Chapter 155: There Are Fish on Half Moon Mountain
The students of the Martial Arts Academy were divided into ten classes, and Principal Zhou never intervened on how professors taught students; he never asked the students what they learned as well.
In his eyes, professors were responsible for teaching and not him, and students should worry about their progress and not him.
Therefore, it seemed like Principal Zhou knew nothing about Mo Wanwu leading a class of students to the mountain range to the north of Chang’an. When he learned about it, it was already the afternoon, and the students riding on the warhorses of the Martial Arts Academy were almost out of Chang’an.
He only learned this information because of Qiu Yu. She didn’t find Fang Jie in the afternoon, and she asked around for a while before learning that Mo Wanwu was having a competition with his students in the north of Chang’an.
Qiu Yu was terrified when she learned this, and she quickly went to Principal Zhou.
When she found this old man, who was well-respected in Great Sui and the most influential figure of the military, he was having a nap. He was in an undershirt and a pair of shorts, and he was sleeping well on his bed.
When Qiu Yu hammered his door, he got up and asked in annoyance, “What is it?”
“Mo Wanwu is leading his students including Fang Jie to Half Moon Mountain.”
“Oh.” Principal Zhou lied down and replied, “That is fine.”
Qiu Yu pushed open the door violently, stepped inside, and asked with slight anger, “But Wisdom is on Half Moon Mountain. Phoenix-Chirp Daoist, Mr. Zhuo, and others are all in there. Did you forget how dangerous it is in that mountain?”
“Half Moon Mountain is huge.” Principal Zhou yawned and sat up unwillingly. Then, he rubbed his eyes and said, “They won’t be that unlucky. If Wisdom is that easy to find, how come Zhuo Buyi and others haven’t found him in so many days?”
“Because Zhuo Buyi and others aren’t easy to kill, but the students are!” Qiu Yu said with force.
“Why are they going to Half Moon Mountain?” Principal Zhou asked.
“A student argued with Mo Wanwu, so Mo Wanwu is having a competition with his students on Half Moon Mountain today. He only brought Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang with him, and all other students are a group. He is trying to prove the importance of scouts. Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang are probably both his scouts.”
“Idiot.” Principal Zhou rubbed his sleepy eyes and cursed, “If students want to argue, does every professor have to compete like this to prove their points? Since when did the professors of the academy get this dumb? If students are being troublesome, just reason with them. If that doesn’t work, just beat them until they admit defeat. In the Martial Arts Academy, the professors aren’t held accountable if they beat students…”
“This isn’t the point! What should we do now?”
“Do what?” Principal Zhou asked.
Qiu Yu said angrily, “I’m asking you! What if Fang Jie and others run into Wisdom? The people of the Buddhist Sect want to kill Fang Jie! Isn’t Fang Jie delivering himself to them?”
“Is it?” Principal Zhou murmured before shaking his head and said, “No.”
“Why?” Qiu Yu asked.
Principal Zhou put on his shoes, walked to his desk, and poured him a cup of cold tea. He said, “What was Wisdom doing when you first saw him?”
“Escaping.”
“Then?”
“He captured Fang Jie on the way.”
“Then?”
Qiu Yu froze for a second and seemed to have understood the principal.
Principal Zhou finished the cold tea and said with a smile, “If you are still worried about your precious student, you could chase after him to check. However, I feel like Wisdom won’t kill him. If he wants to kill Fang Jie, he would have done it already. Fang Jie should have died when he first encountered Wisdom. Don’t say that Fang Jie pressured Wisdom away by his saber strike. Even idiots won’t believe it. Wisdom could have killed Fang Jie more than 100 times with his thoughts.”
“Why didn’t Wisdom kill Fang Jie?” Qiu Yu asked.
Principal Zhou rolled his eyes at her angrily and said, “I’m not an immortal. How could I know?”
He walked back to his bed and lied down before saying, “Disturbing a senior’s nap is very immoral. As a professor of the Martial Arts Academy, you should know that. If you don’t leave now, I will throw you out. Even though I’m extremely old, napping at noon is one of the few things that I still find joy in.”
Qiu Yu stomped her feet, turned around, and ran away.
