Translator: Lordbluefire

  Outside the Yongding Gate of Western Jing, a group of over three hundred soldiers rushed forth in welcome. They were clad in armor that was mainly black-colored, but their arm, shoulder, and rib parts were white. When they rode on their warhorses, they resembled flying swallows flying low in the air.

  The person standing in the front was a burly male and he held a flag in his hand. The flag had the word ‘真’ and if one looked closely at its shape, it actually looked like the contour of a flying swallow.

  The soldiers rushed toward the diplomatic group from the Great Tang with completely no restraint.

  The soldiers of Great Tang didn’t need to wait for Li Xiu to give them an order. Under the general’s shout, they already got into formation to protect the group.

  Da! Da! Da!

  The sounds of hooves stomping the ground echoed out loud, resembling war drums in the ears of everyone. After that, the sound of a unified clink rang out.

  The Flying Swallow Cavalry unsheathed their blades.

  “Wow, so cool!”

  Qin Yaoguang, who was riding on a warhorse, couldn’t help but stand upon the stirrups. She shaded her eyes with her hand on her forehead and stared into the distance.

  “What do they mean by this? Are they trying to establish might so we will cower?”

  Helian Beifang licked his lips and held his curved blade tightly. He really wanted to counter-rush these people!

  The instant the Flying Swallow Army was about to crash against the royal guards of Great Tang, the soldiers suddenly shifted and rode past them on both sides. They were like a sharp knife cutting neatly across a slab of frozen butter.

  There was a female general clad in light armor that stayed 30 meters away.

  These Flying Swallow Cavalries rushed past the command group and arced a circle before they returned to the side of the female general. Throughout the entire process, they didn’t make any other sounds.

  “Elite!”

  Li Xiu praised silently. However, there was a look of unhappiness on her face. “Is this how the Qi Emperor welcomes guests?”

  “My royal father is my royal father. I am me!”

  The female general’s gaze surveyed Li Xiu before sweeping past her and onto the group. It was as though she was trying to look for someone.

  “May I ask if Great Teacher Sun is present? If yes, please come out for a meeting!”

  This female general of about 20+ years old didn’t speak loudly, but her lucid and elegant voice clearly rang out in the air outside the city.

  “Could she be a braindead fan of our teacher?”

  Qin Yaoguang was puzzled. Usually speaking, the other party would first request to meet the main commander or the second commander of the group, right?

  “It’s highly possible!”

  Xianyu Wei suddenly recalled the female great teacher named Bai Qing. She wanted nothing more than to stick to her teacher.

  Sun Mo tugged his reins and leaped down from his horse.

  “I’m Sun Mo!”

  Sun Mo clasped his fists while surveying this female general.

  There was no need to question. She was definitely the great princess of Qi Country, the general of the Flying Swallow Army. She was none other than Jiang Yuzhen, the person rumored to be on the verge of becoming the Military God.

  Sun Mo had arrived in this world for quite a while, and the women he came in contact with all seemed to be the virtuous and gentle types. Even daughters of rich and powerful clans like An Xinhui still had the charm and gentle weakness of females deep in their bones.

  Bluntly speaking, they could trigger the protective desire in men.

  If one wanted to speak about a strong personality, Ying Baiwu definitely would rank number one. If not, Sun Mo wouldn’t have given her the nickname ‘iron-headed girl’. In the future, after she grew up, she most probably would resemble this Jiang Yuzhen.

  Although she was a female, she had a masculine aura!

  Jiang Yuzheng was very tall and clad in flying swallow light armor, with a large red cloak fluttering behind her. This caused her to display a strong heroic aura.

  The five features and contours of her face were sharply defined. Her lips were thin and her nose was straight. She could be considered very beautiful, but her phoenix eyes that contained an intense sharpness had stripped away some sense of beauty from her face.

  When riding on her warhorse, although she made no movements, she gave the feeling like she was a treasured blade that could be unsheathed at any moment to kill her enemies.

  After hearing Sun Mo’s reply, Jiang Yuzheng looked over and her eyes brightened!

  (Mn, as per what the rumors said. This is a man with unmatched looks!)

  Jiang Yuzhen’s vision slid down from his face to his chest and landed on the school emblem above it.

  “Are you not a 4-stars great teacher?”

