Chapter 1072: Great Teacher Ranking, Ancient Sage Rampart
The requirement to become a 4-stars great teacher was for one to comprehend at least 12 great teacher halos and have expertise in four secondary occupations. Moreover, their disciples had to obtain a good ranking in the personal student battle.
To the examinees, the personal student battle was then the difficult stage where many would fail. As for the number of comprehended halos and secondary occupations, these were minor problems that the vast majority of the examinees wouldn't be stumped by. However, this time around, everyone was stunned.
"Sun Mo is a wicked scoundrel. Now, my record of continuous victories is going to end."
"Yeah, the Ancient Sage Building is the exam venue for the 6-stars examination. Are they not making things deliberately difficult for us by changing the exam venue?"
"I heard that this was something Secondary Saint Zhou has done behind the scenes."
In the courtyard, the examinees were grouped in groups of twos to threes, and they grumbled to each other. Some blamed Sun Mo, but even more people blamed Secondary Saint Zhou.
As a secondary saint, wouldn't your prestige decline because you wanted to quarrel with a junior?
Speaking of which, everyone originally didn't care about this as they just wanted to watch a good show. But now, since this involved their own self-interest, they naturally would care.
"Teacher Sun is here!"
It was unknown who shouted this. In the end, a commotion happened and everyone shifted their positions, wanting to take a look at this Three-Time Champion Sun. He was a rising superstar who created a record and forced Secondary Saint Zhou to make things difficult for him.
Very soon, a handsome young man and a 'completely ripened' beautiful great teacher entered the vision of everyone.
"So, this person is Sun Mo? He's actually so handsome?"
"Damn, he can clearly depend on his looks for a living. Why does he want to depend on talent?"
"In the past, I always wondered why An Xinhui did not object to her grandfather's wish despite her fame being so great. Now, I suddenly understand. I also want such a handsome man!"
After this person spoke, everyone's gaze immediately turned over. After that, dumbstruck expressions appeared on their faces. They quickly avoided that person because the one who spoke was a male.
"This is the first time I'm not the focus of attention!"
Jin Mujie teased.
In the past, her looks would always be the focal point of everyone no matter where she went to. But today, everyone was looking at Sun Mo.
"I feel that this is pretty good!"
Sun Mo smiled calmly. He wanted to say that he hated being peeked at secretly the most. In the end, he saw Jin Mujie blushing while rolling her eyes at him.
The aura of this little woman was simply mesmerizing!
"Huh?" Sun Mo started. (Is there a problem with my words?)
Very soon, he understood what had happened. Jin Mujie misunderstood his words. She probably felt something like Sun Mo didn't want others to look at her.
After that, Sun Mo sweated so much like a waterfall.
(I'm not flirting with you!)
"In the future, don't say such words recklessly. After all, Xinhui is my good sister!"
Jin Mujie warned.
"..."
Sun Mo suddenly felt very wronged.
Roughly 15 minutes later, another commotion appeared among the crowd. They parted and stepped to the left and right, opening up a pathway.
The judges had arrived.
With Liang Hongda in the lead, over a hundred 6-stars and above great teachers walked in.
Because entry to the Ancient Sage Building was normally forbidden even for high star-ranking great teachers, those who had connections immediately made use of them to join the judging panel after learning that the exam would be held in this place.
The great teachers lowered their heads and bowed.
Liang Hongda smiled. And after he saw Sun Mo, he halted his steps and the smile on his face grew even wider.
"Teacher Sun, do your best to break the record of having the most number of ancient sages appearing in a lecture."
Liang Hongda encouraged.
"Many thanks for sir's high regard for me!"
Sun Mo spoke in a tone that wasn't civil nor overbearing.
"Teacher Sun, long time no see!"
Among the judges, Tong Yiming and Mei Yazhi were present as well. Tong Yiming wanted to avoid them being gossipped about, so he didn't speak. But Mei Yazhi didn't care about matters like this.
"Teacher Mei!"
