High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1559: Chapter 303: From the Mountain Foot to the Summit

”I need to go up the mountain?”

Zheng Qing clenched his fists and repeated the thought in his mind.

The night air was cool. Deep within the mountains, the echoes remained silent for a long time before gradually humming back to life:

”...hmmm... the mountain, the mountain is the place where the divine spirits rest... hmmm... the mist enshrouding the summit is always sorrowful; that mist is the lingering thoughts of the gods echoing in this world... hmmm...”

The young public-funded student abruptly opened his eyes, a hint of excitement flashing within them. He looked toward his companions, nodded affirmatively, then quickly closed his eyes again, letting that thought reverberate through his mind:

”I need to go up the mountain!”

”...hmmm... every person in this world is a beast tamer, and the beast they tame is their own temperament... hmmm... every person in this world is a climber, and the towering mountain before everyone is their own Kela Mountain... hmmm... it exists in the deepest recesses of each person’s consciousness, a resting place for the divine spirits... hmmm...”

”I need to go up the mountain!!”

”...hmmm... soil binds the trees to the land, as repayment for nurturing them... hmmm... the sky asks nothing, allowing the trees to grow freely... hmmm... the gods despise their heavens and envy humans... hmmm...”

Zheng Qing loosened his fists with some frustration and glanced at his companions.

”Focusing on a single thought does let you hear something different,” he said, opening his palm to look at the small green bean in his hand, his tone tinged with bitterness. ”And what it says sounds reasonable, but there’s no hint on how to actually climb the mountain.”

”Be patient,” Xiao Xiao glanced at the indistinct monsters outside the small courtyard and gestured. ”We don’t have any other options right now anyway.”

”How about you firing a shot into the house?” Zhang Ji Xin suggested the most direct but also the crudest option. ”Blast out that Black Wizard... he has to explain himself eventually, doesn’t he?”

Zheng Qing felt a slight temptation toward the suggestion.

But only a slight temptation.

His gaze shifted from the monsters outside the courtyard to Nikita and Zhuzhu, then to the silent house beneath the night, finally resting on the Charm Gun in his hand. The warlock shook his head and dismissed the fleeting thought.

He had only one bullet left, and there were three unstable variables around him.

The deterrent value of the Fu Bullet in the cartridge remained strongest this way.

Squeezing the trigger and using that last Fu Bullet would mean relinquishing the proactive stance the Absolution Hunting Team currently held. Not to mention Engla’s unpredictable mood as the Black Wizard, Nikita would certainly seize the moment to rebel.

So Zheng Qing tightened his grasp on the green bean in his hand, planning to close his eyes once more and listen again to the echoes emanating from the depths of the mountain.

At that moment, Zhu Si, who had been curled up in Jiang Yuhuai’s arms, suddenly spoke.

”If we need to go up the mountain, why don’t we just climb upward toward the highest point?” she said, furrowing her petite brows, her large eyes brimming with an eccentric light. ”If we climb high enough, doesn’t that count as going up the mountain?”

Indeed, why not climb toward the highest point?

Why obsess over this small courtyard?

Why had everyone instinctively overlooked this most obvious fact?

These abrupt questions echoed in Zheng Qing’s mind. ’Climb the mountain,’ ’climb the mountain,’ ’climb the mountain,’ the words stirred a violent storm within his heart’s lake, even shaking the slowly expanding green vortex within.

Until eventually, the chant of ’climb the mountain’ completely drowned out the echoes brought by the green bean from the depths of the mountain. In the distance, he faintly heard a weak and remote sigh.

Under the weight of that sigh, the surrounding air seemed to freeze.

Then, in the next instant, Zheng Qing opened his eyes, and the pitch-black cauldron, the dilapidated well, the desolate courtyard, and the silent old house under the night vanished from his vision as if torn apart by a raging wind.

It felt as though some towering giant hidden within the clouds had bent down; Zheng Qing sensed himself being scooped up by the giant’s hand, ascending directly through the ancient, eerie house.

The sealed doors, the pitch-black walls, the heavy stone tablet, the massive frame, the writhing shadows—none could hinder his progress.

Countless inexplicable images and sounds surged violently into his mind at that moment.

Zheng Qing felt the magic power within the Fu Bullet in the cartridge surging at a discernible speed, seemingly about to fire uncontrollably from the gun’s barrel in the next second.

Clunk.

He crashed heavily onto the ground. Just as the chaotic influx of knowledge threatened to overwhelm his mind, everything abruptly quieted down again.

Zheng Qing let out a low groan, struggling as he climbed back to his feet.

All around was darkness, an all-encompassing silence, with only the faint sensation of immense shadows looming overhead. The warlock fumbled in his pocket for his Law Book, flipping to a spell for illumination:

”Hou Bi Xiao Xing, Three and Five in the East.”

Three to five faint points of light emerged in the darkness, swiftly expanding under the magic’s influence. In an instant, they grew from the size of grains to basketball-sized orbs emitting a soft, milky glow, casting light across their surroundings.

Zheng Qing immediately realized he was no longer at Engla’s old residence.

He stood on a sloping mountain terrain laced with scattered rocks, fissures, and patches of snow. The air was thin and frigid, carrying a biting cold that seeped through his cloak, despite the insulating talismans woven into its fabric.

The other hunters from the Absolution Hunting Team and their two captured Female Demons lay sprawled, unconscious, around him in disarray. Zhu Si clung to Furry Bean’s neck, riding atop it while furiously tossing fist-sized fireballs downward, one after another.

With the faint glow of Hou Bi Xiao Xing’s light, Zheng Qing caught sight of those fireballs striking a gaggle of dimly discernible creatures. These beings scrambled to evade the fireballs, their razor-sharp claws and fangs gleaming coldly in the half-light.

They were the same Tingdalous Hunting Dogs from earlier outside the door.

True to their reputation as the most unrelenting magical creatures, even under such circumstances, they clung to the hunters like bone-deep leeches.

”Strike them hard while those little fairies are still unconscious,” Zhu Si shouted, conjuring yet another fireball as she hurled it downward with ferocity, all the while calling out to the warlock: ”They have to feel some serious pain before we get a chance to escape.”

Though a multitude of questions churned within Zheng Qing’s heart, this was clearly not the moment to ask them.

With a quick glance at the still-unconscious Nikita, he chose not to hesitate any longer. Leveling his Charm Gun at the shadowy figures lurking in the depths of the darkness, he pulled the trigger.

A streak of light shot forward.

As a piercing cacophony of shrieks erupted, Zheng Qing felt Kela Mountain let out a deep, low groan. Without stopping to assess what damage his shot had wrought, he hastily reloaded a fresh Fu Bullet into the cartridge.

With the slender barrel restored to functionality, the pressure within the swirling vortex in his Conscious Sea finally found a new outlet, and slowly began to stabilize.