In the capital city, at the back gate of the National Academy, a young man in a white robe stared at the tightly closed gate, lamenting his mistake. "I actually fell for the plot's trick! I kept thinking I'd wait for Chen Changsheng to arrive before opening the National Academy. I never imagined I could move in here beforehand and wait for him. What a nice courtyard! And I foolishly went outside the city to build a wooden house." This young man was Mo Mo, who had just returned from fishing at Wugou Lake.
"However, there are advantages to living outside the city. It's not only quiet and suitable for Rong'er's cultivation, but there's also plenty of wild game. But we won't need to live in the small wooden house outside the city anymore. It would be a waste not to live in such a big courtyard." Mo Mo muttered to himself, looking at the tightly closed gate of the National Academy.
With a casual wave of his hand, Mo Mo caused the padlock that had been locking the gate to fall down, and the gate of the National Academy, which had been closed for more than ten years, slowly opened. Looking at the several sword pillars standing inside the gate, Mo Mo smiled slightly and stepped into the courtyard.
As Mo Mo approached the sword pillars, they suddenly began to rotate, forming a tight sword array that blocked his path. Just as Mo Mo activated the sword array, an invisible sword aura shot into the sky, instantly alarming all the important figures in the capital.
Outside the palace, the Pope, who was watering and pruning his potted plants, sensed the familiar sword intent and paused his work. He muttered to himself, "Who triggered my sword formation? Chen Changsheng? Impossible. The Grand Examination hasn't even started yet. He couldn't have triggered the sword formation. I'd better go check. I can't let anyone ruin my important plans." With that, the Pope put down his scissors and disappeared into the courtyard.
In the palace, Empress Tianhai naturally sensed the sword energy. Recalling the past, a cold glint flashed in her eyes, and she hurriedly ordered Mo Yu to go and investigate who had triggered the Pope's sword formation. She did not want the National Academy, which had led the opposition to her ascension to the throne, to reopen.
Mo Mo, who was watching the spinning sword pillar with great interest, was completely unaware of this. However, even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care. In just two or three breaths, Mo Mo had completely broken the Pope's sword formation and had upgraded and deduced it to its limit. To Mo Mo's disappointment, the ultimate power of this sword formation was only equivalent to the Divine Concealment Realm in this world, and about the same as the power of the Star Chart Array.
Just as Mo Mo was about to break the sword formation, the Pope suddenly appeared at the door and threw a green leaf at Mo Mo, stopping him from his next move.
After throwing out the green leaf, the Pope was very confident and prepared to leave. However, to his surprise, the green leaf, which even the Holy Empress could not easily ignore, suddenly lost its power when it approached the figure in white robes. Like an ordinary leaf, it slowly drifted to the ground, and the white figure turned around at this moment.
When the Pope saw the white figure turn around, he was shocked. He hadn't expected that the one who had triggered his sword formation was Mo Mo, who had been living in seclusion outside the city since the apprenticeship banquet more than ten years ago, and who had even attacked him first. At this moment, the Pope had only one thought in his mind: "How could it be him? How could he be here?"
"Your Holiness, what do you mean by this? Is this sword formation unbreakable? Or is there another reason?" Mo Mo's expression was full of amusement.
"So it was Saint Mo. This was just a misunderstanding. I thought it was some ignorant youths trying to break into the formation. That green leaf was for saving people, not for attacking." The Pope lied blatantly without even blinking.
"Oh, I see! I thought this sword formation couldn't be broken. What a nice courtyard! It's a shame no one lives here, don't you think?" Mo Mo looked enlightened and nodded.
The Pope was stunned by Mo Mo's words and didn't react for a moment. "He actually thinks this is an ordinary courtyard. Doesn't he know that this is an academy? And an academy that the entire capital avoids talking about?"
After a couple of seconds, the Pope came to his senses and replied, "This is not an ordinary courtyard. This courtyard was once the National Academy, and it is also one of the Six Academies of Qing Teng."
"Then why is it closed now? And you even set up a sword formation here?" Mo Mo pretended to know nothing and continued to ask Pope Yin Xingdao.
The Pope looked troubled and said, "This...this concerns the secrets of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and I cannot say more. The Grand Examination is about to begin, and I have important matters to attend to. I cannot stay any longer, so I will take my leave now." With that, he left without any further ado.
Looking at the empty gate, Mo Mo muttered to himself thoughtfully, "Could this be part of his plan? Otherwise, this old bastard wouldn't have rushed over as soon as I activated the sword formation. If that's the case, then he really is quite patient, managing to remain calm like this."
