Daily life of a teacher in the martial arts department

Goddess: If you have nothing better to do, why don't you go work in a factory?

"They never repeat themselves..."

Ying Qin Guan felt he was gradually getting used to this eccentric beauty and sighed, "To be honest, she is."

"Indeed what?"

The Nephalem's voice suddenly rang out behind him. Ying Qin Guan turned around and saw him standing with a man and a woman.

The man was probably in his early twenties, but some might believe he was seventeen or eighteen. He had a youthful appearance with long green hair that cascaded down his back, much longer than Mu Nandong's hair. He tied his hair in a high ponytail with a green headband around his forehead. His face was handsome, and there weren't many words to describe him except for his clean appearance.

What caught Ying Qin's attention was his attire. It was the standard attire of a Southern Qin knight-errant: a black and white knight-errant outfit, exquisitely crafted long boots, bandages wrapped around both hands, and a tightly cinched gold belt that accentuated a perfect waistline that would make any girl group member swoon. Although he was a man, he was still incredibly alluring.

But there he stood, a half-smile on his face, looking like he was in a 'new character's warm-up period'.

The girl standing next to him had long, smooth black hair styled in a Hime cut, fair skin, and a figure that was more like thin rather than slender. She was dressed in black clothes, which Ying Qin Guan remembered as being called a kimono, with wooden clogs and white tabi socks on her feet.

She stood there, expressionless, holding something that looked like a small blackboard in her hand.

If Mu Nandong's expressionless face is like Sima's face, then the girl's expressionless face is simply expressionless.

Also, he wondered if it was just Ying Qin Guan's imagination, but he felt that the girl's face had become inexplicably rosy.

"Nothing, just talking." Ying Qin Guan brushed off Nephalem's question, lazily asking, "And these two are...?"

"The owner of the Yorozuya, you can call him Yu Xietian. He takes on all sorts of commissions, similar to an ancient mercenary guild. Next to him is his assistant, Shenxin. She can't speak, so she communicates using a blackboard. If you ever have any problems that you can't solve on your own, you can go to them. They're very capable."

As Nephalem spoke, he turned to the Yorozuya duo and said, "This is my friend, Ying Qin Guan, a martial arts instructor at the Imperial Academy."

"Oh, hello, hello. If you have any trouble, please be sure to visit our Yorozuya. We are professionals, with a professional team of one man, one woman, one bespectacled person, and one dog. Leave the work to us, and you can rest assured."

"No, why is a man, a woman, glasses, and a dog the professional setup? What's with the dog and glasses...?" Ying Qin Guan couldn't suppress his吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for complaining/criticizing) any longer and shouted, "Besides, there's no dog or glasses at all."

"Well said." Yu Xietian took out his frameless glasses from his pocket, put them on, and then unceremoniously placed his hand on Shen Xin's head. "Now you have both glasses and a single dog."

Shen Xin, expressionless, raised the small blackboard in his hand and swung it around, slamming it heavily into Yu Xietian's stomach. The immense force caused Yu Xietian's body to bend into a shrimp shape, and his glasses were knocked off. He clutched his stomach but couldn't hold on any longer and slowly knelt down.

Shen Xin wrote a few words on the blackboard with lightning speed and a calm expression.

"Please chat for a while, I'll take my boss to rest."

Then, she reached out and grabbed Yu Xietian by the back of his collar, dragged him to a bench, put him on the ground, and sat down on the bench herself.

Ying Qin Guan had recently been hit by Nocturne's attack, and his resilience was at its peak. He managed to keep his deadpan expression from crumbling and casually asked, "Who's the boss, and who's the assistant?"

"I take back what I said earlier... He found himself a father figure to support him."

Naifei sighed, seeing that the other party wouldn't recover for a while, and then casually started chatting with Ying Qin Guan.

Yu Xietian opened his eyes and sighed, "What's wrong with you now? Why did you have to come here?"

Judging from his appearance... that seemingly fatal blow just now didn't seem to have caused much of an impact.

Shenxin sat in the chair, picked up the pen, and calmly wrote on the writing board.

"It sounds vulgar, but..."

She pulled the chain on one side of the writing board, and with a whoosh, the words on it disappeared. She then wrote down the remaining words.

"But I was excited."

"..?"

Chapter Twenty-One: Hearing and Seeing

"?"

Yu Xietian was extremely shocked and said, "What you said... is exactly what I was thinking—excitement?!"

"While it annoys me that we're thinking the same thing as someone with a head full of lewd nonsense, unfortunately, yes."

"Eh..." Yu Xietian gave a look that said, "This is so shocking, it's like it's shocked my mom for a hundred years," and said, "No matter what, it's too sudden... How did you suddenly become like this..."

Before he could say anything that might lead to a report, Shenxin, expressionless, delivered a powerful punch, forcing him to swallow his words.