Principal Zhou smiled and murmured, “Stomping made you womanlier.”
Mo Wanwu glanced at Fang Jie before looking away. Fang Jie saw a trace of guilt in his eyes, but he thought that this professor felt bad dragging him to his side. He didn’t notice the complex emotions in Mo Wanwu’s eyes.
“Professor,” Zhang Kuang asked while following Mo Wanwu, “How should we do this?”
After a moment of silence, Mo Wanwu replied, “Since this is a competition, the only goal is to win. To win, you must knock down all opponents. It is this simple; why do you need to ask?”
“Eh…” Zhang Kuang asked in surprise, “Shouldn’t we plan first before moving?”
“Plan what?” Mo Wanwu snorted and said, “If I still need to plan when playing with a bunch of kids, I shouldn’t be a professor. Do you really think that I’m trying to make Liu Shuang realize that he is wrong? I would have beat him up if the goal is this simple.”
“What is the goal?” Fang Jie asked.
Mo Wanwu replied, “It has been hot lately.”
It didn’t seem like an answer to the question, but Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang realized what he meant.
They cursed in their minds at the same time, “Damn it! You want to enjoy the coolness of Half Moon Mountain with the excuse of competition!”
“You guys don’t know…” Mo Wanwu chuckled and said, “There is a deep pond named Crescent Moon Pond on Half Moon Mountain, and its water is bone-chilling even in summer. All heat would be gone when you get close to that pond. Crescent Moon Pond is the only place where living creatures exist on Half Moon Mountain. Not many people know this secret. There is a type of fish in the pond, and they have six gills. They don’t have a name, but they would only get to 30 centimeters long after about 100 years. They are extremely tasty. You don’t need to roast or boil this type of fish; you can eat it raw with a bit of soy sauce and minced garlic.”
Fang Jie found it hard to respect any professor of the Martial Arts Academy.
“Not many people know about this now; wouldn’t many people know when the entire class gets there?” Zhang Kuang asked.
Mo Wanwu said, “Of course, we can’t let them know. We have to get there earlier, and we will eat a few fish before fighting them.”
Fang Jie said feelingly, “Are we going out of Chang’an and traveling for dozens of kilometers just to eat fish?”
“What do you mean?” Mo Wanwu said with slight anger, “Don’t you feel like it is worth it?”
“Eh… of course! It is worth it!” Fang Jie quickly flattered.
Mo Wanwu snorted and said, “New students like you are curious about the Martial Arts Academy, thinking that you will study here for three years and become great talents of Great Sui after you graduate.”
Then, he cursed in a low voice, “Have you thought about how the professors feel? It is boring. We must teach the same thing to different groups of students; it is as boring as you think. Perhaps every day is a new day for you, but it is the same as before for us. For you not to waste three years, we must adjust our mood occasionally to teach you the most knowledge. We must seek fun ourselves. Two birds with one stone! I can teach students and have fun as well!”
Fang Jie nodded and said, “This is a much better reason.”
Mo Wanwu smiled and said, “I feel the same way.”
“All the fish I’ve seen only have two gills,” Fang Jie asked, “How come the fish in Crescent Moon Pond have six gills?”
“Have you seen three-legged frogs? Two-headed goats? No-tailed pigs?”
“No, but I heard of them before. They are all outliners,” Fang Jie answered honestly.
“Eh,” Mo Wanwu said seriously, “You can think of the six-gilled fish in Crescent Moon Pond as outliers as well.”
“When did you learn that this type of fish exists in Crescent Moon Pond?”
“When I was a student in the academy. Qiu Yu was my professor back then, and she took us there. Similar to this, she only had two students as her assistants. Principal Zhou ordered us to investigate why no animals could be found on Half Moon Mountain, but it seemed like Professor Qiu Yu knew about this type of fish in Crescent Moon Pond long ago.”
“How does she know?” Fang Jie asked curiously.
“You are annoying. I regret picking you.” Mo Wanwu glared at him but still answered, “Someone brought her there when she was only a student?”
“Damn!” Fang Jie cursed, “I thought Professor Qiu is young, no more than 30 years old!”