Shaking his head, Mo Mo stopped thinking about things that weren't his concern and prepared to continue breaking his sword formation. Just then, two more figures dressed in white appeared at the door. This time, Mo Mo ignored them and stepped over the sword pillars, arriving in front of the real sword formation. He pointed a finger at the formation, and with that finger, the sword formation, which had been crisscrossed with sword energy, shattered like a bubble that had been poked.
"This, how is this possible? This is a sword formation set up by His Holiness the Pope. How could it be broken so easily?" Just as Mo Mo broke the sword formation, a girl's clear exclamation came from the doorway.
"Is the Pope that powerful? I don't really think so," Mo Mo said casually, turning around with his hands behind his back.
"It's you! What are you doing here? Where's You Rong? Why didn't she come?" Mo Yu was quite surprised to see that it was Mo Mo who had broken the sword formation.
“Yu’er, why can’t it be me? What a nice courtyard! It’s a shame no one lives here. Besides, You Rong has grown up now, and it’s not good for her to stay on the mountain all the time. So I’m planning to move here. By the way, since you want You Rong, could you please tell them to get ready? I’ll move here as soon as I’ve settled things in.” Mo Mo looked sad.
Perhaps the two really got along well, and both were favored daughters of heaven. When Xu Yourong was only ten years old, she secretly ran away to the capital to play, and happened to meet Mo Yu. The two hit it off immediately and quickly became very good friends. When the Holy Empress found out, she also supported Mo Yu and gave her more freedom. So Xu Yourong often took Mo Yu back to the wooden house on the mountain to play, and Mo Yu would occasionally stay overnight, sometimes for several days. Mo Mo's pills were often given to her, so the two were quite familiar with each other.
Mo Yu rolled her eyes at Mo Mo, then introduced him to the girl beside her: "This is Mo Mo, the Great Sage who lives in seclusion outside the capital, and also You Rong's master. Although he is lazy and seems very unreliable, often doing some shocking things, he is a master at alchemy. Princess Luo Luo, if you want to refine any kind of pill, you can go to him. He can almost refine any flavor you want."
"The taste of the pill can be changed?" Luo Luo asked, somewhat puzzled.
"I don't know about others, but he really can, and they all taste good. I especially like the strawberry flavor. I'll go look for more later." Mo Yu tilted her head and thought for a moment, realizing that she had never heard of pills having multiple flavors. However, thinking about Mo Mo's inhuman behavior, she felt relieved. After all, who would go fishing in Wugou Lake for no reason?
Upon learning Mo Mo's identity, Bai Luoheng smiled sweetly, leaned close to Mo Mo, and said expectantly, "My name is Bai Luoheng, I am a princess of the demon race. You can call me Luoluo. Are you planning to reopen the National Academy?"
"You want to study at the National Academy?" Mo Mo asked with a smile.
“Well, although I have a very powerful master, I still need to join an academy to participate in the Grand Examination. And since you are so talented, I would like to learn from you.” Bai Luoheng frankly admitted his thoughts.
“Okay, but the National Academy hasn’t officially started recruiting yet. Come back on the day the recruitment officially starts. If you have any friends who want to come, come along too. It’s more lively with more people. Otherwise, how can such a big courtyard have only a few people? It’s rather deserted.” After thinking for a moment, Mo Mo agreed to Bai Luoheng’s decision. However, Mo Mo was also a little puzzled because in the original story, Bai Luoheng became Chen Changsheng’s disciple after Chen Changsheng was rejected by the other six academies during the recruitment process and then broke the sword formation to enter the National Academy. But now, the six academies haven’t even started recruiting yet, and Bai Luoheng has already become Chen Changsheng’s disciple. However, Mo Mo wasn’t in a hurry. He would find out when Chen Changsheng came in a couple of days.
After receiving Mo Mo's promise, Bai Luoheng happily ran back, while Mo Yu also left to report back. After the two women left, Mo Mo did not linger and walked into the National Academy. He wanted to make some nice arrangements inside. Unlike in the original drama, he did not allow the demons to treat the huge National Academy as his own backyard, coming and going as they pleased.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 181 A Unique Assessment Method
Three days later, Mo Mo finally completed the renovation of the National Academy. The renovated academy appeared outwardly identical to its original state, but in reality, the entire academy was shrouded in an array. This array originated from the Pope's sword array. Of course, Mo Mo also set up some maze arrays at the entrance. Anyone not from the National Academy who trespassed would be trapped within the arrays. If someone broke through the maze arrays and continued into the sword array, it would activate. Given the power of this sword array, anyone who tried to force their way in would be either killed or severely injured.
