228: Chapter 226 While busy with inner reflections, new lessons are being hastily launched on the other side.

The words "Inner Demon" slowly drifted through the room; the Director and the others were a bit dazed.

Wasn't this a concept only found in period dramas?

Seeing their confused expressions, the man half-reclining on the bed smiled and said, "To explain it simply, it probably means breaking through oneself."

"For example, um... having the courage to face the thing you fear most counts as passing."

The explanation was very clear. The Director understood immediately, a look of joy appearing on his face. "Is that how you passed?"

The man froze for a few seconds and said blankly, "When did I ever say I passed the test?"

"Huh?" This time, it was Director Zhao Qi and the others who were stunned. "Then why are you happy?"

"Happy... Heh."

With a light chuckle, he looked at the ceiling. "I was dragged by the jade pendant into an illu... illusion, a very realistic illusion."

"I lived there for decades; there was no sense of it being fake at all."

Hearing this, Zhao Qi felt a sense of realization. No wonder he felt like a young man in his twenties yesterday, but now he had a faint air of old age about him.

"There, I was reincarnated and born to a mother. Oh, my previous life's memories were still there. I thought I had transmigrated, haha..."

The laughter stopped, and he continued, "That side was also a modern society. I grew up normally, went to school, got married, and had children."

"At first, I thought that with my experience from my previous life, this life wouldn't be too bad, right?"

"Then I tried it, and whoosh, my wife and children left me, and my family was broken."

"You failed?"

"Yes."

"As infrastructure improved and the logistics system flourished, I gambled everything on starting an online shopping platform."

"It was actually quite good when it first opened; everything developed according to my expectations. But then, a few months later, the market was quickly squeezed by emerging similar companies, and I finally went bankrupt."

"Their funds were far more abundant than mine, their talent pool was complete, and their connections were broad. What I did in a year, they solved in a month. How could I compete?"

Zhao Qi and Yue Ruo looked at each other, said nothing, and continued listening.

"Afterward, I made a living doing small business while quietly buying up BT Coins from others."

"I finally waited until the era when BT Coins exploded. I didn't even dare to sell at the highest point in my memory; I sold everything at only halfway."

"Hey, guess what? Just as I sold one order, the price chart crashed off a cliff to the bottom."

Hearing this, the Director couldn't help but say, "If you sell a large amount of BT Coins all at once, it will definitely cause market panic."

"Yes, I realized that at the time."

Taking a breath, he smiled and said, "Without ability, even if gold nuggets fall from the sky, you can't catch them; instead, you'll be crushed to death."

"What does this have to do with your Inner Demon?"

"My Inner Demon is getting rich—getting rich by any means necessary."

"You've realized it now, so doesn't that count as passing?"

He looked up, his gaze falling on Zhao Qi's face, his eyes filled with confusion. "Does realizing it prevent me from sticking to my original intention?"

Zhao Qi understood.

But there were still some unclear points: "Being seriously ill and being eliminated, why can you still laugh?"

"Why can I still laugh..." The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "Because I have no other choice."

A cruel sentence was being told, yet it revealed a sense of being free and easy.

The Director was silent for a while, then patted his shoulder. "Good lad."

"Don't worry about the illness. All the best doctors in the country are here with me; I'll make sure you're cured."

"I'm very grateful, Director."

Nodding in response, he led the others out of the room and said in a low voice at the door, "You've seen how things are."

"I don't need to say more about the difficulty, but don't feel too much pressure. Just do your best."

The nineteen people didn't know if they understood the meaning, but they all responded solemnly, "Yes!"

...

"So that's one gone already?"

On the other side of the ocean, Zhang Mu, who was busy in front of a machine, suddenly looked up. While muttering, he stopped the running equipment and turned his head to scan the parts piled in the corner.

He hadn't rested for a second in ten days, and he had finally completed two-fifths of the progress.

It wasn't slow, after all, he was building a big fellow.

However, high efficiency also meant fast material consumption; his inventory was empty.

Aside from a potion to suppress his lung cancer occupying one slot, the rest was empty. Potter's Storage Pouch had naturally bottomed out long ago.

Taking off his work gloves and hanging them on the machine's control lever, he summoned a Portal and stepped inside.

The landing point was in a desolate forest, just a few steps from Moza Village, but Zhang Mu didn't go for a stroll. His Mental Energy wrapped around his body, and he flew to Gur City.

Returning to the City Lord's Mansion, he called Soren to ask how the things he had ordered were being prepared.

His internal affairs ability was indeed outstanding; he had not only collected all the necessary materials—ores, monster organs, and so on.

Zhang Mu had casually mentioned short-tempered monsters with average strength, and he had captured hundreds of them.

They were to be used to fill the Hogwarts Forbidden Forest; otherwise, a vast forest without living creatures would be too eerie.

