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Chapter 1034: Dragon Nest, Tiger Den
writer:Longing Washes Red Beans      update:2022-07-06 19:29
  Translator: Lordbluefire

  Before the Dragonspirit Manor, everyone’s emotions were rippling.

  “From what you guys said, you guys are not grandmaster spirit runists and also cannot decipher the entrance question. In that case, what are you all here for?”

  Qin Yaoguang tossed a pearflower candy into her mouth as she surveyed the three people. “Is it very fun to be rejected?”

  “Yaoguang, don’t be impolite!”

  Li Ziqi reminded. She was worried Qin Yaoguang’s words might bring trouble to Sun Mo.

  Rules were set by humans. When some hegemons had the power to rise above the rules, they naturally didn’t need to comply with it.

  And this old man who looked to be on the verge of death would either have to go home with his tail between his legs, or he was a major character on the level of Bai Wenzhang.

  Only then would Bai Wenzhang break the rules for him and permit him to enter.

  “Right, don’t speak with them anymore.”

  The papaya girl shrank back. “The auras from their bodies are very terrifying. They must have done many bad things before!”

  “Little lady, it’s not that I did many bad things before.”

  The middle-aged woman looked at Lu Zhiruo and grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. “I’ve been doing bad things my entire life!”

  “Ah!”

  Lu Zhiruo jumped in fright and hid behind Sun Mo again. Her fingers, which were grabbing his clothes, clenched even tighter.

  “Say, senior martial brother, don’t tell me you wish to fight?”

  Tantai Yutang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he saw Xuanyuan Po holding his silver spear tightly and staring at the old man. (Your guts are truly big!)

  “Don’t worry, I know how to judge the situation!”

  The combat addict sighed.

  “For an expert of this level, one probably wouldn’t meet them more than a few times in one’s entire life, right? In the future after I grow stronger, I must definitely challenge them! Only then will I be able to not let down this life of mine!”

  “Wow, the combat addict actually knows how to use idioms?”

  Qin Yaoguang was astonished.

  “What do you mean? Am I very stupid?”

  Xuanyuan Po frowned.

  “If not?” Qin Yaoguang counter-asked. “Other than fighting, what’s the difference between you and a moron?”

  The other students all nodded.

  If a class didn’t have anything to do with cultivation, Xuanyuan Po wouldn’t attend it. In fact, he only ate three meals per day for the sake of accumulating enough energy for cultivation.

  Ever since he had started on the diet plan that was arranged for him by Sun Mo, he had strictly followed it. Let alone eating an additional mouthful of meat, he didn’t even drink an additional mouthful of water as per what was indicated.

  If Sun Mo hadn’t said that it was fine to have some minor discrepancies, Xuanyuan Po would have weighed each and every meal of his carefully.

  One must know that among the martial siblings, because of Jiang Leng’s upbringing, he was someone that had a lot of self-discipline. But even he would have a good meal to reward himself for his hard work and effort.

  As for Xuanyuan Po, he was the only disciple that followed Sun Mo’s dietary plan strictly to the letter.

  Moreover, Xuanyuan Po’s training load was five times more compared to the person with the next heaviest training load, Jiang Leng.

  Also, Xuanyuan Po didn’t like to dress up.

  All his clothes were school uniforms. He didn’t have traveling clothes, and as for laundry, he simply paid money to have a cleaning aunty do it for him.

  With regard to sleep, his schedule was as accurate as a robot. He would definitely not go to bed later, even if it was just for one minute.

  Taking naps? There was no such thing.

  And because of Xuanyuan Po’s extremely disciplined resting time. The five other roommates staying with him were also influenced and encouraged. They started competing with each other, and their marks had improved vastly this semester.

  “You want to fight me?”

  Xuanyuan Po didn’t wish to argue. If there was a chance for a fight, he would definitely not quarrel.

  Moreover, he had long since wanted to spar with this junior martial sister of his.

  His instincts told him that Qin Yaoguang wasn’t simple. But she always avoided him when he brought up the topic of a spar.

  “If you can bring me a snack I’ve never eaten before, I will fight you!”

