High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1222: Chapter 284: After Zheng Qing Exploded

”I... exploded?”

Zheng Qing blinked and repeated Mr. Wu’s response, it took him a moment to realize, ”I exploded? I can explode? Is it like, boom explode? What kind of magic principle is that!”

Muttering to himself, he lifted his hand and glanced at his palm and back of his hand.

Perhaps because he was in The Land of Void, his palm and the back of his hand looked very clean, so clean that his skin was almost translucent, allowing one to clearly see the dark blue veins and the intricate muscle textures beneath.

”I was just a cat, no, a person. How could I just explode? I only got a little angry while beating up a toad... How did that lead to an explosion?”

”Are wizards always so capricious?”

”Does getting a bit angry make you explode? That doesn’t conform to the Magic Conservation Law!”

He finally found a shred of reason amidst the confusion and daze, and slowly crawled back to the conscious world with this bit of logic:

”The magic power in the universe can neither be created nor vanish into thin air, it only changes from one form to another or is transferred from one individual to another... Magic power also cannot spontaneously move from a low-dimensional individual to a high-dimensional one, it’s not possible to harness magic from a single source and convert it entirely into useful effects... Which means, as an entity of low-level magic activity, I shouldn’t be capable of inciting a high-dimensional Magic Tide... This contradicts the two Magic Conservation Laws!”

Mr. Wu held his teapot, looking at the young warlock with a very satisfied gaze.

”Smarter than I thought... At the very least, you’re not stupidly staring at me, unable to analyze a single word. Seems like letting you stay at the school for a while was effective.”

This statement did not answer Zheng Qing’s confusion

”So... why did I explode?!” The young, state-funded student took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind of miscellaneous thoughts and focus on the key questions, ”Was it because I used a curse improperly that I exploded? How are they... the others? Am I dead now?”

After asking the last question, the boy felt his voice tremble just a bit, and he immediately swallowed.

”The others are fine for now with that Yellow Flowered Cat watching over them. Miss Jiang Family... Oh, that old lady was also a lot of help,” Mr. Wu sipped his tea calmly and unhurriedly, answering Zheng Qing’s queries one by one:

”You didn’t explode because of improper use of a curse.”

”You’re not dead yet... but the messengers of the God of Death are lurking outside this Land of Void, so it’s fair to say you’re standing just outside Ghost Gate.”

Hearing this, the boy looked warily all around as if he could see the figures of those Death God Messengers. But all he could see was a vast expanse of whiteness; not even the edges of The Land of Void, let alone the messengers of Death.

Moreover, are there really Divine Spirits that govern death in this world? What is their relationship with wizards? Does Atlas Academy have any followers of this highness? Why can’t the Death God’s messengers enter The Land of Void? Why can Mister appear in The Land of Void?

These messy thoughts buzzed around in the mind of the young, state-funded student incessantly.

Until Mr. Wu answered Zheng Qing’s initial question:

”As for why you exploded... the process is somewhat complicated. But the fundamental reason is rather simple.”

”Because you are a forbidden spell.”

”Hmm, you can think of it as a big bomb. And a bomb, naturally, will explode if conditions permit.”

While speaking, Mr. Wu casually picked up an Arhat Bean from a small plate on the coffee table and popped it into his mouth.

Crack, crunch.

...

...

”Crack!”

Jiang Yu, supporting herself on the rough trunk of the Return Soul Poplar, barely stood up and took a step forward when she stepped on a withered branch, which emitted the agonizing sound of its body breaking—crack, crack.

The witch’s face was pallid, her arms trembling slightly as she clung to the trunk; her usually smooth hair had become somewhat disheveled, with some tips even curling, while emitting the scent of something burnt.

But she wasn’t attending to these details at all.

Turning her head, she looked around with a hint of panic in her eyes. Her last memory was of a blinding whiteness, as if a thousand suns were flaunting their splendor, filling the sky with strange lights and colors. When she awoke, she was already back in the Silent Forest.

There was no one in sight—no Black Cat, no Elena, no Korma, no Satoguya or the sheep monster that had later burst in; even the insects and birds that were most common in the Silent Forest were nowhere to be seen.

Utter desolation.

A few steps away, in the grass, lay a tattered black Law Book. The cover gave off a burnt smell, and a faint black vapor could be seen slowly rising from the book. This was the result of the spells running out of control and overloading the book. Jiang Yu knew that the book was now completely ruined.

She prayed silently that this incident would not have any adverse effects on her grandmother, recalling the scene where the silver-haired old lady had held her last, which made her feel slightly warmer.

Then she shifted her gaze from the worn Law Book, putting a bit more strength into her arms.

The tree she was leaning on was only a few meters from the entrance to the Secret Realm.

Why was she back here? Where were the others? Were they all alright? With these thoughts, the witch stumbled forward a few steps, leaning on the trunk and turning past the lush, tall bushes, trying to return to the Secret Realm.

But after turning past the bushes, she came to an abrupt halt.

Behind the bushes.

The entrance to the small world had vanished.

Gone with it was a large area of the Silent Forest—starting from the entrance to the Secret Realm, a large fan-shaped expanse of scorched earth had appeared before the witch’s eyes. A blank space, still emitting wisps of blue smoke.

At the edge of the scorched area were twisted black trees, their crowns devoid of leaves, their trunks twisted as if uniformly wrung, all bent towards the side where the fan shape expanded. Several pieces of vitrified stone, resultant from the burning, were piled at the feet of these dead trees, covered with a layer of faint black ash.

Looking up.

It was a piece of sky seldom seen in the Silent Forest.

Except the gray clouds seemed like a giant mushroom cap, occupying every corner of the sky, obscuring any hint of the sun’s color, and leaving no trace of any blue-green hue.

Jiang Yu felt a sudden darkness before her eyes as her heart plunged into an immeasurable abyss.

She fell to her knees with a thud.

A half step away, lay a charred rabbit, still in the posture of flight; through its dry, burnt eyes, the witch could faintly sense the creature’s terror and despair as the apocalypse descended.

She extended her trembling hand and gently touched the rabbit’s ear.

Sigh...

The charred rabbit instantly turned into a puff of dust and fell, accumulating into a small mound of black ash. The tears the witch had been holding back finally burst forth, streaming down her face.