, the Central Province Academy rose from ‘D’ grade to ‘B’ grade. The ones who benefited the most were them, the students. It was because the better the school they graduated from, the easier it was for them to find a job.
Humans had to find a way to survive before they could pursue their ideals.
Several students hadn’t made much progress on the path of cultivation. Rather than wasting time, they might as well learn some knowledge that would be helpful to their future life.
Therefore, upon entering the sixth year, the students would pick a suitable profession after assessing their condition.
With a skill, they wouldn’t have to fret over making a living after graduation.
Sun Mo’s great reputation in the school wasn’t just because of his glorious achievements. It was also because he had helped the Central Province Academy to get to its current status from the verge of getting delisted.
This was the most practical benefit to the students.
Therefore, when a student saw Sun Mo returning, they took the initiative to run off to report this. Hence, before Sun Mo came close to the school, he was already surrounded by many people.
“Teacher, when will you be starting lessons? I can’t wait anymore.”
“To think that Li Ziqi is so amazing? Teacher, you can’t be hiding things. Please impart us some experience too.”
“Teacher, what conditions are required to acknowledge you as our teacher?”
Sun Mo was good-tempered and easy to get along with. Therefore, quite a number of students dared to speak playfully with him.
“Teacher Sun is too tired. He’ll need to rest for three days.”
An Xinhui persuaded. “Everyone, you can go your way.”
It was a pity that no one listened.
At the sight of this scene, An Xinhui was caught between laughter and tears.
In the past, she was the signboard for the Central Province Academy, and her words were like an imperial edict. Everyone would heed what she said. But now, Sun Mo’s splendor was the greatest.
“Everyone can just go off. I’ll start giving lessons the day after tomorrow.”
Sun Mo felt a little conceited too.
He hadn’t experienced such great popularity before. To speak the truth, he did feel a little proud.
This was also considered as his life value had been recognized.
…
After returning to the headmaster office, An Xinhui took out a pile of invitations, piling them on the table. They stacked up to half a foot tall, looking like a small mountain.
“They are all invitations for you.”
An Xinhui smiled and said, “I’ve rejected those that can be rejected. But these are the ones that need to be dealt with. It’ll be useful for your future.”
“I understand!”
Sun Mo wasn’t a newbie who had just entered society. He knew that if he wanted to do well, the circle he was in was very important. At least, he had to maintain connections with a bunch of allies.
These invitations were all from trade associations as well as high-ranking officials and people with authority. The most important one naturally came from Li Xiu.
They were all major characters at the very top of Jinling.
It could be said that after this wave of gatherings and meals, Sun Mo would have truly entered the upper society. He’d have some say in how Jinling developed in the future.
When An Xinhui heard Sun Mo being so accepting, she heaved a sigh of relief.
She was really afraid that Sun Mo would act in a noble and aloof manner, feeling disdain toward wallowing in the mire of the secular world. That would be really bad.
By the looks of it, she had thought too much.
Although Sun Mo was young, he didn’t have a strong adherence to old ideas.
“I am considered a rentier now, right?”
Sun Mo mumbled.
“What?”
An Xinhui didn’t understand the meaning of this word.
“Oh, it refers to people who possess their own means of production and they will have an income even if they were to sleep all day.”
Sun Mo sighed.
In the modern world, he had had to work hard to save money for three months to even buy an expensive phone, let alone a house.
“Isn’t your ideal too low?”
An Xinhui rolled her eyes.
Ever since Li Ziqi broke the record and received a great teacher title, Sun Mo’s reputation soared tremendously. He had a lethal attraction to those major characters.
Not only could Sun Mo fight, but the students he taught were good at fighting too. This was the most terrifying thing.
Through the times, who didn’t crave to see their children attain success?
No parents would donate all of the family’s assets and leave them to their children if they saw that their children were ignorant and incompetent, being utter bastards.
Therefore, many major characters were contemplating to bring their children to acknowledge Sun Mo as their teacher.
In the Nine Provinces, all major characters had wives and concubines. As long as there wasn’t a problem with their bodies, who wouldn’t want to have a bunch of children?
Of course, they couldn’t hand over their most important successor to Sun Mo. However, they could give him the second-best. What if Sun Mo managed to nurture them into a talent?
It’d be a great win!
It’d be fine even if the child was to be wasted. Anyway, there’d still be the most important one to back things up.
“I saw quite a number of people at the school gates earlier. They are all servants from distinguished families. You’ll only have silence for at most an hour and then you’ll be very annoyed.”
An Xinhui teased.
Sun Mo was only 3-stars now, and so the competition wasn’t that great yet. If his reputation were to increase a little more, the sill would definitely be flattened.
“I’ll go to Old Master Zheng’s place!”
Sun Mo didn’t know about the rules in this kind of top-notch circle. He had no idea whom he could reject and whom he couldn’t. An Xinhui was probably about the same. Therefore, he had to go look for Zheng Qingfang about it.
