Chapter 614: Darkness Approaches
Li Ruolan’s plan to interview Sun Mo suffered a setback again. Hence, she could only settle for the second best and went to interview Liu Mubai.
Normally, given Liu Mubai’s age, he would definitely be worth a page in the report since he had accomplished the feat of rising 2 stars in a single year. But this year, everyone was only keen on writing news about Sun Mo.
(What if I fail to interview Sun Mo?)
(No problem, I will weave a story myself!)
In any case, there were many ‘authors’ in the news industry. They would write it in a way that would attract people.
If it was a legitimate newspaper company, they would still care about their reputation, and when they wrote it, they would do it with more restraint. However, things were different for private news companies. In order to increase their sales volume, they would make anything up.
Naturally, for the sake of interest, the citizens were also happy to read all these.
Hence, Sun Mo’s fame gradually became greater as the smaller newspapers pushed the wave and added to the billows.
After joining as a teacher for three months, he had managed to recruit five personal students in the recruitment meet. After that, during his first lecture, he broke the record for the number of students attending. And even later, all his Medical Cultivation lectures would always be filled to the brim, and the students would even head there 2 hours in advance to book seats.
Sun Mo depended on his Ancient Dragon Capturing Hands and created the brand new Medical Cultivation lectures, imparting students scientific methods to cultivation.
It wasn’t that no one doubted him, but all doubters had failed. This was because Sun Mo’s God Hands were simply too impressive.
He only needed a touch to know your aptitude, your cultivation base, and even when you broke through last time. Even if these all weren’t considered, he could tell what injuries you suffered from in the past and the type of cultivation art you were training in...
In any case, his Ancient Dragon Capturing Hands were magical.
At the end of last year, Sun Mo had led the new student group and won the championship in the newbie competition of the ‘D’ grade school tournament, helping the school to ascend to the ‘C’ grade.
After that, in the 1-star great teacher examination in spring, Sun Mo had obtained a crushing victory and become the champion.
His written exam got full marks and his lecture exam only obtained one ordinary vote with the rest being excellent votes. And in the end, it was also proven that the ordinary vote was cast only because the student was too agitated, leading the student to make a mistake.
Moreover, that student broke down and cried miserably because he had tarnished Sun Mo’s perfect record, feeling so guilty that he wanted to commit suicide. It was Sun Mo who used Priceless Advice to console him.
After that, Sun Mo got the title ‘One-Vote Sun’. His talent and character were both flawless.
Some people were shocked at his amazing performance during the 2-star great teacher examination, but to the teachers and students of the Central Province Academy, that was only Teacher Sun’s standard operating procedures.
Although the student battle had yet to end, everyone knew that Sun Mo would obtain his second first-place soon.
Speaking of which, some bankers had started to flee for their lives. There was no solution to it. All of them didn’t feel that Sun Mo would become the champion, hence, the odds in their betting system were very exaggeratedly high if he won. Therefore, if Sun Mo became the champion, they had to pay out an astronomical amount of money.
...
In a manor outside Westmountain City, a middle-aged man with a scholarly aura was currently reading the newspaper, focusing on the content about Sun Mo.
His time had always been tight, hence, he didn’t like wasting time on such matters. But recently, Sun Mo’s name had been too resounding.
“From the news, it seems that he is truly a talent that’s rarely seen even in a hundred years.”
The middle-aged man lifted his teacup and drank a mouthful of tea. “Speak, what’s the matter?”
“I saw Jiang Leng!”
Li Zhuifeng respectfully stood at the side. After he finished speaking, he immediately cast a glance at his teacher.
“Jiang Leng?”
The middle-aged man furrowed his brows. In his mind, a weak silhouette gradually appeared. If it wasn’t for the fact that the experiment failed, Jiang Leng would most probably have become his most beloved disciple!
This scholarly and weak-looking middle-aged man that resembled a researcher was none other than Dean Bai, Bai Wenzhang, of the Dragonspirit Manor.
“It might be him!”
Li Zhuifeng didn’t dare to confirm this.
“What do you mean ‘might’?”
As a researcher, he hated vague answers like this the most.
“Because all the spirit runes on his body have vanished. Only the word ‘cripple’ on his forehead remains.”
Li Zhuifeng honestly reported.
Bai Wenzhang fell silent as he began to frown. With regard to his personal student Li Zhuifeng whom he had personally nurtured, he trusted him 100%. His student would never make a mistake like recognizing the wrong person. However, how could the spirit runes on Jiang Leng’s body actually vanish?
This was impossible!
Tattooing spirit runes on a human’s body was an irreversible process. Hence, if a cultivator wasn’t at a point where they had no other choice, they wouldn’t choose this.
Jiang Leng’s talent was top three among the children he had seen. But why did he still abandon him in the end?
Because the experiment had failed!
If he could remove the spirit runes on Jiang Leng’s body, he wouldn’t have needed to abandon so many experiments.
“Teacher, that word ‘cripple’ is indeed your handwriting.”
Li Zhuifeng hesitated for a while but still said, “Right now, Jiang Leng is already Sun Mo’s personal student and Sun Mo has God Hands!”
“God Hands?”
Bai Wenzhang’s frown deepened to the point where his brows could crush a crab to death.
“Yes, I personally saw Sun Mo doing facial surgery for Fang Wuji of the Myriad Daos Academy. I think that Sun Mo must be the one who repaired the ruined spirit runes on Jiang Leng’s body.”
Li Zhuifeng analyzed.
“It can’t be so simple!”
Bai Wenzhang shook his head. The spirit runes he tattooed weren’t merely on the skin’s surface and muscles. All the spirit runes had seeped into the bones. Even if someone changed Jiang Leng’s entire skin and muscles, it would be useless.
