High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 3041: Chapter 54: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Master Baoyangzi’s arrival halted the potential further conflict between the elders of the Black family and Korma.

The young witch elegantly bowed and quietly left.

The old warlock, aware of the department’s status in both the school and the Alliance, though still frowning, ultimately refrained from further outbursts, sighed, and left decisively.

”—How do you feel?”

Master Baoyangzi didn’t pick up the wine glass, holding a long wooden staff instead, smiling as he looked at the young legend before him.

His question was somewhat vague, unclear whether he was asking about Poseidon’s transformation, Zheng Qing’s informal protest to the Wizard Council, or the feeling of traditional wizard forces marginalizing Edge Academy.

Zheng Qing took a small sip of the amber light in his cup, finding the usually mellow drink a bit choking at the moment.

”It feels a bit complicated.”

His answer was also quite vague, suitable to respond to any of the questions.

The elder wizard chuckled softly.

”—That’s life; you can never truly gain freedom.”

He seemed to be comforting the young legend, or perhaps hinting at something: ”Low-level wizards have their low-level troubles, and high-level wizards have their high-level troubles... Although I’m not a legend yet, I know legends have their legendary troubles too.”

That was indeed true.

In just a few years, Zheng Qing transformed from a nameless little wizard to a prominent figure within the Alliance, yet the troubles surrounding him increased with the growth of magic power, rather than decreasing.

He deeply sighed, took another small sip of wine, slightly reinvigorating himself, and the ’Taiyi’ ring on his hand emitted an extremely faint red glow.

”—Did you come to see me for something?”

He didn’t think the elder wizard specifically came to help him out. Especially at their level, every action carries significant weight; unnecessary moves are avoided.

Master Baoyangzi’s gaze glanced over the young legend’s hand, nodding approvingly, then his expression became slightly more serious.

”—I heard you released Eden to your small world on Buji Island?”

Although using words like ’heard’, the elder’s tone was quite certain. Zheng Qing didn’t have any intention of hiding and nodded straightforwardly.

”That’s right.”

In admitting this, he couldn’t help but offer a slight explanation: ”The Xuanhuang Palace — which I renamed, it used to be the Ziwei Palace — had an old tree leave, leaving a big pit. I thought planting the Xuanhuang Wood outside would be good, so I decided to release it. Did releasing that small world affect Buji Island’s magical balance? Do I need to complete any formalities?”

The elder Baoyangzi shook his head slightly.

”—Formalities? They’re not needed. Your actions themselves are the formalities, or rather, the actions of legends are in accordance with the Dao’s operation, making them the most legitimate ’formalities’.”

As he spoke, he paused, deliberating, slowing his speech: ”But releasing that Xuanhuang Wood... did you consider the consequences? I mean, while this is Buji Island, it’s ultimately not a school or the Alpha Fortress, and your place is on the edge of the school’s Protect Legal Formation... Even the Alliance’s most protected Black Prison was breached by Black Wizards, nearly shattered, let alone your small Xuanhuang Palace.”

Upon hearing words like ’Black Prison’ and ’shatter’, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but lower his head sheepishly, glancing at the contents of his cup. He knew the elder wasn’t being sarcastic, yet the incident still left him somewhat resentful.

”... As you know, my Xuanhuang Wood is still quite young, and it will take hundreds of years to bear fruit.”

The young legend suppressed stray thoughts, looking up at the elder wizard and smiled: ”As for those attempting to steal or even snatch the Xuanhuang Tree Branches, wishing to graft or transplant them, you know how unreliable those ideas are. If the Xuanhuang Wood could be easily planted, the school wouldn’t just have these two big and small trees... Backtracking, even if there are those who are brainless, I don’t mind letting them try our new Defensive Magic Array at the Xuanhuang Palace.”

”New Defensive Magic Array?”

”Yes, I’m planning to build a small ’school Protect Legal Formation’ centered around the Xuanhuang Wood, based on our deductions, three to five legends breaking in carelessly could be easily subdued.”

Master Baoyangzi was momentarily stunned.

”A small school Protect Legal Formation?”

He repeated these words, shaking his head significantly: ”You’re too impulsive... Although I said your institutions operate independently without external interference, with high autonomy, but... you’re still too young. Do you know the annual costs of maintaining a school’s Protect Legal Formation? It’s millions of jade coins! In the Alliance, a wizard family with a flow of hundreds of jade coins is considered wealthy, and millions would equal tens of thousands of such families... Including the new World, there are only tens of thousands of registered wizards in the Alliance. In other words, maintaining the school’s Protect Legal Formation exceeds a reasonable range... It’s a project with extremely low cost-efficiency... Only at the First University, places where wealth is immeasurable, is it worth wasting so many resources.”

”I never intended to copy the school’s Protect Legal Formation exactly.”

Zheng Qing also laughed: ”You’ve overestimated me. I simply wanted to tap into the residual aura of the school’s Protect Legal Formation to build a similar one... The initial plan is to link the spirit cave opened by the old locust tree’s departure with the Xuanhuang Wood’s spirit root, connecting to nearby natural magic power nodes. You might not know, but during the release of Eden’s small world, a slight deviation occurred, leading to a somewhat special temporal state inside and outside Xuanhuang Palace... It’s akin to artificially creating a temporal labyrinth. Of course, its scope and strength are controllable, which can save us quite a bit of energy in constructing the array...”

”This brings me to another matter.”

Master Baoyangzi gave him a deep look: ”Constructing an array with temporal properties near the school is too risky. If it weren’t for you, the moment that temporal labyrinth appeared, the school would have erased it. But because it involves you, the legend, the dean of Edge Academy, and department heads, the school dared not act rashly, thinking the department was conducting some special project... And we weren’t clear if this was indeed Edge Academy’s special project... Both sides foolishly waited for days, finally realizing it wasn’t...”

”Why didn’t anyone ask me?” Zheng Qing couldn’t help but laugh dryly.

”The big figures don’t concern themselves with minor matters. Even if the entire Buji Island fell into a temporal turbulence, it wouldn’t affect the legends. And those who care about such minor matters wouldn’t easily disturb a legend, casually asking if they were conducting some special magic experiment... Hence the current situation.”