Chapter 939: Sun Mo’s Test
Translator: Lordbluefire
“Do you see that tree? If you walk further on from it, the bees will surround and attack you. Therefore, that place should be the bees’ territory.
Bai Xiqing said everything she knew then tugged Sun Mo’s sleeves in anticipation. “How are you planning to do this?”
She really wasn’t treating herself like an outsider.
“Make a few feign attacks and gather some information first.”
Since she was so magnanimous to be sharing the information she knew, Sun Mo naturally wouldn’t be selfish either.
Bai Xiqing immediately put her thumb up. “Wary!”
Virtuous Academy’s group also came over. They had no solution to this problem either and might as well watch how Sun Mo did it.. Since he knew these bees, he probably had a way to capture them.
“You guys wait here. I’ll go take a look.”
After Sun Mo said that, Lu Zhiruo pulled him.
“Teacher, why not let me go?”
The papaya girl was raring to try. “I have never been stung by bees since I was young. I’ll go talk to the queen bee. She might be willing to give me some honey…”
Lu Zhiruo had often dug for honey from beehives when she was younger. She had done this over ten times but still maintained a record of not getting injured.
Pa!
Before Lu Zhiruo could finish her sentence, that monkey gave her a slap on the back of her head.
“Why did you hit me?” The papaya girl pouted.
Squeak squeak!
The monkey was so angry that it kept on jumping. (Are you a fool?)
(Those bees are very fierce. Moreover, the venom in their stingers is extremely strong. Even a big python would die from the poison if it was stung.)
“Talk to the queen bee? Could it be that this girl understands bug language?”
“How could there be a bug language? Such abilities are just ancient legends.”
“That’s right. Human’s vocal organs are different from bugs. It’s impossible for us to be able to make sounds that bugs can understand. I might be able to believe it if you are talking about beast language.”
The Virtuous Academy’s great teachers whispered amongst themselves.
“You, stay here. Baiwu, Jiang Leng, come with me.”
Sun Mo called out two of his students who had great speed. He was giving them a chance to get actual combat experience.
A while later, Sun Mo jumped up a tree trunk and moved about in the forest, leaping in the air. Ying Baiwu and Jiang Leng quickly followed after him. Half a minute after they crossed the tree Bai Xiqing mentioned, a big swarm of bees gushed over.
These were clearly male bees. They were bigger in size, each of them being the size of a baby’s fist. One’d get bruised or even faint if the bees were to smash into their faces at full speed. There wasn’t even a need to use their stingers.
“Be careful!”
Sun Mo drew out his wooden blade and came to a sudden stop just as the bees came pouncing over like dark clouds. He then took one step forward and dropped down vertically.
Before he landed, he tapped his feet on a branch and then darted out at an upward diagonal angle.
Jiang Leng and Ying Baiwu’s reactions were extremely fast. Almost at the same time, they chose the same avoidance method as Sun Mo did. Moreover, the iron-headed young girl even attacked.
Swoosh!
A long arrow shot out and exploded amidst the swarm of bees.
Boom!
Intense spirit qi waves scattered the bee swarm and even killed quite a few.
Pata pata!
The bees’ corpses landed all over the floor.
Sun Mo took a glance and noticed that Ying Baiwu and Jiang Leng could still handle the situation. Therefore, he left them be and accelerated. After charging on for two minutes, a large spread of dark gold beehives appeared in his vision.
They were like the long baguette that Europeans liked to eat. Each of the beehives was six to seven meters long and attached to the tree trunks.
“There are at least over 100 of them here?”
Sun Mo’s scalp started to itch. What he was thinking wasn’t how much natural honey he could get, but rather, calculating how many bees there were. There might be several hundred thousand of them.
This was too terrifying.
The worker bees worked busily, moving in and out of the beehives. Suddenly, they came to a stop.
Buzz!
Even though Sun Mo had tried his best to be careful, not making any noises, bees relied on scents to search for their enemies. They’d be able to detect strangers or animals at the very first instant.
Therefore, those worker bees immediately pounced.
Later on, the male bees who were resting in the hives also moved out. They were like bombers, releasing loud buzzing sounds and dashing out of the beehives.
As the Crown Bees’ main color was yellow, in that instant, they were like a golden sea tide that came charging toward Sun Mo.
“Retreat!”
Sun Mo let out an explosive bellow and started to retreat.
This swarm of bees was too densely packed and there was no way to defend against them.
Thankfully, Sun Mo had seen the beehive that the queen bee was in.
It was too big, being over ten meters tall and in the shape of a spindle. Half of the male bees flew there and set up a defense.
Sun Mo didn’t dare to return to the group but instead chose another direction. He only managed to break away from the bees’ pursuit after escaping for over 15 minutes. He then met up with Li Ziqi’s group.
“There are too many bees.”
Sun Mo sighed.
“Why? Does Teacher Sun not have a way to take care of this either?”
