Daoist White Bird had obtained this voice-retention stone by chance. Because he didn’t know whether the message was true or false, and he was leading a very carefree life now, he didn’t really feel moved in his heart by the treasure trove of the heretic king.
He was eating well and he could play with women whenever he wanted to. Hence, he decided to take things easy and would only flee to the Darkness Continent in search of the treasure trove if he was exposed.
However, he couldn’t have expected that because of kidnapping Lu Zhiruo and offending Sun Mo, he would have gotten killed and even his nest had been searched through.
Other than the voice-retention stone, there were still some jewels and jade artifacts in the tiny wooden chest. All of them were rare valuables that were worth plenty of money.
Daoist White Bird was prepared to bring these items along when he fled. After all, gold was simply too heavy. “Just doing a rough count, these items are worth about one million taels.”
Li Ziqi didn’t include the named sword White Bird and the alchemy pills within. If not, the valuation would be even higher.
“So much?”
Ying Baiwu drooled after hearing this. After that, she discovered that other than her, everyone else had a calm look on their faces. (Oi, oi. This is one million taels we are talking about, alright? Why are you guys not agitated at all?)
“Sun Mo? Sun Mo?”
An Xinhui’s voice suddenly rang out.
Sun Mo was a little taken aback. He climbed up to where the silver was and saw An Xinhui rushing over in a hurry.
“Are you alright?”
An Xinhui surveyed Sun Mo from top to bottom and when she saw that he had blood on his body, her heart lurched wildly.
“This blood is from others.”
Sun Mo smiled lightly. Although he said it like that, his shoulder blade had been injured from his earlier fight. However, it would recover after he rested for half a month or so.
“You are too brash, why didn’t you inform
me?”
An Xinhui grumbled.
(Killing your way alone into the nest of human traffickers, do you think you are a hegemon in the legendary realm? Aren’t your guts a little too great?)
Naturally, other than feeling angry and resentment, An Xinhui also felt a little self-reproach. Sun Mo didn’t treat her like one of his own people.
One must know that before this, regardless of what problems Sun Mo faced, he would surely find her to discuss the problems together.
This represented that the distance between the two of them had widened.
“I was also not too sure, hence I didn’t want to trouble you.”
At that time, Sun Mo’s mind was filled with thoughts of saving Lu Zhiruo. Besides, he truly never treated An Xinhui as someone he could depend on in his heart.
“Is there even a need to speak about troubling me or you between us?”
An Xinhui was dissatisfied.
“What should we do now? Should we leave?”
Lu Zhiruo asked in a low voice. It didn’t feel good to see teachers quarreling before her.
Li Ziqi pretended as though she didn’t hear it. She naturally didn’t want to leave. If the two were to fight, her teacher would surely feel bad to act. At that time, she would help him to hit An Xinhui.
She mustn’t allow her teacher to suffer any disadvantages.
No, she shouldn’t allow them to start fighting at all. Hence, Li Ziqi summarized the things here and recounted the important points.
“Human trafficker? Zhou Yuanzhi?”
After hearing this, a look of anger flashed on An Xinhui’s face. She was so enraged that her hands were trembling.
“Sun Mo, you should bring the students back to the school first. Leave the matters here for me to handle.”
An Xinhui’s voice could even sever nails and slice iron. Although she was young, she had the prestige and bearing of a headmaster from a famous school.
“I will be responsible for my own actions.”
Sun Mo knew that this incident was very troublesome. It was one thing to kill Zhou Yong. After all, his clan was involved in human trafficking. But since Li Can would be killed as well, Li Zixing would surely be extremely infuriated.
“Sun Mo, don’t be impulsive.”
An Xinhui persuaded him.
Sun Mo waved his hands and couldn’t be bothered to argue against An Xinhui about it.
An Xinhui felt helpless. But when she looked at Sun Mo, there was even more admiration in her gaze. He was a man with spirit, bearing, and courage. If it was an ordinary person, who would do things to such an extent for their students? Who would kill a little prince with such a high status for the sake of justice?
Ding!
Favorable impression points from An Xinhui +100. Friendly (320/1,000).
