Right now, Sun Mo had grasped a total of fourteen great teacher halos. He only lacked one to achieve the lowest requirement for participating in the 5-star great teacher examination.
The system had issued a mission. If Sun Mo helped the Central Province Academy to ascend to the ‘B’ grade, he would be able to obtain a great teacher halo for sure.
But it was best not to speak too far into the future. After all, the majority of Sun Mo’s personal students might be geniuses, but it was still too difficult for them if they wanted to enter the Hero Rankings by next year.
“Continue to open!”
Sun Mo instructed as he rubbed Lu Zhiruo’s head.
(Speaking of which, if I keep rubbing like that, would I use up all the luck of my lucky mascot?)
A seven-colored light glowed and a skill book that was shining with golden light appeared.
Ding!
“Congratulations on obtaining a spiritual divine language: Land Proof.”
“It can allow you to forcibly conclude a contract with any land-based lifeforms. Unless you take the initiative to cancel the contract or another spiritual divine language of equal rank is used on the spiritual beast, the spiritual beast won’t forsake you throughout their entire lives.”
The system’s voice was always so emotionless, but now it sounded like celestial music in Sun Mo’s ears.
Yet another spiritual divine language. In addition, this was Land Proof. This was simply a nuke as the range of usage was too broad.
Humans were also land-based lifeforms, and the majority of lifeforms they met would be land-based ones too. Hence, Land Proof could resolve many troubles.
Sun Mo was extremely happy. But he then thought about a blind spot. “System, is this spiritual divine language effective on humans?”
“Are you dreaming?”
The system was speechless. “Don’t blame me for not reminding you. A spiritual divine language can increase the success rate of you recruiting battle pets, but its success rate is not at 100%.”
“The more intelligent the lifeform is, the greater the chance of failure.”
For example, in the Dragon Subduing Palace, although Sun Mo knew Air Proof, if it wasn’t for the dragon soul wanting to escape from there and take the initiative to accept it, Sun Mo wouldn’t have succeeded.
“Alright then!”
Sun Mo’s lips twitched. He felt a little disappointed.
“Also, regardless of which type of contract you have with the spiritual beasts, you should treat them as battle companions and not cannon fodders that are expendable.”
The system was warning Sun Mo not to fantasize about spamming Land Proof to constantly capture battle pets to act as cannon fodder.
“Am I a scum?”
Sun Mo rolled his eyes. He rubbed Lu Zhiruo’s head as he spoke, “Continue.”
The last seven-colored diamond treasure chest was opened.
Hua~
Black-colored mist was like the tides, sweeping forth and directly engulfing Sun Mo, causing him to feel stifled instantly as he felt a heavy headache.
A puerile and mournful-sounding nursery rhyme echoed in his ears, causing his fine hairs to stand on their ends as his goosebumps appeared.
“What the hell?”
Sun Mo’s scalp turned numb. This feeling felt even more terrifying than watching the movie ‘Ju-on The Grudge’.
The black mist thinned and revealed a palm-size doll that was made from an unknown material. It looked like a block of wood, but at its chest area, there were pounding sounds akin to a beating heart. It was as though it was a living thing.
The wooden doll had its back facing Sun Mo. Just when he wanted to look at this thing’s face, it suddenly turned its head. Its neck was twisted 180 degrees as it stared at Sun Mo.
A malevolent pair of red eyes akin to vortexes almost drew Sun Mo’s soul in.
Ding!
“Congratulations on obtaining a substitute puppet.”
“This puppet was made using a piece of ancient divine wood that had been soaked in a mysterious blood fluid and augmented by witchcraft for three years.”
“After dripping the host’s blood on it, it will share its life together with the host. When the host encounters death, the substitute puppet will activate and be destroyed, blocking the impact of death a single time.”
“Note: After using the substitute puppet, the host would occasionally feel flustered and might have nightmares for several nights in a row.”
The system’s explanation also sounded sinister.
But after Sun Mo heard this, his spirits stirred and he almost ran two rounds around Lu Zhiruo due to his joy.
As expected of his lucky mascot, she was too ‘strong’!
With this item, it was equal to him having one more life.
As long as it was someone who played games before, who wouldn’t know how valuable it was to have one more extra life? Maybe, they would be able to clear the stage they couldn’t clear if they had one extra life.
“Can this item be purchased from the merchant store?”
Sun Mo asked.
“Nope, there won’t be in the future as well.”
The system wasn’t a god. For some powerful items, it also had limited stock and could only give them out as rewards.
It could only be said that this time around, Sun Mo’s luck was too good.
“Is the method to create such a puppet for sale?”
Sun Mo settled for the second-best.
“No.”
The system then persuaded, “Host, you shouldn’t be thinking about such unorthodox methods. Even if I gave you the blueprint and allowed you to have a high enough level of expertise in puppetry, you probably wouldn’t be able to finish collecting all the materials needed to make this thing in your entire life.”
“Mn!”
Sun Mo used his will and contacted the dragon soul as he introduced the substitute puppet. After that, he asked. “You have been alive for a long time. Have you heard of such a secret treasure before?”