  Jiang Yuzheng frowned slightly. The emblem on Sun Mo’s chest was a 5-stars one.

  “About a month plus ago, my teacher went to take the grandmaster spirit runist examination and obtained the 5-stars great teacher qualification in passing.”

  Qin Yaoguang took the initiative to reply, “Greetings to your highness. I’m my teacher’s personal student named Qin Yaoguang!”

  “In passing? In that case, why don’t you go and obtain the 6-stars great teacher’s title in passing as well?”

  Jiang Yuzhen’s lips twitched. She felt that Qin Yaoguang’s words were too frivolous. Although she wasn’t a great teacher, she had studied in the Westshore Military School. She had seen how hard it was for those great teachers in the school who wanted to obtain the 5-stars title.

  Naturally, she didn’t deny that Sun Mo was truly very impressive.

  “If it wasn’t for the Five Empires War Discussion, my teacher would have headed to the Prison of Desperation to participate in the 6-stars great teacher examination!”

  Qin Yaoguang chortled. “Your highness, don’t gaze at someone through a gap in the door. The hard requirement of registering for the 6-stars exam is that one has to comprehend 18 great teacher halos and have grandmaster-level expertise in two secondary occupations. My teacher has long since achieved all these.”

  “Yaoguang, don’t be impolite.”

  Sun Mo didn’t like disputes. “Your highness, do you need me for something?”

  Li Xiu was someone who liked to act only after making a clear plan. Before she could ascertain Jiang Yuzheng’s purpose for coming here, she didn’t wish to step out.

  Han Cangshui naturally hoped that misfortune would befall Sun Mo.

  As for the others, other than the crown prince Li Xuan, they had no qualifications to make conversation.

  “A woman that’s relatively beautiful!”

  Li Xuan silently admired Jiang Yuzhen. This woman was definitely someone on the same level as his younger sister Li Ziqi. However, their demeanors were completely different.

  (But I like a fiery girl like this!)

  After seeing so many gentle-tempered and obedient girls, Li Xuan wanted to have a taste of wilder ones. Moreover, she was the Eldest Princess of Qi, a person with a very noble status. It was worth it to conquer someone like her.

  “Dinner tonight at Zhenjiang Inn!”

  Jiang Yuzheng spoke.

  (Huh?)

  Everyone was dumbfounded.

  (You came in with such ferocity, could it be that you weren’t here to make a show of force?)

  (Why did you suddenly want to invite Sun Mo to dinner?)

  (The crucial point is that you are none other than the extremely famous Princess Yuzhen from Qi Country. Is it really okay for you to be so casual?)

  Sun Mo was also slightly stunned by the other party’s unexpected act. His first reaction was that he had just met a person that was hired to lure a customer to a restaurant. There were no solutions to this as in the modern era, he had suffered in the hands of this type of people before when he went on blind dates.

  (The more a woman takes the initiative, the more dangerous things are! This beautiful princess is also an opponent in the Five Empires War Discussion. What reason does she have to invite me for a meal? To ask questions?)

  Given her identity, the great teachers of the Westshore Military School would undoubtedly answer all her questions for her.

  (Cosmetic surgery?)

  She was already very pretty. If she live-streamed for a single night, she would be able to get many donations and rewards.

  (Could it be that she is suffering from some unspeakable illness and requires my ancient massaging technique to help her?)

  “What’s your answer?”

  Jiang Yuzheng’s beautiful brows furrowed and she even grumbled in a low voice, “Indecisive, not like a man at all!”

  “Sorry, I’m not free!”

  Sun Mo rejected.

  The gazes of the soldiers from the Flying Swallow Cavalry immediately turned to one filled with killing intent. They stared at Sun Mo and seemed like they wanted nothing more than to immediately behead him.

  Jiang Yuzhen wanted to curse, but the moment her red lips parted, they trembled a little before she changed her mind. “Alright then, maybe my attitude wasn’t too good and this caused you to have some misunderstandings. Let me repeat myself. I want to treat you to dinner tonight at the Zhenjiang Inn!”

  Now, the whole diplomatic group from the Great Tang was dumbfounded.

  “What does this Flying Swallow General want to do? Could it be that she wants to sleep with Great Teacher Sun?”

