Chapter 1238: Sun Mo Clearing Another Puzzle
Translator: Lordbluefire
The ocean wind had a stench to it as it blew toward the restaurant.
“Why? Is this place a den for dragons and tigers?”
Sun Mo ate a mouthful of the little dish. The taste was ordinary and extremely salty. It was so salty that it felt like he was eating dried fish.
“Go and make two more dishes!”
Ji Han instructed the boss and no longer tried to hint Sun Mo. He admired Sun Mo’s talent and this was why he tried to persuade him. If Sun Mo didn’t want to listen and wanted to court death, it didn’t matter to him either.
“Throughout history, from ancient times until now, warlords held power over different places and these places were always full of chaos. Say, other than enjoying the sea breeze and eating salted fish, what other benefits are there in staying at this place?”
Sun Mo didn’t understand.
Ji Han drank his wine and didn’t reply.
“You guys feel that you were bullied, hence you all came here to hide. Moreover, because you guys were stationed here for a long time and had no contact with the Nine Provinces, do you all feel that this is a type of betrayal?”
Sun Mo glanced at Ji Han. “What does this count for? You won’t cooperate unless there’s violence? Or is it self-exile?”
Pak!
Ji Han smashed the wine bowl onto the table. “The great teacher circle of the Nine Provinces makes me feel disgusted. I’d rather be a farmer here.”
“Che, from my point of view, you are a coward!”
Sun Mo stared at Ji Han. “I’ll screw whoever dares offend me, beating that person up mercilessly. I will vent my emotions first before we speak of other things.”
“…”
Ji Han frowned. Sun Mo’s words didn’t conform to his values.
“Do you feel that I’m too ruthless?”
Sun Mo’s lips twitched. “But if one wasn’t ruthless, they wouldn’t be able to survive. When facing powerful enemies, do you think everything will be fine as long as you kneel and plead for mercy? No. The other party will feel that wow, your bones are so soft. After that, they will slap you even harder and steal your money and women.”
Ji Han’s fists were clenched tightly.
“Teacher Ji, your weapon lies in educating people. The more students you educate, the more seedlings you will have planted. Decades later, you would have an additional portion of harvest. Even if you fought against others, you wouldn’t have to fight alone anymore.”
Sun Mo put his chopsticks down. “Although fleeing will make you safe temporarily, is it really useful? That’s only an act in the dramas. In reality, if you don’t wish to be bullied, you have to fight back.”
Sun Mo stood up. “Do you think the descendants of powerful great teacher clans would be thrown into this great prison to participate in monstrous exams like this? Don’t you feel ashamed bullying the examinees who were forced here? If you are capable, go and fire your cannon at the Saint Gate instead!”
Ji Leng started.
Sun Mo’s words brought a very huge rush of impact to him.
(Yeah, what’s the point of me bullying these examinees? How could it be that easy to make the prisoners here turn over a new leaf? Basically, it’s almost confirmed that they have to waste five to six years here before scramming back to the Nine Provinces with their tails between their legs.)
(Wait a minute, I’m actually convinced by Sun Mo? This brat’s grasp on the human heart is extremely accurate!)
Ji Han had to admit that Sun Mo’s words were correct. When he was hiding here, the happy ones would be his enemies.
“But Sun Mo, you are wrong on one point. We are not wasting our lives here. We are currently carrying out a grand research!”
Ji Han picked up the wine vat and gulped the alcohol down fiercely. “We are going to stun the world!”
…
Sun Mo paid a visit to the prison warden. Firstly, this was something the Saint Gate’s Sect Lord Su Taiqing had asked him to do. Sun Mo wanted to understand the character of the prison warden as well. Secondly, he wanted to know what the prison warden thought about him receiving Saint Bai’s inheritance. If things didn’t smell right, he would hurry up and summon Little Silver and leave.
In any case, he was young. Even if he became a 6-stars twenty years later, he would still be considered a tender shoot.
Hu Xingjiang’s office was located in a small room. The furnishing was simple and other than a table with peeled-off paint, there were three large bookshelves that were filled with books.
“What do you want to drink? Tea or plain water?”
