High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1860: Chapter 81: The Ancient Maxim Is a Model

Seven o’clock in the evening.

The sky remained dark, as if the sun of this world had not yet learned to keep regular hours.

The more than four hundred second-year students participating in the trial set off from various corners of the trial ground, eventually gathering in a newly leveled small square.

Zheng Qing saw Matthew Karen, whose face was blue. In just a few days, he seemed to have grown thinner, as if a gust of wind could blow him away; and Nicholas, who this time bravely stood next to Liu Fei Fei in front of everyone, unabashedly putting an arm around her shoulder. Zheng Qing noticed a few cracks on the ruby of the ring on his hand.

A bit further away, Lin Guo was energetically waving towards them from the Alpha Academy team, with several white-robed witches standing beside him, whispering to each other; not far from the little warlock, that wolf cub from Quebec, Andrew, crossed his arms, gloomily scanning his surroundings. Around him were several hunters from the Ouroboros Hunting Team. Noticing Zheng Qing’s gaze, the short and stout warlock glanced at him, tugged at the corners of his mouth, and barely managed to reveal a slightly friendly smile.

Zheng Qing nodded slightly, withdrawing his gaze expressionlessly.

Around the square were slight bulges of small hills, where several gray-robed school staff and an equal number of black-robed supervisors, including Old Verne, stood quietly observing these young wizards.

Having not seen each other for a while, these young people had too much to say—from their adventures over the past few days, to the scores on their nameplates, to who mastered a powerful spell to destroy a small hill in one blow; and which warlock heroically saved someone or which witch secretly sneaked out for a date at night, and so on.

For a moment, the atmosphere was as noisy as a morning marketplace.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The initially quiet flock of crows circling above the square suddenly let out a deafening cacophony, uniformly but briefly, immediately drawing all the students’ attention and gradually silencing the clamor.

The crows circled around, sketching a complex yet beautiful array in the air, and a pale white beam of light passed through the array, directly casting onto the highest small hill at the end of the square.

The light faded, revealing Elder Ruoyu in a somber and heavy black high-collared robe, as the aura belonging to the legendary wizard spread in all directions. The crows became still, the vegetation bowed low, and the earth dragons, diligently grooming the land’s energy at the edge of the wasteland, paused their work, quietly hiding in their burrowed holes, their towering backs suddenly solidifying into diverse forms like mountain ranges.

On the surrounding small hills, gray-robed school staff and black-robed wizards touched their chests and doffed their hats, lowering their heads to pay homage to the legendary wizard. On the square, young wizards straightened their postures, eyes focused on their noses, noses on their hearts, hearts like still water.

Speaker flowers, red and white intermingled, quickly sprouted, twined, and blossomed between the hills, revealing widely prepared open mouths.

No pleasantries, no celebrations.

Elder Ruoyu’s deep voice slowly sounded, relayed accurately and clearly to each young wizard’s ears by the big mouths of those speaker flowers:

”Two months ago, right in this world, the school engaged in a brutal battle with the Demon Alliance Army.”

”Many brave young people died.”

”But the demons were not entirely defeated by us.”

”Some students know about this, while others might be hearing it for the first time. That doesn’t matter. What matters is you should know, the wizarding world has never been a peaceful, prosperous world.”

”Hidden battles, silent deaths, happen every moment in every corner of the boundless worlds. Every trial you face, every test you take in school, could one day save your life, or that of your friends, in a future battle.”

”Yes, I know, students who make it into the First University, students who get promoted to second year, are the best young minds in this world.”

”Even in this trial, some teams achieved an average score of over one hundred seventy...”

Like a pebble thrown into a calm pond, soft murmurs and rustling astonishment suddenly arose, akin to ripples spreading across the water’s surface—the further from Zheng Qing and his group, the more restless it became.

Understand that this trial eliminated many students’ base scores just during the initial descent and through the clouds, so that by the end, nearly half barely reached the pass line, and many didn’t even cross the one hundred mark.

Zheng Qing tried to maintain the composure on his face, restraining the urge to wave and acknowledge the surroundings.

The corner of his vision caught the shadows whispering and murmuring, especially the few wizards he was watching. Tang Dun still displayed some sentimentality on his face, Matthew’s complexion seemed even paler, and further away, Andrew from Alpha Academy had grown more gloomy as well.

Like Zheng Qing, other young wizards in the Atonement Hunting Team also presented their steadiness, with Zhang Ji Xin proudly holding his head high as if to say ’this is nothing,’ while Xin Fat Man looked left and right, eagerly as if wishing someone would ask him something.

The only person likely to cause trouble, Li Meng, perhaps aware of dragging down the team’s average score, had instead become more despondent, saving Jiang Yu a lot of trouble.

Elder Ruoyu’s calm gaze swept over the Jiuyou Academy formation and lingered for a moment, pausing the voice from the speaker flowers for a brief moment, before continuing:

”...But what I want to say is that these are not reasons for you to be proud, nor are they worth your pride.”

”You possess the most outstanding talents among young people, the best upbringing, the purest bloodline, the most fearless courage, the most pious faith. With these as a foundation, defeating a group of foreign exiles, exploring an area more unfamiliar than dangerous—is there any reason besides success for other outcomes?”

”This is not worth pride.”

”I tell you what is worth pride: a turtle, carrying a heavy shell, yet winning a race against a rabbit, it is worth pride; a Jingwei bird, carrying a pebble each time, ultimately filling a great sea, it is worth pride; and a giant, chased the footsteps of the sun, eventually dying of hunger and thirst, he is worth pride.”

”Pride isn’t about what you can achieve, but about what you couldn’t, yet achieved.”

”That’s it for this trial.”

”After returning to school, you should carefully consider what you’ve done, what you can do, and what you should do. Tomorrow is the last day of summer vacation, I wish you a pleasant start to the school year.”

”The ancient teaching is the way, dignity is strength!”

”May blessings bestowed from heaven be boundless!”

”Knowledge bless you all.”