Ignoring the students below, Mo Mo flipped his hand and took out a token carved from white jade. The token was pure white and flawless, with the words "Forget the Dust" engraved on one side and a blooming peach tree engraved on the other.
"Look carefully, and engrave it into your minds, because it is your proof of entry into the Forgotten Dust Academy." After letting the token float and spin in his hand for three breaths, Mo Mo threw the token into the air.
The token, radiating brilliant light, flew into the air and then exploded, transforming from one into hundreds, before scattering in all directions like a shower of colorful light.
"See that? Tomorrow, those who enter the academy before the first ray of sunlight shines on it will enter the next round of trials. Even if you don't complete the next trial, you can still become an auditor at Wangchen Academy and study there. Go find them!" Mo Mo encouraged.
"Dean, is it enough to just come to the academy with a token?" Just as Mo Mo was about to leave, a somewhat effeminate-looking Taoist student asked.
Mo Mo was taken aback, gave him a meaningful smile, and then turned and left.
"What does the dean mean? Is it possible, or is it that I have to find it myself?" one student asked, somewhat frantic.
The person who asked Mo Mo turned and left thoughtfully, and some people in the crowd also turned and left with thoughtful expressions.
"Why think so much? The right thing to do is to hurry up and go find it. After all, only the token in your own hands is truly yours." The student said and left.
"Hey, hey, didn't you not meet the requirements? How come you're in the same situation as us? Wasn't there supposed to be another assessment?"
"Hehehe, how could that be? I heard that although their assessment methods are basically the same as ours, the difficulty is quite different. My cousin who works in the royal gardens told me that the dean had the court prepare two different forests. One forest only has ordinary traps, and the other... hehehe." The student chuckled, while the other half...
"Mo Mo, where did you throw all those tokens? Are they easy to find? If they're too easy to find, then there's no point in having them," Li Mochou asked, following behind Mo Mo.
"Want to know?" Mo Mo asked with a smile.
"Yes, I want to know." Li Mochou nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
Mo Mo pointed to his face and said, "Give me a kiss and I'll tell you."
After Mo Mo finished speaking, his face suddenly felt cold, and then he saw Li Mochou standing to the side with her face flushed and her head down.
"No way? This girl is really affectionate. I just wanted to tease her, and knowing her personality, she should have looked angry and gone to see for herself! Could it be that she likes me?"
Mo Mo shook his head and said, "Impossible, absolutely impossible."
"What do you mean 'impossible'? Tell me now, I want to know where you can hide." Li Mochou said angrily when she saw that Mo Mo didn't answer her but instead said some inexplicable things.
"Sure enough, it was all an illusion just now. This is the real Li Mochou. How could the Crimson Fairy Li Mochou be associated with gentleness!" Seeing the angry Li Mochou, Mo Mo finally felt relieved.
Looking at the angry-faced Fairy Chi Lian, Mo Mo smiled slightly and said, "If you want to know, why don't you go and see for yourself? Haven't you already converted all your inner strength into true essence and can fly? You can go and see for yourself."
"You bastard, I'm going to bite you to death! How dare you take advantage of me and then run away?"
Before Li Mochou could get angry, Mo Mo ran away, and by the time Li Mochou realized it, Mo had already left the academy.
As time went by, the tokens were found one by one. By around 3 p.m., more than 70 of the 100 tokens had been found, while the rest were difficult to find after shaking. A series of token battles took place right at the entrance of the academy, and all those who participated in the token snatching were blacklisted by Mo Mo.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon, another person finally found a token. The location where this token was found made everyone's hearts tighten and they were shocked by the dean's great abilities, because this token was found by a student in the belly of a big fish at a fish stall.
Around 5 p.m., following the clues from the tokens retrieved from the large fish, six more tokens were found that hour, bringing the total to twelve.
At that moment, a fortune-telling stall quietly appeared in Lin'an City. This stall was different from the others. Instead of something like "Ironclad Predictions," it said, "One gold coin for one clue, double refund if it doesn't work, find the token specialist."
"Hey, Mo Mo, is this really a good thing? Isn't this cheating our own students out of their money? How embarrassing would it be if they found out!" Li Mochou, who had disguised herself as a young man using magic, tugged at Mo Mo, who had turned into an old man with a white beard, and said somewhat uneasyly.