"You really are full of lewd nonsense."

"Didn't you say that yourself?!" Yu Xietian said, feeling wronged. "I'm just going along with what you want, so what?"

Shen Xin's hand speed was incredibly fast.

"I'm excited, not because of attraction, and certainly not because of sex, but because of...fear."

The smile on Yu Xietian's face vanished, and he repeated, "Fear?"

"Yes, fear."

"Human beings have only two most primal and instinctive desires: survival and reproduction. But ultimately, all survival is for the sake of reproduction, and all reproduction is for the sake of survival."

"Humans will try every means to survive and reproduce...and when a person realizes that they cannot 'survive,' the desire to reproduce will reach its peak."

"These two are contradictory. When a person discovers that their life is infinite, their desire to reproduce will decrease to a minimum as time passes. But when a person discovers that they are about to die... they will want to reproduce."

Shenxin pulled the chain, clearing the words on it, and she quickly wrote another paragraph.

"And when I saw that man... my body was screaming. It told me that he could kill me with a single glance, that I was going to die, that my life was insignificant to him, that I was an ant he could crush with a flick of his wrist. So... it compelled me to fulfill my human duty, to pass on my genes no matter what. And so, my body became uncontrollably excited."

Despite writing such shameful words on paper, Shenxin's face remained completely expressionless.

Yu Xietian didn't turn to look at Ying Qinguan, but instead asked, "How strong is he?"

Write with a calm and peaceful mind.

"The God of War is the strongest martial artist I've ever heard of; this man is the strongest martial artist I've ever seen."

"Aside from the unbelievable option of a God of War reincarnated..."

"I can only conclude that... the nameless swordsman from Southern Qin is not dead; he is that nameless swordsman."

-

Mu Nandong knocked on the dean's office door and went in after receiving permission.

Jiu Yi sat inside and asked, "Have you made any new discoveries?"

"We're facing an even worse outcome." Mu Nandong maintained the same expression as if someone owed him eight million, an expression that never changed even when facing his superior. "No students have come for so long; there are only two possibilities. First, that student has been completely deceived, and no matter how long it goes on, he won't report it voluntarily. Second, an even worse outcome... that night, after the first death, the Gu Heart Demon quickly searched for a second target..."

Mu Nandong said coldly, "I don't know the exact level of the Gu Heart Demon's intelligence, or perhaps that student simply lacked strong judgment. He was quickly seduced by the Gu Heart Demon and began cultivating that profound scripture. But this time, the Gu Heart Demon didn't drain his vital energy; instead, it chose to control this body..."

"In that case, he certainly wouldn't betray himself."

"Wait, wait, wait," Jiu Yifei quickly interrupted, saying, "The time of death of that body was later determined, it was around 11 p.m.... At that time, most students are asleep. Even if some are still awake, as you said, cultivating the Mysterious True Scripture also takes time. Most importantly, it would cause a commotion. Some roommates are there. Even if they didn't know what was happening at the time, they should have noticed it by now."

“That’s exactly what I wanted to say,” Mu Nandong said. “The first student was discovered in the Martial Arts Department’s arena, and given the Gu Heart Demon’s abilities, it simply couldn’t escape the Martial Arts Department. In other words, when selecting students, it could only choose from within the Martial Arts Department…”

"And the Martial Arts Department... all have two-person dorm rooms."

Jiu Yi suddenly realized what was happening.

"If it were a four-person dorm room like those in the Arts or Sociology departments, it would be understandable, as it's practically impossible for three people to go out and leave one person in the room. But the Martial Arts department has two-person dorm rooms, so it's perfectly normal for one person to go out and one person to stay in the room. So... it's very likely that there was a Martial Arts student left in the room at that time."

"People are more likely to make impulsive decisions at night. At that time, the student was unaware of the Gu Heart Demon, and with no one around and the excitement of becoming the Chosen One, he easily made the decision to cultivate the Mysterious True Scripture... and so, he was devoured."

"Our task now is to find this person."

As Mu Nandong's voice faded, Jiu Yi showed a pained expression.

"Find this person... That's the idea, but how are we going to find him? We can't just ask the guy who was in his dorm that night to come over, can we? We can't be sure if he was actually in his dorm. And if he doesn't come at all, we're not going to be able to do anything about it."

The world has some surveillance technology, but it is not widespread. Schools have no way of knowing where students are, and Jiu Yi couldn't think of a way to find this person.

Because they have absolutely no way of knowing what happened to a student that night, and the student is unlikely to willingly admit to being alone in the dormitory that night. Although they could have someone verify the information slowly, that would take too long.

“We don’t need to find this person,” Mu Nandong said coldly. “We just need to find his roommate, the one who left the school and didn’t come back… Every single one of the Martial Arts Department who went out that night and didn’t come back, pull up their dormitory records, call all their roommates over, the person we’re looking for… is among them.”

