This primitive forest had a lush crown. If one looked down from the sky, it would look like a massive green carpet. After the sunlight was gone, the evening also came earlier.
“It’s not that you’ve led the wrong way, but that there’s a problem with the terrain here.”
Helian Beifang explained.
They didn’t have a concrete destination so they could go wherever they wished to. However, there was a mishap here.
“What’s going on?”
Li Ruolan looked excited. What she wanted was such accidents, such dangers. Otherwise, what could she write when she returned?
Seeing Sun Mo looking over, Helian Beifang reported in a soft voice, “The sun’s direction isn’t right. We seem to have been going around in circles the entire day.”
“Ghost hits the wall [1]?”
Li Ziqi’s eyes lit up. She had read about such a phenomenon before and had long since wanted to experience this herself.
“Ghost?”
Xuanyuan Po clenched silver-chan tightly, wanting to catch one.
Ying Baiwu and Jiang Leng instantly raised their weapons and kept their guards up.
Sun Mo observed his personal disciples, feeling satisfied with their performance.
“I don’t know how to explain this. I’ve been living in the great plains since young and have great confidence in my sense of direction.”
Helian Beifang couldn’t explain things as he relied on his intuition.
Everything was vast and endless on the great plains. One could only not get lost by relying on obvious landmarks. However, Helian Beifang didn’t need those.
The few of them looked toward Xianyu Wei.
“I… I get lost easily.”
Xianyu Wei looked awkward.
Sun Mo looked around and activated his Divine Sight.
Darkness primitive forest, dangers lurking everywhere.
Other than these words, there was no other information.
“You guys set up the camp. I’ll check out the vicinity!”
Xuanyuan Po volunteered.
“I’ll go with you!”
Jiang Leng was in charge of scouting in the group.
“No. If what Helian said is right, you guys will likely get lost.”
Sun Mo refused. “It’s late. Set up the camp first. This will be it for today.”
After giving out the orders, Sun Mo ordered the scarab to search the surroundings, getting it to go further away. Anyway, he could still summon it back through the spiritual control technique.
After dinner, the night came down.
The forest was silent. There was only the sound of the wind that caused the leaves to rustle.
Sun Mo started to teach the students next to the campfire.
Li Ruolan held onto a small booklet and took notes with interest. It was because what Sun Mo was teaching was neither the study of spirit runes nor the art of spiritual control. It was an article written by someone called Sun Tzu.
This lesson was interesting.
It was because these articles taught people how to fight wars and gain victory in a battle.
“In all kinds of war, the direct method can be used to win one battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure a complete victory. Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams…”
Sun Mo said fluently.
Not all of his students were interested in spirit runes or spiritual control. If he were to talk about them, he’d be wasting the time of the students who didn’t like these two subjects.
Other than these, what Sun Mo knew was all modern world knowledge. A large part of them couldn’t be taught. Thankfully, he read books often as a form of leisure and especially liked Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
This could be used for teaching. After all, even though the people in Middle-Earth Nine Provinces didn’t fight a lot of battles, they fought a lot. It could be put to use.
“In fighting, the greatest taboo is to conform to order. That’s because the opponent will be able to guess your next move. Always remember, don’t let other people figure out what you’re thinking.”
Sun Mo couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief after seeing that the students were listening seriously. But when his gaze landed on the combat addict, he frowned.
This guy wasn’t paying attention.
“Xuanyuan, what are your thoughts after hearing this?” Sun Mo asked.
“It’s too troublesome. Why not just charge forward?” Xuanyuan Po’s lips twitched.
Sun Mo shook his head. “Ziqi, what do you think?”
“Impeding the enemy head-on, attacking the enemy by surprise. One can only gain victory when combining both straightforward and surprising moves.”
Li Ziqi gave it some thought. “In war, one must not only win but also gain victory at the smallest price. It’s because every soldier is a precious life.”
“That’s right.”
Sun Mo nodded. “Xuanyuan, if you don’t change the way you think, you’ll forever only be a fierce general that charges at the very front. You’ll never be the commander.”
“I don’t want to be the commander. That’s too troublesome.”
Xuanyuan Po looked impatient and got up. “Teacher, I want to go and cultivate.”
“Junior Martial Brother Xuanyuan, listen to it for a little longer. These battle tactics can be used in individual battles as well.”
Li Ziqi persuaded.
(There are three beautiful female great teachers listening in. How awkward will it be for Teacher if you just walk away like that?)
“I believe in breaking through everything with strength.”
After saying that, Xuanyuan Po walked into the forest without turning back.
“Don’t go off too far.”
Sun Mo instructed before looking toward Xianyu Wei. In terms of pure strength, there was no one as domineering as this girl.
“Teacher, don’t pay him any heed. Can you tell us more?”
Helian Beifang looked at Sun Mo with anticipation. He had taken out a small booklet long ago and was taking notes seriously.