  Qin Yaoguang giggled.

  (Fighting? I naturally won’t do something that has no benefits.)

  The middle-aged man still wanted to speak a few words of ridicule, but he suddenly stared at his master with fear.

  It had been ten years since his master maintained the posture of lowering his head. But now, he actually lifted his head to look at the young man with the silver spear.

  “Little fellow, do you want to become my disciple?”

  The old man’s originally dim and cloudy eyes were shining brightly as though he wanted to see through Xuanyuan Po completely.

  Swish~

  Xuanyuan Po’s expression drastically changed. He directly took out his spear and adopted a defensive posture because he could feel an extreme danger. He felt like a prey being stared at by an ancient giant beast.

  Helian Beifang also secretly clutched the hilt of his blade.

  Jiang Leng had seamlessly taken half a step forward to stand before his junior martial sisters.

  The actions by the two of them caused the old man with one foot in the grave to turn his gaze over.

  “Ze, I didn’t expect to actually encounter so many good seedlings today!”

  The old man was surprised. He looked at Sun Mo. “What is your name?”

  “Sun Mo!”

  Sun Mo activated Divine Sight. Just when he looked at the middle-aged woman, the other party also looked over.

  “They are all your students?”

  When the old man heard this name, his brows furrowed. “Jinling? Sun Mo? Three-time Champion Sun?”

  Upon seeing Sun Mo nodding, the middle-aged woman revealed a look of understanding at why the other party was so arrogant. It was said that Sun Mo could be an ancestor-level spirit runist.

  “Hey, can you reveal the answer?”

  The middle-aged man’s tone was now filled with friendliness as he spoke like he was very familiar with Sun Mo.

  “Hehe!”

  Sun Mo clasped his hands toward the old man and walked to the gate of the manor.

  “Oi, don’t blame me for not reminding you. If you enter carelessly without resolving the puzzle, you will be hacked to death.”

  The middle-aged man warned.

  “Could he have solved it?”

  The middle-aged woman was astonished.

  “Did maggots enter your brain? He has only stood here for less than five minutes, but you are telling me that he has solved the puzzle?”

  The middle-aged man mocked. “Even if he’s an ancestor, there’s no way he would be so talented!”

  “Quiet!”

  The old man berated. After that, he saw Sun Mo’s group entering the manor and walking until they vanished at the end of the path.

  “What the hell? Why is no one stopping him? Could it be that the rules had changed?”

  The middle-aged man cried.

  “Master, what should we do? Should we slaughter our way in?”

  The middle-aged woman bowed and asked.

  “I came here this time around because I need help from Bai Wenzhang. It’s best not to create a huge commotion.”

  The old man turned his head and stared at the fragments of those spirit runes. “Go and capture a grandmaster. Make him solve the puzzle here.”

  “Roger!”

  The middle-aged man knelt with one knee on the ground. After receiving the order, he leaped a few times and appeared tens of feet away as he went to search for targets.

  …

  The atmosphere in the manor was quiet and harmonious.

  Some people wearing white garments appeared, but they weren’t surprised at the appearance of Sun Mo and his group. They were all focused on doing their own things.

  “Teacher!”

  After seeing that Sun Mo was walking around casually with the heart of a tourist, Jiang Leng gritted his teeth and advised, “This place really isn’t where we can act unbridled.”

  In Jiang Leng’s bones, he was still filled with dread toward this manor. He had seen too many deaths here.

  Dean Bai was the only sovereign here. He was the one who decided all the rules, and those who broke the rules had to die!

  “Don’t panic. I entered only after deciphering the puzzle.”

  Sun Mo consoled him.

  “Ah?”

  Xianyu Wei was dumbfounded. (It has already been deciphered? But I didn’t see Teacher doing anything? Or did I miss it?)

  The little sunny egg frowned. She had seen those fragments earlier but hadn’t had time to decipher them yet.

  “When those fragments are combined, they are indeed able to form a few spirit runes. But from the runic lines, there are only four words – Please do not touch.”

  Sun Mo explained. “I guess that there might be poison or something on those magnets.”

  “Isn’t that too much of a fraud?”

