“Why don’t I help you bring her to An Xinhui’s place and let her take care of this?”
Although Sun Mo hadn’t spent a long time with An Xinhui, he knew that she was a gentle lady. Given her status, it wouldn’t be a problem for her to have a few maids. However, she only had two old female servants helping to take care of her life.
Moreover, this was only because those two old female servants didn’t have any skills and if they were to leave the An Clan, they wouldn’t be able to survive. That was why An Xinhui had taken them in.
“Old Master, don’t throw me away!”
The maid knelt on the floor, looking at Sun Mo with a horrified expression. Her anxious and helpless countenance made her look like a little cat that was going to be abandoned.
“Be good. Headmaster An will be good to you!”
Sun Mo consoled her.
It was enough for him to have Dong He take care of his living needs such as washing his clothes and doing household chores. Moreover, Yi Cui`e was too young. She’d only be at the sixth grade in the modern world, and it would be a serious case of child labor.
“Old Master, I only want to stay by your side!”
Yi Cui`e moved a few steps forward while still kneeling, wanting to hug onto Sun Mo’s leg but didn’t dare to do so. “I know music, chess, calligraphy, and art. I’m also alright in laying out the bed and folding the blankets. Although Granny said that I’m too skinny, I’ll work hard to eat more. I’ll try to make myself fair and plump as soon as possible.”
Sun Mo’s lips twitched. (What do you mean by that? Am I such an evil person?)
Dong He secretly assessed Sun Mo’s expression. Some men did have a great interest in young girls like her.
Thankfully, Sun Mo was a serious person and his morals were above average.
“What Master needs is the kind of maids who can wash clothes and clean up!”
Dong He secretly pouted. (Talents? Please, I’m not bad at those kinds of things either. I can depict a killing scene when I play Ambush from Four Sides [1] on the pipa.)
“Huh?”
Yi Cui`e was stunned. A maid like her was a high-class one. If she didn’t make any mistakes, there’d be no problem for her to become a concubine. If she could give birth to a child and was lucky to not be beaten to death by the main wife, then she’d basically live a peaceful life in her old age.
Clean up?
Yi Cui`e looked at her hands and then nodded very seriously. “I can learn. I’m still young. I’ll be able to learn fast!”
“Hey, what do you mean by that? Are you saying that I’m old?”
In front of Sun Mo, Dong He only dared to criticize in her heart.
She definitely wouldn’t dare to complain in front of him. (Will I be able to put to use the harem strife tactics the older sisters [1] talked about?)
“That’s enough, stop tugging. Dong He, bring her to any guest room on the first floor to get some rest. I’ll take care of this when I have time!”
Sun Mo didn’t wish to waste time on such trivial matters.
“Also, there are a few bedrooms that you aren’t allowed to enter without my orders!”
“Thank you for taking me in, Old Master!”
The maid kowtowed, looking very happy.
At the sight of this scene, Sun Mo couldn’t help but feel emotional. This was really a vile feudalism concept. To someone like a maid, their greatest pursuit would be to work as a servant in a good family.
Gu Xiuxun assessed Dong He, who led the maid away, her gaze couldn’t help but land on Dong He’s legs.
“What are you looking at?”
Sun Mo frowned. (You can’t really be a l*sbian, right?)
“Did you do that to her?”
Gu Xiuxun asked curiously.
“Do what?”
Sun Mo was puzzled.
“It’s nothing!”
For some reason, Gu Xiuxun suddenly felt a little sweet and happy to hear Sun Mo saying this. The man she admired was really a person who had self-control and proprieties. He wasn’t someone who’d mess around.
To speak the truth, Dong He did look pretty. Otherwise, Zheng Qingfang wouldn’t have spent great money and effort into nurturing her. However, Sun Mo was unmoved.
If it was any other guy, Dong He would have been devoured completely.
“I’ll be going up to sleep!”
Gu Xiuxun had wanted to leave, but she changed her mind. (Hmph, I’ll treat this as giving you a reward. If you come to assault me at night, I… I can pretend that I didn’t see anything.)
Sun Mo was speechless. (My place isn’t a hotel! And why do you look so familiar with the way you’re going upstairs?)
Gu Xiuxun turned to look back as she didn’t hear Sun Mo saying anything. She saw him wearing a look of surprise and her face flushed up. She realized how inappropriate her action was.
“It… it’s late. If I were to go back now, I would disturb my dorm mate!”
Gu Xiuxun came up with an excuse.
“Don’t you live alone?” Sun Mo was surprised. “When did you have a dorm mate?”
“Sun Mo, shut up!”
Even the system couldn’t take it anymore and suddenly said, “You really relied on your capability to stay single. You’re helpless!”
“A few days ago!”
Gu Xiuxun gave a half-hearted reply, then quickened her footsteps, and dashed up to the second floor.
“Hmph, even an aerial dorm mate is a dorm mate. I didn’t lie.”
