High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 811: Chapter 159: The Calming Charm

The time during the Talisman Studies class in the afternoon was somewhat harder to endure than Zheng Qing had imagined.

On the pocket watch, the slender second hand ticked steadily, unhurried and causing anxiousness to those watching. Outside, the sunlight shifted from intense to pale and then faintly crept behind the academic building.

In the classroom, almost every student pricked up their ears and kept their eyes tightly fixed on the blackboard, afraid to miss a word or line for fear of regretting it in the exam room later.

Teacher Zhang stood on the platform, equally serious as she taught the key points and difficulties of this year’s Talisman Studies final exam, occasionally mixing in some experiences from her own exams—those tips she interspersed were even more captivating to many students than some of the revision focuses.

Meanwhile, Zheng Qing sat beneath the podium, pretending to listen attentively while being filled with restless anticipation for Dean Yao’s message. He placed most of his hopes on Professor Yao now.

”As long as Old Yao cooperates with me on this plan, I swear I won’t drink millet porridge for a month!”

The young subsidized student stared blankly at the blackboard, filled with this thought—because Professor Yao was widely known as Yao XiaoMi. Normally, whenever the students were dissatisfied with him, they would call out in groups, heading to the cafeteria or the Pedestrian Street to drink a couple bowls of millet porridge, which had gradually become one of the most popular delicacies at Jiuyou Academy.

Not drinking millet porridge for a month seemed, to Zheng Qing, a very sincere gesture indeed.

Perhaps it was because of the young subsidized student’s silent prayers.

Midway through the Talisman Studies class, a green paper crane suddenly swooped through the door crack and into the classroom. Then it hovered in front of Teacher Zhang, spinning—this was First University’s rule for classroom order. During class, if a paper crane sought someone, it must have the teacher’s permission to do so.

Professor Zhang, who was at the podium explaining an advanced talisman, was interrupted by the paper crane and was initially somewhat annoyed. However, her expression showed a trace of surprise when she saw the label on the crane.

”Zheng Qing?” she looked up, her gaze directed towards the back of the classroom, her tone much softer than her expression, ”Zheng Qing, Professor Yao sent you this paper crane, do you want to check it now?”

Zheng Qing stood up with a ’whoosh’.

Because he stood up too quickly, he unintentionally skewed the desk in front of him. The grating sound of the desk leg scraping against the floor drew even more attention from many people.

”Should... Should... maybe check it,” the young subsidized student nervously adjusted the large sunglasses on his face, his voice somewhat shrill due to his hurriedness. At that moment, even Xiao Xiao, sitting next to him, lifted his head from his notebook to glance at him.

”Do you want to, or not?” Teacher Zhang, amused by the warlock’s response, chuckled.

Zheng Qing took a deep breath, feeling a rush of blood to his head, a sheepish smile on his face, but he still repeated clearly, ”Want to check.”

The female professor on the podium smiled, said nothing else, and let go of the paper crane, allowing it to flutter towards the back of the classroom. Simultaneously, she coughed softly, recapturing the diverted attention of the class:

”Alright, everyone else, look back at the blackboard; let’s continue analyzing this talisman... Xin Student, please turn your head back to the front.”

”Teacher, I also want to see what’s written on the paper crane,” Xin Fat Man playfully raised his hand, half-complaining. Zheng Qing, using the desk for cover, kicked at the chubby’s butt, signaling him to stay quiet.

”If the paper crane was from Professor Yao for you, then I would agree to your request,” Teacher Zhang diplomatically denied the fat man’s request, then turned back, knocking on the blackboard more forcefully, her voice slightly raised, ”Now, let’s continue analyzing this ’Calming Talisman.’”

”We just finished discussing the writing of the top ’Still’ character.”

”Next, we look at the lower left of the ’Still’ character, resembling the cursive script ’Go,’ slightly lifted, slightly connected, down to the bottom, then sharply pull up a stroke, jumping out to the upper right; and the lower right of the ’Still’ character, forms a ’bow’ shaped lateral fold, comprising seven strokes, with continuous strokes, which must not be lifted after writing.”

”Why can’t I lift the pen?”

”This relates to two key points when writing the ’Balanced Breath Talisman’.”

”First, as we just covered in step two, you must lift the pen from the top right corner; second, when we get to step six that I will talk about next, you must cross from the top right to the bottom left to finish the stroke. You may leave some space, but you must not connect the strokes, otherwise, the energy will not disperse.”

”If you had lifted your pen back in the third step, you would block the energy node when finishing...”

Up on the podium, Teacher Zhang had immersed himself back into the intricate analysis of runes in the blink of an eye. Below the stage, the students, after drifting off for a few minutes, forced themselves to record every word and method the teacher analyzed — according to Teacher Zhang, the final exam would definitely include a Talisman that had never been discussed in class, requiring students to think creatively to interpret it on their own.

This included but was not limited to writing key points for talismans, what basic runes were used, how to combine the symbol galls, how to outline the talisman foot, and so on and so forth. If one merely memorized things by rote without understanding the methods taught in class, even memorizing the entire freshman year ’Basic Talisman’ textbook at Jiuyou Academy would be futile.

Of course, while discussing this, Teacher Zhang specifically added that those who could fluently write all the basic runes by heart were an exception. This comment earned Zheng Qing a wave of envious and jealous looks.

Like now, when the younger scholarship student could blatantly receive a paper crane message in class while other students had to painfully listen to the lecture, not even allowed to doze off.

This was one of the special treatments good students could enjoy.

However, Zheng Qing felt neither happy nor secretly pleased right now.

Because he had just opened that paper crane.

On the paper crane, there was only a short line.

”Symptoms are known. Not unusual. Rest well. Talk after Sunday’s class meeting.”

One line, eighteen characters, including punctuation, a total of twenty-two characters. Perhaps written in haste, the handwriting on the note was somewhat sloppy, in stark contrast to the professor’s usually firm and powerful writing on the board.

Zheng Qing stared expressionlessly at the paper, silent for a full five minutes.

Then, he bravely raised his hand.

Teacher Zhang, who had just discussed the sixth step of writing the ’Balanced Breath Talisman’, had to stop again and signaled the young scholarship student to stand up and speak.

”Teacher, I need to step out for a moment,” Zheng Qing said, steeling himself.

”Right now?” Teacher Zhang seemed somewhat surprised.

Zheng Qing responded with a bitter smile and subtly glanced at the piece of paper on the table, seemingly trying to convey to the teacher that he had no other choice.

The instructor on the podium seemed a bit disheartened but did not stop him, only reminding him at the end, ”Well, make sure to check Xiao Xiao’s class notes after class, there are some new points in today’s lesson...”

Zheng Qing listened and nodded quickly, like a pecking chick.

Xiao Xiao rolled her eyes upon hearing this but remained silent.