Chapter 666: Strong External Help
It was midday and the sun was intense.
On the small public square, there were close to 10,000 people. At this moment, everyone was silent as they waited for Cao Xian to come out with a topic.
“Please!”
Other than her age being younger, An Xinhui actually did have the demeanor of a headmaster.
Although Cao Xian’s words sounded like a question, the Central Province Academy didn’t have the authority to reject. In fact, they didn’t even have the thought of changing the topic.
Naturally, even if they could, An Xinhui wouldn’t do so because this was the self-confidence of famous schools.
It was like when an ordinary school went to challenge the Nine Greats. The Nine Greats could just stand there and allow you to come out with whatever topic you wanted to. After that, they would crush you.
The prestige of the so-called strong schools was built upon rounds and rounds of these great teachers group battles.
If the Central Province Academy wanted to rise again, there would definitely be many incidents like challenges from other schools.
“How about competing in the art of spiritual control?”
After Cao Xian spoke, a middle-aged man walked out from behind him. Although he wasn’t completely bald, the future of his head was quite concerning.
“This humble self is named Huang Chengguo!”
After the middle-aged man clasped his fist, he took out a sculpture and no longer spoke. He simply waved his hands, directing everyone’s attention to it.
Everyone immediately glanced over.
It was in the shape of a bug and extremely life-like, roughly the size of a fist. It was originally blue in color, but because of the passage of many years, its color had turned motley. In fact, there were even traces of it being burned before and there were quite a few cracks on it.
“Isn’t this a dung beetle?”
As exclamations of surprise rang out. Everyone on the scene burst into uproarious laughter. Dung beetles ate the shit of animals as food.
It was a publicly acknowledged filthy bug. Even children wouldn’t catch this to play.
Could it be that this round was for them to compete in summoning dung beetles?
“What’s the meaning of this?” Lu Zhiruo didn’t understand. “Why didn’t he come up with a question?”
“He has already done so,” Li Ziqi explained.
Lu Zhiruo touched her ears. “But why didn’t I hear anything?”
“That sculpture is the question. If you can’t even understand the topic, there’s no need for you to come out to take up the challenge.”
Tantai Yutang explained.
“So this is the case!”
The papaya girl was enlightened.
“Deliberately pretending to be mysterious!”
Ying Baiwu’s lips twitched. She truly wanted to crush that sculpture with an arrow. As for Xuanyuan Po, he glanced at it for a while and departed.
If there wasn’t a fight, he would be completely uninterested.
An Xinhui turned her head and glanced at the great teachers of her school.
Honestly speaking, the pressure was immense.
Because her school basically didn’t have a powerful spiritual controller.
Out of so many subjects, divination was the most mysterious. In fact, it couldn’t be described as a subject because if one wanted to learn it, one had to research by themselves using a heavenly fate diagram or a Tuibei diagram*.
No one truly knew how to teach this.
Behind divination, the second place in terms of mysteriousness would be the art of spiritual control because this subject would involve too many things and wasn’t simply summoning spiritual creatures. Summoning something was just the basics. If one trained to a higher level, their spirits could leave their bodies to roam the world, and they could even communicate with departed souls, capable of various mysterious feats.
Quite a lot of great teachers were researching the art of spiritual control, but honestly speaking, the number of great teachers who could become famous due to it were simply too little. For the vast majority of the time, spirit controllers were roughly the same as swindlers.
Hence, various famous schools would only hire someone adept at summoning spiritual creatures. As for those who were doing research in splitting the soul and whatnot, they could simply go back to where they came from.
“Teacher Qian?”
An Xinhui asked.
“Cough, cough. I had a cold last night and my body is unwell.”
Teacher Qian smiled bitterly and feigned a look of helplessness. However, he felt extremely regretful in his heart. (Why did I have to come here to partake in the liveliness?)
If he lost in such a setting, the negative influence on his status would be too great. Hence, it was better to save his face.
An Xinhui was a kind person. After hearing this, she no longer harped on it. However, she also didn’t dare to name someone recklessly. If not, if she got rejected, it would be too embarrassing.
“Sun Mo obtained full marks in the spiritual control written examination during the 2-star examination.”
Jin Mujie reminded her.
An Xinhui pretended not to have heard it. She had been paying attention to Sun Mo’s test results and naturally knew about this. However, she was worried that Sun Mo might not be able to handle it. If he failed, it would definitely damage his reputation.
Upon seeing this, Jin Mujie rolled her eyes. (You have not married him yet, but you are already thinking for him?)
“Hehe!”
Cao Xian looked at An Xinhui who appeared extremely worried. There was a look of satisfaction on his face.
(Lass An, don’t blame me. It isn’t my fault that your academy has no strong spirit controller!)
Cao Xian stroked his beard, filled with pride that he had recruited Yue Rongbo in the past.
Huang Chengguo was a member of Yue Rongbo’s great teacher circle, focusing on the art of spiritual control. Actually, right at the start, Cao Xian despised this fellow.
He always thought of Huang Chengguo as a freeloader. If it wasn’t for the sake of winning over Yue Rongbo, he would definitely not want Huang Chengguo.
Just when An Xinhui was racking her brains and thinking how to resolve this situation, a slightly hoarse voice rang out.
“Why don’t you leave this round to me?”
Cao Xian turned her head and saw a young woman in white robes walking out from the crowd.
“Who is this?”
Cao Xian frowned and asked his assistance. There was someone like this in the Central Province Academy?
The assistant had a cold sweat because he couldn’t answer. If Cao Xian misunderstood this as him being incapable and not diligent enough in collecting the information of a rival school, he would surely be fired.
“Bai Shuang, why are you here?”