  “Stop joking, she’s the eldest princess of Qi Country that even has a chance to become the king!”

  “What do you mean? Do you mean that our Great Teacher Sun cannot match up to her?”

  The random followers started to whisper to each other.

  “Rumors are not to be believed. If you have something to say, just say it here.”

  Sun Mo didn’t want to go for the dinner even more. “Also, I have to make a point clear. The main commander of this diplomatic group is Great Teacher Han, while the Eldest Princess Li is the secondary commander.”

  Jiang Yuzhen stared at Han Cangshui.

  “Your highness!”

  Han Cangshui clasped his hands and his smile was like the spring wind. After all, beautiful women would always be treated favorably.

  “Has Emperor Tang eaten too much longevity medicine to the point where his brains are damaged? Or, is he too arrogant and feels that any 8-stars great teacher can lead your group to become the champion?”

  Jiang Yuzhen coldly snorted.

  Han Cangshui’s expression immediately turned as gloomy as the moon on a frozen night. He froze. He didn’t expect the other party to not give him any face at all.

  Ignoring his greeting was one thing, but she even publicly humiliated him.

  “Princess Yuzhen, is this how the Qi Country treats its guests?”

  ‘If a teacher is humiliated, the student will die.’ Li Xuan naturally had to step out to speak for his teacher.

  “Li Xuan. If you weren’t the crown prince of Great Tang, you basically wouldn’t be qualified to talk to me!”

  Jiang Yuzhen glanced at the crown prince before turning her gaze to Li Ziqi. “You are Li Ziqi, right? Seeing once is better than hearing about you a hundred times. Nice to meet you!”

  “Eh!”

  Li Ziqi felt somewhat awkward. The other party was very polite toward her but was rude to her elder brother, royal father, and the personal teacher of her elder brother. What should she do in this case?

  “Eldest martial sister, don’t be fooled. She wants to stir up a conflict internally in our group!”

  Lu Zhiruo spoke like a wise strategist and had a small look of pride on her face as she warned Li Ziqi.

  “…”

  Li Ziqi didn’t want to reply. This Jiang Yuzhen was someone on the verge of becoming a Military God, how would she use such a crude method?

  Also, although this was the first time they met, the little sunny egg felt that Jiang Yuzhen was someone who disdained to use minor tricks. She said all that earlier because she purely looked down on Li Xuan.

  “What do you mean?”

  Li Xuan was enraged, his face flushing.

  “Alright, maybe I’ve been too abrupt. Great Teacher Sun, you can prepare for the war discussion first. If you have free time and it is convenient for you, you can head to the princess residence to look for me. I’ll welcome your arrival any time!”

  After Jiang Yuzhen finished speaking, she left on her horse.

  Her personal Flying Swallow Cavalry also followed closely behind her.

  “What does she mean? Could it be that she has fallen for our teacher?”

  Qin Yaoguang’s eyes shone with the light of curiosity.

  No one had an answer to this.

  (Even if she had fallen for him, I will make sure to disrupt all her plans!)

  The little sunny egg vowed in her heart that her teacher belonged to her. No one could snatch him away.

  After the diplomatic group entered the city, they headed to the third most luxurious hotel in Western Jing.

  It wasn’t that Li Xiu couldn’t afford the best hotel. Rather, the top two were already fully reserved by the Great Xia’s diplomatic group and Great Chu’s diplomatic group.

  The officials of Qi Country had actually arranged residences for the various diplomatic groups, but no one went there to stay as they were afraid that their conversations and plans might be leaked.

  The princes and princesses had to prepare for the war discussion, and the reserve group wasn’t allowed to head out as well. However, Sun Mo’s students had nothing to do. Other than Li Ziqi, the others went for a tour at the Westshore Military School.

  When they arrived, they saw many people gathered outside the school gate.

  “The Westshore Military School is so strict. They actually forbade people from touring the place!”

  “Well, they established an academy based on military rule. Such a restriction is understandable!”

  “Doesn’t that mean that I’ve made a wasted trip here?”

  Because of the Five Empires War Discussion, many wealthy merchants and rich people came to Western Jing. And as for the Westshore Military School that was one of the Nine Greats, it naturally became an important scenic spot. In the end, no one could enter.

  How disappointing!