"Don't worry, it's impossible for them to recognize us, and they have no chance of finding the remaining tokens," Mo Mo said confidently.
"Why? Even if you're a master at hiding, there's no way they could not find you, right?" Li Mochou looked incredulous.
"Don't believe me? See that stray dog across the street? That's actually the token in disguise. Do you think they could find it if I didn't tell them?" Mo Mo pointed to the stray dog running around across the street.
Li Mochou: "..."
Are you sure this is still about finding a token?
Mo Mo's next words showed Li Mochou what it meant to be shameless, with no limit to how despicable one could be.
"You think the token that turned into a dog is the hardest to find, right? Let me tell you, you're wrong. Of the remaining eleven tokens, six are currently swimming in West Lake, two should be on some tree in the city, one was turned into a tree at the academy gate, and the remaining two became stone lions at the gate," Mo Mo said smugly.
Li Mochou: "..."
"I can only say that he truly lives up to his reputation as Mo Mo."
Just then, a little girl of about thirteen or fourteen years old walked towards Mo Mo's stall.
"Grandpa, do you really have information about the token?" the little girl asked, somewhat doubtfully.
"Of course, I guarantee it with my integrity. If I can't find you, I'll smash up my stall. But since you're my first customer, I'll give you a discount. I'll sell you the information for just ten taels of silver. Think about it, for just ten taels of silver you can buy a token, enter the Forgotten Dust Academy, and maybe even achieve immortality and ascend to heaven in broad daylight. And all of this for just ten taels of silver, what a bargain! If it weren't for how cute you are and that you're my first customer, I wouldn't accept a penny less." Mo Mo tempted her, while Li Mochou turned her head away, pretending not to know him.
The girl hesitated for a moment, then took out a gold bean and gave it to Mo Mo, saying, "I want to know about a token that is easy to find."
After Mo Mo put away the girl's gold beans, he thought for a moment and gave her a note. Then, a tree was missing from outside the gate of Wangchen Academy.
Perhaps the girl's story had been discovered by others. Less than half an hour after she left, ten people came to Mo Mo's stall, and only one piece of Mo Mo's information remained unsold. Some people, having learned about the tokens in West Lake, tried to take advantage of the situation by fishing with a net. However, it turned out that this was impossible, because the tokens in West Lake could only be obtained by buying Mo Mo's specially made bait.
Just as Mo Mo was about to pack up and go home to cook, three more people arrived. However, these three did not want to pay. They relied on their numbers to force Mo Mo to tell them about the last token.
Seeing this, Mo Mo pretended to be very scared and submitted to their tyranny, telling them that the stray dog was the last token. The three left excitedly after receiving the news, but they did not see that Mo Mo smiled after they left and then made a hand seal.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 77 The Last Token
"Aww!"
A tiger's roar rang out, and the trio who had just been arrogantly chasing a stray dog into the alley came running out in tattered clothes, disheveled hair, and a complete panic—all in the blink of an eye. These people didn't seem to realize that someone who knew the detailed information about where the Wangchen Academy's token was hidden couldn't possibly be an ordinary person. And so, they paid a heavy price for their foolishness.
These three were local bullies. When they learned about the challenge of finding tokens at Wangchen Academy, they got an idea. They first recruited their underlings and gave them the task of finding white jade tokens. Once they found them, they gave them all to the three of them, who would then sell the tokens in the city. Thanks to their familiarity with Lin'an City, their underlings actually managed to find quite a few tokens, which made them very wealthy.
However, as the number of tokens dwindled, they were almost unable to find them. Just then, Mo Mo appeared. In fact, after the first girl bought the information and successfully obtained the token, they had already set their sights on Mo Mo. However, out of caution, they did not act immediately. When they learned that there was only one token left to find, they could no longer sit still. After all, this token represented their last chance, and if they could get it, they could definitely sell it for a high price.
Unfortunately, they miscalculated and ran headlong into Mo Mo, a steel plate with its own rebound ability.