An Xinhui didn’t like to beg people. But to protect Sun Mo, she knew she had to use the social connections her grandfather had left behind for her.
“The…the money in the treasury, should we move it away first?”
Ying Baiwu was still worried that the authorities would embezzle it.
“I already said it’s fine.”
Li Ziqi shook her head. (Please trust in your eldest martial sister for once!)
An Xinhui directly departed from the treasury and informed her subordinates of some arrangements. Compared to this sum of money and punishing the Zhou Clan, it was more important to ensure that Li Zixing wouldn’t find trouble with Sun Mo.
Upon seeing this scene, Sun Mo’s impression of An Xinhui became better. One must know that she was sorely lacking in money now. But at such an important stage, she clearly placed money as secondary.
“What about Zhou Yong and Li Can? Bring me to them!”
An Xinhui instructed.
In the jail, upon seeing Sun Mo and a group of people arriving, Tantai Yutang smiled. “What’s going on? Are the authorities here?”
No one replied. They were staring at the two scums behind him instead. Right now, the two scums were on the verge of dying. Because of the immense agony they endured, their expressions were contorted in pain. Even their bodies were still twitching.
“I thought you were supposed to triple the punishment those women suffered and give it back to them? Clearly, you are not doing your utmost effort!”
Xuanyuan Po was unhappy. Even this combat addict, who only knew how to fight, was very unhappy with these human traffickers.
“Hehe, do you want to give it a try?”
Tantai Yutang ridiculed. From the surface, the injuries these two suffered didn’t seem too much. However, their internal organs were all destroyed. Also, the pain and agony they suffered were definitely on the same level as dying from a thousand cuts.
Zhou Yong’s eyes turned to An Xinhui. He wanted to cry for help but wasn’t able to emit any sound at all. As for Li Can, he had suffered a mental breakdown. His neck leaned to the side as drool leaked from the corner of his mouth. He was like a catfish twitching wildly about, dying.
“No need to struggle anymore, you guys are dead for sure. Just slowly experience the process of meeting the Yama King!”
Tantai Yutang smiled.
If there was something more unbearable than death, that would be to personally watch oneself struggle in pain, slowly heading toward death and not being able to do anything about it. Loss of bowel control, loss of blood, body spasms, dizziness, pain in all internal organs…
Tantai Yutang used medical substances and let these two scums experience every torment.
Other than bodily torture, there was mental torture too.
An Xinhui left after taking a look. When she walked out of the jail, her expression was somewhat heavy. She didn’t object to killing scum. However, this perverse disciple of Sun Mo would surely affect Sun Mo’s career. “Sigh, why did Sun Mo accept a pervert as his disciple?”
An Xinhui felt depressed.
If ordinary people were to report this case, the troops from the authorities might be a little slower when it came to taking action. However, the triangle-eyed fellow took Li Ziqi’s golden token with him.
When the provincial governor of Jinling saw it, he didn’t even wear his uniform and directly summoned his troops to rush over.
A total of a thousand troops surrounded the Three Purities Temple so tightly to the extent where not even a droplet of water would leak. After that, there were still 3,000 troops on their way rushing over.
Because these were foot soldiers, their movements were a little slow. “Your highness? Your highness?” The Lord Governor rode on a handsome horse and madly galloped toward the temple. Before the horse could stop properly, he already leaped down and rushed into the temple.
“Governor Yu, stop shouting. I’m here.” Li Ziqi was precisely afraid that such a situation would occur. So, when she heard Old Wolf Ren saying that the troops had appeared, she immediately went to the entrance to wait.
“Your hig…”
Governor Yu prepared to bow.
“You are exempted!”
Li Ziqi turned her head in worry. No matter the circumstances, she mustn’t let her teacher know about her identity. She was worried that a gap would appear between her and her teacher after Sun Mo learned of her identity. Their relationship might no longer be as harmonious as now.
For those who could achieve the position of a provincial governor, which of them wasn’t shrewd individuals with extensive experience? Governor Yu immediately expressed that he understood. In addition, he began to carefully survey Li Ziqi. After seeing that she was uninjured, the tension in his heart eased.
