Chapter 498: Attending The Banquet
“And?”
Sun Mo countered asked.
“Ah?”
Xiao Hong started. She looked into Sun Mo’s eyes and wanted to know whether his EQ was low, or he was just acting.
(I’m a 2-star great teacher. To you, maybe this status isn’t worthy of respect, but I might become a 3-star great teacher at the end of the year! At that time, even An Xinhui wouldn’t dare to speak to me this way!)
Xiao Hong was hesitating whether she should make things clearer, but she then heard Sun Mo’s emotionless chastisement.
“Regardless of the fact whether you are a 3-star great teacher or not. Even if you are, if you cannot show your value during teaching, you would even be inferior to an intern teacher!”
“What did you say?” Xiao Hong was burning with anger. “Say it once more if you dare!”
“Well, listen properly then. Our Central Province Academy will not pay a freeloader. If you continue with your current lousy performance, don’t blame me for firing you!”
Sun Mo’s tone was ice-cold.
The atmosphere of the entire office instantly froze.
“It can’t be, right? Why is Sun Mo so iron-headed?”
Jiang Yongnian was shocked.
Everyone had guessed that Sun Mo might not be too polite, but no one would have expected that he would actually be so unyielding, not giving Xiao Hong any face at all.
If one wanted to become a 2-star great teacher, one of their personal students must be a ranker on the Greenclouds Ranking. So, as long as one could do that, it would already indicate that he or she had good teaching capabilities.
Such great teachers were the backbone of ‘D’ grade schools.
“Sun Mo, are you picking a fight with me?!”
Xiao Hong roared. She felt like she had been humiliated.
“Teacher Xiao, calm down. Teacher Sun, you should speak less too. I think that Teacher Xiao also had no intention to slight her duties. It’s just that she wants to step into the Longevity Realm too much.”
Xia Yuan hurriedly came over and wanted to mediate the situation.
“Sun Mo, I know you are the top ranker in the 1-star great teacher examination and you have broken the grand slam record. But so what? At the very least, the current you is inferior to me!”
Xiao Hong admonished, “When you are speaking to a higher-rank great teacher, please use some respect. This is how low-star ranking teachers should act.”
“Teacher Xiao, remember this. If I was rude, I would have already called your name out and fired you.”
Sun Mo had a solemn look on his face, not backing down at all.
“From your words, I can tell that your world view, world outlook, and world ideology are wrong. Who says that higher-ranking great teachers are always correct? Your so-called ‘respect’? What’s the difference between it and ingratiation?
“To me, regardless of common or wealthy people, as long as the other party understands politeness, righteousness, honesty, shame, filial piety, duty, loyalty, and trust, they would be able to get my respect because those are the roots of being human.
“As for you? You are using your rank to suppress me. Because of my lower rank, you are slighting me. I remember that before this, you couldn’t even be bothered with me. This is a lack of politeness!
“The Central Province Academy gives you a salary. We trust you to do your job well, but you are neglecting your duties and only care about your own cultivation base. I gave you some advice but you grew angry and even started to blame me, not knowing respect at all. In fact, I even wanted to say that you are shameless. Even those old farmers in villages who didn’t have an education would also know that after taking money from someone, they should work hard for that person. But what about you?
“You cannot even be compared to a farmer.”
As Sun Mo spoke, a golden glow erupted forth from his body, illuminating the area.
“My heavens, even Priceless Advice had erupted!”
Everyone in the office was dumbfounded. Sun Mo was honestly sincere. How terrifying. Also, one couldn’t say that he was pompous because Priceless Advice was indeed activated.
When this halo appeared, this represented that Sun Mo’s heart had no guilt. He was upright and frank!
Xiao Hong had an embarrassed look on her face. She was completely flushed. She wanted to rebut, but she had no way to win against Sun Mo in debating. Also, she felt so awkward that she was being berated by a 1-star great teacher. If this news circulated around the entire school, she would become the butt of jokes.
