Chapter 578: The Initial Appearance of the Mastermind Behind the Scenes

The matches in the Great Teachers Battle continued. The weak were eliminated while the strong became the victors.

The lineup for the upper and lower bracket also gradually got clear. Those in the upper bracket were somewhat stronger. However, there was a dark horse in the lower bracket.

This person was none other than Shan Shi.

He insta-killed his opponents no matter whom he encountered.

He used a long and narrow sword and had extremely quick attack speed. Even a highly-graded graduate from Jixia Academy who had received cheers from the audience had both his arms severed with a single sword slash. He didn’t even have the chance to struggle.

Yes, Shan Shi’s attack pattern was the same throughout the battles, severing the arms of his opponents with a single slash. Not only was his technique bizarre, but it was very brutal as well.

Naturally, this was the Great Teachers Battle. Let alone heavy injuries, one even had to take responsibility for death themselves. If they were afraid, they could always choose to forfeit.

Although the examiners didn’t like Shan Shi’s character, they had no reason to expel him from the examination grounds.

For a time, everyone in the lower bracket was jittery and they were praying that they wouldn’t encounter this brutal dark horse.

Gu Xiuxun and Sun Mo were in the upper bracket.

During the fourth round, after the masochist fought an intense battle and passed smoothly, it was Sun Mo’s turn. His opponent wasn’t weak and had defeated a seeded candidate from an ‘A’ grade school earlier. He could also be considered a little dark horse.

“We will be able to know Sun Mo’s true strength now!”

The audience was filled with anticipation.

“Wang Bumin, fourth level of the divine force realm. Please guide me!”

“Sun Mo, third level of the divine force realm. Please guide me!”

After the two of them exchanged greetings, the battle started. Wang Bumin took the initiative to rush forward madly.

He wanted to defeat Sun Mo quickly. That was Wang Bumin’s battle strategy. After all, Sun Mo was someone who cultivated in a saint-tier cultivation art. The moment Sun Mo used it, Wang Bumin was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Sun Mo wasn’t anxious either. For the sake of accumulating experience as well as observing Wang Bumin’s cultivation art, he simply focused on defense, allowing Wang Bumin to attack freely.

“Sun Mo, why are you not fighting?”

“F***, can the match be nicer to watch? In this situation, what’s the difference between them and turtles?”

“Attack, quickly attack!”

Many of the people cursing were Sun Mo’s fans. There was no solution to this. In their eyes, Sun Mo should have swept through all opponents with invincibility, effortlessly subduing all his enemies. Now that he was turtling up, it was simply too embarrassing.

It was like when some fans watched their e-sports team in a tournament. There was no need for any cool tricks or to reverse the situation. They only wanted to see absolute dominance where there was no chance for the opponents to fight back, completely crushing their spirits!

However, in the eyes of true experts, Sun Mo’s defense was simply seamless and impregnable. One could say that this was a textbook defense and there were many details that were worthy of observation for the sake of learning.

“There’s no way for this Wang Bumin to win!”

“If it was me fighting and I saw such a turtle (Sun Mo), I would definitely despair!”

“I feel that Sun Mo seems to be able to predict the attacks of his enemies? Isn’t this a little too terrifying?”

The examinees discussed. Although Wang Bumin’s attacks were beautiful, all their attention was on Sun Mo.

Bai Shuang folded her hands across her chest and stood in the preparation area as she gradually furrowed her brows. The concept in Sun Mo’s moves seemed to be the Grand Universe Formless Divine Art.

As a top graduate from the Skyraise Academy, not only had Bai Shuang seen the Grand Universe Formless Divine Art many times before, but she had even learned the first level to stimulate her potential.

Because of what she was seeing right now, Bai Shuang had a familiar feeling.

“It can’t be, what am I blindly thinking about? The Grand Universe Formless Divine Art is the ultimate divine art of my school. Sun Mo has no qualification nor any opportunities to learn it!”

