In this era, there was no water army* that could be hired to brag about the feats and achievements one had on the internet. Hence, the news circulation speed was slow, and any newbie who could gain fame definitely had some capabilities.
There was another important point. The Saint Gate was always extremely strict when they did things. This was especially so for officially announced ranking boards. The Saint Gate would send people to track the person in question for at least a year and personally witness their battle achievements before they put the name of the person in the rankings.
Look at how brilliant Sun Mo’s achievements had been throughout this year. He was now the number one teacher of Jinling. However, he was merely ranked #6 on the Great Teachers Hero Ranking.
It wasn’t that the Saint Gate felt that Sun Mo wasn’t strong. Rather, the five people before him were geniuses so talented that there wouldn’t even be one in ten million people.
Bai Hao from the Westshore Military School was ranked #2 on the Great Teachers Hero Ranking, and his performance was excellent. He already comprehended two murals the day he went to the Battlegod Canyon and succeeded in entering the third part of the canyon.
Such talent definitely deserved to be flattered.
On the second morning, when Sun Mo ate his breakfast, he soon discovered that this already became a hot topic among the people in Battlegod Town. Also, those students from Westshore acted like how they did normally. They weren’t arrogant and simply trained systematically in the morning, had their breakfast, and headed to the canyon to comprehend the mural.
After all, it would then be strange to them if Bai Hao failed.
“Where’s Xuanyuan and Helian?”
Sun Mo surveyed the camp and discovered that two people were missing. “They can’t possibly have stayed in the canyon for a night, right?”
“Yup!”
Li Ziqi was like a little butler and understood every little thing in the camp. “Junior sister Baiwu also spent last night in the canyon, but she wanted to pay her respects to you in the morning, hence, she took a trip back. After that, she grabbed two pieces of bread and left.”
Tantai Yutang saw Lu Zhiruo with a worried look on her face, he couldn’t help but tease. “Zhiruo, if you continue being so lazy, the distance between you and them would become even greater. How would you maintain your position as a senior martial sister then?”
“Teacher, I’m going to try and gain insights from the murals.”
The papaya girl reported and immediately ran toward the Battlegod Canyon. She felt a sense of urgency that caused her to be unable to breathe easily.
“Tantai!”
Li Ziqi reproached. Actually, the papaya girl wasn’t lazy at all and she merely slept for four hours last night. But when compared to Xuanyuan and the other two, the disparity was too great.
“Zhiruo, don’t compare yourself to the three cultivation fanatics!”
Jiang Leng shouted out. The diligence of Xuanyuan and the other two belonged to the pinnacle level. Even if they were in the Westshore Military School, many people would feel inferior to them.
So there was basically no need to compete with them.
“Morning!”
Qin Yaoguang came out from the tent and hummed a little melody as she greeted everyone.
“Pay attention to your etiquette.”
The little sunny egg reminded her.
Qin Yaoguang’s uniform was loosely put on and she didn’t tidy it. Leaving aside the creases, half of her fair shoulder was revealed, and this was considered lacking in propriety.
Qi Shengjia took a glance and hurriedly shifted his eyes away as he blushed.
Qin Yaoguang’s figure was truly good!
“Oh!”
Qin Yaoguang grunted in response and tugged at her collar. After that, she went to wash her face.
“Teacher, I’m also going to cultivate.”
Qi Shengjia respectfully greeted.
“Mn!”
Sun Mo reminded him. “Train according to the training plan I designed for you. Don’t feel a sense of pressure because of Xuanyuan Po and the others, and follow their training blindly. There’s no need for that.”
“I’ll strictly obey Teacher’s instructions!”
Qi Shengjia indicated that he understood.
Truthfully speaking, he felt a great pressure when he stood together with Xuanyuan Po and the others. All of them had high talents and were still so hard working. There was truly no path of survival for an ordinary person like him.
“Ziqi, you should try and comprehend the mural too. Also, there’s no need to prepare hot water and breakfast for me every morning.”
The morning sun gradually rose, its light shining on Li Ziqi. The sunlight caused this young woman with a petite figure to exude a type of gentle and quiet beauty. Sun Mo felt a sense of guilt because there was such an adorable girl taking care of his food and morning ablutions every day.
