Chapter 1033: Dragonspirit Manor, Mysterious Old Man!
Translator: Lordbluefire
Being an imperial envoy was a relaxed and high-paying job. All the eunuchs would compete with each other for it.
Regardless of whether the imperial edict was good or bad, they would be able to get a sum of money from the person the imperial edict was targeted at.
In their entire lives, these eunuchs wouldn’t have many chances to leave the palace. Hence, once one became an imperial envoy, they might delay the journey by several days to check out the scenery of each place. In any case, they definitely wouldn’t be rushing.
But this time around, the eunuch responsible for sending the imperial edict was anxious and impatient, rushing so much in his horse carriage to the extent that one of the horses died.
It was because he had to relay this information before others knew of it.
The princess had now become the king’s favorite, and her status in the palace would surely rise greatly. If he didn’t fawn on her now, wouldn’t he be a failure as a eunuch?
But after the eunuch arrived at the Central Province Academy, he grew depressed.
“Her Highness and Assistant Tutor Sun are not here?” The eunuch frowned. “Where did they go?”
“The Darkness Continent!”
An Xinhui still felt a little not used to it when she heard the eunuch addressing Sun Mo as ‘Assistant Tutor’.
This position had no direct authority, but the status it represented was very high.
Because it represented the identity of a great teacher that was employed in the royal clan. It meant a teacher that taught the princes and princesses.
To commoners, who was the richest and had the highest status in the world?
It was definitely the emperor!
Hence, the teachers the emperor employed to teach his children would surely be the best of the best.
One could say that when the content of this imperial edict circulated around Great Tang, Sun Mo’s fame would rise to another level.
In the past, only the great teacher world knew of how terrifying Sun Mo’s achievements were. But now, ordinary folks would also understand how impressive he was.
The only thing that was a pity was that Li Ziqi was a female and had no way to become the emperor. If not, Sun Mo’s title would be ‘imperial preceptor’ instead.
“How long would they be gone for?”
The eunuch was anxious.
“No idea.”
An Xinhui also wasn’t clear. Moreover, when she thought of the place Sun Mo was heading to this time around, her expression also grew heavy.
Although Bai Wenzhang wasn’t a person from the Dark Dawn, his fame was extremely bright in both ‘worlds’.
In the Nine Provinces, three people were proclaimed to be the most impressive spirit runists, and Bai Wenzhang was among them.
Naturally, because of his identity as well as his research falling into the forbidden category, only very few people would mention his name.
This time around, Bai Wenzhang had personally written a letter of invitation to Sun Mo, inviting him and his personal students to head to the Dragonspirit Manor as guests.
When An Xinhui heard of Sun Mo’s reason for taking leave, she was directly stunned. She only confirmed that the person Sun Mo mentioned was none other than Bai Wenzhang after asking several times. Among dark great teachers, Bai Wenzhang was considered a hegemon.
Honestly speaking, An Xinhui didn’t want Sun Mo to go. Because it was tough to predict whether this was a blessing or a calamity. Besides, the greatest question was this—why was Bai Wenzhang looking for Sun Mo?
Given Bai Wenzhang’s identity, he could even invite saints.
(Could it be that my fiance’s level of knowledge in the study of spirit runes has reached an extent where even Bai Wenzhang respects it?)
Sun Mo ultimately had chosen to go because the tone and wording of the letter was sincere. Bai Wenzhang wrote that he had some questions he needed to consult Great Teacher Sun on, placing his own attitude very low.
At the same time, he also wrote the Dragonspirit Manor’s address to express his sincerity.
One must know that the location of this manor was top-secret.
If the Saint Gate learned of this, they would surely launch an attack.
“What should I do then?”
The imperial envoy grew depressed.
…
Every level on the Darkness Continent had different world laws.
The first level contained spirit qi tides. If some unlucky person encountered a spirit qi vacuum, the spiritual pressure within their bodies would lose balance, and they would explode like a balloon.