  “What should we do?”

  Helian Beifang was very disappointed. He loved military stuff and wanted to go in to take a look.

  “Let me go and speak to them!”

  Qin Yaoguang took complete charge and rushed into the gatekeeper’s office.

  Chapter 1183: Zither, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting. Skilled in Both Civil and Military Aspects!

  Translator: Lordbluefire

  “Would there be trouble?”

  Lu Zhiruo was a scaredy-cat and didn’t want to make trouble for her teacher!

  “I’ll get her back!”

  Jiang Leng also felt the same. But just when he reached the door to the office, Qin Yaoguang was respectfully escorted out by the gatekeeper uncle.

  “Let’s go!”

  Qin Yaoguang called everyone and started to head into the campus. After that, she turned and thanked the uncle.

  The tourists gathered outside the school gate were immediately unhappy when they saw that this group of young people could enter. Hence, they started making noise.

  “Why can they enter?”

  Regardless of the school uniform Qin Yaoguang was wearing or her accent, she didn’t seem to be a student of the Westshore Military School.

  “They are the personal students of Great Teacher Sun. So they naturally have the qualifications to enter!”

  The gatekeeper uncle explained.

  “Great Teacher Sun? Who is that?”

  Someone didn’t know.

  “Sun Mo. The God Hands, the great ancestor-level spirit runist, the creator of the Skyward Spirit Rune…”

  The uncle revealed a series of Sun Mo’s achievements in a single breath. Because he was the gatekeeper of a famous school, he had simply seen too many proud chosens. This was why this uncle could deeply understand how impressive Sun Mo was.

  Sun Mo was stronger than those chosens by an entire era!

  “She says she’s Sun Mo’s personal student? I can say the same too!”

  Someone was convinced.

  Qin Yaoguang turned her head and revealed eight pearlie white teeth as she smiled. She didn’t argue and casually swiped her hand to cast a great teacher halo.

  Swish~

  Golden light flashed.

  Everyone immediately felt their mental states feeling refreshed and their minds becoming clearer.

  This was Encyclopedic Knowledge!

  Hua~

  Everyone was in an uproar.

  For this great teacher halo, it was very rare for ordinary people to be able to see it, let alone the fact that it was being used by such a young person.

  “Helian, why don’t you cast something too?”

  Qin Yaoguang urged.

  “Nope!”

  The barbarian youth rejected. He didn’t like showing off.

  “Che, so inflexible!’

  Qin Yaoguang spoke in disdain. After that, she glanced at Lu Zhiruo. “Senior sister, come on and cast one. This is a chance to boost our teacher’s fame. We cannot allow our auras to be weakened.”

  “Mn!”

  The papaya girl also didn’t like to flaunt, but she knew that the greater her teacher’s fame was, the more advantageous it would be for his future. Hence, after she drew in a deep breath, she also cast a great teacher halo.

  Complete Focus was activated!

  The tourists still didn’t know how shocking this scene was, but the gatekeeper uncle and a few students from the Westshore Military School were all dumbfounded after seeing this.

  (It can’t be, right? How old are these people merely? They have already comprehended a new halo after comprehending the self-taught halo?)

  “Are they not Sun Mo’s students?”

  “My heavens, this Great Teacher Sun truly does live up to his reputation!”

  In an instant, Qin Yaoguang and Lu Zhiruo gained a wave of favorable impression points for Sun Mo.

  “Do you see it now?”

  The gatekeeper uncle swept his gaze at the crowd. “If any of you can cast a great teacher halo, I’ll allow you guys to enter too. If not, stop making noise!”

  Jiang Leng and Tantai Yutang didn’t say anything, but their fists were tightly clenched to display their intentions. Although they weren’t interested in becoming a great teacher, they didn’t want to lose out in comparison.

  …

  In the crowd, quite a few pairs of eyes were staring at Qin Yaoguang and the others.

  “Could these people be Sun Mo’s personal students? The girls are so beautiful!”

  A young man was playing with a folding fan as his gaze swept past Qin Yaoguang and Xianyu Wei. But ultimately, his eyes landed on the papaya girl.

  There were no solutions as she was truly ‘too large’.

  Besides, her pure and innocent appearance was truly his type. It would be like a painting brush dirtying a piece of clean white paper. The feeling was simply too satisfying.