As long as her highness was fine, it wasn’t a big matter no matter how many people died.
Li Ziqi wasn’t too familiar with Governor Yu, and she didn’t know about his character. Although she heard that he was quite upright and on the side of justice, it was still better for her to give the accounting book to grandpa Zheng Qingfang for the sake of safety. Zheng Qingfang was an old valued subject that had served two emperors before. He had received the love and trust of the two emperors. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was not healthy, Zheng Qingfang would still be securely sitting in his position as the prime minister.
The troops entered the temple and began their search. Their actions were so gentle like a daughter-in-law returning to her mother’s home. If it was usually, they would have long since overturned the temple in their search.
The soldiers already received instructions from their superiors to turn a blind eye to all the wealth that was found here.
How high was Governor Yu’s position? How would he not have embezzled some money when confiscating properties before? Besides, a few hundred thousand taels was nothing to him. And even if he really wanted it, he wouldn’t dare to touch the money at this moment!
If his actions were reported back to the imperial court by the princess when she returned, could he still hold on to his position?
However, soon later, Governor Yu felt his head aching. The little prince was found dead. Things were troublesome now then. Who didn’t know that Li Zixing had extremely great authority in Jinling?
Just when Governor Yu was conflicted and at a loss of what to do, Zheng Qingfang arrived.
“Prime Minister Zheng!”
Governor Yu hurriedly over to pay respect.
“You don’t have to call me that. I’ve already retired.”
“Prime Minister Zheng is too humble.”
Governor Yu didn’t give him an ounce of less respect. He had even planned to continue chatting after exchanging conventional greetings, but Zheng Qingfang wasn’t interested.
“Sun Mo? Sun Mo? Where are you? Are you alright?”
Under the support of his old butler, Zheng Qingfang entered the temple.
“Uncle Zheng, why are you here?” Sun Mo hurriedly went over. “Your body isn’t well yet, you shouldn’t move about.”
“This is such a major matter, how can I not be here? Are you alright? Did you find your student?”
Zheng Qingfang also shot a glare at Li Ziqi, berating her for putting herself into danger.
Li Ziqi was the one who sent a subordinate of Old Wolf Ren to tell him this news.
“I found her. Many thanks for Uncle Zheng’s concern!” Sun Mo hurriedly called Lu Zhiruo over. “Come and thank Grandpa Zheng. To find you, Grandpa Zheng has truly tapped on everything he has.”
“Grandpa Zheng, I’m sorry to have made you worry!”
Lu Zhiruo bowed.
“It’s good that you are alright, it’s good that you are alright!”
Upon seeing the endearingly silly papaya girl, Zheng Qingfang’s heart was also filled with a fondness for her. Also, his hatred for human traffickers grew.
Governor Yu stood at the side, and there was a dumbfounded look on his face. Who was this little fellow? He had initially thought that Prime Minister Zheng came to this place for the sake of her highness. But from the looks of things now, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Zheng Qingfang naturally didn’t come here for Li Ziqi, who would dare to touch Li Ziqi? But as for Sun Mo, many people were targeting him.
“Grandpa Zheng, I’ve told you before that Zhou Yuanzhi is an evil man.”
Li Ziqi hugged Zheng Qingfang’s arm and started to complain. She summarized everything concisely for Zheng Qingfang. The more he heard, the greater the rage on Zheng Qingfang’s face. After that, he cursed, “Scum! Degenerate!”
After seeing the accounting book and questioning a few leaders among the captives, Zheng Qingfang directly instructed, “Governor Yu. Send troops to confiscate the properties of the Zhou Clan. Make sure to capture Zhou Yuanzhi.” “Roger!” Governor Yu was happy. Damn, confiscating the property of a clan of a merchant that was within the top ten wealthiest merchants in Jinling? How much would he be able to make? Naturally, a large portion of the wealth would have to be handed to…
Mn, Prime Minister Zheng’s personality was noble and unsullied. He definitely wouldn’t want it. Li Ziqi wouldn’t accept it as well. What a dilemma.
“Teacher, what do you think?”