On this day, Mo Mo and Xu Yourong officially took over the National Academy. Unlike Chen Changsheng, who only temporarily stayed at the National Academy in the original drama, Mo Mo directly took over and became the master of the National Academy. There was no such thing as finding the lost key to the National Academy in order to reopen the academy.
In the original story, Chen Changsheng, Bai Luoheng, and Tang Thirty-Six painstakingly found the key through a series of coincidences, ultimately obtaining it only with the help of the Demon Princess Nan Ke. But for Mo Mo, all of this was trivial. Even if the original story didn't explicitly state the key's location, Mo Mo's powerful divine sense would be enough to reveal it with a single sweep. As for the protective array and thunder vines, they were no match for Mo Mo's ability to easily destroy them.
When the Holy Empress learned that Mo Mo had taken over the National Academy and had obtained the key to it, she was delighted and ordered that Mo Mo be appointed as the dean of the National Academy. As for the fact that the National Academy had led the opposition against her ascension to the throne, the Holy Empress said that if the dean of the National Academy could win over a powerful expert from the Saint Realm, she would be willing to do it a few more times. Moreover, it was the former National Academy that opposed her ascension to the throne, not the current one. In addition, given Mo Mo's indifferent personality, the Holy Empress was not worried at all that Mo Mo would interfere in politics.
The Empress's order caused an uproar throughout the capital. After all, Mo Mo had kept a low profile for years, and few people had even heard of him. His name was not as well-known as Xu Yourong's or Qingyue's. However, this was also related to the identities of Xu Yourong and Qingyue. One was the former Holy Maiden of the Holy Maiden Peak, and the other possessed the bloodline of the Heavenly Phoenix and was ranked first on the Azure Cloud Ranking. However, those who truly knew the inside story were eager to seize this opportunity to join the National Academy.
Those unaware of the inside story either planned to watch the National Academy fail or thought they could try applying to the National Academy if they couldn't get into other academies, since the National Academy had just reopened and would likely lower its admission standards when there were few applicants. Meanwhile, those who thought they didn't meet the standards of other academies were overjoyed to hear the news, seeing it as a golden opportunity.
Two days later, the admissions for the Sixth Academy officially began. However, to the great surprise of those who were prepared to see the Chinese Academy make a fool of itself, the scene they had anticipated—a deserted registration office—did not occur. Instead, long queues formed, and although the quality of applicants varied, the number of applicants far exceeded that of other academies.
What surprised them even more was that the National Academy's method of selecting students was quite unique. Apart from a few guards maintaining order, there were no academy personnel on duty. There was only a long line of people. On the right side of the gate was a large "Enter" sign, and on the left side was an "Exit" sign. The line moved very quickly, with people entering from the right side and exiting from the left side almost every moment. However, nine out of ten people who came out looked dejected, and the remaining one looked annoyed.
To the left of the main gate, next to the row of people coming out of the gate, a large crowd had also gathered. At the front of the crowd was a square list, about one meter in size, but at this moment, the list, which was called the Admission List, was completely empty, with not a single name on it.
"The National Academy's assessment is too abnormal. It not only requires talent, but also excellent comprehension and amazing perseverance. I bet no one can pass this abnormal assessment."
"Yeah, that desert alone can eliminate more than half of the people. I don't believe anyone can walk across that hundred miles of desert without water. And I heard there's an even more insane maze test later on."
"What's so special about the maze test? You didn't see it. This morning, a top expert on the Qingyun Ranking went in to take the test out of desperation, and he came out in less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick. He was completely disoriented when he came out, and I heard he still hasn't recovered."
"Is it that insane? I was actually planning to go in and try it out, but thank goodness I didn't, or I would have been in big trouble."
"Wait a minute, why is this assessment so insane? Why are so many people participating? And many of them are from powerful families."
"Don't you know? The dean and instructors of the National Academy are experts from the Saint Realm. Do you know what that means? It means that as long as you can get into the National Academy, you can receive personal instruction from experts from the Saint Realm. That's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
"I see. Hurry up and line up. If you get in, you'll be on a roll."
At this moment, Mo Mo was unaware of what was happening outside. He was leisurely drinking tea with Chen Changsheng and Luo Luo. As for the assessment, it would be conducted by the magic array. As for whether anyone would cause trouble, the guards patrolling around said that their broadswords were already itching for action.