(Could I have exhausted my limited luck?)
“This is something I ought to do as a student.”
Li Ziqi naturally wouldn’t give up. Back then, in order to snatch this task from Ying Baiwu, she even used her authority as the senior martial sister.
After seeing Sun Mo no longer attempting to persuade her, the little sunny egg quickly ran off.
(I know Teacher cares about me, but there’s no need for that. Preparing warm water to wash your face and preparing your breakfast is the most joyful thing of my days.)
“I also want to have such a sensible student!”
Gu Xiuxun felt envious.
After eating, Sun Mo and the other two headed to the Battlegod Canyon. They arrived there after traveling for about ten minutes.
The target area was a steep tall mountain. The gradient was extremely precipitous to the point where one could perform rock climbing here. On the mountain slope, there was some vegetation growing that Sun Mo couldn’t identify.
Because it was the end of summer, there was a dense growth of plants and the birds in the forest chirped incessantly.
“As expected of the Battle God, is this the might of a single sword?”
Gu Xiuxun didn’t have time to admire the scenery. Her attention was completely attracted by the canyon.
The mountain was like a cake that was cut into two by a knife.
Moreover, the cut was extremely smooth and neat. Despite the passage of an unknown amount of years, one could still see how powerful that Battle God was.
“Cleaving apart a mountain with a sword!”
Sun Mo marveled in admiration. Even if the thing he was cutting was a wooden log, he might not be able to perform such a neat and smooth cut.
There was a large stone tablet at the entrance of the canyon. This was something erected by the Saint Gate and there were over ten notes on it.
Those notes included things like fighting in the canyon was prohibited, one also must not damage the terrain here, starting a fire to cook was not allowed, and there were even instructions on how to set up a camp.
Naturally, the most important note was that one must not damage the mural, or the offender would directly be expelled to the Darkness Continent. For more serious cases, the offender would be put to death.
The entrance of the canyon had eight guards stationed there. When they saw Sun Mo and the others, they were clear that Sun Mo’s group was first-time visitors. The guards got them to head to the stone tablet and look at the notes first while they explained it verbally to them as well.
“Good morning Sun Mo!”
Sun Mo heard a greeting. He turned his head and saw Li Ruolan walking over with a group of students from Westshore.
Bai Hao was at the back of the line. He was originally thinking of something, but after hearing Li Ruolan’s voice, he lifted his head and looked at Sun Mo.
The gazes of the two men matched for the first time.
Sun Mo felt a sense of pressure. It was like he went to a basketball court far from his home and encountered a fellow who liked to slam dunk.
This fellow would immediately perform a slam dunk above the head of the newcomer because he wanted to tell the other party whose homeground this place was.
The personality of such a person might not be likeable, but they were absolutely extremely confident in themselves. They had the courage and had a type of tyranny that set them apart from the rest of the world.
(I don’t care who you are, I’m going to be the number one!)
Although Bai Hao didn’t say anything, his gaze already indicated this.
The #6 ranker on the Great Teachers Hero Rankings?
(Just wait and see, I will let you understand the strength of me, Senior Bai.)
“How do you feel?”
Li Ruolan asked with a smile.
“Too introverted. As a young man, he didn’t have any sense of dynamism at all.”
Bai Hao knew that Li Ruolan was asking him about his thoughts on Sun Mo. Hence, his lips curled as he continued, “He exudes lethargy and is like an old man.”
“On the contrary, I felt that he is cultured and refined.”
Li Ruolan mentally mused. (Good looks are ranked the first. Just with Sun Mo’s face alone, I can give him 9 marks. He is 1 mark off from full marks because he isn’t my cup of tea completely.)
“Ah!”
Bai Hao smiled. No longer speaking, he wanted to let their comprehension of the murals speak for itself.
After entering the canyon, all the students from Westshore remained behind. Only five people including Bai Hao continued heading forward.
Li Ruolan also stopped. She sighed ruefully when she saw this scene.
(If your talent sucks, there’s no need for you to say it yourself. The Battlegod Canyon would give you the evaluation.)