Sun Mo hurriedly greeted. This was a major character and his close friend, Mei Ziyu's, mother. He naturally wouldn't dare to neglect her.
"Why are you still addressing me as Teacher Mei? Shouldn't you address me as Aunty Mei, instead?"
Mei Yazhi feigned anger.
"Aunty Mei!"
Sun Mo hurriedly changed his term of address.
"Mn!"
Mei Yazhi grunted in reply, but she suddenly didn't like this term of address. (Wouldn't this make me seem old?)
After the judges left, the surroundings became clamorous again.
"Teacher Sun's connections are so wide!"
Someone felt envious.
"No matter how wide his connections are, it's useless as it cannot help him pass this exam!"
An old great teacher over 60 years old had a heavy look on his face. "There might be a possibility of cheating in other star-ranking great teacher examinations, but the Ancient Sage Building is the only exception."
"That's right. The ancient sages wouldn't appear unless they admired the examinee's talent and charisma. It is also impossible to summon them using any other methods."
Dang! Dang! Dang!
The bell chimes rang out and the examinees hurriedly kept quiet.
Tong Yiming stood at the entrance to the great hall and spoke after casting Lingering Sound on himself.
"The examinees whose names are called are to enter the great hall and release your halos. Everyone will have three minutes to do so and three chances at most."
Tong Yiming announced the rules, "If there are people who don't want to participate in the examination this time around, you can say so immediately and your names won't be recorded."
When the examinees heard this, sounds of discussion immediately broke out. But no one dared to give up because the Saint Gate's examinations had always been filled with 'traps'.
If they gave up now, maybe they would be forbidden to participate in the 4-stars great teacher examination for the next three years.
When Tong Yiming saw the suspicious attitudes of everyone, he knew that they wouldn't dare to give up.
Honestly speaking, there were no 'traps' this time around. Secondary Saint Zhou also knew that by suddenly changing the venue to the Ancient Sage Building, he would offend a lot of people. Hence, he gave the examinees a chance to revoke their registrations.
The exam had begun!
The examinees entered the great hall one after the other.
"Zhang Wentao!"
When Tong Yiming read this name, the gazes of everyone turned over.
"Is this person very famous?"
Sun Mo asked in a low voice.
This was a man with an imposing appearance. He was eight feet tall and had a mustache. He even oiled himself up and exuded extremely strong confidence.
"This man is ranked #100 on the Great Teacher Ranking!"
Jin Mujie's lips twitched.
Although the ranking was at #100 and sounded nothing impressive, one had to see which scoreboard this ranking was on.
The Great Teacher Ranking was a scoreboard that included all great teachers above 30 years old and below the 7-stars in the entire Nine Provinces.
If one wanted to ascend to this ranking, that would depend on the great teacher's personal capability and achievements, including their number of personal students, their strengths, and successes.
Its weightage could be described in a word - incomparable.
Zhang Wentao was securely sitting in the position of the 'goalkeeper'. Any great teachers who wanted to ascend to this ranking had to defeat him first. However, it had been ten years since he got into the rankings, and no one had succeeded.
Meanwhile, Sun Mo was the #1 ranker on the Great Teachers Hero Ranking. It sounded nice, but in the great teacher world, his fame wasn't as great as Zhang Wentao's.
To give another example, Yue Rongbo and An Xinhui were all very strong, but they were not qualified to be ranked on the Great Teacher Ranking.
"Let me add another sentence. Mei Yazhi is ranked #65!"
Jin Mujie divulged another bit of information.
"A goalkeeper guarding the stairway to heaven!"
Sun Mo surveyed Zhang Wentao. His bearing and appearance truly had the style of a great teacher.
"If Teacher Sun obtains the championship this year and suppresses Zhang Wentao, you will be able to enter the Great Teacher Ranking in glory."
A melodious female voice suddenly interjected.