Mo Wanwu looked at Fang Jie with empathy and something else. Fang Jie knew that Mo Wanwu looked at him as an idiot.
While Fang Jie was frustrated, what Mo Wanwu said next helped him recover a little.
“She isn’t that old. She is experienced… because she was a child prodigy.”
“I got it.” Fang Jie looked back at Mo Wanwu with empathy. “You must be older than her when she was your professor, right?”
Mo Wanwu replied, “You can shut up now!”
…
Liu Shuang was rallying his group who were traveling on the public road.
“We have 30 people!” he said to his peers, “Even if our professor is extremely powerful and both Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang are scouts, what can they do? The competition is about the arts of war and not cultivation strength! Our professor can’t beat us up in the end with his high cultivation strength! Since this is about the arts of war, we don’t have anything to worry about if we are steady and calm.”
His friend and his idol, a cold-looking young man, said on the side, “If we enter the mountain as a group, nothing will happen even though we don’t have scouts. After discovering Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang, we can instantly capture them. The professor would lose then.”
This person was Yuan Chengshi, and his status was prestigious. His father was Yuan Chongwu, the Governor-General of River-North Circuit, who was a rank 2 position.
Liu Shuang was only the son of a governor, so his status was much lower.
“We will listen to you,” Liu Shuang said with a cold grin, “I always want to beat up that Fang Jie. That arrogant wastrel makes me want to puke!”
“This is a competition,” Yuan Chengshi said with a smile, “This is the perfect opportunity for those of you who want to beat up Fang Jie. Just beat him with all your strength! Even the professor wouldn’t side with him! Don’t even feel guilty if many of you attack him at the same time! After all, he is the second genius of Great Sui who received all nine excellent ratings! The 30 of us versus him is a fair battle! You all should be proud of him! His pride and status will only be shown in a 1v30 battle!”
Many people laughed, but some people didn’t side with him.
In the crowd, a female student frowned and seemed to dislike Yuan Chengshi and Liu Shuang. She was in the back of the group, and she didn’t talk with anyone.
She was one of the two female students in the class, and the other female student was riding her horse beside Yuan Chengshi, looking at him with affection.
In his eyes, professors were responsible for teaching and not him, and students should worry about their progress and not him.
Therefore, it seemed like Principal Zhou knew nothing about Mo Wanwu leading a class of students to the mountain range to the north of Chang’an. When he learned about it, it was already the afternoon, and the students riding on the warhorses of the Martial Arts Academy were almost out of Chang’an.
He only learned this information because of Qiu Yu. She didn’t find Fang Jie in the afternoon, and she asked around for a while before learning that Mo Wanwu was having a competition with his students in the north of Chang’an.
Qiu Yu was terrified when she learned this, and she quickly went to Principal Zhou.
When she found this old man, who was well-respected in Great Sui and the most influential figure of the military, he was having a nap. He was in an undershirt and a pair of shorts, and he was sleeping well on his bed.
When Qiu Yu hammered his door, he got up and asked in annoyance, “What is it?”
“Mo Wanwu is leading his students including Fang Jie to Half Moon Mountain.”
“Oh.” Principal Zhou lied down and replied, “That is fine.”
Qiu Yu pushed open the door violently, stepped inside, and asked with slight anger, “But Wisdom is on Half Moon Mountain. Phoenix-Chirp Daoist, Mr. Zhuo, and others are all in there. Did you forget how dangerous it is in that mountain?”
“Half Moon Mountain is huge.” Principal Zhou yawned and sat up unwillingly. Then, he rubbed his eyes and said, “They won’t be that unlucky. If Wisdom is that easy to find, how come Zhuo Buyi and others haven’t found him in so many days?”
“Because Zhuo Buyi and others aren’t easy to kill, but the students are!” Qiu Yu said with force.
“Why are they going to Half Moon Mountain?” Principal Zhou asked.
“A student argued with Mo Wanwu, so Mo Wanwu is having a competition with his students on Half Moon Mountain today. He only brought Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang with him, and all other students are a group. He is trying to prove the importance of scouts. Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang are probably both his scouts.”