“This should be a method of those from the ancient witch race. They like using gu-bugs, god’s blood, and souls to concoct various unimaginable and incredible secret treasures.”
The dragon soul explained.
“God’s blood?”
Sun Mo frowned. “There are gods in the Nine Provinces?”
“Eh? We referred to the blood of unknown, powerful, and mysterious creatures as god’s blood. They don’t really mean the blood of divinity.”
The dragon soul explained, “For example, the blood of a Saint can also be considered a type of god’s blood.”
Sun Mo’s interest was stirred. After sending Lu Zhiruo away, he had a long talk with the dragon soul the entire night.
Among the Nine Greats, there was one named the Myriad Spirits Academy that was located in Nanyue, at the southern end of the map. Miasma covered that place and poisonous bugs were everywhere.
The arduous living environment gave rise to their unique habits.
The people there used voodoo, witchcraft, and gu-bugs. All of these subjects were specialties of the Myriad Spirits Academy.
Barbarians were well known to be adept at fighting and were unafraid to death, even daring to fight one against ten thousand. However, people from the Central Plains would rather fight against the barbarians than offend those fellows from Nanyue who were proficient in witchcraft.
In the Central Plains, everyone referred to them as witch ghosts because they possessed unfathomable abilities.
In Nanyue, everyone was even more willing to address great teachers as ‘witches’!
Zhang Lan, who was employed during the same period as Sun Mo, was none other than a graduate from the Myriad Spirits Academy. She was a relatively beautiful woman, but because her face was covered in bizarre tattoos, her entire demeanor turned horrifying. Strangers would never want to communicate with her willingly.
…
Another week had passed, but Sun Mo’s popularity hadn’t faded yet. Right now, in the surrounding towns of Jinling, even three-year-old kids had heard of his name before.
All of them were working hard in order to become the next ‘Sun Mo’.
Sun Mo was already fed up with all those banquets. Just when he was thinking of an excuse so he could not go, a good reason appeared for him.
The ‘C’ graded league tournament was about to start.
The Saint Gate sent a notice. All ‘C’ graded famous schools had to gather in Qiushui City in the second level of Darkness Continent five days later.
If they were late, their qualifications to participate would be automatically revoked.
As for the competition content, the Saint Gate didn’t announce it. But they told all the schools that the number of participating great teachers per school was limited to twenty, but the number of participating students was unlimited.
The rank of the 20 great teachers also had further limitations.
6-star great teachers were the highest rank permitted, and only two of them could participate. After that, three pax for 5-star, four pax for 4-star, and there were no limits for those who were at 3-star and below. However, it is a must to have one pax for both the 2-star and 1-star ranking.
“Limiting the number of high-ranking great teachers is to prevent their strong combat strength from destroying the ‘fairness’ of the competition. After all, the higher the star-rank, the greater their influence on the competition would be.”
An Xinhui explained.
“The competition this time around is definitely very difficult. In the past, they would at most allow 5-star great teachers to participate, and the number was limited to one pax.”
Sun Mo nodded and expressed his understanding.
One pax for both 1-star and 2-star was because the Saint Gate wanted to see the talent reserve of the various schools. A chance to participate in the competition was also attractive to new great teachers.
“I don’t understand why the Saint Gate didn’t limit the number of students.”
An Xinhui frowned.
“We should just bring more!” Sun Mo suggested. “We won’t have to worry too much if we are prepared.”
“We can only do so then.”
An Xinhui sighed. They could only select the students according to the competition content after they reached Qiushui City.
In the past, An XInhui wouldn’t dare to do this because she wouldn’t be able to afford the travel fee.
“I wish to bring all my personal students along.”
Sun Mo wanted to let Li Ziqi and the others see more of the world.
“Sure. In any case, you don’t lack money.”
An Xinhui teased. “We should allow Xuanyuan Po, Baiwu, and Jiang Leng to participate in this I guess. Maybe, they would have the ability to ascend to the Hero Rankings by next year’s end.”
It shouldn’t be possible for Sun Mo to become the champion of the 4-star examination, but as long as Sun Mo obtained the title, it would mean he obtained four stars consecutively. This was absolutely a great honor in the great teacher world.
“I will do my best to protect them.”
In order to nurture Xuanyuan Po and the other two, An Xinhui was prepared to sacrifice the school’s resources.
Because competitions like these were extremely good in tempering the students.
“There’s no need for that.”
Sun Mo shook his head. “You shouldn’t be too optimistic. There are 72 famous schools in the ‘C’ grade, and the ten ranked at the bottom will descend down to the ‘D’ grade. There’s roughly a 1/7 chance. We might not be able to retain our grading.”
After An Xinhui finished discussing with Sun Mo, she immediately summoned the upper-echelons of the academy and called for a meeting. Secondary Saint Shi would stay behind to guard the school. An Xinhui would be the group leader, Wang Su would be the vice group leader, and they spent a day selecting a group that consisted of 100 pax before setting off.
On the fifth day, the group from the Central Province Academy finally arrived at Qiushui City after going through a teleportation formation and traveling for 100 miles.
“How majestic!”