Jin Mujie turned her head and saw a short woman with a face filled with freckles. She was wearing a pair of hawksbill shell-rimmed eyeglasses, smiling as she greeted Sun Mo.
"Teacher Sun, I've missed you. We have not met for a year!"
After speaking, Bai Xiqing passed a notebook over. "Can you give me your autograph? Please use a different calligraphy style this time!"
"Teacher Bai!"
Sun Mo took the notebook and wrote some sentences of blessing. This freckled-girl was a crazy fan of his. "You also came to participate in the exam?"
"Yeah!"
Bai Xiqing cautiously kept the book. She had a face filled with helplessness. "If I knew this exam would be held in the Ancient Sage Building, I wouldn't have come even if someone threatened to beat me to death. Oh right, this is my personal student Miao Chuandong, please take good care of him!"
"Quickly come and greet Great Teacher Sun!"
A male student whose face was also filled with freckles stepped out from behind Bai Xiqing and bowed to Sun Mo with a heart filled with trepidation.
"Teacher Bai is too serious."
Sun Mo conveniently activated Divine Sight.
Potential Value: Extremely high!
All the various stats were excellent as well.
Just when Sun Mo was preparing to say a few nice sentences, he heard a familiar name.
"Jiang Zhitong!"
Swish!
Sun Mo immediately looked over.
Jiang Zhitong just so coincidentally glanced over. When his gaze met Sun Mo's, a smile of disdain curled his lips. He stretched out his right thumb horizontally. After that, he swung the thumb downward and showed a thumbs-down.
Wow!
The audience exclaimed.
This was a public provocation!
Jiang Zhitong was from a famous great teacher clan. Ever since he was young, everyone had referred to him as a genius and his life had always been smooth-sailing. This was why when he encountered an enemy, he would definitely face them head-on.
(Avoiding? There's no such thing. This great teacher will do everything beautifully from the start to the end and suppress my enemy thoroughly.)
"Teacher Sun, crush him!"
Bai Xiqing felt very angry. She rolled up her sleeves and was preparing to splash shit on Jiang Zhitong. (You dare to despise my idol? You must be tired of living!)
"Calm down!"
Sun Mo didn't expect that Jiang Zhitong would come as well. From the looks of things, there was a huge chance that Jiang Zhitong was here to snipe him.
Very soon, Jiang Zhitong's name was known to everyone.
"Ze, this is also a good method to become famous quickly!"
Some great teachers felt envious.
"Forget it. Even if you want to step on Sun Mo to rise to fame, you have to have enough strength to do so, or you will be nothing but a clown."
Some great teachers were very composed.
20 minutes later, Tong Yiming finally called out Sun Mo's name.
Swish~
The crowd, which was originally conversing, immediately stopped as everyone looked at Sun Mo.
Sun Mo walked up the stairs and after clasping his hands to greet Tong Yiming, he entered the great hall.
"Teacher Sun, you can start!"
Liang Hongda was personally presiding over this as the main examiner. After all, 3-stars great teachers were already considered the cornerstones of the great teacher world. Hence, he had to show his face more often to establish his sense of existence.
Swish~ Swish~ Swish~
Numerous halos erupted forth from Sun Mo with no hesitation.
"Teacher Sun, I heard that you have a halo that can directly grant knowledge to the target. Can we witness it?"
A bald examiner smiled and asked.
"I probably shouldn't embarrass myself before so many great teachers."
Sun Mo rejected.
The bald examiner's expression immediately froze. He didn't expect Sun Mo would reject his wish.
"Teacher Sun, Teacher Qian merely wishes to broaden his horizons. Why don't you satisfy him?"
Liang Hongda acted as a meditator.
"Great teacher halos are used to educate people."
If it wasn't for the fact that Sun Mo still had a little bit of EQ, he would add that 'halos aren't circus tricks that everyone can just watch if they want.'.
The words of the baldy examiner had the tone of a superior commanding a subordinate. With just a single glance, one could tell that he was too used to being bossy. Besides, after Sun Mo rejected him, his expression immediately turned gloomy and he didn't hide it at all.
