Chapter 98: A Small Goal
Sun Mo got everyone to gather around into a small circle and sat down.
Li Ziqi snatched away the seat to the left of Sun Mo. The countries in the nine provinces were the same as Huaxia’s ancient days where the ones on the left were revered.
Of course, the eldest martial sister would have to be ranked first.
Lu Zhiruo lowered her head and sat down on Sun Mo’s right side, her hand clutching onto his sleeves.
Although the papaya girl didn’t say anything, everyone else, except for Xuanyuan Po whose brain was filled with nothing but muscles, understood what she meant. ‘I’m just going to be sitting next to Teacher. I won’t budge no matter what.’
Both Jiang Leng and Xuanyuan Po casually found a seat. Tantai Yutang was left and his seat happened to be directly facing Sun Mo.
“In the future, everyone will be studying together under me. We’ll do a round of introduction to get to know each other!”
Sun Mo looked around and quietly observed everyone’s expression.
Li Ziqi was also assessing the others.
“Just share your interests, specialties, as well as your future goals.”
Sun Mo lowered the requirements. It would be asking for too much to get people who were meeting each other for the first time to talk without any restraints.
“I’m the eldest martial sister, I’ll go first!”
Li Ziqi raised her hand. “I’m Li Ziqi, 13 years old. I like everything and want to try everything. My specialty? It should be memorizing stuff!”
“Hmm? That’s such a coincidence. I’m good at memorizing stuff too!”
Tantai Yutang blinked.
“Hehe!”
Li Ziqi was thinking in her heart. (I can remember everything I’ve taken a glance of. Can you do that? When I was six, I had already memorized close to one million books in the Hall of Worthies.)
That was right, she hadn’t just read them. She had completely memorized and remembered them.
“Continue!”
Tantai Yutang understood the confidence in Li Ziqi’s eyes, but he didn’t rebut. They’d be able to find out in the future.
“Goal?”
Li Ziqi frowned slightly. After taking a look at Sun Mo, she spoke up, “I wish to build the biggest library in Middle-Earth. As long as they are books in the nine provinces, they could be found there!”
This goal was very surprising to be honest. Putting aside Tantai Yutang and the other three, even the battle freak Xuanyuan Po couldn’t help but assess Li Ziqi with a serious gaze for the first time.
“It’s a great goal!”
Sun Mo clapped.
A librarian was a legendary occupation!
“Don’t you think that I don’t have a serious goal?” Li Ziqi asked doubtfully.
To the people in the nine provinces, one should work hard in their cultivation and pursue the extremity of power, shattering space and attaining immortality. The other option was to become a saint of a generation. Only then would it mean that their life hadn’t been wasted.
Li Ziqi’s goal had diverted from the values that the mainstream society had.
“I wouldn’t.”
Sun Mo smiled. “Compared with following the crowd, I admire you for having your own goal!”
Sun Mo could tell that Li Ziqi wasn’t joking.
“Hehe!”
Li Ziqi was very happy.
This was the first time that someone had complimented her. She had shared her dream with her father and aunt in the past, but they were clearly dissatisfied with her even though they hadn’t scolded her.
“Zhiruo is next!”
Sun Mo said.
“I... I...”
Lu Zhiruo mumbled with a soft mosquito-like voice. After raising her head to take a quick glance, she immediately lowered her head again, dawdling and wanting to hide behind Sun Mo.
Sun Mo shook his head. The papaya girl was shy. Given her character, how was she going to survive in the future? Was she going to coop herself up at home all the time?
(I know you have big busts, but that doesn’t mean that you can do things as you wish to this degree.)
“If you can’t do a self-introduction, I’ll chase you out of my wings!”
Sun Mo threatened.
“No!”
The innocent papaya girl clearly believed his words and her expression appeared anxious. Her eyes had turned a little red and there were tears in them.
“Then do a self-introduction!”
Sun Mo had met quite a number of students with such mental barriers. The way to overcome it was to take the first step.
“I... I’m called... Lu Zhiruo.”
The papaya girl mumbled.
“Louder!”
Sun Mo frowned.
“My interests are to feed cats, listen to birds singing, and talk to plants.”
Lu Zhiruo’s words caused everyone to be stunned. Even Jiang Leng, who seemed as cold as a corpse and didn’t have any friends, started to pity her.
“Aren’t you too lonely? Even someone like me has two friends!”
Xuanyuan Po was speechless. “Are those considered interests? It just means that you have no friends and can only play with plants. If it gets worse, even cats and dogs might despise you.”
“They don’t. Cats like to eat the food I feed them!”
Lu Zhiruo retorted. After saying that, she quickly lowered her head again, tugging so hard at her sleeves that her joints seemed to be turning pale.
“What are your specialties?”
Li Ziqi tried to save the situation.
“To... to speak with small animals!” Lu Zhiruo replied.
Jiang Leng raised his hand slightly, wanting to pat the papaya girl’s shoulder to console her. However, at the thought that guys and girls should keep their distances, he put down his hand again.
“Oh, I have good instincts, and... and, there are times when I can hear sounds that other people can’t.”
Lu Zhiruo was worried that she’d be looked down upon and tried hard to think of things she was good at.
“Was it your invisible friends talking?”
Tantai Yutang sneered.
Li Ziqi immediately glared at the sickly guy, giving him a warning gaze to indicate him to shut up.
“That’s amazing.”
Sun Mo patted the papaya girl’s head.
Lu Zhiruo, who had been encouraged, wore a hint of a smile. “My goal is... to become someone my father can be proud of.”
After saying this, Lu Zhiruo seemed to have expended all of her energy. Her shoulders sagged down and she lowered her head, secretly inching closer toward Sun Mo.
Sun Mo clapped.