“Teacher Xiao, think through it carefully. At the very least, I dare to say one thing. Headmaster An has never treated you unfairly before. But what about you?”
After Sun Mo spoke, he flicked his sleeves and left.
“Damn, Black Doggy Sun is as savage as ever!”
“As expected of the son-in-law handpicked by the old headmaster. He is tyrannical, iron-headed, and doesn’t know fear!”
“The crucial point is he doesn’t depend on his backing to act like this. I have no choice but to be convinced!”
Everyone discussed. Actually, they were all unhappy about Xiao Hong. Now when they saw her being berated by Sun Mo, they rejoiced a little at her misfortune.
“I don’t know if Xiao Hong can succeed in passing the 3-star great teacher examination, but Sun Mo has an 80 to 90% chance of passing the 2-star great teacher examination two months later!”
Zhou Shanyi stroked his bear.
“Yeah, that Xuanyuan Po is extremely good at fighting!”
When Xia Yuan spoke of that student, she felt extremely envious.
When that combat addict had just joined the school, he immediately caused a commotion among the teachers. However, he had joined Sun Mo’s tutelage in the end and this caused envy to appear in the hearts of many great teachers.
“Speaking of which, I feel that Sun Mo is more suitable to be the headmaster compared to Headmaster An!”
Du Xiao sighed.
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Du Xiao +50. Friendly (540/1,000).
“Yeah!”
Jiang Yongnian nodded.
Suddenly, the teachers here no longer spoke. All of them left the office and went to look for their students to give them ‘extra training’.
This was especially so for Jiang Yongnian and Xia Yuan. This was because the two of them also wanted to participate in the 2-star great teacher examination this year. If it was before, it was fine even if they failed. But if Sun Mo passed and they failed, it would really be extremely embarrassing for them.
...
After Sun Mo left the teaching building, he soon realized that there was a student following him.
After he reached the villa, Sun Mo stopped and turned his head.
Lu Changhe froze 30 meters away, at a loss of what to do.
“Changhe, do you have something you need my help with?”
Sun Mo asked.
Lu Changhe hurriedly ran over.
“Teacher!”
Lu Changhe wanted to say something but hesitated.
“Are you a man or not? Just be more direct!”
Sun Mo teased.
“Teacher, I heard that you won’t be giving any more lectures about spirit runes? Is this true?”
Lu Changhe stared at Sun Mo’s eyes with a worried look on his face.
“Yes!”
Sun Mo nodded.
“Oh!”
Lu Changhe couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It was like when someone anticipated a classic AAA game for several years, but two days before the selling date, the game got canceled.
Such a feeling was truly very terrible.
“I’m a little busy!”
Sun Mo explained and rubbed Lu Changhe on his head.
This youth had some talent in the study of spirit runes. However, what Sun Mo admired the most about him was his interest in this field.
And ‘interest’...was the best teacher.
“I know that teacher is going to participate in the 2-star great teacher examination!”
After Lu Changhe spoke, he bowed and bade his farewell. “Teacher, I’ve disturbed you. I hope that you will get your second star as soon as possible!”
Lu Changhe originally had many questions he wanted to ask. But now, he didn’t want Sun Mo to be distracted.
“Although I’m very busy, I still have the time to answer some of your questions!”
Sun Mo looked at the very dark eyebags under Lu Changhe’s eyes as well as his slightly haggard face. He felt pain in his heart for this youth, but it was also filled with admiration for him.
“How many nights have you slept late?”
“Huh?”
Lu Changhe had a lost look on his face. Ever since he started attending Sun Mo’s lectures, he would research spirit runes all the way until late in the night. Hence, to him, the concept of staying up late into the night no longer existed. It has become a normal routine for him.
“Come in!”
Sun Mo invited Lu Changhe in.
After a chat, Sun Mo knew that Lu Changhe’s drawing standard had greatly improved. He had already progressed to drawing spirit runes on the leaves of plants, but he hadn’t succeeded yet.