“Idiot.” Principal Zhou rubbed his sleepy eyes and cursed, “If students want to argue, does every professor have to compete like this to prove their points? Since when did the professors of the academy get this dumb? If students are being troublesome, just reason with them. If that doesn’t work, just beat them until they admit defeat. In the Martial Arts Academy, the professors aren’t held accountable if they beat students…”
“This isn’t the point! What should we do now?”
“Do what?” Principal Zhou asked.
Qiu Yu said angrily, “I’m asking you! What if Fang Jie and others run into Wisdom? The people of the Buddhist Sect want to kill Fang Jie! Isn’t Fang Jie delivering himself to them?”
“Is it?” Principal Zhou murmured before shaking his head and said, “No.”
“Why?” Qiu Yu asked.
Principal Zhou put on his shoes, walked to his desk, and poured him a cup of cold tea. He said, “What was Wisdom doing when you first saw him?”
“Escaping.”
“Then?”
“He captured Fang Jie on the way.”
“Then?”
Qiu Yu froze for a second and seemed to have understood the principal.
Principal Zhou finished the cold tea and said with a smile, “If you are still worried about your precious student, you could chase after him to check. However, I feel like Wisdom won’t kill him. If he wants to kill Fang Jie, he would have done it already. Fang Jie should have died when he first encountered Wisdom. Don’t say that Fang Jie pressured Wisdom away by his saber strike. Even idiots won’t believe it. Wisdom could have killed Fang Jie more than 100 times with his thoughts.”
“Why didn’t Wisdom kill Fang Jie?” Qiu Yu asked.
Principal Zhou rolled his eyes at her angrily and said, “I’m not an immortal. How could I know?”
He walked back to his bed and lied down before saying, “Disturbing a senior’s nap is very immoral. As a professor of the Martial Arts Academy, you should know that. If you don’t leave now, I will throw you out. Even though I’m extremely old, napping at noon is one of the few things that I still find joy in.”
Qiu Yu stomped her feet, turned around, and ran away.
Principal Zhou smiled and murmured, “Stomping made you womanlier.”
Mo Wanwu glanced at Fang Jie before looking away. Fang Jie saw a trace of guilt in his eyes, but he thought that this professor felt bad dragging him to his side. He didn’t notice the complex emotions in Mo Wanwu’s eyes.
“Professor,” Zhang Kuang asked while following Mo Wanwu, “How should we do this?”
After a moment of silence, Mo Wanwu replied, “Since this is a competition, the only goal is to win. To win, you must knock down all opponents. It is this simple; why do you need to ask?”
“Eh…” Zhang Kuang asked in surprise, “Shouldn’t we plan first before moving?”
“Plan what?” Mo Wanwu snorted and said, “If I still need to plan when playing with a bunch of kids, I shouldn’t be a professor. Do you really think that I’m trying to make Liu Shuang realize that he is wrong? I would have beat him up if the goal is this simple.”
“What is the goal?” Fang Jie asked.
Mo Wanwu replied, “It has been hot lately.”
It didn’t seem like an answer to the question, but Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang realized what he meant.
They cursed in their minds at the same time, “Damn it! You want to enjoy the coolness of Half Moon Mountain with the excuse of competition!”
“You guys don’t know…” Mo Wanwu chuckled and said, “There is a deep pond named Crescent Moon Pond on Half Moon Mountain, and its water is bone-chilling even in summer. All heat would be gone when you get close to that pond. Crescent Moon Pond is the only place where living creatures exist on Half Moon Mountain. Not many people know this secret. There is a type of fish in the pond, and they have six gills. They don’t have a name, but they would only get to 30 centimeters long after about 100 years. They are extremely tasty. You don’t need to roast or boil this type of fish; you can eat it raw with a bit of soy sauce and minced garlic.”
Fang Jie found it hard to respect any professor of the Martial Arts Academy.
“Not many people know about this now; wouldn’t many people know when the entire class gets there?” Zhang Kuang asked.
Mo Wanwu said, “Of course, we can’t let them know. We have to get there earlier, and we will eat a few fish before fighting them.”
