Chapter 18
Sun Mo didn’t like crowds. Hence, he would wake up earlier and head to the canteen to have breakfast before the peak period.
“I’ll get some steamed dumplings and one porridge for takeaway. I don’t want the salted veggies.”
Sun Mo calculated the money he had in his pocket. Although it wasn’t healthy to eat meat in the morning, the steamed dumplings of the canteen were extremely delicious.
After moving out of the dorm building, he went onto a path leading to the sports field. He could see many intern teachers finishing their morning practice, and they were currently on their way back.
Due to the competitive nature of their current situation, it seemed as though there were no mutual greetings among them. Their gazes were filled with disregard for each other.
“Teacher Sun!”
Sun Mo heard someone addressing him with an honorific, and he couldn’t help but feel astonished. When he glanced toward the voice, he saw a young girl with exquisite features standing below a maple tree at the side.
“Oh, it’s you?”
Sun Mo felt a little surprised. The young girl wore men’s clothes that were tailored fit for her. However, her fair skin, her gentle-looking exquisite features, her slender figure…Everyone could tell that she was a girl with just a glance.
This girl was none other than Li Ziqi, the person who had wanted to save him but ended up almost drowning herself. The system had also issued a mission, wanting Sun Mo to accept her as his student.
“Teacher Sun!”
Li Ziqi smiled sweetly. Her eyes, where the shades of white and black were clearly distinct, immediately curved into shapes of the crescent moon. However, just as she jogged over, her feet tripped on a flagstone after a few steps.
Pak!
Li Ziqi was like a frying pan as she fell and slammed into the limestone slab.
“Are you alright?”
Sun Mo was badly frightened. He hurried over to help her up, but he soon stopped. Li Ziqi had directly covered her head with her arms and curled into a ball.
“Boohoo, I lost face again. Why am I so stupid?”
Li Ziqi really wanted to find a hole and hide in it.
“Because of your kindness, this ant can continue to admire the scenery of this world.”
Sun Mo didn’t go to help her up. Instead, he squatted at the side and was staring at an ant that was passing by.
“Eh?”
Li Ziqi started.
“You really are a kind girl!”
Sun Mo smiled, he picked that ant up and showed it to her.
“Eh?”
Li Ziqi was still in a daze, but she soon understood. Sun Mo thought that she fell down on purpose in order to avoid stepping on the ant. Aiya, she turned from a stupid girl into a kind girl in an instant. After managing to save her face, happiness bloomed in Li Ziqi’s heart.
“No one has ever treated me like this!”
Li Ziqi felt very strange. In the past when she fell down, her servants, guards, and aunties would be extremely frightened and hurry over to console her. But today, this was the first time she had a different experience.
By saying such words, she didn’t feel the embarrassment she had felt in the past. Instead, she even felt a little joyful.
“Have you eaten yet?”
Sun Mo put the ant down and passed over a handkerchief.
“Yes, I’ve eaten.”
Li Ziqi took the handkerchief, slightly started. Only then did she realize that the area above her mouth was wet. Evidently, the skin of her nose was grazed a little, and there was fresh blood flowing down. She hurriedly wiped the blood away with the handkerchief.
“What are you doing here?”
Sun Mo wasn’t narcissistic enough to believe that she was here to look for him.
“The student recruitment meet will begin three days later, and the battle hall’s test is today. Hence, I came earlier to take a look.”
Li Ziqi glanced at the blood on the handkerchief and she blushed. “I’ll return it to you after I wash it clean!”
…
The battle hall of the Central Province Academy was pretty famous in Jinling City. The students in there were all experts who were proficient in combat.
If there were students who wished to have some attainments in martial arts, there was no mistake if they chose to join here.
“There are so many people!”
Li Ziqi saw many students gathered outside the battle hall. She was involuntarily speechless. “Are they all challengers?”
“Yup!”
Sun Mo was searching for Qi Shengjia’s silhouette. Some of these students were praying, some were using the time to warm up, some had faces filled with confidence, and some were chatting idly with the people beside them.
The fame of the battle hall was too great. Hence, for the entry test held once every three months, the number of participants would be filled to the brim. In fact, there had been situations where some members of the battle hall had to have three or four fights in a day. In order to avoid such a situation, the hall leader of the battle hall set a rule. And that was, if a challenger failed his challenge, he wouldn’t be allowed to issue another challenge for the next test. He had to wait half a year later.
This was Qi Shengjia’s last chance. Even though his father didn’t complain about the fees, Qi Shengjia would quit school if he failed to join the battle hall this time.
The school fees were simply too expensive. If he didn’t improve, he would truly not have any face to stay here.
At eight sharp, the sound of drums echoed out.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
All the students gathered before the battle hall fell into silence. They inclined their heads and stared in the direction of the entrance.
A young man with a height close to two meters stood there. He was like an iron pagoda and was proclaiming in a bright and clear voice.
“All challengers, line up before the entrance. After that, proceed with drawing lots. You will enter the competition based on the number you drew. If you missed your number when it’s called out, it will be considered that you have decided to give up.”
After the students immediately surged forward like a hive of bees when they heard it. All of them wanted to snatch a good position.
“Silence. Anyone who still jostles and creates a commotion will have their qualification of challenge removed.”
The young man berated. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was like a clap of thunder, ringing out loud in the ears of everyone.