Ji Kun came over.
“We’ll have to kill in order to get honey.”
Sun Mo wasn’t someone who’d lament at the sorry state of the universe and have pity for others. He could kill several thousand bees in order to get some honey. However, the current situation was that he had to kill over a hundred thousand or even several hundred thousand of them. This was too astonishing.
“Teacher Sun, there’s really no need for your kindheartedness!”
Ji Kun was speechless. “This is the laws of nature. I remember that you’re a spirit runist, right? The top-notch ink that you guys use might have ingredients that include some spiritual beasts’ fresh blood. It’s not as if I saw you guys pitying them!”
Sun Mo looked around and noticed that most of the people looked surprised, not able to understand his sentiments. He was stunned for a moment before he hit himself in the head.
“There’s something wrong with my head.”
Sun Mo smiled in self-mockery.
His soul was that of a modern world person and he had never experienced starvation before. That was why he had the right to feel sad for some bees here. However, things were different for the people here.
After paying for rent, most sharecroppers could only drink watered-down porridge in their leisure times and thick porridge when they had to work in the fields. Moreover, their food might not last until the harvest for the next season’s crop.
Many sharecroppers who weren’t able to pay back the money they borrowed from the landlords had to sell their children. In this situation, who would be able to care about protecting wildlife?
This honey could be used in medicine. Therefore, great teachers wouldn’t go easy on the bees in order to get their hands on it.
“Teacher, there are too many bees and the honey isn’t that precious. It’s not worth it to risk our lives. Shall we retreat?”
Li Ziqi suggested.
If they had suitable equipment, it wouldn’t be hard to kill these bees.
To others, they would spend a lot of time on an expedition. But to Sun Mo, it was just the blink of an eye.
His eight-gate cloud could move freely between two spots after setting a space-time anchor, which was a stable teleportation gate.
This was how Sun Mo was able to freely enter the Wind King Hall that was located in the Darkness Continent’s Wind King Canyon.
It could be said that as long as Sun Mo was willing to, he’d be able to turn this primitive forest into his own backyard, coming here to explore it whenever he wanted to.
“You guys have come under my wings for so long, but I haven’t given you a test yet. Why don’t each of you think of a method? It’ll be considered a pass as long as you bring back a hive.”
Sun Mo smiled, feeling that he was really quick-witted.
“Teacher Sun, I want to see your performance!”
Bai Xiqing felt upset. What did it mean for a group of children to take action?
“Go on. The time limit is two hours!”
Sun Mo took out his pocket watch and checked the time. He then said to Mei Ziyu, “You guys can go and rest.”
“Teacher, can we group up?”
Yaoguang raised his hand to ask.
“Yes, but everyone must pitch in.”
Sun Mo had wanted to say that he’d reward the person who performed best. But he suddenly realized that he had nothing that he could use as a reward.
After all, he had taught his peerless-grade saint-tier cultivation arts to them.
It seemed that he had to get his hand on some good things as a reward.
“Eldest Martial Sister, shall we group up?”
Qin Yaoguang immediately went to look for Li Ziqi, asking her, “How many of those exploding spirit runes did you bring?”
“Eldest Martial Sister, count me in too!”
The papaya girl got close.
“Zhiruo, you can do it. Don’t always think of relying on others.” Li Ziqi rejected, “Otherwise, you’ll never be able to grow.”
“Aww…”
The papaya girl felt upset.
The others looked at the forest in the distance, sinking into deep thought. They were all very proud and wouldn’t work together with others.
At the sight of this scene, Lu Zhiruo’s countenance turned very pale.
(This is bad. Teacher must have been very angry at my performance earlier, right?)
(This won’t do. I must work hard and get myself a few beehives.)
“Little White, I’ll be relying on you!”
Lu Zhiruo took the monkey’s hand.
Pa!
The monkey slapped it away.
There was no room for discussion.
…
“Who do you think will be the first to get a beehive?”
Li Ruolan felt curious.
“It’s hard to say!”
Sun Mo shook his head. “But I know who will be the first to make a move.”
“Who?”
Li Ruolan had just finished asking this when she saw Xuanyuan Po, who liked to fight, charging into the forest. Then, sounds of fighting rang out.
Xuanyuan Po couldn’t be bothered to use his brain. There was nothing that charging recklessly wouldn’t solve. If that didn’t work, then he could just make a second reckless charge.
Tantai Yutang and Jiang Leng weren’t anxious. They were assessing Li Ziqi and guessing her battle tactic, planning to tap on her attempt.
…
“This medicinal powder has the effect of getting rid of insects. Spray some on yourself first.”
Li Ziqi took out a small porcelain bottle and handed it to Qin Yaoguang before instructing, “Please go and observe the terrain.”
A few minutes later, Qin Yaoguang returned.
Li Ziqi took out a book and drew a simplified map on it with a charcoal pencil. She then thought about it. “Please place spirit runes on the trees in these positions.”