“You have to first understand the nature of the spirit rune and analyze its structure!”
Sun Mo explained.
“For each spirit rune, they are made up of a few main structures. Let’s take the spirit gathering rune as an example. It can be split into three portions. One is the core structure, its main purpose is to absorb spirit qi. After that, the second structure will allow the spirit qi to form a vortex and ‘liven up’. As for the third structure, its purpose is amplification.”
Lu Changhe scratched his hair and had a puzzled look on his face. “I know all this, but why do I still fail when I attempt them?”
“You know?”
Sun Mo was surprised. For the content he mentioned earlier, he had only mentioned it briefly during his lectures because they were too profound and too dull. No one would specially research this.
After all, this could be considered knowledge of a higher level. Only senior year students would learn them.
“Yeah, Teacher, you have spoken about them before. Have you forgotten?”
Lu Changhe took out over ten small books from his bag. After that, he flipped open one and searched for a page.
“It’s the lecture on 16th February!”
Lu Changhe’s flipping motion was very fast. This indicated that he was exceptionally familiar with and had memorized all the content in the books.
“Did you note down everything I spoke about?”
Sun Mo took up a random book and flipped through. He discovered that every single word he had spoken in the lectures, including superfluous nonsense, was recorded properly.
“I’m stupid and am worried that I might miss some content. Hence, I noted all your words down!”
Lu Changhe scratched his head while feeling ashamed. It was also precisely because of this that he had managed to ‘extract’ the higher-tier knowledge within Sun Mo’s words during his revision!
“...”
Sun Mo was speechless. He could only rub Lu Changhe’s head while feeling gratified. (How serious are you in my lectures?)
(Seems like my lectures are still very valuable!)
Sun Mo felt proud of himself. He also started to remind himself that he had to work harder in the future so that he would never let down students who were keen on acquiring knowledge.
“Let’s speak of an example. Drawing spirit runes is like constructing a building. Those main structures are immovable. However, the external frame can be changed. In any case, things would work as long as the building can be constructed!”
Sun Mo racked his brains, trying to simplify the meaning enough so Lu Changhe would understand. “Even if the frame is different, it doesn’t matter. Everything is fine as long as the main structures within don’t change. You can observe different buildings in real life to compare!”
“The most important thing about drawing spirit gathering runes on the leaves is to accurately find the main structures first and use the veins as energy channels to form an energy cycle.”
Lu Changhe suddenly felt a sense of being enlightened. “Teacher, I think I’ve understood somewhat!”
“If you are free in the afternoon, you can be my assistant!”
Sun Mo suggested. “I have an operation to perform!”
“Can I really be your assistant?”
Lu Changhe grew agitated. Speaking of which, Teacher Sun was really impressive. This question that had stumped him for months was resolved with a single sentence.
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Lu Changhe +100. Friendly (670/1,000).
During the afternoon, Lu Changhe stood before the operation bed and looked at Jiang Leng whose body was covered in damaged spirit runes. He was completely dumbfounded at the sight.
(Teacher actually recruited trash like this to be his personal student? Isn’t he a little too kind?)
Lu Changhe was shocked as he mused to himself. Even students who didn’t know about spirit runes would know that Jiang Leng no longer had a future.
“Don’t stand there in a daze. The operation is starting, pay attention and observe my technique!”
Sun Mo displayed the ancient massaging technique to cure Jiang Leng. He was also simultaneously explaining the effects of these spirit runes.
Naturally, some were Sun Mo’s guesses. He didn’t know whether his words were correct or not. However, it didn’t matter. He wanted to impart his way of thinking to Li Ziqi and Lu Changhe.
12 hours later, Jiang Leng’s other arm became glossy and smooth.
“Isn’t this too magical? Teacher seems to be able to allow Jiang Leng to be reborn?”