People who entered the second level would experience visual and auditory illusions.
If their bodies weren’t good, they would be plagued by the illusions for either a few days or even half a month, and they would go crazy in the end.
Also, there was no possibility of treating them.
On the third level, there was spirit poison.
This was a terrifying toxin, and no one knew of its origin. In any case, the toxin would fuse together with spirit qi in some regions and form a toxic gas.
If one absorbed spirit poison into their bodies, their organs and brains would be damaged. In the end, they would become monsters akin to zombies until their bodies rotted completely.
The Dragonspirit Manor was precisely located in the third level of the Darkness Continent.
If Bai Wenzhang didn’t pass him the map, Sun Mo wouldn’t dare to bring his students to walk around here randomly.
Even with the map, he had to frequently activate Divine Sight to check the surroundings.
At this level, after leaving the main cities where cultivators usually resided, one would probably not see any humans in other regions.
After 12 days of traveling, everyone finally arrived at a canyon. After entering it and passing through a region of mist, a rural village, which seemed as though it existed in a paradise of another world, appeared before everyone.
At their feet, streams of flowing water intercrossed. When they lifted their heads and looked, green paddy fields with fishes leaping out of the waters occasionally could be seen.
“How beautiful!”
Xianyu Wei exclaimed in admiration.
“Ou!”
Ying Baiwu directly puked.
Sun Mo hurried over and helped her with a massage.
“This shouldn’t be the case. Junior apprentice sister Baiwu’s constitution is much better than mine. Why would there be such a heavy reaction?”
Li Ziqi didn’t understand.
Ever since they entered the Darkness Continent, Ying Baiwu’s body condition had become worse. She would vomit and feel dizzy on different degrees of seriousness. In fact, there were times where her limbs would be swollen.
If it wasn’t for her teacher assisting her with his Ancient Dragon Capturing Hands, the iron-headed girl would have lost half her life even if she didn’t die.
“I told you to return earlier, but you had to try and act tough!”
Sun Mo sighed. He should have been more unyielding.
“Experts will only be born in the Darkness Continent. Even if I don’t come now, I will still come here in the future.”
Ying Baiwu had a resolute expression.
All famous experts in the Nine Provinces had risen to fame after they had tempered themselves in the Darkness Continent. It was like if you were a small-time pirate that hadn’t been to the New World and only dared to roam the four oceans, would you dare to call yourself the Pirate King?
In this world, there were people planting seedlings and grazing oxen. There were even a few children flying kites as sounds of their laughter echoed continuously.
When they saw outsiders like Sun Mo, they didn’t panic.
Because they knew that those who could enter were all invited by their dean.
“May I ask…”
Just when Sun Mo wanted to seek directions, an old man at the opposite road was already smiling and pointing to the east.
“The place you are looking for is at the end of the road.”
Sun Mo thanked him and continued to advance. Not long later, he saw an extremely large manor before his eyes. Numerous stone structures could be seen within and they were lined in a row like soldiers, arranged both horizontally and vertically.
At the center of the manor, there was a very tall and large stone castle.
After everyone entered, they discovered that three people had arrived before them.
“What do you guys mean? Our esteemed and noble lord has arrived, but there isn’t even anyone here to open the door to welcome us? Do you guys know how to treat guests?”
The person speaking was a middle-aged man clad in ordinary grey clothes. There was an umbrella in his hands and he was shielding a person sitting in a wheelchair from the sun.
A middle-aged woman with ordinary looks was pushing the wheelchair and was spurring the man on. “Why don’t you fight your way in and give everyone inside a beating?”
Upon hearing this, the students all frowned.
(Who are you? Daring to make trouble in Bai Wenzhang’s territory? Did you guys drink too much wine last night?)
Naturally, no one was silly enough to utter such words. Those who could be invited by Bai Wenzhang would surely be major characters of a certain area.
“Don’t speak nonsense!”