“En, you can rest for a few days first. After you recover, I’ll impart you the Great Dreams Heart Sutra!”
An Xinhui had wanted to teach it to Sun Mo long ago. However, this childhood friend of hers never showed interest in it.
“Let’s talk about this in the future!”
Sun Mo didn’t mind.
“Then what about Ziqi?”
An Xinhui’s expression was solemn.
The Great Dreams Heart Sutra was the Central Province Academy’s ultimate divine art. There were strict benchmarks for imparting such a cultivation art. The reason An Xinhui brought this up was because there was no problem with the little sunny egg’s loyalty. Moreover, she was Sun Mo’s eldest martial disciple, and she had broken a record too. Of course she had to be rewarded.
“The cultivation art is yours. You decide. But there’s no problem with Ziqi’s aptitude and loyalty.” Sun Mo smiled. “I believe that she won’t betray me in this lifetime!”
Sun Mo thought to himself that the amount of favorable impression points the little sunny egg had contributed was almost to the extent of her worshipping him.
There was no way that she’d betray him. He was so gentle and such a genius. And most importantly, he had such a good eye for others. Ziqi liked to be with him a lot.
Alright, he might be flattering himself too much.
However, Sun Mo had unconditional trust in Li Ziqi, Lu Zhiruo, as well as Ying Baiwu. He had half his trust in Jiang Leng and one-third in Helian Beifang. As for the others, Sun Mo didn’t dare to give any assurance.
The betrayal Sun Mo was referring to wasn’t the type where a person stabbed you in the back. It was that they might not choose to stand by his side when they were torn to make a decision.
Take Helian Beifang for example. Sun Mo knew that this was a young man who had a great sense of glory for his tribe.
The reason he came down to the Central Plains was to learn how to make his tribe stronger. If there came a day when Sun Mo wanted to wipe out his tribe, Helian Beifang would choose to attack him.
As for Xianyu Wei, she hadn’t ascertained her perspectives yet.
It was very likely that she might take up a crooked path and be misled, thereby becoming his enemy.
It was the same for the others. However, that’d definitely not happen to Li Ziqi and the other two girls. They didn’t seem to care what was right or wrong, nor if he was righteous or not. Even if he was a great devil, they’d still stand firmly by his side, using their lives for their teacher’s glory.
To put things more simply, they were die-hard fans. Even if he were to do something bad, they’d come up with a bunch of reasons to prove that he was right.
…
After a short chat with An Xinhui, Sun Mo set off for Zheng Qingfang’s place.
Sun Mo arrived. Before he got off the horse, the doorman had already sent someone to inform Old Master Zheng. He himself also quickly opened the main door.
“Who has come to pay Prime Minister Zheng a visit?”
When the passersby saw this scene, all of them were very surprised.
Only when very important guests came to visit would such distinguished clans open the main door to welcome the guests as a show of their respect.
“Great Teacher Sun, congratulations, congratulations. Your great disciple has broken the record and received the great teacher title!”
The doorman pulled the reins and smiled, saying auspicious words.
“No wonder. So it’s Sun Mo!”
“Wow, how handsome! I’m in love, in love! I won’t marry anyone other than him in this lifetime!”
“Step aside. This is the hottest new star in the entire great teacher world. You won’t get the chance.”
The passersby crowded around to watch. All of them felt that Three-time Champion Sun was really deserving of his name.
Putting aside how strong he was, just his demeanor alone was befitting of the words ‘great teacher’.
Sun Mo didn’t bring any silver with him. He took out a piece of jade pendant and tossed it to the servant.
“Thank you Great Teacher Sun for the bestowal.”
The doorman’s voice was dragged out for very long.
At the same time, he clutched tightly onto the jade pendant. (I’m going to put it up as a family heirloom. I hope that I’d be able to absorb Sun Mo’s celestial air and there’d be a great teacher amongst my descendants.)
Sun Mo had just entered through the door when Zheng Qingfang, dressed in casual clothing, came out to welcome him.
“Prepare dishes! I’m going to have a few drinks with my young friend!”
Zheng Qingfang was very happy.
Not long later, the two of them sat down and had a few rounds of drinks.
“What kind of person can’t be offended?”
After Zheng Qingfang heard Sun Mo’s words, he was amused. “Young friend, you probably don’t know your status now, right? Don’t worry, other than Li Xiu, there’s currently no one in Jinling whom you can’t afford to offend.”
“Uncle Zheng, don’t be joking!”
Sun Mo didn’t dare to think so highly of himself.
“Trust me, even if you were to lash out at those major characters, all of them would listen to you attentively and willingly!”
Zheng Qingfang emptied his cup again. “As for taking in disciples, there’s no need to care about those people’s identities. If you take a liking to them, then just take them in. If you don’t, then get them to scram.
“Who are you? You’re the princess’s personal teacher! With Her Highness’s status there, who’d dare to create trouble?”
Matters involving the royal family were the hardest to tackle.