A few minutes later, Sun Mo and the other two entered. However, they stood at the canyon entrance and didn’t continue forward.
Gu Xiuxun no longer spoke. She slowly closed her eyes and sensed the sword intent in the air.
That’s right!
The instant she stepped into the canyon, she could feel a strand of sword will gushing over. This caused her to subconsciously dodge to the side, or she felt that she might be killed.
If she calmed her heart down and experienced it attentively, she would discover that the strand of the sword will seemed to contain the emotions of the swordsman who unleashed it.
There seemed to be sadness from the withering brought upon by winter, joy from a chance encounter with someone he loved, disappointment from failing the examination, and also silence from midnight dreams…
Gu Xiuxun didn’t continue to walk forward. Rather, she drew in a deep breath and sat down cross-legged.
Upon seeing this, Mei Ziyu felt a little shocked. Gu Xiuxun’s aptitude was very good. She actually had some insights just when she entered here despite not having seen the mural yet.
When she looked at Sun Mo again, he had his head lowered. It was unknown what he was thinking about.
Mei Ziyu didn’t speak and left quietly.
Because she had come before, she understood what this part of the canyon was testing in. However, she couldn’t say it. It wasn’t because she valued the knowledge as her own. Rather, the things everyone comprehended might not be the same. Even if she revealed her understanding, others might not understand it.
In the end, one could only depend on themselves if they wanted to comprehend the murals here.
Sun Mo felt giddy as though something was pricking his skin.
“There’s radiation here?”
This was Sun Mo’s first reaction. There couldn’t possibly be a source of radiation here, right? This feeling was so uncomfortable that he almost turned and left.
After all, he wasn’t married yet. No, he didn’t even have a girlfriend. What if he became infertile? What if he stopped being able to have a boner due to the radiation?
When Sun Mo looked at Gu Xiuxun, he understood that she most probably had some comprehension. Hence, he didn’t disturb her and went to wander about on his own.
This part of the canyon was 100 meters long, and it was packed to the brim with people.
The students of the Central Province Academy could be seen everywhere. They were walking around and stopping at times as they looked at the murals.
An Rou saw Sun Mo and wanted to greet him but was stopped by a wave of Sun Mo’s hand.
Sun Mo also saw Zhou Yu who followed Jin Mujie. He was currently seated cross-legged facing a part of the wall in meditation. However, his brows would also twitch occasionally. Evidently, he hasn’t entered a deep state yet.
Some people came early in the morning, and they started to exit the canyon because the strands of ‘sword will’ would injure their mental states.
Those who stayed here for long would either go crazy or die from sudden death.
After Sun Mo surveyed the situation here, he then started to look at the murals.
This was the Battle God?
The style was simply even more picasso than picasso.
Because the canyon’s walls were formed from a mountain being cleaved into two, it was extremely neat like a drawing board. It was very suitable for drawing. However, the drawing skills of the Battle God were truly at such a level that no one dared to speak highly of them.
In the past, Sun Mo was already familiar with literature. And in the Nine Provinces, he even grasped the grandmaster-level Traditional Painting Skill and could be considered a famous artist who had done a few famous art pieces before. But honestly speaking, he couldn’t understand what the murals were trying to convey.
“It can’t possibly be that his drawing skills are too lousy, right?”
Sun Mo muttered.
On the stone walls, although people spoke about murals, they were actually referring to the deep ditches formed from various saber and sword scars. The murals looked like a healthy man being trapped in a mental hospital and was being treated like a mad man, having no way to leave. In the end, when the healthy man really became crazy, he used his fingernails to scratch the walls chaotically.
There was no sense of beauty, no sense of meaning, and also nothing to admire.
“But this place is the Battlegod Canyon and there are some people who comprehended this and managed to enter the second part of the canyon. This fact indicates that the scars on the walls have some value.”
Sun Mo suddenly felt anxious. He was currently before his students. Wouldn’t he lose face if he failed to comprehend this?
At the very least, he had to be able to enter the second part of the canyon, right?
Note: Water Army is Chinese slang: On the Internet in China, an Internet Water Army or Wangluo shuijun is a group of Internet ghostwriters paid to post online comments with particular content. Internet water armies were born in the early 2010s.