Chapter 66: An Xinhui’s Praise
“Interesting!”
Gao Ben stroked his chin before turning to leave. Sun Mo’s combat strength was ordinary, but his cultivation art seemed to be quite powerful. Nevertheless, he thought that Sun Mo was still far from sufficient to face him.
To Gao Ben, he basically didn’t have Sun Mo in his eyes. Liu Mubai was then his true opponent. As for Gu Xiuxun and Zhang Lan, they could only be considered half-opponents to him.
Right now, all of Gao Ben’s focus was placed on the first public lecture. He had to make his preparations and amaze everyone three days later.
Gu Xiuxun had planned to leave. But when she saw An Xinhui walking toward Sun Mo, she also came over.
“Well done.”
An Xinhui praised him with a smile in her eyes. Her voice had more gentleness and less pressure compared to before.
“Mn!”
Sun Mo casually responded. He didn’t feel abnormally happy after getting the praise from his fiance.
The people in the surroundings were slowly dispersing. But when those male teachers saw two great beauties standing beside Sun Mo, their eyes almost turned green from envy.
Luckily, Sun Mo could only eat one at most. No, maybe he couldn’t even eat any of them!
“Sun Mo, I know you are prideful. However, you shouldn’t clash head-on against Feng Zewen. No matter what, he is still a 1-star great teacher and is determined to make things difficult for you. You would suffer a disadvantage.”
Gu Xiuxun had a relatively good impression of Sun Mo. Hence, she tried to persuade him in passing. Sometimes, one had to learn when to retreat.
“If I don’t call out Feng Zewen, would Zhang Hanfu spare me?”
Sun Mo counter-asked.
Gu Xiuxun’s lips twitched. She silently mused ‘I’m warning you out of goodwill, what type of attitude is this?’ However, when she saw the look of praise on An Xinhui’s face, Gu Xiuxun’s expression immediately turned to one of shock.
“Did I miss something out?”
Gu Xiuxun pondered.
“I’m leaving!”
Sun Mo didn’t wish to waste time talking nonsense here. Thus, he waved his hands and turned to depart.
“Eh?”
Gu Xiuxun started. In the past, males would always find chances to get near her. Yet, this man actually ignored her to this extent? “Hmph, he must be playing mind games!”
An Xinhui had a puzzled look in her eyes. She found that she understood her childhood sweetheart lesser and lesser.
“Headmaster An, do you feel that he should clash against Feng Zewen?” Gu Xiuxun asked the question that was bewildering her.
“Yes.”
An Xinhui nodded.
Gu Xiuxun furrowed her brows. Ultimately, she was the honor graduate of the Myriad Daos Academy, and her intelligence wasn’t low. After thinking for a while, a look of understanding finally flashed on her face.
“I understand.”
Gu Xiuxun clapped her hands. “Sun Mo offended Zhang Hanfu. Hence, Zhang Hanfu will surely arrange for someone to find trouble for Sun Mo during the first public lecture. To Sun Mo, that’s an unknown enemy. He completely has no way to target the unknown opponent’s weakness and prepare his own defense. But after he provoked Feng Zewen and set an arrangement with him, it is clear who his opponent is.”
With Feng Zewen taking care of Sun Mo, Zhang Hanfu naturally wouldn’t find someone else to make trouble for Sun Mo. After all, the presence of a 1-star great teacher was enough to crush Sun Mo.
From Sun Mo’s point of view, Feng Zewen would surely be the one making things difficult for him. In that case, he could collect Feng Zewen’s information and understand his specialties until Sun Mo could launch his own ‘attacks’.
“That’s right!”
An Xinhui didn’t expect Sun Mo to have such intellect.
Ding!
Favorable impression from An Xinhui +1.
Prestige connection with An Xinhui: Neutral (4/100).
Gu Xiuxun glanced at Sun Mo’s departing back and no longer said anything. Her gaze was filled with shock. How could he calmly consider all of this when he provoked Zhang Hanfu? Wasn’t his endurance to pressure a little too strong?
An ordinary intern teacher would have been so frightened by Zhang Hanfu that their legs were trembling. Wrong, for ordinary intern teachers, even if they were full of guts, they would never dare to cross a vice-headmaster with such powerful authority.
Ding!
Favorable impression from Gu Xiuxun +3.
Prestige connection with Gu Xiuxun: Neutral (5/100).
Two systems notifications rang out continuously, causing Sun Mo to feel as though he had a windfall. However, just like with Yue Rongbo and Jin Mujie, it was truly very difficult to gain their admiration.
In truth, the more talented someone was, the more prideful they would be. If he wanted to gain their admiration and praise, he had to use his capabilities and give them a stunning performance.
...
Shade covered the school’s flagstone pathway.
Before Sun Mo, a golden book floated. With his will, the book flipped its pages automatically. Each of the pages was filled with robust yet beautiful and gentle words.
‘Shatter Soul Blade Art, average-grade mid-tier, fragmented’
‘Tongbei Long Fist, average-grade mid-tier, fragmented’
‘Bodhidharma Staff Art, average-grade mid-tier, fragmented’
Because Sun Mo’s Immemorial Vairocana was only at the elementary grade, he had to hit his target many times before a cultivation art could be revealed completely. Hence, all the arts he had now were fragmented.
“It’s useless even if they are the completed version!”
After glancing a few times at them, Sun Mo lost his interest. But then again after thinking about it, Zeng Jun was the descendant of an ordinary family, and he depended on his talent and hard work to reach his current point. If he had some powerful ultimate skills, he would have long since become famous.
