High School of Demon Hunting

77: Chapter 1 Still Starting with Morning Exercise_1

77 -1 Still Starting with Morning Exercise_1

September 1st, the second day of the eighth lunar month.

Appropriate for sacrifices and blessings.

Inauspicious for consecration.

Zheng Qing lay in bed, yawning and lazily calculating the date with his fingers buried in his quilt.

Not a good day to start school at all.

His eyes squinted, he took a deep breath.

Today was Monday.

There was a spell course in the morning.

This would be his first class in his college career.

How exciting.

Perhaps the excitement from yesterday hadn’t faded, Zheng Qing didn’t sleep well at night.

He was even awakened by a nightmare once, but quickly fell back asleep.

He exhaled a long, dull breath from deep within his chest and opened his eyes.

The dormitory was very quiet.

The sky was just beginning to brighten, and through the glass of the balcony, the faint morning calls of birds could be heard from outside the window.

Zheng Qing quietly climbed out of bed.

The large desk in the middle of the dorm room still had the cardboard box of little elves on it.

He carefully lifted the fine velvet blanket covering over the cardboard box.

In the box, the little ones were still fast asleep.

Zheng Qing frowned, finding the situation a bit tricky.

Maybe he should go and ask the professor after class today, inquiring about how to help the injured elf.

But for now, he was truly helpless.

Zheng Qing sighed, replacing the blanket over the cardboard box.

The fat cat nesting on the windowsill twitched its ears, yawned widely, and buried its head deeper into its front paws.

Nearby, a faint snore came from Xin Fat Man’s bed.

Zheng Qing noticed that a part of his cool quilt had fallen to the ground and gently tucked it back into place with a smile.

Dylan’s bed, on the other hand, was very quiet.

He wasn’t sure if the coffin was blocking the snore, or if Dylan just didn’t snore in his sleep.

Zheng Qing’s gaze quickly swept past the tightly closed, heavy curtains.

The last thing he wanted was to catch bad luck early in the morning.

After washing up, Zheng Qing went out to the balcony, planning to do his morning exercises.

He habitually pulled out a handful of hamster food from his bag, ready to sprinkle it on the window sill.

Then he paused.

He gave a bitter smile.

He had become too accustomed to doing his morning practice alongside that chubby hamster.

He didn’t know if anyone would feed it now that he was gone.

He closed his eyes in longing, stretching his limbs slightly, only to frown in frustration.

The dormitory’s balcony was a bit narrow, not spacious enough for him to stretch out.

“If you want to do your morning practice, it’s better to go downstairs.” Xiao Xiao’s voice drifted over: “The dorm isn’t a suitable place.”

Turning his head, he saw Xiao Xiao had already changed into a dark red training suit, busy fastening his belt.

Zheng Qing quickly went back to the dormitory to change his clothes.

Before he left, he hesitated, pointed at the still sleeping Xin Fat Man and the silent Dylan, opened his mouth, and silently asked, “What about them?”

Xiao Xiao didn’t speak, but pulled him out of the dormitory.

“Do you think werewolves like the daytime, or do vampires like it?”

Zheng Qing thought about the moonlit night werewolves and the vampires in the darkness, shaking his head.

“So, don’t observe the nocturnal with the notion of a day walker.” Xiao Xiao held his large glasses in his hand, pondering whether or not to put them in his backpack.

“How does he even attend classes?”

“Just because they don’t like the daylight, that doesn’t mean they can’t appear in the daytime.

Especially since we’re at the University of Firsts.

There are many doors and long corridors around the campus.”

“What about Xin?”

“That fat guy doesn’t look like someone who does morning exercise,” Xiao Xiao adjusted his large glasses, holding his black notebook close to his chest, and sighed, “Moreover, creatures like Blue Giants are different from scholars like us.

We only draw power from textbooks, while they rely on harnessing their inherent talents and developing their bloodline ability.”

Thinking about Xin Fat Man, who was snoring in his bed, Zheng Qing felt a sense of life’s unfairness.