Gu Xiuxun said in her heart. But she soon felt her cheeks heating up. She thought in reproach, “Gu Xiuxun, what are you doing? Why are you so shameless? You really aren’t doing justice to your future husband!”
After Sun Mo entered the Wind King Hall, his six students and Qi Shengjia came over to greet him.
“Teacher, this way please!”
Li Ziqi led Sun Mo to a small hall. This was the place she had specially cleared up together with Jiang Leng as a place for Sun Mo’s private use.
Even though the little sunny egg was the Great Tang’s princess, she was the most considerate in taking care of people.
Lu Zhiruo hadn’t thought of this at all, while Ying Baiwu came from a lowly background and didn’t know about such things. Xuanyuan Po’s mind was filled with nothing but combat, and he’d never think about these problems.
Tantai Yutang did know of these things, but he didn’t hold such great respect toward Sun Mo yet that he’d do this. As for Jiang Leng, he was someone with a cold appearance but a soft heart.
“Help me keep watch!”
Sun Mo instructed.
After his students went out, Sun Mo sat down cross-legged, taking out the Divine Force Fruit.
The walnut-sized fruit had many bulges that looked like the shape of earthworms. They formed many strange prints.
These prints didn’t seem like they had grown without any pattern like the ones on honeydew were. They seemed as if they formed some kind of words or totem, emitting faint luminous light and having an unfathomable sense of attraction. Sun Mo had only taken a look at it and then found it hard to turn his gaze away.
This fruit was very strange and mysterious. If an ordinary person were to see it, their first thought would be to keep the fruit for themselves.
Sun Mo had two of this fruit. He compared them both and realized that the prints on them looked different. However, he couldn’t be bothered with that anymore. The priority was for him to attain breakthroughs.
This didn’t require any cooking and it’d work to just eat it directly. However, there was a problem. As the fruit contained a powerful divine force, if the person taking it didn’t have a good enough physique to withstand this power, their bodies would explode and they’d die.
Based on the botany knowledge that Sun Mo had, one could only take the fruit when they were at the divine force realm. And if they wished for it to be completely risk-free, the person must be at least at the third level of the divine force realm.
However, Sun Mo couldn’t wait until he reached that level. Therefore, he tossed the Divine Force Fruit into his mouth.
Kacha! Kacha!
This texture was like biting an apple, crisp and juicy. As he chewed, a gush of tasteless juice flushed into his mouth. Before Sun Mo swallowed, they turned into a hot stream, surging toward his throat and entering his stomach.
Sun Mo’s chest instantly felt very hot as if he had just swallowed a mouthful of hot water.
“F*ck your mom!”
Sun Mo couldn’t help but curse. It was because this heat felt very painful. After a few breaths, his body started to turn red as if he was soaking in boiling water.
Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!
White steam started to emit from Sun Mo’s body. Very soon, the Divine Hall started to be filled with fog.
After applying Encyclopedic Knowledge onto himself, he went into full focus and circulated the Grand Universe Formless Divine Art, starting to digest this divine power.
It was a little more difficult than he had expected it to be.
Sun Mo closed his eyes, thus he didn’t see that there was a fist-sized bulge on his skin that was moving rapidly. Suddenly, with a loud sound, it shattered, turning into ten or more bulges that moved in different directions.
Sun Mo was in so much pain that he almost cried out. What was more troublesome had yet to come. These bulges suddenly erupted and streams of seething hot blood shot out, gathering in the air and forming a blood figure with only the upper body together with the surrounding spirit qi.
This blood figure gleamed in blue light.
Swoosh!
Sun Mo opened his eyes and punched his fists out.
Eternalism, Great Mercy!
Boom!
The blood figure was hit and it dissipated. However, it gathered together in an instant again, attracting even more spirit qi like a whirlpool.
Sun Mo punched out a second punch.
Boom!
“Calm down! Don’t panic!”
Sun Mo stared at the blood figure and kept on warning himself. However, his emotions were in a state of chaos. It was because, within the blood figure, there was a stream of divine power and some of his essence blood. Therefore, Sun Mo started to feel giddy. His vision was blurring up, and he was turning weak!
This was how a heavenly and earthly treasure was like. Even if a person were to be so lucky to get their hands on one, it’d do more harm than good to use it if their aptitude wasn’t good enough.
However, Sun Mo didn’t regret it. Other than being stubborn and unwilling to admit his loss, he’d try to think of ways to quickly resolve things when he came across difficulties.
“If I can’t eat you up, I’ll crush you!”
Sun Mo had held back a little, but after seeing that the blood figure was gathering more and more spirit qi, getting harder and harder to dissipate, he finally went all out.
Boundless Sea of Suffering, Impermanence!!
Sun Mo kept on punching out with both hands, smashing them onto the blood figure with an overwhelming force. Each attack would cause it to shatter more and more.
Heartless Buddha Melody, Mundane Heart Fluctuates!