“Do you still remember Wang Bumin? Assistant Yu helped him tattoo the Tigersqueal Spirit Rune. In the end, he suffered a backlash from overusing it. Jiang Zhitong said that it was hopeless and Wang Bumin would die for sure. He had already given up on helping him, but after Sun Mo acted, he managed to save Wang Bumin’s life.
Honestly speaking, Li Zhuifeng who had seen many big scenes was still stunned when he saw it. When one suffered from backlash like that, they would mostly die for sure.
In the entire Dragonspirit Manor, other than his teacher, no one would be able to save Wang Bumin.
Bai Wenzhang took the newspaper up and found the introductory passage about Teacher Sun, which stated that he was a spirit rune grandmaster. The newspaper also stated that Sun Mo had created his own spirit runes before.
“We have to pay close attention to this Sun Mo!”
Bai Wenzhang suddenly gained some interest in this person.
“Teacher, there’s another thing. In the past I’ve reported about Xuanyuan Po and Ying Baiwu. These two are his personal students as well.”
Li Zhuifeng was too familiar with this expression of his teacher. It was joy when a hunter saw its prey. If there were no accidents, his teacher would personally appear to headhunt Sun Mo to join their manor.
If that was the case, their initial plan had to be modified a little.
“Seems like these little newspaper agencies are not spouting nonsense. After all, Sun Mo would definitely have some capabilities since he was able to nurture such powerful students.”
Bai Wenzhang’s lips twitched. “Forget about Ying Baiwu first. Just focused on Xuanyuan Po for now.”
With such an excellent experimental body being present, Bai Wenzhang truly didn’t want to miss out on it.
“Roger!”
Li Zhuifeng retreated.
“Sun Mo? God Hands? Spirit Rune Grandmaster?”
Bai Wenzhang smiled. “Interesting, seems like I did not make a wasted trip to Westmountain City this time around.”
...
Hua Jianmu was sitting on the roof of the hotel and looking at the bright moon, allowing its cold rays to cascade down to his body.
“If I became the champion, Teacher would surely be extremely happy!”
However, his expression suddenly turned dispirited. After seeing the fight of geniuses like Xuanyuan Po, Miao Rui, and Duan Qiao, he no longer had any hopes of becoming the champion.
(Damn, I should have worked harder in the past!)
(At the very least, I have to defeat Sun Mo’s three personal students!)
Hua Jianmu knew that after his teacher had lost to Sun Mo, she had been very moody. As her student, he ought to cleanse this humiliation for her.
All of a sudden, a figure wearing black darted through the streets.
“Who is that? A thief?”
Hua Jianmu was young and hot blooded. He didn’t even think and directly jumped down from the roof as he chased after the figure.
In the forest, the entire place was dim. Hua Jianmu chased after the figure from afar and he suddenly saw a little box falling off from the body of the black-robed figure.
“What’s this?”
Hua Jianmu picked up the little metal box and discovered that it was locked. He contemplated but decided to continue the chase. Very soon later, he heard the sound of a conversation.
“Have you brought the item?”
A low and hoarse-sounding voice asked.
“Where are the spirit stones?”
The figure in black that appeared earlier asked.
“The spirit stones are here.” The owner of the hoarse voice lifted a large chest and continued to urge, “Where’s the item? Is it a peerless heaven-tier one? I want to inspect the goods.”
“Have your brains spoiled? There’s only one dawn potion, how are you going to inspect it? Don’t tell me you are going to drink it!”
The black-robed guy’s voice clearly held a hint of suppressed anger. “If you don’t trust me, just scram!”
“I’ve to take a look at it at the very least.”
The two continued to speak, but Hua Jianmu was no longer paying any attention. He felt himself becoming a little light-headed as he subconsciously glanced at the little box in his hands.
(Could it be the dawn potion?)
In the underground black market, there would always be some secret treasures that were wildly popular, causing people to drool over them. Dawn potions were one of the secret treasures.
This potion was said to be concocted by an ancestor-level darkness great teacher from Dark Dawn. After drinking it, the potential of the consumer would be ignited and his cultivation base would directly go up by a level. Besides, his combat strength and recovery rate would be maintained at a very high peak for several days.
“A peerless heaven-tier item? How much is that worth?”
Hua Jianmu felt his tongue going dry as sweat oozed out of his palms. His hands that were holding the box were trembling.
“Oh no, I lost the box!”
The black-robed guy cried out in alarm, suddenly scaring Hua Jianmu so much that his soul almost flew away. After that, the sound of weapons flashing rang out.
“Damn, I think you are too greedy and want to swallow my share of profits, right?”
A low voice howled in anger.
Hua Jianmu didn’t dare to continue listening. He turned and ran away directly. He didn’t return using his original route but chose to take a huge detour before coming back to the hotel.
Bathump! Bathump!
Looking at the dawn potion on his table, Hua Jianmu who had just taken two cold showers still wasn’t able to calm down.
In the glass bottle that was about an inch long and a thumb’s size wide, a blue potion that occasionally bubbled could be seen. It looked so clear and transparent that it felt as though the blue sky itself was placed inside the bottle.
“Too beautiful!”
Hua Jianmu touched the bottle as a look of mesmerization could be seen in his eyes. “Should I tell Teacher about this?”
Logically speaking, he should do so. His teacher would surely return the dawn potion to him, but if he did so, he wouldn’t be able to display his strength and surprise her.
“If I drink it secretly and display my strength in the student battle, defeating all three of Sun Mo’s personal students and even obtaining the championship, my teacher would surely be pleasantly surprised and look at me in a new light!”
After thinking of this, Hua Jianmu no longer hesitated. He directly pulled the bottle stopper out and drank the dawn potion.
“Teacher, I would definitely let everyone in the great teacher world know about your name!”
Hua Jianmu’s qi and blood surged as he brimmed with battle intent.