  Everyone was speechless.

  “If someone came here, they would surely want to solve the puzzle by arranging the magnets. In the end, no one would expect there would be poison.”

  Li Ziqi analyzed. “This means that those who want to enter cannot attempt it using their hands. They have to deduce everything within their minds.”

  The students were all frowning. Such a difficult question was clearly set to prohibit visitors. In that case, why did Bai Wenzhang still invite their teacher over?

  (Wait a minute, could Bai Wenzhang have done this intentionally, prohibiting other visitors so he could specially receive our teacher? If that’s the case, Teacher’s prestige was truly great!)

  Pak! Pak! Pak!

  Applause rang out as a man of 30+ years old walked out.

  “Teacher Sun’s talent truly astounds people.”

  The man smiled and did a self-introduction. “I’m a disciple of Teacher Bai. My name is Xiao Feng.”

  Because his teacher treated Sun Mo as someone of his own generation, although Xiao Feng was older than Sun Mo, he still had to refer to Sun Mo as ‘Teacher Sun’.

  “Hello!”

  Sun Mo returned a smile.

  This man had short hair and one could see traces of some runic lines on his neck. His eyes were slightly more long and narrow. When he looked at people, he liked to squint due to his habits.

  Jiang Leng’s lips moved. He wanted to greet him, but Xiao Feng ignored him.

  “Please follow me!”

  Xiao Feng spoke, “My teacher is currently doing an experiment and has no way to personally receive Teacher Sun. However, my teacher has already instructed me on what to do. You guys don’t have to feel restrained, just treat this place like your own home.”

  “However, it’s better for everyone not to run around randomly. It isn’t that we are afraid of exposing secrets. Instead, I’m afraid that some places here might frighten you guys.”

  Xiao Feng reminded kindly.

  He first arranged rooms for everyone and then led everyone to show them where the library, canteen, martial drill grounds, and the experimental building were located.

  “Up ahead is the ancient spirit rune building. I dare to say that we have 70% or more of the undeciphered spirit runes in the entire Nine Provinces. Teacher Sun, if you have the time, why don’t your try analyzing some runes there?”

  Xiao Feng laughed. “If you can decipher ten ancient spirit runes, you will be qualified to view the three great puzzles of our Dragonspirit Manor.”

  Qin Yaoguang used her fingers to silently poke Jiang Leng. “Is he bragging? The number of ancient spirit runes collected by the Nine Greats isn’t few as well.”

  “He is not bragging, it’s that many.”

  Jiang Leng nodded with great certainty.

  “What are the three great puzzles?”

  Lu Zhiruo was very interested in this topic.

  “They are three questions about spirit runes with world-class difficulty. E……even now, Dean Bai hasn’t solved any.”

  Jiang Leng explained.

  “Wow!”

  Lu Zhiruo was filled with interest and wanted to take a look.

  Difficult questions that even a great ancestor ranked within the top three in the Nine Provinces couldn’t solve? How difficult must those be?

  “Teacher, I’ll cheer you on. After solving them, you will be the number one spirit runist in the Nine Provinces.”

  Qin Yaoguang waved her little fists.

  Xiao Feng was smiling on the surface, but his heart was filled with contempt and disdain.

  (This is something my teacher couldn’t accomplish despite having spent 100 years on them. You guys don’t even need to dream about solving them in your entire life! Deciphering them? Fat dreams!)

  Xiao Feng left after he had completed the mission of leading them here.

  “Teacher, let us quickly go to the ancient spirit rune building to decipher some spirit runes!”

  Lu Zhiruo tugged on Sun Mo’s arms as she urged.

  “Jiang Leng, go and help me find a few powerful opponents!” Xuanyuan Po licked his lips. “My silver spear is already hungry!”

  “Senior martial brother, it’s best that you don’t belittle anyone here. There are plenty of people stronger than me in this place.”

  Jiang Leng dissuaded.

  …

  Xiao Feng didn’t really leave. Instead, he hid in the shadows to observe them. When he saw Sun Mo entering the ancient spirit rune building, he heaved a sigh of relief.