"I didn't expect that after so many years, you haven't changed at all, big brother." Chen Changsheng looked at Mo Mo's face, which hadn't changed at all over the past ten years, and couldn't help but sigh.
"puff!"
Upon hearing Chen Changsheng's words, Qingyue spat out all the tea in her mouth with a "pfft," almost spraying Xu Yourong's face. Then, she stared at Mo Mo with a strange expression and said, "Big brother?"
“Yes, I remember I was only a few years old then. I was reading the Annals of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and my older brother was listening next to me. I only realized who my older brother was after I finished reading the Annals of the Great Zhou Dynasty. He looked just like he does now. I was still young then, so it was only natural for me to call him older brother. I never thought that so much time had passed and your appearance would not have changed at all.” Chen Changsheng explained the origin of the title to Qingyue.
After coughing, Mo Mo said to Chen Changsheng, "From now on, please don't call me 'big brother' anymore. It sounds awkward. From now on, you will be students of the National Academy, so please call me 'teacher'."
"Yes, sir." Except for Xu Yourong and Qingyue, everyone else stood up and respectfully bowed to Mo Mo as a disciple.
"Hey, sir, may I ask how you did that?" After bowing, Bai Luoheng reverted to her carefree personality and leaned close to Mo Mo to ask in a low voice.
"You want to learn?" Mo Mo asked with a smile.
"Yes, yes, I want to learn. If I learn it, I can stay young forever. Who wouldn't want to learn?" Bai Luoheng nodded vigorously like a chicken pecking at rice.
"Luo Luo, you mustn't be rude to the master," Chen Changsheng said helplessly.
"It's alright, sir. He's a very kind person and won't hold grudges. Unlike those old fogies who insist on following all the rules." Bai Luoheng turned around and gave Chen Changsheng a reassuring smile.
"It's alright, Changsheng. Master won't blame Luoluo. Just treat him the same way you treat us. If you're too polite to him, he'll get upset," Xu Yourong reassured Chen Changsheng.
"Do you want to learn?" Mo Mo did not blame Bai Luoheng as Chen Changsheng had expected. Instead, he smiled and asked them if they wanted to learn.
Upon hearing that learning this skill would grant eternal youth, Xuan Yuanpo and Tang Thirty-Six nodded vigorously, fearing that if they were too slow to react, Mo Mo would stop teaching them.
"Since you're so eager to learn, I can't let you down. How about this, you can start formally studying after the Grand Examination." Mo Mo readily agreed, but the group, engrossed in learning the method to maintain eternal youth, didn't notice that Mo Mo's smile was somewhat different from usual.
If Mo Yu were here, she would definitely tell them, "Enjoy the good times before the Grand Examination, because after the Grand Examination you will understand what a nightmare is," because she had experienced all of this, and she knew what that smile represented.
She still remembers that she was only eleven years old at the time. When she saw Xu Yourong, who was the same age as her, flying freely in the air, she was very envious. So she asked Mo Mo to teach her how to fly. Mo Mo was just as bold as she is now, and then she showed the same smile as she does now.
The next day, when Mo Yu excitedly asked the Empress for leave and arrived at Mo Mo's wooden house, Mo Mo generously taught her how to fly and carefully explained various precautions to her, which moved Mo Yu deeply. However, after she had completely memorized what Mo Mo taught her, she realized that it was just the beginning of a nightmare.
At that time, after she spent half a day memorizing everything, Mo Mo nodded with great satisfaction. Then he took her to the top of the mountain. Just when she thought that Mo Mo would be as gentle and careful as before, teaching her how to circulate her internal energy and how to fly into the sky, Mo Mo threw her off the mountain. Yes, he threw her off directly, without any warning.
Although she quickly mastered the method of flying after Mo Mo threw her off the mountaintop, she never asked Mo Mo to teach her anything again after that. Even though Xu Yourong or Qingyue taught her very slowly, she preferred to be taught by the two of them. Because that time, in order to learn to fly, Mo Mo threw her off the mountaintop a full twenty times, and then threw her into a dense forest to practice for three days. What made Mo Yu most devastated was that in the end, Mo Mo actually threw her into the lair of a group of flying monsters.
After being knocked into the air countless times by those demonic beasts, she was finally able to move through the beast horde without any pressure, without letting any of them touch a hair on her head. However, after that, she never let Mo Mo teach her anything again, because although Mo Mo could make people quickly master and thoroughly understand what he taught, it was not something that ordinary people could handle.