The two of them spent 15 minutes coming up with a battle tactic and then started taking action.
“Let’s go!”
Jiang Leng, who had his eyes closed and resting, got up.
“Do you want some?”
Tantai Yutang took out a bottle. This was an insect repellent he had come up with.
“I’ll pass.”
Jiang Leng refused. He was going to show his teacher how outstanding he was.
…
Qin Yaoguang leaped within the forest. Seeing that most of the bees that were chasing behind her had passed by the trap, she immediately made a sword attack with the back of her hand.
Swoosh!
Sword qi accurately hit onto a spirit rune that was on the tree, activating it.
Boom!
A big flame gushed out, engulfing quite a number of bees. After it subsided, the charred bee corpses fell to the ground like rain.
“That’s pretty good!”
Qin Yaoguang was surprised. The Fire Sea Spirit Runes Li Ziqi had drawn herself this time around had a very strong prowess.
Just as the explosion rang out, the others made a move too. Jiang Leng and Ying Baiwu relied on speed, moving rapidly.
However, there were some differences in their details.
There were too many bees, and some came lunging over toward them.
Jiang Leng waited until the bees got close before he suddenly swung his dagger. A circle of silver tempest gushed up around him, killing those bees. He then accelerated and threw them off behind him.
Ying Baiwu was like a rushing arrow, scattering the swarm of bees.
The two of them advanced the fastest and also looked the best.
Tantai Yutang moved sneakily, relying on insect repellent powder to avoid getting stung by the bees. If he really couldn’t dodge them anymore, he’d swing his sleeves and scatter out a large amount of purple fog.
When the bees got into contact with the fog, they would die on the spot.
Xianyu Wei felt anxious. Worried that she’d fall behind, she had no choice but to head on forcibly. When she saw the bees coming over, she hammered out a punch.
Strong fist wind caused the bees to be unable to get close.
Helian Beifang was a little surprised. This junior martial sister was quite something!
“What should I do? What should I do? Everyone has started. I’ll definitely fall behind.”
Lu Zhiruo was so anxious that she was going around in circles.
“Do you think it’ll work if I talk it over with those bees and get them to lend me a beehive?”
Pa!
The monkey gave Lu Zhiruo a slap on the head, rolling its eyes.
(Dream on.)
“Then can you help me?” The papaya girl blinked.
Squeak!
The monkey turned its head. It could get some honey, but it had to strike up a bargain and get some benefits, right?
But Lu Zhiruo was too naive and couldn’t understand what the monkey was thinking. She thought that it wasn’t willing to help her, and thus she dashed toward the bees.
But very soon, there were bees coming over to sting her.
“Ah, I just want a beehive! You guys can have these!”
The papaya girl covered her head, taking out all the bottles in her back as she started bargaining with them.
The monkey turned its head away. It couldn’t bear to see this.
(Forget it. Seeing how pitiful you are, I better help you out! After all, I’m very good at stealing beehives. Given how chaotic things are here, it’ll be easy to make a move.)
The monkey succeeded in merely seven minutes. It then realized that the stupid girl was gone.
She couldn’t have been stung to death, could he?
The monkey quickly looked around to find her corpse.
…
“Should we take this opportunity to snatch some?”
When the Virtuous Academy’s teachers and students saw the commotion, their hands started itching.
“Forget it!”
Ji Kun was worried that there’d be problems. Sun Mo dared to use the bees as a test, but he couldn’t. His heart would ache if any of these students were to die.
“The honey isn’t worth it. We won’t risk our lives for it.”
Ji Kun looked for an excuse.
“But that queen bee should be worth something, right?”
A student mumbled.
That queen bee was definitely a spiritual bug considering that it could build such a great swarm.
It was one whose intelligence had been piqued, and it could cultivate.
“Come on, let’s go and see how Sun Mo’s students do it.”
Ji Kun walked toward Sun Mo. In order to give the students a chance to broaden their vision, he was going to accept it even if Sun Mo were to sneer at him.
…
As expected, Xuanyuan Po was the first to return. However, he looked a little battered after having been stung many times.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
Li Ruolan was surprised.
Was this young man made of stone?
His skin was a little red and swollen, but his expression didn’t change at all, remaining calm as before.
“It’s bearable.”
Xuanyuan Po placed the beehive he was carrying in front of Sun Mo. “Teacher, I’m glad to have accomplished the mission!”
“En, not bad!”
Sun Mo was very satisfied. The combat addict’s reply had the feeling of a tough man. Moreover, his beehive was very big. Xuanyuan Po had clearly put in the effort to pick it before he left.
This competitiveness was worthy of praise.
However, just as Sun Mo was about to say some comments, he suddenly felt a pain in his chest and he coughed intensely.
“Sun Mo!”
Mei Ziyu stood up in shock because blood had spurted out from Sun Mo’s mouth.