Going to the warehouse with Soren, he stuffed everything into his inventory. Zhang Mu first told him about going to the Royal Capital.

In his plan, this trip to the Royal Capital would surely cause the conflicts and grudges with Andre and the Church to break out, quickly developing into a life-and-death situation.

The Church in the Lake region was plotting against Potter's life, Andre was on the Church's side, and Avril went without saying.

The conflict between the two sides was irreconcilable.

Therefore, once Zhang Mu left, he likely wouldn't return to Gur, regardless of the outcome.

If he won, the Church headquarters would inevitably mobilize overwhelming power, vowing to punish the sinner who dared to offend them. He would have to stay in the Royal Capital, reorganize the Soldiers and armaments, and lead everyone to face the enemy.

If he lost, Zhang Mu could only take his Senior Sister and teacher and flee, hiding in a remote area to accumulate strength for the future.

Of course, he couldn't tell Soren directly about fighting the Church now; he glossed over it, only saying he wouldn't be coming back.

After clarifying the key points, Zhang Mu asked if he would stay in Gur or go with him.

"I am willing to follow you, City Lord." Soren didn't hesitate at all, bowing and agreeing.

Why so decisive? Perhaps it was just as he had said when they first met—as long as he could do something for the people, he didn't care who Zhang Mu was.

Clearly, Zhang Mu had made Soren very satisfied.

And Zhang Mu's perception of him was that he was a pure person.

Since they met, he hadn't gained any benefits from Zhang Mu.

Instead, he worked hard every day, handling tedious administrative affairs and Zhang Mu's trivial personal matters.

Thinking of this, Zhang Mu felt a bit embarrassed. "Is there anything you want? Anything for a Professional will do."

Soren, who had walked to the warehouse door, turned around, placed his right hand on his left chest, and bowed. "What I hope for, City Lord, you have already given."

He left.

Standing there with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the open door. "How can the gap between people be so large?"

Chuckling and shaking his head, he strode out of the city and returned to the workshop in Jiu Jin Mountain on Blue Star through the desolate woods.

The vortex Portal behind him slowly closed. He wasted no time, taking out the supplies from his inventory and getting to work.

Sunlight passed over the square glass windows high on the wall, followed closely by moonlight.

He couldn't remember how many cycles had passed; Zhang Mu just buried his head in front of the machine.

The only thing that caught his attention was the information occasionally sent back by the jade pendant.

Some failed, some succeeded, but the ratio was vastly different.

A total of eighteen pieces were activated, but only three passed the Heart-Testing.

A few days later, the nineteenth piece responded—unqualified.

Seeing that the apprentice recruitment test was almost over, Zhang Mu turned off the machine tool and stretched his waist with his hands high. "Finally finished!"

Actually, he wasn't too anxious about time.

From the beginning of the Kunpeng's construction, he had considered the possibility of the apprentice recruitment being completed first.

For this reason, Luo Xiling's illusion assessment had never been sent, or rather, it was still in a closed state.

On the day the Kunpeng was completed, he would start it for her, ensuring the aforementioned problem wouldn't occur.

Zhang Mu sat on a wooden chair against the wall, took out a potion for restoring Mental Energy from his Storage Pouch, and gulped it down.

Manufacturing the joint parts was easy; what consumed energy was the Magic Array Core.

To drive a massive body comparable to a passenger plane, the complexity of the Levitation Magic Array installed inside almost tortured Zhang Mu to death.

Carving a Magic Array with over ten thousand lines on a crystal about the size of an egg without a single mistake was practically no different from hand-crafting high-precision wafers.

This had drained the qualitatively changed Mental Energy of Zhang Mu, a Magister.

It was a bit tiring, but at least the thing was built.

The potion took effect, and his parched mind slowly filled up.

Feeling his breath return, he stood up and opened the "World" light gate, sucking in the mountain-high pile of parts.

Then he also stepped through the gate.

The reason for not assembling it in the workshop was still the same; the volume was too large. If assembled on Blue Star, it would likely be captured by satellites instantly.

Feeling that the pitch-black surroundings were too monotonous, he controlled the "World" to create a sky full of twinkling stars.

In the starry sky, various parts floated, circling around Zhang Mu's body.

Like a powerful creator in a fantasy novel, he reached out into the surrounding void, and when he withdrew his hand, he already held an object.

The messy small pieces were connected in an orderly fashion, and a giant fish-like beast that seemed to come from ancient times gradually took shape amidst the starlight.

Zhang Mu, who had assembled up to the chin, straightened his back to take a short rest.

Looking up at the puppet that occupied his entire field of vision, he suddenly felt a strange sense of awe.

Did I really make this with my own hands?