Hu Xingjiang didn’t adopt the attitude of a major character. His smile was very amiable.
“Water will do!”
Sun Mo sat down.
“Are you used to the life here?”
Hu Xingjiang surveyed Sun Mo as he silently mused at Sun Mo’s good looks. (You could clearly depend on being a gigolo and do well, yet you are actually so outstanding that many high star-ranking great teachers would feel ashamed of their inferiority.)
“With no disturbance from the external world, this is indeed a good place to gain knowledge!”
Sun Mo received the bowl that the major character passed him. “It’s still okay to stay three or four years in this place. But if you leave the Nine Provinces for too long, you will lose touch with the mainstream learning world there.”
“Hmm, that’s true. This is especially so for some popular subjects. If we don’t follow updates closely, we will lag behind after a few years.”
Hu Xingjiang agreed as well.
“Teacher Hu, my Ancient Dragon Capturing Hands has an excellent recovery effect when it comes to treating some of the hidden injuries afflicting the body…”
Sun Mo wasn’t a simp. He wanted to have a legitimate reason to inspect and probe Hu Xingjiang’s body to see if there were any weaknesses he could grasp.
“Many thanks for Teacher Sun’s kind intention, but there’s no need!”
Hu Xingjiang rejected.
“Teacher Hu, I have an unreasonable request. I wish to see the information of all the prisoners imprisoned here.”
Sun Mo made a request.
“Sure!”
Hu Xingjiang didn’t intentionally make things difficult for Sun Mo.
The two of them chatted idly for some time. In the end, when Sun Mo departed, Hu Xingjiang still didn’t mention anything about the saint’s inheritance.
“What exactly is that fellow thinking?”
Sun Mo didn’t understand.
Ding!
“Congratulations. Your eldest disciple Li Ziqi is now the Great Tang’s female emperor and is standing at the peak of her life. Your credit in this is undeniable, hence you are hereby awarded 3x great teacher emblems and 3x mysterious treasure chests.”
Ding!
“Congratulations on completing the achievement ‘my disciple becomes more outstanding than her teacher’. Reward: 1x great teacher emblem, 2x mysterious treasure chests.”
The system announced. It had been too long since it last gave out a reward.
“Aren’t the rewards a little too late?”
Sun Mo was speechless.
“You were clearly in closed-door cultivation!”
The system felt very wronged.
Sun Mo looked at the five treasure chests and bore the impulse to open them straight. The papaya girl wasn’t beside him. Given his unlucky aura, he probably wouldn’t be able to open any good stuff.
Ding!
“Mission issued: Please complete the exam within three years and become a 6-stars great teacher. If you fail, there will be a punishment!”
“Huh?”
Sun Mo was unhappy. (How can this daddy escape now?)
“Great teachers should charge forward in the face of difficulty and do things no others can do.”
The system encouraged him.
“Scram!”
Sun Mo wasn’t a three-year-old kid. This type of chicken soup was honeyed words used to cheat ghosts!
Although the system had given a mission, Sun Mo decided to do things according to his original plan. This time around, rising a rank was a small matter. What was important was whether he could learn some skills or capabilities here.
But before that, he had to be famous first so he could garner prestige. Like this, he would be more persuasive.
There were a total of seven underground levels in the Great Prison of Desolation, and every level had a puzzle. Outsiders had to solve the puzzle on each level before they were permitted to head down.
Sun Mo wasn’t in a rush to solve them. Instead, he took his time going around the first level and understanding the situations of the prisoners in detail first.
Those imprisoned here were all 3-stars great teachers and below. More than half of them were dark great teachers who had joined the Dark Dawn. Half of them did so for money, beauty, cultivation arts, or secret treasures.
All in all, the prisoners on this level were very young. They had to do heavy-duty labor every day to pay for their crimes.
The newbies nurtured by the Saint Gate would come here for a tour once every few years. This was to warn the newbies not to make any mistakes, or the consequences would be very heavy.
The second level consisted of 4-stars great teachers and so on and so forth. The lower the level, the higher the star-rank of the prisoners and the number of guards.