  There were simply too many secrets in the Dragonspirit Manor. If Sun Mo and his group saw them, things would be bad.

  “Ai, why did Teacher give Sun Mo the authority to tour the place freely?”

  Xiao Feng didn’t understand. In fact, he even felt some jealousy.

  He had never seen his teacher giving such preferential treatment to another person before.

  Chapter 1035: We Are All People Who Are Learned, How Can This Action Be Called Stealing?

  Why when people look for doctors, they would prefer those older ones with higher ranks, right?

  Because this indicated that the doctor had seen many types of illnesses before and had accumulated plenty of experience.

  The study of spirit runes was the same as well.

  Only when a spirit runist had seen enough spirit runes would they be able to sum up many rules and trigger the ‘quantity change transforms into quality change’. They could then find their own path to advance.

  The Dragonspirit Manor had existed for over a thousand years and had tens of deans. Each of them did their utmost to collect spirit runes. Because of that, the ancient spirit rune building contained countless spirit runes.

  When Sun Mo and his group entered the building, they were all stunned.

  There were numerous bookshelves made of beast bones that were ten meters high. Each rune here was placed in order, and one wouldn’t be able to see the end of it with a single gaze. Also, the bookshelves were filled with books, specimens of spirit runes, and various ancient records Sun Mo had no idea of.

  Despite the spacious spirit rune building, there were very few people here. The higher the level, the fewer the number of people. This was because the books in the higher levels were even more difficult to understand.

  “Wow, there are so many things here. How good would it be if we could move this back to our school? At that time, our Central Province Academy would surely be the number one in the Nine Provinces when it comes to the study of spirit runes, right?”

  Xianyu Wei’s eyes brightened.

  Her teacher was the vice headmaster of the Central Province Academy and would marry An Xinhui in the future. In that case, it could be said that half of the school belonged to her teacher.

  As Sun Mo’s personal disciple, Xianyu Wei was like a half-daughter to him. She naturally had the obligation to protect the school.

  “Definitely!”

  Lu Zhiruo nodded. Her father’s library should be the one with the most collection of books. However, if one was to speak about just the study of spirit runes, his library wasn’t comparable to this.

  (Wait a minute, when I return home next time, should I borrow a few books from my father to bring them to the Central Province Academy?)

  Sun Mo was generous. So, his students were also allowed to enter the private library of the old headmaster during their spare time.

  The papaya girl had visited it before, and there weren’t that many books there.

  When compared to any of the Nine Greats, it simply couldn’t be compared at all.

  “Oi, oi, can we discuss matters like this privately after we return?”

  Qin Yaoguang’s voice wasn’t low. She had a look on her face like she was enjoying the chaos. “However, this suggestion isn’t bad. You can take some books that are convenient to carry back and also valuable.”

  “Ah? I was just randomly thinking and had no intention of stealing the books of others.”

  Xianyu Wei panicked.

  She was a kind girl and advocated becoming rich by one’s own efforts.

  “We are all learned people, so how can this action be called stealing?”

  Qin Yaoguang’s lips twitched. She gazed at the surroundings. “Teacher, this place is so large, I’m going off on my own to tour it, okay?”

  “Sure, but don’t act recklessly!”

  Sun Mo warned.

  “I was joking when I spoke about the books earlier.” Qin Yaoguang was helpless. “You guys are too boring. In the future, the lover I find will definitely not have the personality of any of you guys.”

  “Let me lament for your future husband. He most probably would be made a cuckoo in the future,” Tantai Yutang teased.

  Qin Yaoguang flashed a middle finger and stuck out her tongue at Tantai Yutang before turning to leave.

  “Tantai, you are still young and don’t understand the hearts of men. Even if they are made a cuckoo, there will still be many simps willing to simp for Yaoguang.”

  Sun Mo sighed.

  Just based on Qin Yaoguang’s looks, if this was the modern era, she didn’t need any acting skills and would effortlessly be able to hold millions of fans captive. Besides, with her personality that was a little devilish, filled with confidence, and not bothered about the trifles…

  She was the type of girl who could giggle with her arms around your shoulders and make jokes about everything while discussing which posture was the best for s*x…

  Many men were fond of this type of woman.