“You’re interested in battle formations?”
Sun Mo felt curious.
“The reason I came to the south from the plains is because I want to see what kind of talents are being nurtured on the precious Central Plains’ land that is vast and rich in resources.”
Helian Beifang’s tribe didn’t have a big population and they led bitter lives. Therefore, he wanted to learn the Central Plains’ systems to raise his tribe’s strength.
“Your tribe is too small and the Jin Country only has a history of 100 years, not yet entering a decline. Junior Martial Brother Helian, even if you’ve learned dragon-slaying techniques, you won’t be able to put them to use.”
Tantai Yutang persuaded, “You should put your efforts into your cultivation.”
“Sun Mo, where did you hear this Sun Tzu’s Art of War from? Why haven’t I seen it before?”
Li Ruolan felt curious.
Mei Ziyu and Murong Mingyue also turned to assess Sun Mo. If a book of such caliber was written, it’d definitely be very popular and wouldn’t remain unknown.
“My father found it in some ruins in the Darkness Continent.”
Sun Mo came up with a white lie.
“Your father is really lucky.”
Li Ruolan asked after some hesitation. “Can I take a look at the original?”
“Sister Ruolan, your request is a little overboard.”
As the eldest martial sister, Li Ziqi naturally had to safeguard Sun Mo’s properties. It was a great loss to let someone listen to one lesson from a book like this, let alone allowing the person to read it.
It was because it was too precious.
Li Ruolan waited for a few seconds, and seeing that Sun Mo had no intention of speaking up, she quickly apologized. “I’m sorry for being abrupt.”
In her heart, the beautiful female reporter felt a little disappointed.
Sigh!
(Why is it that my exquisite look isn’t able to capture Sun Mo’s heart?)
However, after glancing at Mei Ziyu and Murong Mingyue from the corner of her eyes, she accepted things.
These two ladies were no worse off than she was, let alone that there was An Xinhui.
“I’ll be giving a test now. Starting from Zhiruo, each of you, share your thoughts.”
Sun Mo instructed.
“Hmmm? Am I the first?”
Lu Zhiruo frowned slightly, trying hard to rack her brain. After thinking about it for a few minutes, she came up with this. “That Sun Tzu is really amazing! It’s just that his name is too weird. Even if his parents hadn’t gone to school, they shouldn’t have come up with such a name.”
“…”
Sun Mo’s lips twitched a little.
“Huh? Am I wrong?”
The papaya girl looked confused.
“Sun Tzu’s actual name is Sun Wu. The reason he is called Sun Tzu is because ‘tzu’ is a respectable address for someone with good knowledge and culture.”
Sun Mo explained.
He had forgotten that things were different from the modern world. The Nine Provinces had real Saints and didn’t treat ‘tzu’ as a form of respectable address.
“What a strange respectable address. Then doesn’t that mean that Teacher has the right to be called Sun Tzu as well?”
Lu Zhiruo scratched her head. “I feel that it’d be cursing you!”
“Don’t speak recklessly. I don’t have the right to carry the word ‘tzu’ behind my surname.”
Sun Mo thought to himself that this was really the case. In reality, if one wished to draw hatred to themselves, they could just say ‘Hi, grandson[2]’ and there’d be a conflict breaking out.
Other than the papaya girl who was stupid and saw things differently, the other students’ answers were very decent. Sun Mo explained things to them in order.
In the end, he concluded things.
“Although the main theme of these examples is to introduce one chapter of Sun Tzu’s Art of War, you guys can also learn the outlooks of it.”
When Sun Mo spoke about Sun Tzu’s Art of War, he’d provide classic battle examples. After all, books like the Three Kingdoms were well-known to all the children in China.
That was right. He could talk about this as well.
“Outlooks”
The papaya girl felt that these terms were very profound.
“It’s referring to one’s outlooks of the world, of values, and of life. At your age, you should be establishing the correct outlooks.”
Sun Mo smiled. “Alright, we won’t be able to finish this topic in a short time. We’ll talk about a story called the Three Kingdoms in the next lesson.”
“The name sounds very impressive!”
Ying Baiwu liked stories like these.
Li Ruolan sized up Sun Mo, feeling that his teaching style was very different from the other great teachers. Firstly, his attitude was very amicable and the content he taught was very novel. She was considered a well-learned person, but she had never heard of something like outlooks before.
“You guys can discuss this amongst yourselves!”
Sun Mo got up. Although he had received 3,000 favorable impression points, he wasn’t in a good mood because he had lost the Holy Pharaoh.
According to their agreement, it should come back around this time, but it didn’t.
Therefore, Sun Mo used the spiritual control technique, but he still couldn’t summon the Holy Pharaoh over. This showed that there was a mysterious power in this place that cut off summoning.
It was late and it was pointless for him to feel anxious. Therefore, Sun Mo told everyone to make good use of the time to get a good rest.