It was Xuanyuan Po’s turn. There wasn’t a need for Sun Mo to remind him.
“Xuanyuan Po, 14 years old, likes to fight, specializes in fighting. My future goal is to become the number one Spear Saint in the nine provinces!”
Xuanyuan Po kept his words simple, not straying away from fighting.
“Why isn’t your future goal to be a king of fighting?”
Tantai Yutang couldn’t understand.
“Is there a difference? If I don’t become a king of fighting, how am I going to become the number one Spear Saint?” Xuanyuan Po asked.
(Battle freaks with only muscles are so scary. They can’t even tell that others are ridiculing them.)
Li Ziqi pouted as she thought that if she were to tell Xuanyuan Po that Tantai Yutang was ridiculing him, she wondered if he would beat up this sickly guy until his head broke?
After giving it some thought, Li Ziqi felt that it was very likely.
“It’s your turn!”
Tantai Yutang looked at Jiang Leng and diverted the topic.
“Jiang Leng, 12 years old.”
Everyone was waiting for Jiang Leng’s self-introduction.
To be honest, from just the scrawled out ‘trash’ word on his forehead and the battered spirit runes on his body, he was clearly a young man with a story.
“Go on!” Li Ziqi urged.
“That’s all!” Jiang Leng replied.
“Huh? That’s all? What are your interests? Your specialties?”
Tantai Yutang was speechless. (Don’t you feel inferior for being so short despite being a guy?)
Jiang Leng gave it some thought before saying, “Jiang Leng, 12 years old!”
Li Ziqi pinched her forehead. This fourth martial junior’s brain couldn’t have been spoiled because he had received too big of a blow, right?
“Tantai, it’s your turn now!” Sun Mo said.
“Tantai Yutang, 14 years old. No interests. Am good at everything except battling. As for my goal, it’s currently to live until 15 years old.”
This self-introduction was very simple, but when he said the last line, the entire atmosphere changed.
“Huh?”
Lu Zhiruo counted and said, “Doesn’t that mean you’re left with less than a year of lifespan?”
“That’s right!”
Tantai Yutang nodded.
No one knew how to continue the conversation from there. The atmosphere had also gotten a lot heavier.
“Good luck, you can do it!” Xuanyuan Po encouraged.
“Don’t worry, I must live an extraordinarily happy life in these last few months!” Tantai Yutang put up a thumb.
“System, is this guy joking?”
As Sun Mo asked this, he also activated the Divine Sight.
Tantai Yutang, level one body-refinement realm.
Strength 3. As a sickly person, pale skin and weak body are the aesthetics.
Intellect 10. I don’t wish to play with monkeys.
Agility 3. Only by moving slower on the journey in life would one be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Endurance 2. It’s so tiring. I feel like turning into a moldy mushroom and growing on a bed.
Will 9. I still can’t die!
...
Potential value: extremely high!
Remark: life vitalities are continuously weakening.
“It’s a lie that he can only live for a few more months, but he definitely won’t be able to live longer than one to two years,” the system replied.
“Come over here!” Sun Mo instructed.
“What is it?”
Although Tantai Yutang asked this, given his intellect, he immediately thought that Sun Mo was planning to use the Ancient Dragon Capturing Hands to give him a checkup. A small ripple uncontrollably rose in his heart.
If it was possible, who would be willing to die early?
Sun Mo placed his hand on Tantai Yutang’s shoulder and then slid it down. His grandmaster-grade Muscleforge Technique and expert-grade Circulation Technique allowed him to obtain a lot of data very quickly.
This body was really horrible, like a piece of moldy bread.
“Your body isn’t suitable for cultivation nor mental work. If you lay down quietly every day, you’ll be able to live slightly longer,” Sun Mo suggested.
“Lie down? Then what meaning would there be in life?” Tantai Yutang said in self-ridicule.
“Teacher, aren’t you able to do anything about this?”
Lu Zhiruo felt that although Tantai Yutang was very scary, she couldn’t help but feel pity for him at the thought that he’d die.
“There’s no other way out. His problem is probably in his blood, and his body keeps giving me a strange feeling.”
Sun Mo frowned. The ancient massage technique wouldn’t be able to work this time around and couldn’t be used to resolve Tantai Yutang’s symptoms. The most that it could do was relieving a little of his pain.
Although Tantai Yutang seemed very calm, Sun Mo knew that this kid was constantly withstanding pain at every moment.
It was no wonder that his will was at 9. Being tortured by sickness every day in this manner, one’s nerves would be steeled as long as they didn’t collapse.
Hearing Sun Mo’s reply, a hint of surprise flashed on Tantai Yutang’s face. He then looked toward Sun Mo’s hands. They were long, slender, and clean.
Of course, the most important thing was that they were mysterious!
Tantai Yutang had sought treatment from many doctors, but all of them couldn’t do anything. Most of them couldn’t even find the root of his conditions and could only make guesses.
However, Sun Mo had only touched him for a little before finding out. This was too much of an exaggeration!
“Could he really have God Hands?”
Tantai Yutang felt curious.
Ding!
+1 favorable impression points from Tantai Yutang. Neutral (8/100).
“Don’t give up yet. If you have a chance, you can look for that Medical Saint Sun. I heard that he’s very interested in rare illnesses and doesn’t charge anything. He’ll offer medical advice for free.”
Li Ziqi consoled him.
“I did!”
Tantai Yutang’s reply caused Li Ziqi to be stumped.
(Are we able to have a pleasant chat? I’m trying to console you here!)
Li Ziqi felt upset and decided to not say anything.
Sun Mo wasn’t a doctor and couldn’t help in such matters. He could only offer his pity. After consoling Tantai Yutang for a little, he planned on continuing the lesson. However, the system’s notification suddenly rang out.