After intimidating Mo Mo and obtaining the information, the three men began to surround and intercept the stray dog, eventually forcing it into a dead end in the alley. The little stray dog retreated into the corner with fear, howling with each step. Seeing the stray dog cornered, the three men exchanged glances, all seeing the ecstatic joy in each other's eyes. Then they slowly approached the stray dog. Just two meters away from the dog, the three men, with perfect coordination, pounced on the poor little dog.
However, just when they thought happiness was beckoning them, disaster struck. The stray dog, which had been timid and thin with its fur in clumps, suddenly emitted a dazzling light. Accompanied by a heart-shaking tiger's roar, the stray dog, which looked smaller than an ordinary dog, rapidly expanded like an inflating balloon. Its clumps of fur became smooth and soft, and black stripes grew on its originally yellow fur. In the blink of an eye, a thin stray dog had transformed into a majestic tiger.
The three who pounced on the tiger met their tragic end. They thought they saw mockery in the tiger's eyes, but the next second, the tiger slapped them away one by one. However, they were overjoyed when they saw where they were heading, as they realized they were heading towards the alley's exit. But the next second, they were filled with despair, because they discovered that the tiger was already waiting for them there.
As expected, they were slapped back by the tiger and fell to the ground. After slapping them back, the tiger leaped onto a nearby roof and left. Seeing this, the three of them didn't care about anything else and ran away as fast as they could. One of them even lost a shoe in the process, but they didn't dare to look back.
The three didn't dare linger after leaving, fearing the tiger was still nearby. They fled for their lives back to their lair and gathered their underlings before they could finally relax. However, they didn't see a man and a woman standing silently watching them from above their lair.
"I didn't expect them to be so wealthy, carrying 50,000 taels of silver notes with them." Li Mochou pointed to the silver notes she had brought back with the jade pendant that had transformed into a tiger.
"They are quite wealthy, but if I'm not mistaken, they obtained all of these by selling tokens today. Now it's just a matter of returning them to their rightful owners. Judging from their residence, they're clearly not well-off. These three have no official titles, no legitimate jobs, and no ancestral inheritance, yet their homes are comparable to those of wealthy families in the city. It's clear they've been bullying and harassing the villagers. Now it's time to collect their interest." As he finished speaking, a cold glint flashed in Mo Mo's eyes, and he flicked his wrist, sending the jade token towards the three thugs' hideout.
As the jade tablet was about to hit the ground, it emitted a hazy glow. Then, with a series of tiger roars, it expanded and deformed, eventually transforming into a majestic king of beasts when it finally landed on the ground.
The thugs in the courtyard were terrified when they saw the tiger suddenly appear out of nowhere, while the three people who were drinking tea in the hall were even more frightened when they heard the tiger's roar. One of them even sat down on the ground with a thud.
"Boss, could it be that the tiger is chasing us?" The pale-faced man who had plopped down on the ground asked the burly man sitting at the head of the table.
The burly leader's eyes flashed with a fierce light as he said, "What are you afraid of? We still have dozens of brothers. Call the brothers, grab your weapons, and take down that tiger. We'll have a full tiger feast tonight."
“Yes, third brother, what are you afraid of? Today, the three of us brothers will try tiger meat.” The second brother stroked his mustache and said, but a glint of light flashed in his eyes, clearly indicating that he was planning something.
Meanwhile, the dozens of brothers mentioned by the three were in dire straits. The tiger that Mo Mo had conjured didn't care whether you made a move or not. After a long roar, the tiger pounced on the crowd, sweeping away all the thugs like a whirlwind. They were all knocked to the ground. If someone had observed carefully, they would have noticed that although everyone had been knocked down and bitten by the tiger, the injuries were all different. Logically, a tiger would only become more ferocious after seeing blood and would not show any mercy. However, this was the case. Except for a few, most of the dozens of people were only injured.
The reason this happened was naturally intentional on Mo Mo's part. After all, while these thugs were despicable, not all of them deserved to die. When Mo Mo had the tiger conjured by the jade tablet attack, he had already examined their merits and sins. These people were basically burdened with sins, some deeply sinful while others only had a faint trace of them. The sins of the three leaders were as black as ink, enveloping them all, and they were all haunted by vengeful spirits. The one with the most sins was not the seemingly fierce leader or the treacherous second leader, but rather the seemingly timid third leader. This third leader actually carried the burden of six lives, while the seemingly fierce leader only had two.