  “Alright, you guys can walk around, but taking action independently is forbidden.”

  Sun Mo warned repeatedly.

  He knew that among his disciples, other than Li Ziqi who was interested in all types of knowledge, the others had completely no interest in spirit runes, even Jiang Leng who had lived in the Dragonspirit Manor before.

  Hence, there was no need to force them to learn.

  Lu Zhiruo was prepared to go for a walk, but after seeing Li Ziqi following Sun Mo, she decided to stick around as well.

  Sun Mo’s gaze brushed past the bookshelves. Gradually, his confidence grew.

  The contents in these books were things he knew.

  When he occasionally saw a book that he hadn’t seen before, he would take it out. But after checking it, he realized that only the name of the book was different. He had already learned the content before.

  And just like that, 15 minutes passed. Sun Mo discovered that it was meaningless to remain here. Hence, he decided to head into the ancient spirit rune zone.

  This place contained the spirit runes excavated from the ruins of darkness.

  The administrator was a slightly balding middle-aged man. He was currently trying to decipher a spirit rune. When he saw Sun Mo and the two girls, he also couldn’t be bothered to speak and directly took out a spirit rune. He placed it on a desk before continuing with his work.

  Lu Zhiruo tiptoed to look at it.

  (My heavens, what is this? This ancient spirit rune only has six runic lines. It isn’t even a complete diagram!)

  “Do we have to add runic lines ourselves?” the papaya girl asked.

  “If you can’t decipher this, just leave!” the administrator with the bald spot berated.

  “How is it?”

  Sun Mo asked with a smile as he looked at the little sunny egg’s expression. She should be able to understand this.

  After hearing this, Liu Bantu involuntarily turned his gaze toward Sun Mo.

  (Who is this person? Why is he posturing here? Did he drink too much alcohol last night?)

  As long as one was a great teacher that researched the study of spirit runes, they would know of the Dragonspirit Manor. Every year, a lot of great teachers would want to come here on account of its reputation, and this place, the ancient spirit rune building, was where everyone definitely wanted to tour.

  However, despite how mysterious and tempting the spirit runes here were, one had to solve ten ancient spirit runes first before they could view the three world-class difficulty questions.

  This was a rule Dean Bai had set. He wanted to establish a barrier to block those people who overestimated themselves.

  (This young man is still so young, right?! From his tone, it felt like he was guiding the girl? What a braggart! Are you not afraid that you cannot solve it? That would be embarrassing then.)

  “I can see some clues!”

  Li Ziqi furrowed her brows in thoughts.

  (Damn! This girl really knows how to brag! She must have drunk a lot last night as well!)

  The administrator’s lips twitched. Because of disdain, he couldn’t be bothered to ridicule them. Hence, he lowered his head and continued his attempt at deciphering his spirit rune. But after that, he lifted his head again and looked at Li Ziqi.

  Because the little sunny egg had spoken.

  “This is a flame-type spirit rune and it’s probably used to start a fire in the wild.”

  After Lu Zhiruo heard this, she immediately looked at the bald-spot administrator. “Is she correct?”

  The administrator’s surname was Liu. He stared at Li Ziqi in astonishment after hearing her answer.

  (She must have guessed it?)

  One must know that all spirit runes in the Nine Provinces were the most traditional type, and they would at least have a rule structure within. However, the spirit rune this administrator took out only had a few runic lines.

  If one wanted to decipher something like that, they could only depend on their talent and intelligence. The knowledge one learned from books wouldn’t be enough.

  “After solving ten ancient spirit runes, we will be able to view the three great puzzles, right?”

  Sun Mo’s tone was amicable. “Can this be considered one?”

  Liu Bantu stared at Sun Mo again,

  Because the underlying meaning of Sun Mo’s words meant that he was sure he got this correct.

  Qi!

  (You are pretty confident in yourself.)

  “It is considered one!”

  Liu Bantu spoke and took out another spirit rune to place it on the desk.

  “Eldest martial sister, why is it a flame-type spirit rune? When I looked at the picture, I only saw a few lines?”