  “Your highness, please speak cautiously!”

  The old slave beside him knew Xiang Zhao’s temperament and quickly advised him. (It’s one thing if you want to play with ordinary girls. But these people are Sun Mo’s personal students, it’s best not to do anything to them recklessly.)

  “Haha, I know what to do!”

  Xiang Zhao frowned. “I heard Li Ziqi is very beautiful. I have to meet her this time around. If she is truly not too bad, I can allow her to become my princess consort!”

  “Your highness, should we return to make preparations for the Five Empires War Discussion that will happen five days later?”

  The old slave persuaded him.

  …

  Five days passed swiftly in the blink of an eye.

  The first round was a battle of zither skills!

  It would be held in the largest Victory Public Square in Western Jing.

  The sky hadn’t turned bright yet, but this place was already packed to the brim. However, the central-most location was guarded by the royal guards. Ordinary people weren’t able to enter.

  The Five Empires War Discussion was a contest on zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. It was to see which empires were the best in both the arts and martial aspects.

  In the eyes of ordinary people, what aspects did someone outstanding ought to have? The Five Empires War Discussion was basically a large-scale test for these things.

  Since ancient times until now, poems, stories, music, and even hunting were considered leisure interests!

  In the eyes of ordinary folks, an outstanding emperor should be one with extremely high attainments in literature and arts. He should be able to scold people without using profanity and was capable of painting and fighting.

  In any case, no matter what they encountered, the Emperor ought to be someone who could deal with everything!

  The Five Empires War Discussion first tested the standard of a country’s skill in zither music, chess skills, calligraphy, and painting. After that, the test would be for the military strategy segment. In any case, it was a very comprehensive test.

  The Great Tang’s group was the third to arrive. Lu Zhiruo and the other students were here as well because only Sun Mo’s personal students had the qualifications to sit here in the audience stand for the diplomatic groups to observe the event.

  “Eldest martial sister, that fatty is so loathsome. He keeps staring at you!”

  Ying Baiwu divulged.

  Li Ziqi followed the gaze of the iron-headed girl and saw that in the audience stand of Chu, a young man wearing gold-colored dragon robes of a crown prince was staring at her with a frivolous expression.

  “He is Xiang Zhao!”

  Li Ziqi introduced.

  “Doesn’t that fellow cultivate?”

  Lu Zhiruo didn’t understand. As long as cultivators worked hard a little, it was impossible for them to be fat even if they wanted to.

  “If I were the only prince, I also wouldn’t want to cultivate!”

  Tantai Yutang chortled. “In any case, there would be no one who could vie with me for the throne.”

  “Without a good body, you wouldn’t last for too long even if you became an emperor. You wouldn’t have the fortune to enjoy your fate.”

  Qin Yaoguang teased.

  Sun Mo glanced over after activating Divine Sight. In the end, he could only see the words ‘unknown target’. This caused his brows to furrow.

  The system was truly despicable!

  Sun Mo had guessed that the system wouldn’t benefit him so easily.

  15 minutes had passed, but there were no signs of the diplomatic group from Great Xia at all.

  “Isn’t the airs of that Xia Taikang a little too great? He dares to make so many people wait for him?”

  Qin Yaoguang was unhappy.

  The main thing was that the sun was too harsh. It wasn’t comfortable.

  At 9.30, at the exact starting time of the opening event, Xia Kaitang then strode vigorously over while leading his diplomatic group.

  Once this crown prince arrived, all the other irrelevant noises in the crowd weakened in intensity immediately.

  “Truly tyrannical!”

  Lu Zhiruo inhaled a breath of cold air and felt somewhat afraid.

  “Look carefully. It’s said that he was born with double-pupil eyes!”

  Qin Yaoguang spoke.

  Double-pupil eyes simply meant that there were two pupils in an eye. Such people were described to be legendary characters that could stir the entire world.

  But very soon, they no longer paid attention to him because the Qi Emperor had arrived.

  The ordinary folks in the surroundings all knelt and greeted the Emperor.

  “Rise!”

  The Qi Emperor sat on a high throne. After that, he glanced over at the Great Tang’s area…… “Which of you is Sun Mo, Great Teacher Sun?”