High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2936: Chapter 1154: Behind the Crow’s Back

Evil and black magic are the first magic mastered by wizards.

Zheng Qing pondered Mr.’s rather ’morally incorrect’ assertion, feeling a subtle familiarity, as if he had heard similar words somewhere.

Mr., however, did not pay mind to the young wizard’s small distraction, and continued slowly:

”——Throughout long centuries, wizards who adhere to darkness have always existed. Well, you might find the word ’adhere’ somewhat neutral, so it’s okay to use ’obsession’ too. In any case, wizards obsessed with darkness not only exist on Buji Island and at the First University but broadly throughout the range of the Alliance. Of course, here I am not admitting those fallen wizards of the Land of Desolation as noble—darkness is the simplest and easiest path, which is why it attracts wizards to plunge into it endlessly.

What I want to say is, even among wizards inclined to darkness, there are some extremists. They conduct one evil experiment after another, believing this is the correct path to pursue the truth. Their faith in darkness is no different from the most pious ascetics of Atlas. It’s just that the direction of their faith is opposite, like the two ends of the Yin and Yang Fish.”

When he heard the word ’Atlas.’

Zheng Qing finally realized where that subtle familiarity came from—the Gnostic Sect, an extreme sect that believes ’evil is a necessary good’ and ’doing evil is doing good.’ During a divination class, Professor Yi once briefly commented on this sect, and earlier, when Zheng Qing was illegally detained by Thomas, he also heard similar concepts.

Currently, the notion of ’evil experiments being the correct path to seek truth’ put forth by Mr. aligns with the ideology of the Gnostic Sect, which reminded him of Professor Montreya and that Crow Organization lurking in the school yet never completely eradicated.

Just as Zheng Qing was pondering how to subtly inquire if Montreya had bigger crows behind him, the leaf-like boat beneath him suddenly stalled, and the flowing brilliance beyond the five-colored radiance abruptly vanished, transforming into frames of vividly real scenes, flashing before his eyes.

In those scenes, he saw the First University on the run, the big wizards gathering at the Astronomical Tower; saw the red and black shrouding above Buji Island, saw the giant Firebird above the red, and the Giant God Soldier ’Primordial’ behind the black, saw them crossing dimensional binds, fighting across numerous planes.

And those strands of silver-white starlight falling from between the red and black.

He also saw on the sea surrounding Buji Island, Lady Shi Hui confronting two wizards with similar auras, one of them had six fingers, the other a giant with a dull expression.

”——Leave! Or formally go to war with the First University!”

In the picture, Lady Shi Hui’s long hair fluttered as she shouted sharply.

The scene switched again to one filled with boundless green mist, Professor Yao’s true form with three heads and eight arms within the mist seemed like a tiny sesame, yet before him stood a hazy, dreamlike perfect figure, and behind that figure were a pair of enormous, universe-filling red eyes.

Seemingly aware of outsiders spying, those eyes slightly shifted, about to gaze at Zheng Qing.

But at the last moment, the scene switched again, this time, Zheng Qing saw a void.

Elder Ruoyu was wrestling with a hideous-looking Black Snail, which was covered in scars, seemingly ready to be smashed into pulp by the cane-wielding Elder Wizard.

But at this critical moment, Elder Ruoyu suddenly paused, frowned, calculated with his fingers, and then gave the Black Snail a deep look before turning to leave this void directly.

”——What you are seeing now is everything the school is experiencing.”

Mr.’s calm voice resonated in Zheng Qing’s ears, but did not explain the cause and effect, only simply commented on Elder Ruoyu’s action: ”Ruo Yu also has good intentions, planning to grind that small snail and bring it into the school, just unlucky, came close but failed. Although it has a somewhat special origin, it ultimately has some opportunity, some luck to achieve legend. Ruo Yu loves doing things like this. When Professor Yao came to the school, it was him who suggested it to me.”

Regarding that Black Snail, although Mr. used the term ’bring in,’ the undertone that Zheng Qing heard was ’tame.’

Connecting some clues back and forth, Zheng Qing vaguely clarified the cause and effect of these chains of scenes.

Yet at this moment, cause and effect were not the most important.

The character of Ruo Yu mentioned in Mr.’s discourse concerned Zheng Qing more.

”——Are you saying, Mr. Ruo Yu is a wizard of the Gnostic Sect?” The young wizard still maintained a hint of respect for his predecessors and asked very tactfully.

A faint smile appeared on Mr.’s lips: ”Gnostic? No, he just has enough sympathy and understanding for those wizards from ancient experience. That’s why he is known in the Alliance for being friendly to Moonlight Wizards, while also able to tolerate Montreya’s slightly mad experiments.”

Clearly, Mr. knew what Zheng Qing wanted to ask, unabashedly mentioning the existence behind the crow.

Zheng Qing breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Mr. looked at him with interest: ”Feeling much better?”

The boy smiled shyly.

Mr. nodded: ”Known evil is better than unknown evil for this reason. Because unknown represents fear, and people find it hard to conquer true fear. Just like the Atlans often say, fear is the opposite of faith... In other words, fear is the true embodiment of most evil. You must always remember this in the future. If you ever feel surrounded by fear, aimlessly unable to find a target, don’t bother about the target, focus on the meter ahead of you, concentrate on what is within your reach... on what’s most feasible to achieve.”

This was the second time Mr. mentioned ’future’ matters.

Zheng Qing, somewhat slow to understand, finally realized something.

”Mr.,” his voice was somewhat hoarse, suddenly recalling a certain word Mr. mentioned before, with a hint of fear in his tone: ”What did you mean by ’gone’ just now?”

Mr. looked at him quietly.

”It’s exactly as you think.”

Mr.’s gaze turned to the distance, somehow the leaf boat had started moving again, beyond the five-colored radiance, those fleeting streams seemed to become more intense, but Zheng Qing couldn’t see these changes, only hearing Mr.’s half-joking sigh reverberate in his ears: ”The road ahead, you’ll have to walk on your own—when I said you were ’unexpected’, I myself am no different.”