An Xinhui was puzzled. She was acquainted with this woman because they were all people from the same generation. When she went for an exchange in the Skyraise Academy, she had a period of interaction with Bai Shuang,
“Headmaster An!”
Bai Shuang calmly greeted. She then walked in front of Huang Chengguo and surveyed the sculpture in his hands. “Do you mind letting me take a look?”
“Headmaster An, this is...?”
Cao Xian asked.
“She is Bai Shuang, a top graduate from the Skyraise Academy. She has extraordinary talent in the art of spiritual control, and her level is near that of a grandmaster.”
An Xinhui casually introduced and surveyed Bai Shuang again.
Compared to before, Bai Shuang was skinnier, also, there were more wisps of blood in her eyes. She was still as reticent as before, not liking to speak and still fully immersed in the art of spiritual control to the point where she wasn’t able to extricate herself from it.
“Bai Shuang, a genius ranked #11 on the Great Teachers Hero Rankings?”
Cao Xian was badly shocked as he looked at Bai Shuang. His tone was filled with unhappiness. “What are you doing here? This is a matter between our schools!”
Cao Xian’s attitude could be seen as a type of subconscious self-defense. After all, the name of a person was like the shadow of a tree. One would know how high the standard of a top graduate from Skyraise Academy was even if they used their knees to think.
Cao Xian didn’t want to screw up.
“So, she is that Bai Shuang!”
The great teachers whispered to themselves. All of them were staring at her with curiosity in their eyes.
What was a celebrity?
This was it!
There was no need for further introduction. Everyone was familiar with her name and reputation.
Bai Shuang stared at the bug sculpture and ignored Cao Xian.
“Teacher Bai, please respect yourself!” Cao Xian used a heavier tone. This concerned his ‘sure-win’ situation, so he didn’t want to mess things up.
“Teacher Bai, please leave and don’t interrupt our competition!” Cao Xian was embarrassed to use violence against her, but his assistant didn’t have such a concern. He hurriedly walked over and stretched out his hand, wanting to drag her away.
“Oh, I’m representing the Central Province Academy in this round,” Bai Shuang replied.
“But you are not a great teacher from the Central Province Academy!”
Cao Xian unhappily grumbled.
“I am!”
Bai Shuang’s words were concise and comprehensive.
“What? A top graduate from the Skyraise Academy is teaching in our school? This must be fake, right?”
“Naturally it’s fake. If a genius like Bai Shuang quits, the headmaster of the Skyraise Academy will definitely break the legs of everyone in their HR department. After that, he will cure their legs and break them again.”
“As expected, she is a fanatic of the art of spiritual control!”
The great teachers whispered to each other.
An Xinhui looked at Sun Mo. Her instinct told her that this matter must have something to do with her childhood sweetheart.
Sun Mo had a bizarre expression on his face. He truly didn’t expect Bai Shuang to arrive here so quickly.
“Headmaster Cao, you might not know this. During the Great Teachers Battle, Teacher Bai was defeated by Teacher Sun and they had made a bet. The terms of the bet was that if she lost, she had to come to the Central Province Academy to teach for three years.”
Xia Yuan explained.
“What?”
Cao Xian had a look of surprise on his face, but it was more of shock. He knew how strong Bai Shuang was, yet Sun Mo actually defeated her in the Great Teachers Battle?
(Stop talking, I feel so much heartache, let me rest a bit!)
Once again, Cao Xian felt boundless regrets at the fact that he failed to headhunt Sun Mo.
Defeating a top graduate of the Skyraise Academy was an impressive achievement.
Everyone would definitely feel depressed when news of their defeat was circulated out. However, Bai Shuang wasn’t feeling it. There was only the art of spiritual control in her eyes.
“Headmaster Cao, it’s fine. It’s the same no matter who steps out!”
Huang Chengguo consoled him. He was very confident. This was a sculpture that he, a 3-star great teacher, had spent years researching yet wasn’t completely clear about its secrets. If he couldn’t, they wouldn’t be able to do so either!
Bai Shuang received the sculpture and immediately started chanting an incantation as she placed her right hand on the sculpture’s back.
Bzz~
The sounds of wings flapping actually emitted from the sculpture, but it was clearly made of stone. This magical scene caused many great teachers to marvel.
Suddenly, a ball of purple light appeared on Bai Shuang’s right hand. Her five fingers ferociously grabbed out as she slammed it into the sculpture.
Jiji!
A spiritual beetle screamed and it was pulled out forcefully by Bai Shuang from the stone sculpture.
The beetle was completely black and emanated a pitch-dark mist. It was struggling frantically in Bai Shuang’s hands.
Ji! Ji!
The beetle screamed in an incomparably shrill manner, causing the ears of everyone around to feel pain.
Upon seeing this scene, Huang Chengguo’s countenance changed as he immediately retracted the previous contempt in his heart.
Being able to catch the soul of the beetle just by observing the stone sculpture for a few minutes, Bai Shuang did live up to her reputation!
Cao Xian’s lips twitched violently as he glanced at Huang Chengguo. (You wouldn’t screw up, right?)
Huang Chengguo cast a ‘don’t you worry’ look at Cao Xian and opened his mouth to ask, “Teacher Bai, what do you think about this beetle sculpture?”
Shh!
Bai Shuang indicated for Huang Chengguo to not be noisy. She observed it for over ten minutes more and suddenly slapped her palm toward the sculpture.
BOOM!
The sculpture shuddered immensely. After that, a large amount of black light flooded out as even more black mist was emitted. The beetle instantly transformed into a scarab the size of a calf.
This time around, Huang Chengguo’s expression dramatically changed and he was no longer as calm before. He was going to lose.
“Teacher Sun, come and take a look at it, please?”
Bai Shuang ignored Huang Chengguo and called out to Sun Mo.