High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1084: Chapter 146: The Ignored Matters

While discussing the contract terms with Korma, Zheng Qing always felt as if he was overlooking something important, slightly distracted. It almost made him forget to add a ’bilateral confidentiality clause’, which meant the Black Cat needed to keep Korma and her mysterious endeavors a secret, and Korma also had to keep the existence of a talking Black Cat a secret.

Of course, this was finally addressed with a reminder from the Rat Immortal—which made Zheng Qing more cautious about that fat mouse’s motives. As the saying goes, ’to take must first give’, it was both keeping his Black Cat’s secret and binding him to Korma’s chariot; the true purpose was indeed questionable.

There was another minor detail when signing the contract.

That was the issue with the true name.

Since Zheng Qing appeared as the Black Cat, he did not want his identity as a wizard under the guise of a cat to be known to the person and mouse before him—although Zheng Qing suspected the Rat Immortal possibly knew his identity—so when signing the contract, he insisted on using a paw print instead of his true name to mark the parchment contract.

For this, Korma decidedly disagreed.

”You must be joking!” the witch grabbed the contract, raising her arm high to prevent the Black Cat from taking it away, and fiercely challenged, ”What’s the point of signing this contract if you just put a paw print on it? Who knows which cat’s urine your paw has been in touch with!”

The paw being tainted with the scent of other cats would naturally decrease the binding effect of the contract on the Black Cat to some extent; from this angle, Korma’s suspicion was somewhat justified.

The Black Cat was so angry his face turned red—though whether it was red or not, no one could tell.

”I absolutely would not step in a place where others have urinated! That’s a principle!” Black Cat also bared his teeth and glared with eyes wide as bells, ”Do you walk in places where others have defecated?!”

The witch immediately showed a look of disgust on her face.

Just as the conversation was about to head in the direction of excrement and urine, the Rat Immortal finally could not restrain himself, gently coughed twice, and interrupted the quarrel.

”Cough, cough,” the Rat Immortal’s cough was somewhat sharp, effectively breaking up the argument at this point, ”We are all people from the First University. Isn’t there anything we can’t sit down and discuss calmly? We still need to work together for a common goal in the future; there’s absolutely no need to be at each other’s throats like this.”

Korma crossed her arms and gave a light snort, not making another sound.

The Black Cat also sat down, no longer showing his teeth or claws at the witch.

After a pause, seeing that neither party was willing to continue the argument, the Rat Immortal finally gave his suggestion, ”If you think the true name imprint is flawed, you can sign a Blood Covenant... of course, compared to a true name imprint, the binding effect of a Blood Covenant might be stronger, so be prepared for that.”

The so-called Blood Covenant actually involved dropping a drop of blood at the original signature spot of the Silence Contract, this ancient magic with a long heritage being one of the ultimate methods most trusted by wizards.

The Black Cat and the witch looked at each other and slowly nodded.

Therefore, under the supervision of the Rat Immortal, the Black Cat and Korma each made a cut in the palm of their hands, squeezed out a drop of blood, and dropped it onto the tail end of the contract. The parchment contract emitted a plume of green smoke as soon as the two drops of blood hit, and in an instant, it turned to a pile of flying ash.

Once the contract was established and the power of the oath was felt, Black Cat finally stopped worrying about being skinned and deboned by Rat Immortal or the Witch. His mood relaxed considerably—indeed, from the moment he fell from the tree until now, his spirit had been tightly wound, his feline instincts and a wizard’s intuition both frantically warning him of how dangerous that mouse was and how malicious the witch harbored intentions.

And now, those worries had dissipated with the contract like smoke blown away.

Black Cat finally had the mood to ponder the matter he couldn’t remember earlier. However, despite his deep contemplation, he still couldn’t grasp that glimpse of light in his mind.

It wasn’t until Rat Immortal spoke a sentence.

”Alright, now that the contract is signed, let’s settle it like this.” After the contract turned to ash, Rat Immortal shrunk back down in size, directing those Big Mice wearing red vests to lift his litter, turning back toward the building ruins behind him. He waved his hand to the Witch and Black Cat behind him, saying,

”You guys should head back early too... You must have slipped out while taking advantage of the Magic Prohibition Festival. This place is considered a moderately dangerous area within Silent Forest. It’s still somewhat dangerous for you.”

”HOLY—SHIT!” Upon hearing this, Black Cat’s eyes widened and he roared softly, striking a nearby tree trunk with a claw, leaving several deep marks on the Return Soul Poplar.

It wasn’t because of the risks of Silent Forest mentioned by Rat Immortal that he cursed. He had experienced even more dangerous situations than this.

He had just remembered the thing he had been neglecting all along.

That was his original reason for sneaking into the forest—’gathering firewood’, and now, Black Cat looked up at the sky, and felt a surge of panic rushing through his chest. Looking at the time, he gauged that everyone might have already finished their meals and games, and someone might have even started clamoring to head back home.

Zheng Qing could completely imagine the frightening expression on Tang Dun’s face, who was in charge of the spring outing, or his roaring tone.

”Are you worried about getting scolded by the professor?” A slightly sharp voice came from behind, sounding somewhat irksome, ”Take an old man’s advice, don’t try to escape responsibility by making excuses—such as getting lost, helping a sun-bathing alligator grandma pick her teeth, or helping Mermaid Sister cross the river—don’t come up with these ridiculous excuses. And then mentioning that magic couldn’t be used during the Magic Prohibition Festival, so you couldn’t find your way back home, and so on.”

”If you were to say that, you’d definitely have to walk through the Heart-cleansing magic array.”

”Just say you played too deep into it. Accept the beating, accept the punishment. It’s the safest bet.”

”Believe me, this is precious advice from an old man.”

Black Cat stopped in his tracks, turned back, and watched Rat Immortal’s receding figure, dumbfounded. How could it know exactly what he was thinking just now?

”Do you know who I am?” Seeing that Rat Immortal was about to disappear among the ruined sculptures, Black Cat couldn’t restrain himself, widened his amber eyes, and yelled out the question.

With his excellent eyesight, he clearly saw that the corners of Rat Immortal’s mouth seemed to lift.

”The Master says, ’It cannot be spoken of... cannot be spoken of...’” Lingering words, the fat rat’s litter had now disappeared deep into what appeared to be an ancient, deserted Literary Temple. Only leaving behind the gloomy-faced Black Cat and another Witch who stood there, deep in thought.