Staring blankly at the fish's belly for a long time, he opened his mouth. "So beautiful... no one looks forward to the moment you descend into the world more than I do."

The Kunpeng, at least the one above his head, was beautiful enough.

Because there were too many descriptions of its specific appearance, Zhang Mu decided to partially reference books after looking up information.

The giant fish before him had an overall shape somewhat similar to a blue whale, with sea-blue skin, fins, and a tail.

A "puppet" that could drain a Magister to the last drop naturally couldn't be that simple.

Body transformation—the most extensive work besides the Core Magic Array.

The external performance was concise: changing from a fish into a bird, that is, from a Kun into a Peng.

Only in this way would it be worthy of the Mountain Gate's aura.

Zhang Mu squatted down happily, grabbed a tooth floating beside him, and stuffed it into the fish's mouth.

Not knowing how much more time had passed, the Kunpeng was finally complete, silently floating under the starry sky.

The giant beast was silent, and the silver-white light from the sky fell upon its vast back, like a dream or an illusion.

"Phew—"

Exhaling to ease the heavy pressure the giant object put on his heart, and feeling a bit more relaxed, Zhang Mu's thoughts moved slightly. The surrounding space twisted and blurred, and when it became clear, he was already in Hogwarts Academy, in Dumbledore's bedroom.

Using the Transformation Technique to turn into the old man, he stepped out of the room and went all the way to the Great Hall, his Mental Energy connecting to the puppets' Cores.

At the same time, the five people practicing magic spells received a notice from their teacher that the Headmaster had an announcement to make and they should gather in the Great Hall.

Ten minutes later.

Zhang Mu stood on the stone platform, scanning the students sitting at the four long tables. "I am very happy that Hogwarts is about to welcome a new year."

The customs of Ying Country are different from those of China.

They don't have the lunar calendar; Christmas on December 25th is equivalent to the Chinese New Year.

Therefore, in the middle of December, about two months before the New Year in China, Zhang Mu used the New Year's greeting.

"Clap, clap—"

After the applause died down, he said with a smile, "Coming along with the festival is our new course."

If this were a school for cultural subjects, these words would probably cause a chorus of wails from below.

But at this moment, what rang out was even more enthusiastic applause.

Especially the five people from Lake.

They were looking forward to the new course so much that their hair was almost turning white.

After the main topic was finished, he didn't know what the students were thinking, but Zhang Mu wasn't paying much attention. He casually said a few polite words and left through the side door on the right of the stone platform.

Rowling, who had been silent before, followed him and asked excitedly, "Can we play with the magic pets now?"

Unfortunately, she was politely declined by Zhang Mu.

The excuse was, "If the Breeder's arrangements are disrupted, it will affect the children's lessons."

In fact, he planned to have a couple of live-streamed lessons to demonstrate power.

The previous method of gently dealing with and infiltrating various countries to obtain resources was too slow.

If his Senior Sister and teacher were temporarily safe, slow would be fine.

But the two were currently in deep danger. To help them, strength was what Zhang Mu lacked most urgently.

He couldn't wait; he had to be fast.

And the solution was very concise.

To engrave the concept of "transcendence easily crushing oneself" into the bones of every country.

Half a year ago, when Zhang Mu was a Beginner Magician, it would have been somewhat troublesome to reach this level.

But for a Magister to do it, it was much easier.

Stras Falling Spirit—that sky-piercing figure seemed invincible in the world.

This terrifyingly powerful Master-level magic had performed great feats in the war against the Kingdom.

What if it fell on Blue Star?

One must know that the Rock Fall Technique, which was only the size of a basketball on Saul Continent, became a giant boulder on Blue Star.

By bringing out the Stras Falling Spirit to run amok and then having Zhang Mu step in to take it down, the matter would be settled.

To let more people witness it, he had to attract enough attention beforehand.

Hogwarts' Blue Star Study Tour was a fantastic gimmick.

"Grandpa, is it really not okay?" Rowling grabbed Zhang Mu's wrist, shaking his arm coquettishly. "Just a look from afar, just one?"

I haven't even put the monsters in the pen yet; what the hell are you going to look at?

He rolled his eyes inwardly but put on a kind smile. "Classes start the day after tomorrow."

"Okay then."

Seeing that it was indeed hopeless, Rowling walked away with her head down.

Zhang Mu then hurried to the side yard and used the "World" Core to transport the monsters placed in the adjacent independent space to the Beast Pen.

Then he "called" the Breeder, gave him the order to "take care" of them, and opened the light gate.

Leaving the world, he immediately rushed back to China without stopping.

Only one of the twenty people remained, but there was no sign of movement from Luo Xiling's test. He estimated that his cheap apprentice was already anxious.

Zhang Mu thought of the little girl's miserable appearance with snot and tears, and happily drove the old car with all his might.