“I remember Gao Ben has quite a high attainment in spear arts. His cultivation art is the Mystic Ice Spear Art passed down by his clan. Mn, I can find a chance and try to get that from him!”
Sun Mo was considering it, but he wasn’t in a rush to put his plan into action now.
The Immemorial Vairocana was truly a divine skill. Its power was immense but he also had to use it properly. If Sun Mo randomly and recklessly challenged others, he would be beaten to a pulp sooner or later.
“So, I still have to improve my cultivation and enhance my combat strength. As long as I can guarantee that, I will be in a situation where I won’t die. Only then would I be able to gain the ultimate arts of my opponent while using Immemorial Vairocana.”
Sun Mo touched the wooden blade as his eyes brightened.
This wooden blade was as expected of a spirit weapon. Earlier, despite the many clashes against another weapon, there was no damage to it at all. Sun Mo had thought that the wooden blade might end up cracking. However, it seemed that he was worried for nothing.
“Do you want to collect these three fragmented cultivation arts?” the system suddenly inquired.
“No need!”
Sun Mo shook his head. The cultivation manuals of these three arts could be easily found in any famous academies. There was no value in collecting them.
Pak!
The golden book immediately turned back into a golden facula before vanishing from sight completely.
Ding!
“Congratulations on defeating Zeng Jun and completing the mission. Reward: 1x black-iron treasure chest.”
A black-colored metallic chest appeared before his eyes. Even before Sun Mo could smile, another system notification rang out.
Ding!
“Congratulations. You defeated a teacher using martial might during your first actual battle and completed the hidden mission of the ‘perfect first time’. You have obtained 1x black-iron treasure chest as the reward!”
This was definitely an unexpected surprise.
Sun Mo was extremely happy. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “System, I didn’t expect you to be so generous!”
“It was just a minor accomplishment. After you are done with the initial-phase rewards, you won’t find it easy anymore.”
After pausing for a while, the system added, “Also, wasn’t it just two black-iron treasure chests? Look at how happy you are. Can you have some ambitions and get an accomplishment that would net you a golden treasure chest?”
“Scram!”
Sun Mo’s words were concise and comprehensive.
...
While the intern teachers had a meeting, the freshman students weren’t idle. Those who were prepared to join the school had to finish all the administrative procedures within two days and pay the school fee.
For those whose homes were further away and needed to stay in the school, they still needed to apply for the living essentials and register for a slot in the school’s dormitory before getting the key from the administrator so they could move in as early as possible.
If the bed or other items in the dorms had problems, the students had to report it to the administrator as quickly as possible. Either the damaged items were repaired or the student could change a dorm room. In any case, there were many administrative matters to settle.
Sun Mo was now also a teacher of Central Province Academy. Hence, he went to the administration area and said a few sentences to gain the entry list of new students. He then searched for Lu Zhiruo’s name.
In the female dormitory building, block 12, level 5, room 508...
Lu Zhiruo just drew a pail of water and was currently wiping the floor clean.
“Where are the others?”
Sun Mo cast a glance. This dorm wasn’t large, but there were eight bunk beds here. Three beds already had bedding spread out, but other than Lu Zhiruo, there was no one else here.
“Teacher Sun?” Upon seeing Sun Mo, Lu Zhiruo’s eyes became two crescent moons. “They went to tour the campus.”
“Mn!”
Sun Mo walked in. Lu Zhiruo’s clothing and other personal items were placed on a bottom bunk bed on the left side, which was by the window. That was her sleeping area. “Do you have enough money to spend?” asked Sun Mo.
“Eno...enough!”
Honestly, she didn’t have enough. Luckily, Lu Zhiruo still had a dagger that was not too bad in terms of craftsmanship. She had to temporarily put that up as a loan collateral. But as long as she paid the school fees within three months, she would be able to get her dagger back.
The Central Province Academy was still quite kind to students and didn’t attach too high of a value on money.
“Remember to tell me if it’s not enough.”
Sun Mo stroked Lu Zhiruo’s head. He could tell that this girl was too embarrassed to say anything. Although the Central Province Academy was a ‘D’ grade school, it used to be extremely famous. Hence, the school fees weren’t cheap.
From his judgment, Lu Zhiruo’s clan shouldn’t be a wealthy one.
“Father said that I have to learn to be self-reliant. I cannot always trouble you, sir!”
Lu Zhiruo shook her head. She was too innocent. A single sentence from her had exposed her situation. “I will go and work part-time while studying. I’ve also asked around and learned that there are scholarships available in the school. As long as my performance is good enough and can get into the top ten of the year in terms of results, I would be able to get the scholarship.”
“...”
Sun Mo was speechless. Her potential value was extremely low, even more inferior than Qi Shengjia. It would already be not bad if she could sustain for three months and didn’t quit school, yet she still wanted to think about getting a scholarship?
It seemed like it was imminent for Sun Mo to think of a way to get a source of money.
Sun Mo had a very good impression of Lu Zhiruo. Besides, she was his lucky mascot and could raise his luck stat, improving the odds whenever he opened a treasure chest. So no matter what, he had to think of a way to keep her by his side.
Upon thinking of this, Sun Mo began to stroke her head just like how one would stroke a cat. After that, his left eye blinked twice as he opened up the storage cabinet and summoned the three black-iron treasure chests out.
“Very good, you are the one then. Open!”
Males on the left, females on the right. Sun Mo chose to open the first one on the left.
A black-colored light flowed as a clicking sound rang out. The treasure chest opened and vanished, leaving behind a golden boat that quietly floated before his eyes.
“Woah!”
Sun Mo couldn’t help but whistle. It was actually a skill book!