High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 255: Chapter 179: You Lack Common Sense, I Won’t Cheat You!_1

The sun was setting, and the tired birds were returning to their nests.

The first-year students finally ended their hard work beside the mud pond and left the lakeside with their exhausted bodies.

”We’ve been working hard all afternoon, only to get one credit,” Zheng Qing rubbed his sore shoulders, staring at the bright red number on the student card, and sighed sadly.

”What, is it our fault?” Zhang Ji Xin rolled his eyes and grumbled.

His originally flushed face, after deep roasting under the sun, had deepened to a purple touch, becoming darker. This made his temper even more irritable.

Zheng Qing remembered how he took on this task and awkwardly tugged at the corner of his mouth.

”Having one credit isn’t too bad,” Duan Xiao Jian tried to make peace and laughed, ”you know, some people have to work hard for a whole week and can’t even earn one credit... I’m quite satisfied.”

”And the lunch was pretty good.” Xin Fat Man was still smacking his lips with satisfaction.

”If you want to eat that kind of rich boxed lunch again, come to Bell Lake pier after school tomorrow and give a little help. We have enough food!” The coarse laughter of old man Ferna sounded behind the young kids, giving them a start.

Zheng Qing turned his head; the old school worker was walking over briskly with his walking stick.

May, the cat, lazily trailed behind him, tail dragging on the ground.

”What do you say, young fat man, will you come?” The old school worker’s mouth twitched upward, ”There will be plenty of food!”

Xin Fat Man’s face turned red, then pale, then a bit green, and eventually black, like the bottom of a pot.

Zheng Qing never knew that a face could change so many colors.

This expression shift greatly impressed him.

Of course, now was not the time to admire the fat man’s remarkable facial changes.

”Where are you going?” Duan Xiao Jian grinned, approaching the old man.

”Where am I going?” The old school worker snorted, ”I’m going to the back garden to find those professors who are hiding in the pavilions and sleeping... On such a hot day, even the first graders are working, but they are sleeping comfortably!”

”Have you found the culprit?” Zhang Ji Xin shouted urgently.

”It’s not that easy,” Old man Ferna shook his head, but then nodded, ”But there are some leads now.”

”It’s bugs, right?” Zheng Qing looked at the old man confidently.

the others immediately perked up their ears.

”Hmm.” The old man gave them a noncommittal glance. His cane tapped the ground, and without wasting another step, he floated away.

Only his words lingered, slowly drifting into their ears with the evening breeze.

”Don’t make wild guesses, don’t spread rumors... Although you are in the first university, this is ultimately Jiuyou Academy.”

Young wizards looked dumbfounded as the old man disappeared from their sight in just a few steps, entirely clueless about the magic he had used.

”This must be the legendary ’Eight-step Cicada Catching’!” Zhang Ji Xin gasped in admiration, ”They say the old school workers at our school are more than meets the eye, and they truly are!”

”Eight-step Cicada Catching, Nine-step Heaven Flying,” Xin Fat Man scoffed, ”It’s obviously Magic Blink! A very old-school magical skill... It’s just that few young people practice it now.”

Zheng Qing looked at the back of the old man disappearing, smacked his lips, especially puzzled about the words he used in his last sentence.

”What does he mean by rumors,” said Zheng Qing, looking around him.

However, his surrounding buddies shrugged and spread their hands, indicating that they had been laboring with him all afternoon and naturally were just as clueless.

It wasn’t until he pushed open the dormitory door,

that Zheng Qing’s questions began to receive some answers.

A shining copper mirror was hanging from a thread attached to the chandelier overhead. It slowly rotated in the center of the room, sparkling as it spun.

The evening sun outside the window cast its light through the glass onto the copper mirror. As the mirror slowly rotated, its light swept the entire room.

The moment Zheng Qing opened the door, he was blinded by the beam from the rotating mirror.

”What on earth!” he shouted, squinting: ”What’s that inside the room?”

”Just an evil-warding mirror,” an amiable voice emerged from the balcony belonging to Dylan: ”Be careful when you enter, don’t ruin my laborious work!”

While Zheng Qing was still standing at the door, rubbing his eyes, the impatient Xin Fat Man shoved past him and dashed into the room.

”Wow!” Fat Man’s astonished voice echoed repeatedly: ”This is amazing!”

”Is this a peach wood sword? Made from pecky wood, I suppose! I can even see electric sparks jumping over it!”

”Those are not electric sparks, just a fluctuation of magic overflow,” Xiao Xiao’s calm voice rang in the dorm: ”Besides, if you keep touching the sword with your hand, I’m willing to bet you won’t be able to eat with your utensils tomorrow.”

Zheng Qing’s foot landed on the bluish-green rug.

A puff of smoke choked the air, aggressive in his nostrils.

”What’s this now!” cried Zheng Qing, flapping his arms, eyes watering, clutching his nose, squinting through the teary haze.

”Are you talking about lime?” Dylan’s head popped from behind the balcony’s sliding door, showing a face reddened from the sun: ”Just tread lightly... Don’t bounce around the room, you can choke on it.”

”Limegrass — it’s the ash of calamus, mugwort and peach branches mixed into fine jade powder. An old recipe for getting rid of witch curses and vermin,” Xin Fat Man, not minding the dusty ambiance of the room, plopped onto his bed and explained like a show off: ”This was a typical cleaning remedy in a wizard’s house back in the days.”

Zheng Qing held his breath, tiptoeing carefully on the rug, looking around the room.

”So,” he looked up towards Dylan: ”What exactly are you up to in here?”

Dylan was crouched in front of the little balcony door, a ruler held in his mouth as he meticulously etched onto the door frame with an engraving knife.

Dylan’s neat blue robes were tainted with dirt and wrinkles.

Upon hearing Zheng Qing’s inquiry, he didn’t respond immediately.

Only when he had finished with his carving, did Dylan remove the ruler from his mouth, clattering his teeth and took a breath before replying, ”Just as you’ve seen ... I am adding some protection to our dorm. You’re just in time, you should draw ten or eight evil-repelling symbols and stick them around the room. Can’t go wrong with that!”

”Wait, what?” Zheng Qing looked befuddled: ”Why? ...What are you doing!”

”Warding off monsters, suppressing evil spirits, banishing ghosts.”

”Banishing ghosts?” Zheng Qing was taken aback: ”Where are the ghosts?”

”You don’t know?” said the werewolf, bending over, his eyes close to the frame, carefully inspecting the runes he had carved, he hummed: ”It’s your academy’s problem... A Formless Demon has invaded your academy, wreaking havoc on various magical creatures, causing us students from other institutions residing within the academy to be also frightened.”

”Formless Demon?” Zheng Qing was utterly perplexed.

”A longevity tortoise found dead, Kappa aged... It’s a bad omen! It signifies the invasion of a Formless Demon on this academy,” Dylan finally stood up, turned around, wiped the sweat off his brow, and warned Zheng Qing seriously: ”You are not well-educated, I’m not lying to you!”

Zheng Qing nodded suspiciously, not uttering a word.

He distinctly remembered the old janitor mentioning that the prime culprit near the Lakeside of Bell Lake was not a demon.