Fang Jie said feelingly, “Are we going out of Chang’an and traveling for dozens of kilometers just to eat fish?”
“What do you mean?” Mo Wanwu said with slight anger, “Don’t you feel like it is worth it?”
“Eh… of course! It is worth it!” Fang Jie quickly flattered.
Mo Wanwu snorted and said, “New students like you are curious about the Martial Arts Academy, thinking that you will study here for three years and become great talents of Great Sui after you graduate.”
Then, he cursed in a low voice, “Have you thought about how the professors feel? It is boring. We must teach the same thing to different groups of students; it is as boring as you think. Perhaps every day is a new day for you, but it is the same as before for us. For you not to waste three years, we must adjust our mood occasionally to teach you the most knowledge. We must seek fun ourselves. Two birds with one stone! I can teach students and have fun as well!”
Fang Jie nodded and said, “This is a much better reason.”
Mo Wanwu smiled and said, “I feel the same way.”
“All the fish I’ve seen only have two gills,” Fang Jie asked, “How come the fish in Crescent Moon Pond have six gills?”
“Have you seen three-legged frogs? Two-headed goats? No-tailed pigs?”
“No, but I heard of them before. They are all outliners,” Fang Jie answered honestly.
“Eh,” Mo Wanwu said seriously, “You can think of the six-gilled fish in Crescent Moon Pond as outliers as well.”
“When did you learn that this type of fish exists in Crescent Moon Pond?”
“When I was a student in the academy. Qiu Yu was my professor back then, and she took us there. Similar to this, she only had two students as her assistants. Principal Zhou ordered us to investigate why no animals could be found on Half Moon Mountain, but it seemed like Professor Qiu Yu knew about this type of fish in Crescent Moon Pond long ago.”
“How does she know?” Fang Jie asked curiously.
“You are annoying. I regret picking you.” Mo Wanwu glared at him but still answered, “Someone brought her there when she was only a student?”
“Damn!” Fang Jie cursed, “I thought Professor Qiu is young, no more than 30 years old!”
Mo Wanwu looked at Fang Jie with empathy and something else. Fang Jie knew that Mo Wanwu looked at him as an idiot.
While Fang Jie was frustrated, what Mo Wanwu said next helped him recover a little.
“She isn’t that old. She is experienced… because she was a child prodigy.”
“I got it.” Fang Jie looked back at Mo Wanwu with empathy. “You must be older than her when she was your professor, right?”
Mo Wanwu replied, “You can shut up now!”
…
Liu Shuang was rallying his group who were traveling on the public road.
“We have 30 people!” he said to his peers, “Even if our professor is extremely powerful and both Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang are scouts, what can they do? The competition is about the arts of war and not cultivation strength! Our professor can’t beat us up in the end with his high cultivation strength! Since this is about the arts of war, we don’t have anything to worry about if we are steady and calm.”
His friend and his idol, a cold-looking young man, said on the side, “If we enter the mountain as a group, nothing will happen even though we don’t have scouts. After discovering Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang, we can instantly capture them. The professor would lose then.”
This person was Yuan Chengshi, and his status was prestigious. His father was Yuan Chongwu, the Governor-General of River-North Circuit, who was a rank 2 position.
Liu Shuang was only the son of a governor, so his status was much lower.
“We will listen to you,” Liu Shuang said with a cold grin, “I always want to beat up that Fang Jie. That arrogant wastrel makes me want to puke!”
“This is a competition,” Yuan Chengshi said with a smile, “This is the perfect opportunity for those of you who want to beat up Fang Jie. Just beat him with all your strength! Even the professor wouldn’t side with him! Don’t even feel guilty if many of you attack him at the same time! After all, he is the second genius of Great Sui who received all nine excellent ratings! The 30 of us versus him is a fair battle! You all should be proud of him! His pride and status will only be shown in a 1v30 battle!”
Many people laughed, but some people didn’t side with him.
In the crowd, a female student frowned and seemed to dislike Yuan Chengshi and Liu Shuang. She was in the back of the group, and she didn’t talk with anyone.
She was one of the two female students in the class, and the other female student was riding her horse beside Yuan Chengshi, looking at him with affection.
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