High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1363: Chapter 110 Dragon Boat Festival

Zheng Qingyuan thought that wizards did not observe the Dragon Boat Festival.

He had flipped through the extensive ”Ancient Wizard Chronicle” early on and did not find any mention of a great wizard named Qu Yuan. Perhaps there was such a person, but definitely not to the extent that the wizards would dedicate a festival in his memory.

This made him feel somewhat relieved—this year he finally didn’t have to eat zongzi.

As a type of food that carries the identity of memorial, celebration, and tradition, zongzi, like mooncakes, were never to Zheng Qing’s liking. Eating them always felt like taking medicine, requiring lots of soup to swallow. But bound by custom, he had no choice but to eat them.

Especially now, with zongzi and mooncakes containing all sorts of strange fillings, such as hawthorn, durian, and egg yolk—Zheng Qing grew up in the north, accustomed to sweet zongzi with red dates, so he was quite startled the first time he tried a savory zongzi, surprised by its heresy.

But this sense of relief only lasted until the last week of May.

On Thursday morning, as Zheng Qing headed back to his dormitory after his morning class, he noticed that the campus had many more symbols related to dragons. The grey-robed janitors were busily securing dried coiled dragons to many tree trunks. These coiled dragons appeared to be crafted from actual Flood Dragon carcasses, looking lifelike as if they were living creatures.

Curious students who approached to touch them would cause the withered dragons to glare and spew out frightening smoke.

”Is there an event today?” The young scholarship student casually mentioned the commotion outside upon returning to the dormitory, and then raised his eyebrows as he saw Xin Fat Man and Dylan busily engaged:

”What are you guys up to?”

In the dormitory, Dylan was standing on a stool, on tiptoe, hanging a wreath woven from calamus and mugwort on a blank wall. Tags bearing the names of the four residents of Dormitory 403 hung on the wreath, tied with thin red strings. When a breeze passed through, the tags gently swayed, making a pleasant knocking sound.

This was odd, because at this time, Dylan was usually supposed to be sleeping in his coffin. Not being in the coffin now was much like a normal person staying up late until 1 or 2 in the morning.

Meanwhile, Xin Fat Man, holding a large bamboo basket, danced around Dylan’s stool performing witch rituals, muttering bizarre spells that even the school’s Array couldn’t translate.

Hearing Zheng Qing’s question, Xin Fat Man merely glanced at him, continuing his singing and dancing.

Dylan, back towards Zheng Qing, cheerfully responded: ”You’re back just in time... Can you check if this wreath is hung straight? I always feel it’s a bit crooked every time I look at it.”

Zheng Qing looked up, scrutinized for a moment.

Eventually, he reluctantly nodded: ”It’s fine... I can’t tell if it’s crooked. Such things you could totally leave to the sprites, they’d definitely hang it straighter.”

A few sprites holding warm towels and Zheng Qing’s breakfast floated nearby, chiming in with a chorus of ’Hehe’ in agreement.

”Ceremonial sense, do you understand? Ceremonial sense,” Dylan jumped down from the stool, seriously wagging his finger, correcting him: ”Some things must be done personally to achieve the desired effect.”

”So, what effect are you trying to achieve by doing this?” Zheng Qing patiently asked, adding a small joke at the end: ”Are you trying to prevent an invasion by Outer Gods?”

Ongoing discussions for four to five days about the Outer Gods had increasingly been circulating among the students of First University. The newspapers continuously featured professionals ’discovering’ new evidence, suggesting that the incidents of ’students craving sheep milk’ and some missing pet sheep cases were related to a being from the Deeps of Starry Sky.

The school had to issue multiple notices, assuring everyone that First University remained the safest place in the Wizard World, and any unauthorized invasions would face strong resistance from the school.

This somewhat eased the anxiety of the students’ parents, yet could not stop the enthusiasm of the young wizards in their discussions.

Especially as the final exams approached.

The heavy academic pressure had everyone on edge, and any slight external disturbance would spark great interest. Not to mention this time the disturbance was slightly bigger.

According to Zheng Qing, a certain club had already opened a betting pool on whether the school would openly conflict with that being from the Deeps of Starry Sky, and the betting was booming.

”What effect?” Dylan patted the grass off his robe and tilted his head, ”Obviously to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings... As for preventing the invasion of Outer Gods, perhaps. Isn’t that what everyone does during Dragon Boat Festival?”

”Dragon Boat Festival?!” Zheng Qing exclaimed aloud.

Xin Fat Man’s Witch Ritual dance finally came to an end, and he shoved a bamboo basket under the nose of the young cost student, huffing, ”Hurry up, take one... Throw away the meat bun in your hand. Who eats meat buns on the morning of Dragon Boat Festival!”

Seeing two foreigners seriously discussing Dragon Boat Festival with him made Zheng Qing feel ridiculous.

”Do wizards also celebrate Dragon Boat Festival?” he muttered, staring at the bamboo-wrapped zongzi in the basket, a sense of despair rising slowly, ”Why do you also eat zongzi? I’ve looked through ’Ancient Wizard History,’ but there’s no mention of Qu Yuan!”

”’Ancient Wizard History’ definitely wouldn’t mention him, you need to look in ’Legendary Wizard Chronicle’, maybe you’ll find His name there,” Xiao Xiao said, his voice coming from behind Zheng Qing: ”...Excuse me, I’d like a salty pork zongzi.”

The latter statement was addressed to Xin Fat Man.

The Fat Man quickly picked out a four-cornered zongzi and tucked it into Doctor’s hand. Zheng Qing also picked up a triangular zongzi with two fingers, and began to frown as he untied the hemp rope on the zongzi.

”What were you up to after morning class?” the young cost student tilted his head and glanced at Xiao Xiao, ”I just said hello to someone, and in the blink of an eye, you disappeared...”

”I went under the Cat Fruit Tree, watching that Gouzi,” Xiao Xiao quickly peeled off the zongzi leaves, and took a big bite of the deep red glutinous rice, mumbling, ”...like you said, that dog is suspicious.”

”Did you find anything unusual?” Zheng Qing immediately perked up.

”No,” Xiao Xiao took another big bite of zongzi, briefly licking his oil-glistening fingers, shaking his head, ”Warding off evil, detecting demons, revealing form... used them all one by one, discovered nothing unusual... except that it meows.”

”Don’t you like eating zongzi?” Xin Fat Man suddenly interrupted their conversation.

Zheng Qing looked down at the small corner of zongzi he had just bitten off, while Xiao Xiao was already reaching for a second zongzi from the basket.

”Don’t like it,” Zheng Qing shook his head honestly, ”I always feel that food like zongzi and mooncakes are over-processed, losing some natural flavors.”

”Ha, that sounds like something Iseni would say,” Xin Fat Man blinked and laughed,

”Last time I spoke with Iseni, he mentioned that ’the Fishman complain that processed foods, like pickled toads and frogs, lose their natural flavors and become something else. Little do they know, it is the pickling process that preserves the inherent qualities of the food. Unpickled frogs and toads can’t last a month before they rot.’”

”Just like witches using makeup,” Dylan joined in, eagerly discussing, ”Witches using various essential oils and foundations to apply on their face is essentially the same as preserving meat... The only difference is that one preserves a person’s appearance to stay fragrant and hold on to their beauty for longer; the other preserves the food to keep it fragrant and retain its nutrients longer.”

Zheng Qing looked down at the small zongzi in his hand and heaved a heavy sigh.

He had no idea how the conversation had shifted from the Gouzi on the Cat Fruit Tree to witches’ makeup.