Li Ziqi had stayed in Jinling for two years, not returning to the palace. Due to this, the major characters from the upper echelon with a sharp sense of smell had started to doubt if the emperor still doted on her.
Otherwise, why did he not ask about her?
If that was the case, then they mustn’t have their members become martial siblings with Li Ziqi in case they got detested by His Majesty. But now, Li Ziqi had proved that she was outstanding.
How could one’s parents not love a child like this?
The doting on Li Ziqi would definitely go another notch higher. Therefore, this was another reason why those major characters were so anxious to get their clan members to study under Sun Mo.
“While we’re talking about this, young friend, I don’t expect you to take my grandson as your disciple, but I’d still like to ask you to take care of him a bit.”
Zheng Qingfang got up and bowed at Sun Mo respectfully.
“Uncle Zheng, you’re standing too much on ceremony.”
Sun Mo quickly got up from his seat. “If you don’t mind, you can let that little fatty come in and acknowledge me as his teacher!”
“You mustn’t! You mustn’t!”
Zheng Qingfang rejected. “I appreciate your kind intentions. But you’ll definitely be a great teacher who will strive to become a saint in the future. My grandson’s aptitude is mediocre. It’ll be more harmful to him if he were to really become your personal disciple.”
Sun Mo expressed that he didn’t mind, but Zheng Qingfang firmly refused.
After the two of them finished their meal, Sun Mo went back home.
Madam Zheng, who had been waiting anxiously, dashed out and kept on complaining.
“Why did you refuse? Do you know how many people want to acknowledge Sun Mo as their teacher?”
“A woman’s shortsightedness!”
Zheng Qingfang said in disdain, “If Sun Mo were to take him in, the little bit of relationship between us would be depleted. Given that rascal’s temperament and aptitude, he’d definitely make mistakes. Do you think that Sun Mo will chase him out of his wing then?
“It’s quite good enough for him to be an external student and get help from Sun Mo if he were to encounter trouble!”
Zheng Qingfang was speechless. (Even if our grandson were to study under Sun Mo, he wouldn’t become a talent either. The reason I entrusted him to Sun Mo is just to look for a backing.)
(The greater Sun Mo’s reputation was, the more people wouldn’t dare to bully our people.)
…
Sun Mo couldn’t stand such social niceties after just two days, having to wear a mask as he spoke. He ended up using the excuse of him trying to strive for the Longevity Realm that he closed the doors and refused guests.
This created another commotion.
They discovered to their surprise that Sun Mo was already a strong expert who was at the ninth level of the Divine Force Realm.
If he were to improve further, he’d reach the Longevity Realm.
To many cultivators, the Longevity Realm was their lifelong goal. Even if they could only live for another ten years, they’d be satisfied.
But what about Sun Mo?
He was only 22 years old.
It was known to everyone that the younger one was when they entered the Longevity Realm, the slower their rate of aging. It could be said that even after Sun Mo reached 300 years old, his appearance would probably still look like a 30-year-old’s.
Of course, one’s body functions were the most important.
Think about it. Having one’s appearance sustained at its peak for a duration of 300 to 400 years really made everyone envious. They could get high and had plenty of fun at the brothels, going on for multiple rounds in one night.
This was life.
On the other hand, some cultivators had barely managed to get into the Longevity Realm when they were close to 100 years old. Their teeth could no longer bite through the meat; their peeing force would get weaker due to age. What meaning would there be to life then?
Suddenly, Sun Mo’s talent became the envy of many, especially those old men.
Therefore, everyone started to prepare great gifts. They wanted to wait for Sun Mo to come out from his seclusion so that they could pay him a visit and asked him for cultivation tips.
Liu Mubai and Fang Wuji, the twin jade annulus of Jinling who had been popular for close to ten years?
Sorry, things had died out for them in less than a year.
Right now, Sun Mo was the number one teacher in Jinling, the strongest signboard. Moreover, praises about him had started to spread to other places.
Some people even boasted that he was the Great Tang’s number one great teacher.
He had been able to use close to two years to teach Li Ziqi, whom even a secondary saint had viewed as trash, into the youngest great teacher in history. Who would still dare to say that Sun Mo wasn’t the Great Tang’s number one great teacher?
This was a glorious achievement attained from stepping on a secondary saint.
Therefore, before the annual time for new students to register, many parents had brought their children here, leading to Jinling’s hotels facing a shortage of available rooms and thereby a rise in housing prices.
With more outsiders coming in, basic needs such as clothing, food, housing, and transport expenditures also rose with Jinling’s economy.
Many ordinary people had children with mediocre talent and thus were unable to get into the Central Province Academy. However, this didn’t stop them from feeling grateful to Sun Mo. It was because they managed to earn money thanks to him.
This was especially so for the people who were involved in the food and hotel trades.
Therefore, Sun Mo’s reputation rose by another level.
Sun Mo was completely oblivious to this. It was because his striving for a breakthrough had also reached a critical phase.