The next day, the sky had just lit up when Sun Mo woke everyone up, announcing that they’d be setting off.
Sun Mo made plenty of markings on their way and also had everyone take note of the surroundings.
“Helian, how is it?”
Sun Mo would ask this once every half an hour.
“I can’t find the critical point.”
Helian Beifang was very gloomy. He had a strange feeling, but he couldn’t put it into words.
Everyone walked around in the forest for the entire day. They found some medicinal plants and also killed several dozen species of darkness, and thus could be considered to have some small success. However, they knew that they were trapped in a maze.
During this time, Sun Mo had summoned Little Silver and succeeded on the first try. However, when he had Little Silver search for the exit to this forest maze from the sky, he lost connection with it.
Another day passed by.
During dinner.
“Will we end up wasting a whole month here?”
Lu Zhiruo felt very reproachful. She shouldn’t have pointed out this direction for them. Daddy Heaven didn’t like her.
“I’m just afraid that we might not be able to get out even after one month has passed.”
Tantai Yutang’s lips twitched. “I’m a dying person after all, so it doesn’t matter to me. But you guys still have lots of youth and years ahead of you.”
“Tantai, can you not make such jokes?”
Li Ziqi reproached, having the demeanor of being the eldest martial sister.
“All of you, come over and sit down. We’ll be starting today’s lesson.”
Sun Mo spoke up, “The gushing water of the Yangtze River poured and disappeared into the East, washing away past heroes [3]. This time around, we’re talking about the struggle and supersession of a dying dynasty. It is also a song that praises countless heroes and great generals.”
Sun Mo’s voice was warm, rich, and calm, like the sunlight on a spring day. It made one’s worrying and nervous feelings calm down unknowingly.
“It really gives off a sense of security to be with Teacher!”
Lu Zhiruo sat at the side, propping her head up with both hands, tilting her head slightly and looking at Sun Mo with an admiring gaze. She really hoped that this time could continue on.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion [4],
Oath of the Peach Garden [5]…
Even Li Ruolan and the other two great teachers were listening attentively, not wanting to miss out on a single word, let alone the students.
The night in the forest was warm and gentle.
“Alright, we’ll stop here for today. Everyone, have an early rest.”
Sun Mo looked at his students. “I’ll give you an assignment. In this story, what have you seen and which character do you like?”
“I like Zhang Jue. The Yellow Heaven [6] rises, the people are happy, the world is at peace. This is really very domineering.”
Helian Beifang was full of praise.
Sun Mo suddenly felt a little worried. He couldn’t have brought up an ambitious character who’d rise in troubled times, could he? After all, who would like Zhang Jue after reading the Three Kingdoms?
People would usually like Master Guan [7] or at least the ferocious Zhang Fei!
“It’s still early. Tell us more!”
Li Ruolan pleaded. “Otherwise, who’d be able to sleep if you leave us hanging like this?”
“That Dong Zhuo is definitely a bad guy.”
Li Ziqi said confidently, “He went to the capital. The emperor is going to be in trouble.”
“I’m not saying anymore. Take a rest and restore your energy. We’ll need to break out of this maze tomorrow. ”
Sun Mo took a glance at the little sunny egg. As expected of a royal princess, her sense of danger was very sharp.
“Huh? Teacher has a way out?”
Xianyu Wei wanted to know.
“My idea isn’t too mature yet. We’ll see tomorrow.”
Sun Mo didn’t know that this maze was man-made and thought that it was formed naturally. Therefore, he wanted to improve his plan and try to succeed on the first attempt.
If there were enemies, he’d kill them with one blow, not letting them patch their plan.
Nothing happened for the entire night and daylight came.
The group went on their way, continuing to explore the place.
Sun Mo still didn’t manage to get in contact with the Holy Pharaoh and Little Silver. However, to his surprise, he heard combat sounds.
“Let’s go and take a look!”
When Sun Mo’s group arrived at the scene, they realized that it was still the 25-men team from Bozi Academy that was led by Zou Qi.
“Are you guys lost as well?”
Lu Zhiruo was simple-minded and didn’t have her guards up against others. When she saw ‘companions’, she asked.
At such a time, the group members weren’t allowed to talk to others easily without Zou Qi’s orders. But Sun Mo had gotten the answer from their gazes.
They were trapped too.
“Teacher Zou, do you want to share information?”
Sun Mo asked.
Zou Qi fell silent. Two days ago, he had scolded these people and caused their relationship to be very tense. Wouldn’t it make him appear very useless if he were to agree to a cooperation now?
Moreover, he was a 5-stars great teacher. Although Sun Mo had a great reputation, he was still a 3-stars after all. It’d make him appear low class to concede like this.
“No need.”
Zou Qi refused. He felt that if Sun Mo had a solution, he wouldn’t have been trapped here and asked for cooperation.
“Hehe, I’m really scared that you’ll agree!”
Sun Mo threw Li Ziqi a glance without any traces.