Li Ziqi glanced at Sun Mo. Her smile was very sweet. She knew her teacher wanted to vent his anger on behalf of those abducted girls.
“I will listen to Prime Minister Zheng’s arrangements!”
Sun Mo had no objections.
“What? Teacher? Whose teacher? Her highness? It can’t be, right?”
Governor Yu felt even more startled. But after seeing the intimate and respectful attitude of her highness toward Sun Mo, he suddenly felt that it was better if he gave the largest portion of the confiscated wealth to this teacher.
The value of the properties of a huge magnate —including their antiques, the collectible calligraphy, the precious gems, and treasures —was immense. There should be at least over a million taels when totaled up.
But under what pretext should he give the portion to Sun Mo?
“Elder Zheng, Governor Yu!”
An Xinhui came to pay her respect.
“Mn, your fiance is truly excellent!”
Zheng Qingfang knew that An Xinhui was quite famous and was worried she might look down on Sun Mo. Hence, he intentionally said this. By praising Sun Mo, he was also warning her.
(For a marriage engagement that’s acknowledged by a big shot like me, you better think carefully if you want to break the engagement or don’t blame me for not being polite!)
“Fiance?”
Governor Yu was startled again. An Xinhui’s fame was quite great, and everyone knew of her in Jinling. He didn’t expect this beautiful headmaster to already have a fiance.
Very well, he had an excuse to give the money now. He would simply donate a large portion of the confiscated money to the Central Province Academy. However, he would tell Headmaster An the reason for this donation was because Teacher Sun Mo wasn’t afraid of danger and had barged into the enemy nest alone to rescue the abducted girls.
No, not alone. He should include her highness’s name as well.
From this, one could see that Governor Yu understood the way of officials very well. This was part of the reason why he could get his current position.
“Go and take a break first. I will handle the remaining matters.”
Zheng Qingfang patted Sun Mo on his shoulder. “No matter how great the troubles are, even if they are to the extent where the skies will collapse, I will be here holding the sky up.”
After Governor Yu heard this, he was badly shocked once again. Could this Teacher Sun be an illegitimate child of Prime Minister Zheng? If not, why would Prime Minister Zheng treat him so well?
Li Zixing’s son had died, and he would definitely not let matters rest just like that. But if Zheng Qingfang interfered, it wouldn’t be so easy even if Li Zixing wanted revenge.
However, interfering in this matter held no benefits for Prime Minister Zheng. If Sun Mo wasn’t his illegitimate son, why would he put in so much effort?
Just when Governor Yu’s thoughts were running wild. Sun Mo already gained a million taels. It was just that he still had no idea.
Zheng Qingfang personally stayed behind to handle matters.
Sun Mo, the six students, and An Xinhui entered Zheng Qingfang’s carriage and were sent back to the school. After the excitement of being rescued faded away, Lu Zhiruo also felt fatigued. She leaned against Sun Mo’s arm and didn’t wish to move at all. After all, she was mentally fatigued from the worry and fright she had felt during these two days.
Sun Mo patted the papaya girl’s head.
“I’m sorry to have caused trouble for teacher.”
Lu Zhiruo apologized. She was like a little kitten that rubbed itself against Sun Mo’s arm.
“It’s fine since you are alright. Just be more cautious in the future!”
Sun Mo smiled and consoled his lucky object. After Lu Zhiruo slept, he took out the golden treasure chest that he obtained after his prestige connection with Qi Shengjia had broken the limit. He then decisively opened it.
A bright light flashed as a golden-colored book appeared in the air!
Ding!
“Congratulations on obtaining a portion of knowledge from the Great Plants Encyclopedia. There’s information on 100 types of plants on the Darkness Continent in the book. Proficiency level: expert-grade.”
Skill book?
Sun Mo was joyful. He recalled his previous experience where his proficiency level was raised to the grandmaster-grade after he had memorized everything.
However, just after he started to memorize a few plants, he was interrupted by the system again.
Ding!
“Congratulations! Because your prestige connection with Li Ziqi has been raised to the ‘respect’ level, you are hereby awarded with 1x golden treasure chest.”
A large shiny golden treasure chest then appeared before Sun Mo’s eyes.