The Gu Heart Demon, feeling guilty, naturally dared not come, while normal Royal Academy students would usually cooperate with the school.

"Let's get moving! Use the Martial Arts Department's broadcast system to summon the Martial Arts Department students who went out that night!"

Chapter Twenty-Two: How Well-done Do You Like Your Food?

While Ying Qin Guan and Nephalem were chatting, they suddenly heard a broadcast, which spread throughout the entire Martial Arts Department.

"Urgent notice: Students who left the school on April 23rd, two days ago, and stayed off-campus that night, please immediately assemble at the Martial Arts Department's Academic Affairs Office. Repeat, April 23rd. Students who left the school two days ago and stayed off-campus, please immediately assemble at the Martial Arts Department's Academic Affairs Office..."

“Looks like they’ve got a lead.” Yu Xietian appeared beside Ying Qin Guan and Nephalem at some point. “Let’s stop catching up here. Hurry up and take us there, Nephalem. If we’re late and things get resolved ahead of time, we won’t even get a chance to help. How can I accept the money then?”

"Ah... okay." Nephalem didn't quite understand the situation, but he still agreed. He waved to Ying Qin Guan and said, "See you later."

After saying that, the three of them jogged towards the academic affairs office of the Martial Arts Department.

Although he was the main character, Ying Qin Guan, who was not involved in the main storyline at all, yawned and slowly walked back to the teachers' dormitory.

-

"What do you mean by saying they've made a breakthrough?" Ying Qin Guan had no interest in this matter, but Nephalem was different. He wanted to know too many things, and he was absolutely not ashamed to ask questions. If he didn't understand, he didn't understand and he would never be stubborn. "Tell me now."

“This is a bit complicated to explain…” Yu Xietian thought for a moment and said, “Originally, Mu Nandong probably thought that the student couldn’t possibly be devoured so quickly, but now he probably thinks that the student is gone, that he has been devoured. And that Gu Xinmo chose to control the student’s body… In other words, that night, after devouring one student’s body, the Gu Xinmo quickly found another student and chose to bewitch him.”

"Incited him?" Nephalem couldn't accept this explanation, saying, "But they debunked it the very next day!"

“That student didn’t make it to the next day,” Yu Xietian said. “People are most likely to make impulsive choices at night… He probably practiced that technique at night and was directly swallowed up.”

"It's so late at night, who can cultivate in the dorm... Oh, I see, someone went out." Combining this with the broadcast, Nephalem finally understood Mu Nandong's plan. "This way, we can track down those who are alone in the dorm..."

Thinking about this, another question popped into his head, "So, after this, there will definitely be another gathering of students, and they'll be specifically targeting names. Those who don't come will be in trouble... But what if he does come? I've always been curious. If that student comes, what should be done? Mu Nandong has never explained how to determine if someone is a Gu Heart Demon..."

"Heh...don't you find it strange?" Yu Xietian said, "Logically speaking, the Gu Heart Demon's initial intelligence isn't high. But even if his initial intelligence is high, can he immediately pretend to be someone else? Especially given that the school has announced the news of the Gu Heart Demon, students should all be suspicious of their classmates' abnormalities. But...Mu Nandong doesn't rely on that at all. Do you know why?"

If Ying Qin were here, he would surely cross his arms and proudly say, "Of course."

But here was a Nephalem, who honestly asked, "Why?"

“Because the Gu Heart Demon can load the brain of the person it devours.” Yu Xietian said in a startling way, “After the Gu Heart Demon devours a person and replaces their body, it can act according to the body’s ‘instinct’. It can temporarily enter ‘sleep’, making the Gu Heart Demon’s thinking mode disappear and instead loading the thinking mode of the person it devours.”

"No... why are you making it so scary?" Nephalem glanced sideways and said, "Why don't you just say that the devoured one is still alive, but the Gu Heart Demon can take over his body at any time? Wouldn't that be the same?"

"Completely different... The moment it is devoured, it is completely dead, absolutely not alive, only its brain is still there. Moreover... a fake is still a fake. Although the Gu Heart Demon can store the brain of the devoured person, it itself has no intelligence whatsoever, its ability to think for itself is extremely weak, and it has no way to draw 'new conclusions' on its own."

"What do you mean?"

"For example, if someone asks him what he plans to eat for lunch today, he can answer as usual. If someone asks him what he plans to eat on the evening of April 25th, 173rd year of the Imperial Calendar, he can barely answer that as well. Even if no one has ever asked him the latter question before, this 'innovation' is still within the scope of the Gu Heart Demon's capabilities. But if someone asks him..."

"On Imperial Calendar 19823, on the 42nd of the 13th month, at a time that is neither day nor night, in a place that is neither indoors nor outdoors, in a place that is neither above ground nor underground, if someone asked you this, how would you answer?"