"I never expected this. You really can't judge a book by its cover. The third brother, who looks the most timid and cowardly, is actually the one who killed the most people out of the three. In that case, you can all go to hell and enjoy your feast." A cold glint flashed in Mo Mo's eyes.
With a tiger's roar, a series of shrill screams echoed through the hall. The screams continued for half an hour before gradually subsiding. After half an hour of silence, the less seriously injured thugs, who had been given basic first aid, cautiously ventured into the hall. By then, their three leaders had been dead for some time. However, what puzzled them was that their injuries were not too severe. Even the most seriously injured leader had only had four broken limbs, and the third leader was virtually unharmed. What sent chills down their spines was the manner of their deaths: their eyes were bulging and their pupils were constricted, with a trace of green liquid at the corner of their mouths. They had clearly died of fright, even their bile had been expelled.
The three men were indeed scared to death. When the tiger that the jade tablet had conjured pounced on them, Mo Mo felt that killing them like that was too easy for them. So he waved his hand and took back the jade tablet. Then he found the remaining poison from the Ghost Spotted Stone Fish and gave each of them a needle prick. The third man was given special attention by Mo Mo and was pricked five or six times in a row. Just as they were in unbearable pain and howling incessantly, Mo Mo set up a small illusion array for them, which aroused the sins within them. Finally, with the amplification of the illusion array, they were torn apart bit by bit by the people they had hurt in the illusion, and in the end, they were scared to death.
After scaring the three to death, Mo Mo dispelled the illusion array and left with Li Mochou. What puzzled Mo Mo was that Li Mochou, who was usually eager to stir up trouble, simply watched quietly after counting the silver notes and did not insert any. However, Mo Mo did not care, as she had always been satisfied with the amount of silver notes she had received in the past.
Back above the academy, Mo Mo casually tossed the token towards the entrance. Although it was nearing evening, a large crowd had already gathered at the academy's gate. After all, the last token was still missing, and those who hadn't found it were seizing this final opportunity. Those who had already found their tokens watched the spectacle unfold, eager to see who would claim it. Just then, a token descended from the sky into the crowd, transforming into a small white rabbit the size of a fist to everyone's astonishment.
Instantly, the crowd seemed to freeze, completely still. Then, with a sound of someone swallowing hard, the crowd erupted into chaos, shouting, "Grab it!"
The little white rabbit seemed to be frightened and began to run away with lightning speed. Thus, a wonderful chase between humans and rabbits unfolded at the entrance of Wangchen Academy, and the battle was extremely fierce.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 78 The Final Test
Although the rabbit was small, its speed was incredible. Due to its small size, it was incredibly agile, so much so that no one could get within half a meter of it after nearly half an hour of chasing. Moreover, because there were so many people chasing it, some people often rushed too fast and couldn't stop, causing them to crash into each other and fall over. However, as more and more people arrived after hearing the news, the rabbit's range of movement became smaller and smaller. One person successfully caught up with the rabbit. After about an hour of the chase, someone brought in a fishing net.
"How could we not have thought of that! What a pity, it seems the owner of the last token is about to appear."
As if to verify the senior's words, the rabbit was eventually forced towards the academy gate by the fishing net, and the encirclement was complete. In the end, the rabbit was caught by the students holding the fishing net. After some discussion, the token was finally obtained by a young man in fine clothes. However, judging from his expression, he must have paid a considerable price. The young man walked into the academy under the envious gazes of everyone.
When the young man entered the academy, there was no dazzling display of light as everyone had imagined; not even a single person came out to congratulate him. Just as everyone was feeling somewhat disappointed, the token in his hand underwent a change. The token, which had been lying quietly in the young man's hand, emitted a soft light and then flew away. Just as he was panicking, wondering if he had offended a teacher at the academy and been disqualified, he noticed that the token had left a mark on his hand. Then he realized that it wasn't just him; all the tokens had left their holders' hands and flown into the sky.
Thus, the people around the academy were fortunate enough to witness a scene they would never forget. Night had quietly fallen, and just as darkness was about to engulf the earth, one after another, spheres of light appeared on the once quiet West Lake. These basketball-sized spheres of light rose slowly and illuminated the entire West Lake.