“Teacher Sun, it has been a year since we last met. Are you still doing well?”
Lu Guodong and a few others grouped up and greeted him respectively.
“Many thanks to everyone for missing me!”
Sun Mo also knew how to exchange pleasantries. They were not close with each other at all, since these people came to look for him so fast, it was clear that they coveted the saint’s inheritance.
As expected, Pang Tong went straight to the point. “Teacher Sun, what inheritance did you obtain exactly? Can you reveal a little?”
“It’s very valuable.”
Sun Mo chortled. “If you guys want to learn it, you can come and work for the Central Province Academy.”
“What about the cultivation art? The cultivation art that a saint practiced is surely a saint-tier one. He must have imparted it to you as well, right?”
Pang Tong continued to ask.
“Nope!”
Sun Mo had to lie even if he didn’t want to. The Empowerment Art was too powerful, and it would surely be a case of treasuring a jade ring becomes a crime. “Alright, let’s talk later if you guys have other matters. I’m going to clear the puzzle first.”
“Let’s go together!”
Lu Guodong wanted to become friends with someone like Sun Mo.
“Given Teacher Sun’s talent, you will probably be able to clear five puzzles in a single day, right?”
Pang Tong fawned.
Very soon, everyone appeared at the entrance of the tunnel leading to the second level.
There was a sturdy and thick metal door here with chaotic scribble patterns. There were also some metal rods that were either sticking out or being pushed in.
“This lock is named ‘Ghost Lock’. You can only open it after inserting the metal rods in the correct sequence.”
Ji Han also came over and he explained to Sun Mo.
“The more metal rods there are, the higher the difficulty will be. No matter what, I’m a grandmaster weaponsmith. In the end, I had to spend a month to solve this puzzle.”
Lu Guodong sighed.
“What if one doesn’t know weaponsmithing?”
Sun Mo frowned.
“If they don’t know, they can apply to the prison guards to unlock it. However, they can only enter or exit once a week as they have to follow the guard. If they miss the time to exit the level, they have to wait for next week.”
Wu You was depressed. He belonged to the category that didn’t know weaponsmithing.
“If you are the one that unlocks it personally, you will be able to enter and exit freely.”
Pang Tong provoked. “Didn’t you obtain a saint’s inheritance, why don’t you allow us to broaden our horizons?”
Sun Mo walked to the door and observed the distribution of the metal rods. After that, he directly grabbed one and pushed it in.
Creak!
The sounds of gears grinding rang out.
Sun Mo listened closely.
One rod!
Two rods!
Three rods!
…
After Sun Mo moved seven rods, he stopped and took two steps back. After that, he touched his chin and started to contemplate. Roughly five minutes later, he officially started to try and unlock the door.
“How is it?”
Pang Tong moved toward Lu Guodong’s side and asked in a low voice. In the end, no one replied. Pang Tong turned his head and looked at him only to discover that Lu Guodong’s face showed dumbfounded amazement.
“What’s wrong?”
Wu You continued asking.
“H…he actually solved it.”
Lu Guodong was completely shocked because the sequence in which Sun Mo inserted the metal rods was completely correct. After Sun Mo pushed the 12th metal rod in, he stopped.
Creaking sounds appeared from the metal door. After that, a rumbling rang out as the two-halves of the door swung open, revealing a gap.
Sun Mo opened the gap wider and entered.
Everyone else froze.
“Damn, even a great ancestor-level weaponsmith wouldn’t be able to do that so fast, right?”
Lu Guodong looked at Ji Han. “What’s the fastest record of solving this puzzle?”
“…”
Ji Han didn’t answer him. Rather, he took a quick step ahead and arrived before the door as he checked attentively.
Was this Ghost Lock damaged?
He majored in weaponsmithing and was considered a genius in this subject, but back then when he had solved this puzzle, he had had to spend an entire day. In the end, Sun Mo finished it in 15 minutes?
What was even more terrifying was that when Sun Mo tested it, he only moved seven metal rods to check things. After that, he understood the crux perfectly.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Ji Han hurriedly jogged over. “Teacher Sun, could you tell me your thought process when you solved this puzzle?”