The campus was not crowded in the early morning.

On the sports ground, Zheng Qing noticed that most of the students had yellow faces.

The infrequent students with white or black skin types could easily be identified as pros by their robust physique.

“They’re all combat fanatics.”

Watching a bald, dark-skinned giant practising boxing with heavy shackles on, Zheng Qing couldn’t help shaking his head.

“Squeak~” A white figure appeared from seemingly nowhere and excitedly circled around Zheng Qing.

“Poseidon?” Zheng Qing shouted excitedly, grabbing the fox by the scruff of the neck and holding it in his arms.

He roughed it up delightedly, “Hey!

You rascal!”

“The dawn is breaking!

Have you come here to walk a dog?” Xiao Xiao huffed jealously, giving a sidelong glance.

His old tortoise was nowhere to be found.

“This is a fox.” Zheng Qing corrected him while brushing Poseidon’s fluffy tail.

Then he dropped the bug-eyed little fox on the ground, gazed into the sky that was only just showing hints of dawn, moved to the side, and started practising boxing.

There are thousands of Foundation Methods in this world.

Guidance Technique, the foundational method that Zheng Qing’s teacher passed down, was one of them.

These movements looked somewhat like boxing, but were not cohesive.

Each pose, each movement, although not rigid, was devoid of a smooth, flowing, ruyi scepter-like feel.

Zheng Qing had once asked his teacher about the name of the Guidance Technique.

The teacher’s replied succinctly, “Unarmed.”

What did “Unarmed” mean?

Did it imply that the boxing technique wasn’t old enough?

Or grand enough?

Or it wasn’t boxing at all?

Zheng Qing never quite understood.

He only felt that this boxing technique was as unfathomable as his teacher.

After completing several rounds of movements, Zheng Qing gradually felt the dormant power within him awakening and flowing through his veins in a lively manner.

In just a moment, he felt as if his entire body was enveloped in a warm heat.

He soon got immersed in it, oblivious to his surroundings and let his energy flow naturally.

Not far away, Poseidon was also standing up straight, scratching around, and making all kinds of nonsensical movements.

Its little pink nose wrinkled in the cool air, assuming a serious demeanor.

Xiao Xiao sat on the green stone under the tree, facing the Chaoyang, and was quietly practicing deep-breathing exercises.

His old tortoise, with its sienna shell, had crawled over at some point, half-closed its eyes, and become motionless, like the stubborn stone under Xiao Xiao.

A bit further away…

On the vast lawn, under sturdy trees, and beside the tranquil, silvery lake…

Groups of three to five students gathered, practising their morning exercises quietly and ardently in the early morning glow.

Slowly, the sky started to brighten.

The crimson Chaoyang struggled on the horizon, almost breaking free.

Zheng Qing, sensing something, turned towards the Chaoyang, quieted his mind, slightly closed his fists, exhaled a long turbid breath, and enunciated a long “Duo” sound.

At the same time, Xiao Xiao under the tree widened his eyes, inflated his chest, and let out a clear whistle.

Other students practicing their morning exercises nearby also started exhaling and making sounds.

All around them, clear and heavy sounds echoed, pulsating through the morning campus, ringing across the sky, scattering the surrounding clouds.

Heat surged, rolling around and flamboyantly exhibiting its vitality and vigor.

In the distance, at a mountain peak, under a tower…

A few professors in black robes were huddled together, talking about something.

Hearing the resonant chanting that shook the surroundings, they couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“To enjoy the morning rosy glow while drinking, and to savour fragrant flowers under the moon,” a lean and vivacious old professor, twirling his snowy short beard, chuckled and remarked, “With their persistence, they do not let our efforts go in vain.”

“The vigor of youth,” another short and plump elder sighed sentimentally.

“However, it’s uncertain whether it’s the vigor that shapes the young or the young that shape the vigor,” the last tall elder took a deep breath, expressing his feelings.