The entire hall became distinguished and divine as if it had become a Buddhism hall in paradise where all impurities were completely wiped out.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The powerful force caused the blood figure to disintegrate. There were only bits of blue light spots left behind, scattering in the air.
Sun Mo was suddenly struck by a thought and he breathed in hard!
Swoosh!
Those blue light spots gushed into Sun Mo’s nose, like a whale taking in water.
This time around, the divine force was a lot gentler. Moreover, they were easier to be absorbed by the body as well.
Sun Mo had no idea that the divine force in the Divine Force Fruit had a spiritual intelligence. When they were engulfed again, they instinctively put up resistance. Only after being put through tempering, causing them to lose their spiritual intelligence, would they become great nourishment.
Of course, as the Divine Force Fruit was too rare, there were no records of this hidden botany knowledge.
Sun Mo started to meditate and digest the power. Half an hour later, he opened his eyes.
What was a lightning gaze like?
This was it. Sun Mo could see clearer and further. Those cracks on the divine hall’s walls and the dust that fluttered in the air, as well as the sound of the bugs crawling around in the corner… Sun Mo could sense them all.
Pa! Pa!
Sun Mo kept on punching out, and there were faint sounds of wind and thunder.
The divine force realm was such that a divine force was produced in the body. When trained to an extremity, they’d be able to move mountains, fill up seas, and travel 1,000 lis in a day.
What was divine force?
It was the power of god. It also represented unbelievable power that surpassed an ordinary person’s recognition. It could be said that people at the spirit-refinement realm were still within the range of mortals. However, after stepping into the divine force realm, they were starting to evolve toward a new form of life.
Ordinary people had a lifespan of 100 years, but people in the longevity realm could maintain a youthful appearance and live a few hundred years. Why was that the case?
It was because there was a gush of divine force in their body.
It was hard to describe this feeling, but Sun Mo could sense that he had changed.
To use an inappropriate analogy, it was like playing a game, but as the computer’s hardware was upgraded, the images, seamlessness, as well as the operation, had all risen by one notch for the players.
It could be said that Sun Mo had a clearer experience of the world before him now. The most obvious change was that when he calmed down, he could sense the flow of the spirit qi light spots.
In the past, they’d be pure spirit qi, but now, those spirit qi seemed like a living creature?
Anyway, Sun Mo was very refreshed and invigorated. He felt very confident that it’d be no problem for him to stamp down on the Saint Gate and beat up the Nine Greats.
“Teacher, congratulations on leveling up!”
When Sun Mo came out from the divine hall, the seven students immediately came up to him, offering their congratulations.
Failure?
That didn’t exist!
Even the combat addict’s gaze when looking at Sun Mo was filled with respect and admiration.
It was definitely something to boast about amongst the great teachers for one to reach the second level of the divine force realm at the age of 21. Great teachers and cultivators were different. Other than cultivating, they also had to teach and educate people, as well as studying new stuff.
“To think that trash like me can learn under Teacher’s wings. It’s really a blessing in three, no, ten lifetimes!”
Qi Shengjia felt very honored.
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Qi Shengjia +100. Reverence (23,500/100,000).
“Work hard in your cultivation. It’ll depend on your performance whether or not I’ll get to level up to 2-star!”
Sun Mo let out a soft laugh.
Hearing this, Li Ziqi felt a little disappointed. It was because she wasn’t participating, so she wasn’t able to personally win the title for her teacher. It made her feel self-reproach, and she thought that she didn’t deserve to be the Eldest Martial Sister.
“Be happier. Everyone has things that they excel in. I’m still looking forward for you to quickly become a secondary saint. If that happens, I feel that I’d be able to boast more than if I were to produce a sword saint or a sword hero!”
Sun Mo rubbed the little sunny egg’s head.
“En!”
Li Ziqi forced out a smile, feeling very warm inside. (Teacher is so understanding! It’s really good to be able to stay with him!)
“Teacher! Teacher! I want it too!”
The papaya girl came up to him and put her head out, asking to be patted.
Sun Mo’s life entered a busy phase again.
He’d teach every morning, study in the library at night, and then teach the seven students. He’d also help Jiang Leng mend the spirit runes on his body. There was not enough time at all.
An Xinhui had tried to persuade Sun Mo to stop the Medical Cultivation classes temporarily, to focus on the final dash. However, Sun Mo didn’t agree to that. He was still in debt, and the pressure was very great.
One month before the 2-star great teacher examination, Liu Mubai set off. The reason was because this year’s Great Teacher Hero Rankings had been refreshed.
Sun Mo entered the rankings, coming up in 18th place!
[1] The actual phrase might be from Ten Sides and not four. Ambush from Ten Sides is a piece of Chinese classical pipa music whose composition describes the decisive battle in 202 B.C. at Gaixia (southeast of today’s Linbi County, Anhui Province) between the two armies of Chu and Han. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush_from_Ten_Sides