Even people like Bai Shuang who had achieved many glorious deeds for their school had no qualifications to learn everything.

Wang Bumin felt despair. If he continued attacking so ferociously, he would be defeated due to over-consumption of his spirit qi. That would definitely be a very embarrassing matter.

“I originally planned to use my ‘trump card’ when I got in the top 12. I didn’t expect I would have to use it now. Sun Mo, you are really strong!”

After Wang Bumin sighed, he suddenly retreated and took a deep breath, calming his mind down. He then started to circulate spirit qi.

Bzz~

A weak layer of faint reddish glow appeared on Wang Bumin’s chest. Despite his robes covering it, one could still see a hint of the glow.

“Spirit runes?”

Sun Mo frowned.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Wang Bumin’s aura instantly surged, exuding a sense of pressure. His enhancement in his aura could be visibly seen. Right now, his blood vessels were protruding on his face and neck. They looked like crawling earthworms.

“Mn?”

The main examiner, who was originally extremely bored because he felt Sun Mo would win for sure, suddenly grew serious when he saw this. “Could there be a reversal of situation?”

“Is this the berserk mode?”

Sun Mo activated Divine Sight. He didn’t take the initiative to attack due to curiosity.

Wang Bumin was at the fourth level of the divine force realm. However, his current reserve of spirit qi and combat strength were equal to someone at the seventh level.

Note: Target’s state is extremely unstable. Please remain cautious.

Note: This state can roughly last for three minutes.

After Sun Mo looked at the data, he found the best method to resolve this. With his current strength, he definitely wouldn’t be able to block someone at the seventh level of the divine force realm head-on. However, he would be able to last for three minutes.

“Sun Mo seems to be very confident?”

The major characters in the judging panel had admiration in their eyes. If it were up to them, they would definitely seize the chance to attack while Wang Bumin was pumping up his aura. They wouldn’t allow him to accumulate strength.

“Will something bad happen?”

Xuanyuan Po stared at Wang Bumin and frowned. “The state that this fellow is in is pretty terrifying!”

“Yeah, it’s terrifying.” Lu Zhiruo nodded. “However, Teacher absolutely wouldn’t lose.”

“Zhiruo, it’s not that I’m complaining. However, you are too confident in Teacher. This fellow is clearly using some sort of secret art to enhance his combat prowess.”

Tantai Yutang’s lips twitched.

Swish~

The papaya girl turned her head and glared at him. “Teacher will win for sure!”

“Okay, okay, okay. Your words are correct!”

The sickly invalid couldn’t be bothered to argue with a crazy fan.

“Is Sun Mo going to lose? That would be a sensational topic for sure.”

Li Ruolan opened her beautiful eyes wide. “However, if you lose, I will have to deduct three marks from you. After all, an imperfect man isn’t worthy of my admiration.”

Mei Ziyu clutched the corner of her clothes. Wang Bumin’s appearance was truly horrifying.

“Teacher Sun, sorry. Although you are very strong, victory is mine.”

Wang Bumin laughed. Because of his protruding blood vessels, his expressions were contorted. This caused his smile to look extremely fearsome. “Goodbye!”

After launching his victory speech, Wang Bumin lunged toward Sun Mo directly.

Giving Sun Mo the chance to forfeit?

(It’s impossible. Only by crushing him completely would my name resound throughout the great teacher world.)

BOOM!

Wang Bumin’s speed was extremely fast. His momentum was ferocious and was akin to a cannonball. His shadow flashed and he arrived before Sun Mo in an instant.

Sun Mo lifted his blade and side-stepped. But at this moment, Wang Bumin was like a bird flying through the air. He suddenly pierced out with a spear, aiming for Sun Mo’s head.

Bang!

Wang Bumin’s body suddenly exploded. Leaving aside his tattered robes, a large amount of flesh and blood mixed together and blasted out, sprinkling over half the arena.

Swish~

Sun Mo executed the Wind King Divine Steps and narrowly evaded everything.