The old man seated in the wheelchair had a yellow waxen countenance, and his body was frail and skinny. He looked like a skeleton with skin draped around it. His appearance was very frightening.
Xianyu Wei and Lu Zhiruo subconsciously hid behind Sun Mo.
After seeing Sun Mo’s group, the middle-aged man stopped cursing and surveyed them. “Human trafficker?”
“Have maggots entered your brain? These kids are clearly his students. If they were your students, would you sell them?”
The middle-aged woman snorted in disdain.
“That would have to depend on whether I’m lacking money or not!”
The middle-aged man chortled. His gaze spun and landed on Xuanyuan Po. “Ze, other than that girl who is about to puke out her gallbladder and that pale sickly youth who keeps coughing, the other kids are very excellent. I really want to collect them.”
“I will choose that tall and strapping girl. Hello dear, do you want to become my daughter?”
The middle-aged woman waved to Xianyu Wei.
“Everyone, I hope your jokes stop here!”
Sun Mo’s expression turned cold. At the same time, he released the Battle God’s Will.
In order not to infuriate them, he didn’t activate Divine Sight. However, he could tell that these three weren’t good people with just a single glance.
“Stop arguing!”
The old man berated. He then apologized, “I’m sorry, there are some problems with their minds. After all, other than people like them, no one would be willing to take care of a darn old man like me.”
The old man seemed to be very sick. His voice was clearly devoid of strength, and his head was drooping downward from the start until the end. He had never lifted his head once.
“Is there someone here?”
Helian Beifang didn’t want to stay together with these three people. So, he walked toward the gate and wanted to enter quickly. However, he discovered that the gate was locked and there was an announcement pasted on it.
“There’s no need to shout anymore. If we want to enter the manor, we have to solve a puzzle.”
Jiang Leng spoke.
Returning here again caused him to be filled with recollections. There was an extremely complicated feeling in his heart.
This place was his childhood. There was some laughter he didn’t want to forget, as well as pain and agony he didn’t want to recall.
“What’s the puzzle?” Qin Yaoguang frowned. “We have the personal invitation letter of Dean Bai, but we still have to solve a puzzle?”
“I don’t know, according to the rules, the riddle will change once per year. And no matter who the inviter is, as long as the invited person couldn’t solve the puzzle, he or she wouldn’t be qualified to enter the manor.”
Jiang Leng walked toward a huge wall not far from the gate in a familiar manner.
This wall was made from metal, and there were a thousand small magnets on it which could be freely arranged.
If one could form a complete spirit rune using these magnets that had runic lines engraved on them, they would pass and be able to enter.
When Jiang Leng spoke, he wanted to demonstrate for everyone.
“Don’t touch it!”
Sun Mo stopped him.
Very good, the Divine Sight was trash again. It couldn’t see anything.
(What a fraud!)
Jiang Leng was very obedient and retreated to the side.
“Oi, do you do things against your conscience often?”
The middle-aged man teased. “If not, why is your wariness against others so strong?”
Sun Mo ignored this servant. Rather, he was looking at the magnets that were in disarray. (Wasn’t this just a jigsaw puzzle game?)
This thing could test a spirit runist’s understanding of this subject.
Stripping the skin and leaving behind the bones.
If one tested it out piece by piece, they might have to wait for years before they could complete it. Hence, the correct method was to form a core and build a basic bone structure to reconstruct this spirit rune.
Naturally, it was very time-consuming and one must put in a lot of effort to identify the core fragments among so many magnets.
“Little brat, from your expression, you seem to already have an idea on how to resolve this?”
The middle-aged man laughed. “Come, tell it to uncle!”
“Have maggots entered your brain? Don’t you know that for the entry question to enter the Dragonspirit Manor, one would never be able to solve it if their standard of expertise wasn’t at the grandmaster level?”
The middle-aged woman rolled her eyes. “How old is this brat merely? How can he answer this? You can’t possibly be thinking that he is really a grandmaster-level spirit runist, right?”