As they stood before the city gates and looked at the city walls that were the height of countless people combined, the students were all incomparably shocked.
At this time, the various groups from the ‘C’ graded schools were gathered in Qiushui City. Because their meeting point would be the Qiushui public square, everyone chose to lodge near there. This immediately caused the hotels nearby to surge in price, up to five times compared to normal.
Luckily, Sun Mo didn’t lack money. He brought many spirit diamonds with him along for this trip as this item was considered hard currency in the Darkness Continent.
“It’s too extravagant.”
An Xinhui felt heartache. But the feeling of spending money was so good.
“Don’t make trouble. If there’s no need to, do not go out and just meditate in your rooms. If you guys have something you need to do, look for Teacher Lian first.”
Wang Su instructed the students.
Lian Zheng also came, but he wasn’t here to participate in the league tournament. He was helping out with the logistics.
Tonight was a quiet night. On the second morning, An Xinhui and Sun Mo headed to the branch of the Saint Gate.
In the grand meeting chamber.
There were already over a hundred people seated there.
These great teachers were chatting idly, but when the door was pushed open, and An Xinhui and Sun Mo entered, the meeting chamber instantly fell silent.
There was no solution to it. This couple…the girl was beautiful and the guy was handsome. They were simply a golden couple and their ‘killing prowess’ was too great! These great teachers just glanced over and couldn’t shift their eyes away.
The male great teachers were all mainly staring at An Xinhui, while the female great teachers just took a glance at her before immediately turning their gazes to Sun Mo. After that, many thoughts instantly flashed through their minds.
“Who is this? He’s so handsome!”
“From the school insignia, he seems to be a great teacher from the Central Province Academy.”
“There’s no need to look at their school insignia. That female is An Xinhui and the guy beside her who is around her age is naturally none other than Sun Mo.”
After a short period of silence, the great teachers in the meeting chamber broke into whispers.
Although Sun Mo’s current fame was very great, he had just gotten famous and many people had simply heard of his name but never seen him before. However, things were different from An Xinhui. When she was a student, she was already the campus queen of the Heavenly Mystery Academy and the top graduate, someone that could be nurtured as a candidate for the future headmaster.
After that, when she became a great teacher, An Xinhui got into the Beauty Rankings and her fame grew even greater. She was the dream lover of many male great teachers.
“Headmaster An, it has been several years since we last met. Is your grandfather still doing well?”
“Ah, Xinhui. You are also a great teacher now in the blink of an eye.”
“Good morning, Headmaster An!”
Some of those great teachers who were acquainted with An Xinhui stood up. She had had interactions with some of these people before.
An Xinhui responded to all of them in an appropriate manner. Lastly, she looked toward the great teacher who addressed her as ‘Xinhui’. “Aunty Zhou, how is uncle’s sickness?”
“Ai, it’s still the same old situation.”
The woman that was addressed as ‘Aunty Zhou’ was around 50+ years old. She was a vice headmaster of the Swallowsea Academy.
The two of them weren’t relatives. They knew each other because one of An Xinhui’s best friends was Aunty Zhou’s daughter.
“This is…?”
Aunty Zhou looked at Sun Mo and didn’t dare to make wild assumptions.
“Sun Mo. My fiance.”
An Xinhui spoke in a natural and unrestrained manner.
As the sound of her voice rang out, quite a few sighs of regret rang out from the crowd.
For such a beautiful woman like An Xinhui, as long as one was a man, how would it be possible that they didn’t have thoughts of chasing her? This was especially so for those young male great teachers. All of them felt regret and pity.
“As expected, it’s Teacher Sun. I’ve long since heard of your name!”
Zhou Pei’s attitude was very amicable. She then seamlessly praised. “Since Champion Sun is here, the Central Province Academy will definitely be able to rank among the best.”
Everyone here was a great teacher and knew some restraint. They wouldn’t admire An Xinhui so unbridledly. In addition, after they heard Sun Mo’s name, their gazes turned to him and they seriously surveyed him.
Because this man would undoubtedly become the greatest dark horse in this competition.
“Our Central Province Academy just entered the ‘C’ grade, so our request isn’t too high. It’s all good if we can retain our grading.”
An Xinhui said that Sun Mo was her fiance not because she wanted to brag that she had a three-time champion as her fiance. Instead, it was to avoid trouble.
Because, every year on this occasion, many male great teachers would come over in a bid to get acquainted with her. It was truly annoying to the max.
“Teacher Sun, I heard that you managed to escape from the hands of Saint Ten-Thousand Leaves. Could you describe the process back then?”
A great teacher spoke. Everyone immediately listened with rapt attention and bated breath, waiting for Sun Mo’s answer.
After all, a hegemon like Teng Wanye was truly too mysterious. Very few people had met him before.
Sun Mo, who sat down after finding a seat, shook his head.
Everyone was naturally reluctant to accept this. Just when someone was prepared to continue asking, another person pushed the door open and entered. When this person saw Sun Mo, he directly called out.
“Teacher Sun? Long time no see!”
The other party took large strides and came over, directly grabbing hold of Sun Mo’s hands.