Wang Bumin was like a dead pig. With a bang, his entire body smashed into the arena as it twitched in pain, which caused him to curl up into a ball.

“…”

Everyone fell silent.

The spectators who were unhappy with Sun Mo were completely stunned. (Where’s the ultimate move Wang Bumin was supposed to use? Why did you end up losing even before attacking?)

(Are you here to be a comedian?)

“Sun Mo’s absolute killing technique is actually so terrifying?”

An examinee exclaimed.

“Are you retarded? Clearly, there’s a problem with Wang Bumin himself.”

Gu Xiuxun had a look of speechlessness on her face. (You are so stupid, but you still dare to come here and take the 2-star examination?)

“Ah? Really?”

The examinee was shocked. “I…isn’t his luck a little too bad? I initially thought that he fell because Sun Mo unleashed a very powerful ultimate technique that I couldn’t understand!”

After the examinee spoke, the nearby examinees also heaved a sigh of relief.

Honestly speaking, all of them thought the same thing. After all, something like a self-explosion was too rare.

“Doctor team, quickly save him!”

The main examiner shouted and rushed toward Wang Bumin quickly.

Sun Mo hesitated a little but still walked over. Although he might not be able to help, if he walked away like this, it didn’t seem to be too good.

“This victory…”

Sun Mo was also speechless. (Could it be that the luck I gained after I patted the papaya girl’s head yesterday wasn’t used up yet?)

“How is it? I said earlier that Teacher would win, right?”

Lu Zhiruo was very complacent.

“…”

The sickly invalid was dumbfounded. This could work as well?

“That’s luck. It doesn’t count.”

Xuanyuan Po shook his head. He wanted to see his teacher defeating Wang Bumin with martial might.

“Why not?”

Lu Zhiruo was unhappy. “As long as Teacher didn’t cheat, a win is a win!”

Since she was young until now, Lu Zhiruo had participated in many tests. Although she was quite silly, she was able to obtain a good result every time. This was because her opponent would always encounter unexpected situations. For example, her opponent fell sick, or they were injured accidentally before the test, including some unfathomable reasons that forced them to forfeit the test.

(If things were according to what Xuanyuan Po said, doesn’t it mean that my victories don’t count as well? How can that be?! After all, I wasn’t the one that forced them to forfeit?)

(It can’t possibly be that I have to jump in a pond just because I’m fighting someone who is suffering from a cold, right? Could I only fight him after I suffered a cold as well?)

(This is illogical!)

Ma Zhang led the doctor team and rushed over to the arena to perform emergency aid for Wang Bumin.

As a 5-star great teacher that had practiced the medical arts for several decades and read a vast number of medical books, Ma Zhang’s experience was extremely deep. He could tell the reason for the injury with just a single glance.

“He suffered a backlash from the spirit runes he used!”

Ma Zhang reported.

Upon hearing this, those major characters who were originally worried relaxed and sat back down. Even the main examiner was calm again.

This was a classic example of someone suffering due to his own sins!

The so-called spirit rune backlash would occur only because a cultivator had tattooed spirit runes on his or her body for the sake of increasing their strength. After that, the spirit runes got damaged or there might be a conflict with the spirit qi in their bodies due to some reason, triggering an explosion.

Usually speaking, it was very rare for cultivators to tattoo spirit runes on their bodies. Because this was a short-cut, a lazy behavior.

Usually speaking, only those above middle-age or cultivators in a bottleneck would choose to use such a method to increase their strength.

As for Wang Bumin, he was merely in his twenties and was in the prime of his youth. However, he actually chose to use such a method. Also, the tattoos on his skin were considered quite a lot.

For people who chose to walk shortcuts, no one would pity them when they became unlucky.

This was the first time Sun Mo saw someone suffering from backlash caused by their spirit runes. Hence, he wanted to research it more. In the end, Ma Zhang suddenly shouted, “The spirit qi explosion is going out of control. Teacher Jiang, could you please assist?”