High School of Demon Hunting

”Lift your heads, lift your heads!”

”Open your eyes, lift your heads!”

”Last night’s stars did not fall, tonight’s night will be red!”

”Slash through the sky!”

”Tonight’s night will be red...”

...

”...The red sun rises, its Dao shines brightly... Though there are ancient times, there are also Eight Desolates... Sea and mountains are vast, the world’s road is long... Heaven and earth bow to bring auspicious omens!”

...

Two long and clear spells echoed across the Black Prison Battlefield, accompanied by the sound of spells, two suns emerged without delay, tore through the thick night, and slowly rose in this dead world.

One golden yellow.

One crimson red.

The intertwined golden-red sunlight surged from the horizon, like a tide flowing over every hill, every withered tree, every grain of sand, painting the entire world with its colors.

In front of the Black Prison Castle.

Nine giant figures faced the two suns, sitting upright outside the castle grounds, silently confronting the swarming Demon Alliance Army.

The sunlight was blocked by their tall silhouettes, casting long, thick shadows behind them.

The nine shadows did not interfere with each other, but in the end, all extended into the depths of the inner castle, merging beneath the Xuanhuang Wood, melding with its dense canopy, draping the ancient spirit tree in a light black veil.

The old tree shook its branches, greeting a tall figure under the tree, with a rustling sound as leaves collided.

”Don’t worry, you’re absolutely safe here!”

”The Array protecting you is at the core of the inner castle; beyond the inner castle lies the main castle, and beyond the main castle lies the outer castle; the inner castle is guarded by two Legendary Wizards, the main castle has the school’s four deans, and the outer castle has nine Big Wizards... In here, you are absolutely safe!”

”I can guarantee, not even an ant will crawl to your roots without permission!”

The witch beneath the tree had lost count of how many times she’d comforted this old tree, unable to help but mutter to herself, ’The older the world, the smaller their courage’ indeed is a true saying.

Throughout the Black Prison Castle, which of those young wizards facing the battle wasn’t filled with passion, brimming with fighting spirit? And yet this Xuanhuang Ancient Tree, guarded tightly by wizards and covered with layers of Defensive Arrays outside, was timid as if it were a newly freed Xiao Bai rabbit, repeatedly nagging the wizards to keep a close watch and not let a demon near.

Of course, to the Xuanhuang Wood, this was not considered cowardice.

Trees, after all, do not possess courage.

At most, it simply considered itself more cautious in its actions.

It had ’eaten’ too many demons in the Black Prison throughout its life; even using yesterday’s fallen rotting air root, it could imagine the terrifying things demons would do when reaching its base.

Plucking flowers, seizing fruits, or cutting two branches to make sculptures were minor issues; the old tree had no doubt that if demons truly rushed to its roots, they’d certainly cast a few flames without hesitation to burn it half to death.

It was still young, only a few thousand years old, unworthy of risking its life for a few fruits.

So from the start, the Xuanhuang Wood repeatedly suggested to the wizards that they hold a Peace and Development meeting with the demons, sitting together to equally share the fruits so that everyone, including the old tree, could be satisfied.

Regrettably, the wizards decisively rejected the Xuanhuang Wood’s proposal—radical wizards hoped to use a great battle to warn against the increasingly rampant demon activities of recent years; young wizards also aspired to accumulate enough resources in this battle to advance further on their wizard path.

This stubborn attitude infuriated the old tree.

It seemed to envision its long-dead counterparts called ’Elm Bumps.’ Due to their lack of flexibility, those guys transformed into rotten wood early on, while it lived safely to the present.

’My father loved humans but despised individual mankind①’—this sentence was fittingly describing the old tree’s current sentiment—it liked wizards because they always brought it delicious ’food’ and cleaned the bookworms off its branches. But it had to admit it very much disliked the wizards standing beneath it who used the guise of ’negotiations’ to perform ’notifications’ and set it as bait on the battlefield without seeking its permission.

The issue was, wizards were not an abstract concept—like parliament, alliance, race—wizards meant every warlock, every witch, every trickster, even every fishman.

As a tree, its thinking was linear; it couldn’t dislike individuals and yet favor the group.

This contradiction gave it the impulsive desire to split each branch, crumple each leaf, and smash each fruit.

”Rest assured!”

”I’ve already spoken with the guards.”

”If the battle turns unfavorable—which is nearly impossible—taking a thousand steps back, if demons really break through the inner castle Defensive Magic Array, we’ll permit you to throw out those fruits whenever the inner castle walls collapse, tossing them anywhere you like, as long as you feel secure.”

Here, the witch shrugged: ”How’s that? feel at ease now! You are an old veteran of Black Prison, also an old-timer of the school, regardless, we’ll consider your feelings.”

If they cared about my feelings, they wouldn’t let me join such a dangerous war. Xuanhuang Wood swayed its branches, grousing in its thoughts, as the leaves clashed and made rustling sounds.

But it also knew that at present, the witch’s proposal was the maximum concession the wizards could make. In choices involving its bottom line, it consistently demonstrated flexibility, otherwise, it wouldn’t have lived to this age.

Eventually, the Xuanhuang Wood chose to accept the proposal.

Then it lowered a branch and extended it before the witch.

The tip of the branch opened up a leaf, resembling a human hand, with leaf veins running through it like visible palm lines. The witch let out a small sigh of relief, reached out, grasped the leaf, and shook it gently.

The agreement was reached.

With a whoosh, the branch retracted, and two slightly thinner branches nearby shuffled over, waving dense foliage as if feather dusters, rubbing off the leaf touched by the witch until its surface was peeled away.

The witch’s eye twitched, lids lowered, trying hard to remind herself internally—it is just a tree, it is just a tree, it is just a tree.

No need to quarrel with a tree.

Swish!

A rug of blue flames rose from the ground, in an instant engulfing the witch’s figure. As the fire light dispersed, the witch had vanished without a trace, leaving only a faint burnt smell and the Xuanhuang Wood’s branches all recoiling as though avoiding a snake or scorpion.

Indeed, teacher says rightly, the world is hardest to nurture women and villains!

Not until the last hint of burnt odor completely vanished did the Xuanhuang Wood slowly retract its branches, resentfully contemplating whether to complain about her recklessness to the school.

Boom! Boom!

Outside the castle, thunder roared and Giant Beasts bellowed in anger from afar, causing the ancient tree to shudder, with a few fruits hidden among dense leaves almost popping out.

Coming to senses, it realized the battle zone was still outside the outer castle.

Endless troubles, endless troubles, this life can’t go on like this. Ancient tree sighed heavily in contemplation, put away those fruits back into the tree canopy, and for a moment, the thought of complaining to the school drifted away.