When the light spheres rose to the size of an orange, they suddenly accelerated, rapidly converging on the sky above Wangchen Academy. In the blink of an eye, the hundreds of light spheres collided and shattered. However, the rain of light from the explosions did not fall; instead, it coalesced into a sentence: "The third test has officially ended. The final assessment will be held the day after tomorrow. Those who obtain the tokens will go to the Royal Garden outside the city for the final assessment." This sentence remained in the air for nearly five minutes, and miraculously, it could be seen anywhere around Lin'an City.
Five minutes later, the words slowly dissipated, leaving behind fifty orbs of light. After appearing, the orbs of light quickly flew towards the royal garden outside the city. Most people guessed that these were the pass tokens for the assessment the day after tomorrow, while a small number of people guessed that these were the content of the assessment the day after tomorrow.
However, if they could see the changes that occurred after the orbs of light fell, they wouldn't be so optimistic in their speculation. After flying to the royal gardens outside the city, these orbs of light quickly dispersed and landed. Some landed on the ground, some on trees, and some in the water. Those that landed on the ground turned into various ferocious beasts, those that landed on trees turned into various ferocious birds, and those that landed in the water turned into various water monsters.
One of the guards watching over the royal gardens heard a strange roar coming from the woods. He couldn't resist his curiosity and walked to the edge to take a look. What he saw made him tremble with fear, because he saw a tiger with wings that was nearly two meters tall. Moreover, he vaguely saw a huge black shadow sweeping across the sky.
Suppressing his fear, he remembered what his captain had told him: as long as he didn't do anything outrageous in the forest, nothing would go wrong. So he trembled as he left the forest, and immediately ran back to camp.
Meanwhile, the students outside the academy finally dispersed, going off in twos and threes to find places to drink. Inside the academy, Mo Mo was testing his new toy. After all, he was very busy and didn't have time to waste with these students all day. Besides, he had already prepared for the assessment, so he didn't need to worry about the rest.
"Mo Mo, hurry up and cook. Stop playing with your toys. My junior sister and I are starving. You think your windmill can surpass the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow? We're not even sure if it can shoot an arrow." Li Mochou couldn't help but tease Mo Mo when she saw him fiddling with something that looked like a waterwheel.
Mo Mo glanced at Li Mochou and continued fiddling with her things without looking up, saying, "As expected, long hair means short wits, and with big breasts on top of that, you're beyond saving."
"What did you say?" Li Mochou gritted her teeth.
"Ah! I said it's getting late, we should cook dinner. Let's have something good tonight, like the Five Delicacies Stewed Soup or something similar. That'll be it for tonight." Before Li Mochou could even react, he dashed off.
The next day, while Mo Mo was leisurely drinking tea, he received a letter from Xiangyang. Although the letter was unsigned and only addressed to Mo Mo and the words "Xiangyang," Mo Mo knew that it was sent by Guo Jing, since he had only met Guo Jing and Huang Rong in Xiangyang.
Upon opening it, there were only a few sentences on it:
Brother Mo, I have missed you dearly after several months apart. Rongrong gave birth to twins a month ago, a boy and a girl. Mother and children are safe and sound, so please don't worry. The girl is named Xiang, hoping that our country will also be reborn like her. The boy is named Polu, meaning to defeat all enemies and be reborn in blood.
I heard that you opened an academy in Lin'an, and I wanted to go and congratulate you in person, but I was tied up with other matters and could not go. However, I have arranged a property for you in Xiangyang. Although it is not big, it is quite exquisite. I hope you like it.
The letter contained only two sentences, and the entire letter consisted of everyday conversations, without mentioning their previous agreement at all. Yet, Mo Mo had already understood Guo Jing's situation during this period in just those two short sentences.
In fact, Guo Jing had already told Mo Mo about his situation, but outsiders simply couldn't understand it. Although Guo Jing always called Huang Rong Rong Rong or Rong'er, that was just a normal way of addressing her. However, it was impossible for him to address her that way in the letter, because Mo Mo and Huang Rong weren't very familiar with each other, so it wouldn't be appropriate to use such an intimate term. And coincidentally, Huang Rong had given birth to twins, and Mo Mo had given him two different things.