  The papaya girl didn’t like the study of spirit runes. However, her teacher was a near-ancestor spirit runist, and she was naturally influenced and knew some things about it. However, this spirit rune before her eyes had completely toppled her general knowledge.

  “Spirit runes are simply various types of pictures!”

  The little sunny egg explained, “You feel that it is not a complete picture because your knowledge is too deficient. It’s like the lotus growing on a pond will be the only flower the small fish living there will see in their lives. Yet, there are so many different varieties of flowers on land.”

  “I understand now.”

  Lu Zhiruo felt enlightened and then felt worship for Li Ziqi. “Eldest martial sister, you are so awesome!”

  “It’s Teacher who has taught me well!”

  Li Ziqi smiled sweetly.

  Sun Mo had passed down all his knowledge and experience about spirit runes to the little sunny egg using Soul Imprint.

  The little sunny egg depended on her learning talent and had grasped about 70% to 80% of it.

  If it was based on the system’s standard, Li Ziqi’s current expertise level was above the expert level but still below the grandmaster level.

  As a kind royal princess, Li Ziqi was concerned about the commoners. Hence, the spirit runes she learned first were those who could assist the general populace.

  “What is this then?”

  Lu Zhiruo asked.

  “It seems to be a spirit rune that has a connection with blood.”

  Li Ziqi analyzed. After pondering for a few minutes, she asked Sun Mo, “Is it the type of effect where it can draw one’s blood out?”

  “Mn!”

  Sun Mo nodded.

  Sun Mo nodded. “Could I trouble you to take out the next one?”

  Liu Bantu was now a little shocked.

  (Aren’t the deciphering speed of you guys a little too quick?)

  Naturally, there had been guests whose deciphering speed was so quick too. However, they were all high star-ranking great teachers or grandmasters.

  (As for this girl before me? She is still a youth!)

  Liu Bantu’s attitude subconsciously became better.

  There was no solution to it, capable people would naturally cause others to feel respect.

  “There!”

  Liu Bantu passed the third spirit rune over.

  “Hehe, a cleaning-type spirit rune!”

  Li Ziqi was happy now because there was basically no need for her to decipher this rune. Among the many spirit runes her teacher had taught her, there was one that was exactly the same as this.

  “Have you seen this spirit rune before?”

  Liu Bantu frowned. “If you guys have spirit runes that were excavated together in the same batch as this one, we will collect them. Don’t worry, the price will surely be an extremely high one where you have no way to reject.”

  The spirit runes of each generation were different.

  For example, a cleaning-type spirit rune like this belonged to the ‘dried-up’ period in the study of spirit runes. Hence, spirit runes from the same generation as that would be rare.

  “Nope!”

  The little sunny egg lied. She didn’t want her group to be watched attentively by such a major power. At the same time, she silently warned herself that she had to learn how to remain low-profile.

  “Hehe!”

  Liu Bantu didn’t believe it. But since the other party was unwilling to say, it was impossible for him to insist either. However, he could very well impose a small punishment.

  Hence, the fourth spirit rune he handed over was more difficult in comparison.

  Li Ziqi’s brows started to furrow as she sank into contemplation. In fact, she even took out the quill pen she always brought with her and started to draw in her little notebook.

  Liu Bantu was happy now.

  (This is then correct! This should be the look you have when you run into a difficult problem. I’m hereby hoping you will have a hundred strands of white hair.)

  “The two of you can decipher the rune in the reading zone over there. Please don’t block the path for others.”

  Liu Bantu pointed to a desk not far away.

  “This is a spirit rune that can cause one’s body to rapidly rot.”

  Sun Mo didn’t have time to waste on these things.

  “Huh?”

  Liu Bantu blinked. (I feel that I just heard something incredible.)

  Lu Zhiruo hurriedly repeated what Sun Mo said. She also asked, “It should be correct, right? My teacher has never been wrong before!”

  “…”

  Liu Bantu wanted to curse!

  At the same time, Liu Bantu also felt puzzled. (Who is this man? He seemed to be pretty capable?)

  [1] Bantu means bald spot