Lu Changhe mused as he contributed another large wave of favorable impression points.
“If you are bored, you can do some research on these spirit runes!”
Other than the flame explosion spirit rune, the ancient massaging technique spirit rune, and a few others that he obtained from repairing the damaged runes on Jiang Leng’s body, Sun Mo passed over all the spirit rune drawings that he knew.
Lu Changhe solemnly accepted them.
...
Sun Mo’s life was packed. After resting for half a day, he started to spar against Xuanyuan Po and Ying Baiwu and provide guidance to them.
One couldn’t help but say that they were as expected of geniuses. Their improvement speeds each day were godly.
Xuanyuan Po’s body was simply too perfect. He was like an innate combat machine. His greatest problem was that he grew hot-headed too easily and preferred to settle everything with brute force, ignoring the usage of battle strategies.
Hence, Sun Mo mainly needed to nurture his thinking process and battle strategy.
Ying Baiwu had only cultivated for a short time, and she was lacking experience. Hence, her problem could be solved by a lot of actual fights.
Jiang Leng was the best sparring partner. Due to the damaged spirit runes on his arms being repaired, when he circulated energy through those spirit runes now, it was no longer as unbearable as before. Hence, he was also impatient and wanted to spar against others. Every time he was free, he would find Ying Baiwu for sparring practice.
Li Ziqi had already buried herself in the library for many days, practicing her spiritual control technique. She wasn’t able to really ‘fight’. In that case, she would have to depend on summoning stronger spiritual beasts.
As for Lu Zhiruo, she hid away and cultivated assiduously. In fact, she even secretly went to look for Tantai Yutang in private to ask if there was any medicine that could allow her combat strength to increase within a short time.
For Sun Mo’s sake, the papaya girl was also going all out.
...
Sun Mo returned from the Wind King Divine Hall and just when he was preparing to head to the canteen for his dinner, he saw An Xinhui pacing around anxiously in the living room.
“What’s wrong?”
Sun Mo didn’t understand.
“What’s wrong?”
An Xinhui felt helpless and wanted to laugh. “Have you forgotten what day today is?”
“What day is it?”
Sun Mo blinked.
“The day of the Deer Tail Banquet!” An Xinhui was speechless. “Alright, quickly go change your clothes. There will be many major characters participating today. If we are late, it would give them a bad impression of you.”
“There’s no need to change, right? I feel my current outfit is good enough!”
Sun Mo hated trouble. “I’ll just go like this!”
“...”
An Xinhui discovered that Sun Mo was truly not bothered. He was wearing a teacher robe. Although it was washed clean, it didn’t seem dignified enough for such an important occasion.
“Where is the location of the banquet?”
Sun Mo had forgotten it.
“Little Momo, wanting you to wear nicer clothes isn’t for you to show off. Rather, it’s a show of respect to others.”
An Xinhui patiently explained.
It was like if you went to attend a high-level banquet, in the end, a fellow came in shorts and slippers. Wouldn’t that make people feel uncomfortable and disgusted?
One must know that Sun Mo’s occupation was a great teacher. He wasn’t those artists or calligraphers who could afford not to bother about the trivials.
“That’s true!”
Sun Mo took a few steps up the stairs but stopped again.
“What’s wrong?”
An Xinhui didn’t understand.
“All my clothes are like this!”
Sun Mo suddenly discovered that he had never shopped in Jinling’s business district before. All his clothes were the teacher robes given to him by the school.
An Xinhui started. After that, she started to blame herself. “Sorry, I’ve neglected this!”
However, when An Xinhui looked at Sun Mo who dressed so simply, she found herself liking him even more. He was pragmatic, serious, talented, and focused on work. Where would anyone be able to find such a good man?
There was definitely not enough time to make a set of clothing for Sun Mo. Hence, Sun Mo changed to a new teacher robe and hurriedly entered a carriage with An Xinhui as they headed toward Linjiang Square, to the Deer Tail Banquet.