High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1558: Chapter 302 Conversation Under the Night Sky

Furry Bean couldn’t speak, so naturally, he couldn’t answer Zheng Qing’s question.

Zheng Qing had no choice but to pick up the green pea.

On the steps above, a long sigh came from behind the door, like the night wind brushing through treetops—shadowy and indistinct, impossible to catch clearly. Zheng Qing weighed the green pea in his hand, glanced at the still tightly shut door, then at the innocent-looking Furry Bean before turning around to face his companions.

”Well?” Zhang Ji Xin asked impatiently. ”Do we know how to go up the mountain now?”

Zheng Qing shook his head.

He hadn’t sensed even the faintest trace of magic fluctuation from the pea.

”Maybe we’re supposed to eat it.” Xin Fat Man’s suggestion didn’t surprise Zheng Qing in the slightest; in fact, the young scholarship student was already contemplating this possibility.

Jiang Yu raised her hand to halt the suggestion.

”If you don’t want to end up like Furry Bean, covered in antennae and fleshy sprouts, don’t eat something of unknown origin,” the witch warned. ”Elder Atar did remind us that the owner of this old mansion was a Black Wizard.”

Zheng Qing hesitated and glanced at Xiao Xiao.

The Absolution Hunting Team’s diviner was holding his black notebook, frowning as if pondering some difficult problem.

”What do you think?” Zheng Qing consulted the team’s brain.

Xiao Xiao’s eyes remained fixed on the black notebook, his voice sounding like a daydream, ethereal and uncertain: ”Find the gold bean, it will take you home.”

”What?” Zheng Qing raised an eyebrow, his tail sliding down from his waist and poking the seemingly distracted diviner. ”Be clearer... What do you mean?”

”Home.” Xiao Xiao raised his head, his gaze regaining clarity as he answered earnestly, ”The owner of this mansion said it before: ’Find the gold bean, it will take you home.’ He used the phrase ’home’ instead of ’up the mountain.’”

Everyone in the Absolution Hunting Team, including Nikita, immediately grasped the subtle difference.

Everyone except Zhang Ji Xin.

”What difference does it make?” The red-faced warlock, notoriously impatient with word games, said, ”Go up the mountain, come home after, or come home, then go up the mountain.... To me, there’s not much difference here.”

”But he’s a Black Wizard.” Jiang Yu shook her head, reminding him. ”Black Wizards are adept at twisting contracts and playing tricks with language, especially in inconspicuous places like this.”

”But what’s the difference,” Zhang Ji Xin said, rather exasperated, spreading his hands. ”Home or mountain.... What difference does it make for us? Isn’t going home simpler than climbing up?”

”Not simple,” Xiao Xiao patiently analyzed. ”Because ’home’ is an extremely broad concept. Going home doesn’t necessarily mean returning to the First University; it could also mean returning to each of our dream fragments.... Keep in mind, this is the Dreamland, and each of us has fragments of our own dream here.”

Zhang Ji Xin widened his eyes, staring at the green pea.

For a while, he scratched his head in annoyance: ”Then what now? The captain didn’t find any clues from up there.... Are we just supposed to keep staring at this thing?”

The group fell silent.

Near the old mansion, there was no wind. Zheng Qing could only hear the quiet panting of the Furry Beans and the indistinct rustling of the vague figures outside the door scraping the grass.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.... Buzz buzz....

Someone talking?

Zheng Qing raised his brows, tilted his head, and signaled the others to stay quiet. Concentrating, he focused all his attention, trying to decipher the message hidden in the rustling and buzzing—

”Buzz... Balse... Balse... Buzz buzz...”

”Buzz buzz... Hartig... Kela Mountain... Buzz buzz...”

”Great... Sage... Pilgrimage... Buzz buzz...”

”Incredible... Incredible... The night of the lunar eclipse... Buzz buzz...”

It was as if many people were whispering beside his ears. Though the voices were blurry and unknown, a sense of clarity arose in Zheng Qing’s heart. This was the echo of history preserved within Kela Mountain—because among these voices, one stood out to Zheng Qing, familiar and unmistakable. It belonged to the old owner of the Engla mansion, although his voice then was distinct and singular compared to now.

The warlock suddenly raised his head, looking toward his companions:

”Did you hear that?” His voice carried a hint of excitement.

”What?” The others hadn’t heard the words Zheng Qing described and could only hear the increasingly frequent scraping sounds outside the door.

”Someone was talking.” Zheng Qing detailed every word he had heard, but since the information was fragmented, the group couldn’t grasp the meaning.

”Maybe it’s because of the pea?” Xin Fat Man speculated, reaching out to touch the green pea in Zheng Qing’s hand. But as soon as his fingers touched the pea, the pale blue skin on his body flashed with floral patterns, blue hues rippling as fleshy sprouts began appearing on the fingertips that had contacted the pea.

”Holy crap!” Xin Fat Man yelled in surprise, jerking his arm back as if he’d touched a red-hot iron. Quickly, he fished out two bottles of Lourdes Holy Water from his pockets—downing one in gulps and using the other to soak the sprouted fingertips.

The pale blue flesh disappeared quietly in the Holy Water.

Sweat on Xin Fat Man’s forehead slowly rolled down.

The spectators all took two steps back, leaving only Zheng Qing, holding the green pea clamped between his fingers like he was gripping a thorny seed, his mouth twitching.

”I... haven’t grown any strange parts, right?” He asked his companions miserably with his eyes.

After scrutinizing him carefully, Jiang Yu finally cautiously replied, ”At least from the outside, everything seems normal.... Can you still hear the whispers?”

The warlock tried to calm himself, listening carefully, then nodded.

”Then put down the pea and listen again.”

Zheng Qing immediately tossed the hot potato into the cauldron. The green pea hit the black ceramic, emitting a soft, resonant thud.

He held his breath again, listening attentively.

This time, the deep mountain echoes vanished entirely.

The facts seemed to become clearer: this pea, containing traces of starry sky contamination, did indeed allow the young wizards to access certain channels for information.

”You guessed that the voices you’re hearing are echoes of Kela Mountain’s history,” Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses, advancing the hypothesis further: ”Have you tried talking to them?”

”Talking?” Zheng Qing doubted that aimlessly shouting into the deep mountain was an intelligent idea.

”Like a radio,” the Absolution Team’s diviner patiently explained, choosing a metaphor Zheng Qing could better understand. ”When you plug it in, you can pick up all kinds of signals. But if you want to hear specific content, you have to tune to the right frequency.... Now, hold the pea, clear your mind, and focus on a single thought: ’I want to go up the mountain.’”