Unfortunately, Mo Yu wasn't there, and Xu Yourong and Qingyue had never experienced anything like this before. So Chen Changsheng and the others were still immersed in their joy, completely unaware that a nightmare was slowly approaching them.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 182 Mr. Akiyama Comes Knocking
"That's wonderful! I knew you were the best person, sir." Bai Luoheng was so happy he almost jumped up.
"Sir, can you really teach us?" Xuan Yuanpo and Tang Thirty-Six were somewhat incredulous, because they had never heard of anyone being able to maintain their youth forever. In their minds, this should be extremely precious and not something that ordinary people could learn.
"Of course, it's not anything precious, but whether you can learn it or not depends on yourselves." Mo Mo said nonchalantly, because it really wasn't anything precious. As long as you cultivated it successfully, you could naturally maintain your appearance. Moreover, even ordinary people could do it, as long as they had a Youth Preservation Pill. Although he knew how to refine that thing, he had never refined it, because he didn't need it at all.
At this moment, Chen Changsheng looked at the people leisurely drinking tea in the hall and asked Mo Mo in confusion, "Sir, how many priests are there in our academy in total?"
"Priests? Two, me and Qingyue." Mo Mo replied, somewhat puzzled, not understanding why Chen Changsheng was asking this.
"Only two? No one else?" Chen Changsheng was even more puzzled.
“Yes, there were only three of us in our academy before you came: me, You Rong, and Qing Yue. Why are you asking this?” Mo Mo asked back.
"So that means there's no one outside to oversee the other students' exams?" After a pause, Chen Changsheng continued, "Or do you have other plans, sir?"
"So that's what you're worried about. Our academy's exams are different from other academies. They don't need anyone to preside over them; everything is controlled by formations. There's no waiting. As long as you pass the test, you can enter the National Academy." Mo Mo paused here, sensed the situation outside, and then continued, "But unfortunately, so far, no one has passed the test."
"How strict is it? Luckily we don't have to take exams." Xuan Yuanpo patted his chest with some relief.
"Formation? I wonder if we can go and take a look?" Chen Changsheng was quite intrigued when he heard that the exam was being conducted by a formation.
"Of course you can, but if you want to try it, I advise you not to. I deliberately increased the difficulty when setting up the formation, and I never intended for anyone to pass. So, apart from a true genius, it's impossible for anyone to pass the test." Mo Mo directly revealed the truth about the formation test, leaving Chen Changsheng and the others speechless, while Qingyue and Xu Yourong showed an expression of "I knew it."
Filled with curiosity, Chen Changsheng and his group arrived at the gate. However, they were somewhat disappointed when they saw what they saw. They only saw a group of people walking slowly through the gate, circling the artificial hill, and then walking out from one side of the gate. A few people were sitting quietly next to the artificial hill. They didn't see anything else.
"Sir, the test that you said only prodigies can pass isn't this, is it?" Tang Thirty-Six gave him a look that said, "You're not very well-educated, don't try to fool me."
"This is it, Thirty-Six, do you want to give it a try?" Mo Mo said to Tang Thirty-Six with a smile.
"Try it? What's so difficult about that? I'm ranked thirty-sixth on the Qingyun Ranking, what am I afraid of?" With that, Tang Thirty-Six walked towards the artificial hill.
"Wait, Thirty-Six, don't go yet. Look at their expressions." Chen Changsheng grabbed Tang Thirty-Six, who was walking towards the artificial hill.
"Expressions?" Upon hearing Chen Changsheng's prompt, the others noticed that the expressions of those people were strange. Before entering the gate, most of them had uneasy and nervous expressions on their faces, but as soon as they stepped into the academy, all the expressions on their faces disappeared, and they all became very calm. Their steps were mechanical and lifeless, and their eyes were dull and lifeless. However, as soon as they turned past the artificial hill, they immediately recovered, and most of them were very annoyed.
Xuanyuan Po poked Tang Thirty-Six with his finger and asked, "What, what's going on? What's wrong with them?"
Tang Thirty-Six looked terrified. Only after Xuan Yuanpo poked him with his finger did Tang Thirty-Six come to his senses and murmur softly, "I don't know either."
"Sir, this should be an illusion array, but it's incredibly sophisticated. There's not a single trace left. I wonder what they went through inside," Chen Changsheng exclaimed in admiration.