Liang Hongda felt very awkward.
"You passed, you can leave now."
An examiner hurriedly ended the test.
"His personality is very arrogant!"
The bald examiner gave an evaluation.
"If I had his achievements, I would be even more arrogant than him!"
The other examiners didn't mind. They also knew that this bald examiner surnamed 'Qian' was doing this because his younger brother was Secondary Saint Zhou's student.
When Sun Mo walked out of the great hall, he heard Tong Yiming calling out a name.
"Wan Xiulin!"
He originally didn't care about this, but all the great teachers on the scene looked over and their expressions were like they were waiting to watch a good show.
Wang Xiulin was a middle-aged man. He looked very ordinary and didn't have any special characteristics. But when he brushed past Sun Mo, his gaze was filled with hostility.
"What the hell?"
Sun Mo was speechless. "Am I a piece of stepping stone that everyone wants to step on now?"
"He is a personal student of Secondary Saint Zhou."
Bai Xiqing was astonished. "Seems like he isn't at ease even after choosing the Ancient Sage Building as the venue. He even arranged for a disciple to 'snipe' you."
Any personal student of a secondary saint didn't have to prove themselves using their personal teacher's identity. Most of the time, they would stay by the secondary saint's side to listen and learn from the secondary saint's lectures.
If they weren't 90% confident, they wouldn't come and participate in the exam. Otherwise, if they failed, they would be losing the face of their teacher who was a secondary saint.
"Sun Mo, you have to get Ziqi to pay more attention."
Jin Mujie was somewhat worried. The examination in the Ancient Sage Building was something decided by Secondary Saint Zhou. He even dared to send a personal student to participate, so this meant that he was exceedingly confident.
On the first day, the first segment of the exam was completed and no one was eliminated. After that, on the second day, a total of 626 examinees headed to the Ancient Sage Building that was located on the Sage Canyon.
If one rode on horses, they would need roughly four hours to arrive.
This was a gigantic building constructed of huge layered stones. From the outside, it looked like a bamboo barrel with roots after it was severed in half.
Everyone entered the Ancient Sage Building.
At the first level, it was an enormous public square. In the north direction, there was an immense rampart with a picture of the sun, moon, and stars engraved on it.
"Examinees whose names are called have to head to the second floor and give a lecture. The duration is one hour and the number of ancient sages that appear in your lecture will be indicated by beams of light emitting from this Ancient Sage Rampart."
Bai Xiqing explained to Sun Mo.
Sun Mo activated Divine Sight and peered at the surroundings, but he wasn't able to get any information.
"Set up your own camp and rest. The next segment of the exam will start tomorrow morning!"
Tong Yiming instructed.
It was a quiet night. At 8 a.m. the next day, the exam began.
"Wang Dan!"
Tong Yiming was the one responsible for calling out the names of the examinees again.
The female great teacher whose name was called drew in a deep breath before she headed to the second floor via the staircase.
At the entrance of the staircase, there were two examiners who lit up an incense stick.
"When the incense stick has finished burning, it means that time is up and you have to conclude your lecture!"
Upon hearing this reminder, Wang Dan immediately hastened her steps and entered a great hall with a round table.
"Why is listening by the side isn't permitted?"
Qin Yaoguang was unhappy.
"Maybe they are worried that the place might be damaged?"
Tantai Yutang could understand the Saint Gate's methodology. It was like the darkness illusion dojo of the Central Province Academy wasn't a place where anyone could enter casually.
An hour passed swiftly after. But there was not a single beam of light from the Ancient Sage Rampart.
This meant that Wang Dan couldn't even convince a single ancient sage.
One must know that these examinees were 3-stars great teachers and there were definitely no problems with their lecturing standards. Yet, she actually scored zero points?
This was simply too psychologically damaging.
And as for those examinees who came here for the first time, their expressions also grew heavy, and they finally understood how terrifying the exam was.