The students immediately got into rows obediently. This person who spoke was Zhu Ting, someone that was ranked #5 in the battle hall. He was extremely impartial and followed the rules of the school religiously. Since he said words like removing one’s qualification of challenge, it meant that he would do that.
Everyone didn’t wish to lose their qualifications just by snatching a good spot. That would be too tragic.
Once everyone was organized into neat rows, the efficiency became much faster. The students walked to a large metal box and put their hands into it to draw a lot.
“May the heavens bless me!”
Zhu Ting immediately cursed at them.
“The heavens won’t bless you. Your own hard work is the only thing you can depend on. If you are not confident, just scram now. Don’t waste everyone’s time.”
1
Zhu Ting continued, “Also, for the rest of you. I want you to move quicker. Do you all think the box is a woman? Why are you putting your hands inside it for so long?”
Zhu Ting’s words were funny, but not a single student dared to laugh.
Everyone no longer dared to delay and drew out a wooden plate from the box. In fact, they didn’t even have time to see the number on their lots and hurriedly left to make space for the next participants.
“The rest will draw lots tomorrow!”
When 500 students finished drawing the lots, Zhu Ting stopped the next student.
“Go and make your preparations first. The challenge will begin ten minutes later!”
After Zhu Ting spoke, he carried the metal box that weighed over 50 kg with a single hand. He then returned inside the battle hall.
“It’s over!”
After Zhu Ting’s silhouette vanished, a student tossed the wooden plate in his hand onto the ground and involuntarily wailed in anguish.
The people beside him glanced at the wooden lot and immediately conveyed their sympathies.
On the thumb-size wooden plate, there were three characters ‘1, Fang Yan’.
Fang Yan, a student of the seventh-grade. He was the publicly acknowledged #1 ranker of the battle hall, and this unlucky student drew him out of 500 students. His luck was truly so bad that no one could beat it.
However, he wasn’t the only one wailing and sighing. Those who had drawn the top 100 rankers looked as though they were attending a funeral.
Sun Mo didn’t waste much time and soon found Qi Shengjia. Qi Shengjia was seated on the stairs and was listlessly staring at the ground. His eyes were red. It was evident that he just cried.
“A bad draw?”
Upon seeing Qi Shengjia’s state, Sun Mo already guessed the answer.
“His opponent is Peng Wanli.”
Zhou Xu passed a wooden plate over, but Sun Mo didn’t take it. He already saw the number 106 on it.
“Your hard work can be seen by everyone. If you continue to train, half-a-year later, you will even win against someone in the top #100.”
Wang Hao consoled, but even he himself didn’t believe in his own words.
During these few days, Qi Shengjia was full of confidence and he became more chatty. He, who had always been shy, could even say words like he would pass the test for sure. But after drawing his lot, it was like all his energy and spirit had been sapped away.
“Teacher!”
When he saw Sun Mo, Qi Shengjia greeted him in a mournful voice. It was simply like a cuckoo crying blood.
“Yo, isn’t this student Qi Shengjia? When you were publicly proclaiming that you would pass the battle hall’s test, your expression wasn’t like this.”
Yan Li came specially to see Qi Shengjia being defeated so he could taunt him later. However, he didn’t expect Qi Shengjia’s luck to be so bad. There was no need for a challenge and it was almost certain that he would lose.
“Let me see who’s your opponent?”
Yan Li moved over. “Peng Wanli? Hehe, this guy is the same year as us, but he’s at the 6th-level of the body refinement realm. His Eighteen Arhat Palms is extremely famous. You are only at the 3rd-level of body refinement, how can you win?”
“Shengjia is at the 4th-level.”
Wang Hao rolled his eyes.
“4th-level? You broke through recently?”
Yan Li was astonished. Soon after, he cursed in a low voice. Although Yan Li was at the 5th-level and Qi Shengjia was still one level weaker, he felt unhappy when he saw someone he disliked breaking through.
“Are you done or not? Quickly leave!”
Zhou Xu frowned.
“I’m only reminding him out of good-will. Try not to die from being beaten up. Let alone the 4th-level, even if he was at the 6th-level, he wouldn’t be able to beat Peng Wanli.”
Yan Li laughed uproariously as he left. This detestable poor ghost was finally going to quit school and scram. Tonight, he definitely had to go out and enjoy a feast to celebrate it.
“It’s over.”
Qi Shengjia stood up and walked over slowly. Clearly, he wanted to give up,
Wang Hao and Zhou Xu didn’t feel surprised by this. If he entered the battle, it was unknown whether his injuries would be heavy or light. If his injuries were heavy, he would need to spend a bomb on medical fees.
“I shouldn’t have any hopes…Boohoo!”
Qi Shengjia lifted his hand to wipe his tears as he cried sorrowfully.
Sun Mo surveyed Qi Shengjia. He saw that Qi Shengjia’s potential was still extremely low. Such a thing wouldn’t suddenly rise due to reasons such as ‘sympathy’ or ‘you are a good person’.
“System, open the shopping store!”
As Sun Mo silently mused, the shelf for goods appeared before him.
The items here were pathetically little. Sun Mo glanced at everything and his vision then landed at the lucky treasure chest at the bottom left corner of the goods shelf.
“‘Lucky treasure chest’ valued at 10 favorable impression points. There’s a 0.1% chance you will be able to draw a technique, an item, or a cultivation art, etc.”
2
As he looked at the note about the lucky treasure chest, Sun Mo decided to gamble.