High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 572: Chapter 241 Understanding the Meaning is Enough_1

Regarding the commendation of ’following the rules’, Zheng Qing felt it was more than he deserved.

To put it nicely, his day-to-day management style fell into the Huang Lao’s concept of ’governs by doing nothing that goes against nature’. To be direct, he had yet to make a complete transition from being a student to the role of social club manager, and was still used to passively accepting tasks.

In this aspect, Zhang Ji Xin and Xiao Xiao seemed more like the leaders of the Absolution Hunting Team than he did.

Therefore, after receiving such an evaluation from Zhang Ji Xin in public, Zheng Qing felt even less justified in refusing the evening’s training.

”You’re the lead hunter, you have a point.” The young scholarship student raised his hands in resignation and said, ”So, where do you plan to hold tonight’s training session? I don’t think there are any vacant spaces for us to use in the academy right now...”

It was clear that Elder Zhang Da had a ready answer to this question. Without any hesitation, he said, ”There is a small forest by the Bell Lake, and a small clearing behind it. It’s next to the academy wall, a bit desolate, and the area is not large...but it’s enough for us.”

Zheng Qing was familiar with the small forest by the lake.

During one of his night patrols, he had a conflict with a fishman in the forest.

Of course, now was not the time to reminisce about the past.

On the way to the temporary training site, the lead hunter of Absolution continued to discuss the various preparations for the next day’s hunting contest with everyone.

Zheng Qing needed to keep up the pace of following him while discussing each item with him.

As he walked through the forest, Zhang Ji Xin seemed to suddenly remember something. He slowed down, turned his head towards the scholarship student and said,

”When I was mentioning our training to Elena earlier, Matthew was also present.” He furrowed his brow, showing a hint of displeasure on his face. ”Karen’s little vampire said that they are also planning to do intense training tonight...”

”Foolish.” Zheng Qing curled his lips and made a brief comment. ”Elena is not someone who is good at staying up late, they should have a training method that is more suitable for themselves.”

”Slow down, you guys!” Lin Guo almost had to jog to keep up with them. Finally catching up, he complained in a low voice, ”The forest isn’t exactly safe. We have encountered wizards doing black market deals here...and also several fishmen who came ashore! You remember, right?”

With that, he tugged at Zheng Qing’s sleeve.

The young scholarship student nodded with a smile, of course, he had a deep impression of this event. His first meeting with Sepulano was on that night.

”Rest assured,” Xin Fat Man said, panting for breath. ”There are so many of us...if we encounter those smelly creatures, each of us just needs to cast a spell to send them back to the bottom of the lake.”

Zhang Ji Xin wasn’t distracted by their chatter, he continued to speak to Zheng Qing. ”...I’m actually trying to bring up Elena. She’s part of Matthew’s Hunting Team too, right? While you were with her tonight, did you get any valuable information?”

Zheng Qing raised his eyebrows in surprise.

”I never knew that a team leader also had to act as a spy.” The young scholarship student responded with a hint of sarcasm, ”You don’t normally seem so insecure.”

”Our team leader is a gentleman.” The fat man chuckled from the side.

”Nobody’s asking you to snoop around for secret information.” The lead hunter of Absolution seemed a bit annoyed, he emphasized, ”I was just asking if you noticed any details we might have overlooked, or basic information...like the positions of each hunter on their team, what their strengths are, if there’s anyone we need to pay special attention to, oh, and if they have any substitute hunters...things like that.”

Zheng Qing’s face softened a little.

He knew that his tone just now had been a bit harsh, as well as somewhat misdirected. But he didn’t want to taint his ’pure love’ with even a speck of dust – in that sense, even the new student hunt race wasn’t such a big deal.

”As far as I know, they don’t have substitutes.” The young student eased up and began to share with the Master Hunter from the Absolution team the information he had just learned that night.

After he talked about Matthew, he also mentioned Andrew.

”Yesterday, my brother and I analyzed the teams participating in this year’s new student race, and in addition to Matthew’s hunting team, we have to pay attention to Andrew Taylor’s hunting team... If we have the Judgment Hunting Team helping us, then these two hunting teams have people from the Blood Comrades helping them.” At this point, Zhang Ji Xin glanced around, lowering his voice slightly: ”According to my brother, this is a ’proxy war’.”

Upon hearing this familiar term, Zheng Qing almost laughed out loud.

”It’s just a new student race, it can’t be that serious,” he said lightly. ”Besides, I remember that Tang Dun also organized a hunting team... and the people from Starry Sky and Atlas should be able to put together a few stronger teams, right?”

”This isn’t just a new student race, it’s also a prelude to this year’s competition for the ’Academy Cup’ ... and behind Matthew and Andrew, there’s also next year’s Alpha ’Augustus’ title to contend for.” Xiao Xiao finally made her thoughts clear, dismissing the unrealistic ideas of the Hunting Team Leader: ”We’ve already clearly sided with Judgment, we should learn to think in the long run.”

”Tang Dun’s hunting team isn’t much of a threat,” Zhang Ji Xin added. ”He didn’t find diviners like Nanjian or Amber... His hunting team may be solely a threat because of him. Can you believe he made Duan Xiao Jian a wandering hunter?”

Recalling the slightly stooped, thin male wizard, Zheng Qing immediately laughed.

He had defeated Duan Xiao Jian more than once in practice combat – this was a huge psychological advantage.

”That’s some good news.” He nodded: ”At the very least, I’m sure I’m not the worst wandering hunter out there.”

”We should aim to be the best!” The Master Hunter from Absolution was obviously displeased with the team leader’s modest ambitions: ”As for your question about whether Starry Sky and Atlas have any strong teams... ”

He glanced at Blue Bird, and his mouth twisted into a grin.

”This year’s top new students from Starry Sky Academy have all been poached by us hunting teams.” He bragged about his insider knowledge. ”As for Atlas’ hunting team, they always like to pit themselves against each other, like the Sunni versus Shia, Orthodox versus Catholic, Tibetan Buddhism versus Zen... The main point is that Atlas has been in decline these years, they haven’t got any real successors.”

While Zheng Qing was still digesting what the two said, Xin Fat Man reminded them of another issue.

”You guys just mentioned that little wolf cub from the Taylor family,” Xin hesitated, then asked. ”Did we not factor into our hunting ground projections the impact of the Festival of the Lower Elements on pure-blood Undermoon creatures?”

Zheng Qing reacted immediately.

The fifteenth day of this month also happened to be the once-a-year Festival of the Lower Elements, just a few days before the hunting race.

For mixed-blood Undermoon creatures, such a day would make them more aggressive and irritable; but for pure-blood Undermoon creatures, the air seemed to be filled with stimulants on such days, significantly enhancing their abilities.

”Oh, oh, oh!” Zhang Ji Xin instantly realized: ”A huge oversight, a huge oversight...luckily we still have a slight chance of remediation. Otherwise, once we enter the hunting ground and see a bunch of raucous, red-eyed wolf cubs, we’d be at a disadvantage.”

”The Taylor hunting team isn’t a pack of werewolves... he’s probably the only one.” Xin was muttering from the sidelines.

”I was just using hyperbole, understand the meaning and that’s enough, okay?” Zhang Ji Xin bluntly interrupted Xin Fat Man’s words.